A Portland strip club forced to close during the crisis has found an innovative way to stay in business -- with a curbside food delivery service it calls "Boober Eats." The Lucky Devil Lounge closed its doors this week as businesses across Oregon closed and residents went into isolation to prevent the further spread of the virus. As in Portland reported, owner Shon Boulden was trying to find a way to generate some business and originally came up with the food delivery idea as a joke -- especially the play on words taking off the popular service Uber Eats -- but the concept generated so much interest on Facebook that he decided to launch it for real. Boulden told that the establishment will still be offering its full menu outside of alcoholic beverages, and would have two of the dancers deliver it to the doors of patrons. They will even get a bit of a show, Boulden noted, saying the delivery women will "wear pasties and booty shorts, drop off the food, dance for a second and then move along" -- all while keeping sanitary with disinfectant spray. As the Z100 report added, the idea allows the dancers and kitchen employees to keep working to cook and deliver the food, and the bouncers will be serving as drivers.The curbside delivery is one of the ways that suddenly shuttered businesses are trying to carry on amid the nationwide shutdowns. As reported, sports venues across the country are donating food they had purchased and stored for games that have now been canceled, sending them to local food banks to help people in need. In Los Angeles, the Staples Center sent a hoard of food to the Midnight Mission, making it the largest one-day donation in its history. "At that point, we were ready to lockdown the arena and go into full hibernation mode," Payman Khania, Staples Center's vice president of hospitality and retail strategy, told . "We realized there wasn't much that we could do with any of the food, so we decided to figure out how much we could donate." Sports are not expected to return anytime soon, with the NBA suspending play indefinitely and Major League Baseball pushing the start of the season back until at least May. It was also not clear when the Lucky Devil Lounge could re-open, but the kitchen is currently taking orders, with its dancers ready to deliver.
YouTuber Princezee caused quite the commotion online when a video of him licking a subway pole on Wednesday went viral after it was posted to WorldStarHipHop's account. Princezee -- aka Zeeshan Ali in real life -- was on the subway earlier this week when he stood on an unknown train and began licking a pole. In the eight-second clip, one mask-wearing passenger was seen looking up just as the YouTuber licked the pole. The passenger looked visibly bothered by Princezee's actions and scooted further away from him in his seat. WorldStarHipHop captioned the video with the hashtag "Princezee" and a caption pertaining to his behavior, along with the germ, flustered, and weary emoji. The popular online platform also tagged the social media star. At present, the clip has over 300,000 views, over 2,000 likes, and over 500 retweets. Hundreds of people have commented on the post. One Twitter user wrote "what's wrong with people," while another questioned if the YouTuber felt risking his health was worth the notoriety if the footage went viral."[You] seriously gotta ask yourself if your health was worth the attention smh?"Another Twitter user remarked that it was "natural selection," while another said that if restaurant and bar owners are being arrested for "endangering the public," that Princezee should also be arrested. Other users replied with popular GIFs in response to the footage. One user tweeted the Cardi B "what was the reason" GIF, while another posted the "oh no, baby, what is you doing?" GIF. Additionally, someone else directed their comment to WorldStarHipHop, questioning them for promoting the video on their page in the first place. Princezee retweeted the video but has thus far not commented on it or on the numerous reactions to the video. Princezee's video isn't the only one of its kind to have gone viral this week. On Monday, an Instagram influencer named caught the ire of the internet after she posted a TikTok clip of herself licking an airplane toilet. She captioned the six-minute upload with a plea to her fans to share the video so that people would know how to "properly be sanitary" while flying. After many individuals commented on the video questioning the sanitary nature of the act, Louise said that it was no different from performing analingus. When it was posited that she could potentially catch the coronavirus, she said that "just like the gays," women who are rich and blond are "immune" from the respiratory illness.
A man in filmed himself at an unnamed supermarket licking a row of toiletries while saying, "Who's scared of - don't touch your mouth?" reported the incident earlier today after the video clip went viral on Twitter. It has currently been viewed over 4 million times. The video begins with the man talking to the camera and then he bends down, sticks out his tongue, and runs it along a shelf of what looks like deodorant and various other items in the toiletry aisle. One thing concerning many people is whether he limited himself to this one aisle or if he continued licking other items around the store after he finished filming. The moment recalls the other infamous incident from last year when people started a challenge to open ice cream containers in stores and in the store freezers. However, it is even worse in this case since the world is currently amid the coronavirus pandemic. He captioned his video, "I'm a nasty moths f*cker [sic]." It appears he originally shared it on his Instagram story or Snapchat before someone posted it on Twitter. One person shared the video on their account and wrote, "let the doxxing begin." Social media users are outraged by this man's actions. Luckily, the article reports that the Warrenton Police Department has identified the man in question and taken him into custody. It sounds like the video going viral helped to find him, as the article indicates that the police had received "tipoffs from around the world." Officials claimed they had heard reports from the U.K., Netherlands, and Ireland. "We take these complaints very seriously and would like to thank all of those who reported the video so the issue could be addressed," said a statement from the police.Piers Morgan slammed the man while on ITV this morning reports . Morgan went so far as to say the man should be denied medical treatment if he contracts the virus and be put in jail. Many people on social media felt similar to Morgan and expressed their anger about the incident online. "Completely agree with Piers. People are really starting to f*cking annoy me," said one person. "Great. As if Missouri needed more to be embarrassed about. He is not what Missouri is about. Chances are he is in St. Louis. That town is a cesspool," wrote another user. This incident marks a disturbing trend that has cropped up during the pandemic. recently reported that YouTube star Princezee filmed himself licking a subway pole in a viral Twitter video.
Televangelist Kenneth Copeland unveiled an unusual strategy to combat the this week -- literally "blowing" it away through the power of prayer. A viral video showed Copeland speaking to an empty congregation this week, claiming to be able to blow away the deadly virus through his viewers' television screens. As noted, the normally over-the-top Copeland seemed to even go a step further in his prayer trying to protect people from the spread of the virus. "Check out this video from Televangelist Kenneth Copeland, who sermonized to his congregation Thursday that with a little wind and heat, he could take the wind out of the sails of the deadly virus," the report noted. "Copeland, who heads up the Copeland Ministries out of Fort Worth, has been in the biz for 52 years, but this sermon has gotta take the cake. He has promised his congregants that the virus would end soon." The video attracted some viral attention online, with many sharing it on social media and offering some doubt about whether his prayer could really be enough to slow the spread of the virus. Copeland has for his past statements regarding the coronavirus, including a prediction back in mid-March that the outbreak would soon be over. The televangelist told followers that they do not have to live in fear of the virus, noting that, "Jesus has already redeemed you from the curse—which includes all sickness and disease." Copeland said that "Christian people all over this country praying have overwhelmed it." In the close to three weeks since then, the coronavirus has spread rapidly across the U.S., with more than 333,000 reported cases through Sunday afternoon and more than 9,500 deaths.Later in March, Copeland said viewers of his ministry's program were "healed" of the coronavirus disease through his prayer, reported. "Thank you, Lord Jesus. He received your healing," Copeland said in another video. "Now say it: I take it. I have it. It's mine. I thank you and praise you for it." In another , Copeland showed the back of a container of disinfectant wipes, noting that they claimed they had the power to kill the coronavirus. Copeland then delivered a statement claiming that the current virus was the same as the common flu, only not as serious. "It's a very weak strain of flu," he said. Experts have pushed back against people comparing COVID-19 to the flu, noting that the current strain is believed to be more than 10 times as deadly and spreads more rapidly. They have also pointed out that this is a novel strain of coronavirus that has only been transmitted through humans for a matter of a few months; the common coronavirus, which can create the common cold and which was referenced on the disinfectant wipes that Copeland showed, is very different.
A 64-year-old man's gift of a flight in a military fighter jet ended with the man accidentally hitting the "Eject" button in a panic and being launched from the aircraft at 2,500 feet, reports. The comedy of errors that led to the incident began when the unidentified man's employees gifted him a ride in a Dassault Rafale B jet with an experienced pilot. The fighter jets, which can achieve a speed of about 870 miles per hour, are used by the French military. The man and his team showed up at the Saint-Dizier air base in northeastern , where his employees had arranged for him to take the flight, even though the man had no military aviation experience and had never shown any interest in taking a ride in a fighter jet. Even before climbing into the aircraft, data from the man's smartwatch shows that he began to panic as soon as he realized what was happening. "His heart was in full tachycardia," said a report of the incident, noting that the man's heartbeat had reached between 136 and 142 beats per minute. Even though by this point he was in a blind panic, the man went ahead and got into the aircraft. Then, his pilot took off into the skies, accompanied by two other aircraft in a training exercise. When the aircraft got to about 2,500 feet and the pilot began to climb, the civilian passenger began to furiously try to find something to hold on to. Unfortunately, what he found was the plane's "Eject" button, when meant that the man was launched into the sky. Authorities describing the incident were clear that the man didn't deliberately eject himself from the craft, noting instead that it was all due to an "involuntary reflex." Making matters worse, the man had not properly secured his helmet, which flew off of his head, becoming a potentially deadly piece of debris that fell to the ground. Fortunately, the man, who had never ejected from a flying aircraft before, landed safely in a field. He was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution. According to , a "technical error" prevented the pilot from also being ejected. Had that happened, the results could have been catastrophic, as there would have been no one to safely land the aircraft. The pilot suffered minor facial injuries in the ordeal. Nevertheless, he was able to land the plane safely.
A man named Tupac Shakur has gotten a public apology from Gov. Andy Beshear, who had accused him of filing his unemployment application under a fake name as a prank, reports. The rapper Tupac Shakur was born in 1971 with the name Lesane Parish Crooks, but he later changed it. He died in 1996, although conspiracy theories posit that his death was a cover-up and that he's alive and well. It so happens that a man shares a name with the late rapper. Kentucky's Tupac was also born in the 1970s, and these days he prefers to go by his middle name, Malik. He had recently been laid off from his job as a cook after the restaurant where he worked closed down in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. And on his unemployment application, he, of course, applied using his legal name. When word got to Beshear that an unemployment application was filed using the name Tupac Shakur, he wasn't having it. He accused the man of playing a prank and said that it wasn't funny at all. He noted that Kentuckians feeling the pinch of the coronavirus pandemic need to get their unemployment claims resolved quickly, and suggested that bogus applications clog up the system. "That person probably felt they were being funny, they probably did. Except for the fact that, because of them, we've got to go through so many other claims," Beshear said at the time. Kentucky's Tupac was understanding about Beshear's consternation, however, telling a local news outlet that "mistakes happen." "That's just my name," he said. Beshear has since learned that Kentucky's Tupac is a real, living person with that name, whose unemployment application was a genuine request for benefits and not a joke. He has apologized, both in private and publicly. "I talked to him on the phone today, and I apologized. I told him how it happened, but I owned it. It's my fault. He was gracious. I said I'm sorry if I embarrassed him or caused him any attention he didn't want, and he was very kind. He ended the call, 'God bless,'" Beshear said at a press conference.Beshear also promised to see to it that Shakur's unemployment claim is resolved quickly. The debacle generated its share of giggles on social media. For example, one Twitter user referenced the conspiracy theory that the rapper Tupac Shakur is not dead. "Took a pandemic for Tupac to come out of hiding," the Twitter user wrote.
A troupe of circus performers have been stuck in a parking lot for nearly two months, and their supplies of food and money are dwindling as the coronavirus pandemic continues with no end in sight, reports. Many of the performers are from countries that have instituted travel bans, meaning that the performers effectively have no homes to go to. Cirque MonteCarlo had been touring through in early March, just as the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic was starting to be fully understood in the U.S. By March 9, the group had made it as far as the town of Grand Prairie, before dwindling ticket sales and shelter-in-place orders forced them to shut down. They've been in a nearby location, which they've declined to divulge due to privacy concerns, ever since. The troupe's home operations manager, Cindi Cavallini, says that they thought that the lockdown would last two or three weeks. Instead, it's been nearly two months, and it's not going away any time soon. "We were not expecting it to drag this long," she said. https://www.facebook.com/cirquemontecarlousa/posts/669402457193374 Fortunately, the circus was able to hastily negotiate boarding arrangements with the owner of a nearby parking lot. Further, since the circus is a traveling operation, the performers are used to living on the road, and their caravan of equipment includes living space and facilities to store and prepare food. However, there is no ticket revenue coming in, and the group still has to come up with $500 per week to pay their rent. Further, the troupe's generators burn through hundreds of dollars of diesel fuel per day. And of course, the performers and support staff need to be fed. The circus does not use animals, so there are no animals to feed. What's more, since most of the staff are from South American countries that have banned international travel, the performers can't go back to their homes. https://www.facebook.com/cirquemontecarlousa/photos/a.396718377795118/655976455202641/ The troupe has launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for food and rent. As of this writing, they've raised just over $4,000 of their $10,000 goal. We have made a commitment to [our employees] and they have stayed loyal to us during this very trying period," reads the crowdsourcing page. Meanwhile, with nothing to do, the performers spend their days practicing their acts or playing soccer and chess. Two members venture into town for food and fuel, and they are "disinfected" when they return from trips out. "We were not prepared for this pandemic to take such a toll on us," Cavallini says.
Crew Dragon splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after spending two months on the International Space Station. But before the two crew members aboard the capsule were confirmed to be successfully recovered, dozens of boats swarmed the splashdown zone, one with a large blue banner with "Trump" emblazoned across it. The crowd of seacraft prompted outrage among those who believe that the vehicles could have put the recovery efforts in jeopardy. As reported, as the recovery team scrambled to recover NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the scene in the area was chaotic. It wasn't clear why private crafts were allowed to be in the zone, but as some noted on social media, they could have prevented rescue teams from doing their job. On top of that, there is the possibility of toxic propellant reaching the public from the spacecraft's thrusters, which are used to slow the craft as it nears the water."The one thing you can count on with Trump supporters is extreme selfish entitlement," wrote one person. Emre Kelly, who covers space topics for USA Today, was following the event closely while commenting on social media. He noted that the crew had splashed down before realizing that a boat flying a Trump banner had buzzed through the spot. "Am I seeing this correctly? Did a private boat flying a Trump flag just approach Crew Dragon then have to be forced out?" he . "Yup. Sounds like those private boats are being asked to vacate the area. Not cool." "I hope all of you understand how serious of a problem this is. On a good day, it's dangerous for the SpaceX recovery crew + boat. On a less good day, they'd seriously impede on emergency operations and likely be affected in the process. This. Isnt. Funny," another person following the crew's landing. Other commenters mused about why the landing spot was made public and why boats were being allowed to be in the region. Many wondered where the Coast Guard was during the landing. Some questioned the intellect of the boater. The astronauts landed in the gulf as the first splashdown in 45 years. The two men left the ISS 20 hours prior after completing the first crewed spaceflight from the U.S. since the space shuttle program was retired in 2011. The Crew Dragon were into space in May and performed various experiments while they were aboard the space station, before returning to Earth, where they were successfully recovered.
Perhaps because of her left-leaning political views or her young age, newly-sworn in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has garnered a lot of criticism from various media outlets. Aside from a recent attempt to discredit her reputation with an unearthed video of her dancing, an alleged nude picture of the congresswoman has been making the rounds. Thankfully, some crafty and detail-oriented Reddit users came to the forefront to defend Cortez. As reported by , an image of a woman in a bathtub surfaced on Reddit's r/Drama subreddit. The photo, which showcases a woman's feet and legs, is fairly tame, though if you were to zoom in on the reflection from the faucet, you would find an image of the woman's breasts. On this particular Reddit thread, some were claiming the image was sourced from Ocasio-Cortez's Instagram account. Needless to say, the image in question is not of Cortez. How do we know this? Well, thanks to the detective work of a few foot fetishists, of course. In particular, we have one internet sleuth, in particular, to give thanks to. Reddit user jokes_on_you compared the questionable image with a small collection of photos showcasing Ocasio-Cortez's feet, which are shared on Wikifeet, a website that is devoted to foot fetish photos of celebrities and other famous public figures.Speaking to Motherboard, jokes_on_you explained how he was able to spot the difference. "I've sucked enough toes in my life to recognize when something doesn't look right," jokes_on_you relayed in a direct message on Reddit."Because we can't dorsi- or plantarflex our 2nd-5th toes independently I knew it wasn't a matter of the toe being bent. I thought that maybe she has some form of brachydactyly but her Wikifeet page has clear evidence to the contrary. So it was clear to me that it wasn't her feet."For the inquisitive in nature, the photo -- and the feet -- actually belong to Sydney Leathers, a cam model and political activist. Savvy readers may remember Leathers for her role in the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, which ended with jail time for the former Democratic congressman. As previously alluded to, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been the target of a handful of attempts to discredit her career. Last week, a day before she was sworn in as a congresswoman, an old video of Cortez surfaced, which showed her dancing on the rooftop as a college student -- per reporting by the . On social media, pundits and political commentators have been quick to target her, including The Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro, per an article by the .
Controversial Fox News host has been known to embrace eccentric . On his own program in June of this year, Carlson went on a , calling it "tyranny." But in last week's episode of the History Channel program Ancient Aliens, Carlson appeared to support an even farther-out theory. In an interview with British journalist Nick Pope that aired on the November 22 edition of Ancient Aliens, Carlson claimed that a "knowledgeable" source has told him that the United States government possesses physical evidence that alien spacecraft have landed on Earth — or at least, crash-landed. "I've heard this from someone who I think is knowledgeable on the subject that there is physical evidence that the U.S. government is holding, um, that, you know, would tell us a lot more - about what these objects are," Carlson told Pope on the program, as seen in the video excerpt below on this page. Pope then asked Carlson if he was referring to UFO "wreckage." "That is correct," Tucker told the Ancient Aliens interviewer. Of course, Carlson's openness to the existence of UFOs and aliens on Earth is not new. In July, Carlson interviewed Donald Trump for a segment, raising the subject with him.Trump told Carlson at the time that he did not consider himself a "believer" in UFOs, and said, "personally, I tend to doubt" that aliens have visited Earth in spaceships. But Trump left the door open, adding, "you know, I guess anything is possible." Carlson also asked Trump if he believed the claim that the government was holding UFO wreckage in an Air Force facility. But Trump replied, "I don't assume it's correct." Nonetheless, Trump told Carlson that he had "an open mind" on the subject. At the time of Carlson's interview, the U.S. Defense Department had recently briefed Trump on a series of sightings by Navy pilots of objects in the sky that they could not identify. The objects appeared to be moving at "hypersonic speeds," according to the Fox News report on Carlson's interview with Trump. In 2007, the Central Intelligence Agency issued a report documenting the intelligence agency's own investigations of the UFO phenomenon. The 84-page report, which remains available to read online via , notes that at least two U.S. presidents — Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter — claimed that they had experienced UFO sightings. The study acknowledged "documents" that claimed to prove "the recovery of UFO wreckage" from an alleged Roswell, New Mexico, crash site. But the CIA report said that, "most if not all of these documents have proved to be fabrications."
A who faked a medical condition in order to get a better seat on an airplane during the busy Thanksgiving weekend ended up causing the plane to be diverted, police say. The unnamed woman is now in custody after police say she told staff on an American Airlines flight from Pensacola to Miami that she was having trouble breathing. As reported, the woman actually wanted to sit more comfortably during the flight and was making up the medical issue. The pilot had to turn around and return to Pensacola, where the plane landed. The situation only got sticker from there, the report noted. After the flight was diverted, the woman refused to leave the plane, leading officials to evacuate all other passengers. The pilot was eventually able to convince the woman to leave the plane, and she was arrested. As American Airlines noted in a statement on the incident, it all took place in under two hours — which was nearly 20 minutes longer than the length of the original . "American Eagle 3508 returned to Pensacola due to a passenger who requested medical assistance," American Airlines said in a statement to NBC News on Friday. "The flight took off at 5:43 a.m. and landed back at Pensacola at 6:26 a.m. and taxied to the gate. All [passengers] deplaned normally at the gate through the main boarding door and onto the jet bridge. The passenger was subsequently removed by law enforcement and medical personnel, and the flight took off again at 7:41 a.m." As the reported, police took the woman into custody under the state's Baker Act, which allows a person to be held involuntarily if they pose a threat to themselves or others. The report did not note whether the woman had been released or remained in custody. It was not clear yet if the woman would face charges for claiming she suffered a medical issue, Pensacola Police Department public information officer Mike Wood said. She may still be charged, the report noted.The woman could also face some large fines if found guilty of the charges. Last year, a man's unruly behavior on a Delta Airlines flight caused it to be diverted for singing loudly and screaming, as well as making a veiled threat against a flight attendant. After being hit with federal assault charges, the man was fined close to $10,000 for the cost of diverting the flight.
A is facing charges after police say he sexually assaulted a stuffed Frozen toy inside a Target store. Cody Christopher Meader had been arrested after the October 22 incident in which police claim he ejaculated on an Olaf doll inside a St. Petersburg store and then put the toy back on the shelf. As the reported, Meader was then accused of moving to a large stuffed unicorn and dry humping it before he was stopped and detained by police inside the store. obtained the police report, which noted that Meader admitted to doing "stupid stuff" inside the store and told police that he had ejaculated on the doll. The report noted that Meader's father also spoke to police, saying that his son had a history of similar incidents. Employees inside Target had to remove the toys and have them destroyed. "The merchandise could not be re-sold and [was] destroyed due to circumstances," the police report read. This week, police charged Meader with criminal mischief. He had already been set free from custody on $150 bond. It was not clear what level of charges the Florida man could face, but the state's legal statutes contain varying degrees of punishment for criminal mischief relating to property damage. If damage to property is $200 or less, it is considered a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a term of no more than 60 days in jail. The report did not specify if the two individual toys had to be destroyed or if it was the entire shelf where he placed the Olaf doll. If the amount of damaged toys totaled between $200 and $1,000, he could face a first-degree criminal mischief charge. Though still a misdemeanor, it would carry a potential jail sentence of up to one year if Meader were convicted. The report also did not note whether Meader had a lawyer, or if mental health issues could have contributed to the bizarre Target incident, as the police report had implied. The attack also came as advertisements for the Frozen 2 sequel were being heavily pushed, with Target and other stores selling products that promote the movie.The incident gained some viral attention at the time, including a joke on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. Some also took to social media to share the strange story, which to many appeared to be the epitome of the "Florida man" meme about citizens of the state committing .
A scrapyard cut open an old safe and found $26,000 in old -- but still good -- coins and bills inside, reported. The scrap dealer said he plans to donate the money to charity. David Dodds, the managing director of Sackers, a scrapyard and scrap metal dealer in Ipswich, has a theory about how the safe full of money came to be in his possession. "The suspicion is it could have been an old factory that was due for demolition and it was in the corner of their offices. When it's demolished then all the scrap goes into the bin, comes into the works and then we treat it," he said. According to , Dodds said that lots of safes come through his business, but it's exceptionally rare for anything to be found inside, much less anything valuable. Nevertheless, back in April, his crew opened up four safes that had wound up in their scrapyard. Three, not unexpectedly, contained nothing at all. The fourth one, however, contained the huge cash haul. Many of the bills were damaged from water that had seeped in over the years. Similarly, much of it was so old that it is no longer considered legal tender in Britain, although it can be exchanged for more modern money. The money was put into police custody. The police said that they wanted to see if it was somehow the proceeds of a crime. Additionally, they said they wanted to give anyone who could be the money's rightful owner a chance to make their case and claim it. At least one person tried to convince the police the money was theirs, but "within about 30 nanoseconds" authorities realized the person had no case. After a few months, a court determined that the money rightfully belonged to the scrapyard. However, Dodds won't be keeping the money. Instead, he said he would be donating it to two hospitals: East Anglian Children's Hospice and St. Elizabeth Hospice. "We wanted to give the money to somewhere local so it could really make a difference," said Helen Crapnell, the marketing manager at Sackers. As reported at the time by , back in June a tourist visited a small Canadian museum that had been in possession of a safe for decades, unable to open it but letting tourists take a crack at it. The tourist was able to open it on the first try. Unfortunately, the only things in the safe were a handful of receipts and an old notebook.
A who was partially eaten by an alligator actually died of a meth overdose before the animal started eating him, Tampa's reports. WARNING: The remainder of this article contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. Back in June, as reported at the time, workers at the Mosaic Company, a mining company near Ft. Meade, about 60 miles east of Tampa, noticed an alligator in a nearby canal with what appeared to be human remains in its jaws. Workers called police, but by the time they arrived, the 12-foot-long, 450-pound beast had lost interest in the human body and swam away. Authorities trapped the animal and then shot and killed it. Inside they found the man's hand and foot. Elsewhere on the man's body, they found lacerations and other injuries caused by the gator. The man was identified as 45-year-old Michael Ford II. He was not an employee of the Mosaic Company, and indeed, how or why he was on the company's property remains unclear. Authorities believed at the time that Ford's cause of death was drowning. However, this week the Medical Examiner's Office for Polk, Hardee, and Highlands Counties released the results of its autopsy, which concluded that Ford's cause of death was "methamphetamine intoxication." The alligator attack appears to have happened after Ford had already died. Alligator attacks on humans are exceptionally rare, and rarer still are such attacks fatal, according to a July report. Indeed, since 1973 there have only been 24 fatal alligator attacks on humans in . Dogs and even cows kill far more humans annually than alligators. The reptiles, though fiercely territorial, will generally shy away from humans, preferring their natural diet of fish and turtles, and will sometimes eat pets that get too close. In fact, the best way to get on the bad side of a gator is to get too close to a female's nest. A wildlife expert says that, in the extremely unlikely event that a gator has designs on you, your best bet is to run. Though they can reach speeds of about 11 mph, they can't sustain it for long, so a human could easily outrun the animal. If one does catch you in its jaws, fight back, going for the snout and eyes in particular. With any luck, the gator will decide that you're not worth it and will let go and run or swim away.
A strong storm left a very unusual sight on one California beach this week --- thousands of phallic-looking marine known as "penis fish." The event took place on Drakes Beach in the Bay Area, where Bay Nature Magazine noted that a strong storm brought waves that wiped away the top layer of sand. This left thousands of the fat innkeeper worms --- which normally live in burrows beneath the surface --- exposed on the surface of the sand. The pink or flesh-toned animals are long and tubelike, bearing a striking resemblance to part of the male anatomy. The magazine took to to share a picture of the beach littered with the peculiar-looking animals, showing piles of the long pink worms and the flocks of birds that appeared to be eating them. The worms are an incredibly rare sight, reported. Because they have a number of natural predators, the worms remain under the sand's surface for almost their entire lives, feeding and breeding under the safety and protection of the sand. It's a smart approach, the report added, as biologists have found some of the fat innkeeper worms that are believed to be 25-years-old. The species itself has been around for 300 million years. But taking cover under the sand also leaves the "" vulnerable when especially strong storms sweep through, noted biologist Ivan Parr. "We're seeing the risk of building your home out of sand," Parr wrote in Bay Nature (via CNN)."Strong storms -- especially during El Niño years -- are perfectly capable of laying siege to the intertidal zone, breaking apart the sediment, and leaving their contents stranded on the shore."The worms are normally between six and nine inches long, but can sometimes grow up to 19 inches, the reported. They capture food by circulating water through their U-shaped burrows, trapping it in a layer of mucus and then eating the entire thing. The worm gets its actual name of "innkeeper" from the fact that a number of other fish and small animals take cover in these burrows for safety, allowing them to share their home.The report noted that there were other mass strandings of the fat innkeeper worms in 2010 and 2016, both during El Nino weather events. It's not clear what effect this has on the species as a whole, as CNN noted that it's difficult for scientists to study the size of their populations due to their hidden lives.
A man named Luke Skywalker was arrested after police allegedly found a bag of marijuana in his car during a traffic stop, San Antonio's reports. There's a famous scene in the Star Wars franchise where the "real" Luke Skywalker comes perilously close to being busted by imperial stormtroopers for being in possession of contraband at a traffic stop — in this case, two missing droids the Empire was looking for. However, Jedi master Obi Wan Kenobi uses his powers of The Force to convince the stormtroopers that the droids in the vehicle aren't the droids they were looking for. Befuddled by The Force, the stormtroopers send Luke and his companions on their way. Unfortunately for Luke Aaron Skywalker Sexton, 19, The Force doesn't exist. Or at the very least, it doesn't work on Texas cops. Garden Ridge City Mayor Larry Thompson says that on Monday, an officer noticed a vehicle allegedly driving without a front license plate. An officer pulled the vehicle over and allegedly smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. The officer searched the car and allegedly found a "baggie" containing an undisclosed amount of weed. Sexton was taken downtown and charged with possession. He was later released on $2,000 bond. Though multiple states have legalized marijuana, either for recreational use or medical use, or at the very least have taken a less-is-more approach to prosecuting marijuana possession, Texas is not one of them. Indeed, Texas actually has some of the harshest marijuana laws among the 50 states, according to . It remains unclear, as of this writing, if Sexton was given the name "Luke Skywalker" at birth or if he legally had it changed after the fact. This is not the first time that a man named Luke Skywalker, or a variant thereof, has been arrested on petty criminal charges. In December 2018, as reported at the time, a Tennessee man named Luke Sky Walker was arrested for an unspecified parole violation. The 21-year-old had been on probation for stealing a road sign. It's unclear, as of this writing, if Walker was given the moniker at birth or had it changed after the fact. Other criminals with unusual names have included Madison, Wisconsin's Beezow Doo-Doo Zoppitybop-Bop-Bop, who, like Luke Skywalker in Texas, was allegedly busted for drug possession, among other crimes. Beezow, however, had been born with a much more mundane name, Jeffrey Drew Wilschke, but had changed it a few months prior to his arrest.
Wakanda, a fictitious nation that exists only within the (MCU) and is not a real country, was listed as a U.S. trading partner on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) website, reports. According to the entry, the two countries purportedly trade ducks, donkeys, and dairy cows with one another. The federal government keeps records and data on just about everything and it can be surprising what sort of information is available on government websites. Francis Tseng, a New York-based software engineer, found himself finding some obscure information as he was looking up agricultural tariffs for a fellowship he was applying for not too long ago. On the USDA -- which tracks the cost of importing and exporting goods from countries that have free trade agreements with the United States -- Tseng found the Kingdom of Wakanda listed, as well as a detailed list of the goods the two countries supposedly traded. These include the aforementioned animals, fresh vegetables, unroasted coffee beans, essential oils, and other livestock. Some of the data Tseng uncovered showed that Wakandan potatoes were being charged a tariff of half a cent per kilogram. There was no tariff on frozen Chinese water chestnuts from Wakanda, however, nor was there one on Wakandan cows. Tseng says that when he first saw the Wakanda entry, he was confused, believing for a second that his memory had been muddled and that Wakanda was a real place. Once he realized that the kingdom doesn't actually exist and never has, he took to Twitter to share his strange find with the internet.Soon, the snark was flowing. One reporter, for example, asked how things were progressing in trade talks between the U.S. and a fictional city from another . "Where are things at on negotiations with Agrabah?" they asked. As it turns out, no one within the USDA actually believes that Wakanda is a real place. Rather, as USDA spokesman Mike Illenberg explained, Wakanda's entry was added to the system as part of a testing process and it never got removed. "The Wakanda information should have been removed after testing and has now been taken down," he said. For those unfamiliar with the origins of Wakanda, it first appeared in a Marvel comic in the 1960s as the fictional home of the superhero Black Panther. In its portrayal in the MCU, Wakanda is actually a wealthy and technologically-advanced nation that had hidden itself from the rest of the world for years, instead using cloaking technology to portray itself as economically and technologically depressed.
A town is getting rid of its traditional "possum drop" New Year's Eve tradition, possibly due to complaints from animal-rights activists, reports. In cities across the country, the New Year will be rung in with an object being ceremonially "dropped" as the clock counts down. New York City's Times Square has its famous "ball-drop," for example. And this year in Nashville, a musical note strung with LED lights will ceremonially drop. Back in 1990, Brasstown, resident Clay Logan realized that his neighbors didn't have anything to drop to ring in the new year. What Brasstown does have, however, is plenty of possums. He put two and two together, and soon enough, Brasstown was welcoming the new year with the "possum drop." The tradition continued in Brasstown until 2018 when Logan realized he could no longer manage the event. It migrated over to nearby Andrews. At this point, it bears noting that the phrase "possum drop" doesn't tell the whole story. No animals were ever "dropped" in the sense of being let go of in order to fall. Rather, the animal, in a cage, was safely and slowly lowered. But the phrase "New Year's Eve slowly lowering of a possum safely in a cage" doesn't exactly tickle the ear, so the event was always referred to, via verbal shorthand, as a "possum drop."Indeed, the misleading name may have given the wrong idea, says Emily Malin, a town administrator for nearby Andrews. One such rumor was that a live animal was thrown from the roof of a building. "There were a lot of untruths being spread about us being cruel to the animals. It isn't true," she said. The fact that the animal was safely lowered in a cage aside, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wasn't having it. The animal-rights organization lobbied for years to have the tradition discontinued, and Malin says that the tradition is now over, for good. In a statement, PETA lawyer Martina Bernstein said that it was time for the tradition to go. "It took years of lawsuits by PETA and appeals to state officials by concerned citizens, but 'Possum Drop' organizers may finally be leaving opossums in peace and ringing in the new decade in a compassionate way," she said. Back in Andrews, there will still be a town New Year's Eve celebration, just without the possum drop. Instead, there will be a beauty pageant (without women) and a wrestling match. "As long as we have some kind of event going on, people are happy," Malin said.
The Navy pilot who filmed a possible is speaking out about the event, emphasizing that what he saw seemed to defy the natural laws of physics. Though the incident happened 15 years ago, Chad Underwood still recalls the sighting as if it were yesterday. At the time, the video of the aircraft caused national headlines, and the erratic, alleged UFO was give the name the "Tic Tac," which Underwood coined, according to the . Underwood reportedly declined to speak out previously due to the fear that his name would be associated with tinfoil hat theories about aliens. However, he has decided to shed light on his experience, especially since the object remains a mystery. The incident happened on November 10, 2004, when a radar operator reported a number of odd and slow-moving objects off San Clemente Island, close to San Diego. There were between five and ten of them in total. The objects were at an altitude too high to be birds and were moving at a pace that made them too slow to be aircraft. Moreover, they did not seem to be on a flight path. Instead, they were moving erratically. In a military report, Day would later describe the objects as having "exhibited ballistic-missile characteristics."Scientists and military researchers took spent weeks trying to figure out what could be a cause for the mystery. Finally, Dave Fravor, commanding officer of the Black Aces, made visual confirmation of the radar mystery. Underwood was scheduled for the second flight, and Fravor reportedly warned him to be on the lookout. "That day," Underwood said, "Dave Fravor was like, 'Hey, dude. BOLO.' Like, be on the lookout for just something weird." Underwood ended up coming across a 40-foot-long, white, oblong shape -- and it was captured on film that eventually made its way to the front page of the New York Times. Underwood said it was unnerving how the alleged UFO seemed to defy the natural laws of physics. "The thing that stood out to me the most was how erratic it was behaving. And what I mean by 'erratic' is that its changes in altitude, air speed, and aspect were just unlike things that I've ever encountered before flying against other air targets. It was just behaving in ways that aren't physically normal... It was going from like 50,000 feet to, you know, a hundred feet in like seconds, which is not possible." Underwood added that two other odd things that he noticed were that it managed not to create a sonic boom and that it did not have any exhaust. "Debriefs were usually pro forma in the CVIC, but this one in particular was so odd," said a former pilot who was in the Carrier Vehicle Intelligence Center when they first went through the video. The pilot spoke on the condition of anonymity. "There weren't really a lot of skeptics in that room." The interview with Underwood comes as the media has renewed its interested in alleged UFO sightings. A little over a month ago, Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed that the United States government had evidence of an alien "wreckage," as previously reported by .
resident Jérémy Schalkwijk and his new girlfriend, Athina Yalias, received quite the shock when they walked near his pond and discovered a giant nursery web spider sinking its teeth into Jérémy's pet goldfish, Cleo, reports . Jérémy, who happens to be a tour guide, managed to whip out his camera just in time to watch the bizarre incident take place. It was too late to save Cleo, but he took several pictures of the spider in the midst of its attack. Not only did it yank Cleo out of the pond, but it also dragged the helpless fish upwards along a concrete wall. The fish was almost two times the size of the spider. Both Jérémy and Athina were shocked by what they witnessed. The incident occurred in Barberton, South Africa. Athina and the 33-year-old tour guide were on their second date."When we came back out both animals were nowhere to be found. We have a pond with goldfish and I just wanted to show her the fish, then I saw this. I could see the spider catching the fish and it had taken it out of the water."What surprised Jérémy the most was the spider's flexibility since it carted the sizable fish up a wall with no branches or anything else to balance its weight. According to him, his girlfriend wasn't scared so much as she was impressed. He told reporters that she "isn't a real bush woman" and therefore not used to seeing strange animal encounters like the one mentioned above. People on social media were fascinated by the . Some folks thought the goldfish's owner acted rather cruelly since he abandoned his pet to the predator so he could grab a camera. However, others pointed out that there was likely little he could have done to prevent the inevitable once the spider got its fangs into poor Cleo. It likely injected the fish immediately and from that point, it would have died regardless of what Jérémy did. Other users joked that the spider was simply saving a goldfish from drowning. "And this is why every spider needs to die! God I hate them things," wrote one person. "[T]he way it was written i thought the dude was eating the pet goldfish for dinner and the spider took it off the plate," said a second confused user. "Apparently, spiders like sushi too," teased a third person.