On June 6, when Farida, 50, went missing from her village in South Sulawesi province in Indonesia, her husband and other residents started searching for her -- but found only her belongings, the Daily Mail reported. They did, however, spot a "python with a large belly," village leader Suardi Rosi said. "They agreed to cut open the python's stomach. As soon as they did, Farida's head was immediately visible," he said. She was found fully clothed inside the python, which was about 20 feet long. Farida's husband, Noni, 55, lamented her fate: "I am forever sorry that I let my wife go out alone. If I had been with her that day, the snake would not have dared to touch her." Farida was taken away for a religious burial. [Daily Mail, 6/8/2024]

Perspective

Real estate developer Sekisui House in Osaka, Japan, has announced that it will demolish a nearly completed new condominium building in Kunitachi, Tokyo Prefecture, because the structure is blocking neighbors' view of Mount Fuji. United Press International reported that the 10-story building was just weeks away from opening to new residents. "We were aware of the culture that values scenery, but we failed to consider it adequately," the company said. People who had bought condos will be compensated financially, they said. [UPI, 6/11/2024]

Animal Antics

Paisley Toten, 2, was riding in a pickup bed through the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas, on June 1 with her parents when their interaction with the animals took an unexpected turn, the Associated Press reported. The family stopped their truck to feed a giraffe, but the giraffe nibbled instead on Paisley's shirt, lifting her several feet into the air. When Paisley's mom shouted, the giraffe dropped the toddler into her mother's arms, leaving her unhurt. After the incident, the park changed its rules to disallow riding in an open truck bed. Paisley got a stuffed giraffe from the gift shop for her trouble. [AP, 6/6/2024]

End of an Era

If your July 4 traditions include watching Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition, steel yourself: Joey Chestnut is out. The contest in Coney Island has taken place since 1916, and Chestnut has prevailed a total of 16 times, and every year since 2016, the New York Post reported. His record, set in 2021, was 76 dogs and buns. Sadly, Chestnut won't compete this year. Major League Eating (MLE), which runs the event for Nathan's, said Chestnut's recent deal with Impossible Foods to rep their vegan dogs was beyond the pale. "He's the Michael Jordan of competitive eating," a source said. "But imagine if Michael Jordan said to Nike, 'I love being the face of Nike, but I want to do commercials for Adidas, too.'" MLE commented, "It seems that Joey and his managers have prioritized a new partnership with a different brand over our longtime relationship." [NY Post, 6/11/2024]

Bright Ideas

-- The ancient statues at China's Yungang Buddhist Grottoes have taken a back seat to a new installation: Timers installed above a row of toilet stalls in the women's restroom show whether the cubicle is occupied and, more controversially, how long the door has been locked. CNN Travel reported that the timers were installed to help mitigate the increased number of visitors: "We aren't setting a time limit ... It's impossible that we would kick someone out midway." But one user said, "I found it a little embarrassing. It felt like I was being monitored." [CNN Travel, 6/12/2024]

-- On June 5, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ex-mayor Cesar Maia, 78, took a seat to join a Zoom meeting of the city councilors, the Daily Mail reported. Unfortunately, his seat was the toilet, and he was caught with his pants down on the video feed. Maia quickly brought his computer closer to his face, but his fellow councilors couldn't control their reactions. Pablo Mello, who was leading the meeting, is shown on the feed laughing into his hand before he asked Maia to "turn off the camera, please." [Daily Mail, 6/7/2024]

Crime Report

The Golden State Water Company in Los Angeles is installing locked shields over fire hydrants in some neighborhoods in response to a surge in thefts, CBS News reported on June 3. The company said the thefts happen daily; because the hydrants are made of iron and brass, company officials think they're being sold as scrap metal on the black market. Replacements cost $3,500 a piece; so far, the company has lost $1.2 million. "It's mind-boggling that someone would just come into a neighborhood and steal a fire hydrant," said resident Krystail Cousins. "You're now putting a whole neighborhood in danger." [CBS News, 6/3/2024]

Least Competent Criminals

-- Christy Turman, 37, called 911 to let the Lee County (Florida) Sheriff's office know that she was trying to steal a car from a dealership, WFLA-TV reported on June 6. "I'm trying to steal a car that's not legally mine," she said on the call. "So y'all better come make a report." Sure enough, when deputies arrived, they found her getting out of a stolen Toyota Corolla. Turman said she was training in a game of Black Ops to nick the car, but she called authorities so it'd be legal. Joke's on her: She was arrested on trespassing charges. [WFLA, 6/6/2024]

-- Thanks to tracking devices in two Lamborghinis, a couple of car thieves are now in custody in Wyoming, KDVR-TV reported on June 12. The two supercars were stolen in Salt Lake City and headed east on I-80, where Wyoming State Patrol officers tracked them near Rawlins. When troopers caught up to them, one of the vehicles was going over 100 mph; both drivers were taken into custody. [KDVR, 6/12/2024]

That Rule Doesn't Apply to Me

At Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee, squeezable fruit snack pouches are prohibited inside the zoo, NBC News reported. Nonetheless, on June 8, Lief, a 7-year-old sitatunga antelope, choked to death on the plastic cap from a snack pouch. Lief "still had a lot of life to live," the zoo said in a statement. In fact, sitatunga antelopes live about 22 years in captivity, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo. "Some ask why we don't allow squeezable pouches in the zoo," zookeepers posted on Facebook. "The reason is simple -- the packaging is dangerous to our animals." [NBC News, 6/12/2024]

The Aristocrats

According to the Surfrider Foundation, a water quality nonprofit that tests beaches around the country, Mecox Bay in Southampton, New York, has some of the worst fecal matter levels in the United States. The New York Post reported that the beach, surrounded by multimillion-dollar homes, has dangerous levels of enterococcus, an intestinal pathogen. Residents say that the bay there collects a lot of the runoff from businesses, farms and homes in the area. Along with old septic systems and cesspools, a heavy rain can mean a lot of human waste filtering into the popular beach. Scott Horowitz, president of the Southampton Town Trustees, said they would fight to keep Mecox Beach safe. "It's sad to see that you have areas that are absolutely magnificent and at times they're regarded as public health hazards," he said. [NY Post, 6/12/2024]

Headed to Arizona this summer? (I mean, who isn't?) Motor on over to Williams and drop into the Poozeum, the new permanent location for George Frandsen's extensive coprolite collection. (Coprolite, in case you didn't know, is fossilized animal feces, United Press International reported.) Frandsen earned a Guinness World Record in 2015 with his collection of 1,277 fossils -- but now, the Poozeum is the permanent home of 8,000 specimens. "Several years ago, I noticed a glaring absence of coprolite representation in mainstream sources and museum exhibits," Frandsen said. "The world's premier dinosaur poop museum" offers free admission -- but don't bypass the gift shop! [UPI, 6/3/2024]

Questionable Judgment

At a McDonald's restaurant in Booval, Queensland, Australia, a customer caught an employee using a french fry heat lamp to dry a dirty mop head, Yahoo! News reported on May 20. The customer said the mop had just been used to mop the floors; she heard another employee say, "I don't think you should be doing that as it could be a safety issue as it can catch on fire," but the first worker just "laughed it off." A spokesperson for McDonald's Australia called it an "isolated incident" and said the staff had undergone "retraining" on food safety procedures. [Yahoo! News, 5/20/2024]

Awesome!

As a 32-year-old man and his 66-year-old father argued on May 28 in Commerce City, Colorado, the father allegedly shot several times at the son, CNN reported. The father was believed to be intoxicated. While his aim was right on, a fluke saved the younger man's life: A .22-caliber bullet lodged in the 10-millimeter-wide silver chain link necklace he was wearing at his throat. The victim escaped with just a puncture wound; his dad is charged with first-degree attempted murder. [CNN, 6/4/2024]

Oops!

-- The website for the Republican National Convention features a photo of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the convention will be held starting on July 15, on each of it pages. At least, it was supposed to. On June 4, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the website section called "News and Updates" highlighted a photo of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam -- not Milwaukee. According to an internet archive, the errant photo had been in place on the page since February. The RNC declined to comment. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/5/2024]

-- The South China Morning Post reported on May 27 that a 26-year-old man from Naringgul, Indonesia, was hoodwinked into marriage after dating his "wife," Kanza, 26, for a year. Just 12 days into their union, the man, who goes by AK, became suspicious when his bride continued to wear her headscarf at home and avoided intimacy. After doing a little sleuthing, AK discovered that Kanza was actually a man who had been cross-dressing since 2020. The scoundrel later told authorities that he married AK to steal his family's assets. He was arrested and could face four years in prison. [South China Morning Post, 5/27/2024]

Weird Science

Scientists in Japan are at it again, Oddity Central reported on May 31. The Japanese tech company Kirin Holdings has released the new Elecispoon, a metal-and-plastic, battery-powered spoon that will improve human taste buds' perception of salt, thereby allowing them to use less salt in their foods. Overconsumption of salt is a health issue in Japan. The tip of the spoon's bowl transfers an electric charge to the food it touches and generates an electric field around the tongue, which causes sodium ions to bond together. The spoon, which sells for $128, has four intensity settings. [Oddity Central, 5/31/2024]

Um ...

Neighbors in Palm Beach Country Estates in Florida are upset about the noise levels they're enduring from I-95 and the Florida Turnpike, which run side by side through the area, WPTV reported on June 5. Resident Greta Foriere, who lives two houses from the turnpike, said it's like being tortured 24 hours a day: "You can't go outside." She and other neighbors are lobbying for a sound wall to muffle the noise, which she has recorded as reaching 146 decibels. Neighbor Gary Johnson said he wouldn't have bought his house if he'd known about the noise level. Fun fact: The highways have been in place for 60 years. [WPTV, 6/5/2024]

Crime Report

Six Bricks & Minifigs stores across southern California have been targeted by Lego thieves, the Los Angeles Times reported on June 5. The popular figurines lifted from the Lego resellers amount to about $100,000 worth of merchandise. Katie Leuschner, who owns the store in Whittier, said that on May 3, burglars broke glass to enter the store, then filled trash bags with the booty. "They're not stealing big box sets," she said. "They're stealing minifigures, and those individual guys go for $500 to $600 apiece, so they're easily stolen and resold for a quick profit." Other cities have been hit, too, by what one website calls a black market for Lego items. Leuschner and other owners are modifying their storefronts to be less vulnerable to the thieves. [LA Times, 6/5/2024]

Recurring Theme

Constance Glantz, 74, was receiving hospice care at a Waverly, Nebraska, nursing home when she seemed to pass away on June 3, The New York Times reported. The nursing home contacted the funeral home, and she was transported there. But as a mortician began the process of preparing her for burial, they discovered she was still breathing. Paramedics were called, and Glantz was taken to the hospital, where she actually died later the same day. "This is a very unusual case," said Chief Deputy Ben Houchin noted. "At this point, we have not been able to find any criminal intent by the nursing home, but the investigation is ongoing." [NY Times, 6/3/2024]

Ewwwww!

A woman named Cheyenne called in to a radio show in Australia on May 28 and dropped a whopper of a confession, the New York Post reported. "So my nan passed away in August last year and got cremated," Cheyenne began. "I went over to my mom's one night and thought to cheer her up a bit ... 'Let's just taste Nan.'" The caller went on to say that her brother, who had been in prison, was recently released and as a "welcome home" dinner, she made him pasta with sauce -- alla Nan. "I thought it would be funny to prank him ... and I put some of Nan's ashes in the pasta sauce." Cheyenne said she has a "weird addiction" to the ashes and believes they help connect her with her late granny. "Nan will live on through me forever," she said. Bon appetit. [NY Post, 5/28/2024]

A Three-Hour Tour

If you thought quicksand only appeared in old episodes of "Gilligan's Island," think again. Jamie Acord, 47, and her husband, Patrick, were touring Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg, Maine, on June 1 when Jamie fell behind, the Portland Press Herald reported. "All of a sudden I was hip-deep in a wet slurry of sand," she said. "I couldn't feel the bottom and I couldn't get a footing." When Patrick looked back, he thought she was kneeling, but she couldn't extract herself. After he pulled her out, she said, "I turned around and the hole was gone." Maine state officials say patches of quicksand are startling but not really life-threatening, but just in case, they plan to install warning signs that will help visitors know what to do if they find themselves stuck. Scientists say quicksand is denser than the human body, so the upper torso will remain buoyant at the surface. But tell that to Jamie. "I'm just glad I wasn't alone," she said. [Portland Press Herald, 6/6/2024]

Corey Harris, 44, attended his pre-trial hearing on driving with a suspended license remotely, over Zoom, on May 15, The New York Times reported. No problem with that, but as Harris checked into the meeting with the Washtenaw County District Court in Michigan, he told the judge, "I'm pulling into my doctor's office, actually, so just give me one second, I'm parking right now." Huh. Video showed Harris in the driver's seat and turning the wheel as he located a parking spot. "So maybe I don't understand something," Judge J. Cedric Simpson said. "This is a driver with a license suspended?" Harris' attorney, Natalie Pate, confirmed the charge. "And he was just driving?" Simpson asked. Seconds of silence went by, with Harris appearing to realize his mistake. "That is correct, your honor," Pate said. "I don't know why he would do that," the judge answered, right before he revoked Harris' bond and ordered him to turn himself in by 6 p.m. His next hearing is on June 5. [New York Times, 5/29/2024]

Clothing Optional

A Virgin Australia flight headed for Melbourne had to return to Perth on May 27 after a man allegedly ran naked down the aisle shortly after takeoff, The Guardian reported. Police said the man also "knocked a crew member to the floor." One passenger reported "a lot of yelling and screaming" near the cockpit as the man charged forward. The man was pinned to the floor by air marshals; he was then handcuffed and led to the rear of the plane. Federal police met the aircraft on its return to Perth and arrested him. [The Guardian, 5/28/2024]

Enough Is Enough

-- Lopburi, Thailand, also known as monkey town, has had it up to HERE with about 2,500 marauding macaques terrorizing the townsfolk, the Associated Press reported. As such, on May 24, the town launched the first phase of a plan to catch and remove the monkeys: cages baited with rambutan fruit, their favorite. The problem? The simians are smart: "If some of them go into the cage and are caught, the others outside won't enter the cage ... because they've already learnt what's happened to their friends," said Patarapol Maneeorn from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Lopburi's mayor said that while the monkeys bring in tourists, shops and malls have lost income and people's homes have been damaged. Those that are caught will be sterilized and tattooed so they can be tracked. Then they'll move to large holding pens, where they'll await repatriation. [AP, 5/24/2024]

-- In Snettisham, Norfolk, in the U.K., it's feral chickens that are plaguing the town. The flock of 100 or so chickens dig up gardens and are so loud that residents have to use earplugs at night, United Press International reported. The Snettisham Parish Council said it is "seeking specialist advice from various sources," but some residents object to the idea of moving the chickens away. "They are part of the fabric of the village," said chicken supporter Rebecca Chilvers. The council invited residents to a meeting to air their opinions. [UPI, 5/28/2024]

Fan-atic

Tara Berry of Topeka, Kansas, has secured a Guinness World Record for the most tattoos of the same musician on her body, United Press International reported on May 23. Berry, who sports 18 tattoos of Madonna, said she got the first one in 2016. The inks span the singer's career. Berry estimated she's spent nearly $10,000 on them. [UPI, 5/23/2024]

RIP

The Smoking Gun reported on May 24 that the world's most arrested man, Henry Earl, 74, had passed away. Earl racked up more than 1,500 arrests in his lifetime and spent 6,000 nights in jail. Since 2017, he had lived in a nursing home in Owenton, Kentucky, near where his first arrest took place in July 1970 (for carrying a concealed weapon). Most of his offenses were fueled by alcohol and didn't include violent crimes. He was laid to rest in the Owenton cemetery. [The Smoking Gun, 5/24/2024]

Weird Warfare

The South Korean military announced on May 29 that it had found 260 balloons that had drifted across the demilitarized zone between it and North Korea, The New York Times reported. The balloons were carrying bags full of ... trash, such as cigarette butts, used shoes and compost. The bags were reportedly released according to timers attached to the balloons. "We issue a stern warning to North Korea to stop this anti-humanitarian and dirty operation," South Korea warned. But North Korea pledged to send more to exercise its "freedom of expression." [New York Times, 5/29/2024]

It's Nice To Have a Hobby

For 10 years, residents of North Enid Avenue in Azusa, California, have been putting up with a pesky nuisance: a serial slingshot shooter. The New York Times reported that people would find broken windows on their cars or homes and little ball bearings strewn about. "Many times I came outside, and I would find little BBs by the front door," said Monica Palomino. Finally, police have nabbed the vandal: 81-year-old Prince Raymond King, who also lives on the block. Azusa Police Cpl. Benjamin Cypher said several recent incidents had allowed them to narrow their search down to King's address, where they found the slingshot and ball bearings. "We're not aware of any kind of motive other than just malicious mischief," Lt. Jake Bushey said. King was ordered to stay away from his neighborhood and return to court on June 17. He pleaded not guilty. [New York Times, 5/29/2024]

Awesome!

-- Ulysses Whitfield, 85, retired this week from driving a school bus for Suffolk (Virginia) Public Schools, WAVY-TV reported. Over his 70-year career (yep, you read that right), he took only two half-days off. "During that time, students could drive," Whitfield said of the beginning of his career in 1954. He delivered students through changes in technology and racial upheaval, he said, "But it was smooth with me, though. I didn't have any problems with the kids at all. Respect the kids, and you will receive respect from them." Whitfield plans to come back part-time in the fall to train his replacement "to make sure the run is done nice and smooth, like I was doing it. I have good kids. I'm going to miss them, I know it." [WAVY, 5/30/2024]

-- This year's graduation at Arizona State University included a remarkable scholar: 18-year-old Dorothy Jean Tillman II of Chicago, who received her doctorate in integrated behavior health, The New York Times reported. Tillman started college when she was just 9 years old; by 14, she had a Master of Science degree. Tillman also started the Dorothy Jeanius STEAM Leadership Institute in Chicago to support Black youth interested in STEM and the arts. But this super-achiever also does teenage stuff: On May 22, she went to prom with her best friend, and she hopes to have a "fun teenage summer": "I want to focus on who I am," she said. [NY Times, 5/22/2024]

It's a Mystery

On May 18 in New Orleans, a fisher using a magnet pulled some mysterious objects from Bayou St. John, according to NOLA.com: a handgun, a gun barrel and a "fully decomposed human skull" that was padlocked to a 15-pound dumbbell. The New Orleans Police Department said the skull was "lacking a jaw or the top row of teeth." The department's dive team and cadaver dogs searched the area three days later but without success; the coroner said identifying the skull could take months. [NOLA.com, 5/28/2024