That’s Not How You Play
In a new twist on Ding Dong Ditch, German authorities have identified the culprit of late-night doorbell rings in Schwabach, Bavaria, United Press International reported on Sept. 9. Police were called to an apartment building where several residents complained of the unexpected doorbells, but they couldn’t see anyone on their front-door cameras. They suspected that kids were pranking them, but authorities discovered that a slug was crawling across a panel and triggering several doorbells in the process. Officers relocated the slug and declined to press charges.
The Neighbors
“Gorilla-obsessed” Adele Teale, 58, is battling the Wakefield, Yorkshire, council where she lives over a 4-foot-tall resin gorilla she installed on a second-story platform on the front of her house, the Daily Star reported. The “cherished” gorilla, named Caesar, has been deemed “out of character with the surrounding area” and “an obtrusive feature” by the council. “He’s nothing more than a garden ornament,” Teale said. “He is secure up there—he has been screwed and glued in place. I own the house, it’s mine, so surely I can have whatever I want outside to decorate it. Caesar makes me smile—he makes me happy.”
Wait, What?
Fox Business reported on Aug. 21 that a U.K. snack company launched corn chips this summer that taste like … licking a 9-volt battery. Apparently, this was a fad in the 1990s: getting an electric tingle by licking a battery. “Rewind now offers a snackable way to revisit one of the ’90s weirdest shared experiences—no batteries required,” the company said. A spokesperson said the chips deliver a “very hard-hitting acidic zing to the tongue, followed up by some salty metallic notes.” Oh, and by the way, “We do not recommend or condone licking, biting or otherwise ingesting real batteries,” the company clarified. For now, the chips are only available in Dutch retail outlets.
Inexplicable
Perhaps it was the stress of speaking in front of others. Perhaps it was just a call to a higher Michael Jackson. On Sept. 2 in Cranford, New Jersey, resident Will Thilly appeared at a town hall meeting to ask questions about a recent property tax hike, WABC-TV reported. But before he uttered a word, he performed a wordless robot dance, without music, and spun on the floor. Then he asked, “How was everyone’s weekend?” He went on to ask a few specific questions about taxes and school expenses, then gathered his papers from the podium and moonwalked back to his seat. Oh—and Thilly is a candidate for the Cranford township committee. “I hope to bring a friendly, stress-free way of our committee when dealing with the public,” he says on his website.
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