This is a list of weird, wacky, and other unusual stories that we found around the web. It is for April, 2022.
It’s that time of month to read weird and funny news stories. Read them now, or Will Smith will find you and slap you.
Easter Bunny Arrested After Assaulting a Police Officer
Looks like the delivery of the Easter Eggs were delayed this year. This after police arrested the Easter Bunny:
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — A man who works as the Easter Bunny at St. Clair Square Mall is accused of assaulting a Fairview Heights police officer Thursday night.
Police said the man assaulted the female officer and then ran through the mall around 7:00 p.m. Thursday. When officers caught up with him, they believed he was a threat and tased him to make an arrest.
The man, whose name was not released, was dressed in a bunny costume earlier that day. However, he was not wearing it during the altercation.
Hey, at least I didn’t talk about the economic factors that might take some spring out of the Easter Bunny’s step this year.
That’s One Way to Get Students to Get the COVID-19 Booster Shot
Some people just won’t do their part to protect society. So, one school decided on a brand new program to encourage people to get the shot. Their plan was to threaten the students with dial up Internet access if they don’t get the shot or don’t provide a valid reason why they should be exempt. Let’s just say that the program was a roaring success:
Emory University has launched a program to limit internet access by students who have refused to get a COVID-19 booster shot, the school said.
The program is designed to encourage students to get a COVID-19 booster shot. The school’s policy requires students and faculty to have a COVID-19 vaccination and a booster shot.
Students who have not gotten three vaccinations were notified in February that their internet access would be limited, or the speed slowed if they did not either show they had the booster or had requested an exemption from getting the shot.
About 1,300 students had their Wi-Fi restricted around the week of March 14.
The executive director of Emory’s COVID-19 response and recovery, Amir St. Clair, told the Emory Wheel that about half the students who had not had the booster then got it or requested an exemption after the program began.
‘The Wi-Fi restrictions were a valuable compliance measure to help promote participation,” St. Clair said. “Our hope is that it will continue to have an impact.”
Can’t knock an idea like that if it works!
£80 Million Renovation Undone After Scaffolding Smashes Into Big Ben
It took a lot of time and money, but Big Ben has finally been renovated. So, naturally, a piece of scaffolding had to smash into it to, well, undo some of the work:
Passerby Sarah Haynes shot the eye-opening moment of impact on her smartphone on 2 April, which shows the pristine clock tower being struck by the piece of scaffolding amid strong winds in Central London.
“We could see they were trying to remove this massive piece of scaffolding. [It] kept hitting the building which has just been renovated for millions,” she claimed.
“It hit the tower and we didn’t see anything fall but it made quite a thump.”
The new clock tower, in all of its golden glory, was only revealed to the public last month following five years of restoration work.
I’m getting a Murphy’s Law vibe from this.
For Just $10,000, You Too Can Hire a Professional Baby Namer
Ever have those moments where you feel like you are in the wrong profession? A professional baby namer is allegedly racking up huge amounts of cash for naming the children of expecting parents:
More money than sense?
Expectant parents are paying upward of $1,500 to a “professional baby namer” who picks the perfect moniker for their child.
Taylor A. Humphrey, 33, helped name more than 100 babies in 2020, raking in more than $150,000 from cashed-up couples.
Some panicked parents are even turning over an eye-popping $10,000 so that Humphrey can help them settle on an impeccable name for their offspring.
“If you look at the most popular baby names, it’s such a telltale sign of our cultural values and our aspirations,” Humphrey told The New Yorker in a profile published Monday.
The New York businesswoman — who does not have any children — bills herself as a “passionate writer and storyteller” who is “adept at branding, marketing and social media.”
Parents everywhere heard say, “How about ‘no’. Does ‘no’ work for you?”
Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One: Thieves Steal a 550 Ton Bridge…
Apparently, they really did have a bridge to sell you. Thieves in India successfully stole a 550 ton bridge, presumably to sell for scrap:
A gang of thieves stole a 60-foot long, 550-ton bridge in northeastern India for its lucrative scrap value, according to the Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI).
Police have arrested eight men, including two government employees, a police official said, per ANI.
Bihar |60-feet long-abandoned steel bridge stolen by thieves in Rohtas district
Villagers informed some people pretending as mechanical dept officials uprooted bridge using machines like JCB & gas-cutters. We've filed the FIR:Arshad Kamal Shamshi, Junior Engineer,Irrigation dept pic.twitter.com/o4ZWVDkWie
— ANI (@ANI) April 9, 2022
“We have arrested eight persons, including an SDO (subdivisional officer) of the water resources department, in connection with the theft of the bridge,” said Rohtas’s police superintendent Ashish Bharti, per ANI.
“The thieves stole the bridge in connivance with the SDO. We have recovered one JCB, stolen iron channels weighing about 247 kg, and other material,” Bharti continued.
I obviously don’t condone theft, but a part of me can’t help but be impressed by the idea that someone could successfully steal a bridge like that.
Reminder: There is an “Out” in “In-N-Out Burger”
The name “In-N_Out Burger” is often a good start to laughing at an article. Throw in a driver who couldn’t get back out? Well, that stuff pretty much writes itself:
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — A suspected drunk driver hit an In-N-Out Burger sign and just missed the drive-thru lane, according to Grants Pass Police.
Officers were called to the fast-food restaurant just before 1:45 a.m. Friday morning.
Police said the driver, Raul Ortiz, was arrested for suspicion of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants.
Of course alcohol was a factor, why not?
Airport Evacuated, Bomb Squad Called Because of Playstation
Yes, there is a logical explanation to that word salad of a headline:
Passengers at Boston Logan International Airport faced confusion, panic and delays on Easter Sunday after concerns over a suspicious package sparked an evacuation and a visit from the state police bomb squad.
In a statement Sunday, Massachusetts State Police said their bomb squad had been called to Terminal A just after 4 p.m. after security staff spotted a suspicious item in a bag during a screening of checked luggage.
In video shared on social media, dozens of people can be seen appearing to exit the terminal as an airport employee’s voice tells everyone to leave through a secure checkpoint to be rescreened by Transportation Security Administration agents.
In the end, police said the suspicious item turned out to be a PlayStation video game console.
They said the console was in a degraded condition caused by either age or damage. They said its condition had caused abnormalities in imaging when it was X-rayed, sparking concerns.
Troopers gave the all-clear shortly after 5 p.m., allowing passengers to return to the terminal, state police said.
In retrospect, maybe that might not have been the best thing add to the checked in luggage.
When Police Ask You for Your License and Registration, Don’t Hand the Officer Crystal Meth
I was about to ask what that person was on, but I think I already know:
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — Two men have been charged after officers found drugs during a traffic stop in Bridgeport.
On April 17, officers with the Bridgeport Police Department were conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle for improper registration while at mile marker 125 on I-79, according to a criminal complaint.
Officers spoke with the vehicle’s driver, Roy Porter, 57, who handed officers a packet that they thought was the registration of the vehicle, however, a small plastic bag fell out, officers said.
Inside the bag, were “a couple pieces of crystal-like substance,” and officers led a K9 unit around the area of the vehicle to perform a free-air sniff which resulted in a positive indication, according to the complaint.
Porter was found to be in possession of 4 grams of meth, and a passenger in the vehicle, Jared Mayle, 21, of Salem, had 220 grams of meth, officers said
It’s soooo easy to confuse your license with crystal meth, amirite?
Family Loses Thousands in Emotional Support Monkey Scam
Apparently, emotional support monkey scams are real:
After years of waiting, Kaylaw Prado thought she’d finally be getting the emotional support animal of her dreams. Instead, thousands of dollars later, she says, it all turned out to be a scam.
Prado, 30, and her family, who live in Scugog, Ont. about 70 kilometres northeast of Toronto, had been looking to get capuchin monkeys.
The hope was that the animals would be a positive influence on her partner’s 36-year-old brother, who has Down syndrome and other health problems. They hoped Prado’s five-year-old daughter, who lost two fingers in a lawnmower accident in 2020, would benefit too.
So when they looked online in late March and found Universal Chimp Farms, allegedly based in the United States, they were thrilled. Prado says the seller agreed to send two monkeys by April 6 once the family had paid about $1,500 for each animal.
But they soon realized they were being conned, she says.
… what am I reading?
SUVs: Great for Some Things, but Crossing Bridges Under Construction Not One of Them
At the best of times, driving through a construction zone, despite the warning signs, is usually a bad idea. Throw in some alcohol, well, that makes things much worse:
GREENFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – A driver is facing charges after a crash Tuesday morning in Greenfield.
Greenfield Police said that officers were called to the General Pierce Bridge around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday after an SUV that was heading from Montague to Greenfield crashed through road closure barricades.
The vehicle then continued to drive over the bridge, which is under construction, until it fell onto some exposed I-beams and came to a stop.
The driver was taken to Baystate Franklin Medical Center and has been charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and other civil infractions. No other injuries were reported.
Judging by the picture, you can add that to the list of things that might have been pulled off had the driver been sober.
Yes, Snakes are Coming Out of Hibernation… and are Apparently Available At Walmart
There are many things that are on sale at Walmart. Pythons… are apparently one of those things:
Some shoppers in Indiana were in for a slithery surprise during their recent trip to Walmart.
They ran into a python who was hanging out on one of the store shelves!
Animal Control took the snake to a shelter, where they named him Wolverine.
Now he’s looking for a forever home.
Something tells me that the store manager didn’t plan on selling pythons.
They Wanted to Understand the Wildfires. Their Drone Crash Gave Them a First Hand Look At One
Some researchers from the University of Colorado wanted to have a better understanding of the local wild fires. So, it made sense for them to use a drone to get some footage of the land to get a clearer picture of what is going on. Unfortunately, the drone crashed, ironically sparking a wildfire:
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — A drone crash sparked the wildfire that burned 52 acres and forced evacuations Wednesday afternoon in Boulder County, the sheriff’s office said.
No structures were lost and no injuries were reported in the Table Mountain Fire, which started just before 3 p.m. in the area of the 5000-block of Nelson Road, which is west of Longmont.
More than 300 people were forced to evacuate due to the fire. The evacuation order was lifted at about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that three researchers associated with the University of Colorado’s aerospace engineering department were at the Table Mountain Radio Quiet Zone using a drone to conduct severe weather studies.
The drone crashed, causing its lithium-ion battery cell to come out and catch fire, the sheriff’s office said.
The crew used a fire extinguisher, but due to the high winds, they were unable to stop the grass fire before it spread.
So, the lesson is, drone’s cause wildfires?
Signs Warning of Consequences of Distracted Driving Causes Distracted Driving
It sounded like a good idea at first at least. Put up warning signs showing the dangers of distracted driving. To drive home the point, maybe include the death toll of distracted driving. Unfortunately, it appears that the signs warning drivers about the dangers of distracted driving are apparently causing drivers to get distracted:
Many states commonly display highway death toll message boards as part of awareness campaigns. However, they’re actually causing more crashes, according to a new study.
New research from the University of Minnesota and the University of Toronto found that the message boards not only cause more crashes but the higher the number in the message, the more crashes it causes.
According to the U of M, the study focused on Texas. Officials would display a death toll message one week per month and examined the weekly differences from before the campaign (January 2010 through July 2012) to during the campaign (August 2012 through December 2017).
The study found the weeks with fatality messages had more crashes than weeks without them, with a 4.5% increase found within the 10 km of the message boards. The researchers say that’s a comparable increase to raising the speed limit 3-5 mph or reducing troopers by 6-14%.
Is… is that a fail?
Ferrari’s are Expensive… and Functional Brakes are Apparently an Optional Extra
You’d think that if you dropped enough dough to buy a Ferrari, the brakes would work properly, right?
Shares in Ferrari NV tumbled the most in more than two weeks after the luxury sports carmaker confirmed it will recall thousands of supercars due to problems with their braking system.
“Vehicles involved in this recall campaign are equipped with a brake reservoir fluid cap that may not vent properly, thereby potentially creating vacuum inside the brake fluid reservoir,” Maranello, Italy-based Ferrari said in a statement. The recall involves some of the carmaker’s 458 and 488 vehicles.
While Ferrari didn’t provide details on the total number of cars involved globally, it’s recalling 2,222 vehicles in China alone, warning owners of possible problems with brakes.
A China recall of that magnitude would amount to nearly every vehicle Ferrari sold in the country from 2018 through March of this year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data.
Ferrari said that it identified the problem working along with supplier Robert Bosch GmbH.
Sheesh, customers can be so finicky sometimes. Don’t they know you have to pay extra for functional brakes?
When You’re Overqualified for the Job
Just for the heck of it. The video speaks for itself:
For a real fun time sink, check out the reaction videos of that one too. You’re welcome.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
