News of the Weird - this just in!

[Nereus]

We have these "Esssex Girls" type in Australia also. Not sure where they get the"drop toilet" from, as I have never seen any toilet that goes in any other direction!
.....................................................................................................................................

Aussie tourist's hilarious toilet request while visiting China

https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussie-touris ... 03499.html

Samantha Harrison was in Beijing with a friend when they realised they didn't know how to 'squat properly' to use the toilet.

Travelling to a new country can present many learning curves — but Aussie woman Samantha Harrison didn't expect to be shown how to use a toilet during her recent trip overseas.

The business owner from Queensland flew to China with a group last week, and while enjoying lunch in Beijing, found herself engaged in a "tutorial" on how best to use the nation's squat toilets, which are commonly found in many parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Harrison detailed the hilarious encounter to Yahoo News Australia from abroad, admitting the whole thing was "so funny" and "wholesome". She was with her friend using the bathroom at a restaurant when they realised "we don't know how to do it properly" without "getting backsplash".

Enough space wasted, read it at the link to see just how many other dill brains there are in this world!

[STEVE G]

Mussolini no longer honorary citizen of Ustica

The Sicilian island of Ustica on Friday stripped Benito Mussolini of the honorary citizenship of the island he was granted during his 20-year rule in Italy.
As well as the late Fascist dictator, also several Fascist 'gerarchi' or high officials were stripped of the honour.
https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2024/0 ... c0054.html

[Dannie Boy]

Best not to rush these decisions


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PeteC]

You know it's hot when.......

Extreme heat bends railway tracks

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... way-tracks (Photos)

Extremely hot weather warped rails in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, and it took railway workers about an hour to cool them down to make the tracks usable again, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) said on Wednesday.

The rail deformation was spotted between the Ron Phi Bun and Khao Chum Thong stations in Ron Phi Bun district of Nakhon Si Thammarat at 2.20pm on Tuesday, said Ekarat Sri-arayanpong, chief of the SRT governor's office.

Extremely hot weather at the time caused expansion and stress on rails and sleepers on a section of the rail line and the tracks were bent out of shape, he said.

SRT employees and rescue workers treated the bent tracks and hot concrete sleepers with cold water and ice and the tracks returned to their normal state in about an hour, Mr Ekarat said.

[STEVE G]

A Man Was Ordered to Build a Fence to Hide His Boat. He Asked an Artist to Paint the Boat on the Fence

There’s a new high water mark for passive aggressiveness in the visual arts—and the pun is intended.

When the town of Seaside, California ordered homeowner Etienne Constable to build a fence to conceal the boat in his driveway, he erected the fence all right. And then he hired his neighbor, artist Hanif Panni, to paint a mural on the fence—realistically depicting the boat itself. Call it passive-aggressive, call it malicious compliance, but in any event, call it hilarious.

“I’m not a rule-breaker but I like to make a political statement as necessary as well as a humorous statement and a creative statement,” Constable told NBC affiliate KSBW of Monterey Bay. The city had threatened a $100 fine if Constable didn’t comply, but, ironically, he ended up paying for more than that for the artist’s fee alone.

“It was his idea,” Hanif said in a phone interview. “There were Home Improvement-kind of moments, where we were chatting and joking about it, a ‘Wouldn’t that be hilarious?’ kind of thing. I think the more he got it ingrained in his head and brought it up a lot, the more I thought, ‘Yeah, that sounds great.’”
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/fence ... ni-2487875

[dtaai-maai]

Fascinating, thanks Steve. There's another interesting story on the same site https://news.artnet.com/art-world/doves ... ce-2454807

The depths of the river Thames in London hold many unexpected stories, gleaned from the recovery of prehistoric tools, Roman pottery, medieval jewelry, and much more besides. Yet the tale of the lost (and since recovered) Doves typeface is surely one of the most peculiar.

A little over a century ago, the printer T.J. Cobden-Sanderson took it upon himself to surreptitiously dump every piece of this carefully honed metal letterpress type into the river. It was an act of retribution against his business partner, Emery Walker, whom he believed was attempting to swindle him.