Ten things which raised an eyebrow this week
Ten things which raised an eyebrow this week
EP brings you a brief round-up of some of the news items which were perhaps as surprising as they were enlightening
- The Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is "Word Puzzle Town", Benedict Cumberbatch is "Curly Fu", and The Mall is "Princess Road" - that's according to a charming video of (potential) Chinese visitors to the UK who were recorded renaming famous British landmarks and people as part of the "Great Names for Great Britain" campaign promoting tourism to the UK in China
- Using big data, mobile technology, wireless sensor networks and cloud computing, a team at University College Cork, Ireland have created an energy-neutral smart beehive in an internationally recognised effort highlighting the plight of the humble bumble bee, winning the prestigious IEEE/IBM Smarter Planet Challenge 2014 along the way
- Captured on video slamming frozen meat into the pavement (supposedly to defrost it!) a "chef" at Lucky River Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco brings a whole new meaning to the term "street food"
- Save those batteries! An IBM research study has noted that 70% of the 50 million lithium-ion laptop batteries discarded each year still contain enough power to keep an LED light on more than four hours a day for a year
- In South Africa 29-year-old Jacques van der Sandt found out the hard way that golf can be as lethal as it can be relaxing when he was killed by a crocodile while retrieving balls from a dam!
- "The beach is too sandy", "The view is OK if you like views" and "I found a cat's paw in the pillow case!" are included in a list of "The Funniest 1* ratings ever posted on TripAdvisor"
- Though there haven't been any students taught at Llanfynydd VA Primary School in Carmarthenshire since September, the school must remain open due to what locals have called "frustrating red tape" awaiting a vote by Councillors in January
- While brought into law in 2011, it has only recently come to light that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has outlawed citizens with the same name as him as he seemingly believes it's too "confusing" for there to be more than one person with the same name!
- GOOD DEED FEED! In America, after responding to a little girl's 911 call, distraught because her family couldn't afford a Christmas Tree this year, 2 police officers returned to the home with a full haul of Festive Decorations including a tree, stand, lights, baubles and gifts!
- That's just not funny! Suffering a "momentary lapse of reason", 60 year old Venezuelan Dr. Manuel Alvarado made a terrible "joke" about carrying C-4 explosives in his luggage while passing through security at Miami International Airport. The ill-timed quip resulted in a forced evacuation of the building and a penalty fine of $89,172 for the medicine man!
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