WEIRD NEWS
When You've Really Gotta Go!
We've all been there-you've really got to go... and there's no bathroom in sight. The situation apparently became dire for several passengers on board what would normally be a 6-hour Delta flight from New York City to Seattle Saturday night. After the plane's toilets stopped working, pilots were forced to make an unscheduled pit stop - or potty break - in Billings, Montana. The Boeing 757 had to divert roughly 200 miles as passengers just couldn't hold it. They apparently had to go so badly that when they found no gate available at Billings Logan International Airport the plane taxied to a cargo area. A rolling staircase was used to allow fliers in need to deplane quickly and "find relief of built-up pressures," per a Delta incident report. The flight landed in Billings about 30 minutes after the decision was made to head there, and didn't resume its journey for another three hours, making for a total delay of 3.5 hours. Because when you gotta go, you gotta go! (Billings Gazette)
Wanna Guess Where the World's Biggest Starbucks Is Now?
Hard to believe that the world's largest Starbucks is no longer in Seattle. Even harder to believe it's not even in America. Shanghai now boasts the biggest Starbucks in the world - an upmarket "Reserve Roastery" that, at 30,000 square feet, is more than 40 times bigger than the average apartment in the city. It's the first Reserve Roastery outside the US, and it's almost twice as big as the previous record holder, a Roastery that opened in Seattle in 2014. China is now Starbucks' second-biggest market, with around 3,000 outlets across the country, about 10% of the world's total. Howard Schultz, the chain's executive chairman, says the new store will blend Starbucks' expertise with China's "rich, diverse culture." The massive new Shanghai Starbucks includes numerous Chinese design touches, including a 90-foot coffee bar designed by a Chinese artist. There's also a high-tech augmented-reality app that will animate and explain equipment like roasters and casks when smartphones are pointed at them. For the record, Starbucks opens a new store in China every 15 hours and expects the country to become its biggest market with a decade. There are also plans to expand the Roastery concept to cities including New York and Tokyo. And your American pride won't have to suffer for too long. A Roastery set to open in Chicago in 2019 is expected to be even bigger than the Shanghai store. (CNN)
Win This Business!
If you've always wanted to own your own business, but just don't have the funds to get started-this may be your chance, provided you can write a decent essay. The owner of Simply Hydroponics and Organics, a hyrdoponic gardening store in Largo, Florida, is giving away his 25-year-old business to whoever writes the best, 250-word essay expressing why they're most worthy. The winner gets the building, the land, the website and the inventory, according to the company's Facebook page. The only catch is you have to include a $100 entry fee with each essay submission, but you can enter as many times as you want. Hydroponics refers to methods of growing plants without soil. Simply Hydroponics and Organics specializes in supplies and hydroponic gardening resources. The contest rules also state that the business also has a lucrative online customer base and their website gets more than 500,000 visits each year. The announcement reads: Owner Allan Bednar, 78, has "spent the last quarter century building something more than a business and now that he's ready to move into the next phase of his life, he wants to find an individual who'll be an amazing steward of what he's built." Bednar says, "I want to make sure our customers will still be taken care of in the same way. After all these years, many of them are like family and we feel the same about our staff. We've tried to create something that betters the community." Entries will be accepted through March 15, 2018, and the winner will be announced on April 2, 2018. That date was apparently changed from April 1 after several people questioned whether the contest was an April Fool's prank. (Tampa Bay Times)
Country Over Party
A modest $100 donation to Democrat Doug Jones is drawing a lot of attention in his Senate race against Roy Moore in Alabama. That's because the donation was made by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who is backing the opposite-party candidate in the crucial race. The Arizona senator tweeted an image of his donation check which included the words "Country Over Party" in the check's subject line. It's a major rebuke to the Republican National Committee and to President Trump for their recent support of Moore despite numerous allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls. (Al.com)
Another Child Dead at Hands of Irresponsible Gun Owner
Police in Anchorage, Alaska, say a 5-year-old boy rummaging through a nightstand drawer late at night found a loaded gun and wound up fatally shooting himself. Christian Johnnson died after midnight Tuesday while his parents were in other rooms of the house. A police spokesperson said the mother heard a gunshot, and "she walks into the bedroom and that's when she finds her son, who shot himself." It is, he adds, "a tragic reminder about gun safety and children." Police have found no evidence that drugs or alcohol played any role in the shooting, and the Anchorage District Attorney's Office has yet to decide whether any charges will be filed. (Anchorage Daily News)
Top Ten Retweets for 2017!
Twitter has released a list of the 10 most retweeted tweets of 2017, and you may be surprised that President Trump is nowhere on the list. However, his predecessor, President Barack Obama makes the list three times. But while the tweets run the gamet from humorous to profound-none could beat a teenager's attempt to score some Chicken McNuggets. Here are the top ten:
Carter Wilkerson: "HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS" (3.6 million retweets)
Barack Obama: "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." (1.7 million)
Penn State Intrafraternity Council: "With the current devastation in Houston, we are pledging $0.15 for every RT this gets! Please forward this along to help out those in need!" (1.2 million)
Ariana Grande: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words." (1.1 million)
Barack Obama: "Thank you for everything. My last ask is the same as my first. I'm asking you to believe -- not in my ability to create change, but in yours." (872,000)
Linkin Park: An image of Chester Bennington has been retweeted 787,000 times.
LeBron James: "U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!" (661,000)
Barack Obama: "It's been the honor of my life to serve you. You made me a better leader and a better man." (631,000)
Sam Martin (Detroit Lions punter): "Leo (a dog) and I are donating 6 lbs of dog food to Houston for every retweet this gets!!!! RT RT RT RT!!" (623,000)
Seth Joseph: "suicide hotline 1-800-273-8255 ... 1 person ends their life every 40 seconds ... will u take the time to retweet this & possibly save one of them?" (604,000)
(Twitter)
What the What?
In what has to be one of the most ironic stories of the year, an editor who specializes in the scandals of others is now learning what that feels like. Dylan Howard, the top editor for the National Enquirer, Us Weekly, and other major gossip publications is being accused of sexual harassment. The complaints coming in from former employees are that Howard openly described his sexual partners in the newsroom, discussed female employees' sex lives, and forced women to watch or listen to pornographic material. This all allegedly occurred while he was running American Media's Los Angeles office, according to men and women who worked there. Howard's self-proclaimed nickname was reportedly "Dildo," and his conduct led to an internal inquiry in 2012 by an outside consultant, and former employees said he stopped working out of the LA office after the inquiry. Howard quit soon after the report was completed, but the company rehired him one year later with a promotion that landed him in the company's main office in New York. (Newser)
We've all been there-you've really got to go... and there's no bathroom in sight. The situation apparently became dire for several passengers on board what would normally be a 6-hour Delta flight from New York City to Seattle Saturday night. After the plane's toilets stopped working, pilots were forced to make an unscheduled pit stop - or potty break - in Billings, Montana. The Boeing 757 had to divert roughly 200 miles as passengers just couldn't hold it. They apparently had to go so badly that when they found no gate available at Billings Logan International Airport the plane taxied to a cargo area. A rolling staircase was used to allow fliers in need to deplane quickly and "find relief of built-up pressures," per a Delta incident report. The flight landed in Billings about 30 minutes after the decision was made to head there, and didn't resume its journey for another three hours, making for a total delay of 3.5 hours. Because when you gotta go, you gotta go! (Billings Gazette)
Wanna Guess Where the World's Biggest Starbucks Is Now?
Hard to believe that the world's largest Starbucks is no longer in Seattle. Even harder to believe it's not even in America. Shanghai now boasts the biggest Starbucks in the world - an upmarket "Reserve Roastery" that, at 30,000 square feet, is more than 40 times bigger than the average apartment in the city. It's the first Reserve Roastery outside the US, and it's almost twice as big as the previous record holder, a Roastery that opened in Seattle in 2014. China is now Starbucks' second-biggest market, with around 3,000 outlets across the country, about 10% of the world's total. Howard Schultz, the chain's executive chairman, says the new store will blend Starbucks' expertise with China's "rich, diverse culture." The massive new Shanghai Starbucks includes numerous Chinese design touches, including a 90-foot coffee bar designed by a Chinese artist. There's also a high-tech augmented-reality app that will animate and explain equipment like roasters and casks when smartphones are pointed at them. For the record, Starbucks opens a new store in China every 15 hours and expects the country to become its biggest market with a decade. There are also plans to expand the Roastery concept to cities including New York and Tokyo. And your American pride won't have to suffer for too long. A Roastery set to open in Chicago in 2019 is expected to be even bigger than the Shanghai store. (CNN)
Win This Business!
If you've always wanted to own your own business, but just don't have the funds to get started-this may be your chance, provided you can write a decent essay. The owner of Simply Hydroponics and Organics, a hyrdoponic gardening store in Largo, Florida, is giving away his 25-year-old business to whoever writes the best, 250-word essay expressing why they're most worthy. The winner gets the building, the land, the website and the inventory, according to the company's Facebook page. The only catch is you have to include a $100 entry fee with each essay submission, but you can enter as many times as you want. Hydroponics refers to methods of growing plants without soil. Simply Hydroponics and Organics specializes in supplies and hydroponic gardening resources. The contest rules also state that the business also has a lucrative online customer base and their website gets more than 500,000 visits each year. The announcement reads: Owner Allan Bednar, 78, has "spent the last quarter century building something more than a business and now that he's ready to move into the next phase of his life, he wants to find an individual who'll be an amazing steward of what he's built." Bednar says, "I want to make sure our customers will still be taken care of in the same way. After all these years, many of them are like family and we feel the same about our staff. We've tried to create something that betters the community." Entries will be accepted through March 15, 2018, and the winner will be announced on April 2, 2018. That date was apparently changed from April 1 after several people questioned whether the contest was an April Fool's prank. (Tampa Bay Times)
Country Over Party
A modest $100 donation to Democrat Doug Jones is drawing a lot of attention in his Senate race against Roy Moore in Alabama. That's because the donation was made by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who is backing the opposite-party candidate in the crucial race. The Arizona senator tweeted an image of his donation check which included the words "Country Over Party" in the check's subject line. It's a major rebuke to the Republican National Committee and to President Trump for their recent support of Moore despite numerous allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls. (Al.com)
Another Child Dead at Hands of Irresponsible Gun Owner
Police in Anchorage, Alaska, say a 5-year-old boy rummaging through a nightstand drawer late at night found a loaded gun and wound up fatally shooting himself. Christian Johnnson died after midnight Tuesday while his parents were in other rooms of the house. A police spokesperson said the mother heard a gunshot, and "she walks into the bedroom and that's when she finds her son, who shot himself." It is, he adds, "a tragic reminder about gun safety and children." Police have found no evidence that drugs or alcohol played any role in the shooting, and the Anchorage District Attorney's Office has yet to decide whether any charges will be filed. (Anchorage Daily News)
Top Ten Retweets for 2017!
Twitter has released a list of the 10 most retweeted tweets of 2017, and you may be surprised that President Trump is nowhere on the list. However, his predecessor, President Barack Obama makes the list three times. But while the tweets run the gamet from humorous to profound-none could beat a teenager's attempt to score some Chicken McNuggets. Here are the top ten:
Carter Wilkerson: "HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS" (3.6 million retweets)
Barack Obama: "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." (1.7 million)
Penn State Intrafraternity Council: "With the current devastation in Houston, we are pledging $0.15 for every RT this gets! Please forward this along to help out those in need!" (1.2 million)
Ariana Grande: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words." (1.1 million)
Barack Obama: "Thank you for everything. My last ask is the same as my first. I'm asking you to believe -- not in my ability to create change, but in yours." (872,000)
Linkin Park: An image of Chester Bennington has been retweeted 787,000 times.
LeBron James: "U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!" (661,000)
Barack Obama: "It's been the honor of my life to serve you. You made me a better leader and a better man." (631,000)
Sam Martin (Detroit Lions punter): "Leo (a dog) and I are donating 6 lbs of dog food to Houston for every retweet this gets!!!! RT RT RT RT!!" (623,000)
Seth Joseph: "suicide hotline 1-800-273-8255 ... 1 person ends their life every 40 seconds ... will u take the time to retweet this & possibly save one of them?" (604,000)
(Twitter)
What the What?
In what has to be one of the most ironic stories of the year, an editor who specializes in the scandals of others is now learning what that feels like. Dylan Howard, the top editor for the National Enquirer, Us Weekly, and other major gossip publications is being accused of sexual harassment. The complaints coming in from former employees are that Howard openly described his sexual partners in the newsroom, discussed female employees' sex lives, and forced women to watch or listen to pornographic material. This all allegedly occurred while he was running American Media's Los Angeles office, according to men and women who worked there. Howard's self-proclaimed nickname was reportedly "Dildo," and his conduct led to an internal inquiry in 2012 by an outside consultant, and former employees said he stopped working out of the LA office after the inquiry. Howard quit soon after the report was completed, but the company rehired him one year later with a promotion that landed him in the company's main office in New York. (Newser)
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