Alex Masmej of Paris, France, is a 23-year-old with a strong sense of self-worth. So strong, in fact, that he sold shares of himself via an initial coin offering, or ICO, in April. Masmej sold tokens, called $ALEX, to 30 investors, raising more than $20,000, which he plans to use to move to San Francisco. Investors in $ALEX reportedly receive a share of any money he makes over the next three years, up to $100,000; a vote on some of his life decisions; and promotion from Masmej on his social media channels, Decrypt reported. (He has a whopping 3,200 followers on Twitter and 517 on Instagram.) "Since there are no legal contracts," Masmej said, "I can technically run away with the money." But he won't because "it will hurt my reputation amongst those very people I need help from. It's more likely that I just don't make money and pay back very little." Mmm hmmm. [Decrypt, 4/18/2020]

Double Trouble

Some folks never learn. On May 9, a New Hampshire State Police trooper pulled over Nicole George, 31, in Newington. George was driving 90 mph in a 50 mph zone; after the traffic stop, she went on. But only 13 minutes later, a second trooper clocked her doing 111 mph in a 65 mph zone in Rochester. The first trooper responded to assist at the second traffic stop, NECN reported, and she was arrested for reckless operation. However, after her arrest, authorities found about 40 grams of fentanyl and some methamphetamine in George's possession; they seized her Honda Pilot, and they suspect criminal activity was the reason for her big hurry. [NECN, 5/10/2020]

Priorities

As rioters looted and vandalized stores and other businesses in Seattle on May 30, one woman, wearing a cloth mask and a backpack, was caught on news cameras calmly walking out of the Cheesecake Factory with a whole cheesecake, adorned with undisturbed strawberries on top. A KIRO news crew captured the footage as others threw bottles of liquor and broke windows. "With everything going on, sometimes you just have to take a moment to treat yourself," one Twitter user commented. [KIRO, 5/31/2020]

Oops

-- Dang those tricky Zoom calls. As at least 12 government officials met online on May 29 in Mexico, Sen. Martha Lucia Micher thought her camera was off and changed her top as her colleagues looked on. Micher, 66, issued an apology, saying: "In one part of the session, without realizing and while the camera of my computer was on, I got changed showing my naked torso. ... Thanks to a call from (other) senators ... I realized my error." She went on: "I am a woman who has fought for the left for almost 40 years and who has occupied various public roles in my fervent commitment for the defense of human rights, I am a woman who is not ashamed of her body." According to the Daily Mail, she blamed the mistake on her lack of technological savvy. [Daily Mail, 6/3/2020]

-- Car buffs who were able to snag a 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 were lucky: Coronavirus shut down production before too many of them could be built. So imagine how angry the owner of one of the prized autos was when he took his car to a Chevy dealership in Jacksonville, Florida, for service on June 1 -- and the car was dropped off the lift. According to CarBuzz, the new 'Vette has a different weight distribution than its predecessors, and service techs didn't know the right way to position it on the lift. Car owner Jake Anthony posted a photo of the wrecked hot rod on his Instagram account, where he noted that "I've spoken with (GM) executives, I'm not interested in a new base model." [CarBuzz, 6/2/2020]

I Am Not Dead Yet

The BBC reported that on June 2, railroad workers became alarmed after spotting a pair of human feet and "no signs of life" near the Chafford Hundred station in Essex, England. The British Transport Police reported that officers who rushed to the scene "found a man in his late 30s enjoying some nude sunbathing." A spokeswoman for Network Rail punned: "Let me lay it bare, the railway is not a place to sunbathe. Please keep away from the tracks." Another spokesperson said the episode was "not as uncommon as you might think." The sunbather received "words of advice" but no citation. [BBC, 6/3/2020]

The Foreign Press

Police in Madrid, Spain, caught up with a wanted criminal in late May, AFP reported. Nacho Vidal, a porn star, was charged with manslaughter relating to the death of fashion photographer Jose Luis Abad last year at Vidal's country residence. According to authorities, Abad died after inhaling "venom of the bufo alvarius toad" during the "celebration of a mystic ritual." The toad, which is native to Mexico and the southwestern U.S., secretes venom containing a powerful psychedelic substance. Police said Vidal and his cohorts have lured people who are "easily influenced, vulnerable or who were seeking help for illnesses or addictions" to the rituals on a regular basis. One of Vidal's relatives and an employee were also arrested. [AFP, 6/3/2020]

Unclear on the Concept

Julie Wheeler of Beaver, West Virginia, pleaded guilty in February to health care fraud and faced up to 10 years in prison. So she and her husband, Rodney Wheeler, apparently cooked up a plan to keep her out of jail: On May 31, Rodney and the couple's 17-year-old son reported that Julie had fallen from the Grandview overlook at the New River Gorge National River. Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and rescue crews began a search for her, including use of a helicopter and rappelling into a jagged canyon, to no avail. After three days of searching, however, Julie turned up -- hiding in a closet in her home, WVNS reported. Now, in addition to the fraud conviction, Julie and Rodney will face multiple charges of conspiracy and giving false information to West Virginia State Police. "It is hard to hide at home," remarked U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart. [WVNS, 6/3/2020]

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Cobbler Grigore Lup of Cluj, Romania, was disturbed to see people ignoring social distancing guidelines put in place for the COVID-19 pandemic. So he created a pair of size-75 (European) men's shoes, each of which is about 2 1/2 feet long. The shoes have a regular space for the foot but then a long bill-like section that extends from the toe. Lup told United Press International that the shoes are designed so that two people facing each other (and wearing his shoes) have to keep a distance of about 5 feet. [United Press International, 6/3/2020]

The Way the World Works

Lowering the Bar reported on June 3 that the divorce rate in Saudi Arabia has climbed by as much as 30% during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a referenced report, at least some of those divorces are the result of women finding out that their husbands are secretly also married to another woman, an apparently not uncommon practice in that country. "The pandemic, domestic isolation and curfew contributed to uncovering the hidden (marriage)," the report noted, citing specific cases. [Lowering the Bar, 6/3/2020]

In 2013, Chad Dearth of Overland Park, Kansas, purchased his dream car, a 1964 Chevy Impala, and got an "antique" license plate for it. Since then, he has sold the car and moved to a new neighborhood, but earlier this year he received word that seven to 10 collection letters a day were arriving at his old address from state turnpike authorities up and down the East Coast. That's when Dearth learned that Kansas is one of a few states that assign identical numbers to different categories of specialty license plates, and his old antique plate number matched the number on a commercial semi truck -- the one photographed by one of the authorities demanding payment for toll violations. Lee Ann Phelps, vehicle services manager for the Kansas Department of Revenue, told Fox4 she doesn't know why the state uses identical numbers, but there are about 625,000 plates in the state that share a number. Kansas has issued a new license for the truck, but in the meantime, the bills continue. Dearth most recently got a letter from the Delaware Turnpike Authority seeking $479. [Fox4, 5/27/2020]

Green Eggs, No Ham

A.K. Shihabudheen of Malappuram, India, and his wife cracked an egg from one of their chickens about nine months ago and were surprised to see a dark green yolk, rather than the standard yellow. "All the eggs which the hen laid ... were this kind," Shihabudheen told The News Minute, "and so we started to incubate the eggs. Out of the six chicks which hatched from these eggs, a few have started to lay eggs and those yolks are also green in color." The eggs taste like other eggs and cause no health problems, the family said. Experts from Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University suspect the feed given to the birds may be behind the phenomenon, according to Dr. S. Sankaralingam, but Shihabudheen says he gives all his birds the same feed. [The News Minute, 5/15/2020]

Monkey Business

Egyptian talk show host Lobna Asal abruptly fled the studio mid-interview on May 27 after being attacked by the monkey brought to the set by her interview subject, actor Ibrahim El-Samman, United Press International reported. Appearing on Egyptian channel Al Hayat, the monkey co-starred with El-Samman on his latest project, and at first settled in Asal's lap for several minutes, calmly listening to the conversation, but then jumped down and attacked her legs. As she ran off, another person arrived to wrangle the primate. [United Press International, 5/27/2020]

Another Job Threatened

Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics has partnered with the New Zealand robotics company Rocos to develop a robotic dog, Spot, to herd sheep. "The age of autonomous robots is upon us," Rocos chief executive David Inggs told United Press International. The dog can be controlled remotely as it guides sheep through mountainous and difficult terrain, according to the company. "It just needs to walk with intent toward the sheep and they seem to respond," said Richard Stinear, Rocos chief technology officer. In other words, they act like sheep. [United Press International, 5/22/2020]

Bird Brain

Security agencies in India thought they may have captured a Pakistani spy after villagers in Manyari, a border town in the disputed region of Kashmir, delivered the courier to police, but the mole wasn't a mole at all; it was a pigeon. According to Sky News, Kathua Police Superintendent Shailendra Mishra said the bird flew into a home on May 24 and a "ring was seen attached to one of its legs with some numbers on it ... Some called it a coded message." Authorities are trying to decipher the message, as pigeons have been used for espionage in the disputed region in the past. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that a Pakistani man named Habibullah is claiming the pigeon is his, and the number on the ring is his mobile phone number. Habibullah, who lives just a few miles from the India/Pakistan border, has asked for the pigeon's return and told local media India should "refrain from victimizing innocent birds." [Sky News, 5/26/2020] [BBC, 5/27/2020]

The Allure of Junk Food

-- San Diego police responding to a burglar alarm at a Wells Fargo bank in Chollas View, California, around 3:30 a.m. on May 27, found a broken window by the bank's drive-thru. Alarm company personnel told officers surveillance cameras showed a man inside the bank's break room, using the microwave. Police gained entry to the bank and arrested the unnamed man, who told KGTV he had gone into the bank only to warm up his Hot Pockets. Asked if the Hot Pockets were worth the arrest, the man said, "Hell yeah it was worth it." [KGTV, 5/27/2020]

-- City Parks and Recreation employee Zach Morris was cleaning up storm damage in Wynne, Arkansas, at the city's sports complex on May 24 when he noticed that someone had broken into the concession stand. "The whole place was just looted," Morris told WREG. The stand had been fully stocked for games scheduled before COVID-19 lockdowns began, and thieves helped themselves to drinks and candy, even taking the time to prepare nachos and popcorn before they left. Police are hoping the culprits will confess. "The right thing to do is take responsibility for the mistakes you made," Morris said. [WREG, 5/25/2020]

Latest Sightings

UFO hunter Scott Waring discovered what he believes to be the "entrance to an alien base" on Earth on May 13 by studying Google Earth. According to the Mirror, Waring said the base doesn't fit in with its surroundings on a "small and uninhabited island in Indonesia" and "aliens would love to have a hidden base" in such a secluded location. Using a Google Earth tool, he measured the opening, which is about 66 feet across -- big enough, he said, to "get a lot of alien ships in there." One commenter on Waring's YouTube channel praised his finding: "My gut tells me this is 100% legit. Good job man!" [Mirror, 5/20/2020]

Florida

Police in Miramar, Florida, are still trying to identify a man who was caught on surveillance video ransacking Miramar High School on May 25. The suspect spent nearly 24 hours destroying computers, painting graffiti on the walls and flooding areas of the school, the Miami Herald reported -- all while stark naked, except for headphones. School officials put the cost of the damages at about $100,000. [Miami Herald, 5/26/2020]

It's a Mystery

Folks in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, have been hearing odd, loud banging noises at all hours over the past few weeks. "We're all hearing it and it's interrupting our sleep," Heather Donily told the CBC. "There's a sense of panic when you first hear it." Most people believe the noises are "bear bangers" -- noisy flares used to scare bears away in the wilderness -- and police are investigating, but Councilman Pete Fry has concerns: "Bear bangers actually do have the potential to cause harm. ... If they're being indiscriminately used throughout the city ... somebody might actually get hurt." [CBC, 5/28/2020]

-- Some sports teams eager to return to the field have taken to placing cardboard figures of fans in stadium seats to enhance the experience for viewers, but the FC Seoul soccer club in South Korea was forced to apologize May 18 after propping up sex dolls in the seats for its match against Gwangju FC, The New York Times reported. "We had tried to add some fun in the no-spectator match," the club explained. "But we have not checked all the details, and that is clearly our fault." "Details" included the buxom physiques and obvious logos of sex toy marketers on the dolls' clothing that fans watching quickly noticed. "We had confirmed that although the mannequins were made to look just like real people, they had nothing to do with adult products," the statement said, but the club admitted it had neglected to do a background check of the supplier, which makes sex dolls. [New York Times, 5/18/2020]

-- Dinner at the renowned three-Michelin-star Inn at Little Washington in Virginia can set diners back a pretty penny -- unless they're not eating. When the Inn opens on May 29, some of its patrons will be mannequins, reported the Associated Press, attired in fancy 1940s clothing and placed strategically at tables to help with social distancing. "We're all craving to gather and see other people right now," said Patrick O'Connell, the Inn's proprietor and chef. "They don't all necessarily need to be real people." [Associated Press, 5/14/2020]

Rebellion Served Cold

An unnamed ice cream shop in Hong Kong is offering tear gas-flavored ice cream in support of the region's pro-democracy movement, reports the Associated Press. The shop's owner explained he wanted "to make a flavor that reminds people that they still have to persist in the protest movement and don't lose their passion." "It tastes like tear gas," said customer Anita Wong. "It feels difficult to breathe at first, and it's really pungent and irritating. It makes me want to drink a lot of water immediately." The owner tried several different combinations to achieve the flavor and found that black pepper came the closest. Before coronavirus restrictions, he said the store was selling 20 to 30 scoops per day. [Associated Press, 5/14/2020]

Just Funny

University of Arizona wildlife biology professor Michael Bogan caught Saturday morning cartoons as they came to life in a video he recorded of a coyote chasing a roadrunner May 9 in downtown Tucson. Bogan could be heard on his recording saying, "There is literally a coyote chasing a roadrunner. I can't believe it. That is a straight-up cartoon." The reenactment of the classic setup between Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner caught Bogan's attention near the Santa Cruz River, Fox News reported. And, as life often imitates art, the real roadrunner escaped unharmed from the wily coyote. [Fox News, 5/15/2020]

The Passing Parade

Police responding to a reported shooting in Poughkeepsie, New York, early on May 17, arrived to find a very drunk 35-year-old man from the Bronx who claimed he'd been shot in the buttocks, which caused him to fall and hit his head. The Hudson Valley Post reported the unnamed victim was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for his head injury, but doctors could find no evidence he'd been shot. There was no bullet hole in his buttocks, X-rays showed no bullet lodged inside his buttocks, and his pants had no holes in them, police said. Witnesses nearby were also intoxicated and unable to provide any clarification. When officers pressed the victim about his story, he became uncooperative and said, "I didn't pull a gun." [Hudson Valley Post, 5/19/2020]

Homeschooling Gone Wild

Parents have lodged complaints with the Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Hull, England, after discovering their seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders were sent an exercise asking them to define pornography, soft pornography, hardcore pornography and other sensitive subjects, such as human trafficking and female genital mutilation. Hull Live reported on May 19 that the assignments were made as part of the school's sex education course, but one parent, identified as Mrs. Taylor, said if her daughter had searched these terms on the internet, the results would have "destroyed her mind" and "scarred her for life." The school responded saying, "Students were not directed to research these topics themselves on the internet because all the answers ... were contained in the teacher-produced materials we shared." Principal Chay Bell apologized: "I am genuinely sorry for any upset caused at this difficult time." [Hull Live, 5/19/2020]

Why Not?

In Japan, people are enlisting the help of a long-forgotten mythical creature believed to ward off plagues in their battle against the coronavirus. Amabie, a mermaidlike being, first appeared in Japanese folklore in 1846, when she was reported to have appeared to a government official and predicted a rich harvest and a pandemic. She told the man the pandemic could be thwarted by drawing her likeness and sharing it with as many people as possible, BBC reported on April 23. Now, images of the spirit are appearing over five continents, and in Japan, face masks and hand sanitizer with her image are popular. One long-haul driver painted her on the side of his truck, saying, "I travel all over the country with my (goods) and Amabie to pray for the disease to go away." Even the country's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has joined in, tweeting an image of Amabie and encouraging people to "prevent the spread of the virus." [BBC, 4/23/2020]

Going the Extra Mile

A nurse in the western Russian city of Tula has been disciplined for "noncompliance with the requirements for medical clothing" after photos appeared on social media of her wearing only a bra and panties under transparent PPE on a COVID-19 men-only ward. The unnamed nurse told her superiors at the Tula Regional Clinical Hospital that wearing clothing under the PPE was "too hot" and that she didn't realize the protective gear was see-through. The Scottish Sun reported on May 20 that patients didn't seem to mind, though one admitted there was "some embarrassment." [Scottish Sun, 5/20/2020]

Oops

On May 15, staff at a Hamilton, Ontario, retirement home transferred all of its residents to a hospital because of an outbreak of COVID-19. That is, except for one. The following evening, after repeated alerts from the man's family, he was discovered in his room at the Rosslyn Retirement Residence by a security officer who had been dispatched to look for him. He was "alert" and was subsequently transferred to the hospital, the CBC reported. "This was clearly not something anybody would have intended to do," and the lack of a master list of residents contributed to the snafu, said Winnie Doyle, executive vice president of clinical operations at the hospital where most of the residents were sent. "This was ... extremely distressing." [CBC, 5/19/2020]

Inexplicable

A Facebook group called "A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony" began March with around 100,000 members, reported NBC. Then the world locked down, and membership soared to more than 1.7 million. Started by Tyrese Childs, 20, of Fargo, North Dakota, the group's purpose is to serve their fictional queen and search out food for her, and it is one of roughly 70 role-playing groups on Facebook. Members of the ant colony can post photos about being ants and others join in by commenting with terms such as "MUNCH" and "LIFT." One post featuring a photo of ice cream with ants crawling on it invited members to deliver some of the sweet treat to the queen and got more than 18,000 replies. "I think people are searching for something to do right now," Childs said. "You can only scroll so much on social media." [NBC, 5/12/2020]