In Japan, people who are just being freed from COVID mask-wearing mandates feel they've lost their ability to do a simple thing: smile. Sky News reported that 20-year-old Himawari Yoshida, among many others, has enlisted the help of a "smile instructor," Keiko Kawano. "I hadn't used my facial muscles much during COVID," Yoshida said. One-on-one sessions cost about $55. Kawano has students stretch the sides of their mouths and hold up a mirror to smile into. "Culturally, a smile signifies that I'm not holding a gun, and I'm not a threat to you," Kawano said. [Sky News, 6/5/2023]

Can't Possibly Be True

When Corinea Stanhope, 36, of Powell River, British Columbia, Canada, found a dead deer on her property, she and her grandfather set up a trail camera, hoping to catch some interesting wildlife attracted to the carcass. Instead, Fox News reported on June 6, Stanhope reported capturing something quite different: "two witches holding a carcass-eating ritual. ... Grandpa said he'd got naked people on the camera and I said, 'No you didn't.' So he showed me," Stanhope said. She said the two people showed up shortly after sunset and appeared to be wearing long wigs. "You can't really tell from the photos, but the hoof was brought right up to her mouth. I don't know if she was kissing it, smelling it or eating it, but to touch a decaying carcass like that makes me feel sick." Stanhope hopes the incident was a prank; she decided not to contact police because there was no crime committed. [Fox News, 6/6/2023]

Going in Style

Go As You Please, a funeral company in Edinburgh, Scotland, is hoping to "break the taboo" of talking about final arrangements, Sky News reported, by offering custom-made coffins. For instance, general manager Scott Purvis said, the company created a coffin that looked like a Dyson vacuum box for someone whose history included repairing vacuum cleaners. "Most of our coffin designs come from having honest conversations with the person when they are still alive," Purvis said. Other designs they've made include a pint of Tennent's lager and a Greggs sausage roll. [Sky News, 6/1/2023]

Least Competent Criminal

A phone repair store in Miami Gardens, Florida, was the target of a robbery in the early hours of June 3, NBC6-TV reported. The suspect, 33-year-old Claude Vincent Griffin, employed a brilliant disguise: He wore an ill-fitting cardboard box over his head as he smashed the glass countertop and reached into a case, grabbing 19 iPhones and $8,000 in cash. Naturally, it's hard to see through cardboard, so Griffin at one point removed the box and revealed himself to a surveillance camera. The store's owner, Jeremias Berganza, did some sleuthing around the area after the robber left the store and found him at a nearby liquor store, drinking with friends. Griffin was charged with grand theft, burglary, cocaine possession and resisting an officer. [NBC6, 6/4/2023]

Tone Deaf

The Woolshed nightclub in Adelaide, Australia, is in apology mode after running a sketchy promotion offering free drinks based on bra size, 9News reported on June 4. The campaign promised one free drink for an A cup, two drinks for a B cup, etc., and included hanging bras up in the bar. "The bigger the better," a social media post read. Patrons weren't impressed: One woman said she would choose to go somewhere else. The Woolshed apologized and said future promotions would be reviewed by senior management to ensure an "inclusive environment" for all patrons. [9News, 6/4/2023]

This Is Not How We Sonic

As the debate about appropriate hot dog condiments (Relish? Mustard? Ketchup?) rages on, a worker at an Espanola, New Mexico, Sonic threw a new hat into the ring when he customized a patron's order a bit more than she liked on May 30. Fox News reported that as the woman bit into her hot dog, she encountered a plastic bag with a white powdery substance inside. She contacted police, who tested the powder and found it to be cocaine. It seems that as Jeffrey David Salazar, 54, was preparing her order, he allegedly dropped his stash; video surveillance showed that Salazar began to frantically search the area "as if he had lost something." He admitted to police that he had bought the coke from someone in the restaurant parking lot. [Fox News, 6/3/2023]

Clothing Optional

At a Lancashire, England, gas station on May 23, Quinn Kelly stepped into the store for a snack and was shocked as he came out to see a man filling up his tank while completely nude -- except for boots. Stuart Gilmore, 44, of Manchester was "casual about it," Kelly said. He said Gilmore is a "naturist" and "goes around naked to spread positivity and has been doing it for a few years," according to Fox News. "I don't take any notice when people take photos," Gilmore said. "I don't do it for attention. I'm doing it to promote naturism and the benefits," which he said include improved mental health. [Fox News, 6/3/2023]

It's Good To Have a Hobby

Rocketry enthusiasts gathered near Alamosa, Colorado, over the Memorial Day weekend to ... enthuse about rockets, but one person's rocket got away from them in a most inconvenient location: a hotel room at the Comfort Inn, according to the Alamosa News. "There was a malfunction with the motherboard in the rocket which caused the motor to catch on fire," explained Alamosa Fire Department Deputy Chief Paul Duarte. The resulting explosion caused "enough pressure in the room to dislodge the drywall and panels in the ceiling to fall." The 4-foot-8-inch rocket had to be disarmed by firefighters to mitigate any further risk. Duarte didn't believe the guest was injured in the incident. Hotel clerks didn't expect any charges to be filed. [Alamosa News, 5/30/2023]

Cheesy

If you happen to be traveling along Twentynine Palms Highway in California before June 11, make sure you make a pit stop at the "biggest, cheesiest roadside attraction to ever grace America's beloved highways and byways." KTLA-TV reported that a niche pop-up store was created by the makers of Cheez-It crackers for just one week -- but what a week! Visitors can fuel up with the "world's first and only Cheez-It Pump" that pumps bags of the treats into your vehicle, or find rare flavors and other memorabilia. You'd have to be crackers not to go! [KTLA, 6/6/2023]

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

A pair of Dutch tourists hiking in mid-May in the Alpujarra mountain range in Granada, Spain, got a rude reception from a mountain goat, the Daily Star reported on June 6. The Iberian ibex, who was presumably aggressive because it was mating season, knocked a 64-year-old woman off a cliff, where she tumbled about 65 feet and landed on a ledge with both wrists broken. The goat also knocked the other person unconscious. Rescue workers, hampered by weather, took almost a week to recover the fallen hiker, who suffered hypothermia along with her broken wrists. [Daily Star, 6/6/2023]

Awesome!

Elephants at the Houston Zoo are a limber group, thanks to the yoga practice they begin learning soon after they're born, Chron reported on June 5. In fact, Tess, 40, can lift her 6,500-pound body into a handstand. Adult elephants do the sets of exercises twice a day to help keep their joints moving and are rewarded with fruit or bread, said Kristen Windle, the zoo's elephant manager. "We want them to constantly be learning new things," she said. "They are really smart and they want to be constantly working and learning." [Chron, 6/5/2023]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

When Ocala, Florida, police officers questioned 37-year-old Daniel Robert Dinkins about a nearby burglary on May 13, he responded, "That may have been me." Earlier, officers had been called to a home where someone had thrown a brick through a window where a baby was sleeping inside, then left a book on the front porch. Dinkins said he wanted to swim in the neighbors' backyard pool and "wanted to share the book with them," Ocala News reported. He also told police he was a "time traveler" and was trying to "save the baby from something way in the future when the child is much older." Strangely, Dinkins said he wasn't aware there was a baby sleeping inside. He faces a felony burglary charge. [Ocala News, 5/21/2023]

Government in Action

A central India food inspector, Rajesh Vishwas, lost more than his phone on May 21, NBC News reported. While snapping a vacation selfie at Kherkatta Dam, Vishwas dropped his phone into the water. According to him, his device contained sensitive governmental information, so he ordered the reservoir to be drained. Vishwas said he got permission from R.C. Dhivar, a local water resources official, but Dhivar argued that he'd given permission to drain only 3 or 4 feet of water. Instead, "They had emptied the water up to 10 feet." It took three days to drain the 530,000 gallons of water, but in the end, it was all for naught: Vishwas' phone was unusable. As was he: He was suspended from his job pending an investigation. [NBC News, 5/31/2023]

That Rule Doesn't Apply to Me

An unnamed woman in Tacoma, Washington, was arrested and detained in a negative pressure room at the Pierce County jail on June 1 after refusing for more than a year to get treatment for tuberculosis, KOMO-TV reported. A judge issued 17 orders for her to be involuntarily detained before police caught up with her. "We believe she was trying to avoid being captured," said Sgt. Darren Moss. Officers surveilled her while she was still at home and observed her riding a city bus to a casino. "The health department had asked her to just do it on her own ... now she's going to have to do it in our facility, unfortunately," Moss said. He said TB was once common in the jail, hence the negative pressure rooms, which "isolate the air within the room so it doesn't infect the rest of the rooms within the facility." [KOMO, 6/1/2023]

Rude

New York attorney Anthony Orlich is probably tearing his hair out in the wake of an incident in late May, the New York Post reported. Orlich allegedly snatched the wig off the head of Brooklyn singer Lizzy Ashleigh while walking along a city street at night; Ashleigh captured the aftermath on her cellphone and posted a video to TikTok, which garnered hundreds of thousands of views. In the video, Ashleigh yells at Orlich: "Sir! For what reason did you take my wig off? What makes you think that that's OK?" Orlich refused to apologize, even with his friends encouraging him to. Ashleigh has said she plans to take legal action, but Orlich is already in trouble: His firm, Leader Berkon Colao & Silverstein LLP, has fired him, according to a LinkedIn post. [NY Post, 5/31/2023]

Cheesy

Delaney Irving, 19, of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, said of her May 28 victory in a cheese-rolling contest in Gloucester, England: "It feels great!" That's in spite of the fact that she woke up in the medical tent after taking a fall and hitting her head, The Guardian reported. "I remember running, then bumping my head ... I still don’t really believe it," she said. The contest involves rolling a 7-pound wheel of cheese down the almost-vertical Coopers Hill, and Irving wasn't the only contestant who lost their footing. [The Guardian, 5/29/2023]

Lucky!

A piglet got a second chance at life on May 25, according to KVVU-TV. As Lars Gradel, Rebecca Zajac and her son, Colton, drove along the interstate that day near Las Vegas, they witnessed a baby pig as it was thrown from a truck. "We saw a pig fly out the side of the truck, and he tumbled about 10, 15 times down the side of the freeway," Gradel said. They stopped to rescue the pig, who didn't seem to be hurt. "Lucky," as he was named, was given a new home at the All Friends Animal Sanctuary, where he'll eventually meet fellow porcine Mister Picklesworth. "Now Lucky's going to be wallowing in mud and rooting around in the ground and ... eating watermelon and popsicles in the summer," said sanctuary founder Tara Pike. [KVVU, 5/30/2023]

Fixer-Uppers

-- Looking for a bargain home in Burbank, Oklahoma? "Bargain," as in: more than 17,000 square feet for only $60,000. United Press International reported on May 30 that the former Burbank High School is on the market and listed as a single-family home. The building, constructed in 1924, features five "bedrooms," four bathrooms and an indoor basketball court, along with an auditorium. The school closed in 1968, and conditions are pretty rough inside. "There is plenty of opportunity to make this property your own," the listing promises. [UPI, 5/30/2023]

-- Meanwhile, in Fort Meade, Maryland, high school seniors listed their school building on Zillow as a graduation prank, United Press International reported. They described the 12,000-square-foot school as a "half-working jail": "All 15 bathrooms come with sewage issues ... (and) trash-scented air freshener and water issues!" The listing was removed several hours after appearing, said Bob Mosier, spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Public Schools. [UPI, 5/26/2023]

Bright Idea

Coffee Smile, a cafe chain in Russia, knows how to milk social media. Owner Maxim Kobelev put up posters in his stores in May that announced plans to start offering human breast milk in their lattes and cappuccinos. Oddity Central reported that Kobelev claimed to have contracted with lactating mothers whose milk is tested for safety. "The child eats just a little," one supplier said in a promotional video, "so I thought, why not earn extra money? I even made coffee with my breast milk for my husband; he liked it." Turns out, it's all an attention-seeking hoax. "There were many of my friends who wanted to try this coffee," Kobelev said. "For them, I prepared a drink with a mixture of goat and almond milk. The taste is very similar -- I know this because, as the father of two children, I also tasted the real thing." [Oddity Central, 5/26/2023]

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

At Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, riders of the Silver Bullet roller coaster were rudely interrupted in their fun on May 26 when one passenger "indicated they wanted to get off the attraction," Fox News reported. The unnamed guest signaled their need to bail right after leaving the station. Operators stopped the ride, and all guests had to be evacuated, the park said, "following standard exit procedure." The roller coaster resumed operation about 30 minutes later. [Fox News, 5/30/2023]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

A visitor at Wonderland amusement park in Toronto, Ontario, was filled with more than wonder as he rode the Leviathan roller coaster on May 16, the Toronto Sun reported. Hubert Hsu of Toronto said as his coaster car neared the top of one of the ride's loops, it collided with a bird -- possibly a pigeon. "I looked down and saw blood on my hands and my face," Hsu said. "There was a feather on my hand, and feathers on the girl next to me's shirt. It seemed like the coaster car hit the bird and then it sort of exploded on us." Hsu said attendants gave them a roll of industrial brown paper towels, and he ended up washing up in a restroom. "The kids who work in the park seemed like they had no idea what to do, and that might be an issue," he added. [Toronto Sun, 5/19/2023]

It's Come to This

Two Louisville, Kentucky, roommates got into a heated dispute at their home on May 20, The Charlotte Observer reported, over an unlikely subject: Hot Pockets. Clifton Williams, 64, was charged with second-degree assault after he allegedly shot the victim. Williams "got mad he ate the last Hot Pocket and began throwing tiles at him," police said. When the victim moved to leave the home, Williams retrieved a firearm and shot the man in the posterior. He remains in the custody of Louisville Metro Corrections. [Charlotte Observer, 5/23/2023]

Clothing Optional

-- After crashing his truck into a Volusia, Florida, utility pole around 2 a.m. on May 21, completely severing it, 39-year-old Kevin Gardner did the obvious thing: He took off all his clothes and started banging on the front door of a home nearby. ClickOrlando reported that when officers arrived at the home, Gardner had injuries on his face and legs. The truck was registered to him, but he said it had been stolen ... and that he'd had seizures and didn't remember anything. A breath test revealed an illegal blood-alcohol content, and Gardner was held on multiple charges. [ClickOrlando, 5/23/2023]

-- In Georgia, residents can now use a digital driver's license, which can be uploaded to Apple Wallet and allows users to leave their IDs in their bag or pocket at TSA checkpoints. But, as United Press International reported, snapping a selfie for the ID comes with a few rules. "Attention, lovely people of the digital era," the Georgia Department of Driver Services posted on its Facebook page on May 23. "Please take pictures with your clothes on when submitting them for your Digital Driver's License and ID. Cheers to technology and keeping things classy!" Put your shirt on. [UPI, 5/25/2023]

You Had One Job

Residents in Halethorpe, Maryland, are frustrated with the progress of a new bridge on U.S. Route 1, WBAL-TV reported. They've been waiting for months for the bridge to fully open, but a tiny error stands in the way. The bridge crosses over CSX railroad tracks, which require a minimum of 23 feet of vertical clearance, and it was built 1 1/2 inches too short. CSX has halted the remaining construction to complete the bridge, according to a Maryland Department of Transportation engineer. "I understand you get hiccups, but ... this is not a hiccup. This is a mistake. Somebody needs to be held accountable and it needs to be taken care of," said resident Desiree Collins. "You have engineers. This should not have happened." The State Highway Administration now estimates completion in late 2023 or early 2024. [WBAL, 5/23/2023]

The Passing Parade

High school seniors in Marlin, Texas, are getting a few extra days of school tacked on, KWTX-TV reported on May 23. The reason: Twenty-eight of the 33 seniors -- about 85% -- were not eligible to graduate, according to an audit performed by the Marlin Independent School District, because they had failed or neglected to complete a course or they had too many absences. The ceremony, originally scheduled for May 25, will take place sometime in June. "They told us that because of the students that didn't meet the requirements, it wouldn't be fair for only five students to walk the stage," said Alondra Alvarado, who is eligible to graduate. Victoria Banda, whose son did not meet the requirements, said they were given very little notice about the change in plans. They had family "traveling in from Mexico" for the original ceremony -- "and if anyone knows, it's not cheap," she said. Administrators hope the extra time will allow the majority of students to meet the state's requirements. [KWTX, 5/23/2023]

Florida

-- When the Brevard (Florida) Public Schools board met on May 9, the topic of dress codes came up, but it went way beyond hoodies and beachwear, ClickOrlando reported. Vice chair Megan Wright told board members that she has heard concerns about students dressing up as "furries" -- people who anthropomorphize animals. District 5 Rep. Katye Campbell weighed in: "I'm not a big fan of the furry movement, but ... if 'ears' means a headband with pointed ears on them, it's a hair accessory. Tails are different, and students meowing and barking at other students -- that's not cool. But that's not dress code." Chairman Matt Susin said his daughter is "tired of furries" at school and the subject comes up at least once a month at his dinner table. Leave it to District 3 Rep. Jennifer Jenkins to cut through the kitty litter: "This is not rocket science ... If you don't want tails on kids, just say you don't want tails." She said among middle school students, the new thing is barking and meowing at each other, unrelated to furry costumes: "It's weird, but they're doing it." [ClickOrlando, 5/11/2023]

-- Omar Gutierrez, 32, of Gainesville, Florida, donned a cat costume before plunging a knife into his roommate's neck on May 22, WCJB-TV reported. When the victim asked why he stabbed him, Gutierrez said, "It was instinctual." Police reported that Gutierrez had told the victim a week earlier that he was "not above killing" him; Gutierrez had claimed that the roommate had hurt his cat, although he denied it. Gutierrez was charged with first-degree attempted murder -- because, you know, he had to plan the costume. [WCJB, 5/24/2023]

News You Can Use

Beer. Need we say more? OK, there's more. Researchers examining paintings from the Dutch Golden Age have discovered that artists preparing their canvases often used discarded material from local breweries, the Associated Press reported. They found traces of yeast, wheat, rye and barley, which would have been spread as a paste over the canvas to prevent the paint from seeping through. Scientists believe the Danish Academy of Fine Arts bought leftover mash from breweries and used it to ready canvases for artists such as Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and Christen Schiellerup Kobke. [AP, 5/24/2023]

Awesome!

Ethan Brown, 16, a junior at Jericho High School on Long Island, New York, is a hero among his classmates this week, the New York Post reported. Brown argued before the school board in March that his highly ranked school had 186 days in session -- six more than the state's required 180 -- and that summer vacation ought to begin on Friday, May 26. "I was nervous, especially at first," Brown said. "I almost sat back down before speaking but I'm glad I didn't." He noted that on a stormy day in February, the school did not close, and not a single snow day was used during the year. Superintendent Hank Grisham said Brown "did an absolutely incredible job. There is no requirement to give ... snow days back to staff or the kids." But the board was moved, and a day off was granted -- dubbed the Ethan Brown Snow Day. "I'm getting a lot of thank-yous," Brown said. In his upcoming senior year, he's in line to take over the editor-in-chief position at the school newspaper. [NY Post, 5/25/2023]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.