Give A Friend A Hand
In Medford, N.J., 14-year-old Sammy Salvano, who hopes to be an engineer, fashioned a prosthetic hand for his friend, Ewan Kirby, who is missing multiple fingers on one hand. Salvano used a 3D printer to create the prosthetic. Kirby says the new hand allowed him to pick up his mother’s car keys for the first time.
Living For The Lobster
It was 1928 when 8-year-old Virginia Oliver of Rockland, Maine, started trapping lobsters. She hasn’t stopped working the harvest yet. Oliver, now 101, is a sternman on her 78-year-old son’s boat, which bears her name. In that role, she measures and bands lobsters. Oliver loads traps with small fish to attract lobsters She gets up before dawn every day to head out to sea. A couple of years ago, a crab nipped her finger and she had to have seven stitches. When the doctor asked Oliver why she was still lobstering, she snapped back, “Well, that’s ‘cause I want to do it.” She has no plans to retire. “I like being along the water. And so I’m going to keep on doing it just as long as I can.”
Oh, So You Want Me To Commit A Crime?
Officers in St. Augustine Beach, Fla., responded to a call that a woman on the beach was behaving erratically and needed CPR. But when first responders tried to escort the woman, Kailani Jo Kroll, to an ambulance, she began running back and forth on the street. Because she hadn’t committed a crime, officers and rescue workers started to pack up to leave. That’s when Kroll jumped into the cab of a firetruck and tried to drive away. Kroll was pulled from the truck and later told police, “I’m sorry for trying to take the truck. I lost my marbles.” When asked if she was under the influence of anything, she told them she had taken the “elixir of life.” Kroll was charged with grand theft auto and resisting law enforcement officers.
Shredded Art Still Pretty Pricey
Remember the self-shredding Banksy artwork that sold for $1.4 million in October 2018? Originally called “Girl with Balloon,” the piece, now known as “Love Is in the Bin,” was up for auction again. It recently sold for $25.4 million. Alex Branczik, chairman of modern and contemporary art at Sotheby’s, calls the piece “the ultimate Banksy artwork and a true icon of recent art history.” Before the auction, the piece was on display in London, Hong Kong, Taipei and New York.
Just Put The Cover Over The Button
A New York city subway power outage on Aug. 29 resulted in more than 80 trains coming to a stop. The whole thing was caused by someone pressing a power switch that should have had a protective cover. The governor’s office said things deteriorated after the button was pushed, saying that five trains in the Bronx got stranded between stations and 300 people had to be helped off the trains. “New Yorkers deserve absolute confidence in a fully functioning subway system, and it is our job to restore that confidence,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Scary Good Money
Financial advice website Finance Buzz wants to pay someone $1,300 to watch 13 horror movie classics and monitor their heartbeat while they watch. The goal is to compare the fear factors of the films with their budgets. The chosen candidate will get a FitBit to monitor their heartbeat and $50 to cover movie rental costs.
Flood Really Bites
Timothy Satterlee, 71, of St. Tammany Parish, La., was attacked by a 12-foot-long, 504-pound alligator during flooding following Hurricane Ida. His wife told police she was able to free him from the gator and pull him onto the front steps of their home. But while she went to get help, Satterlee disappeared. The parish sheriff’s office said later on that it had captured the gator with “what appears to be human remains” in its stomach. The coroner’s office confirmed that the remains were Satterlee’s. “This is a horrible tragedy and my sincere condolences and sympathy goes to the Satterlee family,” Sheriff Randy Smith said.
This Won’t Hurt A Bit
Red Crocs weren’t enough to protect an 11-year-old boy from an actor at the haunted house at the Cuyahoga, Ohio, Fairgrounds. The boy was headed to the 7 Floors of Hell haunted house when actor Christopher Pogozelski approached him and tried to scare him. The boy told Pogozelski he wasn’t afraid and he knew that Pogozelski’s knife was “fake.” “Oh, it’s real. Trust me, it’s real,” Pogozelski replied. He then began poking the boy’s feet with the weapon until he drew blood. The actor was using his own Bowie knife rather than a rubber one. He believed his knife wasn’t sharp enough to hurt anyone. He was mistaken and lost his job over the incident. After he got bandaged up, the boy returned to the haunted house.
Mass Nosedive
In the village of Ust-Tarka in southwestern Siberia, people are wondering what caused several hundred ravens to fall dead out of the sky on Sept. 22. Sergei Kuzlyakin, a veterinarian, said the birds are being tested to see what was in their systems. He says he is “shocked” by the event. “I have been working as a doctor since 1975 and this is the first time I’ve seen this,” he said. A local ornithologist thought the birds might have ingested pesticides. The mass death event has “caused anxiety among residents,” local officials noted.
Giving The Customer The Finger
When Estefany Benitez of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, visited her favorite burger chain, Hot Burger, on Sept. 12, she got an extra topping with her sandwich: a human finger. Benitez bit into the burger and felt something unfamiliar. She then pulled the finger out of her mouth. While the restaurant “carried on serving customers like nothing had happened,” Benitez said, a company representative told her the burgers arrive at the store pre-prepared. But later, Edson Claure, director of the National Police’s Special Crime Fighting Force, confirmed that a company employee had lost part of a finger at work.
So I Like Police Parking Lots?
In the small town of Durham in Ontario, Canada, an unidentified driver began driving a red Cadillac in slow circles around the parking lot of the Durham Regional Police station. An officer inside the building noticed the car, went outside and asked the driver to stop. “The driver did not comply and continued to drive slowly in and around the parked police vehicles while flashing his headlights,” police said. Finally, two cruisers boxed him in and stopped the car. The driver was arrested for driving while impaired.
Philip Morris Goes Into Healthcare
Philip Morris International, maker of Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes, has sealed a $1.1 billion deal with Vectura, a U.K.-based company that makes medicines — including inhalers for respiratory conditions. Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak is “excited” to expand the company’s product lines. But medical organizations and charities are less than thrilled about the purchase. “It creates perverse incentives for Philip Morris to sell more of its harmful products so they might then profit again through treating smoking-related diseases,” said Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation.
Pennsylvania Mandates Thirst
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is taking drastic measures in response to a supply shortage of hooch in its state-run stores. Liquor stores now have a two-bottles-per-day limit on a long list of products, including bourbon, tequila and champagne. The PLCB said the limit will remain “for the foreseeable future.”
Family Doesn’t Shoot Family
A man in Jacksonville, Ill., went to the hospital with a gunshot wound. The victim told Cass County Sheriff Devron Ohrn that he and family members had been testing bulletproof vests, and he allowed another person to shoot him as he wore one. “Something like this is definitely not a good idea,” Ohrn said. “A bulletproof vest is not a catchall. Also, it is still a crime to shoot another person, even if they tell you to.”
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