Monday, January 27, 2020
This zoo will name a cockroach after your ex, then feed it to a meerkat on Valentine’s Day
The El Paso Zoo will name a cockroach after your ex and then feed it to a meerkat live on camera. You can message the zoo on Facebook with your ex’s name, then wait patiently for February 14 to watch the roach get devoured during the “Quit Bugging Me” meerkat event, which will live-stream on Facebook and the zoo’s website. The names of those exes will also be displayed around the meerkat exhibit and on social media starting February 11th. “This is a fun way to get the community involved in our daily enrichment activities,” the El Paso Zoo event coordinator said. “The meerkats love to get cockroaches as a snack and what better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than by feeding them a cockroach named after your ex!” The zoo calls it “the perfect Valentine’s Day gift.” The El Paso Zoo isn’t the only zoo offering a non-traditional Valentine’s Day promotion. The Hemsley Conservation Center in Kent, England, will name a cockroach after your ex in exchange for a donation. You can also name a roach at the Bronx Zoo, which calls them “eternal” and “timeless” gifts. (CBS News)
New fraudulent text message claims to contain FedEx package information
Customers should be cautious about a new text message phishing scam that at first glance looks to be about a FedEx package delivery, the company said. Some people around the country have received a text message that appears to show a “tracking code” from the package delivery company and prompts the user to enter their “delivery preferences.” The link to set those “preferences” would then take a recipient to a fraudulent, scammer-operated site and would attempt to separate the victim from personal information and money. FedEx released a statement in response to the recent fraudulent text messages claim: “We are committed to protecting the security and integrity of our network. While there is no foolproof method to prevent the FedEx name from being used in a scam, we are constantly monitoring for such activity and work cooperatively with law enforcement.” (FedEx)
These are the jobs of the future
An in-depth study from the World Economic Forum reveals the “jobs of tomorrow,” or emerging jobs that are in urgent demand worldwide. Over the next three years, 37% of projected opportunities will be in the care economy; 17% in sales, marketing and content; 16% in data and AI; 12% in engineering and cloud computing; and 8% in people and culture. Roles with the fastest growth include Artificial Intelligence specialists, medical transcriptionists, data scientists, customer success specialists and full stack engineers, according to the report. (World Economic Forum)
No more ‘support’ animals on planes?
New rules would ban any service animals except professionally trained dogs on flights in the U.S. and stop requiring airlines to allow animals required uniquely for emotional support. The Department of Transportation said that while it “recognizes the integral role” that service animals play for people with disabilities, it wants to cut down on passengers who “falsely claim their pets are service animals.” The proposed rules, as several airlines have already tightened their rules on so-called service pets, are open to public comment for 60 days before taking effect. (New York Times)
Scientists move Doomsday Clock closer to midnight
Scientists warned that Earth is inching closer to disaster. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of its symbolic Doomsday Clock closer to midnight, indicating that the likeliness of a human-caused apocalypse has increased since last year. The Bulletin adjusted the clock to reflect looming threats from nuclear weapons and accelerated global warming. The clock is now set at 100 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to symbolic doom and the first time the hands have been within the two-minute mark. The Bulletin placed much of the blame on world leaders who have eroded international arms agreements and both denigrated and denied the science of global warming. (NBC News)
Woman arrested after ‘twerking while naked’ on vehicle
A 31-year-old woman in Austin, Texas was arrested after she was caught “doing a sexually provocative dance” on top of a vehicle parked at an H-E-B grocery store, according to an arrest affidavit. Austin police responded to a call about two women fighting at an H-E-B when they saw the woman on top of the car. After being asked to get off of the vehicle, she allegedly took off her pants and continued “twerking while naked from the waist down.” The affidavit said police then detained her for disorderly conduct and put her in the back of their patrol car. She then allegedly spit on an officer’s face through an opened car window. She has been charged with harassment of a public servant. Her bond is set at $3,000. (KENS)
US imposes visa rules for pregnant women on ‘birth tourism’
The Trump administration published new visa rules aimed at restricting “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children can have a coveted U.S. passport. Applicants will be denied tourist visas if they are determined by consular officers to be coming to the U.S. primarily to give birth, according to the rules in the Federal Register. It is a bigger hurdle to overcome, proving they are traveling to the U.S. because they have a medical need and not just because they want to give birth here. Those with medical needs will be treated like other foreigners coming to the U.S. for medical treatment and must prove they have the money to pay for it, including transportation and living expenses. The practice of traveling to the U.S. to give birth is fundamentally legal, although there are scattered cases of authorities arresting operators of birth tourism agencies for visa fraud or tax evasion. Birth tourism is a lucrative business in both the U.S. and abroad. Companies take out advertisements and charge up to $80,000 to facilitate the practice, offering hotel rooms and medical care. Many of the women travel from Russia and China to give birth in the U.S. (Voice Of America News)
Man arrested with $3.7 million worth of drugs found in his car
A 30-year-old Utah man was arrested in Sandy, Arizona when he got caught with nearly $3.7 million worth of drugs in his car, authorities said. He had four different substances on him that tested positive for methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA and THC, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. Officers found the drugs during a traffic stop on Interstate 15 near Beaver Dam and Littlefield, authorities said. Officers say he “would not make eye contact with deputies and appeared extremely nervous” so authorities asked for a K-9 to assist. The K-9 alerted officials to the presence of narcotics. In his car was 66 pounds of a liquid substance in jugs that tested positive for methamphetamine, six bricks of a white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine, 2.2 pounds worth of a substance that tested positive for MDMA and 1,000 packages of candy-infused THC products, according to the sheriff’s office, who said the estimated street value was $3,696,720. He was charged with six felonies: dangerous drug possession, dangerous drug possession for sale, transportation of dangerous drugs, narcotic drug possession, narcotic drug possession for sale and transportation of narcotic drugs. He is being held at Mohave County Adult Detention Facility on $300,000 bail, online records show. (ABC News)
The Safest and Most Dangerous States in the US
Using recently released FBI statistics and length of incarceration data, LawnStarter came up with a “Danger Index” to rank the states and the District of Columbia for the likelihood of crime. The FBI collects crime statistics from both state and city police departments for arson, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, murder, rape, and robbery. LawnStarter took the statistics and weighted them on the average amount of jail time per crime.
Safest States In The Nation:
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- Massachusetts
- Maine
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Connecticut
- Pennsylvania
- Idaho
- New York
Less Safest States In The Nation:
41. South Carolina
42. Arkansas
43. Delaware
44. Alabama
45. Tennessee
46. Maryland
47. District of Columbia
48. New Mexico
49. Louisiana
50. Alaska
‘She’s just a jerk’: Cat up for adoption in brutally honest ad
A North Carolina animal shelter is trying a brutally honest ad to adopt out what it is calling the “World’s Worst Cat.” Mitchell County Animal Rescue wrote on Facebook it thought Perdita “was just sick, turns out she’s a jerk.” Photos of the cat show she has a distinctive stare that just gives the impression she has no desire to be your friend. The shelter says Perdita’s likes include “staring into your soul until you feel as if you may never be cheerful again.” Other likes include lurking in dark corners, jump scares, being queen, and fooling shelter staff into thinking she’s sick. “Vet agrees… she’s just a jerk,” the shelter wrote. Perdita also likes Cat Scratch Fever and the movie Pet Sematary because, you know, a dead cat came back to life and terrorized people. This sourpuss doesn’t like the color pink, cute little kittens, dogs, children, the Dixie Chicks, Disney movies or Christmas. “… and last but not least… HUGS,” the shelter wrote. The shelter said Perdita is socially awkward and would be a good match for a socially awkward human who understands she needs personal space. The adoption is free. (Mitchell County Animal Rescue, Inc-North Carolina Facebook)
Monday Shines Like A Trophy Because It’s:
- Auschwitz Liberation Day
- Holocaust Memorial Day
- International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
- Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day (Always Last Monday)
- National Geographic Day
- Thomas Crapper Day
- Viet Nam Peace Day
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