Friday, July 31, 2020

KFC Fried Chicken Smelling Crocs Sell Out Within Half An Hour Of Their Launch

Kentucky Fried Chicken and Crocs had a collaboration to release a new Kentucky Fried Chick with Fried chicken scent crocs. The new crocs had clogs painted like Fried Chicken and buckets and was topped with a chicken-scented charm were unveiled in February at New York fashion week. Unfortunately this week, KFC has announced they are sold out already. “Bad news is the KFC x @Crocs are officially sold out. Good news is you can still buy a real bucket of chicken at KFC. Don’t wear them”, according to their Twitter post. And many Twitter users complained that it was “bots and scalpers” who came in and took the bunch so they can resell them. The KFC crocs originally released for $59.00 but are now already reselling on ebay for $1000.00. And the bad news? KFC has already said they won’t be re-releasing a second batch of these. (KFC Twitter) (Ebay)

State Lab Finds 90 Positive COVID-19 Test Results Were False

Ninety people who received positive COVID-19 results did not have the virus, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Health. The department said the state public health laboratory uncovered a flaw in one of the testing systems it uses to test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and 90 of 144 people tested between June 15 and July 17 received a false positive COVID test report. Many are nursing home residents. State officials said the flaw has been reported to the manufacturer and the federal Food and Drug Administration and DPH has taken immediate steps to make sure the patients are notified. They said all positive results will be further analyzed by multiple laboratory scientists, and if indicated, retested using another method. Any nursing home resident who received a false positive COVID-19 test result will be retested as soon as possible, according to the Department of Health. The Department of Health said a total of 161 lab specimens from 144 individuals showed positive results for COVID-19 using the platform during the period of June 15-July 17. Of those, a total of 91 specimens from 90 people showed false positive results. (MSN)

Woman used bra to try to restrain victim during thwarted burglary attempt

Troopers in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania say a 30-year-old man and 36-year-old woman were arrested after they tried to burglarize a home while they mistakenly thought the family was at the airport. According to state police, the suspects entered the home believing the people who lived there were gone, but they were wrong. They tried the restrain one of the victims with a bra before she escaped the home. The two then rummaged through the kitchen and stole an unknown amount of prescription drugs, troopers say. The female suspect eventually left the home and assaulted another person while threatening to shoot him and his family, according to state police. Meanwhile, the male suspect fled in a vehicle as troopers arrived on scene. They say he was taken into custody nearby and will be facing more charges pending toxicology results. Back at the home, troopers say the woman reentered the house after all of the residents had left and refused to come out for state police. According to state police, troopers gained entry through window and took her into custody. They are both being held in the Jefferson County Jail. (WJAC)

Politico Publishes Article Claiming Biden Has Picked Kamala Harris as His Running Mate

Earlier this week, Politico published an article claiming Joe Biden picked Demacratic Senator Kamala Harris as his Vice Presidential running mate. The article said that Biden chose Kamala Harris to become his running mate for the 2020 election on August 1, two weeks before the Democratic National Convention “after keeping his choice close to his chest for months.” Politico then panicked and scrubbed the article. Joe Biden is supposed to announce his running mate next week. Politico put an editor’s note in the new, scrubbed article, “Editor’s note: Due to a technical error, an earlier version of this graphic mistakenly reported that Biden had made his VP selection. We regret the mistake.” (The Gateway Pundit)

Americans are known for racking up credit-card debt, but just how much we have in total is shocking

At the beginning of 2020, Americans owed over $1 trillion in credit-card debt. Many consumers will be charging even more to their cards this year than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and WalletHub projects that net credit card debt will increase by $80 billion in 2020. Americans aren’t all in the same boat when it comes to credit-card debt, though. People in some states charge less than others, whether because they are less impacted by the pandemic, are more responsible about their finances or a number of other factors. To determine which states have the least and most sustainable credit card debts, WalletHub looked at median credit card balances and credit card payments of residents based on data from TransUnion. They used this information to determine the required number of months to pay off that balance as well as the resulting financial charge. The list ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia in order from the longest payoff timeline to the shortest.

The top ten in the list are as follows:

1. Alaska
2. District of Columbia
3. Colorado
4. Vermont
5. Washington
6. Oregon
7. Kansas
8. Virginia
9. Idaho
10. Texas

The bottom ten in the list are as follows:

42. Kentucky
43 . Tennessee
44. Iowa
45. Arkansas
46. Hawaii
47. Pennsylvania
48. West Virginia
49. Wyoming
50. Alabama
51. Mississippi

(Wallet Hub)

Average American trashes over $500 in uneaten fruit every year

A new survey finds lots of fruit is going to waste and some may be in your refrigerator right now. The poll of 2,000 adults says the average American throws out $520 worth of fruit every single year! The survey, conducted on behalf of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, suggests that many Americans can save on their grocery bill by buying less fruit since so much of it ends up in the trash. The average survey respondent throws out three pieces of fruit every week. 70 percent say they aren’t getting enough fruit in their diets. The majority of respondents (75%) don’t know the proper amount of fruit to eat each day. The American Heart Association recommends four to five servings daily. Many also confuse certain fruits for vegetables. For example, over 40 percent of respondents think tomatoes are a vegetable and 25 percent think avocados are too. Over a third of the poll say they don’t have enough time or forget to eat five servings a day. Another 32 percent believe prices are too expensive, causing them to never buy produce. Researchers reveal 23 percent say they just don’t like fruit, with one of the biggest reasons being that it goes bad too quickly. (Study Finds)

Police agencies pulling out of Democratic convention

More than 100 police agencies are withdrawing from agreements to send personnel to bolster security at next month’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in part because they’re concerned about a recent directive ordering police in the city to stop using tear gas to control crowds. It’s not known which agencies would not be coming or how many officers were still expected. The original plan was to have 1,000 officers on hand from outside agencies to assist with security. Utilizing the National Guard or enlisting federal assistance was under consideration. The convention, scheduled for August 17-20th at the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee, has been scaled down to a mostly virtual event, with only about 300 people expected to attend in-person. Most of the speeches will be delivered online from other locations, though former Vice President Joe Biden has said he will be in Milwaukee to accept the nomination. Despite the event’s smaller scale, police are preparing for potentially large protests in and around the venue. (WHDH)

**WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES!**

Wyoming Authorities Investigate Alleged Sexual Abuse of Horses

The Sweetwater County, Wyoming Sheriff’s Office confirmed that its detectives are actively investigating at least one alleged incident in which a man trespassed on private property to “engage in sex acts with horses.” According to a sheriff’s office statement, the property owner reported having chained and locked their gate in a certain manner when leaving the corral at night. When they returned the next day, they found the gate chained differently. The property owner then set up a trail camera to watch for any unusual activity. Days later, after reviewing photographs captured on the trail camera, the owners discovered someone entering the corral and apparently engaging in sex acts with their horses. The suspect has allegedly admitted to trespassing and “initiating sexual activities” with two different horses, including having sexual intercourse with a mare and digitally penetrating a foal. Formal charges have not yet been filed, so investigators are not yet releasing the suspect’s name. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said, “While shocking, this is actually a very difficult case. Wyoming is only one of a handful of states across the country without a bestiality statute on the books. Also, to satisfy the elements of a cruelty to animals charge, it’s our understanding that we would need to prove that the suspect’s actions in this case actually injured the animals”. Detectives believe other horses in the area may have been targeted as well. The sheriff’s office investigation includes a possible assault which allegedly occurred when property owners reportedly confronted the suspect. (Cowboy State Daily)

National teacher union supports strikes over reopening plans

One of the nation’s largest teachers unions is authorizing its members to strike if their schools plan to reopen without proper safety measures in the middle of the global pandemic. The American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million school employees, issued a resolution earlier this week saying it will support any local chapter that decides to strike over reopening plans. The union is also offering local chapters access to its financial and legal resources as they navigate a return to the classroom. Union officials said they will provide legal support, communications support and staffing to local chapters that vote to strike. Although the measure says strikes should be considered only as a “last resort,” it lists conditions the organization wants met for schools to reopen. (AP News)

Netflix received more Emmy nominations this year than any other network

This breaks the record HBO set last year. The streaming platform received 160 nominations at this year’s 72nd Emmy Awards, while HBO got 107 nominations. This is the second time that Netflix has beaten HBO in nods. The two have waged hard-fought battles, and are competing even more directly, since the launch of HBO Max, in May. Disney+, Amazon and Apple TV all received nominations as well. The awards will be held on September 20th. (The New York Times)

Russia behind spread of virus disinformation, US officials say

Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November, U.S. officials said. Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort reaching American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said. The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link between the sites and Russian intelligence. Between late May and early July, one of the officials said, the websites published about 150 articles about the pandemic response, including coverage aimed either at propping up Russia or denigrating the United States. (MSN)

Man accidentally finds, buys late dad’s police car on Ebay

A retired policeman has a very special retired cop car to cruise around in after a chance discovery on the Internet. He was browsing Ebay recently when he came across a 1978 Vauxhall VX90 painted like the patrol cars from his hometown of Durham, U.K., that looked very familiar. The sedan reminded him of the car his father Barrie used to give high-performance driving instruction in for the Durham Constabulary, and it turns out that’s exactly what it was. Scrolling through the images, he noticed expense sheets for gas and oil with his father’s name and handwriting on them that were left in the car. He contacted the seller, a garage owner who lived 300 miles away in Wells. The man told him that he had purchased the non-running car some time ago from a government lot and that he had spent his time in lockdown restoring it to roadworthy condition. The man wasted no time paying approximately $11,500 to bring it back to Durham, 13 years after his father’s death. “It brought a lot of memories flooding back. It’s as if the car has come back home,” he said. (Birmingham Mail)

One giant leap for on-demand movies

Theater giant AMC and Universal Pictures are reducing the amount of time a movie needs to be in theaters before it can go digital from several months to a mere 17 days. It’s a significant shift toward on-demand that ends a stalemate between the two companies. The multi-year deal would see premium pricing for new releases in order to not undercut ticket sales for example, top releases have gone digital at $20 for a two-day viewing window. AMC will get a cut of early rentals but exact details of the deal were not disclosed. (Variety)

Friday Conquers All With:

• Avocado Day
• Eid-Al-Adha
• Get Gnarly Day (Last Friday in July)
• Mutt Day
• Ranger Day
• Raspberry Cake Day
• System Administrator Appreciation Day (Last Friday in July)
• Talk in an Elevator Day (Last Friday in July)
• Uncommon Instruments Awareness Day