Darting Iguana
Description
It is Monday July 13th. Let’s start the podcast!
IT HAPPENED TODAY
• 1923: The Hollywood sign was dedicated.
• 1985: Live Aid, an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, Australia, was held to raise money for Africa’s starving people.
• 1994: Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, was sentenced in Portland, Oregon, to two years in prison for his role in the attack on Harding’s skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan.
• 2008: Anheuser-Busch accepted a $52 billion cash offer from No. 2 brewer InBev. The new company would be called Anheuser-Busch-InBev.
SPECIAL EVENTS
• Embrace Your Geekness Day
• Gruntled Workers Day
• French Fries Day
• World Cup Soccer Day
• Barbershop Music Appreciation Day
NUMBER FOR THE DAY
25,000: Bacteria on the average telephone.
NEWS ATTACK!
A restaurant in Upstate New York is telling customers to stop hitting on the staff. Saratoga, New York’s Broadway Deli wrote on Facebook: “This is a PSA for you thirsty bros out there: Stop asking out my staff while they’re trying to work. Owner Daniel Chessare said that customers flirting with employees has been an occasional issue since the Jewish-style deli opened two years ago, but says it has intensified in recent weeks — though he’s not sure why. Chessare said, “Staff come and go, so I’m not sure if it’s because my staff now are particularly attractive or if it’s because people aren’t traveling, so these thirsty bros aren’t on vacation somewhere else.” • LINK The Facebook post includes this advice: “If you are going to ask a girl out at least tip. How’re you gonna look her in the eye, tap ‘no tip’ on the tablet, then follow it up with ‘Hey baby, let’s go out.’ Cuz nothing says attractive like treating service people poorly.”
- Researchers in northern Botswana have come up with a unique way to protect farmers’ crops from elephants: disco lights. Lines of flashing multi-colored lights set up around farmers’ fields near Chobe National park have been shown to be highly effective at scaring off elephants. The park is home to 7,500 elephants. It’s the site of a floodplain whose nutrient-rich soils are a draw to farmers.
- A Toronto woman spotted a cleaner at a grocery store spitting on a towel and then wiping down grocery baskets with it. She got video of the incident at a FreshCo location. In the video, the employee is seen using a small white towel to wipe down baskets. At one point, he appears to spit into the towel and continues wiping down the baskets. After the customer reached out to the company’s corporate office it said the employee works for a third-party service provider and that he is no longer working at the store.
- A hair stylist in Virginia, who went above and beyond, was touched to receive a heartwarming letter from a widower. Sara Verkuilen received a personal note from the widower who said his wife, who had dementia, was delighted with her haircut. The letter writer, who didn’t leave his name, wrote: “This is a little bit awkward. But I’ve waited a really long time to pass this on to you. My wife and I came in for haircuts shortly before Christmas of last year. My wife was suffering from dementia, and you treated her as if you’d been working with dementia patients all your life. You let us sit next to each other, and when it came time for her cut you turned her chair towards me so I could watch her expression as you cut her hair. Sadly, she died in March. And that haircut was one of the last, best moments of her life. She felt so pretty. She visited the mirror in her bathroom several times during the day and would come out beaming. To see her so happy was priceless. … I hope you always realize the power of your profession.”
… Sara was moved by the letter and shared it on her Facebook, saying “This is why I love what I do.”
- UK-based newspaper The Guardian says the government will launch an “emergency” effort to get citizens to lose weight and reduce the incidence of conditions such as type 2 diabetes. The goal is the get UK residents to drop some pounds before an expected second wave of coronavirus.
… The UK has experienced the highest death rate from coronavirus in Europe, and one potential factor may be high rates of obesity and associated lifestyle-linked conditions such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, which are strongly associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes. In England, 64% of adults are classed as overweight or obese.
- A report says the healthy properties of beer, when consumed in moderation, are a rich source of vitamins, fiber, minerals and antioxidants and that beer has a relatively low calorific value compared with many other alcoholic beverages. The report, commissioned by The Beer Academy — of course — aims to help people enjoy beer sensibly and says that when consumed in moderation, it’s one of the healthiest alcoholic drinks available.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: PIZZA SHOP OWNER THREW PIZZA AT ATTEMPTED ROBBER _ The owner of a pizza shop in Delaware (Greenwood) stopped a would-be robber carrying a machete Friday night by throwing a pizza at him. The owner of Stargate Pizza was closing his restaurant around 10:30 Friday night when he was approached by a man who brandished a long knife and asked for money. The owner of Stargate told the man he did not have any money and then threw a pizza at him, causing the suspect to flee.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: IGUANA CAUGHT IN BICYCLE SENDS MAN TO HOSPITAL _ A man was injured after an animal darted in front of his bicycle and got caught between the front tire and wheel fork, causing him to crash. The man lives in the Florida Keys. The animal was an iguana. The victim said he was riding along a bike path when the iguana darted in front of him and got lodged between the tire and wheel fork, causing the tire to lock. He was thrown over the handlebars and onto the asphalt.
Water Cooler Question
Allen and Wright are the guys this drink was named for. (A&W Root Beer. They launched the drink and the restaurant chain.)
United States
