While the rest of South Africa spent last night enjoying the lunar eclipse, Cape Town was battered by a storm that dropped as much as 50mm of rain in the space of a few hours in places. The storm was accompanied by gale force winds and lighting that have caused widespread damage in parts of the city.
There are people in this world who really do not have very important things to do with their time, as is proven by this woman who called 911 because the Chinese restaurant she was at got her order wrong.
Australian TV presenter, Karl Stefanovich found himself interviewing the Dalai Lama, as one does, and decided that the best thing to do would be to try that “the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop” joke. Take a look and see how well that worked out for him.
An accident has left a woman in a critical condition after musician and Idols presenter ProVerb, whose real name is Tebogo Thekisho, knocked her over on Wednesday morning while driving home from his early morning show on a local radio station. Details of the cause of the accident are yet to emerge.
A man from Hoquiam Washington, carrying a dead weasel, burst into an apartment and assaulted the occupant. As the weasel-wielding attacker burst into the room, the victim said, “Why are you carrying a weasel?” to which the attacker replied, “It’s not a weasel, it’s a marten,” and then punched him in the nose and left the weasel behind. Of course.
Many of us believe that South Africa is quite simply the best country to live in on the planet. But have you heard of the “misery index”? It’s a measure which takes into account a country’s unemployment and inflation rates. Here’s the list of the 15 most miserable countries in the world for 2011. Take a guess where SA ranks – it’s not cheerful.
You’d think Isabel Chavelo Gutierrez learned his lesson in the past 22 years while he was sitting in jail for being a pedophile. But it seems he was under the impression that if he went for a 77 year-old this time he’d fly under Karma’s radar. Not so, because as he was halfway through his despicable act, he was struck down with a heart attack.
Yay, science. A new vaccine for meningitis A – that disease killing thousands of people in the central African “meningitis belt” annually – has been released. Which is good, but even better is the fact that it’s way cheaper and more effective than whatever we were using before.
I need a cooler hobby. Over the weekend, Zane Whitmore, a 34-year-old from Seattle, attached himself to a hot air balloon with four piercings across his shoulder blades, and took to the air for a little more than an hour, cruising at just under 3 000 metres. No, I don’t know why either, look at the video.
I’m not entirely sure if this is a good idea or a bad idea, but a range of wine packaged in perfume-bottle shaped containers has just been launched in Italy and Germany. The drink is specifically targeted at women and makes life for the non-connoisseur, but still fashionable person considerably easier, as there are only three flavours to choose from.
A well-known Star Wars and Harry Potter actor has been arrested for indecent exposure. Nicholas Read, famous for playing dwarf and/or other small-statured fantasy-related characters in movies, recently sat on a bus with a hat on his lap. True story. A 17 year-old girl was sitting next to him, and he apparently pulled everything but a rabbit from that hat.
Eva Ottosson, 56, plans to donate her uterus to her 25-year-old daughter Sarah, who was born without one. This will be the second such procedure attempted, and, if successful, Sarah will carry a fetus in the same womb that once held her. The procedure could take place next spring, in Sweden.The procedure could take place next spring, in Sweden. Matryoshka dolls.
Wind farms are big business in Italy, and the sun-soaked and wind-swept island of Sicily is no exception. Hardly surpising then, that the Sicilian mafia has cottoned on to the idea of harnessing wind and is cashing in on the green movement too.
Another South African has scooped a Tony Award for 2011! Last month we told you about Cape Town’s Handspring Puppet Company winning a special award for their theatrical work, but it is Mr. Atholl Fugard who deserves the standing ovation. The 78-year-old theatre maker, with over 30 plays under his belt, walked away last night with a lifetime achievement award. Respect.
Hot damn but I love the future. Iceland is drawing up a new constitution, in the wake of the country’s commercial banks collapsing. Which is news, but not news-news; the interesting part is how the former vikings are going about the process – they’re crowdsourcing the draft online, with links to Facebook, Twitter and Youtube accounts.
A scuba diver in California says he’s going fishing for the catch of the century. He plans to recover the body of the world’s fourth baddest man ever (behind Hitler, Stalin and Judas Iscariot).
The Shortest Man in the World contest is a really fierce competition. Last year, Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal took the crown from Edward Niño Hernández Of Columbia. But his reign was short-lived, as this weekend Junrey Balawing from the Philippines turned 18 – and therefore became a “man”.
There was a fair amount of coverage about the apparent arrest of “Amina Arraf”, the pseudonym of openly gay Syrian blogger behind ‘Gay Girl In Damascus,’ which did a lot for getting word out about human rights issues in Syria. Except it turns out that Amina was invented by 40-year-old Tom McMaster, from Georgia.
A 72-year-old woman, living on her own in St. Francis Bay, killed an intruder early Sunday morning after she had been tied up, threatened and shoved in a cupboard. I am entirely unashamed to say that I think this woman is awesome and should be awarded the Victoria Cross and The Congressional Medal of Honor.
A mother is suing the Mpumalanga department of health for negligence on the part of the hospital which delivered her son, to the tune of R7-million. The boy suffered severe injuries during birth. He is now eight years old.
I once played in a game where a friend of mine got eight wickets. I thought that was pretty impressive, but Josh Fox, a 13-year-old Cambridgeshire schoolboy from Chatteris in England is even more impressive. Young Josh managed to take two hat-tricks in one game and they happened in successive overs too.
Perspective-based art is usually a little lame – ‘look, guys, I’m holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa!’ – but this dude pulls it off. Erik Johannson, Stockholm street artist, set up this bottomless pit illusion called ‘Mind Your Step’ in Sergels torg, and let passers-by play around with it. It’s cool.
Two young PETA activists in Montreal, Canada have served up a whole bunch of vegetarian sausages to fans at Thursday’s Grand Prix testing. They say it’s better than any sex drug. Nom nom nom.
We all have our lapses of judgment. But some of us make such horrendously poor decisions that one simply has to ask, “What were they on?”. Every week we bring you three contenders in what can only be described as a battle of small wits. So, with great pleasure we present this week’s three La […]
You guys dig Bon Iver, right? They did ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ back in 2007, and they’re releasing their new album a little later this month. But because Bon Iver loves you, you can stream the new tracks for free over here. Click through, children.
Yesterday we received this harrowing report from the Far East by a brave 2oceansViber. Before you continue, note that we indemnify ourselves from any angst or emotional complications that you may suffer as a result of reading the following letter.
Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for: an intriguing eye witness description of the alleged fight that resulted in Brian Chaplin being maced in the face by police officers, also featuring a video of the aftermath of the widely-reported fight. Check it all out after the jump.
This footage of the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked to the International Space Station is breathtaking, not only for the sheer beauty of the sight, but because it will be the first and last time you’ll have the opportunity to see it.
This morning it was reported that the gun used to kill strip-club owner Lolly Jackson, in May last year, belonged to none other than police crime intelligence head, Joey Mabasa.
Random security checks are commonplace in the states. Surely these people are eventually going to get tired of having full body pat-downs while, say, shopping for discounted Caesar salads at their local Costco, you say. Well, the guys at 4th Amendment Wear are definitely bored with the American security tyranny.