Interesting & funny news from around the world, Интересные и забавные новости со всего мира

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'Remarkably rotund' Chicago beaver becomes an online celebrity

A Chicago nonprofit is asking social media users to help name a "remarkably rotund" beaver caught on camera in the city.

Urban Rivers, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring Chicago's waterways and protecting the native wildlife, shared a video to Reddit showing the "huge" beaver caught on camera in the city.

"She lives, eats, and knocks down trees in Pilsen, Bridgeport, and McKinley Park, so really she's at the intersection of the south, southwest, and west sides of the city," the post said. "She's gotten especially large the last few weeks, probably due to pregnancy, but she's been remarkably rotund for longer than a beaver pregnancy lasts."

The group said the beaver also has a reputation for being "tough."

"The spots she hangs out at are absolutely filled with coyotes, and we can't figure out how she hasn't been eaten," officials wrote.

Urban Rivers is asking members of the public to suggest names for the "remarkably rotund" resident.

Some names that have already been suggested include "Lori Heavyfoot," "Beav Irvin," "Sigourney Beaver" and "Dam Ryan."

Sammie Clark, beaver researcher with Urban Rivers, said officials are hoping the rodent's size is indeed evidence of pregnancy.

"Seeing this individual looking so plump, especially this time of year, gives us hope that it could be the female pregnant again," Clark told WGN-TV.

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World's largest cheese fondue cooked up in France

A French cheese company set a world record — and bested an unofficial record set by a Swiss rival — by cooking up 4,800 pounds of cheese fondue.

The Juraflore company took on the Guinness World Record for the largest cheese fondue at Fort des Rousses in the village of Les Rousses.

The massive copper cauldron used for the attempt was filled with 40 wheels of comté cheese variously matured for 9, 15 and 21 months. The fondue chefs then added Chardonnay and Savagnin white wines, 4.4 pounds of garlic, 3.3 pounds of white pepper and about 121 pounds of cornstarch.

The company's chefs used a giant food processor to mix the ingredients and ensure a smooth result.

The finished fondue weighed in at 4,800 pounds, surpassing their goal of 4,495 pounds. A Guinness World Records adjudicator was on hand to certify it was a new world record for the largest cheese fondue.

Juraflore also bested an unofficial record set by Switzerland's La Chaux-de-Fonds, which cooked up a 3,175-pound serving of cheese fondue in 2009.

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Omaha grad's lost ring turns up in Missouri garden 44 years later

A Missouri man tending to his garden found a high school class ring from Nebraska that turned out to have been missing since around 1981.

Neal Lansdown said he was working in his garden near Rock Port when he spotted something glistening in the dirt.

He cleaned the object and discovered it was an Omaha Northwest High School Class of 1978 ring, with the name Cary Crocker inscribed on the inside.

Lansdown said he was fascinated by how the ring came to be in his garden, about 70 miles south of Omaha.

"I don't want a reward, I just want the satisfaction of knowing where he lost it and giving him the ring back," Lansdown told WOWT-TV.

The Omaha Northwest Foundation sparked a search for Crocker on social media, but the efforts of online sleuths failed to turn up any solid leads until Crocker spotted his ring on a TV news report.

Crocker, who now lives in Florida, said he believes the ring went missing around 1981.

"I have no clue how it got away from me," he said. "Whether I lost it or misplaced it or someone stole it, I don't know."

Crocker said he has never been to Rock Port, but his family did run an Omaha flower shop around the time he lost the ring, so it might have ended up in soil that eventually made its way to Lansdown's garden.

"We sold potted plants and all that for many years and I'd be down there from time to time to work, so I don't know, that could be a possibility," he said.

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Man breaks juggling world record with a bowling ball, balance board

An Idaho man with multiple Guinness World Records titles for juggling brought his muscles into the mix by involving a 10-pound bowling ball — and a balance board.

David Rush, who holds the most concurrent Guinness World Records titles, put his strength and coordination to the ultimate test when he attempted the record for the most juggling catches of a bowling ball and two balls on a balance board in one minute.

He attempted the record during a visit to Guinness World Records headquarters in London.

"The hardest part wasn't just the juggling or the balancing — it was the combination of both, along with the added challenge of the bowling ball's weight and the board's instability," Rush wrote online.

Rush said there was an added challenge of not being able to use the balance board he practiced with, as it was too large for easy travel.

"Every time I caught the bowling ball, the board would slide across the rolling rock or the floor, creating a super slippery surface. It felt like I was juggling on ice," he said.

Despite the challenges, Rush managed to set the record with 243 catches.

"My biceps were screaming by the end of the attempt, but the real pain came from the outside of my wrists. I was dealing with tendinitis, which made every catch even more painful," he said.

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Single strawberry raises controversy over $19 price tag

A piece of pricey produce is causing controversy on social media after an influencer posted a TikTok video where she taste-tested a single strawberry with a $19 price tag.

The strawberry, which comes from company Elly Amai and is sold at Los Angeles-area luxury grocery chain Erewhon, carries a $19 price for a single fruit.

The big-budget berry became the source of online discourse when influencer Alyssa Antoci, whose aunt and uncle own the grocery chain, posted a video to TikTok.

"OK, this is a $19 strawberry from Erewhon, so we're gonna eat it," Antoci says in the video. "Apparently it's like the best-tasting strawberry in the entire world."

The influencer declares the snack to be the "best strawberry I've ever had in my life."

The video quickly racked up millions of views, and garnered multiple comments and response videos from fellow influencers describing the $19 strawberry as "dystopian," "a new low" and a potential "social experiment to see what some people will spend on."

The controversy even led late night host Jimmy Kimmel and guest Mindy Kaling to sample the strawberries on Wednesday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

"The strawberries are picked at their prime and hits the shelves at Erewhon within 24-48 hrs," an Erewhon representative told TODAY.com. "Faster than broccoli growing in [California] getting to markets in [New York]."

An Elly Amai spokesperson added the strawberries have a very short shelf life.

"If you think logistics-wise, getting it here and being able to try it fresh from Japan, it's very understandable why the price is what it is," the spokesperson said. "Don't hate on it until you try it."

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Michigan dad gets $1.1 million lottery ticket as a birthday gift

A Michigan man bought his father a lottery ticket as a birthday gift and it turned out to be a $1.1 million winner.

The Macomb County man told Michigan Lottery officials he bought a ticket for the Dec. 14 Lotto 47 drawing at Liquor Land on East 9 Mile Road in Eastpointe, a store with special significance.

"I bought the ticket for my father as a birthday gift," he said. "I don't buy tickets often, but when I do I always buy them at Liquor Land because I remember my father always bought tickets there when I was a kid."

The man presented his father with the ticket for his birthday.

"When my dad checked the ticket after the drawing, he had to look at it more than a few times to believe what he was seeing," the son recalled.

The father and son said they plan to use the winnings to pay bills and invest in a business.

"What a memorable birthday gift for a son to give to his father," Michigan Lottery Commissioner Suzanna Shkreli said. "Topping this gift will be nearly impossible, but sharing such a wonderful memory — and a jackpot win — with your family is priceless!"

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Japanese park covering just 2 1/2 square feet is officially world's smallest

A park in Nagaizumi, Japan, has been officially named the worl's smallest park, covering an area of just 2 1/2 square feet.

The park near Nagaizumi Town Hall, about an hour's drive from Tokyo, was created in 1988 after a worker at the construction management division of Nagaizumi Town returned from a trip to the United States.

The worker had encountered Mill Ends Park in Portland, Ore., which previously held the record at 3.1 square feet.

"So, they wanted to create an even smaller park," Shuji Koyama, a team leader at the construction management division, told Guinness World Records.

The park was completed in 1988, but the city didn't bring in a Guinness World Records adjudicator to officially measure it until December.

The Nagaizumi park has now been certified as the smallest in the world.

"We want to continue maintaining the park with the community, as well as creating a landscape that is more social media friendly, so that even more people will find attractions of our town," Koyama said.

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Advice from friend's uncle leads man to $100,000 lottery prize

A Maryland man took some advice from a friend's uncle and ended up winning a $100,000 lottery prize.

The Baltimore man told Maryland Lottery officials he was at Omega Grocery & Market in Baltimore with a group of friends when a friend's uncle encouraged him to buy a scratch-off ticket.

The man said he initially replied that he doesn't play lottery games.

"He told me to play anyway," the player said. "I didn't even know how to play it."

The man ended up selecting a $100,000 Crossword scratch-off ticket.

The player said he decided to simply scan the ticket right away instead of going through the process of revealing and playing letters, but the scanner came up with an error message.

He ended up scratching the ticket and showing it to his friend and the friend's uncle to see if he had won anything.

"They said, 'You have 10 words,'" the winner recalled, "and when I looked at the game, it said 10 words is $100,000!"

The man took his ticket to another store and confirmed his $100,000 prize using a working scanner.

"I had to step outside for a minute," he said. "I don't normally freak out, but I did this time."

The winner said his prize money will go into savings for the time being.

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'Megalodon' goldfish found in Pennsylvania waterway

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service is reminding pet owners not to release their goldfish into waterways after researchers in Pennsylvania found a massive "megalodon."

The USFWS said researchers conducting an electrofishing survey in Presque Isle, Erie County, found a gigantic goldfish larger than researcher Corey Ketchum's hand.

"Your pet store goldfish after two years in the wild: 'Call me Megalodon,'" the USFWS said on social media.

The service said goldfish are an invasive species.

"They can turn lakes and waterways into murky messes, steal food from native fish and wreck water quality," the post said.

Officials wrote that goldfish may start out small, but they can become a big problem very quickly.

"One goldfish might not seem like a big deal, but they multiply fast," the USFWS said. "Goldfish spawn several times a season, and because they have no natural predators in most North American waters, their populations explode."

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Ballet dancer balances on moving ATVs while doing the splits

A Syrian ballet dancer got into the split position and balanced on a pair of ATVs for a ride lasting 1,541 feet, 11 inches to break a Guinness World Record.

Yara Khdair, 26, broke the record for the longest distance covered while performing a split on two moving ATVs, a record that required her to not touch anything with her arms while each of her legs balanced on a different vehicle.

The attempt in the United Arab Emirates also involved ATV drivers Mohamed Alblooshi and Abdulla Alhattawi.

"We actually didn't know each other beforehand but we met to make this record and they were really great partners," Khdair told Guinness World Records. "Of course, confidence was important and it was already there because I saw their performance and I was confident that we could achieve the number successfully."

The ATVs were required to maintain a speed of at least 3.1 mph for the duration of the attempt. Khdair successfully took the record with a distance of 1,541 feet, 11 inches.

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