Scary Clown (Sandhurst, UK) – Clock Tower Cow (West Virginia University) – Malay Pricing (Singapore)

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/terrifying-clown-emerges-woodland-sandhurst-17131276

Surrey Live [UK]

23 October 2019

Terrifying clown emerges from woodland in Sandhurst and sends children running

A man has described the "surreal" moment he saw a clown emerge from a woodland in Sandhurst after children had run screaming away from it. Jonathan Wood, who lives in Sandhurst, was cycling through Thibet Woods on Sunday afternoon (October 20) when a group of "terrified" children ran up to him. […] "I announced that I was calling the police," he said. "Then he proceeded to take his mask off, and one of the kids recognised him and was like: 'You scared the hell out of me'.” […]

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https://www.insider.com/west-virginia-university-haunted-woodburn-clock-tower-cow-legend-2019-10

Insider

25 October 2019

Inside West Virginia University's haunted clock tower, where students say they hear the tortured moos of a cow slaughtered in a prank gone wrong

[…] Legend has it that some of the school’s first students took a cow from a farm owned by the university and lead [sic] it up to the top of the tower for the whole student body to see. The students, not knowing that cows can't walk down stairs, didn't plan how to get it down. According to the legend, they were then forced to kill the cow, chops [sic] up its body, and walk down the pieces from the tower one by one. The clock tower is boarded up and off-limits [to] the public. But rumor has it that students walking by can still hear the cow's haunted mooing. Insider reached out to a West Virginia University student to find out just what's going on in the school's haunted tower. Armed with a camera and a fair dose of courage, […] Casey Johnson gained access to the tower and scavenged for clues. […]

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https://sg.news.yahoo.com/debunking-myth-malay-non-malay-033140922.html

Yahoo! News [Singapore]

25 October 2019

Debunking the Myth of ‘Malay’ and ‘Non-Malay’ Pricing

[…] Known to Singaporeans as a racially-motivated form of price discrimination, Malay pricing, as you would expect, commonly refers to those who look, or are Malay being charged a cheaper price for the same item than your Chinese Singaporean. Little has been said about this curious phenomenon, yet it seems like everyone agrees it’s “a thing”. We’ve all heard about a friend of a friend who was charged “more” for his meal as compared to his Malay pal. Maybe it’s even happened to you. But this is where it gets tricky: much of the evidence behind Malay pricing is anecdotal. […]

Cheese Grater Used on Calluses (cartoon) – Needles in Bus Seats (Hong Kong) – Needles in Food (New Zealand)

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2152956/who-planting-needles-hong-kong-bus-seats

South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

28 June 2018

Needles sticking out of Hong Kong bus seats injure two passengers

Police were investigating on Thursday after three needles were found sticking out of seats on separate buses in Hong Kong, injuring two female passengers in their 20s. […]

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2153534/yet-another-needle-found-sticking-out-hong

South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

3 July 2018

Yet another needle found sticking out of Hong Kong bus seat

The strange spate of needles sticking out of Hong Kong bus seats continued on Tuesday, when the sixth such needle in less than a week was found on a KMB bus. […]

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-law-and-crime/article/2153912/man-arrested-over-needles-sticking-out-hong

South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

5 July 2018

Angry rider with grudge about buses not stopping for him arrested in Hong Kong over needles sticking out of seats

An angry 30-year-old bus rider unhappy with the service has been arrested in Hong Kong over the recent strange spate of needles sticking out of bus seats that injured three passengers. The jobless man told police officers that buses often drove past stops he was waiting at, meaning he failed to catch a ride. […] Since last week, there have been 10 cases of needles being planted in seats on KMB double-decker buses. Six sewing needles, three acupuncture needles and a pin were believed to have been planted in seats. At least three passengers were injured. […]

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3033920/hong-kong-man-who-planted-sewing-needles-bus-seats

South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

21 October 2019

Hong Kong man who planted sewing needles in bus seats sent by court for mental assessment

A Hong Kong man who admitted to planting needles in bus seats to hurt passengers because he claimed the drivers were skipping stops has been sent for a mental evaluation. District judge Frankie Yiu Fun-che on Monday ordered psychiatric and psychological assessments and a background report on Mok Cham-sum, 32, after the unemployed man pleaded guilty to the bizarre crime that injured three passengers and triggered a series of copycat incidents. […]

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https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/number-needles-found-in-food-following-strawberry-contamination-scare-revealed

TVNZ [New Zealand]

21 October 2019

Number of needles found in food following strawberry contamination scare revealed

Needles have been inserted into food on six occasions in New Zealand shops following the highly publicised strawberry scandal in Australia. On another 67 occasions, between September and June, needles or pins were inserted into fruit or other food items either "accidentally or deliberately after sale", according to the Ministry for Primary Industries' annual report. "Some were hoax or copycat incidents, or involved children who admitted inserting needles or pins into fruit as a 'joke' or to avoid eating the fruit," the annual report reads. […]

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https://www.gocomics.com/deflocked/2019/10/16

Jeff Corriveau, Deflocked, 16 October 2019. Cheese grater used to remove calluses. 

Baby Boom (Zanzibar 2008) – Black Confederates – Stuck Couple (Roodepoort, South Africa)

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article236053063.html

Sacramento Bee

12 October 2019

Will PG&E power outage lead to boom of ‘blackout babies’ in 2020? Here’s what research shows

[…] Burlando said it’s particularly unlikely that a baby boom would occur in a developed nation like the United States because the usage of long-acting birth control methods is so ubiquitous. But that doesn’t mean power outages don’t result in baby booms, he said. In Tanzania, where a 2008 blackout lasted for a full month, Burland[o] said, “there was a documented increase in births that was quite substantial.” […]

http://www.alfredoburlando.com/research

[The author’s web page contains a link to a PDF of his paper on the Zanzibarian baby boom: Alfredo Burlando (2014), “Power Outages, Power Externalities, and Baby Booms.” Demography, 51 (4), 1477-1500.]

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/13/black-confederates-civil-war-myth-kevin-levin

The Guardian [UK]

13 October 2019

Black Confederates: exploding America's most persistent myth

[…] The American civil war has never been in short supply of myths, but [Kevin] Levin describes black Confederates as the “most persistent”. Hundreds of articles, organisations and websites rewrite history by asserting that between 500 and 100,000 free and enslaved African Americans volunteered as soldiers in an army fighting to preserve slavery. […] Levin’s new book, Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth, argues that slavery was central to the south’s war effort. Drawing on research including letters, diary entries and newspaper editorials, it demolishes the notion that the Confederacy embraced black men as soldiers from the beginning of the war. […]

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https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/307147/community-attempts-to-invades-clinic-to-patients-stuck-inside-each-other/

Roodepoort Northsider [South Africa]

15 October 2019

Community attempts to invade clinic to see patients ‘stuck inside each other’

The Zandspruit Clinic was forced to temporarily shut its doors and cease operations yesterday, Monday, 14 October, after the community attempted to storm into the clinic following rumours that two patients were allegedly admitted after they became ‘stuck inside each other’ during sexual intercourse. […]