DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Lonely heart? Head to Tudder. PICTURE: Luke Stackpoole/Unsplash
• Valentine’s Day is looming so how could we not mention a new app called Tudder which is helping cows connect to that special bull. The Tinder-style app, made by agricultural tech solutions firm Hectare, reportedly features the profiles of animals from some 42,000 UK farms and is being used by farmers to select the perfect mate for their beast. Listed information includes the animal’s age, location and owner and the app comes complete with a swipe feature ala Tinder – those that swipe right are taken to a livestock buying site so they can contact the owner or make an offer.
• Speaking of animals, Fluffy definitely used up one of its nine lives. The three-year-old cat was reportedly found covered in snow – “essentially frozen and unresponsive” – by its owners in late January in the US state of Montana where temperatures had apparently dropped as low as -12 degrees Celsius. So cold in fact that when they took it to the vet, Fluffy’s body temperature apparently failed to register on the clinic’s thermometers. Fluffy was slowly warmed back to life using towels, cage warmers and intravenous fluids and when it growled, the vet said he knew it would be OK. “These crabby cats are survivors,” he said. It’s believed an injury may have caused Fluffy to remain in the same position for so long.
• A Fox News host has told viewers that he hasn’t washed his hands in 10 years because germs “are not a real thing”. Pete Hegseth said on the network’s breakfast show that germs don’t exist because they can’t be seen with the naked eye. Hegseth, who has made a New Year’s resolution to say things on air that he would normally keep for off air conversation, later indicated he was joking. He paraphrased President Donald Trump as he tweeted that the media needed to “loosen up and have some fun”. He added: “P.S. I also support drinking from garden hoses & riding bikes w/o a helmet. Cue outrage…”. Still, we might forgo shaking your hand for now. Just in case.
