DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
• When it’s not possible to gather a crowd due to social distancing rules, some are turning to alternatives to make a venue look full. The Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium in Taiwan, for example, reportedly placed mannequins and cardboard cutouts – dressed in appropriate colours, of course – in the stands after spectators were banned from attending games. Joined by some live cheerleaders and drum-playing robots, they provided an eye catching bakdrop for players at the stadium. Meanwhile in Michigan in the US, a couple were married in front of a church filled with more than 100 life-size, albeit one-dimensional, cardboard people (from the waist up at least). “I was seeing creative ways to fill churches, like pastors that were preaching to pictures of their parishioners, and so I wanted to do something so she wouldn’t walk down the aisle to an empty church,” the groom, Dan Stuglik, told The Herald-Palladium before the wedding. And in what was a nice touch, the cardboard was donated by a local packaging company.
The toilet paper cakes. PICTURE: Via Instagram
• A Finnish bakery has been saved from going out of business due to the coronavirus pandemic thanks to her cakes shaped to imitate a product that has been in much demand across the world – toilet paper. The Ronttosrouva bakery was reportedly on the verge of closing down after orders were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak when images of owner Sanna Lampinen’s toilet roll-shaped cakes went viral on social media, resulting in hundreds of new orders. Not only has she been able to retain staff, Lampinen says she’s even had to hire two new people. One two-ply please…
• For many the idea of telecommuting – working from home via the internet – has been a long-held dream: getting up later, wearing whatever you like and raiding the fridge as often as you want all part of the attraction. But just to be sure people don’t take it too far, one Florida judge has taken time out of his schedule to write to local lawyers and remind them to get out of bed and put on shirts before they join online hearings. In a letter posted on a local bar association website, the Judge Dennis Bailey wrote that it was “remarkable” how many attorneys appeared inappropriately on camera. “We’ve seen many lawyers in casual shirts and blouses, with no concern for ill-grooming, in bedrooms with the master bed in the background, etc,” he wrote. “One male lawyer appeared shirtless and one female attorney appeared still in bed, still under the covers. And putting on a beach cover-up won’t cover up you’re poolside in a bathing suit. So, please, if you don’t mind, let’s treat court hearings as court hearings, whether Zooming or not.” You’ve been warned.
