DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
• A Turkish restaurant owner has marked the 61st anniversary of the first human spaceflight by attempting to send a kebab into space. The kebab was placed on a tray with a camera trained upon it and thentied to a large helium balloon along with a Turkish flag. The kebab reportedly made it to a height of about 38 kilometres over five hours before the balloon exploded (space is generally accepted as being about 100 kilometres above sea level). The kebab landed safety in the sea about eight kilometres off the Turkish coast. Yasar Aydin, whose restaurant is located in Turkey’s’s southern province of Adana, reportedly said he “love[s] firsts”. “I decided to send a kebab plate to space because I wanted it to be the first. I contacted an aerospace company. And they told me they could do this job. And we did it together. It was very nice.”
The world’s largest hockey stick in Cowichan. PICTURE: Mick Hall (licensed under CC BY 2.0)
• The world’s largest hockey stick may be under attack from woodpeckers. Residents of the Canadian city of Duncan have reported seeing at least one northern flicker, a protected type of woodpecker, pecking at the almost 30 tonne hockey stick. Local authorities are investigating whether it’s simply chasing bugs or drilling a hole with its beak. The hockey stick, which is made of Douglas fir beams and measures more than 62 metres in length, holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest. It was commissioned for Expo ’86 in nearby Vancouver and then relocated to the exterior of the Cowichan Community Centre on Vancouver Island in 1988.
• A group of Dachshunds have donned knitted sweaters to mark the 50th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. They have done so in honour of the official mascot of the 1972 Games, a dachshund named Waldi (interesting historical note – he was the first official mascot in the history of the Summer Olympics) One of the owners told Reuters that it was a “very, very special event for me”. “We do meet at times, for like dachshund meetings, but those are much smaller and not such a great anniversary as this one.” The dogs’ outfits were designed to match the colours Waldi was depicted in.
