Posing as carnivores

Don’t expect many British men to choose a vegetarian option for dinner when friends are around. Researchers from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom say their yearlong study demonstrates that men choose meat dishes for dinner because they fear what others around them would think if they ordered vegetarian. “What we have discovered is that many men are interested in eating less meat, they just need social permission to do so,” study author Emma Roe told The Telegraph.

A real fixer-upper

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station awoke on Aug. 30 to find the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station leaking. Flight controllers on Earth noticed a drop in pressure overnight, but decided to address the slow leak when the six-person crew roused from bed. Upon finding the approximately 1/16-inch hole in the Soyuz, astronaut Alexander Gerst of Germany plugged the gap with his thumb. Later the crew was able to find a more permanent solution than Gerst’s thumb, covering the hole with Kapton tape and epoxy.

Queen and kicker

At halftime, Kaylee Foster was being crowned homecoming queen. By the end of the game, the Ocean Springs, Miss., high-school senior was lining up the game-winning kick. Foster’s extra-point kick at the end of regulation nudged Ocean Springs over George County High School 13-12 on Sept. 7. Foster grew up playing soccer, but decided to try kicking for the boys’ football team her sophomore year. Making the kick didn’t surprise her. But the homecoming court announcement did. “I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be homecoming queen,” she told The Mississippi Press, “but I was pretty sure I was going to make that kick.”

Be gentle, hockey players

Hockey Hall of Fame officials are asking National Hockey League players to treat the Stanley Cup Trophy with a bit more dignity. After a summer of well-publicized “keg stands” featuring the NHL’s championship trophy, Hall of Fame Vice President Philip Pritchard told The Washington Post in a Sept. 4 article that the organization is asking players to treat the vaunted chalice more gently. “We don’t want any unnecessary damage to it,” Pritchard, whose organization is charged with preservation of the cup, told the Post. In June, Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin and another player helped Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon perform a keg stand on the cup.

Airborne octogenarian

The latest edition of Guinness World Records has a new entry: Betty Goedhart, 85, is the world’s oldest trapeze artist. “I’m hoping I encourage people, women, to not think that when they hit the age of 55, they are old,” Goedhart told the Reuters news service. “We have got a lot more on our journey.” She began taking trapeze classes when she was 78.

Marked down

For many Russians, one pizza chain’s offer was too good to resist. In early September Domino’s Pizza in Russia offered “pizza for life” for Russians who got the red-and-blue Domino’s Pizza logo tattooed onto a visible spot on their body. Almost immediately, pizza fans began sharing pictures of newly inked tattoos of the pizza chain logo on social media. Domino’s said that valid participants would get up to 100 free pizzas per year for the next 100 years. Later the chain said it would only accept the first 350 entrants.

Foraging for a name

At long last, Madison, Ala., has a name for its new minor league baseball team. A three-month-long contest involving input and voting from fans resulted in Madison’s new Southern League franchise being named the “Rocket City Trash Pandas.” The team will begin playing games in Madison, a suburb of Huntsville, Ala., and just miles away from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in 2020. The “Trash Pandas” moniker refers to a slang term for raccoons popularized by Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie franchise, which features a character named Rocket Raccoon.

Fishy marketing

Local reports from Kuwait indicate that the Middle Eastern kingdom has decided to crack down on fishmongers who apply cosmetics to their wares to make them seem fresher. Middle Eastern outlet Al-Bayan claimed that Kuwait’s ministry of commerce shuttered a fish market after a video showing a dead fish for sale with googly eyes stuck on became a viral hit on Sept. 1. A rival shop tried to cash in on the publicity, boasting its products were sold “without cosmetic surgery.”

Hit and gallop

State police in Lancaster County, Pa., are looking for a horse-and-buggy driver suspected in a Sept. 11 hit-and-run incident. Victim Anna Hostetler said she was driving in Paradise Township that evening when a horse and buggy ran a red light and crashed into her vehicle. “I saw it’s not going to slow down, but I couldn’t get over too far,” Hostetler said. Hostetler said her vehicle suffered damage when the horse’s head struck her windshield. According to state police, authorities are looking for the female coach driver. Lancaster County hosts one of the largest Amish communities in the nation.