Plumbing reroute

Despite having a company of plumbers aboard, the pilots of a Norwegian Air flight had to turn their aircraft around when no one on board was able to fix a problem with one of the jet’s toilets. The flight took off from Oslo, Norway, on Jan. 27, carrying 85 plumbers heading to a company event in Munich, Germany. Plumbing company CEO Frank Olsen told Norwegian media that his plumbers likely could have fixed the problem—if only they’d had access to the outside of the plane. “Unfortunately it had to be done from the outside and we did not take the opportunity to send a plumber [out] at 10,000 meters,” he said.

Secrets for sale

The next time the Australian government wants to off-load old furniture, it may want to check the drawers first. Thousands of pages of sensitive files belonging to the Australian government were found inside locked filing cabinets for sale at a secondhand store known to sell old government furniture in Canberra, the nation’s capital. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that some of the files were classified. “Certainly someone needs to pay a price, there needs to be some consequence for what is a monumental lapse,” former Prime Minister Tony Abbott told 2GB radio.

Power to plow

The mayor of a borough of Montreal, Canada, ordered the snow cleared from neighborhood streets in January, and he’s not about to apologize for it. Borough Mayor Luis Miranda told reporters that city leaders protested his action in a letter reminding him that the city alone has the power to authorize snow removal after storms. Miranda sounded unimpressed in an interview with Global News. “I’m not going to sit down because they’re not doing their job,” he said. “Will they charge me after? I will fight it, no problem.”

SNAP for cats?

An online petition with more than 175,000 signers is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rewrite rules and extend food stamp benefits to pets. The USDA currently prohibits the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding on pet food, nonfood items, alcohol, and other sundries. “Being poor is hard enough without being expected to give up your companion,” wrote petition author Edward B. Johnston Jr.

Biting back

Police in Boscawen, N.H., arrested a local man in January after he made the mistake of getting into a biting match with a police dog. The suspect, who had an outstanding warrant, first tried to escape police by hiding under a pile of clothes. That’s when Veda the police dog found the man’s body with her teeth. Police say the man wrestled free, put the canine in a chokehold, and bit the animal on the head. “He ended up getting Tasered,” an officer told the Reuters news service. Authorities say Veda will be fine. The man, though, faces charges of resisting arrest and interfering with a police dog.

Ready, aim, donate

Workers at a Florida Goodwill store say they’re happy they foreclosed one explosive offer. Employees at the Bradenton, Fla., store discovered what appeared to be a working grenade launcher in a stack of donated goods on Jan. 25. Further inspection by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office revealed the device was loaded with a live grenade—albeit a nonlethal one. It turned out that the weapon was actually an airsoft-style launcher meant for recreational use and loaded with a “grenade” that fires plastic pellets. The launcher appears to be safely off the streets: Sheriff’s deputies have reportedly confiscated both the device and the grenade.

Beats and bitcoins

Sometimes it pays to forget. Rapper 50 Cent said it had slipped his mind that he’d accepted around 700 bitcoins as payment for his 2014 album Animal Ambition when he first released it. At the time, the cryptocurrency’s value fluctuated around $600 per bitcoin. In December, however, a bitcoin traded at nearly $20,000, although the price had crashed to below $9,000 by the beginning of February. Even at the lower price, the St. Louis rapper’s stash of cryptocurrency was worth more than $6 million.

Look at that face

Judges in a Saudi Arabian camel beauty contest disqualified a dozen dromedaries because their owners used Botox to enhance the camels’ looks. Chief judge Fawzan al-Madi made the announcement during the weekslong annual camel festival outside the capital city of Riyadh in January. According to the judge, some camel owners were using Botox injections to swell the animals’ lips and cheeks. More than 300,000 attendees visited the festival this year.

Canine benefits

Saugatuck, Mich., attorney Michael Haddock had been wondering what his dog was doing all day when he was gone at work. A letter from Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency only piqued his curiosity more. The official letter, Haddock said, indicated his German shepherd Ryder would no longer get $360 each week in unemployment benefits. State unemployment officials didn’t cite the dog’s species as a reason, but instead indicated their records showed Ryder had found work at a seafood restaurant. “He’s very food driven,” Haddock joked to WWJ Newsradio. Haddock never got an unemployment check from the state, and an agency spokesman said the letter was likely the result of a fraud attempt by an identity thief.