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Overcoming obstacles
Before a 2013 accident left him a quadriplegic, Rob Camm always had wanted to complete the 12-mile obstacle course through muddy terrain known as the Tough Mudder. Now, thanks to an all-terrain powered wheelchair, the 21-year-old university student and former rugby player from Bristol, U.K., can say he made it. As others raced by on foot, Camm made it through the Gloucestershire event on Aug. 23 with the help of his chin-directed chair, a team of assistants to lift him over a few obstacles, and a poncho to keep him dry. “This is what I wanted to do before [the accident] and it’s what I’m doing now,” he told the BBC. “There’s no reason not to do it.”
Heinz squeezed
Known domestically as the ketchup king, Heinz may be forced to rebrand itself as a “tomato seasoning” in Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Health, acting on a complaint by a major ketchup competitor, tested Heinz Tomato Ketchup and found the product that hits Israel’s supermarket shelves contains only 21 percent tomato concentrate, well below the advertised 61 percent and the Israeli trade standard 41 percent. The results put Heinz in a tricky situation: reformulate its popular ketchup blend or rebrand it as something other than ketchup. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the company that distributes Heinz in Israel has another plan: petition the Health Ministry to lower its ketchup standards.
Chains apart
Restaurant giant Burger King has extended an olive branch to rival McDonald’s, asking the fast-food foe to cooperate for one day. In an advertisement appearing in The New York Times and Chicago Tribune on Aug. 26, Burger King proposed the two companies work together to create a “McWhopper” on Sept. 21 to commemorate the International Day of Peace. Burger King envisioned creating a pop-up store in the parking lot between a Burger King and McDonald’s in Atlanta. McDonald’s quickly rejected the idea.
Blade runner
An elderly British woman has been left confused by a thief who stole not her jewelry, not her electronics, but her lawn. When Mair Ingman of Wrexham, Wales, awoke on Aug. 19 and looked out her front window, she discovered a 1,000-square-foot portion of her artificial lawn was missing. “At first I just thought that someone had dumped loads of sand, because you don’t think anyone would take your lawn,” the woman told Wales Online. Perplexed police took pictures and recovered footprints in the sand that had been beneath the artificial lawn.
Out-of-control art
Residents of Toledo, Ohio, who saw a massive red ball rolling down a downtown street weren’t imagining things on Aug. 19. The ball, created by artist Kurt Perschke as part of an art installation, became unmoored in high winds and rolled away. The wind steered the 250-pound, 15-foot-diameter ball into a stop sign (bending it) and into a silver sedan before passers-by corralled the object. With the help of assistants, Perschke managed to deflate the rubber ball and return it to its display.
Taste of the past
On Aug. 19, a Florida couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the same way they celebrated their original nuptials in 1955: with a piece of their original wedding cake. Ken Fredericks of Satellite Beach, Fla., said he and his wife have been eating slices from the top layer of their wedding cake for the past 60 years—and haven’t gotten sick from it once. The secret, Ann Fredericks told Florida Today, is liquor: “Every year, we unwrap it, pour brandy over it—because you need to moisten it—and we break off a piece. Now, our children are appalled that we would be eating something that’s 60 years old. But believe me, it’s quite tasty, as long as it’s got enough brandy on it.”
Quite a trip
Told by airport security she couldn’t take an expensive bottle of Rémy Martin on an airplane, a Chinese woman dutifully disposed of the cognac—by drinking it. The incident occurred at Beijing’s airport on Aug. 21, when a woman identified as Zhao chose to drink the contents of the $120 bottle rather than turn it over to authorities. Airport security prevented her from boarding anyway, declaring she was bound to become too inebriated to fly. Police report that later the woman was “rolling on the ground, shouting” before she passed out for seven hours.
Bad call
Earlier this year, 44-year-old Tracey McCloud of Cleveland phoned 911 with what could be labeled a distress call. McCloud’s problem: The Chinese food takeout she had ordered from a local restaurant was “not up to par for her liking.” Once the dispatcher realized McCloud’s complaint was better served by Yelp than by 911, police arrested her and charged her with a misdemeanor. An Ohio judge on Aug. 24 gave McCloud a three-day jail term and a $250 fine for misusing the system.
Cheer up
Hoping for a kinder, gentler sporting experience, administrators at Baraboo High School in Baraboo, Wis., issued a Parent/Fan Code of Conduct Aug. 24 prohibiting parents from booing or taunting the school’s coaches or teams from the stands. According to Athletic Director Jim Langkamp, the school has had trouble retaining coaches, and jeers from the home crowd aren’t helping. According to the policy, parents and fans are also prohibited from posting negative comments about the school’s teams on social media. Violators of the policy could be banned from school sporting events.
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