-
Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Aug 15, 2016
August 15, 2016
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
Idiots or Insane:
Most people avoid getting bit by mosquitoes. That's not the case in one Russian town.
Residents of the town of Berezniki celebrated the Fourth annual Russian Mosquito Festival this past weekend. During the festival, participants actually try to get bitten. In fact, the people with the most bites win prizes in various categories. nine-year-old IRINA ILYUKHINA took first place --winning a ceramic cup-- in the "tastiest girl" category after receiving 43 verified mosquito bites. (Still)Jedi mind tricks:
This might be the hottest Halloween costume of 2016: Buddhist Kung Fu Nuns --and yes, they're real!
The Druk Amitabha nunnery in Nepal is their home and they really are the domestic divas of the Buddhist monks but 26 years ago they had enough! They broke off and formed the sect where women are treated as equals. They started practicing kung fu for two hours a day and have become devout ass-kicking nuns! (Myers)Olympic Tidbits:
One thing MICHAEL PHELPS did *not* win was the 100m butterfly, which was taken by 21-year-old JOSEPH SCHOOLING. It was Singapore's first Olympic gold medal, and amazingly, social media was all atwitter over a photo of him with Phelps at Singapore back in 2008.
Phelps was in an amazing three-way tie for second with Hungary's LASZLO CSEH and South Africa's CHAD LE CLOS in the race.
But even cooler was the fact that the gold medal qualified him to get a million dollars from Singapore (about $740-thousand US) because of the sponsorship of the Singapore National Olympic Council from a betting company, Tote Board.
And although Schooling is a junior at the University of Texas, he'll get to keep the money (after giving 20-percent back to Singapore) because back in 2001, the NCAA's Division I schools adopted a rule that allowed athletes to accept money under the U.S. Olympic Committee's Operation Gold program, which provides cash based on athletes' performances at the Olympics. So he'll also get to keep his remaining college swimming eligibility as well.
And, while we're on the subject, three other swimmers who swam in Friday night's competition --TOWNLEY HAAS, JACK CONGER and CLARK SMITH-- will also get Operation Gold cash of at least $25-thousand dollars, thanks to the USOC and USA Swimming.Top-10 most disappointing tourist sites:
The London Telegraph ran a list of the "most disappointing tourist sites" around the world, and we've got three in the top-10, although the Eiffel Tower in Paris was number one on the list, because of its over-crowding and high price of admission. France's great museum, The Louvre, was number two, with "The Mona Lisa" getting special mention.
[Editor's note; The painting itself is very small, and because of people wanting to spend more time at the painting, museum guards have no qualms about moving people along after about 30 seconds.]
In the U-S, Times Square ranked third and the Statue of Liberty fifth, with The White House seventh. Even Britain's famed Stonehenge took a hit on the local list, called "just a load of old rocks."
--o--
The full list:
10. The Leaning Tower of Pisa
9. The Brandenburg Gate, Germany
8. The Pyramids, Egypt
7. The White House
6. Spanish Steps, Rome
5. Statue of Liberty
4. Las Ramblas, Spain
3. Times Square
2. The Louvre (Mona Lisa)
1. The Eiffel Tower -
-