HOLES AGAINST HUMANITY
The rebellion against the absurdities of Black Friday this year by the organization Cards Against Humanity came in the form of raising money to dig a pointless hole in the ground. During the last week of November, people “contributed” $100,573, with Cards digging initially for 5.5 seconds per donated dollar. In 2015, according to an NPR report, Cards raised $71,145 by promising to do “absolutely nothing” with it, and the year before, $180,000 by selling bits of bull feces. Asked why Cards doesn’t just give the money to charity, a spokesperson asked why donors themselves don’t give it to charity. “It’s [their] money.”
GOVERNMENT IN ACTION
New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation has completed its two-year project of assigning ID numbers (with arboreal characteristics) to every one of the 685,781 trees in the city’s five boroughs. More than 2,300 volunteers walked the streets, then posted each tree’s location, measurements, Google Street View image, and ecological benefits for the surrounding neighborhoods (rainwater retained, air pollution reduced). Privacy activists hope the National Security Agency is not inspired by this.
THE CONTINUING CRISIS
A note in The New York Times in October mentioned a website that comprehensively covers everything worth knowing and wondering–about shoelaces. Ian’s Shoelace Site shows and discusses (and rates) lacing methods, how to mix lace colors, how to tie (comparing methods, variations and, again, ratings), lengths of laces (how to calculate, which formulas to use, what to do with excess lengths), “granny knots,” aglet repair and much more–neatly laid out in dozens of foolproof drawings for the shoelace- challenged (because no one wants to be caught in a shoelace faux pas).
ELECTION THERAPY
Though the presidential election of 2016 was certainly more volatile than usual, one reaction to the outcome was the apparent ease with which some in America’s next generation of college-trained leaders were sidelined by self-described emotional pain. The Wall Street Journal reported that special attention was given by administrators at Tufts University, the University of Kansas and Ivy League Cornell, among other places, where their young adults could “grieve” over the election and seek emotional support, such as use of “therapy dogs” in Kansas and, at the University of Michigan, the availability of Play-Doh and coloring books for distraction.
IRONY
The county executive in Cleveland, Ohio, complained in November of lack of funds (because the county’s credit is “maxed out”) for necessary renovations to its well-known sports and concert venue, the Quicken Loans Arena. And in November, after a companion asked Victoria Vanatter, 19, what blood-sucking was like, she let him slice her arm with a razor to have a taste, but the two then argued, and Vanatter allegedly grabbed a knife and slashed him for real. Police in Springfield, Missouri, arrested her after both people were stitched up at a hospital.
RECURRING IRONY
The most recent city to schedule a civic-minded conference with community leaders to discuss options for affordable, accessible housing in a meeting place that was highly unfriendly to the non-ambulatory was Toronto, in November. The first proposed site required a seven-step walk-up, but following complaints, officials relocated it–to a building whose only rest room was in the elevator-free basement.
QUESTIONABLE JUDGMENTS
The Space World theme park in Kitakyushu, Japan, opened a popular (with visitors) ice-skating rink in November, but was forced to close it two weeks later for being hugely unpopular (with social media critics). The park had placed 5,000 fish and other sea animals in the ice deck of its “Freezing Port” rink so that skaters could look down as they glided along, gazing at marvels of nature (all dead in advance, of course, purchased from a fish market). Nonetheless, the park manager apologized for grossing out so many people and closed the exhibit (melting the ice and conducting an “appropriate religious service” for the fishes’ souls).
NOT HELPING
The government-run Channel 2M in Morocco apologized for a segment of its daily TV program Sabahiyat that featured a makeup artist demonstrating techniques for obscuring blemishes on women subjected to domestic violence. The model being worked on had been made up with a swollen face and faked bruises. Said the host, “We hope these beauty tips will help [victims] carry on with your daily life.” Bonus: The program aired Nov. 23–two days before International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
CUNNING STRATEGIES
Shogo Takeda, 24, said he desperately needed a job at the elevator maintenance company in Yokohama at which he was interviewing (with the president) on Nov. 10, but somehow could not resist taking the man’s wallet from a bag when the president briefly left the room. Takeda had dropped off his resume beforehand and thus was quickly apprehended. And Mark Revill, 49, pleaded guilty in November to stalking the actor Keira Knightley. He said he had become frustrated that his flood of love letters was being ignored and so approached the front door of Knightley’s London home and “meowed” through the letterbox.
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