QUIRKY WORLD ... Lawyer making a pig’s ear of Flint mayoral election
Michael Ewing started the “Giggles the Pig for Flint Mayor” effort after learning that the August primary could be skipped unless a judge intervenes and all candidates would have to file as write-ins for the November general election, The Flint Journal reported.
Giggles’ candidacy seeks to draw more attention to the mayoral race, better educate voters about their choices, and encourage residents to demand more of elected officials, Ewing said.
He plans to take his pig to the streets to let people meet Giggles. “I don’t want to turn it into a laughingstock,” Ewing said. “I don’t know how else to get people to pay attention.”
Mayoral candidate Karen Weaver called Giggles’ candidacy and the deadline problem a “mockery of the democratic process”, adding: “I didn’t see any pig walking around getting signatures.”
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Never too old
An Indiana teenager who took his 93-year-old great-grandmother to his junior prom says he had a great time, even though her early bedtime nearly cut the night short.
Drew Holm says his classmates thought it “was pretty cool” that he asked Kathryn Keith to the Crothersville High School junior prom.
Holm picked Keith up in her Cadillac for the dance in Seymour, about 96km south of Indianapolis.
Keith, who wore a blue dress, told the Seymour Tribune she’s proud that he asked her.
The pair hit the dance floor for only one song, sharing a slow dance. Their night ended by 9pm because Keith has an early bedtime.
Pots of money
What’s a potty worth? Thousands of euro, if it was used by an Austrian empress — but much less than her footwear.
A chamber pot owned by Empress Elisabeth has fetched €4,290 at an auction of imperial Austrian memorabilia in Vienna. But a pair of her white silk half boots went for €75,000 — more than 10 times the lowest estimated price.
Most expensive was a set of white and gold dinnerware. It sold for more than €100,000 on Thursday.
Treasure trove
Divers in Madagascar have found a silver bar weighing about 110lb (50gk) that they believe was part of the treasure of pirate Captain Kidd.
The bar was found in a bay off the island of Sainte Marie, near Madagascar’s north-east coast, and it was presented to the president of Madagascar, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, in a ceremony on the island.
William Kidd, known as Captain Kidd, raided ships at the end of the 17th century before being captured and executed in London in 1701.
Joke backfired
Comedian Miranda Hart has confessed to feeling humiliated when she accidentally found herself flirting with Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace.
The 42-year-old Miranda star explained how a joke she made to the prince backfired when he apparently took her seriously. She told Graham Norton: “I hosted a bit of the Jubilee concert and at a party at Buckingham Palace afterwards I said to Harry, ‘I am sorry about the silly flirting jokes I did about you.’
“He said, ‘That’s fine, but it’s a shame there isn’t music and dancing here because we could dance and start a rumour.’ He was being really sweet and endearing and I said, as a joke, but way too dryly so he thought I was being serious, ‘I can hear music.’
“And he just went. He was gone before I could say it was a joke. It was so awful and so embarrassing.”
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