Quirky World: €250k ghost town could be perfect Christmas present
Just in time for Christmas shopping, an entire South Dakota ghost town, complete with its own watering hole, is on sale for $250,000 (€235,000).
The 6-acre town of Swett includes a tavern, three-bedroom house, and a former tyre shop about 160km south-east of Rapid City, South Dakota.
Realtor Stacie Montgomery said potential buyers have expressed interest from the US and beyond since she first listed the property for sale in June 2014, though several written offers fell through and she has since dropped the price from $399,000 to $250,000.
One of those offers included a call from a Russian movie production company that wanted to film there.
Swett’s population peaked at 40 residents in the 1940s when it had a post office and grocery store.
Swett’s most recent residents included town owner Lance Benson, his wife and dog, who put the community up for sale last year before losing it to a bank. Benson acquired Swett in 1998, later gave it up in a divorce settlement, and then reacquired the town in 2012.
The domain also comes with a new town sign, courtesy of the state, to replace the previous one that was riddled with bullet holes.
A Catholic priest will be sent to court after admitting that he stole over €700,000 collected from churchgoers and buyers of holy candles over a quarter of a century.
René Heuillet, aged 80, admitted pocketing proceeds of regular church collections between 1987 and retirement in early 2013, plus €100,000 from votive candle sales.
He seemingly spent little of the money. Public prosecutor Karline Bouisset said the authorities had frozen holdings of €656,000 on his bank account.
The case was brought to light by the priest who succeeded him in the Pyrenean mountain village of Saint-Lizier, with the trial set for January 16.
Time for an official safe-sex emoji?
Condom maker Durex says so and presented a formal submission yesterday, World Aids Day, to get emoticon maker Unicode to adopt one.
In the run-up to the day, Durex launched a social media campaign “to create the first official safe-sex emoji”.
Emoticons are “crucial” to how young couples communicate, Durex said. Citing its own research, it said some 80% of 16 to 25-year-olds find it easier to express themselves with emojis. Some 84% felt more comfortable using icons when talking about sex.
A video for the campaign showed various way emojis are used to discuss sex, but noted the lack of one encouraging safe-sex. It proposed an angled, inflated condom.
When Donnie Walters took son Zeke to have his picture taken with Santa Claus, the 6-month-old boy couldn’t stay awake while they waited in line. So Santa obliged Walters and posed asleep with the snoozing child resting on his belly.
Walters posted the photos of the sleeping pair on Facebook. The photos taken at Evansville’s Eastland Mall in Indiana have been liked 371,000 times and shared more than 195,000 times.
Alan Partridge has a new gig — co-hosting the TFI Friday Christmas special with Chris Evans.
The Radio Norwich DJ — a character played by Steve Coogan — was “honoured” to be given the role, and said his “only slight niggle” is that he is not having his transport paid for.
The pair will be joined by big names on the Channel 4 show including James Corden, Tom Jones, Jack Whitehall, Bryan Adams, and Lianne La Havas.
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