anna's archive anna's archive anna's archive

October 2026

16 October 2026

To spotlight his disputes with the local homeowners' association and neighbour Chris Hunnel, Colorado's Mark Dias rode atop a tank sporting the sign 'MAKE ME MOVE IT' for the benefit of cameras for the HBO reality show Neighbors. The police were summoned in response to the presence not of the military vehicle rolling through the streets of Arvada (not Armada) but of an unamused gun-brandishing resident. While Dias claimed that Neighbors producers had received signed releases from locals, among the locals who challenge this account are city officials, who say they found no evidence of having granted any of the necessary filming permits.

Someone forgot to engage the slide bolt of the inner doors to an enclosure at Taipei Zoo, so two male chimpanzees forced the outer doors open and proceeded to pay a mid-afternoon visit to various public areas. While 50 humans were setting up barricades and arranging an evacuation, one of the chimps, 11-year-old Wa Chih, went on a tour of the giraffe enclosure before scaling a tree near the lions' area. The other, Hsiao Chiang, 44, simply decided to spend some quality time with the female chimpanzees. Both simians were eventually found and tranquillised safely, though Wa Chih required a second dart. He had quickly removed, inspected, and discarded the first.

A Tallinn man recognised his missing cat among the animals placed in foster care by charity Cats Help. This care is intended to last only until the feline's owner comes forward, so he contacted the caretaker. She advised him that the cat had gone missing so was unreturnable. Upon getting a good view of his cat through her window, the man rang the emergency number to ask what punishment he might face for breaking in to retrieve his pet. After this, he teased open a window left ajar for ventilation, then offered a passer-by a bottle of vodka in exchange for the cat in the flat. The offer worked as intended.
Prosecutors have closed the ensuing case on grounds of the owner's 'low culpability', his willingness to pay 152.50 euros for window repairs and 475 euros in procedural costs, and a protracted case not being in the public interest.

Last year, 33-year-old model Haley Kalil told a podcast host that the biggest factor in the break-up of her seven-year marriage was her husband's painfully large penis. Her comments that 'we tried it all: therapist, doctors, [...] looked up lipo-type shit' but 'trying to do the damn thing' was 'impossible unless you're going to be in tears' caught the interest of adult webcam site CamSoda, which proceeded to offer her ex-husband $300,000 to show off his 'stacked Coke cans'. He responded by suing Kalil for $75,000, claiming that she had gained financially from breaching his privacy, though she had not identified him by name as Minnesota Vikings football player Matt Kalil (yes, his role for the team was offensive tackle).
A US district court judge has now dismissed his suit, finding that her remarks were connected to topics of public interest, such as human sexuality and the two public figures' divorce.

San Diego's Dante Rowley and Stephanie Calderon were about to board their flight home from Chicago when they received a home-intrusion alert. From the air, they watched live video of their 40-kilo golden retriever Nash presenting various plush toys to the burglar, who showed more interest in the couple's yoghurt stash than in playing. Once the man had removed his shoes and settled down on the dog's blanket for a nap, Rowley rang the police. They responded by flying a drone through the window that the man had used. Said copcopter chased him around the house while officers headed for the front door.
So did Nash, with a dog toy. The cops too didn't engage with the attention-starved animal. Instead, they caught 57-year-old John Paul Cline as he tried to escape via a bathroom window.
Rowley indicates that he might beef up his security system. Not leaving a ladder on the back porch below a cracked-open window might be a start. He noted also that Nash isn't usually so friendly.

As US mid-term elections approach, a Republican-aligned super-PAC ran an ad campaign to spotlight the tax-policy record of Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson. According to advertising-data firm AdImpact, Defending Main Street spent roughly $25,000 on the ads, designed mainly for the streets of Maine, where Jackson is battling incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. For four days, the group's video spotlight shone brightly in the Portland area, with the only problem being that the ads ran in Portland, Oregon - an entire continent's width away from the intended Portland.

Though the mushroom-meal news from Australia has subsided, Down Under might still be the go-to location for special diets. After a 58-year-old woman shared a mid-morning curry with work colleagues in Oldbury, near Perth, none of them fell ill. In contrast, when the food-sharer returned to the leftover portion at lunchtime, she ended up with a numb tongue and then noticed bright green granules in the curry.
Police detectives identified these as snail-poison pellets. They have fingered a 43-year-old worker who'd made a pre-lunch visit to a chemicals shed on the premises. That woman, who was in a 'personal relationship' with the victim, is due to appear in court in November.

Finally, the most recent Ottumwa, Iowa, city-council meeting began with a standard invocation read by Matt Dalbey. Beginning 'Dear dark father, let us stand now unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds and darkened times' and ending 'Hail Satan', it came as a rather predictable response to the council's passage of a rule that permits opening its meetings with a religious invocation. So predictable, in fact, that councillor Cara Galloway had stated before the rule's passage, early this year, that 'Satanists might [after filling out the requisite electronic form] show up and read a prayer and that everyone would have to be okay with that'.
Though some members insisted that action be taken to reverse the 'curse' before the meeting for the 25,000-resident city could proceed, the rules of order dictated otherwise.

Want more?

Follow the link for an earlier bundle of Anna's News Clippings.
Want the latest ones, right out of the pan, by e-mail? Just fling a note in my direction.

Go to the Clippings index page

Go to Anna's main index page

Pages and content © 2000-2026 Anna Shefl