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Published 29 Jul, 2017 07:08am

The weekly weird

Man stuck inside cash machine

A machine repairman unfortunately got himself stuck inside a cash machine, recently. To get free, he started posting messages through the slot along with their money.

The company contractor had entered the safe room behind a Bank of America ATM in Corpus Christi, Texas, to carry out some maintenance work. He was changing a lock and accidentally got locked in. Without his phone, he was unable to call for help and decided to slide an SOS message through the machine to customers outside.

“Please help,” he scribbled. “I’m stuck in here and I don’t have my phone. Please call my boss at...”

Most of the baffled public drawing out cash thought the whole thing a bizarre joke. Fortunately, one took it seriously and called the police.

Police kicked down the door — and there, inside, was a cash machine maintenance man. He’d been stuck inside for about two hours.


Twin ducks hatch from single egg

A Nova Scotia woman who hatched Pekin ducklings in an incubator said one of the eggs contained something shocking — twin ducks connected by an umbilical cord.

Amber Brannen said she and her family hatched some Pekin duck eggs recently at their Yarmouth County home and one egg, which was no larger than the others, turned out to contain two babies.

“It was just amazing that they could fit in there,” Brannen told. Brannen shared photos and video of the twins, connected by their umbilical cord, on Facebook. She said the twins were connected for their first few days, until the cord was dried out enough to cut.

Brannen’s family dubbed the ducklings Nova and Scotia. She said they have decided to keep the ducks as pets.


Nine-year-old helped discover million-year-old fossil

A nine-year-old boy contributed to a paleontological discovery after tripping over a million-year-old fossil in New Mexico.

Jude Sparks stumbled upon the Stegomastodon fossil while hiking in the dessert with his family in November, 2016. They took a photo of the mysterious fossil, as they attempted to determine what exactly they had found. The family eventually contacted New Mexico State University (NMSU) biology professor Peter Houde who said the family had made a rare discovery.

Houde said, “This may be only the second complete skull found in New Mexico.”

The family joined Houde and a team of students and professors as they worked to uncover the skull after getting permission to excavate the area. Once it was uncovered, Houde estimated the jaw alone weighed about 120lb, while the entire skull weighed at least one tonne.

Houde was thankful that Sparks and his family contacted him instead of trying to remove the fossil themselves.


A boat made from bottles!

Surfers Against Sewage (a charity) built a boat on a beach in Marazion, England, from thousands of bottles collected from various beaches around Britain to raise awareness about pollution.

The group said the boat — dubbed Boaty McBottleface in honour of infamous research vessel name suggestion Boaty McBoatface — is part of the charity’s ‘Wasteland’ project, which aims to raise awareness of plastic waste in the ocean.

The charity said it is offering a five-point plan to help communities go plastic-free. It was unclear whether Boaty McBottleface is seaworthy.

Published in Dawn, Young World July 29th, 2017

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