I’ll let this post from Canadian fast-food chain Pizza Pizza do the explaining:
Available this Canada Day weekend: The Buzz-Off Pizza! Did you know garlic, tomatoes, hot peppers and onions have been shown to naturally repel mosquitoes? That’s why the Buzz-Off Pizza comes LOADED with ‘em, making it THE tastiest way to make Canada Day weekend more fun. Because everyone deserves pizza... except mosquitoes.
Excerpts from the coverage by TheMayor.EU:
In a bit of curious news, Finnish media reported that the deputy mayor of Helsinki, Paavo Arhinmäki, was detained last Friday night after being caught painting graffiti in a train tunnel in the district of Pasila.
Apparently, graffiti painting was an old hobby of the mayor’s, stemming from his youth days, and clearly, something that he still feels passionate about. In that light, he, together with a friend went to a train tunnel leading to the Vuosaari harbour and got busy with the spray cans. Their idea was that being Midsummer’s Eve and a public holiday, no trains would be running through.
However, much to their surprise, they were caught red-handed by security guards patrolling nearby who told them to stay where they were, detained them and called the police, apparently not being fazed by the status of one of the infractors.
Mr Arhinmäki then took to Facebook to tell his view on the story and issue an apology. In his words, Pasila was “Finland’s graffiti cradle” and a place where he had dabbled in street art in his youth.
He acknowledged that although there are now legal surfaces for graffiti painting in Helsinki (since 2008), there are also many places that no one really checks out, such as the train tunnels. So, he thought it would be a nostalgic trip down memory lane without consequences.
To quote from the product website:
Sh’mallow, the first aerosol marshmallow that sprays, tops, and toasts on any dessert, beverage, or whatever your imagination craves!
As reported on the Daily Dot website:
An American Airlines passenger’s patience was rewarded after he endured an 18-hour delay in order to board his flight. He had the entire plane to himself.
According to a viral video posted to TikTok today by user Phil Stringer (@phil.stringer), a full crew was assigned to his flight despite him being the only passenger boarding at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
“I figured they would just cancel the flight after it kept getting delayed over and over, but they didn’t cancel it,” Stringer said. “I asked if there were other options, but the only options would have me leaving the airport the next morning and I had to get home.”
He sat at the airport Starbucks and worked the entire day, returning to his gate 18 hours later to discover that he was the only passenger waiting to board.
“When you buy every single ticket on the plane so you don’t have to deal with people,” Stringer jokingly wrote in his video’s text overlay, showing rows of empty seats inside the plane. Only one bag was loaded onto the plane, according to a baggage handler shown in the video.
Excerpts from a press release by the Irish healthcare agency HSE:
In Ireland, smoking is the leading cause of avoidable death. The QUIT campaign encourages smokers to quit and signposts to evidence-based HSE stop smoking services.
The HSE QUIT campaign is partnering with RTÉ to sponsor the Irish men’s soccer team’s hopeful journey to the UEFA European Championships in summer 2024.
The Irish team are in group B and need to overcome some difficult opponents like World Cup runners-up France, previous European winners Greece and the high flying Dutch. The matches will draw a big audience, including the key target audience for QUIT - smokers aged between 25 and 45.
Ad breaks during live sports are often unconscious triggers for people to smoke. We want to disrupt this behaviour and find a way to keep the viewer engaged and distracted from smoking.
By giving the audience a task at the start of each break we hope to encourage a ‘don’t break’ instead of a ‘smoke break’, giving current quitters support to tackle smoking cravings but also inspiring future quitters to take back control with the support of the HSE QUIT service, one craving at a time.
The partnership includes 10” and 7” stings that top and tail each ad break on RTÉ before, during and after each match.
Each break sting will have a different task for the audience to do – from peeling an orange, to learning how to juggle, emptying the dishwasher or solving an anagram. The closing break sting includes a message about the support QUIT.ie can offer smokers.
A sample of the stings can be watched here.
A limited edition offering from Miller Lite. As explained by Food & Wine:
The Beer Cubes Tray is pretty much your standard silicone ice tray, except that it's intended to be filled with pilsner. Oh, and the 24 ice “cubes” you'll finally get after freezing for a few hours will be shaped like adorably tiny cans of Miller Lite.
Beyond being cute, the benefit is that these small, cylindrical ice nuggets can slip easily into an open pop-top can of beer or longneck bottle, allowing you to nearly instantly cool down a warm beer without watering it down.
And sure, you could just pour a can of light beer into your regular old ice tray, but good luck fitting those cubes into a can or bottle. Then again, you might decide you're bold enough to drink your iced-down beer in a pint glass for everyone to see — just be prepared for confused looks all summer long.
From Pennsylvania: a local police department has put out a delightful 600+ word account of a quest to capture a pig, that deserves to be read in full. Some excerpts:
This morning, around 0930hrs, a resident of the 900 block of Elm Ave called to report that an enormous pig was napping under his trampoline in the backyard. Three Manheim Township police officers and one civilian police aide, with over 40 years of experience, arrived and found that, yes- this is a pig. And he's enormous. So, now what?
Typically, 40 years of combined police experience will solve almost any problem quickly. And had this been a dog or cat, it would have been resolved within the hour. But livestock on the loose? Not exactly in our wheelhouse. We don't have the equipment to catch, contain, or even transport a hog. And where would we transport it to, even if we did have those things? The butcher shop?
Fortunately, this pig- who by now we had named "Hamilton", seemed pretty tired, as he had settled down for a nap in a shady corner of the mostly fenced-in yard. Note- "mostly" fenced-in yard. That becomes very relevant in a moment.
Lancaster Farm Sanctuary personnel arrived and began formulating a plan to contain Hamilton and direct him into the back of their farm van, primarily by bribing him with food. Hamilton wasn't really on board with this plan and found the one spot in that mostly fenced yard that wasn't mostly fenced, to make his escape back to the streets of Hamilton Park. A foot pursuit of the escaped swine ensued, and yes, we see the irony in 3 cops chasing a pig. As it turns out, Hamilton wasn't as tired as we thought because we're fairly certain he's the fastest pig alive. After nearly being struck by a passing Tesla on Atkins Ave, Hamilton made a break for the open parking lot along West St and into another fenced-in area...which happened to be the courtyard of Pediatric Specialty Care on Rider Ave. Great. An out-of-control farm animal in the play area of a Pediatric medical facility. What could go wrong?
After about 20 minutes of chasing Hamilton around inside the courtyard, probably much to the amusement of the staff inside Pediatric Specialty Care, we were able to secure Hamilton in a dog crate, load him into the back of the Sanctuary van. He was transported to their farm, where he will live out his days, telling stories to the other rescued farm animals about how he was saved from his “life on the streets.”
Sourced via CRIMEWATCH®: https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/manheimtwppd/53783/post/pig-penned
Apple pitches the iPhone 14 pro with a stylishly-filmed spot, set in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.
A joyful campaign from Durex in response to Apple’s decision to no longer autocorrect the F word. In the words of one of the people at the creative agency that partnered with Durex:
Your iPhone is meant to be an extension of yourself, but for a long time, potty-mouthed individuals have been censored and silenced, by the quack that is the word “duck.” A bout of embarrassment undermined each attempt at swearing in a rage-fueled text.
Then, at WWDC 2023, Apple announced it was offering protection to the feelings of users who engage in colorful language. Durex is evidently wrapped up in joy by the more socially-aware algorithm, so much so that it’s teamed up with us to proudly declare in a dedicated campaign: “It’s about ducking time!”
To quote from a Reuters report:
Police and operatives of the SNAI prison authority were shown wheeling out two pigs from the prison in images shared by Ecuador's military in a message posted on Twitter.
The authorities also removed 12 fighting cocks, 26 bladed weapons, 16 electrical items, and other objects, they tweeted, without saying how the animals ended up there.
Burger King France announces its collaboration with French master chef Michel Sarran with a series of fun spots starring the Michelin-starred chef himself.
To quote from a news report:
An Oklahoma convenience store clerk is facing embezzlement charges after reportedly asking a friend to find someone to rob the store where he worked so he could go home early.
Notably the Facebook post by the police department, explaining the conviction, was titled ‘Friends in Low Places’ and carried this footnote:
Our Human Resources department, and likely every H.R. department in the world would like to advise people that this is not the recommended way to leave work early.
From the NPR obit:
Ellsberg never ran for office and only occasionally appeared on TV. But he altered the course of U.S. history in a way few private citizens ever have.
From a piece that Ellsberg wrote in 2014, recollecting a particularly odd moment during his trial:
[W]hen I finally heard my lawyer ask the prearranged question in direct examination – Why did you copy the Pentagon Papers? – I was silenced before I could begin to answer. The government prosecutor objected – irrelevant – and the judge sustained. My lawyer, exasperated, said he “had never heard of a case where a defendant was not permitted to tell the jury why he did what he did.” The judge responded: well, you're hearing one now.
From The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: “We were the wrong side”
To quote from a news report out of Canada:
The temptation may be strong, but the owner of Brackley Drive-In Theatre, on Prince Edward Island’s North Shore, has asked audience members to refrain from taking home Timber, the theatre's resident cat.
Timber will often join people to watch a movie, said Bob Boyle, but he needs to be left on the property after the credits roll.
“You're welcome to let him watch the movie with you, you're welcome to cuddle with him, but please don't take him home,” he said.
“It is not a public service announcement I thought I would have to make.”
The orange tabby has gone missing a total of five times.
Pet care retailer Petco has tied up with Snoop Dogg to “sniff out better quality pet care for less human money”. To quote the brand’s CMO:
Seeing this value through the eyes of the ultimate dog and dog dad — 'Tha Doggfather' himself — Snoop Dogg gives pet parents a fresh perspective on our comprehensive health and wellness offering at a value they can feel good about.
And this from the description for the campaign video:
It takes a Dogg to know a dog.
Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.
-All the Pretty Horses
What's the bravest thing you ever did?
He spat in the road a bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said.-The Road
If trouble comes when you least expect it then maybe the thing to do is to always expect it.
-The Road
Grief is the stuff of life. A life without grief is no life at all. But regret is a prison. Some part of you which you deeply value lies forever impaled at a crossroads you can no longer find and never forget.
-The Passenger
To quote from a briefing by a local police department in Ontario, Canada:
Belleville Police received information from a male that a female had “threatened him with a gun” at a restaurant on Bell Blvd on June 3rd 2023 about 5:30pm. No weapon was actually observed.
Officers attended and spoke to an intoxicated male outside the restaurant who told police that he liked the perfume a female was wearing and attempted to communicate with her. According to the male, the female replied that she had a gun.
When officers spoke to the female, she provided a VERY different account of the events. She explained that her perfume was called “JULIETTE HAS A GUN”. Police were able to confirm her story with restaurant staff and a quick Google search.
The incident was resolved peacefully and police ensured the male arrived home safely following the incident.
To quote from a report out of Malta:
On Thursday afternoon, police issued a call to the public to help them locate a 36-year-old man named Marzoq Abdelaziz.
Two hours after the call police simply said that “the person is no longer being sought”. It clearly wasn’t that difficult to find him, because Abdelaziz was in Paola all along, serving a three-year prison sentence.
Abdelaziz is currently serving time in Division 1 at Corradino Correctional Facility after admitting to stealing from four shops in Ħamrun, Marsa, and Sliema over six months to allegedly fund his drug habit.
The Whopper has been the heart of Burger King promotions for decades. But that hasn’t swayed fans of its Chicken Royale in the UK. In a new fun spot the brand mock-despairingly acknowledges this fact.
Dubbed as ‘the most beautiful sound’, it’s described as a scientific breakthrough “that will bring hope and resilience to millions of people living with cancer”. To quote a key person behind the initiative:
There’s motion and vibration within all cells, including those with cancer. Using a Stimulated Ramen scattering technique, we measured the movement of breast and lung cells at the precise moment of cellular death, and transcribed those motions into sounds you can hear. The idea of taking something invisible and giving it sound and giving it perspective, giving it the ability to be perceived struck me as something that could be very powerful for patients in their journey fighting cancer.
From the description on the iPhone App Store:
When you check the internet, do you mindlessly and randomly bounce back and forth your favorite sites hoping for fresh interesting content?
We made this app for you.
Think of it as your new companion browser for just the fun parts of checking the internet. Leave Safari or Chrome for the less fun research and heavy lifting.
Web Roulette is simple and fun to play with like all good toys:
1. Set up your favorite sites once
2. Swipe through your favorite sites
3. Shake when bored for a surprise webpage!
4. Swiping charges up more shakes
To quote from a news report out of the U.S.:
Benjamin Nadrowski, 32, faces an array of felony charges after allegedly intruding into four residences in Providence, Rhode Island, to steal sex toys.
As to his motive:
[H]e insisted to the police that he was not taking items of significant value, but rather women's sex toys intended as a birthday gift.
A master spy and a man of intriguing choices.
To quote The Washington Post:
[H]is time as a traitor couldn’t have been all about the money, according to those who knew him.
Many believe that Hanssen enjoyed the gamesmanship of outsmarting his employer, one of the most powerful spy agencies.
To quote from the BBC’s report:
His family drove to mass every Sunday in a 10-year-old van, and was said to be a strict father, who limited television for his children.
But behind this façade lay a sexual obsession. Hanssen secretly filmed pornographic videos of his wife and showed them to a friend.
During the time of his arrest, CBS News, BBC's US partner, reported that he would frequent strip clubs where he tried to convert strippers to Catholicism.
Additionally, he would post sexually explicit stories about him and his wife online and share nude photos of her.
A glimpse of Chris Cooper’s chilling and accurate performance as Hanssen in Breach (2007): link
Heinz has launched a global creative campaign with a series of spots that are based on “true events from the internet, social media, news articles and this one mom who’s so obsessed with Heinz she always carries a bottle in her purse”. Be sure to check out the descriptions below the videos.
From Canada: a hardware chain has a solution for ‘plumber’s butt’. To quote from the product description:
Anti-butt crack jeans specifically designed for plumbers. Absolute comfort for your waist and absolute comfort for the eyes of those watching you.
Hides any type of crack: long, short, flared, hairy.
There is plenty of advice doled out to shower lovers on how they can save water. To that, we now have a notable addition— a message from British sustainable sex toys brand Love Not War, for those who truly ‘love’ their showerheads. To quote:
Did you know that masturbating in the shower uses enough water to fill 121 Olympic-sized swimming pools every year?
Luckily there’s a better way to masturbate, for us and for the planet.
This World Environmental Day, we are encouraging everyone to swap the way they masturbate and choose a sustainable sex toy.
But it is the tongue-in-cheek humour of the campaign video that stands out the most, as it walks you through how your shower head might react to your ‘breakup’.
The latest anti-plastic spot from canned water brand Liquid Death is another feather in its subversive and wildly imaginative marketing cap.
From Canada: the report of a botched robbery, as tweeted by the North Vancouver police:
Talk about being at the right place at the right time. On Friday, officers were near Superstore for an unrelated matter, when they observed a man running out of the emergency exit followed by staff. Officers jumped into action, arrested him and returned $2100 worth of toothpaste.
We think he was trying to make a clean getaway but was unsuccessful
