This is America: Weird news worth having a laugh about #1
As an American, I feel we take ourselves too seriously now and then when speaking to those outside our country... so how about a good laugh? Because after all... if you can't laugh at your own country, you have no right laughing at anyone elses:
Florida Woman on Horseback Charged With DUI
Polk County police arrested 53-year-old Donna Byrne and charged her with drunk driving after multiple drivers called 911 to report a woman on a horse was hoofing it down the highway.
Polk County Sheriff's officials said in a news release that someone called 911 about a woman, who appeared confused and possibly in danger. When deputies arrived they found Byrne riding her horse in the road.
Officers did a sobriety test and said she gave breath samples that registered blood alcohol level of .161 — much higher than Florida's legal limit of .08.
Though, I actually wonder if those charges can stick? Sort of depends on how their DWI laws are written, and if they are specific to motor vehicles. Either way, it was a pretty amusing case of trying to buck the system.
The Rocket Man's Flat Earth Launch Fizzles
Hughes had built his steam-powered rocket out of salvaged parts in his garage, for a total personal cost of $20,000. Hughes also bought a motor home and converted it into a ramp. Once the rocket was aloft, Hughes planned to ditch it and parachute back to Earth.
The 61-year-old had ridden a homemade rocket once before, on a quarter-mile flight across the Arizona desert.
This launch was supposed to be the first stage in a long-term effort to fly high enough to photograph the "disc Earth" and disprove that Earth is a sphere — a scientific reality that's been established for about 2,500 years and that anyone can prove for themselves. The curvature is subtly visible at about 35,000 feet (10,700 m) altitude if you have at least a 60-degree field of view.
Mostly this makes me laugh, but a part of it makes me sad. Our education system has truly failed if people are willing to throw away thousands of years of science just to fuel their conspiracy theories with quack science. Especially to the extent that they're willing to risk life and limb to "prove" they are somehow smarter than the world's collective scientific base for almost 2 millennia. sigh
Lifelong best friends discover they're actually brothers
Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane have been friends for 60 years. Born in Hawaii 15 months apart, they met in the sixth grade and played football together at a Honolulu prep school.
Macfarlane never knew his father, and Robinson was adopted. Separately, they sought answers about their ancestry.
Macfarlane turned to family history and DNA-matching websites after unsuccessful searches on the internet and social media, Honolulu news station KHON-TV reported .
"So then we started digging into all the matches he started getting," said his daughter, Cindy Macfarlane-Flores.
A top match — someone with identical X chromosomes — had the username Robi737. Robison's nickname was Robi and he flew 737s for Aloha Airlines, Macfarlane-Flores said.
It turned out Robinson used the same website to find answers about his family. They later learned they have the same birth mother.
This is funny AND sweet. So great that they were able to connect without even knowing what it was that was drawing them together. Sometimes blood can truly sing to blood. Though, good thing they weren't brother and sister... and dating.