Weird News: The Robot Threat

Building a Mystery

Darren McConachie, 30, of Glasgow, Scotland, assumed he was going deaf or had an ear infection when his hearing became impaired, the Daily Record reported on April 15. But one night he woke up to a surging feeling of pressure in his head and felt something start to move. “I thought my ear had ruptured,” he said. “Then I felt something small and hard sort of pop out. I was absolutely terrified.” He used his phone light to check out the object, which turned out to be a “tiny piece of pink Lego, covered in wax.” McConachie said he hadn’t played with Legos since he was a small child. “I don’t remember sticking the brick in my ear. I genuinely had no clue it was in my ear all that time.”

The Robot Threat

Tien Kung Ultra took home the gold medal on April 19 in the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon in Beijing, CNN reported. Ultra and more than 20 other robots ran alongside (but in a separate lane from) their 12,000 human competitors, supported by navigators, operators and engineers. It crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds, after three battery changes and one fall. The winner of the men’s race finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes. Almost every robot in the race suffered falls or overheating issues, and one spun in two circles after leaving the starting line, hit a wall and dragged its human operators down with it. Another’s head repeatedly fell off.

DUI Delivery

Katelyne Dye, 33, a postal worker in Melbourne, Florida, was arrested on April 12 after she allegedly stopped to attend a house party along her route, ClickOrlando reported. Police were alerted to a postal truck driving the wrong way on South Harbor City Boulevard. When they caught up with the driver, the truck was swerving “in and out of its lane”; Dye “appeared confused and disoriented.” She told police she had consumed two shots of vodka at the house party and had been falling asleep while driving, which caused her to swerve. Dye was charged with DUI.

Bad Boys Bingo

On April 18, the Bozeman, Montana, police department held a press conference to share that 13 of its officers, including two sergeants, had been involved in a bingo game with different kinds of arrests on the card, KBZK-TV reported. The game took place over 12 days in mid-January, with custom bingo cards with squares reading “Over .30 BAC DUI,” “3+ Vehicle Accident,” “Butt-Ass Naked” and “Extinguish Fire Before BFD.” Police Chief Jim Veltkamp said the game was shut down and an investigation was done to make sure there were no wrongful arrests or officers acting outside their normal duties. He said the officers involved “were warned about how inappropriate this is.” He added that participating supervisors were disciplined.