Dateline: CanadaWas it a good excuse or TMI? A Canadian politician who missed a crucial antiterrorism vote blamed it on cheap, tight underwear. After dashing out in the middle of a debate on Thursday, Feb. 19, opposition lawmaker Pat Martin apologized, telling Parliament he bought a bunch of bargain underwear. “I can blame it on a sale that was held at the Hudson’s Bay. They had men’s underwear on for half-price.” Hudson said. “I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me, and I find it difficult to sit for any length of time, Mr. Speaker.” As a result of the tighty-whiteys, Martin missed the vote on a crucial piece of antiterrorism legislation. The politician apologized amid laughter from his fellow MPs. The speaker of the House of Commons accepted the excuse and allowed his vote. Canadians inundated Twitter with jokes about Martin’s excuse, saying he had been “poorly briefed” on the issue.Dateline: EnglandKFC restaurants in the UK are on the verge of introducing what is being billed as the world’s first edible coffee cup. The “Scoff-ee Cup,” as it’s called, is made from a cookie-like dough topped in sugar paper and lined with a layer of white chocolate, which keeps the coffee hot and the cup crispy. Created by renowned food scientists, The Robin Collective, the cups are even infused with a selection of mood-boosting scents. “Not only do the edible cups taste amazing, but they smell delicious too,” The Robin Collective’s Brandy Wright told The Mirror newspaper. “We’ve infused different cups with a variety of ambient aromas including Coconut Sun Cream, Freshly Cut Grass and Wild Flowers.” No word yet on when the edible cups will be available to customers.Dateline: NamibiaSome residents in the coastal town of Luderitz are protesting proposed plans to change the name to “!Nami#nus.” The new name, proposed by some local officials and tribal authorities, incorporates symbols for the clicking sounds used in the language spoken by southern Africa’s Nama ethnic group. Some residents and business owners fear the change will impact tourism. “Nobody’s quite sure how to pronounce or spell it,” Luderitz resident Crispin Clay told AP reporters. The proposal comes as Namibia tries to shed itself of its former colonial past. Luderitz is currently named after a 19th-century German colonizer. Suzan Ndjaleka, the mayor of Luderitz, said no final decision has been made on the proposed name change. Dateline: SwedenA student in the city of Karlskrona had a memorable 21st birthday when police raided her house, thinking her celebratory balloons were a tribute to an Islamic extremist group. Sarah Ericsson said she and her boyfriend had thrown a party over the weekend, which included two red mylar balloons shaped like the number “21.” On Monday morning, two days after the party, several police cars pulled up to the house. Apparently, a neighbor spotted the backside of the leftover balloons through the living room window and thought the house was displaying propaganda in favor of the Islamic State—also known as ISIS. “We understand why someone would report it if they thought it looked like IS-propaganda; although everyone else just thought it looked like the number 12 from outside,” Ericsson told The Local. “I laughed about it when they showed me a photo that they had taken where from their perspective, it did almost look like the letters IS,” Ericsson’s boyfriend Fabian Akesson said. “They asked me to move the balloons to avoid further misunderstanding.” Dateline: FloridaPolice in North Naples are looking for the thief, or more likely thieves, who stole $18,000 during a house party—all of it in nickels. The Naples Daily News reports detectives in Collier County have advised local grocery stores with coin-counting machines to be on the lookout for large quantities of 5-cent coins. Investigators say 183 boxes filled with rolls of nickels went missing from a home in a gated community during a house party on Feb. 15. About 360,000 nickels went missing, weighing nearly 5,000 pounds. Also stolen during the party: a .12-gauge shotgun, a .45-caliber handgun and “miscellaneous ammunition.”
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. Email your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
