There was a seafood emergency at Crabby’s Seafood Shack in Stuart, Florida, in the southeastern region of the state. A 51-year-old Stuart resident, did what anybody would do when they have a gripe with their undersized and minute meal of clams — he called 911. The man is now due in court on Jan. 11 for misuse of an emergency system. He told the TCPalm, a newspaper that serves the region, that the restaurant wanted to charge him $12 for a plate of tiny clams with “nothing in the shell.” After a restaurant staff member refused to give him a refund, he called 911.
If it’s not on social media … did it even happen?
Snapchat employees got to ring in the new year right at an extravagant New Year’s Eve party hosted by the company in Los Angeles. The only catch? Snapchat made it forbidden to post any photos or videos to Snapchat, or take photos at all. Because making something forbidden is a surefire way to make sure it happens, partygoers ripped the tape off of their phones and recorded everything they could from the over $4 million event. Leaked photos and videos included footage of a Drake performance, a steak dinner, and circus clad servers, but instead of going up on Snapchat the photos went up on the company’s rival app: Instagram.
All I want for New Year’s Eve is hot tea
Pop diva Mariah Carey was one of the poor humans who was forced to perform outside on New Years Eve in Time Square, despite the fact that it felt like -5 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind. Carey was hoping for a bit of redemption this year to recover from her trainwreck of a performance on the same program last year (three words: lip syncing disaster). This year she sang live and crushed it but then hilariously talked between songs about how she was promised hot tea and never got any. #onceadivaalwaysadiva
I believe I can fly
An unidentified Ryanair passenger got so fed up waiting on the tarmac after his plane landed in Spain that he went out the emergency exit of the plane to wait on the wing. Video footage shows the man with his bags sitting on the edge of the plane. The plane had only been waiting on the tarmac for thirty minutes … if this guy ever has to go to the DMV he’s going to have real problems.
Does anyone know if Jake Gyllenhaal is available?
Abnormally cold weather stretched up and down the East Coast last week from Florida to Maine causing disruptions along the way, particularly in warmer states. In Florida, even Disney World was forced to shut down their water park for several days because of the cold weather. Other Floridians were also not pleased with the cold. A local news station in Tampa Bay reported that manatees huddle together in the warmest water possible to fend off the cold when temperatures reach below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. One spot they huddle is at Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center, where manatees were seen floating in groups to stay warm. Let’s hope that this isn’t a Day After Tomorrow scenario and that we New Englanders can go back to enjoying a balmy 32 degrees Fahrenheit sometime soon.
Unfinished hotel for sale
A new Hilton Hotel was planned for the city of Taiyuan in northern China. The plan was to build a five-star hotel and the tallest building in Shanxi Province. But 11 years after the start of construction, the hotel is still unfinished. And now you can buy it on Taobao, the Chinese equivalent of eBay, for the starting price of $84 million for the 511-foot building. The developer ran into funding troubles and the building was seized by the Shanxi Provincial Higher People’s Court, which is selling the unfinished Hilton to the highest bidder.
Why yes, this is my ticket
Oksana Zaharov, 46 of Edgewater, New Jersey, was shopping in Manhattan when she decided to buy a $1 New York Lottery scratch ticket. Instead, the clerk gave her a $10 Set for Life ticket. She noticed the mistake and decided to buy it anyway. After using the ticket as a bookmark for a couple weeks, she decided to scratch it and won $5 million over the next 20 years of her life or $172,068 each year. “I never win anything,” she said in a New York State Lottery press release. “I was sure the ticket was fake. It wasn’t until I brought it into the office that I knew it was for real.” Zaharov plans to take her family on a vacation to the Bahamas and save for her children’s college education.
What a jerk
The Oklahoma City Police Department are searching for a thief who stole more than $400 worth of beef jerky from a convenience store in early November. “You read that correctly … beef jerky,” the department stated on it’s Facebook page. “Investigators hope that with surveillance photos this good, it won’t take long to identify this meat bandit.” In the surveillance photos, the alleged thief was wearing a black Adidas sweatshirt and blue jeans. No word on how the suspect absconded with $400 worth of beef jerky without being caught or why he stole that much jerky in the first place.
Bridging differences
Sometimes when strangers intercede in disputes between couples, they get an angry eye and a demand to butt out. In Connecticut earlier this month, the stranger got thrown off of a bridge. The couple in question was arguing on a bridge in Derby, Connecticut, and when a man tried to intervene in the argument, he was thrown off of the bridge 45 feet into the water. The boyfriend of the couple is now being charged with attempted murder and the girlfriend with lying to police. The stranger, who was injured in the fall, will probably not be getting in the middle of any arguments any time soon.
Have an idea for bizarro briefs? Send it to deisen@valleyadvocate.com.
