Here’s some of the news you may have missed in 2018
- Bruce Stambaugh: The Rural View
- December 29, 2018
- 1040
It’s been another strange year on Planet Earth. So much craziness filled the headlines that some serious faux pas got overshadowed. Never fear. I kept track for you.
Jan. 12 – A British butcher who got locked in a walk-in freezer used a frozen sausage to batter his way out at his store in Totnes, England.
Jan. 16 – Eyelashes froze when the temperature reached 88.6 degrees below zero in Russia’s remote region of Yakutia.
Feb. 27 – Entrepreneur.com reported that the three fastest growing franchises in the U.S. were Dunkin’ Donuts, 7-Eleven and Planet Fitness.
March 13 – A study by Bar-Llan University showed that the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors was transferred to their children and grandchildren.
March 23 – Orange snow fell on much of Europe due to the combination of sandstorm winds mixing with moisture in snowstorms.
April 9 – Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois became the first sitting U.S. senator to give birth while in office.
April 13 – A photographer in Madeira Beach, Florida captured a shot of an osprey in flight carrying a shark that was eating a fish.
May 2 – A new report indicated that Americans age 18-22 were far more likely than senior citizens to report being lonely and being in ill health.
May 3 – According to federal research released, the rate of people infected by ticks and mosquitoes has tripled in the last 13 years.
June 7 – A study showed that seven out of 10 Americans were experiencing news fatigue.
June 25 – A kangaroo bounded onto a Canberra, Australia soccer field, interrupting the play between two professional women’s soccer teams for 32 minutes.
July 3 – Mark Hough of Altadena, California found a black bear bobbing in his backyard hot tub and that the bear had finished off the margarita Hough had left behind.
July 21 – After receiving a ticket for speeding, an Iowa woman sped away from police who clocked her at 142 mph and gave her another citation.
Aug. 5 – Right-handed reliever Oliver Drake became the first Major League Baseball player to pitch for five different teams in the same season.
Aug. 10 – A new scientific study reported that insect-eating birds consume about 400 million tons of insects each year.
Sept. 14 – New census data reported that Social Security, food stamps and other government programs kept 44 million Americans out of poverty last year.
Sept. 25 – A record 1,260 dogs attended the baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox during Chicago’s promotional Dogs’ Night Out event.
Oct. 15 – A report by the University of Missouri indicated that honeybees stopped flying during the total solar eclipse of Aug. 21, 2017.
Oct. 31 – The journal Nature published a report that showed over the past quarter-century the Earth’s oceans have retained 60 percent more heat than previously believed.
Nov. 9 – The Center for Disease Control reported that smoking rates in the U.S. are at an all-time low with 14 percent of adults who smoke cigarettes.
Nov. 25 – A Bank of America ATM machine in Houston, Texas dispensed $100 bills instead of $10, and the bank allowed customers to keep the extra money.
Dec. 8 – A 29-year-old Summerville, South Carolina man was arrested for arson after he allegedly burned several of his neighbors’ outdoor Christmas displays.
Dec. 14 – Snopes.com reported that the busiest day of the year for Chinese restaurants in the U.S. is Christmas Day.
Here’s hoping 2019 is a better year for our planet and all its inhabitants. Happy New Year!
To read more The Rural View, visit Bruce Stambaugh at www.thebargainhunter.com.