#OddlyEnough: The High-Tech Robot That Wasn’t

Oh Man, That Was No Robot!

Those who watched a high-tech robot dance on Russian television was not at all robot, says a report.

Russian media say the contraption presented by Russian state television as a high-tech robot was in fact a man in a commercially available robot costume, according to an AP report.

The footage was shot at a high-tech show in the city of Yaroslavl, featuring “Boris the Robot.” Forum organisers used Boris to enliven the event, having him dance to a pop song.

But a crew for Russian state television apparently thought Boris was real, and used footage of him dancing and speaking as an example of Russian technological prowess.

Online TJournal noted the lack of sensors, human-like movements and other discrepancies, and revealed that Boris was in fact a human clad in a costume sold under the name Alyosha by the Russian company Show Robots.

German Town In A Sticky Situation

Any takers for a chocolate treat on a German Street for free?

A street in a western German town got a repaving worthy of fictional candy maker Willy Wonka when a ton of chocolate flowed out of a factory and solidified, says an AP report.

The German newspaper Soester Anzeiger reported that a “small technical defect” involving a storage tank caused the sweet and sticky spill from the DreiMeister chocolate factory in Westoennen.

After hitting the chilly pavement, the milk chocolate quickly hardened. About 25 firefighters got the job of prying the coating off with shovels and using hot water and torches to remove remaining bits from cracks and holes.

Company boss Markus said if the spill had happened closer to Christmas, “that would have been a catastrophe.”

Woman, 89, Lands In A Soup

A women who runs her husband’s store landed in jail for keeping it dirty, says a report.

Odean Cleckler, 89, said she has been doing her best to help run her husband’s used-appliance business since he died a decade ago. Now, that work landed her and her son in jail, says an AP report.

City officials arrested the pair for disobeying a court order to clean up Cleckler’s  Appliance and Parts, which is surrounded by hundreds of old stoves, refrigerators, washers and dryers along a main road in town.

Friends are now volunteering to help clean up around the store, but Cleckler said it’s not that easy.

“I appreciate them, but I got a guy here who knows what to throw away and what to keep,” she said. “That’s my business and I’ve been doing it for years.”

Man Held For Smuggling Finches

A man was caught at New York’s JFK trying to smuggle dozens of South American finches into the country, says a report

It is the bird that Guyanese immigrants covet for chirping but officials fear could spread disease, according to a Reuters report.

About 70 finches were found hidden inside a shipment of hair rollers at John F. Kennedy International Airport when a US Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist inspected the unidentified male passenger’s luggage.

Some of the birds had died enroute.

The birds may have been destined for sale to Guyanese immigrants for a game that involves betting on how often the finches chirp per minute, said a Customs spokesman.

Passenger Sees Red Over Pinkie

A man is suing after he says one of his pinkie fingers was caught in an airline armrest mechanism for nearly an hour during a flight to Los Angeles, says a report.

Stephen Keys has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against both American Airlines and SkyWest Airlines Inc, alleging negligence, according to an AP report.

A representative for American, which has a flying agreement with SkyWest, referred all comment to SkyWest.

They said, “We worked with our partner American to reach out to Mr. Keys regarding his bruised finger and look forward to swiftly resolving this matter. Due to the ongoing litigation, we cannot comment further.”

The complaint says the injury to his finger left Keys unable to perform such previously routine tasks as driving and playing with his children. It says Keys experienced weeks of intense pain and severe emotional distress.

~~