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Switzerland

A Weird 2021 : Our Favorite "What The World" Stories

A man in a white polo shirt reading the news

A man reading the news

Zahra Amiri via Unsplash

Tales of odds and ends from deep inside the world's newspapers....


Starsky And Hutch Busted In France For Driving Under Influence

Starsky And Hutch Busted In France For Driving Under Influence

worldcrunch.com

Yes, they are both French. Yes, those are their real names. No, they weren't driving a Ford Gran Torino.

— WORLDCRUNCH

Skiing Across Sweden-Norway Border To Slip Past COVID Lockdown

Skiing Across Sweden-Norway Border To Slip Past COVID Lockdown

worldcrunch.com

There was only one problem: the weather.

NRK

It's Raining Fish, Hallelujah! Mysterious Lluvia de Peces Lands Again In Honduras

It's Raining Fish, Hallelujah! Mysterious Lluvia de Peces Lands Again In Honduras

worldcrunch.com

Residents near the Caribbean coast of Honduras have been witness to an unlikely, and much welcome, event: fish that seem to arrive from the skies. Or maybe from somewhere else?

LA TRIBUNA

Author Of Italian Thrillers Arrested For Staging Parents’ Murder-Suicide

Author Of Italian Thrillers Arrested For Staging Parents’ Murder-Suicide

worldcrunch.com

Police say the published novelist killed his father with a hammer and slit his mother’s wrists to make it look like the wife killed her husband and then herself. The mother is clinging to life.

— WORLDCRUNCH

In Skinny Japan, New Company Offers Plus-Sized People 'For Rent'

In Skinny Japan, New Company Offers Plus-Sized People 'For Rent'

worldcrunch.com

It's an economic dictum that virtually anything that is rare is bound to create a valuable market: diamonds, limited edition clothing and, in Japan, obese people.

OUEST-FRANCE

Budapest or Bucharest? A Tale Of Very Lost French Soccer Fans

Budapest or Bucharest? A Tale Of Very Lost French Soccer Fans

www.google.com

Let's be honest, as European capital names go, Budapest (Hungary) and Bucharest (Romania) are pretty similar. It's even slightly closer in French.

— WORLDCRUNCH

Fart At Famous Thermal Spa Sparks 12-Person Brawl, Three Arrested

Fart At Famous Thermal Spa Sparks 12-Person Brawl, Three Arrested

www.google.com

Close your eyes. You've arrived in the lush and peaceful microstate of Andorra, known around the world for its natural spas. You've spent the day relaxing with that special someone in the 70°C thermal waters. Maybe you've just gotten a nice massage... And then someone farts.

— WORLDCRUNCH

Asparagus Recipe Baked Into Belgian Legal Decree

Asparagus Recipe Baked Into Belgian Legal Decree

worldcrunch.com

"Preheat oven to 250 °C, add three teaspoons of salt into water, rinse and peel the asparagus and wait 30 minutes before cooking…"

— WORLDCRUNCH

Plane Struck By Lightning Exorcized After Landing

Plane Struck By Lightning Exorcized After Landing

worldcrunch.com

What happens when lightning strikes a plane? First, thanks to modern safety features, it flies on and lands without incident. But in Togo, airport staff last week made sure one such plane was thoroughly *explored and inspected.

— WORLDCRUNCH

Parents Call Cops On Teen Son For Refusing To Clear The Table

Parents Call Cops On Teen Son For Refusing To Clear The Table

worldcrunch.com

Parenting can be a tricky thing.

Who can safely say they've never, in the heat of the moment, brandished over-the-top threats to try to get unruly offspring to comply? And who ever follows through?

— WORLDCRUNCH

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Future

Life On "Mars": With The Teams Simulating Space Missions Under A Dome

A niche research community plays out what existence might be like on, or en route to, another planet.

Photo of a person in a space suit walking toward the ​Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah

At the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah

Sarah Scoles

In November 2022, Tara Sweeney’s plane landed on Thwaites Glacier, a 74,000-square-mile mass of frozen water in West Antarctica. She arrived with an international research team to study the glacier’s geology and ice fabric, and how its ice melt might contribute to sea level rise. But while near Earth’s southernmost point, Sweeney kept thinking about the moon.

“It felt every bit of what I think it will feel like being a space explorer,” said Sweeney, a former Air Force officer who’s now working on a doctorate in lunar geology at the University of Texas at El Paso. “You have all of these resources, and you get to be the one to go out and do the exploring and do the science. And that was really spectacular.”

That similarity is why space scientists study the physiology and psychology of people living in Antarctic and other remote outposts: For around 25 years, people have played out what existence might be like on, or en route to, another world. Polar explorers are, in a way, analogous to astronauts who land on alien planets. And while Sweeney wasn’t technically on an “analog astronaut” mission — her primary objective being the geological exploration of Earth — her days played out much the same as a space explorer’s might.

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