STATUS UPDATES
A week in which beer salesmanship got frothy and a rescued alligator remained friendly
HYPED UP Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who hopes to entice brewers into selling beers for a buck by offering prime space on LCBO shelves and slick advertisements in the in-store magazine. “The day you’ve been waiting for is finally here. We’re bringing back buck-abeer to Ontario,” he crowed.
DISAPPOINTED ’N Sync singer Lance Bass, who tried to buy the home used for exterior shots for the Brady Bunch only to be outbid by HGTV. He was “heartbroken,” but when he found out the network plans to restore the home to its 1970s glory, he tweeted “Kudos, HGTV. I know you will do the right thing with the house.”
UNAFRAID A Texas university grad, who posed for photos with an alligator she befriended during her internship at a wildlife rescue centre. Mackenzie Noland told the BBC she wasn’t scared of Big Tex, who came to centre two years ago. “I get in the water with that animal every day — he’s one of my best friends there!”
OUTDATED An Australian transit agency that tried to increase its female bus-driving ranks by advertising a “Ladies Come and Try Day.” The campaign was called sexist and condescending, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. “Did I slip into a coma and time travel back to 1952?” one woman posted. BEATEN DOWN Canned goods, including beer. They may be getting more expensive thanks to 10-per-cent duties U.S President Donald Trump slapped on metal imports, forcing food and beverage companies, including brewer Molson Coors, to consider price increases to offset the costs.
EXCITED Human noses. It turns out Uncle Mike, drenched in his cheap cologne, isn’t that different from a T-Rex. A study from Oregon State University says that the compounds behind modern perfumes “have been eliciting olfactory excitement since dinosaurs walked the Earth amid the first appearance of flowering plants.”
SCARED Actor Jim Carrey, who said his cartoons skewering the Trump administration are a response to an unfolding “nightmare.” Carrey’s sketches include Paul Manafort wearing a “human skin suit” and an unflattering take of press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, which was called sexist by her father, Mike Huckabee.
FUTURISTIC Apple, which has filed a European patent for an augmented reality windshield. It would let occupants in an autonomous vehicle make FaceTime calls and provide a “graphical overlay” to show details like the vehicle’s speed, according to Patently Apple. Just what we all need: more screen time.