STATUS UPDATES
A week in which an art exhibit swallows a patron and air marshals are yanked off the tarmac
LANDED: Rapper Post Malone, who after a livestreamed emergency landing targeted trolls who wished him harm. His private jet blew two tires and circled before alighting at a New York airport. He tweeted: “Can’t believe how many people wished death on me,” followed by a rude, two-word salutation.
STUMBLED: A museum patron in Portugal — through an art installation with a big hole. Anish Kapoor’s Descent into Limbo is not a circle painted on the floor — it is a 2.5-metre hole, as an Italian man found out the hard way. Visitors are warned. The man, in his 60s, was reported to be recovering well.
PUT OFF: Some lovers of Jamaica and jerk seasoning. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was accused of cultural appropriation for a new microwaveable product he called “punchy jerk rice.” Many observers said the spices he used were not the traditional jerk seasoning. Others defended him against the knee-jerk outrage.
PULLED OFF: Two federal air marshals from an airport tarmac. A flight attendant mistook them for gun-toting civilian passengers, the Star Tribune reports, at MinneapolisSt. Paul International Airport. Normally there’s a protocol for notifying staff about lawenforcement on planes, officials assured.
TRAPPED: Prisoners in 17 U.S. states who are fed up with the conditions. They’ve started a two-week-long strike to protest human rights concerns. Through Sept. 9, inmates are abandoning work duties and in some cases food, tired of being “treated like animals.”
STUCK: An Indonesian baby with an unusual name. Her parents named her Asian Games, as she was born hours before the competition kicked off on Aug. 18. Her full name is Abidah Asian Games, and she was born in Palembang, cohosting with Jakarta. Her father said he hopes she could become an athlete.
TOO SLOW (1): For the law’s liking, a group of 10 “racing type cars” in Connecticut. Police cited them for driving slowly on the highway, blocking it while someone in a car in front of them videotaped the cortege, Fox News reports. Police said the drivers claimed they were filming a pilot for a television show.
TOO SLOW (2): To avoid the law, a turtle farm. Spanish police shut down what they called Europe’s biggest illegal turtle farm, which sold endangered species worth more than $10,000 (U.S.) each. The international operation said some species came from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. About 1,100 turtles were taken.