SIDELINES...

BEAVERS AGAIN

Tipped off by finding orange tape used to secure cables on top of a beaver dam, technicians seeking the cause of disruption to the TV and Internet service in the remote Canadian town of Tumbler Ridge found that the rodents had dug down more than a metre to where the cables were buried and had chewed through them in several places. Predictably, a spokesperson for Telus, the Internet provider, described the incident as “a very Canadian turn of events.” , 29 Apr 2021.

IT’S ART

Danish artist Jens Haaning was loaned £62,500 by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg to recreate two early works featuring cash in picture frames. When they opened the crate, though, they found two empty frames. An email from the artist said that he thought it was more interesting to do a new work called Take the Money and Run. The museum is hoping he will return the money at the end of the exhibition as promised, but Haaning says: “Of course I will not pay it back. The work is that I took the money, and I will not give it back.” UPI.com, 28 Sept 2021.

OREO ACHIEVEMENT

Ohio social media influencer Ross Smith collaborated with his 95-year-old grandmother to claim the world record for the largest Oreo ever made, creating one that was 4ft (1.2m) wide and weighed 175lb (79kg), comfortably beating the existing record of 160lb (73kg). The record-breaking Oreo is more than 7,024 times the size of a regular one. “Hopefully we will be able to finish this thing off in a few months... before it goes stale,” said Smith. ABC6 News, 6 Aug 2021.