SIDELINES...

ACQUIRED TASTE

About 600 people were evacuated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology library on 28 April after students and staff mistook the smell coming from the air-con system for a gas leak. Specialist crews searched for the leak, but only found a rotting Durian fruit in a cupboard. Durian smells like “turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock” and is commonly banned from hotel rooms and public transport across Southeast Asia. [AP] Fox News, 30 April 2018.

‘BLONDES MUST DIE’

Brain tumour survivor Michael Williams, 47, of Skewen, near Neath, South Wales, became obsessed with killing blonde women after successful surgery. He was caught with a knife and baseball bat, threatening to run over a woman with a van. Psychiatrists could not say whether the operation five years ago had changed him. He was jailed for four years. D.Telegraph, Sun, 27 Feb 2018.

FOLLOW YOUR NOSE

A foul stench coming from a twostorey home in Madagascar led to the discovery of 10,000 endangered radiated tortoises. They covered the floors of every room in the house, and the smell of urine and fæces was “overpowering”. The Week, 25 April 2018.

BARKING PARROT

A resident in the southern German town of Loerrach called the police on 14 May to report sustained loud shouting from the apartment next door. Investigating officers found a 22-year-old man arguing with his girlfriend’s parrot, which couldn’t talk but barked like a dog. Since no one was hurt and no offence committed, the officers left. [AP] 15 May; (Sydney) D.Telegraph, 19 May 2018.

NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE

A Chinese woman developed life-threatening blood clots on her brain after staring at her phone for 20 hours straight. The 47-year-old migrant underwent three hours of surgery. She had been glued to her device on a long-distance train journey from Henan province to Guangzhou. When she arrived, she could barely speak and was having difficulty moving the limbs on one side of her body. D.Telegraph, 16 Mar 2018.