Blog Posts by Jordan Chittley

  • Donkey not allowed to run for legislature in Ecuador

    Ecuador officials aren't letting it happen, but other towns have animals as mayors and many have run for political office around the world

    The town of Talkeetna, Alaska has a cat for mayor so why shouldn't a donkey be able to run for public office in Ecuador?

    Ecuador officials have rejected a plan by some citizens to have a donkey run for the legislature. Dozens of people dressed their candidate, Mr. Burro in a tie and paraded him down the streets of Guayaquil to the local council offices, but officials wouldn't let them in the door. The candidate even had a mock voter registration card. Mr. Burro's handler/backer Daniel Molina was hoping the donkey could run to bring attention to the seriousness of the election.

    [ Related: Feline Mayor 'Stubbs' a tourist draw in Alaska ]

    If that was the goal, Molina may be amazed what has happened elsewhere in the world.

    As we mentioned above, a short-tailed cat named Stubbs presides over the tiny town of about 900 residents at the base of Mount

    Read More »from Donkey not allowed to run for legislature in Ecuador
  • Gus Hooker, 13, prevented by school from participating in Movember

    The Priory Academy is not allowing him to grow a stache and raise money because others at the school don't have the ability

    Gus Hooker, 13, started shaving when he was just nine years old, but his school is not allowing him to participate in Movember.

    Movember is the month formerly known as November where men all around the world, including hundreds of thousands in Canada, grow moustaches to raise money and awareness for male cancers and mental health initiatives.

    "Because I can grow a moustache, I reckon that if I did I could raise a fair bit," Gus told BBC. "I just wanted to show off my moustache, everyone wanted me to go for it."

    More Movember:

    The Priory Academy, Gus's school in England, is preventing him from participating because they say the activity isn't "entirely inclusive."

    "Fundraising is an inclusive activity with all pupils having the

    Read More »from Gus Hooker, 13, prevented by school from participating in Movember
  • Must-see videos of the week – Nov. 16

    From a brave diver untangling and possibly saving the life of a shark to a plane skidding off a runway and bouncing off grass, we've seen some amazing footage this week. Here are some of our favourite videos:

    1. Divers save tangled shark

    In an impressive display of bravery, a group of divers off the coast of Baja, Mexico saved a whale shark after they noticed it had rope wrapped around its midsection. The giant creature remained completely stoic as the diver cut the rope and took it off unveiling badly damaged skin. The shark is expected to make a full recovery.

    [ More Daily Buzz: Saskatchewan woman saves bird from camera, solves photo mystery ]

    2. Head to head with a ram

    From an incredibly kind and touching encounter between a human and an animal to a stupid and hilarious one. For some strange reason, the guy puts on a football helmet, gets into a stance as if he's getting ready to rush a quarterback and battles a ram head on. As rams are made to fight this way

    Read More »from Must-see videos of the week – Nov. 16
  • New Tourism Toronto video shows city from whole new perspective

    It's hard to tell if Toronto mayor Rob Ford's jaunt around Chicago is helping tourism, but a new video that shows Toronto from a whole new viewpoint may help boost numbers.

    Ryan Edmond has produced a time-lapse video for Tourism Toronto showing the Big Smoke from multiple angles that make the city come alive at day and night. It's called Planet Toronto.

    Planet Toronto from Ryan Emond on Vimeo.

    He writes on the video's Vimeo page he was approached by Tourism Toronto and "They wanted to do something entirely different, they wanted to come away from the standard tourism video, so I figured I would step as far away from those videos as possible. I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to push my shooting style by employing a purely observational perspective."

    He uses different techniques such as time-lapse and slow motion to capture scenes most people overlook every day.

    At parts of the video the frames go backwards so it looks like the rain drops or leaves are being pulled up to the

    Read More »from New Tourism Toronto video shows city from whole new perspective
  • Karen Gwillim saves bird from camera, solves photo mystery

    After she took a camera away from a bird in Saskatchewan, she went looking for the rightful owner of the images

    Frank Resendes and his friends from a fishing trip months ago may finally get their pictures back after the camera took an unexpected swim.

    It isn't known exactly what happened to the camera between that trip in March and when it was found a few weeks ago, but a bird plays a big role.

    Karen Gwillim was driving in a small town about 30 minutes north of Regina when she saw a cormorant with a strap around its neck. She pulled over to help the bird and noticed it was a silver camera. She got closer to the bird and it didn't move as Gwillim removed the camera.

    [ More Daily Buzz: Lawyers, politicians not welcome at lying competition ]

    "I think he was relieved to have something that heavy removed," she said. "He seemed all right."

    Gwillim then took the camera home, dried out the memory card and put it in her computer to see what was on it.

    Of the 200 or so intact pictures were many

    Read More »from Karen Gwillim saves bird from camera, solves photo mystery
  • Drunk businessman has trouble walking down up escalator

    Between crowded subways, buses and streets, the commute home is never that fun, but something tells me it took this guy a really long time to get where ever he was trying to go.

    The drunk man dressed in a suit was recently caught on camera struggling to walk down the up escalator at a London subway station.

    The determined individual constantly leans on the moving rail while stumbling forward, but not going anywhere.

    [ More Daily Buzz: Student finds look-alike in 16th century Italian painting ]

    "At first I thought he was playing silly buggers with a few of his FX trader mates, but when we saw his dogged stagger and realized he was alone, I knew we were about to witness something truly brilliant," said commuter Sam Napper, who filmed the incident, to Metro.

    He said he literally bumped into the businessman.

    "One by one, concerned commuters tried to steer him in the right direction, to no avail," Napper said. "Eventually, we let the poor sod out of his hamster wheel-like hell. After

    Read More »from Drunk businessman has trouble walking down up escalator
  • Ohio woman wears ‘idiot’ sign for driving on sidewalk to pass school bus

    Shena Hardin didn't do such a good job the first morning so the judge threatened to supervise

    Sometimes it takes more than a small fine or punishment for people to learn their lessons.

    A Cleveland judge sentenced 32-year-old Shena Hardin to the public shaming of holding a sign describing her as an "idiot" after she drove on the sidewalk and lawn to pass a school bus while it was unloading children.

    She arrived Tuesday morning at the intersection for the first of two mornings with a sign that read, "Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus." The judge picked the wording. She puffed on a cigarette, wore headphones and ignored reporters as she held the sign. Because of her actions, the judge felt Hardin was missing the point to the punishment and initially planned to personally supervise Hardin Wednesday morning. However, the judge decided she didn't want to cause a scene and told WKYC she was confident Hardin won't drive on the sidewalk again.

    [ Related:

    Read More »from Ohio woman wears ‘idiot’ sign for driving on sidewalk to pass school bus
  • Man looking for owner after finding $20,000 in dumpster

    The Massachusetts man found it in a hollowed out book and wants to do the right thing

    Most of us know honesty the best policy, but saying goodbye to $20,000 would be really difficult.

    Hopefully it's not too hard for one Massachusetts man who found $20,000 in a dumpster. The man, who doesn't want to be identified, is a Brazilian immigrant who has been in the U.S. for about 30 years. According to WCVB, he has one child in college, watches his pennies and remembers living paycheque to paycheque so the money could go a long way, but he wants to do everything he can to find the rightful owner.

    [ More Daily Buzz: Man declared dead in 1936 celebrates 106th birthday ]

    He searches the dumpster about twice a week looking for old magazines to turn into art projects. Last month after checking out some children's books, he found a hollowed out book with between $20,000 to $30,000 inside and is now hoping to return the cash.

    "My point of view is, I want to see because if someone maybe who separated

    Read More »from Man looking for owner after finding $20,000 in dumpster
  • Man declared dead in 1936 celebrates 106th birthday

    Sam Ledward crashed his bike 76 years ago and was being taken to the mortuary when someone noticed his "corpse" move

    Sam Ledward is grateful to be alive and celebrating his 106 birthday after receiving the gift of at least 76 more years following a motorcycle crash.

    "I was riding on a 500cc Triumph," said Ledward to BBC. "I hadn't had it more than two months."

    He saw the rear tire was in bad shape so he replaced it, but thought the front one was fine. It wasn't and it burst, throwing Ledward onto the road and putting him into a coma so deep doctors thought he was dead. They made the call to have the body taken away.

    [ More Daily Buzz: Rare fish caught in Mexico stolen, filleted for lunch ]

    "They put me on a trolley and this chap saw something move and took me back," he said.

    Ledward awoke five days later and it took another six months for his face and head to heal.

    Since then he says he's had a good life. He lived with his wife, Edith, in Blackpool, just north of Liverpool, until she

    Read More »from Man declared dead in 1936 celebrates 106th birthday
  • Reporter Nestor Dib sucker punched on live TV

    As we recently saw with superstorm Sandy and constantly see in conflict zones, reporting can be a dangerous job.

    Television reporter Nestor Dib was covering anti-government protests in Buenos Aires Thursday when he was sucker punched from behind. And the man who punched him has little chance of not getting caught because the whole thing was captured on camera.

    (Warning: Graphic Video)

    A man who has been identified as Nicolas Ayuso came up from behind Dib, punched him and dragged him off camera, reports the Telegraph. But Dib didn't plan to leave his viewers hanging. He managed to break free and finish his report despite receiving a black eye as police moved in and arrested Ayuso, reports Gawker.

    [ More Daily Buzz: Rare fish caught in Mexico stolen, filleted for lunch ]

    Police arrested Ayuso a short time later, but he defended himself on Twitter, writing Dib and his crew were harassing him. Ayuso also ironically tweeted that his fellow protesters should stop being violent.

    [ More Daily

    Read More »from Reporter Nestor Dib sucker punched on live TV

Pagination

(602 Stories)