Good Morning and Welcome To MOT-Morning Open Thread
Casual Friday is a collection of odd, strange or weird news stories from the week along with some jokes, tweets, and other assorted funnies. Keep an eye out however, because not all the news stories are entirely on the up and up.
* Provided I remember to add the html code, all the links will open in new tabs.
Pigeon-headed pranksters flock to Google's Street View Camera
A flock of human pigeons crowded the path of a Street View camera while Google was indexing Western Tokyo, generating a hilarious and lasting image. It's not the first prank like this, but it is delightful.
The writers of Japanese comedy site Daily Portal Z got word of a Street View camera coming through the area near Mitaka Station, and decided to lay in wait with a few pigeon masks they'd been using to stage absurd photos throughout the city.
You can see more crazy street views at this link:
The craziest Google Street View moments
Wimbledon rules orange shoes out but not colored undies
Wimbledon, the world's oldest tennis tournament, has the strictest dress code in tennis, stating for the past 40 years that players must wear "predominantly" white.
The rules stipulate no solid mass of color, no fluorescent colors, little or no dark and bold colors, and preferably all white shirts, shorts and skirts.
The tournament's clothing police allow no exceptions, even for top players like Federer, the seven-times champion ranked the world's eighth most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine this week.
"He has been asked to change his shoes," said a Wimbledon spokesman ahead of the Swiss player's match on Wednesday against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky on Center Court.
He said several other players had also been asked to change their shoes to abide by the rules but no other warnings had been issued for other violations of the dress code.
The sight of colored knickers emerging as women rivals Maria Sharapova from Russia and American Serena Williams serve failed to make organizers see red and the colored nails sported by a list of women players on court have not been ruled out.
Knickers have caused a stir at Wimbledon in the past, dating back to 1949 when American Gussie Moran was accused of "putting sin and vulgarity into tennis" by wearing lace-trimmed knickers at the All England Club in south London.
Six years ago Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin shocked organizers by wearing a pair of crimson underpants beneath her white outfit which had officials reaching for the rule book but to no avail.
"The rules state that players can wear any color underwear they like provided it is no longer than their shorts or skirt. Anything else must be white," said a Wimbledon spokesman.
The all-white dress code is one of the traditions at Wimbledon, which dates back to 1877 when women wore ground-length dresses on the court, and officials are keen to uphold standards.
Pepsi Max launches latest 'Live For Now' campaign with Dynamo stunt
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Pepsi Max has launched the latest iteration of its 'Live for Now' campaign with Bradford-born TV magician Dynamo seemingly levitating alongside a London bus on a journey through the capital.
Dynamo, whose 'Magician Impossible' TV series is sponsored by Pepsi Max, will front the new campaign under the 'Live for Now' brand positioning that was first launched in the UK in 2012.
The campaign will include an on-pack promotion on cans and bottles of Pepsi Max during July and August, giving consumers the chance to win hundreds of prizes, including a new car, and to unlock exclusive never-seen-before tricks from Dynamo, using the augmented reality app Blippar.
For the launch event, Dynamo hung from the side of a number 543 double-decker bus on its journey along Millbank, past the Houses of Parliament and across Westminster Bridge, while hundreds of passers by watched in amazement.
The side of the bus carried a Pepsi Max ad with the hashtag #livefornow.
*Spoiler Alert*
London 'levitating' magician's secret revealed
Black bear breaks into Knoxville Zoo
The Knoxville Zoo must have a pretty good Yelp rating, because a black bear was spotted breaking into (not out of) the zoo on Monday night, KnoxNews.com reports.
The bear climbed a 10-foot-tall chain-link fence around the zoo's perimeter before a zoo ranger spotted the unauthorized visitor and alerted staff. KnoxNews.com reports that the staff, suspecting the bear might be one of their own, did a count of their residents, but none were missing.
The police were notified, and zoo rangers began to search the interior of the park. However, the bear was not seen again. According to KnoxNews.com, zoo spokeswoman Tina Rolen said rangers believe the bear climbed back over the fence shortly after making its covert entrance.
The bear's current location is unknown. The zoo's Executive Director Lisa New told KnoxNews.com, "Of course our first concern is to ensure the safety of our visitors and animals. We are also concerned about the welfare of our wandering bear, who hopefully has made his way to a more rural area."
Crash leaves man and dog covered in paint
A Tuesday afternoon car crash near Belfair left a man and his dog shaken and covered in paint.
Washington State Patrol trooper Russ Winger said the driver was alone with his dog on SR-302 southwest of Belfair when he somehow lost control of his SUV and went off the road just after 3 p.m.
The man was hauling buckets of paint, which went flying on impact and left the man, his dog and the SUV coated in paint.
The man suffered minor injures and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Winger and an off-duty Federal Way firefighter found a nearby resident who let them bathe the dog in her yard using her water hose and some borrowed shampoo.
The dog is now at the Kitsap Humane Society until the driver can pick her up, according to Winger.