Good week, Bad week
Good week for: Getting even, Defending your brand, Betty White; Bad week for: Turning the other cheek, The king and queen of Sweden, John Goldfinch
Good week for:
Getting even, after a Quebec man deposited a 20-ton boulder in the driveway of his ex-wife. During their 10-year marriage, explained Dany Lariviere, his ex-wife often complained that he didn’t give her “a big rock.”
Defending your brand, after clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch offered “a substantial payment” to the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore to stop wearing its clothes, saying that the show’s self-proclaimed Guidos and Guidettes “could cause significant damage to our image” as an “aspirational” brand.
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Betty White, after a poll found that the 89-year-old actress is the country’s most popular and most trusted celebrity. She topped Kate Middleton, Sandra Bullock, and Oprah Winfrey.
Bad week for:
Turning the other cheek, after Italian friars prayed that a thief who stole Bibles from their church be stricken with a plague of diarrhea. “We couldn’t put up with it any longer,” a friar said. “The Lord and the faithful will understand.”
The king and queen of Sweden, who were refused a table by a busy restaurant owner in Germany. The owner, Nadine Schellenberger, said she didn’t recognize King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia “without crowns and scepters.”
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John Goldfinch, a British man who was fishing off a beach and felt a huge bite, only to see a scuba diver emerge with the hook between the legs. The diver’s girlfriend, Goldfinch said, helped him “remove my tackle from his tackle.”
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Why Turkey's Kurdish insurgents are laying down their arms
Under the Radar The PKK said its aims can now be 'resolved through democratic politics'
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Book reviews: 'Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves' and 'Notes to John'
Feature The aughts' toxic pop culture and Joan Didion's most private pages
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The FDA plans to embrace AI agencywide
In the Spotlight Rumors are swirling about a bespoke AI chatbot being developed for the FDA by OpenAI
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Good week, Bad week
feature Making amends, Justice, Saying ‘cheese’
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Good week, Bad week
feature Reptile experience; Painless budget cuts; Driving with kids
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Good week, Bad week
feature Closing the sale; Calling 911; Going to the circus
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Good week, Bad week
feature Asking Google anything; Misanthropes; Persistence
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Good week, Bad week
feature Torture, Irritating the cat, Being cheap
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Good week, Bad week
feature Strolling in Naples; Infallibility; Mississippi
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Good week, Bad week
feature Tesla; Entrepreneurship; Fortune-tellers
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Good week, Bad week
feature The miracles of science; Wild times in Wisconsin; Holding hands