NYC wants ‘bloodthirsty badass’ to lead rat war

New York City is advertising for a “somewhat bloodthirsty” person comfortable with “wholesale slaughter” to be its rat czar. Mayor Eric Adams is on the hunt for someone with “a general aura of badassery” to lead the city war on the little rodents. The “director of rodent mitigation” position comes with a salary range of $120,000 to $170,000 (£97,700 to £138,430). New York City has been trying to control its rodent population “for generations”, said Sky News.

Word of the year announced

Dictionary compilers have named “goblin mode” as their word of the year, reported The Times. Oxford Languages, which compiles the Oxford English Dictionary, defines the term as “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”. It said that the term chimed with people coming out of lockdown, when many “rejected the idea of returning to ‘normal life’, or rebelled against the increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards”.

Bear eats woman’s avocados

A US woman caught a bear eating avocados from the tree in her yard. Lynn Wracan of Florida said the hungry bear has been seen wandering in the Thousand Oaks area for several months, and has been blamed for fruit disappearances from a number of trees in the neighbourhood. She said authorities told her there is nothing they can do about the meandering bear, reported UPI.