Pet fish run up bill on computer game
And other stories from the stranger side of life
Pet fish playing a video game logged on to the Nintendo Switch store, changed their owner’s avatar, set up a Pay Pal account and ran up a credit card bill. YouTuber Mutekimaru runs a channel that features his Siamese fighting fish playing Pokémon video games on a Nintendo Switch console. However, said the New York Post, a malfunction returned the device to its home screen and movements made by the fish opened the Nintendo eShop on the screen and saw them spend $4 of his money to purchase points.
Painting bought for $600 goes for £3m
A rediscovered Anthony van Dyck painting bought for just $600 has sold for over $3m at auction, reported CNN. The piece, a study for a later painting produced by the Flemish master called St Jerome, was only recently identified as a work of Van Dyck, said Sotheby’s. It was discovered in the late 20th century in a farm shed in Kinderhook, New York. The man who found it describes his collection as “an orphanage for lost art that had suffered from neglect”.
‘Oldest living mouse’ in San Diego zoo
A zoo in the US said it is seeking Guinness World Records recognition for a mouse believed to be the oldest in the world at the age of nine. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said a Pacific pocket mouse named Pat - in honour of Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart - is due the official honour. The oldest mouse ever recorded by Guinness World Records was named Fritzy and died in 1985 at the age of seven years and seven months, noted UPI.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For more odd news stories, sign up to the weekly Tall Tales newsletter.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
Zoos offer cockroach naming and hippo poo candles
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
NHS tells Scots to walk like penguins
Tall Tales Walk like penguins in the snow, says NHS
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Experts discover why dogs wag their tails
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Peruvian 'aliens' aren't really aliens
Tall Tales And other stories from stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Woman accidentally puts nan in washing machine
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Why Dutch people put pancakes on their heads today
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Fly found in man's colon
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Judi Dench accidentally video called co-star from bath
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published