'Rat Hole Guy'; Defending eBay With Spiders And Roaches: Weird News – patch.com

February 4, 2024 ndowd

ACROSS AMERICA — Chicago artist and comedian Winslow Dumaine isn’t sure he wants to “be known as the rat hole guy,” yet here he is at that moment.
Dumaine snapped a picture of a rat-shaped indentation on the sidewalk and correctly assessed its potential to trend on social media. (It is kind of perfect with its little claws and tail.) Couple the likeness of the impression to an actual rat with Chicago’s rather dependable place at the top of a pest control’s list of the nation’s rattiest cities, and Dumaine found the winning formula for internet success.
Still, he doesn’t want his discovery — and how he happened on it and what others in the Roscoe Village neighborhood think of their local landmark is a story in itself — to define him.
“I will post about it if there is an update or something that happens in regards to it, but I don’t want to be the guy who is still telling the (Monica) Lewinsky jokes,” he told Patch. “Look, I wrote a book, I made a Tarot deck, I traveled the world selling my stickers, I’m making a card game. I’m such an insane, obnoxious multi-hyphenate that I can’t be the Rat Hole Guy.” » Read Jeff Arnold’s full report on Chicago Patch.
If Dumaine is the “Rat Hole Guy,” underwater photographer Jeff Eyrich is “The Octopus Guy.” Residents of Ridgefield, Connecticut, have a chance to see the photographs he took when he was invited into the octopus world during diving expeditions off the coast of Turkey last February.
Eyrich’s exhibit should disabuse anyone who still holds it of the notion that octopi are just the start of a good sushi roll.
“My experience with the octopuses is that they’re very intelligent. They’re very curious,” Eyrich told Patch of the solitary creatures and the rare opportunity for fellowship with them. “I almost feel as though once they do come out, and I can start taking pictures of them, they’re giving me a little tour of their neighborhood.” The one-on-one interaction, he said, was a little like “meeting a dog on the street that all of a sudden just kind of falls in love with you.” » Read Rich Kirby’s Patch Exclusive on Ridgefield Patch
The Justice Department said Thursday the online retailer eBay has agreed to pay a $3 million fine and harden its training after some of its employees engaged in a campaign to intimidate the publishers of an e-commerce newsletter by sending them packages containing live ve spiders and cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a bloody pig mask and a door about surviving a loss.
David and Ina Steiner, who live in Massachusetts, are the publisher and editor of the EcommerceBytes newsletters, which the employees thought was unfairly critical of eBay, Josh Levy, acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.
“The company’s employees and contractors involved in this campaign put the victims through pure hell, in a petrifying campaign aimed at silencing their reporting and protecting the eBay brand,” Levy said. » Read the full story on Across California Patch
When he got into the bar business, former Red Sox pitcher Pat Light couldn’t have predicted it would be like Prohibition had been reinstituted at the start of the new year. It was just the start of Dry January, a month health enthusiasts encourage others to give up or cut down on booze.
“There was a legitimate day this past week that we did zero dollars in sales,” Light, the co-owner of five bars in Hoboken, New Jersey, said in a TikTok video. “The bar does very well most other days. But you just never see that, especially in a town like Hoboken. It’s a drinking city. People like to go out.” » Read Caren Lissner’s full report on Hoboken Patch
A guy in Florida is suing the Dunkin’ chain after the indignity of having a toilet in one of its restaurants explode and soil him in some seriously nasty sewage. The plaintiff said in his lawsuit that he is entitled to $50,000 as compensation for “severe and long-term injuries” that left him unable to enjoy life. » Read Megan VerHelst’s full story on Orlando Patch

Police in New Lenox, Illinois, said the man forced his way onto a snowplow and demanded a ride to a gas station so he could buy cigarettes. The snowplow operator told police he refused the guy, who then stood in the middle of the street and refused to get out of his way. He then “climbed onto the snowplow and entered through the passenger door, again demanding a ride to the gas station,” according to the police report. He was arrested, processed and released. Police did not say if he got his smokes. » Read Lauren Traut’s full report on New Lenox Patch
With opposable thumbs and a tail they can hook around tree branches, opossums are a dexterous lot who can get themselves in and out of some precarious situations. But such was not the case for a frightened marsupial clinging for its life on the side of a bridge in St. Charles, Illinois. Local police helped the animal out of the precarious situation. “The little guy was fine and scampered off after the ordeal,” authorities said on Facebook. » Read Amie Schaenzer’s full report on St. Charles Patch