Gallery Worker Fired For Hanging His Own Painting, And More Of The Week's Weirdest World News – Digg
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Welcome to another entry in our new column, The Week’s Weirdest World News. The world, you might have noticed, is a very strange place — so every seven days, we’ll be rounding up the most bizarre things that have happened across the globe, purely for your enjoyment.
From a Russian republic’s ludicrous music ban to a museum worker smuggling his own work in, these stories are sure to inspire wonder — or, at the very least, befuddlement — at the weird ol’ world around us.
[Image credit: YouTube]
The Russian republic of Chechnya has announced a ban on all music deemed by authorities to be too fast or two slow.
Chechen culture minister Musa Dadayev said in a meeting last week that all musical, vocal and choreographic compositions must now have a tempo between 80 and 116 beats per minute, according to Russian state new agency TASS.
Under the ban, even Russia’s own national anthem, which has a BPM of 76, falls foul of the rules.
The move is part of the region’s efforts to bring its music and dance in line with “Chechen mentality and musical rhythm.”
Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, is known for squashing public dissent and has previously been sanctioned by the US for his “involvement in gross violations of human rights.”
Nineteen feral cats living on Mexico’s presidential palace grounds are set for life after being given special status by the government.
The office of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently declared the cats to be “living fixed assets,” meaning the country’s Treasury will feed and care for them for the rest of their lives. It’s the first time in Mexico’s history that animals have been awarded such a title.
“The cats are now a symbol of the National Palace. Just as we understand this world, I wouldn’t understand the National Palace without the presence of these cats,” the National Palace and Cultural Heritage Conservancy’s general director, Adriana Castillo Román, said.
“We have to make sure the cats are taken care of.”
[Image credit: Michael Sale/Creative Commons]
Scientists in Brazil have discovered that some breeds of frogs are able to scream, but humans can’t hear them.
A team conducting research in the Amazonian jungle noticed small leaf litter frogs that looked as though they were making noise — their backs were arched, their heads were back and their mouths were wide open — but no sound was coming out.
After recording the frogs with high-frequency audio recorders, the researchers discovered they were screaming at a frequency that can be heard by other animals, but that is impossible for humans to pick up.
The frogs’ screaming, which is a distress call in response to predators, is the first documented case of amphibians using “defensive ultrasound.”
[Image credit:Rufus46, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
An art museum worker in Germany has been fired for hanging his own painting alongside famous works in the gallery.
The Pinakothek der Moderne confirmed on Tuesday that one of its technical service employees had smuggled his own work into the museum and displayed it in the modern and contemporary part of the gallery — where it stayed for an entire day, despite being spotted in the morning.
“The decision was made to keep the picture on display while the gallery was open and take it down after its closing time at 6 p.m.,” a spokesperson for the Pinakothek told the Guardian.
The incident took place on February 23, but was not made public until this week.
According to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the 51-year-old man had sneaked his painting into the gallery space “in the hope of achieving his artistic breakthrough.”
Not had your fill of weird news just yet? Check out last week’s roundup.
[Image credit: Rufus46]
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