Black bear wanders into hotel

The Stanley Hotel in the Rocky Mountains is most famous for inspiring Stephen King’s The Shining, the basis of the classic 1980 film. A lot of weird things happen in that Stanley Kubrick horror flick. A torrent of blood takes the elevator, a pair of creepy twin girls haunts the hallways, and a guy in a furry bear suit makes an unforgettable appearance.

So maybe the black bear that wandered into the lobby of the still-functioning Colorado hotel recently was trying to make things weird again. The bear was seen playing around the furniture for a bit, but then he left quickly. Hotel manager Reed Rowley told that it happened overnight and when no guests were around.

“We do have a hotel next to a national park,” Rowley said. “Wildlife is part of the gig.”

The hotel aims to be respectful of the surrounding wildlife, but it never wants a guest to encounter a bear in the hotel lobby.

Cookie dough spaghetti, the newest craze

It’s no secret that the Iowa State Fair is a fried food lover’s paradise. But with nearly 200 concession stands, this year’s vendors were urging fairgoers to make room for dessert.

“We began experimenting with chocolate chip cookie dough a few years back and it just blew up like crazy with the fair attendees,” said Mike Biegger, a 15-year-old employee of Dipped in Chocolate.

The booth, which specialises in items like chocolate-dipped bananas, cookie dough balls and strawberries, is now introducing its newest showstopper — cookie dough spaghetti, a dish Biegger said can rival any fried concoction.

“It’s probably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The dish is a fun take on cookie dough in the form of a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with red sauce. Cookie dough spaghetti noodles are topped with a Ferrero Rocher chocolate ‘meatball’, while the red sauce is substituted with a strawberry dessert sauce.

Other stands are joining the strange wave of entrée-themed goodies, including ice cream nachos, brisket mango tango and beef sundaes. And with 56 new items just this year, fairgoers got the unexpected when it came to the “new foods” line-up.

Teen solves six Rubik’s Cubes underwater in one breath

Eighteen-year-old Vako Marchelashvil of Tbilisi, Georgia, spent six months preparing to break the previous Guinness World Record of five cubes.

The student from Georgia solved six Rubik’s Cubes under water in one breath, in a bid to set a new Guinness World Record.

While he was submerged in a glass tank for just over one minute and 44 seconds as he flipped, turned and solved the cubes in front of a crowd at the Gino Paradise aqua park Tbilisi.

He said he had been preparing for the underwater challenge for six months, training several hours a day.

“I trained a lot planning to break a record — and to ensure my safety, because even a small mistake could be dangerous and life-altering,” Marchelashvil said afterwards.

After observing Marchelashvil’s attempt, the Georgian Records Federation issued a diploma confirming his result.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 1st, 2018