This much-too-in-depth look at the animal most likely to have created Chicago’s rat hole is surely a strong contender for the 2026 Ig Nobels.

Sadly, as the caption under this image of the rat squirrel hole notes, “The imprint is currently not on display to the public”.

A recent Ryanair flight from Pisa to Prestwick aborted three landings in Scotland, before ultimately making an emergency diversion to Manchester, England. While it landed safely there, logs show it was rather horrifyingly low on fuel.

The Boeing 737-800 had just 220kg of fuel left in its tanks when it finally landed, according to a picture of what appears to be a handwritten technical log. Pilots who examined the picture said this would be enough for just five or six minutes of flying.

Big yikes.

If TD Bank wants to earn my forgiveness for past transgressions, they could do worse than installing ATM for dogs.

Perhaps folks can take their next doggie field trip to the bank.

Congress has rescinded $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting across America, and we’re all poorer for it. I’ve donated to my local NPR station, and urge you to consider doing the same.

Soon, though, stations across the country will get some additional help. The works of the late Bob Ross will be auctioned off to help make up some of the shortfall.

Up in Canada, one shady aquarium is telling the government “Give us the money, or the whales get it”. The shuttered Marineland has said that it may euthanize 30 beluga whales if it doesn’t receive funds to care for them.

Marineland had hoped to send the belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, which sits in between Hong Kong and Macau in China.

Thompson denied its export permit, saying the strengthening of fisheries legislation in 2019 that made it illegal to use whales and dolphins for entertainment prohibited the move.

“I could not in good conscience approve an export that would perpetuate the treatment these belugas have endured,” she said.

“To approve the request would have meant a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment.”

That reasoning is sound, but almost any alternative is likely to be better than death.

In Japan, some traffic lights indicate “go” with a blueish hue, rather than the standard green. It’s all due to a quirk of language:

Traditionally, the Japanese language used the same word for blue and green, “ao.” So the bureaucrats of Japan had a predicament. The word for green is now “midori,” but with the Japanese people associating the word for blue with a distinctly green traffic light, how were they supposed to refer to it officially? And simply changing the light to blue instead of green went against a major worldwide push to standardize traffic signals. So in the early 1970s, Japan decided on a blue-green color sometimes known as “grue” or “bleen,” meaning it’s technically both. While today only some lights combine the colors, and others are clearly green, all of them are still “ao.”

The words “grue” and “bleen” both make me chuckle.

Around the country, folks who like dogs but don’t want to own one permanently are hanging out with shelter dogs for a few hours at a time.

[R]esearch has shown that when people interact with dogs, oxytocin — known as the love hormone — increases in both species. This is true even if you’re petting someone else’s friendly dog.

It’s not actually “Uber for dogs”, but I think it’s the closest thing we’ve got.