Category: Viral

Donald Trump was asked directly about the wild QAnon conspiracy on Thursday night, and much like his public comments about the white supremacist group the Proud Boys last month he did little to distance himself from the vast conspiracy theory. A second debate between Trump and Joe Biden didn’t happen on Thursday night, as a disagreement over the debate format led to Trump refusing to participate.

Instead, both Trump and Biden held individual town hall-style events, where NBC’s Savannah Guthrie throwing a number of things at Trump to comment on. One of those was QAnon, a vast conspiracy hatched in online image boards in recent years that believes a high-ranking government insider is leaking information through an anonymous account online.

The history of this unhinged theory and its spread to the fringes of mainstream culture has been well-covered elsewhere, but the gist is that Donald Trump is the last line of defense against a satanic cabal of pedophiles that traffic children through the Democratic party and other areas of power. QAnon followers believe a variety of wild theories that have all combined into one larger crusade for Trump and his savior status, and in some ways it’s gone mainstream and often viral in recent months, with “save the children” rallies fueled by QAnon hysteria. There was also that woman who thought Adult Swim was a satanic cult who had QAnon slogans and phrases on her Twitter account as well.

With all that said, Trump was asked whether he would distance himself from the satanic cult conspiracy theory and refused to, saying he didn’t know anything about them despite Guthrie explaining it to him beforehand.

“I know nothing about it,” Trump said, though he then admitted that they are “very strongly against pedophilia, and I agree with that.”

At one point, Trump said he could not know whether the root of the QAnon conspiracy — that there’s a “satanic pedophile cult” secretly running high levels of government and Hollywood — currently exists in America.

Trump also drew ire from people on social media for belittling Guthrie and interrupting her throughout the night.

The episode will obviously do little to stop those who believe the entirely baseless conspiracy in the first place, as it has slowly taken hold on social media, especially those on Facebook (though in recent days the site has said it’s finally banning its groups and content). And it got quite a reaction online as part of what was a wild night for Trump.

Guthrie also pointed out Trump sharing a theory on Twitter that Barack Obama had members of Seal Team 6 killed, which he also didn’t deny.

With less than three weeks left before the election and Trump trailing in the polls, he’s desperate to get any kind of momentum going in his nationally televised events. But it seems all he was able to manage on Thursday night was to rile up people who are already some of his biggest supporters.

With bye weeks and COVID-related uncertainty, it is possible that Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season could be in flux again by Sunday. Opportunity remains in the betting market, though, and Week 5 was kind to us with a 4-1 mark in this space.

We’re back with a five-pack of selections for this week’s slate but, before that, let’s catch up on the year-long progress.

• Week 5: 4-1
• 2020 Season: 16-8-1

Come get these winners.

Houston Texans (+3.5) over Tennessee Titans

This is a (very) short week for a Titans team that played on Tuesday evening. Tennessee is at home, but this is kind of a Super Bowl for Houston. The Texans might be dead already but, with a loss here, their season will be in the ground, and they seem to be enjoying the post-Bill O’Brien experience. Is Tennessee better than Houston? Maybe, but this is a good situational spot for the Texans.

New England Patriots and Denver Broncos UNDER 23.5 points in the first half

Unders are dangerous business this season in the NFL, and I get that. I think there might be value in the market, though, and this is a nice spot. Bill Belichick can tee off from a game plan perspective against an unimpressive Broncos offense, and the Patriots might be more than willing to keep the ball on the ground while keeping the clock moving — especially as Cam Newton possibly returns to the fold. I like this more than the full game total and the Patriots should have defensive success.

New York Jets (+9.5) over Miami Dolphins

The Jets may never cover a game again. New York is 0-5 against the spread, and it’s been excruciating in the process. In addition, the Jets got some unfortunate press with the Le’Veon Bell release this week and, well, there isn’t a lot to believe in with this team. With all of that out of the way, the Dolphins can’t be laying 9.5 points. That’s just too many. We were on Miami last week with great success, but the only side is the dog in this spot.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+1) over Green Bay Packers

Green Bay has been a machine this season, and we’ve been against them with bad results. The Packers are even undefeated against the spread. As such, the world is on Aaron Rodgers and company on the road, but we are not. Tampa Bay hasn’t been firing on all cylinders necessarily, but the Bucs should have both of their star wide receivers back, and Green Bay shouldn’t have the kind of rampant offensive success they’re used to with Tampa Bay’s defense on the field. I love a good team at home with a plus sign next to their name.

Dallas Cowboys (+1.5) over Arizona Cardinals

The absence of Dak Prescott is undeniably huge for Dallas. That is also the explanation for a severe move in this number when compared to the look-ahead line. I do think it’s a bridge too far, though, as the Cowboys still have a talented roster and a reasonably solid player at quarterback in Andy Dalton. If this was on a neutral, I would understand Arizona as a favorite, but the Cardinals shouldn’t be favored on the road, even with Dalton under center. It’s a bit scary to have Dallas sitting at 0-5 against the spread, but they are the side.

One of the first sporting events to return this spring after the sports world went on lockdown amid the first spike in the COVID-19 pandemic was the second installment of The Match, featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. This time the two legendary golfers were joined by Peyton Manning and Tom Brady for some match play in the made-for-TV event and the addition of some (very famous) amateur golfers made for a very enjoyable experience — particularly as Brady slapped the ball all over the course early on.

This November, after the rescheduled Masters, it appears we will be getting the third installment of The Match from Turner Sports, but this time Woods won’t be part of the festivities. Mickelson and Manning will return, but two NBA stars — of past and present — will join them in the form of Stephen Curry and Charles Barkley, per a report from Sportico.

Barkley and Curry are polar opposites in just about every way, from their personalities to their skills on the course as Curry is a scratch golfer and Barkley is one of the most famous bad golfers on the planet. That said, Barkley will provide plenty of entertainment both in his play and commentary from the course, as he moves from the booth to the action this time around.

While The Match 2 benefited COVID-19 relief, raising $20 million, this go around — which Sportico notes is titled “Champions for Change” — will reportedly go to benefiting HBCUs, a cause that is near and dear to Curry, in particular, as he recently made a donation to Howard University to fund the relaunch of their golf team. The Match 3 will be on Friday, November 27 with the expectation being that this will again be a non-PPV event and instead take place on TNT, TBS, and other Turner properties as the second one did.

Earlier in 2020, Dwyane Wade was named to TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people of the year. The 13-time NBA All-Star and future Hall of Fame shooting guard retired the league after the 2018-19 season, but Wade continues to have influence in the basketball world as an analyst and his impact moves well beyond the court in his social change advocacy and family life. This week, though, Wade seemingly brightened the day of a couple, right as they were getting engaged on a beach.

As you can see, Wade unknowingly “photo-bombed” the couple at the best possible time, as he seemed genuinely thrilled to be seeing a proposal in progress. From there, he joined into the celebration, sharing the story on his Instagram and garnering an invite for himself and his wife, Gabrielle Union, to the upcoming wedding.

On one hand, this is simply a glorious coincidence, as Wade clearly seemed surprised and touched by what he was witnessing. On the other, it is undeniably awesome to see this kind of story come together, with Wade joining in the fun in the process.

2020 has been a nightmare on multiple levels, but Wade appears to be living his best life and, this time, that rubbed off on a couple of love-crazy young people taking the next step.

After a trade failed to come to fruition earlier this week, the New York Jets opted to waive running back Le’Veon Bell, a marriage between player and team that never quite worked out after the Jets gave him a $52.5 million deal. It didn’t take long for Bell to find a new home, and as a result, he’s joining the defending Super Bowl champions.

Adam Teicher of ESPN reports that Bell will line up alongside Patrick Mahomes on the Kansas City Chiefs. Word had hit the Twittersphere earlier in the day that Bell was considering the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, and the Chiefs as a potential home — perhaps not coincidentally, all three of those teams are the next three matchups for the Jets. Bell ultimately chose Kansas City, which plays New York during Week 8, and due to the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols, he will have to quarantine for the next five days, making him ineligible for the team’s game this coming week.

According to Teicher, Bell’s goal is to win a Super Bowl, and the Chiefs certainly know how to do that. Where they can use some help, though, is in the running game, where the team has a talented rookie in Clyde Edwards-Helaire but not a ton of depth. They also have not had a rushing touchdown by a back since their first game of the season. Bell would also, theoretically, help out the high-flying passing game.

Bell struggled carrying the ball this season for the anemic Jets offense, running the ball 19 times for 74 yards in two games. He also caught a pair of balls for 39 yards. Now, he’ll get the chance to find his form with the Chiefs, with are an AFC West leading 4-1 on the season.

In theory, at least, Jackbox Party Packs are not made for life in quarantine. The party games are designed with packed living rooms in mind, but packing anything during a pandemic is not a very good idea. Despite the company’s main intent with its games, Jackbox thrived with people trapped in their homes, and their latest batch of games in Jackbox Party Pack 7 will only add to the company’s hilarious and inventive quarantine options.

Each of the five games in Jackbox Party Pack 7 not only works well remotely, but offers a welcome break from reality with some new innovations and engaging concepts. There’s a method to the construction of a Party Pack, though it varies each time Jackbox puts one together. For those familiar with the series, Quiplash 3 is likely the biggest initial draw of its latest Party Pack. A sequel to one of Jackbox’s most successful games, it offers expanded customization options to write your own prompts and a new final round where you enter three answers to a prompt and go head-to-head with another player to determine a winner.

It’s a fun twist on the familiar prompt-and-response format of the game, and the comedic impact of the Rule of Three makes this an easy win in a pack that really doesn’t seem to have a weakness. So often party games sink or swim on the comedic abilities or cleverness of those you’re playing with, but Party Pack 7 does seem to have something for everyone. Though are none of the titles have solo play, very few people are looking for that in Jackbox games. They want connection, laughs and, hopefully, some very bad drawings of funny things. This is why Champ’d Up might be the true highlight of Party Pack 7.

Drawing games can be polarizing for Jackbox players, but this one is by far the most interesting and creative of the bunch. It’s actually a combination of a few similar Jackbox concepts blended to make what’s the most colorful and inventive title in the series. You’re prompted to make a “champion” of a particular concept, then give several colors and a blank palate to draw something and name it. Your “challenger” then only sees your drawing, not the prompt, and must do the same. Voters pick a winner, you can make the drawings dance, then you do it again in another round. But this round is blind and also brings in a new wrinkle if you play more than once.

Other Jackbox games have had small incentives to keep the same players and play another round, but Champ’d Up blows them all away by letting you bring back your past drawings in the game’s second round, creating plenty of opportunities for callbacks and for creative players to steal votes by prompting new laughs. It’s by far the most fun feature of Party Pack 7, and one that might extend your game nights a bit longer, but will be well worth all that time tweaking your drawings to perfection.

Blather ‘Round, the latest word-y Jackbox game, is a fun challenge above all else but is oddly competitive and addictive. You pick from a pop culture or history-based list of words, then try to get the other players to guess it by using vague sentences to describe it. Players can guess, and gain points when a sentence-maker uses their word to make a new sentence. The adjectives and sentence formats change and get more specific as you go on, and particularly creative players can do some impressive things with the prompts no matter how tough or obscure they may seem. Even bad or funny guesses from players can help, as you can snag those and point out how wrong they are to quickly move guessers in a new direction.

If that sounds like too much work, well, that’s why they put five of them in a pack for a single price. But they’re all worth trying a few times to see what friends react to best. I found that, unlike past Party Packs, there was no one game that stood out as the favorite, but also not one anyone wanted to avoid in particular. To me, that speaks to the strength of each title and their replay value more than anything, and it’s impressive that each of these seems to play as well through a video call or on Twitch as they do in a full living room.

Another winner is The Devils And The Details, which is kind of a devious version of Spaceteam where players have to work together to do boring tasks to blend in as devils pretending to be regular humans. You look through phone books to call pizza places to order dinner, tap things to clean and repair items around the house, and can even do “evil” tasks on your own for more points, as long as you don’t get caught. How well this goes depends on who you play with, of course, but it’s chaotic fun and has a lot of simple dumb jokes in it about the mundane nature of existence. Each player gets a “role” in the family that adds some complexity to the game — a parent will have to help a child do more “adult” tasks like drive places, for example. Depending on how evil your friends are, it’s either an effort in team-building or rage-building, no real in-between. It’s perhaps the least versatile of the games in the pack, but like past games such as Push The Button, it’s a highlight of a game night in the right hands.

The game that has the most potential for laughs, though, is Talking Points. It’s a presentation game where players create and pick topics based on prompts, then basically try to make a compelling (and funny) Powerpoint-type presentation with slides they can’t control. Teamwork is key, as another player sets up the word prompts and slide images you’re supposed to riff on. In good hands, the result is hilariously bizarre and gets plenty of reaction from other players, who have both an “up” and “down” button they vote with throughout the talk. The key is that any reaction is worth points, which can take a talk in any number of directions based on the audience and, say, how willing you are to make people mad at what you say. For those who may not like public speaking, this game can be a nightmare, but among in a comfortable group of friends, it’s one of the funniest and most improv-rooted games of the series.

All of these games will work better in person, just like basically everything you’ve been forced to do online this year. But this crop of Jackbox games is primed to save some long nights in a world where social distancing will likely be necessary through the long winter months. It’s tough to make anything during a pandemic, but Jackbox delivered on not one, but five new hits this time around.

The 2020 NBA Draft is happening far later than usual. As was the case with everything in the world of sports, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the NBA season to get pushed way back, and as a result, the Draft will commence on Nov. 18, 2020. It won’t be the gigantic spectacle we’re used to seeing, but it will still mark the best day of 60 future NBA players’ lives.

With things getting moved back five months, all of these players have needed to figure out ways to make the time go by. In this episode of Dime Breakdowns, we decided to look at the ways that some of the dudes whose names will be read by Adam Silver are getting used to pandemic life and a Draft process like no other.

The last few months have presented challenges for everyone. Overseas players like Deni Avdija and Killian Hayes simply had to get stateside, while college hoopers had a ton of sudden free time on their hands. They’ve filled it up in a number of ways. Some turned to Twitch, some spent time with family, and others took some time away from working out and watching old game film to show some love to their school.

As is the case with every Draft, players hearing their name called and their futures laid out in front of them is something that they’ll never forget. This year, though, the longer-than-usual process made things a little more unforgettable.

Check out the above video to learn a little bit more.

Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” is one of the greatest films ever made but it could have easily been a disaster.

Director Steven Spielberg took huge risks with the film betting the house on the relationship between a young boy named Elliott and an oddly-shaped alien.

If the boy in the lead role of Elliott or the animatronic alien weren’t convincing, the movie would have been nothing more than a bad children’s fare.

Spielberg emphasized the children so much in the film that it was shot from a child’s perspective and most of the adult faces are obscured.

Although Spielberg was taking a risk he must have been pretty confident walking onto the set on the first day because he chose an amazing young actor to be his Elliott, Henry Thomas.

In 1981, the nine-year-old actor flew to Los Angeles from Texas for a screen test with Spielberg. During his first reading he was so nervous that his performance fell flat. But on his send attempt, Thomas was so amazing that he got the role right there on the spot.

In the end, Spielberg simply says, “Okay kid, you got the job.”

Henry Thomas audition för E.T. “Ok kid, you got the job”.

www.youtube.com

“The improvisation was so heartfelt and honest that I gave him the part right there,” Spielberg told Premiere magazine in 1982. “I was blown away by this nine-year-old. Then I came to realize he’s an adult actor, not a nine-year-old.”

“He’s a very controlled, methodical performer who measures what he does and feels what he does and yet broadcasts it in a totally subtle way. His performance is so controlled, unlike most kid performers, who seem to be giving you 150 percent on every shot,” Spielberg continued.

After “E.T.,” Thomas was so recognizable as Elliott that he had a hard time landing more work. However, unlike a lot of child stars, his career flourished as an adult, landing him roles in “Gangs of New York,” Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Legends of the Fall,” and as a young Norman Bates in “Psycho IV: The Beginning.”

Jaega Wise has changed the beer industry for the better. She trained as an engineer, but her deep adoration of beer and the culture surrounding it led her to seek out her true calling: brewing. From humble homebrew beginnings, she worked her way up the ladder. Currently, Wise is the Head Brewer at East London’s Wild Card Brewery and — in a pretty epic testament to following your dreams — she was named “Brewer of the Year” by the British Guild of Beer Writers in 2018.

But this story isn’t all floral hops and bready malts. Once Wise got a view from inside the beer industry, she felt duty-bound to empower other women and push for greater representation in brewing. With this aim, she spearheaded an industry-wide ruling in the U.K. that banned sexist, homophobic, and racist labeling on beer. Next, she worked closely with her brewing mentor to build and grow the International Women’s Collaboration Brew network, bringing female brewers together across the globe to learn, talk shop, and network.

We were lucky enough to chat with Wise recently about her fight to get women more seats at the table in the brewing world, the power of the International Women’s Collaboration Brew network, and how Wild Card is fairing during the continuing pandemic.

Tell us about how you got into brewing.

I got into brewing just like everybody else. It’s really being just a big beer fan. I was studying for a chemical engineering degree. At the same time, I was doing lots of beer drinking, going to beer festivals, and the like. Then I graduated. The same drinking buddies I used to homebrew with and hang out with, they were like, “We’re starting a brewery. Do you want to come on board?” Well, that’s not really what happened. I basically said, “Let me help you.” And then that was it. Then I never left.

Wild Card started in 2012 in the basement of a pub in East London. First of all, we were storing beer in our living rooms and then we were swapping Cassa Beer for rent in a pub. We quickly outgrew that pub and then we got our own site in East London.

Was there a beer that gave you that “Ah-ha!” moment that keyed you into how great a well-made beer can be?

Yeah, for sure. I come from the Midlands in Nottingham. It’s Robin Hood territory. It’s also really close to Burton on Trent, which is a global powerhouse for brewing — they have amazing cask beer, but pale ale is the standard.

There was a brewery called Castle Rock Brewery who was making a beer called Harvest Pale, which is a 3.8 percent pale ale and that’s really drinkable. You don’t realize just growing up where I grew up the training you’re receiving just by being in the pub all the time because it’s just what you do. It’s how you socialize. So I would say being a Midlands girl, it gave me the grounding and the experience I didn’t know I was getting at the time.

You’ve folded your work in beer into being an advocate for women and people of color in brewing. Can you walk us through how you started turning your love of beer into advocating for people who aren’t fully or fairly represented in beer?

It wasn’t something that was particularly purposeful. I was giving a talk a few years ago at this amazing building, the Institute of Civil Engineering, which is opposite Parliament, for God’s sake. So it’s a beautiful building and it’s a fantastic location. And it was quite obvious by the room and my experiences over the years how women were treated and the way they were spoken about. It was off-putting and it was harming us as an industry.

I pointed out that if we want to sell more beer, why are we trying to isolate 50 percent of the population? It doesn’t make any sense. That’s kind of where it started and then everything kind of went a bit mental after that. I had to make a choice to continue and put up with Twitter and being in the papers and the horrible stuff that comes with it or do I stop?

You didn’t stop.

I decided to continue because I figured it’s not every day you have an opportunity to change the rules of the game. I got involved with our trade body and I decided to try and change the rules of the book essentially. In the UK, we managed to pass a rule that says that “there’s no alcoholic drink in the UK that it is allowed to have branding that is sexist, homophobic, racist or anything like that in the UK.”

I’m super, super proud of being able to get that through. And it’s kind of shocking that wasn’t there before, but it wasn’t. So if there is a brand that someone comes across and it breaches those rules, then it can be complained about to a group called the Portman Group, who regulates branding in the UK alcohol industry. Then that will get investigated by an independent team and they have the power to pull beers from the shelf, et cetera. So they’re quite a powerful adjudicator. That’s been really good. It kind of covers all the “isms,” basically.

The whole point is we want to have a beer industry that is as inclusive as possible because surely we want to sell beer to as many people as possible. It’s really hard for people to argue with the financial side of it. Like you want to sell more beer, why are you actively trying to exclude a particular group or particular person? You don’t want them to feel that way, you want them to buy your product because it means better things for you and your business, as well as all the other advantages.

And it’s good for society!

How has the reaction been? Have people been reacting positively or have people been pushing back?

I mean, it’s not my job to call out a particular brewery. I’m in this industry. These people, I know them, a lot of them are my friends or I see them at conferences. They’re my fellows in my industry. But that’s one of the reasons why I decided to join our trade body. I can have a quiet conversation, it doesn’t have to be a public thing.

I often get breweries that come to me for advice and say, “I’m not sure about this.” Those conversations are often the most useful that you can have, rather than doing it on Twitter or what have you. I do think that’s great and it has its place and it is excellent to bring attention to stuff. But I think there can be a lot of echo-chamber behavior happening in the brewing industry where you’re talking to very like-minded people who agree with you. And that’s not the point of this. The point of this is working together to make a better industry for us all. And that is often a lot of quiet conversations. Which is, I think, the most useful.

Let’s then talk about the International Women’s Collaboration Brew. Can you sort of walk us through how this got started and how you gathered such an amazing group of brewers?

So this started eight years ago. It was started by a brewer, Sophie de Ronde, who works a brewery called Burnt Mill. She was very much my mentor. So when I first started to learn to brew … yes, you can read all the books you like, but nothing really shows you your path more than learning from another really good brewer. She taught me a huge amount and she invited me to the first International Women’s Day Brew. To this day, she takes the mick out of me because I turned up in a little skirt. She looked at me and said, “That’s not how you brew, darling.” So we did a launch at our taproom at Wild Card, and then that was eight years ago and every year we just got bigger and bigger and bigger and more people came every year.

Every year, I put an open call to all brewers — around the world, really — and people show up. You can come and brew for the day. It’s a great place to learn, to network, to educate yourself. And lots of people have become lifelong friends because they met at the International Women’s Day Brew. It’s also just a good support group for each other. It’s a really good network.

It’s a day that is now sacred in the brewing industry, especially for women. This is a day you put aside. This is the day where you go and you hopefully learn something.

What did this year’s look like?

This year, I did an education on hops called “Know Your Hops.” So lots of blind smelling of hops from all over the world and trying to really hone everyone’s palate. If you want to be able to sell a beer, you should be able to identify the hop and where they come from. And there’s not a huge amount of that kind of work that’s done in the brewing industry, especially compared to, like, wine. So that was really fascinating.

Usually, we’d both be at beer shows and booze conventions. That all, of course, has changed drastically. I feel like we’ve all become Zoom tasters now.

I know. I know. I know! I’ve literally just been judging two beer competitions in the last week on Zoom.

Exactly!

I’ve drunk so much beer on Zoom now. It’s ridiculous.

How are you looking at the future now? It seems like the end of this pandemic horizon keeps getting further away.

From the beginning, we’ve really just battened down the hatches. We had never sold a single can of beer online. It was never our business. Literally overnight, we set up an online shop. We did it within 24 hours. To put it into context, we just decided to basically put a call out to everyone to say, “We are now delivering beer, same-day delivery in the local area.” And we put it in our car — the really rubbish Kia we have here — and we just started manually delivering beer to people in East London. And we kept on doing that and it was going really, really well.

Our sales manager started working on the packaging line. Our taproom manager started running the online shop. Everyone pitched in. I think for us, the team is tired and the team is pretty exhausted really because of just, I think, the stress of it all. I know I’m certainly tired. To keep that fear level up and to remain working in a period of a global pandemic while constantly being aware of what is going on and to make sure no one gets sick and that sort of stuff, it’s quite mentally tiring. Now with bars reopening our taprooms are back up and running but the rules are constantly changing there too.

We’re serving everything in recyclable plastic pint glasses so the staff doesn’t have to touch anyone. The tables are all two meters apart. And we have a really good food vendor every week. Over the summer, the weekends were really actually quite packed. We’re really lucky. A lot of breweries are not in the same situation. Nothing comes easy if that makes sense. It’s been a horrible time. And I think the brewing industry around the world is in for a horrible time. It’s not pleasant.

Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see who’s standing at the end of just this year of the pandemic.

Yeah, I think … You have to adapt and innovate. It’s the only way. And if you’ve not done that, that’s going to be hard times.

Graffiti is an underground form of expression that can be seen as anything from criminal destruction of property to art. Most of the time that depends on whether it was your wall that was defaced.

While most graffiti is painted over, some of it is so powerful that it becomes a beloved part of the community. Many of street artist Banksy’s pieces are still up and have become popular landmarks throughout the world.

But what about little nuggets of fake history placed on park benches around Canada? Where do we sign up?

An anonymous person in Calgary, Canada has made such lovable pieces of illegal art that after the city tore them down, public outcry made them put them back up.

Recently, six signs appeared attached to ark benches at Bowmont Park that hilariously commemorated events that never happened.

“Humans first invented fire right here, 1903.”

“Nothing of note happened here — or at least that is what they want you to believe.”

“The bench marks the farthest west that Christopher Columbus ever travelled. September 1494.”

“At this date in 1806, explorer David Thompson forded the Bow River with a herd of 14 African elephants.”

“Benjy, the first hamster to fly solo around the world, took off from this spot in 1937.”

“This bench marks the first confirmed UFO landing in Calgary, 1963.”

via City of Calgary

Unfortunately, after a few days, they were removed by the city. But local residents loved the signs so much they demanded they be reattached to the benches. The city agreed they were being a bit too harsh and decided they should go back up.

(Isn’t the good-natured common sense of Canadians amazing? Imagine that happening in America.)

“Due to our policy around commemorative plaques and graffiti, we removed them,” the City of Calgary tweeted on Wednesday. “But we heard from Calgarians that you loved the sayings and you wanted them to stay.

“As the city, we have to err on the side of caution — but in this case, it was a bit too cautious,” the statement continued. “Listening to what’s important to Calgarians is part of our job. If we can make changes for a better outcome, that’s what we’ll do.”

The city’s decision was backed up by the mayor who believes we need all the opportunities to smile that we can get in 2020.

“We need a bit of whimsy in our 2020 world and certainly at the city we encourage citizens to do a little bit of guerrilla art and a little bit of fun things to make their neighbors smile,” Mayor, Naheen Nenshi told the CBC.

The mayor also said that the bench plaques’ professional quality and wholesome humor were the big reason they were reattached to the benches.

“The news out there is tough,” said the mayor. “So a little plaque about a flying hamster is a perfect way to kick off our Thanksgiving and I’m grateful for the vandal that put these plaques up.”

It’s the small things in life that can turn a run-of-the-mill park into a place that helps define the attitude of a community. Whomever the artists who put those up happens to be, you know what needs to happen now.

Get out your engraving kit and get to work on some more plaques.