NYC man sells fart audio clips for $85, cashing in on NFT craze
A Brooklyn-based film director is simultaneously mocking and attempting to profit off the cryptocurrency craze for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by selling a year’s worth of fart audio clips recorded in quarantine.
“If people are selling digital art and GIFs, why not sell farts?” Alex Ramírez-Mallis, 36, told The Post of his dank addition to the blockchain-based NFT market.
His NFT, “One Calendar Year of Recorded Farts,” began incubating in March 2020 when, at the beginning of the global coronavirus lockdown, Ramírez-Mallis and four of his friends began sharing recordings of their farts to a group chat on WhatsApp.
On the one-year anniversary of the US’s COVID-19 quarantine this month — by which point Ramírez-Mallis said he could darn near identify members of the group by their farts alone — Ramírez-Mallis and his fellow farters compiled the recordings into a 52-minute “Master Collection” audio file.
Now, the top bid for the file is currently $183.
Individual fart recordings are also available for 0.05 Ethereum, or about $85 a pop. The gassy group has so far sold one, to an anonymous buyer.
“If the value increases, they could have an extremely valuable fart on their hands,” he said.
Ramírez-Mallis and his friends did not begin recording their farts with profit in mind, but the recent NFT madness — which has seen the ownership of abstract assets be sold for seven– and eight-digit price tags — provided the “perfect outlet to share” their large back catalog of farts.
The ridiculousness of it all is not lost on the Flatbush resident.
“The NFT craze is absurd — this idea of putting a value on something inherently intangible,” said Ramírez-Mallis, referencing screenshots of screenshots and the concept of colors which are currently being sold as NFTs. “These NFTs aren’t even farts, they’re just digital alphanumeric strings that represent ownership.”
The trendiness of NFTs has made the concept of selling the idea of ownership somehow palatable and profitable to the very-online masses, he went on. Indeed, he’s not even the only person selling fart NFTs.
While aware that the concept has manifested into madness, Ramírez-Mallis still hopes to profit off it.
“I’m hoping these NFT farts can at once critique [the absurdity], make people laugh and make me rich,” he said.
But, he admits, there is some historical precedent for the concept of NFTs.
“In many ways, this is a bubble, but it’s also been around forever,” he said, comparing NFTs to wealthy art collectors buying expensive works, putting them in storage and only displaying their certificate of ownership, then selling that for more money. “Buying and selling art purely as a commodity to store value in has been around for centuries, and NFTs are just a digital way of representing that transactional nature of art.”
“The art is just an avatar for value.”
A consultant for Ramírez-Mallis’ fart NFT agrees, and said he offered to help Ramírez-Mallis with some of the project’s technical aspects because he appreciated its “silly but necessary” criticism of the NFT phenomenon.
“By purchasing an NFT, you become part of the in-crowd of a technological novelty that masquerades as revolutionary but operates in the same tired old way of the existing art market,” said Grayson Earle, a friend of Ramírez-Mallis and creator of the cryptocurrency project Bail Bloc.
While Ramírez-Mallis and Earle admit that the digital art behind NFTs is often intellectually and visually fascinating, they take issue with how quickly they become far more about their price tag than their creative worth.
“The art is just an avatar for value,” said Ramírez-Mallis, noting that behind the crazed market aren’t digital art-lovers, but people trying to get rich quick as speculators.
“There’s that old saying, ‘Why don’t they just frame the money?’ ” Ramírez-Mallis said, “and this really is the embodiment of that.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/nyc-man-sells-fart-for-85-cashing-in-on-nft-craze/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Couple eats, drinks, has sex after breaking into NJ home
A horny couple broke into a ritzy New Jersey home and turned it into their own Plato’s Retreat — knocking boots, feasting on food, and even wearing the owner’s bathrobe — all while a babysitter and a young child were still in the abode, according to the police and a new report.
Alex Ray Yeakley and Amanda Lentz took some “liberties” after breaking into the Cedar Street pad in the well-to-do suburb of Englewood on Friday night, police said.
The audacious duo, from Pennsylvania, hit the fridge, helping themselves to food and drink — as well as a hot shower, with one luxuriating afterwards in the homeowner’s bathrobe, sources told The Daily Voice.
At some point, the couple also had sex, the sources added — completely unaware that the babysitter and a young child were home at the time.
“As the investigation continues, it is believed that the pair had been inside the home for a period of time before they were discovered,” Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern said in a press release, which only confirmed that the pair “may have utilized the shower and [sic] well as taken other liberties” while inside the Bergen County home.
The sitter heard Lentz on a baby monitor while the baby slept and initially thought the homeowner had returned, police told News 12.
But the caretaker then discovered the unwanted house guest just before 10:30 p.m. and Lentz and her lover bolted with some jewelry, a wallet and the homeowner’s iPhone, police said.
The pair peeled off in style, too, upgrading the 2003 Toyota Corolla clunker they drove to the house for the homeowner’s Lincoln Navigator, cops said.
But their cavorting was cut short after Englewood detectives used the stolen iPhone to track down the couple in Orange County, NY.
Cops chased them into Chester, using spike strips to thwart the getaway and send the vehicle careening into a field, the Daily Voice reported.
The lovebirds then tried to flee on foot but were quickly collared in Blooming Grove — 50 miles north of Englewood, authorities said.
Yeakley, of Myerstown, Pa., and Lentz, of Lebanon, were being held in Orange County jail pending extradition.
Police seized the couple’s Corolla as part of their investigation.
Englewood police did not immediately return messages.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/couple-drinks-has-sex-after-breaking-into-nj-home-report/
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Asian woman, 76, turns tables on attacker, sends him to hospital
A 76-year-old Asian woman was attacked in San Francisco — but the feisty retiree turned the tables on her much younger assailant by fighting back, leaving him bloodied before yelling, “You bum!”
Xiao Zhen Xie became the latest victim in a surge of attacks on Asians in the Bay Area when the man, who appeared to be in his 30s, punched her in the face with no provocation as she stood on a sidewalk Wednesday, KPIX 5 reported.
Video posted on Twitter by the station’s sports director Dennis O’Donnell shows the battered woman holding an ice pack to her black eye and wielding a stick she apparently used against the goon, who is handcuffed to a stretcher.
The spunky woman discussed her ordeal from her senior retirement home in San Francisco, with her daughter Dong-Mei Li interpreting.
“Very traumatized, very scared and this eye is still bleeding,” Li told KPIX 5. “The right eye still cannot see anything and still bleeding and we have something to absorb the bleeding.”
Xie, who has lived in the city for 26 years, said her immediate instinct was to fight back when she was attacked while waiting at a traffic light at Market Street and Charles J. Brenham Place around 10:30 a.m.
“She found the stick around the area and fought back,” Li said, adding that her mom still can’t see out of her left eye and has not managed to eat after the senseless crime.
“As you can see, she is extremely terrified,” Xie’s grandson John Chen told KPIX 5. “She’s terrified to even step out.”
O’Donnell, the KPIX 5 sports director, shot video of the chaotic scene when he walked by.
“There was a guy on a stretcher and a frustrated, angry woman with a stick in her hand,” he said.
“You bum! Why did you hit me?” Xie yelled in Chinese to the man on the stretcher.
“This bum, he hit me,” she told the assembled crowd as she raised the stick and sobbed. “He hit me — this bum!”
O’Donnell said the woman appeared to want “more of the guy on the stretcher and the police were holding her back.”
Police did not disclose a motive for the aggravated assault and it was unclear whether the victim’s race had anything to do with the incident, which comes amid a spike in anti-Asian attacks in the US.
It also occurred a day after 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long allegedly shot and killed eight people — including six Asia women — at three Atlanta-area spas.
San Francisco police said an 83-year-old Asian man also was a victim Wednesday morning and that an unidentified 39-year-old was being investigated for both attacks, KPIX 5 reported.
Officials said they are working to determine if bias was a factor. Police did not specify if the man seen in the video was the suspect under investigation.
“We have to do our job and we have to investigate these cases with all resources brought to bear and we need to make arrests, and we’ve done that,” San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said in a press briefing.
Scott and Mayor London Breed also addressed other attacks in the city.
“We need to understand, not only what is going on, but why these attacks occur, because in some cases they didn’t include any robbery or theft,” Breed said.
According to a recent study from the Center of Hate and Extremism at California State University, in 16 of the largest cities in the US, hate crimes against Asian Americans jumped nearly 150 percent in 2020 — even as hate crimes overall declined.
The group Stop AAPI Hate said that in the past year there have been nearly 4,000 hate incidents against Asians nationwide.
State Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) said 1,600 of those attacks were in California, according to KPIX.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/asian-woman-76-turns-tables-on-attacker-sends-him-to-hospital/
Photo Credit: KPIX 5
South Florida veterinarian has been accused of sexually abusing a dog and possession of child pornography
Prentiss Madden, 40, appeared in court where he was ordered Wednesday to be held pending a bond hearing, news station WTVJ reported.
An investigation was launched into the vet after the file-sharing web service DropBox notified authorities about a user with more than 1,600 files of suspected child porn.
The files were traced to an IP address registered to Madden’s home in Aventura, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.
Homeland Security agents raided his home on Feb. 24 and found files in which Madden discussed “the sexual abuse of animals and children” as well as multiple photos and videos depicting bestiality, the complaint said.
Another explicit video appeared to have been taken at Caring Hands Animal Hospital in Miami.
Madden served as medical director there until he was fired two weeks ago when colleagues learned that he was under investigation, the hospital said.
“This leads me to believe that Madden may be abusing animals entrusted to his care,” Agent Leah Ortiz wrote in the complaint.
Caring Hands Animal Hospital said in a statement that they were “appalled by the nature of the charges” against the former staffer.
“Our legal team and every single member of the Caring Hands family will be doing everything in our power to aid law enforcement and facilitate their investigation and prosecution,” they said in a statement provided to WTVJ.
With Post wires
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/florida-vet-accused-of-sexually-abusing-a-dog/
Photo Credit: Caring Hands Animal Hospital
Woman says she found true love, had children with rollercoaster
Gaëlle Engel claims she has long been sexually attracted to inanimate objects — but she says she didn’t know true passion until she fell for a German rollercoaster.
“You could say that I’m sexually drawn to rollercoasters but since I met the Sky Scream rollercoaster, I understood what love was,” the France-born Engel told Jam Press of her attraction to the attraction at Germany’s Holiday Park.
“I spend every moment dreaming of a carnal and fusional relationship with it.”
The 43-year-old says she has been sexually attracted to objects since she was 12. The painter and poet has had three serious romantic human relationships, but found them all to be traumatic.
“I will not philosophize on these relationships that ruined my life but it was only suffering, physical and moral,” she said. “The men I dated had a lot of issues with alcohol and it was a very hard time for me.”
Her new beau, however, has no substance problems and makes her feel empowered to be herself.
“With Sky Scream, I feel completely confident.”
Dating the coaster does have its drawbacks, however: The couple are unable to have any sexual relationship whatsoever, and meeting up is difficult.
“But life made me understand that sex was not a priority in my relationship, especially following the difficulties and trials we encountered in not being able to see each other,” Engel said.
As an alternative to in-person dates, Engel collects objects that represent Sky Scream to her, including a board of Sky Scream photos, an array of objects bought from the theme park and a pillow that has the rollercoaster’s image printed on it, which Engel hugs daily.
Through the objects collected as a representation of Sky Scream Engel feels “connected to him — the love follows me everywhere.”
Sky Scream and her adoration for him frequently manifest in her work. “Sky Scream inspires me a lot in everything I write and draw,” she said.
Through the models she’s created of him and other coasters, she feels that the two have reproduced.
“There are even some models that I made that are totally new inventions — so you can say that I have Sky Scream kids,” she said.
Engel is not alone in her unusual taste in lovers.
In 2017, Carol Santa Fe — a self-identified “objectum sexual” — claimed she’s been in love with San Diego’s historic Santa Fe train depot since the age of 9.
Engel and Santa Fe join the growing list of people attracted to famous structures, including Erika Eiffel (we’ll let you guess the object of her affection) and Eija-Riitta Eklöf-Berliner-Mauer, who “married” the Berlin Wall in 1979.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/12/woman-says-she-found-true-love-had-children-with-rollercoaster/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
No screaming on roller coasters under California’s COVID-19 plan
Southern California theme parks are set to open as early as next month, but thrill seekers may be forced to bite their tongues while riding their favorite rollercoasters.
The California Attractions and Parks Association is behind a plan that would encourage riders to remain silent while barreling through the air on rollercoasters to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Reopening guidelines in the Golden State call for businesses to limit activities such as singing or shouting to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
Under the proposal, amusement parks like Disneyland, Universal Studios and Six Flags could open at limited capacity, and patrons would be asked to keep their excitement to themselves on the rides.
“Face covering usage and/or modifications to seat loading patterns will be required on amusement park rides to mitigate the effects of shouting,” CAPA wrote in its Responsible Reopening Plan. “Additionally, on rides, guests generally face in one direction.”
Under the plan, groups would be limited to a maximum of 10 people from no more than three households. Indoor dining would be banned.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/17/no-screaming-on-roller-coasters-under-californias-covid-19-plan/
Photo Credit: MediaNews Group
Texas man busted with long gun, high-capacity mags outside VP mansion
A Texas man in possession of a long gun and high-capacity ammunition magazines was arrested outside the vice president’s mansion in Washington, DC, Wednesday afternoon, authorities confirmed.
Cops in Texas tipped off DC-area authorities that a suspicious person was at the Naval Observatory mansion at 3400 block of Massachusetts Avenue.
Just before 12:15 p.m., the US Secret Service detained 31-year-old Paul Murray, of San Antonio, outside the residence.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Murray and found a rifle and ammo in his vehicle, police said.
He was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, carrying a rifle or shotgun outside of a business, possession of unregistered ammunition, and possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, police said.
Police did not say what he had planned.
The US Capitol Police confirmed an alert for the unnamed person as a suspect went out to various agencies in the DC area Wednesday afternoon but did not provide details as to the intelligence provided to the agencies.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/17/man-busted-with-gun-high-capacity-mags-outside-vp-mansion/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Customer throws cash register out the window during argument at Wingstop over missing wings from order
(Meredith) — Cellphone video captured the moment a Wingstop customer in California threw a cash register out of the window after the staff denied him a refund.
The video, recorded by witness Tharon Trujillo, shows an unidentified man arguing with the staff at a Wingstop location in Antelope after receiving the wrong order on March 13.
The man claimed he was missing several wings and wanted a refund, which the staff said is not allowed under company policy for online orders. According to KOVR-TV, an employee offered to remake the order, but the man declined.
“I don’t want the food,” the man says in the video. “I don’t have time to wait on the food again, so now what do we do?”
An employee responds: “It’s either you get the food remade, and you go on about your day and stop yelling at my other manager cause that is, no, it’s uncalled for.”
The upset customer then grabbed the register and threw it to the ground before tossing it out of a window. He then left the restaurant.
“I was telling him to calm down,” Trujillo told KOVR-TV. “I said, ‘You don’t want to go to jail. You don’t want to go to jail.'”
The store manager said it would cost about $6,000 to replace the register, and they are still waiting for a quote to fix the window.
Anything over $950 is considered felony vandalism. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said because of the amount of damage, they could issue a warrant for the man’s arrest.
The Wingstop location filed a police report following the incident. No injuries were reported.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/video-customer-throws-cash-register-out-the-window-during-argument-at-wingstop/article_fafb7793-ed35-527e-8def-fb19b6ddaf44.html
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$915 worth of pennies dumped in man’s driveway; he blames feud over final paycheck
A Georgia man claims a bitter feud over a final paycheck ended with 500 pounds of pennies delivered to his driveway.
Andreas Flaten said when he submitted his two-week notice in writing last November, hell hath no fury like his frustrated boss.
“He froze and stared at me for like a straight minute…I remember this so clearly…he gets up, puts his hands on his head, walks out the door and disappears for like an hour,” said Flaten. Flaten had worked at Walker Luxury Autoworks in Peachtree City for a year. He had known the owner for eight years. But Flaten said the constant turnover and toxic work environment took a toll.
Flaten claims on his last day, he delivered his uniforms washed and in a box complete with another letter explaining why he was leaving.
He said his boss promised his final check would be paid in January. It never arrived. He said his boss accused him of damages.
“I honestly at this point never expected him to pay,” said Flaten.
Flaten called Georgia’s Department of Labor. Five months later, he was paid, presumably the full $915 dollars… in pennies.
“That comes out to be like 504 pounds of pennies,” exclaimed Flaten.
“I have no where to put ’em. I had no idea what I was going to do like how do I get money from pennies?” added Flaten.
Criticism online calls for karma, calling the cash dump “petty.”
Flaten stored the pennies in his garage inside a large wheel barrel.
“Brand spanking new wheel barrel that is full to the brim. The … wheels are like busted out to the side, flat…” he said.
Flaten and his girlfriend said all of the pennies are covered in some type of oil, and cannot be cashed in until they are cleaned.
CBS46 is working to get the owner’s side of the story. Several after hours calls to Walker Luxury Autoworks have not been returned.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/mound-of-pennies-dumped-in-mans-driveway-he-blames-feud-over-final-paycheck/article_6939ad3b-4cde-573b-960d-a78ffb002a68.html
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Italy opens manslaughter case after teacher dies hours after getting AstraZeneca vaccine
Prosecutors in Italy have launched a manslaughter investigation after a music teacher there died hours after getting the controversial AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Sandro Tognatti, 57, got jabbed in his hometown of Biella on Saturday afternoon and went to bed that night with a high fever, his wife, Simona Riussi, told Italian media.
She called an ambulance the next morning but the clarinetist could not be saved, she said.
Prosecutors in the northern Italian region of Piedmont opened the probe into his death later that day, according to the Italian wire service Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA).
They also seized nearly 400,000 shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the same batch.
So far, officials have insisted there has yet to be a direct link between Tognatti’s death and his shot.
The criminal investigation is to be “completely sure” that the death “cannot be attributed to the above-mentioned inoculation,” prosecutor Teresa Angela Camelio said in a statement.
Italy on Monday joined a growing group of mostly European nations temporarily suspending the UK vaccine amid alarming reports of blood clots in some participants.
They were joined Monday by France and Germany, with the likes of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Thailand having already suspended its use.
AstraZeneca — which developed the shot with Oxford University — says the vaccine is safe, an assertion backed up by the World Health Organization.
The vaccine has yet to be approved for use in the US — but the drugmaker is reportedly pushing for emergency-use approval by the end of this month.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/16/italian-teacher-dies-hours-after-getting-astrazeneca-vaccine/
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