Happy Monday!
We're back with our Digg x Insider weekend round-up. From shooting stars and Skittles to a drowned 1000-year-old church and Britain’s wonkiest pub, we’ve got an interesting lineup of news stories from this weekend.
Let's recap. 👇
🏠🍺Wanted: new owner to run The Crooked House, Britain's 'wonkiest pub' that's been serving pints for almost 200 years.
(Credit: Christie & Co)
Ever dreamt of owning your own bar? If you don't mind tilting your head a bit, The Crooked House could be the one for you.
The pub just outside Dudley, in England's West Midlands, is one of 61 being sold by Marston's in an apparent bid to cut overheads following a recent surge in costs. The company runs about 1,500 pubs and employs 12,000 people.
The slanted pub, which has been dubbed the wonkiest in Britain, was built as a farmhouse in 1765 and is thought to have become a public house in the 1830s. It's on the market for a guide price of £675,000 ($813,000).
"This is a chance to own what has been called Britain's wonkiest pub and Britain's drunkest pub. Surely there's some appeal there? It's a piece of history," 54-year-old patron Jim Knowlson told The Times.
Read the full story here.
🩸❌A bill pushed by Republicans in Florida would ban young girls from discussing their periods while in school.
A bill backed by Republicans in Florida would ban girls younger than grade six from discussing their periods while at school, according to the lawmaker who proposed the legislation.
State Rep. Stan McClain proposed House Bill 1069, which would limit instruction on sexual and reproductive health to grades six through 12.
The bill is part of a string of laws being pushed by Florida Republicans related to gender and sexuality.
In a subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Democratic state Rep. Ashley Gantt asked McClain if the bill would "prohibit conversations about menstrual cycles" for girls who get their periods before sixth grade, noting girls typically start menstruating from ages 10 to 15, which would include fourth and fifth graders.
McClain responded: "It would."
Read the full story here.
⭐👽A starburst of bright lights was seen tearing across California's sky, mystifying onlookers. It was actually flaming chunks of space debris, says an astrophysicist.
(Credit: Jaime Hernandez via AP)
A series of streaking lights across California's skies had onlookers speculating about aliens and UFOs. It turned out to be bits of flaming space debris re-entering the atmosphere.
For 40 seconds on Friday, people in Sacramento, California, saw what looked like a group of shooting stars, per the Associated Press.
Jaime Hernandez, who was celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the King Cong Brewing Company in Sacramento, told the AP that it was unlike like anything he had seen before.
"Mainly, we were in shock, but amazed that we got to witness it," Hernandez told the AP. "None of us had ever seen anything like it."
Read the full story here.
🐦💩Twitter now automatically responds to all press emails with a single poop emoji, months after laying off its communications team.
Twitter has finally resumed communicating with journalists again, after months of silence since Elon Musk's takeover of the company.
However, don't expect an actual answer to media inquiries about mass layoffs, declines in advertising revenue, outages, and lawsuits. Instead, the account is sending automated responses of a single poop emoji, after Musk announced the new policy Sunday morning.
[email protected] now auto responds with 💩
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023
It was widely reported shortly after Musk took over that nearly the entire communications department was among the thousands of employees who were laid off.
The company has rarely, if at all, responded to requests for comment in the months since layoffs began.
Read the full story here.
🙏🌊A drowned 1,000-year-old church has remerged from below the waters of a reservoir due to severe drought.
(Credit: Nacho Doce/REUTERS)
The remains of an ancient church have completely resurfaced in Spain despite once being underwater, as the country faces continued extreme droughts.
Water levels in the Catalonia region of the country are so low that the 11th-century Church of Sant Romà in the village of San Roman de Sau, 62 miles north of Barcelona, has reemerged from the shrinking reservoir.
Navigation apps inadvertently say people are submerged in water when they are now standing on dry land, according to reporting by Reuters.
As visitors enjoy the unique pleasure of visiting the church for the first time in 50 years, fishermen are busily scooping up tons of fish in the depleted reservoir that would struggle to survive and contaminate what's left of the drinking water, Reuters said.
Read the full story here.
🍬🚫A bill that would ban Skittles and other foods, which officials say contain certain chemical toxins, is making its way through the California legislature.
A proposed bill that would ban beloved candies like Skittles, as well as other foods that officials say contain certain chemical toxins, is making its way through the California legislature.
Bill AB418, introduced in February by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, would prohibit the sale, manufacture, and distribution of food containing titanium dioxide, red dye 3, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and brominated vegetable oil, according to the bill's text.
"Californians shouldn't have to worry that the food they buy in their neighborhood grocery store might be full of dangerous additives or toxic chemicals," Gabriel said in a statement last month. "This bill will correct for a concerning lack of federal oversight and help protect our kids, public health, and the safety of our food supply."
On its official website, Skittles lists titanium dioxide as one of the ingredients.
Read the full story here.
🇬🇧🏠This abandoned English cottage that has no electricity, no water, isn't even on Google Maps —and costs $300,000.
(Credit: Fisher Hopper)
A remote cottage in the English countryside is on the market for £250,000, or about $300,000.
The home is set amid the rolling hills of Yorkshire Dales National Park, a two-hour drive north of Manchester.
The home, which has lingered on the market for almost a year, doesn't currently have running water or electricity.
The listing calls for the "right buyer with vision." That imaginative soul will need "a bit of experience, as well as a bit of money to do the work," Spratt told the BBC.
Read the full story here.