Corpse flower blooms

Washington State University is allowing those who want to see, but not smell, its famously stinky corpse flower the chance to see the plant in bloom via live-stream. The corpse flower, scientifically known as titan arum, was planted at the school’s Vancouver campus in 2002 and first bloomed in July 2019.

The flower, dubbed Titan VanCoug, last bloomed in 2022, and the school announced the flower has again bloomed and has started to emit its signature smell, which has been compared to that of rotting flesh. The school is inviting members of the public to visit Titan VanCoug at the school’s Science and Engineering Building.

Those who can’t make the trip, or don’t want to submit themselves to the smell, can see Titan VanCoug on the school’s live stream.

Book returned after 120 years

A recent donation of books to West Virginia University Libraries included a tome nearly 120 years overdue from a Massachusetts library.

Stewart Plein, the curator of rare books at West Virginia University Libraries, said a person who donated a stack of books warned her to keep an eye out for a book that previously belonged to another library.

Plein eventually located a book, An Elementary Treatise on Electricity by James Clerk Maxwell, checked out from the New Bedford Free Library in Massachusetts with a return date of December 10, 1903.

Barbie’s extremely pink ‘DreamHouse’ listed for overnight stays

A life-sized version of Barbie’s classic DreamHouse — The Malibu DreamHouse, located in Malibu, Calif. — is being listed for overnight stays ahead of the release of the Barbie movie on July 21 and July 22.

The listing, written by ‘Ken’, describes the house as a ‘life-size toy pink mansion.’ Guests will get to take home a pair of yellow and pink skates and a surfboard.

The house boasts amenities including an outdoor disco dance floor, a swimming pool and a wardrobe full of Barbie and Ken-style outfits.

The house was previously listed on Airbnb in 2019, but this time around it was given a makeover with even more pink paint in honour of the upcoming film.

Barbie arrives in theatres July 21.

Alligator enters home through doggy door

Don and Jan Schultz, who recently moved into their New Iberia home, Louisiana, were awakened in the middle of the night by their seven-year-old Australian cattle dog, Panda, growling.

“Our dog Panda growled a deep throat grumble and woke my wife up and she tapped me said I think there’s someone in the house and so I got up headed down the hall to check,” Don Schultz told. “I saw the shape of an alligator.”

The couple called 911, and Wildlife and Fisheries officers responded to their home.

The 5-foot gator apparently came in through Panda’s doggy door. There is now a new doggy door installed that only opens for Panda’s collar.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 15th, 2023