Turkey bomb a big hit in Alaska [News of the Weird]

No doubt inspired by “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Esther Keim of Anchorage, Alaska, this year completed her third Alaska Turkey Bomb, the Associated Press reported. When Keim was growing up in rural Alaska, a family friend would drop turkeys to her family and others from a plane, along with newspapers and chewing gum. She started her tradition with a small plane she rebuilt with her father, and this year she dropped 32 frozen turkeys to people living beyond roads. Dave and Christina Luce live a 90-minute snowmobile ride from the nearest town.

“I’m 80 years old now, so we make fewer and fewer trips,” Dave said.

Keim has “been a real good friend.” She hopes to start a nonprofit organization to solicit donations and reach more people, with more than turkeys.

“There’s so many kids out in the villages,” she said. “It would be cool to maybe add a stuffed animal or something they can hold.”

Family values

An unnamed mother in Cheshire, England, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison for “extreme neglect” after her 3-year-old daughter of hers was found to have been living in a drawer under a bed, the BBC reported. The mother hid the child from her siblings and even from a boyfriend, who discovered her in 2023 after hearing her cry when the mom was away. The court said she was severely malnourished, looking more like a 7-month-old baby, and had a cleft palate, matted hair and other deformities. The mother told police she had not realized she was pregnant and was “really scared” when she gave birth, calling the child “not part of the family.” Judge Steven Everett said he could not “remember a case as bad as this in my 46 years.”

Don’t try this at home

Firefighters battled a blaze for more than 16 hours in Weston, Conn., on Thanksgiving, WFSB-TV reported, after flames erupted as someone tried to fry a turkey. The fire, which started in the garage of a $4 million mansion, quickly spread to the rest of the house, and six other fire departments joined in the effort to fight the fire. None of the residents or neighbors were hurt, but the home was deemed “uninhabitable.”

Bright ideas

If you’re fortunate enough to live in California, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas or Florida over the next couple of weeks, you can have your photo snapped while driving through Taco Bell, KTLA-TV reported.

“Every day in our drive-thrus, we see moments that are so uniquely ‘our fans,’” said Chief Marketing Officer Taylor Montgomery.

Select locations will be transformed into photo booths, with some of the photos ending up on a Taco Bell commercial during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. Participating fans will need to have the TB app and scan a QR code at the drive-thru. Photos will be sent to the account holder’s email address. Smile!

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