by John Grimaldi, editorial contributor,

The Association of Mature American Citizens

A whale of a tale

According to the International Whaling Commission “whale watching tourism is rapidly growing around the world.” But it is highly unlikely that the majority of the millions of whale watchers out there have seen what the Robert Addie family saw off the coast of Provincetown, MA recently: three humpback whales simultaneously breaching the Atlantic Ocean. Coincidentally, Robert had his video camera handy when the trio of whales soared out of the water at the same time.

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Go figure

It is estimated that hundreds of millions of online buyers make purchases via Amazon. Cindy Smith of Prince William County, VA is one of them, as is Liz Geltman of Washington, D.C. That’s not the only thing they have in common. Back in May Ms. Geltman reported that she received some 80 unsolicited packages of goods from the online “super” market over a period of time. More recently, Ms. Smith received more than 100 boxes containing a variety of products ranging from glue guns to binoculars. She, too, did not order the goodies she received. Believe it or not, according to the UPI news service: “Amazon officials said they looked into both incidents, and discovered both Smith and Geltman’s packages were the result of vendors having packages shipped to random addresses in order to remove unsold merchandise from Amazon fulfillment centers.”

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Grin and “bear” it

The Chinese zookeepers insist that the Sun Bear on display at the Hangzhou Zoo in Zhejiang Province East China is real, despite a viral video that suggests the bear is actually a man wearing a costume.  The video shows the bear standing upright on slim legs with baggy skin that certainly looks like an ill-fitting costume. According to the zoo, “when it comes to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is a huge figure and astonishing power.  But not all bears are behemoths and danger personified.”

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