This image released by Kings Features shows a frame from the Dennis The Menace comic strip promoting No Pants Day. More than 25 cartoonists are celebrating the quirky holiday to help charities get clothing to those in need. Participating artists are drawing their characters without trousers and urging readers to donate clothing to thrift and second-hand stores hard-hit by COVID-19.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fans of newspaper comics will instantly notice something missing in many of the strips this Friday — pants.
More than 25 cartoonists behind strips from “Blondie” to “Zippy the Pinhead” are celebrating the quirky holiday No Pants Day in a way that helps charities get clothing to those in need.
Participating artists are drawing their characters without trousers and urging readers to donate clothing to thrift and second-hand stores hard-hit by COVID-19.
“This was a great way to help bring communities together but also have a little bit of a laugh," said Tea Fougner, comics editor at King Features Syndicate. “Just the idea of No Pants Day, I think, is something that everybody can feel a little bit closer to this year than in previous years.”
No Pants Day, held on the first Friday in May, is believed to have been started by a group of students at the University of Texas who thought leaving the pants at home on the first Friday in May would be a fun way to end the semester. A winter spin-off was created called No Pants Subway Ride.
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Comics creators have noticed that the COVID-19 pandemic has effected people's ability to get clothing and charities have not gotten as many donations as typical.
In a gracious move among comic strip distributors, King Features reached out to fellow syndicators Tribune Content Agency, Andrews McMeel Universal and Washington Post Writers Group to pull off Friday's event.
“We may be business competitors, but we’re all part of the same family,” said Fougner. “We all love comics and we love our communities. And, at the end of the day, that’s really what cartooning is about. So we want as many cartoonists as possible to take part in initiatives like this.”
Cartoonists were contacted in February about the project, and the finished comics started to come in by March. In some cases, artists needed a quick brainstorming session to figure out ways to approach the request.
Not Bill Griffith, the artist behind "Zippy the Pinhead." “He emailed me back right away and he said, ‘Well, not wearing pants is Zippy’s thing,’” said Fougner.
Organizers left it up to the individual cartoonists — some other participating strips include “Shoe,” “Arctic Circle,” “Hi and Lois,” “Rhymes with Orange,” “Mallard Fillmore” and “Sally Forth” — how to incorporate the message. The strips range from medieval knights to modern office workers, all sporting underwear.
“You’ll see a variety from some cartoonists who took a really direct approach where they have their characters in the comic donating clothing to people,” said Fougner. “And some folks just depicted the characters not wearing pants or put a little happy No Pants Day message in the comic.”
Olive Brinker's “Rae the Doe” has a character donating clothes at an LGBT center while “Dennis the Menace” urges readers: “Give to a charity that helps people in need of clothing, like Room to Grow.”
The event is the latest attempt by the comics community to help society. Last year, more than 70 comic strips and panels banded together to hide six symbols in the artwork to honor workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Man arrested at airport with 35 birds in his clothing, and more of this week's weirdest news
Police in Germany responded to a bomb alert -- and found a sex toy
A bomb alert in southern Germany turned out to be a false alarm after a grenade-shaped object was found to be a sex toy.
A bomb alert in southern Germany turned out to be a false alarm after a grenade-shaped object was found to be a sex toy.
A woman out jogging in the forest near Sonnen on Monday evening called the police after spotting what she thought was a hand grenade in a transparent plastic bag, according to a statement released by the local force Tuesday.
Officers from the Bavarian bomb unit were called in to assess the situation, and were fortunately able to give a swift all clear.
"After inspecting the plastic bag it became evident that it was only a fake plastic grenade," reads the statement, adding that two unused condoms, an empty bottle of lubricant and a USB cable were also found inside the bag.
"An internet search confirmed the suspicions, there are actually hand grenade sex toys," said police.
The bag had decomposed and must have been there for some time, according to the statement.
"How the items got there and why they stayed there are now the object of speculation," added police, who have since disposed of the items.
Old bombs are not uncommon finds in Germany.
In June 2019, residents of Ahlbach, southern Germany, were awoken early one morning by a sudden blast which left a crater 33 feet wide and 13 feet deep in a cornfield. Police later said it was "almost certainly" caused by a WWII bomb.
Police defused an unexploded World War II bomb weighing 1,100 pounds in Berlin in April 2018, and in September 2019 almost 60,000 people were evacuated in Frankfurt after a 3,000-pound bomb was found.
Man arrested at airport after 35 birds intended for singing contests found in his clothing, officials say
A man smuggled in 35 finches from Guyana to JFK Airport for singing competitions.
A man was arrested and charged with allegedly smuggling 35 live finches in hair curlers from Guyana for "singing contests" in New York City, according to a complaint from the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Kevin Andre McKenzie, a 36-year-old Guyanese resident, flew to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Monday, according to the complaint, where Customs and Border Protection officers pulled him aside for an examination and found the birds, authorities said. He was charged with unlawfully importing the finches.
Photographs show the tiny finches were stuffed inside hair rollers sealed with perforated netting. Authorities said they were attached to the inside of McKenzie's jacket as well as the top of his shoes.
The traveler was released on a $25,000 bond, the US Attorney's Office said.
A man was arrested and charged with allegedly smuggling 35 live finches in hair curlers from Guyana for "singing contests" in New York City. A jacket that was used to smuggle the birds.
James Darrow, McKenzie's attorney, declined to comment.
The investigation found that these types of birds are often entered into "singing contests" in the Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods of New York, according to Kathryn McCabe, a special agent for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
"In such contests, often conducted in public areas like parks, two finches sing and a judge selects the bird determined to have the best voice," McCabe stated in the complaint. "Many who attend the singing contests wager on the birds. A finch who wins these competitions becomes valuable and can sell for more than $10,000. Although certain species of finch are available in the United States, species from Guyana are believed to sing better and are therefore more valuable."
McKenzie told officers that he had been offered $3,000 to smuggle the birds, the complaint says. He allegedly was paid $500 before his flight and was to receive the remaining $2,500 after he got through Customs. It is not immediately clear whether anyone else has been arrested.
Besides a valid import permit, birds are required to quarantine for 30 days to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, according to government regulations listed in the complaint.
Giant gold coin weighs 22 pounds and took 400 hours to create
The 10 kilogram (22 pound) Queen's Beasts 2021 commemorative coin took 400 hours to make.
A huge £10,000 ($13,950) commemorative gold coin has been created in Britain that pays tribute to the "Queen's Beasts" -- 10 mythical creatures that represent her royal ancestry.
The coin, which weighs 10 kilograms (22 pounds), was made by the Royal Mint and is the largest ever created in its 1,100-year history.
The Royal Mint, which makes the nation's coinage, called it a "masterwork" that was handcrafted by a team using traditional minting skills and modern engraving technology.
It was polished for four days before being cut, lazer frosted, and completed with a matt finish. The whole design took 400 hours in total, the Royal Mint said.
It was created to mark the finale of the Royal Mint's "Queen's Beasts Collection," a series of collectible coin designs based on 10 statues created for the Queen as a guard of honor at her 1953 coronation.
The mythical beasts -- which include a white lion, bull, falcon, unicorn, dragon and griffin among others -- symbolize her ancestry and together form a "formidable phalanx of ancestral creatures drawn from centuries of royal history," according to the Royal Mint website.
The coin illustrates all 10 beasts side-by-side in one single design with an effigy of the Queen in the center.
The coin, which has a denomination of £10,000, has been sold for an undisclosed six figure sum, said a Royal Mint spokeswoman.
Those looking for a smaller, more affordable version of the giant gold coin can purchase a replica at the Royal Mint website, with prices starting from £13 ($18).
A huge £10,000 ($13,950) commemorative gold coin has been created in Britain that pays tribute to the "Queen's Beasts" -- 10 mythical creatures that represent her royal ancestry.
'A work of art'
The Royal Mint began producing the Queen's Beasts Collection in 2017, beginning with the "Lion of England" coin. The lion emblem has been used by the royal family for centuries as a symbol of bravery and strength.
The second coin released was of the Unicorn of Scotland -- a coat of arms representing the union of England and Scotland.
The commemorative collection includes a coin that celebrates the Red Dragon of Wales.
Clare Maclennan, divisional director of commemorative coin at the Royal Mint, said in a statement that the new coin set a "new standard" for minting, "combining centuries old techniques with innovative technology to create a unique and beautiful work of art."
"It is the largest coin ever created by the Royal Mint, and is testament to the expertise, craftsmanship and skill of our team," she added.
