A 3.5-tonne Canadian Coast Guard buoy washed up on Achill Island, Ireland. Mayo County Council says the Canadians may have to make a special trip to collect it. The Coast Guard told the council its buoys are very friendly, but drift far from home.

The teacher asked the brightest boy in class, “What is an alibi?”

— from More Toasts, 1922. Got one worse than that? Hit reply.

The water level was fine until he got in.

Seen something funnier? Reply with a picture you took — a dog in a hat, a sign gone wrong, whatever made you laugh this week.

October 13, 1971: the World Series played its first night game, in Pittsburgh. Baltimore scored three runs in the first inning. Pirates rookie Bruce Kison, age 21, then came in. He threw six and a third innings without allowing a run. Pittsburgh won 4-3 and tied the Series at two games each. Nearly every weekday Series game since has been played at night, to suit television.

Also today: same date, 1983: the first U.S. cell phone network opened in Chicago. The first call came from a car at Soldier Field. About 10 other cars had phones too. Back then, a phone call came with a car.

From 1971 to 1976, which TV show was number one in the ratings five years running?

A) The Waltons
B) All in the Family
C) M*A*S*H
D) Gunsmoke

Answer’s at the very bottom. Try it first. 👀

Guinea worm is a parasite that people catch from unsafe drinking water. In 1986 it infected about 3.5 million people a year in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. That is more people than live in Chicago. In 2025 the whole world reported 10 cases, the lowest count ever recorded.

The 10 cases were in Chad (4), Ethiopia (4) and South Sudan (2). A year earlier the count was 15. The World Health Organization has certified 200 countries free of the disease. There is no vaccine and no drug for it. If the count reaches zero, it will be the second human disease ever wiped out, after smallpox.

The figures come from the Carter Center in Atlanta, which leads the campaign, and they are provisional. Animals still carry the worm, so the job is not done. Ten is not zero, but it is the smallest number this disease has ever had.

Keep smiling,
The Distraction Desk

B — All in the Family. It was the first TV series to hold the top spot five years in a row. Archie and Edith’s chairs cost under $10 at a secondhand store and now sit in the Smithsonian.

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