As a counter to the era of “fake news” and “alternative facts” a Japanese male astronaut (Norishige Kanai) who represents JAXA on the International Space Station (ISS) has now felt forced to apologise for the exaggeration he made over his growth in orbit. He had previously publicly stated via social media that this period of “weightlessness” in orbit and its expansion effect on his spine had grown his stature by over 9cm (over three and half inches) when, in fact, he had only grown an extra 2cm (less than one inch). He later admitted to making a “measuring mistake”.
One lady commenting in a British newspaper somewhat harshly noted that, in her experience, it was typical for a male to exaggerate his overall length by this amount. So that is one in the Jap’s eye for all us gents!
It was an exaggeration of a different kind for the citizens of Hawaii one January morning when official television and text message warnings were sent out to all of its citizens saying that they would be under imminent missile attack. The message was apparently sent in error.
North Korea released this threating poster showing USA being targeted by nuclear armed ICBMs. Courtesy: KCNA via Reuters.com
Given that there were already fears about the threat of nuclear tipped North Korean intermediate range ballistic missiles being aimed at the Hawaiian Islands, there might yet be a few claims against the authorities for: the washing costs of underwear; medical expenses following heart attacks or due to excessive drunkenness; claims for the theft and hijacks of light aircraft flown from local air strips (“Armageddon outta here!”); and finally, ones for extra child support for couples who wanted to make love that one last time.
