Remember the excitement and joy you felt as a child when your annual birthday celebration finally rolled around? You can capture that feeling again, at least to some extent, by enjoying these fun videos of pets and zoo animals celebrating in delightful fashion.

A Panda

Here’s Yun Zi from the San Diego Zoo digging into her ice and fruit birthday cake created in celebration of her second birthday. Pandas seem to be particularly fond of birthday celebrations, so for more panda parties, don’t miss Panda Loves To Party over at Tumblr.

A Boston Terrier

There are tons of dog birthday videos online, but what makes little Rex here so special is the fact that he actually sneezes on cue, just in time to blow out his candle.

Tigers

Nick and Mick of the Oregon Zoo are celebrating their ninth birthday, that happens to land on Halloween, with a birthday cake present and a bunch of carved pumpkins filled with delicious breakfast treats.

Elephants

Just because humans don’t like to celebrate their birthdays once they’ve become seniors doesn’t mean elephants feel the same. Here’s Tricia of the Perth Zoo celebrating her 55th with a massive ice cake that’s just the right size for a few gals weighing in at over a dozen tons.

A Kitty

Pancake might not be quite as famous as Maru, but he’s still up there as far as YouTube kitty celebrity is concerned. Here’s Pancake pigging out on a stack of his namesake topped with tuna and corn in celebration of his first birthday.

A Cheetah

These days, it’s common for zoo cheetahs to be raised with dogs as they provide the big cats with friendship and help them feel more comfortable around humans. Of course, being friends with a big kitty certainly has its perks when your best friend’s birthday comes up and the workers at the Cincinnati Zoo where you work give you both a special beef cake with peanut butter and cream cheese frosting along with a bunch of toys.

A Husky

Laika is the tan husky in the family and she’s quite happy to be turning one, or at least to get a yummy pupcake, best of all, she even helps sing along to the birthday song at one point.

An Orangutan

Robin of the Denver Zoo sure loves this giant frozen cake filled with peanut butter and covered in raspberry mousse. Of course, getting a delicious treat bag as a present makes turning 32 even sweeter.

A Bear

She may be over the hill, but Ms. Grizz of the Wildwood Zoo still looks gorgeous on her 40th birthday, and she certainly seems to be enjoying all the treats that come with the big celebration.

A Skunk

A lot of people still turn their noses up at the idea of owning a skunk, but Peaches’ owner sure loves his little stinker. Here she is enjoying a cupcake and ball for her first birthday, which is a very special treat compared to her usual diet.

Baboons

At least one of these little babies from the Prospect Park Zoo is turning one, but without any information on the page, it’s hard to tell whose birthday is actually being celebrated. At least everyone’s having a good time though.

Do any of you pet owners celebrate your critters’ birthdays? If so, have any of you uploaded the videos? Feel free to leave links to the celebrations in the comments!

More from mental_floss…

12 Wonderfully Useless Flyers
*
19 Outstanding Words You Should Be Working Into Conversation
*
10 Facebook Status Updates Gone Horribly Wrong
*
How to Hire … a Hitman? 11 Fascinating Search Suggestions From Google
*
16 Movie Sequels Nobody Has Ever Heard Of
*
119 Amazing Facts for National Trivia Day

Photo credit: NBC

Entertainment gossip rags are all abuzz discussing the pros and cons of a possible Dwight Schrute (of The Office fame) spinoff TV series. No doubt the producers and agents involved are too blinded by dollar signs to take the time to examine the fates of previous spinoff shows based on “can’t miss” popular characters. We hereby submit 11 such shows that barely made it past the drawing board.

1. W*A*L*T*E*R

This M*A*S*H spinoff had as complicated a broadcast history as plot backstory. Gary Burghoff, who’d played the loveable Cpl. Radar O’Reilly at the 4077, provided a bit of background for his upcoming solo series during a special guest appearance on an episode of yet another ill-fated spinoff, AfterM*A*S*H. There we learned that Radar’s (oops – he made it clear in the pilot that his name was “Walter”) farm had failed and he’d shipped his mom off to live with an aunt. He’d married a woman named Sandy who left him for another man during their honeymoon. He now lived in St. Louis with his cousin and was a rookie cop on the local police force. The first episode showed hapless, naïve Walter exhibiting typical Radar-like behavior, such as getting embarrassed when breaking up a fight at a strip club, and buying a soda for a kid he falsely accused of committing a crime. The pilot episode of W*A*L*T*E*R aired just once (on July 17th, 1984; the series was not picked up), and only in the Eastern and Central time zones thanks to CBS affiliates cutting to live coverage of the 1984 Democratic National Convention at 9:00pm.

2. Facts of Life: Next Generation

The proposed Facts of Life spinoff had several working titles but never made it past the two-part Facts of Life finale entitled “The Beginning of the Beginning.” It was to be a vehicle for Lisa Whelchel, whose snooty Blair Warner character would buy the financially troubled Eastland School and become its new headmistress.

3. The Art of Being Nick

Scott Valentine was introduced as Nick Moore, Mallory’s love interest on Family Ties, during the series’ fourth season. Nick was a retro-hippie “environmental” artist who made sculptures out of garbage and whose grungy appearance and lack of scholastic ambition was a sore point with Steven, Elyse and Alex. Audience reaction to Nick was so positive that not one but three different pilots for a spinoff series were filmed in 1986. The one that made it to the air in 1987 was The Art of Being Nick and co-starred a pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Even though the ratings were encouraging, NBC honcho Brandon Tartikoff nixed the series, preferring to keep the Nick character as a semi-regular on Family Ties.

4. Karen

This proposed Will and Grace spinoff didn’t get as far as the pilot stage, but it was all mapped out on paper. Megan Mullally would star as Karen Walker in her mansion and most of the comedy would be the interaction between her and her servants (one of which was slated to be a butler played by Martin Short). NBC got cold feet, though, after the lackluster ratings for Joey and gave Mullally a talk show instead of a sitcom.

5. After the Honeymoon

During the 11th season of My Three Sons there was an attempt to spin off eldest son, Robbie (played by Don Grady), his wife Katie (Tina Cole) and their triplet boys onto their own series. In the pilot episode, Robbie was laid off from work and moved his family to San Francisco to accept a new job. After the Honeymoon wasn’t picked up, and Grady didn’t return to My Three Sons for the 12th and final season. Tina Cole did return to the bosom of the Douglas family, and her husband’s absence was explained by having him transferred to Peru to oversee a construction job.

6. Another Man’s Shoes

The original premise of One Day at a Time – a divorcée struggling to raise two daughters as a single mom – was all but forgotten by Season Nine. Ann Romano had remarried and moved to London and both her daughters had grown up and gotten married. Who was left to spin off into their own series? Schneider, the building superintendent, of course. In the pilot, Schneider finds out that his brother has passed away and he flies to Florida to care for his now-orphaned niece and nephew (a young Corey Feldman). The children live in an apartment over an arcade that was frequented by an assortment of wacky regulars, and it just so happened the arcade owner was looking to hire a handyman. All the elements were in place for Dwayne Schneider to start life anew in Daytona Beach, but, alas, the series was not picked up.

7. Jackee

Relations between Marla Gibbs and Jackie Harry were rather tense by the fourth season of 227, mainly because Jackee’s character, Sandra, had become the breakout star of the series. Harry filmed a pilot which aired in 1989 in which Sandra moved to New York to accept a job at a film studio. When it turned out that the studio in question made adult films, she instead took a job at a spa. The pilot had a plum slot right after The Cosby Show and finished fifth in the ratings, but NBC still declined to pick it up.

8. Horshack

Ooh! Ooh! Guess which Sweathog almost graduated from Mr. Kotter’s class to his own series? The episode of Welcome Back Kotter entitled “There Goes Number 5” was the pilot for an Arnold Horshack series in which the geeky student becomes a surrogate father to his younger siblings after his mother’s fifth husband dies. ABC ultimately decided to green light the Barney Miller spinoff Fish instead.

9. Goober and the Trucker’s Paradise

A proposed spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show featured Gomer’s cousin Goober moving from Mayberry to Atlanta with his sister, Pearl, to open a truck stop café. The network passed on it, so Goob stayed on at Wally’s Filling Station all the way through Mayberry RFD.

10. Mona

A two-part episode of Who’s The Boss? was a pilot for a proposed series starring Katherine Helmond. Mona goes to visit her never-before-mentioned brother Cornelius at a hotel he’s recently purchased. Even though the place turned out to be a decrepit money pit, Mona decided to stay on and co-manage it with him. That is, until ABC gave it the thumbs-down, whereupon she returned to living over Angela’s garage.

11. Kick It with the Fly Girls

In early 1991 it was announced that the dance troupe from Fox’s In Living Color would host their own hour-long show. Kick It with the Fly Girls was to be emceed by Shawn Wayans and would feature “top performing rap and hip-hop artists and new acts.” The proposed series only got as far as holding auditions for dancers in New York and Los Angeles.

* * *
Think the networks pulled the plug too early? Would you have watched any of these?

More from mental_floss…

18 Famous TV Roles Originally Played by Someone Else
*
11 Bizarre or Shocking TV Deaths
*
16 Movie Sequels Nobody Has Ever Heard Of
*
The Ice Cream Man Who Mastered Press Your Luck
*
22 Fictional Characters Whose Names You Don’t Know
*
25 Brand Names People Incorrectly Use as Generic Terms
*
Just a Penny! It’s a Steal! How Columbia House Made Money Giving Away Music

Here are 11 rather effortless lifehacks that will improve your life without cutting holes in your pockets, though I’m sure that, in itself, is some kind of lifehack we just haven’t figured out yet.

1. Take scratches out of your CDs and DVDs using a banana

1. Peel the banana
2. Rub the banana on the CD in a circular motion
3. Use the underside of the peel and rub the banana in deeper
4. Wipe away the residue with a lint-free cloth, like you’d use to clean your car windows
5. Using another cloth, remove smudges with a spritz of Windex
6. Voila, she is like new!

2. Store bedding inside pillowcase

3. Take scratches out of furniture with a walnut

4. Magnetic strips as storage behind vanity door

5. Upside down muffin pan for cookie bowls

6. Bread tags as cable and cord labels

7. Hull strawberries using straw

8. Use bowl to pump up the volume

9. Bake cupcakes into ice cream cones

10. Tension rod spray-bottle hanger

11. Stocking vacuum hack for small objects

[via WildAmmo]

Born on December 12, 1915, in a Hoboken, New Jersey, apartment, Francis Albert Sinatra was blue and not breathing when he was yanked out of his mother with forceps. Thought to be dead, the infant was laid on the kitchen counter while the doctor attended to his mother. His grandma picked up the newborn, stuck him under some cold water, and little Frank wailed out his first song.

2. Physical Insecurities

Those forceps left their mark on the left side of Sinatra’s face, in the shape of a scar that ran from the corner of his mouth to his jaw line and a cauliflower ear. As a teenager, he was nicknamed “Scarface.” He also suffered a bad case of adolescent acne, which left his cheeks pitted. Self-conscious about his looks as an adult, Sinatra often applied makeup to hide the scars. Even with that, he hated to be photographed on his left side. The physical insecurities didn’t end there. Sinatra also wore elevator shoes to boost his five-seven stature up a few inches.

3. Bad Boy Image

Sinatra’s bad boy image began with his infamous 1938 mug shot. The charge? At a nightclub, one of his girlfriends attacked his wife-to-be Nancy and later had Frank arrested twice – once for seduction and again for adultery.

4. Manufactured Hype

In the 1940s, Frank – or Frankie, as he was then known – became one of America’s first teen idols. Not to take anything away from his amazing voice and his ability to excite the female throngs, but the bobbysoxer craze he incited (so called because the coed fans wore Catholic school-style bobby socks, rolled down to their ankles) had a little help. Sinatra’s publicist George Evans auditioned girls for how loud they could scream, then paid them five bucks and placed them strategically in the audience to help whip up excitement.

5. The House I Live In

In 1945, Sinatra made a short film, The House I Live In, that spoke out against anti-Semitism and racial intolerance. Ironically, a decade later, its liberal slant got him tagged as a Communist sympathizer during the McCarthy trials. Sinatra never testified, but it was more fodder for his already growing FBI file.

6. FBI File

That FBI file had been started by J. Edgar Hoover a few years later after a radio listener wrote to the Bureau, saying, “The other day I turned on a Frank Sinatra program and I thought how easy it would be for certain-minded manufacturers to create another Hitler here in America through the influence of mass hysteria.” Sinatra had also been investigated by the FBI for reportedly paying doctors $40,000 to declare him unfit to serve in the armed services.

7. Introduction of Concept Album & Box Set

In 1946, Sinatra’s debut release, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, helped introduce both the concept album and the box set. At a time when long-playing records were still novel, Sinatra issued a set of 78 rpm records with eight songs, all with a theme of lost love. It sold for a hefty $2.50 (the equivalent of about $30 today). But the price didn’t prevent it from topping the charts for seven weeks. Two years later, it became one of the first-ever pop music vinyl 10″ LPs. Sinatra would later make classic concept albums like Only The Lonely and In The Wee Small Hours for Capitol Records.

8. Suicide Attempts

Frank’s star fell hard in the early 1950s. He was so low that he even attempted suicide. Walking through Times Square, he saw mobs of girls waiting to get into a concert by new singing sensation Eddie Fisher. Feeling washed up, Sinatra went back to his apartment, put his head on the stove, and turned on the gas. Luckily, his manager found him in time, lying on the floor, sobbing. Sinatra made three other suicide attempts, all of them in the throes of his volatile relationship with actress Ava Gardner.

9. The Summit

With his pals Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, Sinatra led the Vegas clique known as the Rat Pack. The name was coined by actress Lauren Bacall years earlier to describe a Hollywood drinking circle that included her then-husband Humphrey Bogart and Sinatra. The guys in the Rat Pack actually referred to themselves by a different name – The Summit – playing on a 1960 summit meeting in Paris between top world leaders.

10. Signature Drink

James Bond has his martinis, shaken not stirred. And for Ol’ Blue Eyes, the cocktail of choice was a mix of four ice cubes, two fingers of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, and a splash of water. “This is a gentlemen’s drink,” he once said. And if you want to hold the drink like Frank, don’t touch the rim. Cup it in your hand, insulated by a cocktail napkin.

11. New York, New York

Sinatra actually had two hits called “New York, New York.” The first was in 1949, from the film On the Town, and was written by Leonard Bernstein, Adolph Green, and Betty Comden. Thirty years later, Sinatra cut “(Theme From) New York, New York,” by John Kander and Fred Ebb. Originally from Martin Scorsese’s 1977 bomb New York, New York, Sinatra turned it into his signature song and onstage closer. He also angered the lyricist, Ebb, by customizing the words (Sinatra had done this to a few songwriters, most famously Cole Porter), adding the climactic phrase “A-number-one.” In 1993, Sinatra recorded the song again, this time as a duet with Tony Bennett.

On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. If you’re looking for a unique Valentine’s Day date, New York’s Department of Environmental Protection has a suggestion. Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn is offering Valentine’s Day tours. (“Whoever shows up is welcome to a Hershey kiss,” the plant superintendent told The Daily News.) Have you ever taken someone or been taken somewhere creative (or awful)? What’s the strangest place you’ve been on a date?

2. If you had the power to rename one product, what would you choose (and what would you name it?) Maybe there’s a name that doesn’t make sense, or sounds awkward.

3. It’s been a while since we last played What Are You Reading? (And do you recommend it?)

4. I found this faded novelty mug in the back of my closet, which I picked up in 2002 after the Beltway snipers were caught.:

I have moved three times since then, and magically the ridiculous mug has followed me. What’s the oddest novelty cup or plate in your kitchen?

[Have a great weekend! See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts.]

With a career catalog jam-packed with classics like Vertigo, Psycho, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps and dozens of others, Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most celebrated and revered film directors of all time. One of the great delights of Hitchcock is that he himself could have been a film character; incredibly dry, deadpan, dark and larger than life – both physically and in personality. These 11 quotations illustrate why Hitch was such a delight:

1. On how he paces his films:

“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.”

2. On the act of watching television:

“Seeing a murder on television… can help work off one’s antagonisms. And if you haven’t any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.”

3. On the bagpipes:

“I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equaled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig.”

4. On directing actors:

“When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script.’ If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?, ‘ I say, ‘Your salary.’”

5. On the role of television:

“One of television’s great contributions is that it brought murder back into the home, where it belongs.”

6. When asked by an actress whether her left or right profile was better:

“My dear, you’re sitting on your best profile.”

7. Hitchcock was famously terrified of police officers. But he also held onto another phobia:

“And then I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened; they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes, and when you break it, inside there’s that yellow thing, round, without any holes… Brr! Have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I’ve never tasted it.”

8. On his penchant for casting blondes:

“Blondes make the best victims. They’re like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.”

9. His response to a woman who complained to him that the shower scene in Psycho had caused her daughter to stop showering:

“Then, Madam, I suggest you have her dry cleaned.”

10. On his disappointment in a murder scene from the film Dial M For Murder:

“But there wasn’t enough gleam on the scissors, and a murder without gleaming scissors is like asparagus without the hollandaise sauce – tasteless.”

11. Describing a scene that any film fan would want to watch:

“If I were to make another picture in Australia today, I’d have a policeman hop into the pocket of a kangaroo and yell ‘Follow that car!’”

More from mental_floss…

13 Hitchcock Films That Were Never Made
*
How (and Why) Are Black and White Films Colorized?
*
Why Did They Make Godfather III?
*
10 Movie-Inspired Cakes Worth Filming

*
11 Amazing Thank You Notes Sent by Famous People

Can you figure out what the “F” stands for in the following abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms?

Take the Quiz: What the F?

1. Qwerty/s – the name for a keyboard whose letters are in the standard typewriter arrangement (hence, Q, W, E, R, T, Y in the upper left-hand corner of the letter section).

2. Qi/s – an alternate spelling of “chi.” Much like chi is the vital energy circulating through the body, “qi” is vital to your WWF arsenal. I mentioned this word in my previous two-letter words post but it is worth including here.

3. Qat/s – an alternate spelling of “khat,” which is a white-flowering evergreen shrub found in Africa and the Arab Peninsula. Apparently chewing it is kinda fun – it contains cathinone which is a mild stimulant.

4. Qaid/s – an alternate spelling of “caid,” which is a word for a local governor or leader used most commonly in North Africa and the Muslim state of Al-Andalus (also known as “Moorish Spain”) which existed from 711-1492.

5. Qoph/s – an alternate spelling of “koph,” (alternate spellings are totally trending right now) which is the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

6. Faqir/s – an alternate spelling of “fakir,” which is a Muslim ascetic who rejects worldly possessions. It has also become a common Hindu word for “beggar.”

7. Qanat/s – an underground tunnel for irrigation used mostly in hot, arid climates. Surprise! There are alternate spellings for this one, too — including kanat, khanat, kunut, kona, konait, ghanat, and ghundat, none of which are accepted in WWF.

8. Tranq/s – short for “tranquilizer.” If you go chomping on too many qat leaves, you may need to be hit up with a tranq.

9. Sheqel – alternately spelled “shekel” (also accepted). The sheqel is the standard monetary unit of Israel but can also refer to any of several ancient units of weight or currency. And, get this, its plural is “sheqalim,” which you are also permitted to use.

10. Qindar/s – a kind of Albanian money valued at 1/100 of a lek. Also spelled “qintar” which is accepted, too.

11. Mbaqanga – a style of South African music. OK, fellow lovers of WWF, this one is actually not accepted, and I’m not sure why that is. It appears to be generally accepted in most Scrabble circles. And imagine how great life could be if it were. Even if we assume no bonus spaces, the total raw point score for this word would be M(4) + B(4) + A (1) +Q(10) + A(1) + N(2) +G(3) + A(1) = 26.

More from mental_floss…

17 Vowel-Free Words Acceptable in Words With Friends
*
19 Outstanding Words You Should Be Working Into Conversation
*
25 Brand Names People Incorrectly Use as Generic Terms
*
How to Hire … a Hitman? 11 Fascinating Search Suggestions From Google
*
16 Movie Sequels Nobody Has Ever Heard Of

The Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, holds annual escaped animal drills for zookeepers and emergency responders. However, there is no way to hold these drills using rare and possibly dangerous zoo animals. This week, the drill was held to train workers in how to deal with a rhinoceros on the loose, using a rhino made of papier mâché with two men underneath to provide the action. The rhino even attacked a zookeeper and had to be pushed away with sticks. Zoo visitors enjoyed the spectacle, which was recorded on video.

Man Adopts Girlfriend, Other Children Sue

John Goodman of Palm Beach, Florida, is facing a wrongful death lawsuit that could ruin him financially. As his assets are facing possible seizure, he legally adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend, Heather Ann Hutchins. She therefore is entitled to a share of a $300 million trust fund set aside for Goodman’s children. The trust would be untouchable if Goodman loses the lawsuit. The millionaire did not tell the judge in the adoption case about the lawsuit, nor did he tell his ex-wife or two biological children about the adoption. The two teenagers were surprised to hear the news, and are now suing their father to have the adoption of Hutchins set aside.

Police Officer Chased Himself

In a story that was shared with a monthly police magazine, a police officer in Sussex, England, ended up chasing himself around for twenty minutes. A CCTV (closed circuit TV) operator saw a suspicious man on the streets, and called a plainclothes officer for help. The operator gave directions to the areas where the suspicious man was caught on camera, and the officer always seemed to be close, but could not see any evidence of the man. That is, until they realized that the “suspicious character” was actually the plainclothes officer! The date of the misadventure has been lost in the retelling, as all police officers involved were too busy laughing.

Bomb Squad Finds Schrodinger’s Cat Alive

A mysterious box appeared in a parking lot at Erie Community College campus in Amherst, New York, last Friday afternoon. The state police bomb squad responded and took an x-ray of the sealed box, which showed a cat inside! Police turned the cat over to the local SPCA. Gina Browning of the Tonawanda SPCA says the cat is okay.

“The cat was not malnourished, not dehydrated, didn’t need any kind of veterinary care. So, it had a happy ending. What concerns me is the people capable of doing this might be capable of doing something worse,” Browning said.

Just who would put a cat in a taped up box and leave it in a parking lot remains a mystery at this point.

Capt. Camilleri said, “Right now it doesn’t appear there’s really much to follow up on. It didn’t have any identification on the box or anything like that.”

The upside to this is that the cat, named “Truffle,” is fine, healthy and back with her owner. Tracking down the person responsible is unlikely, if not impossible.

If found, the persons responsible could be charged with animal cruelty. Even Schrodinger never wanted to try his famous thought experiment on a real cat.

Toddler in Vending Machine Hands Out Toys

Three-year-old Noah Jeffrey wanted a toy so badly that he climbed into a claw machine at a restaurant in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. You’ve read stories of children in vending machines before, but Noah took the adventure to a new level when he started handing toys out to other children who gathered around the machine! Then his mother saw him. She tried to get Noah to climb back out, but he didn’t want to. She finally told him he would have to come down the chute to get a toy, and she helped him get past a barrier on the way. Noah managed to get out of the machine before the fire brigade arrived to rescue him.

Pennsylvania’s Purple Squirrel

Percy and Connie Emert of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, trap squirrels in their yard to protect their bird feeders from raids. They normally release the squirrels elsewhere, but one squirrel stood out from the rest. Connie Emert saw a purple squirrel several times, but her husband did not believe her. Then it was caught in their squirrel trap Sunday and photographed. They relocated the purple squirrel on Tuesday, but those who saw the pictures are trying to figure out where the color came from. One theory is that it fell into a portable toilet and was covered in chemicals. Another is that it ingested too much bromide from molluscs or some other source. Or it could have been dyed. (Thanks, Brendan!)

Don’t Bring a Crack Pipe to Drug Court

Stanley Ramos was arrested in Manatee County, Florida, on New Year’s Eve for possession of a crack pipe, which a sheriff’s deputy said was in plain view in Ramos’ backpack. Ramos had a hearing Tuesday in connection with the case at the Manatee County Courthouse. As he was passing through the building’s security checkpoint, he was found to be in possession of another crack pipe. Ramos completed his court appearance and was then arrested on a second charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.