Gentle Giant Declared Winner of Alaska's Fat Bear Week

After a week of fierce competition, a gentle giant named Backpack emerged victorious as Fat Bear Week champion, the heftiest bear of Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve. The nonprofit running the longstanding contest announced that the bear, known for his pacifist nature, was the winner Tuesday with more than 100,000 votes, giving him a close win over Bear 910 with just over 50% of the poll. The contest, which is in its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state's southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands. Fat Bear Week was started in 2014 as an interactive way to inform the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies. The event this year featured 16 bears vying for the heavyweight title in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. The public was able to watch the bears on livestream cameras before deciding on their favorite.

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Museum Has a Hilarious Response to a Poor Review

Customer feedback can often make or break a business, but New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts didn’t let its one-star Google review get in the way of success. When a disappointed visitor reported that the museum was the “worst aquarium ever,” staff at the whaling museum couldn’t help but laugh........and later turn the quote into their best-selling merchandise. The New Bedford Whaling Museum isn’t actually an aquarium. It’s a museum full of whale skeletons and historic maritime artifacts, making the 1-star review all the more hilarious. If the reviewer came hoping to check out some live marine life, it’s no wonder they felt the need to leave a bad review. The museum used the amusing misunderstanding as a brilliant, counter-intuitive marketing opportunity.

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Trucker Shocked That $1,000 at the Pump Didn’t Even Fill His Tank

A truck driver recently took to social media to share that he was shocked to find that $1,000 didn’t even fill his tank, thanks to the high cost of diesel. In almost 30 years of truck driving, he says that’s a first. Think about everything you have in your house. At some point, either the finished product, the raw materials, or some component of it was probably on a truck. Your food, gas, toilet paper, clothing, electronics, building materials…….everything has to get from point A to point B, and much of it comes by truck. Unfortunately, when it costs more to move those things, those costs eventually get passed down to consumers. The ongoing military conflict with Iran has disrupted transit in key bottlenecks like the Strait of Hormuz, limiting crude oil transport, and American refineries are operating near peak capacity. What could be worse? With winter approaching, there will be even more competition with home heating oil, which is made from the same refined petroleum. Just be thankful when you pull into the gas station that you’re not driving a big rig.

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Why Roads Have Different Labels

If you’ve ever wondered why some roads are called “streets,” while others are known as “boulevards” or “avenues,” you’re not alone. As it turns out, there’s actually some meaning behind those names, and they may even help you navigate a city. Here are the traditional meanings and origins of road labels.

• • Road: Can be anything that connects two points. The most basic of the naming conventions.
• • Street: A public way that has buildings on both sides of it. They run perpendicular to avenues.
• • Avenue: Also a public way that has buildings or trees on either side of it. They run perpendicular to streets.
• • Boulevard: A wide street with trees and other vegetation on one or both sides and, often, a median to divide traffic. 
• • Drive: A long, winding road that has its route shaped by its environment, like a nearby lake or mountain.
• • Lane: A narrow road often found in a rural area. Basically, the opposite of a boulevard.
• • Court: A road or street that ends in a circle or loop (cul-de-sac).
• • Terrace: A street that follows the top of a slope.
• • Way: A small side street off a road.
• • Place: A road or street that has no throughway, or leads to a dead end.

That may leave you wondering what the difference is between a highway and a freeway. A highway is a major public road, usually connecting multiple cities, while a freeway is a specific type of highway designed for high-speed vehicular traffic with no stoplights or railway crossings.

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