WiGWAG: Hitler’s telephone, space poop, and more

Hitler calling

The telephone used by Adolf Hitler to issue most of his commands during the last two years of WWII fetched $243,000 in a recent auction. Recovered from the Fuhrerbunker in 1945, it’s been stowed away in an English country house ever since. The identity of the new owner was not revealed, but we’re wondering if it will become part of the White House tour.

Space Evacuation

NASA recently recognized five people for their creative ideas on how to defecate in a spacesuit. As part of the “Space Poop Challenge,” a project launched on the HeroX crowdsourcing website, nearly 20,000 people submitted more than 5,000 ideas, competing for a total of $30,000 in prizes.

Then pay up

After dismissing angry protesters who attended one of his town hall meetings as “bused-in” flacks on the payroll of political groups, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, was besieged by invoices from constituents demanding to be compensated for their time at the event.

Super mensch

In a tweet, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke accused actor Chris Evans of hating “the women of his people” for dating a Jewish woman, Jenny Slate, and a black woman, Moonlight star Naomi Harris. Evans tweeted back, “I don’t hate them. That’s YOUR method. I love. Try it. It’s stronger than hate. …I promise it’s in you under the anger and fear.”

Too bad

The Library of Congress removed from its online store a poster commemorating the inauguration of Donald Trump because of a spelling error in a Trump quote. The quote read, “No dream is too big, no challenge is to great. Nothing we want for the future is beyond our reach.” The library apologized for the error, noticed by Twitter users, who also had fun with the U.S. Education Department misspelling the name of W.E.B. DuBois — and then mistyping the name again in an apologetic tweet.

Endless Feud

It’s a concept made in heaven for gay men of a certain age: the FX series Feud: Bette and Joan, which is based on the legendary feud between movie stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The two divas battled the Hollywood studios and each other from the 1930s to the 1950s. Jessica Lange portrays Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon takes on Bette Davis. The brainchild of Ryan Murphy (Glee), the series premieres March 5.

From cellblock to catwalk

Jeremy Meeks’ handsome face soared to fame after his 2014 mug shot inspired a meme called “Hot Mugshot Guy.” White Cross Management signed him to a modeling contract while he was still behind bars. Now sprung, he recently strutted the catwalk as a Philipp Plein model for New York Fashion Week.

Here comes the sun?

Two Republican lawmakers scrapped a bill to end daylight saving time in Wisconsin after a backlash on social media. Now, they’ve seen the light: They want to push the clock forward an hour permanently. The sunny duo is Reps. Samantha Kerkman and Michael Schraa.

Hold tight

The Air Intelligence Unit caught a man arriving in Singapore with 12 gold bars weighing about 1.2 kg stashed up his rectum. A metal detector discovered the inner riches. Imagine how uncomfortable his flight must have been.

Thumbs down

The humble thimble is out. Hasbro Inc. announced in mid-February that participants online voted to drop the thimble from new versions of Monopoly. The thimble has been included in the “get rich” game since the Depression era. Hasbro said it would announce in March the replacement piece — options include a monster truck and a flip-flop sandal.

Little ‘Tom Brady’

Zoo Atlanta and Roger Williams Carousel Village made a novel Super Bowl bet. The losing side would name a baby zoo animal after the winning team’s quarterback. Now Zoo Atlanta has a cockroach named for New England Patriots QB Tom Brady.

Trump’s Sunshine State travel tab

WiG’s Florida correspondent knows more than a few Sunshine State residents under the mistaken belief it isn’t costing them a dime to pay for Donald Trump’s occupation of the White House. Trump’s repeat travels to his South Florida estate — at least two in the month of February — are generating expenses for Palm Beach County — bigly. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department estimated just the overtime cost for Trump’s visits at about $1.5 million. The local police and fire departments also reported overtime expenses.