WigWag

News with a twist

• Lisa Neff and Louis Weisberg, Staff writers
• Jul 13, 2017 Updated Jul 13, 2017

What about the SPF?

Fashion magazines say last year’s trend in the U.K. has washed up on U.S. beaches. Some sunbathers are using Coca-Cola as self-tanner. Is it effective? Apparently, Coke can provide a temporary stain — but it isn’t the real thing. Dr. Joshua Zeichner, a dermatologist at Mount Sinai, told Allure magazine, “I recommend staying away from it. Applying it to the skin may lead to a temporary darkening or staining of the skin, but because sodas are acidic, it may exfoliate dead cells, enhancing the ability of UV light to penetrate into the skin.” So, cola to exfoliate? Maybe.

AI for Alpha kids

IEEE, a professional organization dedicated to advancing technology, recently released results of a survey asking millennial parents of generation Alpha kids — children 7 years old or younger — about artificial intelligence. About two-thirds of the parents would prefer to have AI rather than their kids help them live independently in their golden years. About 48 percent of parents would get a robot pet instead of a real pet if their kid wanted one. And about 40 percent would hire a robo-nanny in place of a real nanny. Of course, a new survey will be required next year, after the release of Mary Poppins Returns.

Love it or list it?

A man who bought a dilapidated house next to his childhood home in Pennsylvania undertook an extensive renovation and discovered the eyesore was a 300-year-old log cabin — one of the oldest homes in the state. After removing layers of exterior, the 71-year-old man found a log home untouched — except by time — since 1704.

Hairy survey

Whether you like men smooth, hairy or not at all, you might find this interesting. MissTravel.com asked more than 4,000 people about their opinions of hirsute men. Sixty-one percent of women said they prefer their men bare, while 58 percent of gay men said they like them bushy. But asked whether they manscape their chest hair, 46 percent of men said yes, while 54 percent said no. “There’s a disconnect between how a woman wants a man to look, and how he actually looks,” said MissTravel.com CEO Brandon Wade. But apparently not so for gay men.

Harvest time

Italian artist Dario Gambarin used his tractor to transform a field near the city of Verona into a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the Group of 20 summit. The AP said the artist creates his giant images with a good eye and tractor skills. Last year, Gambarin created portraits of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. To everything, there is a season.

Sip and slurp

The Collective Brewing Project in Texas is catering to college students — or perhaps nostalgic college grads — with its latest concoction. The Cup O’ Beer is brewed with ramen noodles and, according to the Fort Worth brewery, delivers notes of ginger, lime, lemongrass and a seaweed-cured sea salt. From tap, the beer is served in Styrofoam cups. To go, the beer retails for a not-so-nostalgic price — $7 a bottle.

Another pour

The label of another new craft brew, Amigous Cerveza, shows a frowning Donald Trump wearing a sombrero and a swastika belt buckle and declares the president of the United States belongs “in a mad house, not the White House.” Luis Enrique de la Reguera, chief executive of brewery Casa Cervecera Cru Cru, said the beer has been selling “extremely fast” since it arrived on the market in May. Credit for the IPA goes to Cru Cru, Mexican partner Error de Diciembre and U.S.-based Epic Brewing, in a show of cross-border cooperation.

Blown away

A Florida man accidentally shot himself in the penis after unwittingly sitting on a loaded gun he’d left on the driver’s seat of his vehicle. Pouring salt into the wound, local reports say that because of a prior conviction for cocaine possession, the man may face a criminal charge for possessing the firearm that wrecked his junk.

Woops, wrong car

A 22-year-old Pennsylvania man is facing charges after breaking into a police cruiser. In a Facebook post, the West Warwick Police Department said two officers witnessed the crime. But police said the man was so focused on “the task at hand” that he only realized his mistake after the officers apprehended him.

Vroom, vroom

A Pennsylvania motorcycle lover was buried in the sidecar of his 1990 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail. Family members said 89-year-old Steel City resident Arthur Werner Sr. made his burial plans way ahead of his death from cancer.

Unintended consequences

The audience for MSNBC’s Morning Joe jumped 70 percent the day after Donald Trump sent out a nasty, adolescent tweet ridiculing hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.