Weird News

The dog walking community is hurting across the country -- almost everyone with a leash-for-hire is losing customers under the pandemic ... and it's forcing some of them to get adventurous.

Dog walking companies in L.A., NYC, San Francisco and Seattle all tell us the same thing -- business is tanking, down as much as 50% in some places ... and some have shut down altogether.

One of those is The Dog Walking Network in NYC. Manger Megan O'Leary says business dropped from 120 walks per day to just 30 before they suspended services last week ... after 11 successful years.

In Seattle, an early COVID-19 hot zone, Seattle4Dogs founder Mark Little tells TMZ ... he wasn't comfortable putting his workers at risk so he shut down on March 20 after 17 years in the biz.

Likewise, Hang Around Hound in San Fran, had to layoff 6 employees when it shut down on March 16. Owner Theresa Hedgepeth says several of her 400 clients have autoimmune disorders ... so she felt "reckless bringing their dogs to different neighborhoods when we didn't completely understand the risk."

Some dog walkers are taking precautions to ease the minds of owners worried about their own exposure and their dog's. For instance, Antonio Alfaro in L.A. only takes pups to Topanga Canyon for walks.

It's off the beaten path with relatively few people ... so there's less reason for his 120 clients to be concerned.

Wag! -- a bigger, national company -- is practicing social distancing for pickups and drop-offs, plus masks and gloves for all of their walkers. Based on pics Wag! walkers continue to post, they're rolling along just fine.

BTW, dog walking isn't specifically listed as an "essential business" under most state guidelines -- however, many include pet boarding.

And, for any owners concerned their dogs could possibly carry coronavirus if they go out -- the CDC says there's no evidence regular household pets are carriers.

This is taking coronavirus fears to the ultimate extreme -- rather than waiting until it's too late, more and more Americans are writing in-memoriam addresses ... for themselves.

As you know, standard funerals aren't happening anymore under "safer-at-home" guidelines -- and online memorial services are now the norm. Keeper, a company that allows people to create memorial pages, tells TMZ ... it's seen a big increase in people using their "Living Memorial" feature.

Might sound like a very morbid DIY, but Keeper's president, Mandy Benoualid, tells us their site lets users create a detailed chronicle of their lives -- complete with timelines, milestones, photos, and memories from loved ones.

She says the "Living Memorial" feature also lets you designate who'll be your "keeper" when you're gone. Overall, she says their site has seen a 300% increase in traffic.

GatheringUS is another online memorial site, and it's also been very busy. CEO Noha Waibsnaider says one of their newest virtual tools is seeing some love -- the video conference memorial/funeral, which is super elaborate, but tech-friendly.

Mourners log into the chat, and they're walked through the service by an MC of sorts, who mutes their mics and then tells them when it's their turn to speak. There's even a "reception" afterward, and they break guests up into "tables" -- separate video chats, basically.

GatheringUS also has memorial pages people can set up, but it sounds like their digital goodbye parties are seeing more action than online funerals.

That's a good thing.

Pinterest users stuck at home in coronavirus quarantine have one burning question on their minds ... how in the hell are we supposed to clean our bathroom sinks?!?

Seriously ... the good folks over at Pinterest tell us website users are searching for all sorts of things, but there's been a huge spike in searches for sink cleaning tips.

Pinterest says searches for "how to clean a bathroom sink" are up a whopping 3,404% during the coronavirus pandemic. Kinda makes sense though ... folks who have relied on housekeepers, finally have to fend for themselves.

It's almost like Darwinism.

Pinterest tells us they're also seeing spikes in searches for other topics related to self-care and DIY. Check out these search engine doozies:

• "Indoor beekeeping" is up 4,087%
• "How to grow spinach from scraps" is up 1,043%
• "Yeastless bread recipes" are up 4,400%
• "Garden obstacle course kids" is up 1,850%
• "Good sleep tips" are up 7,580%
• "Calm during chaos quotes" are up 6,299%

Oh, and we'll leave you with this ... searches for Chrissy Teigen bread recipes have also surged an incredible 3,790%.

What would we do without Pinterest?!?

If you thought "Three Billy Goats Gruff" was an enchanting fairy tale, you ain't seen nothing yet ... a small community in Wales has got that beat by the dozens.

Once upon a time, a virus took over the world and forced everyone inside for a long while. The city of Llandudno in the British land of Wales was no exception to the rule, and not a soul wandered its streets for weeks ... leaving the town barren and in relative silence.

The local mountain goat gang caught wind of the abandonment, and decided to try their hand at taking over the joint ... slowly but surely flocking and having their run of the place, without a human in sight to stop them.

The more goats that joined the herd, the more they were left to do their own bidding, and eventually ... the entire town was inundated with horns and lots of baaahhs.

The local townsfolk couldn't do a thing but watch intently from indoors. "Will we ever go outside again?" wondered Papa. "Doubtful," replied Mama. "The 'rona's got our goat for now."

The end ... or is it???

Quarantine and chill has video game connoisseurs going nuts, and the console that's scratching their itch is the Nintendo Switch ... something you'll have to pay big bucks for nowadays.

It's true ... Nintendo Switches are the go-to video game carrier right now during the outbreak, and it seems like folks who figured that out too late are now having to pony up and pay a premium price if they wanna get their hands on one. We're talking $200-$300 markups, maybe more.

We've spoken to big box and electronic retailers like Best Buy and Target out here in the L.A. area, as well as some locations in NYC ... they all tell us the same thing -- they're completely out of Switches. No locations within 250 miles of L.A. are shipping them either.

That's not to say you can't still get a hold of one -- we've heard of some lucky gamers in L.A. snagging one off of GameStop about a week ago out of sheer luck ... it just got delivered this weekend. GameStop's site says they're out and on backorder 'til April 30, but we know one person who recently checked and found they had a few in stock online for a brief time, and they jumped on it at the regular $299 price, too. That's a steal these days.

Fact is ... if you head on over to Amazon right now, you'll see they still have them available for purchase. You'll just have to pay upwards of $400 to $500 or more to get one, which is overpriced ... but also how the market works. Supply and demand, baby!

While tons of people who have a Nintendo Switch right now are resorting to classic Mario games -- like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc. -- and playing online with their friends ... the true hot ticket Switch item at the moment in Animal Crossing, which just came out with a new edition, "New Horizons," this past week to incredibly high fanfare.

We've heard of lines out the door -- even with quarantine regulations and social distancing in place -- over the past few days at places like Walmart, Best Buy and others, so people could pick up their pre-ordered copy. It's a simulation-type video game ... escapism at its finest.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is moving further into the good graces of Americans looking for guidance amid the coronavirus pandemic ... his mug is now on a super-popular donut.

Here's the deal ... a bakery in upstate New York is selling new donuts with Dr. Fauci's face on them, and the sweet treats are flying off the shelves!!!

Donuts Delite in Rochester started selling the donuts with Dr. Fauci's face earlier this week, and the bakery says they've already sold hundreds of 'em.

Dr. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert who has become a fixture in daily TV briefings on the virus, is gonna like the delivery options too ... because the bakery is offering curbside pickup, takeout and contact-less delivery.

The Dr. Fauci donut is a plain donut with frosting and if you want, you can it get it with filling. His face is printed on wafer-thin edible paper and placed upon a layer of buttercream frosting. Yum!!!

Dr. Fauci's not only helping save lives with his expertise, he's becoming a rising star in pop culture ... and he just did a fascinating Q&A with Steph Curry, which drew rave reviews from Barack Obama.

Quick, someone get a dozen Dr. Fauci donuts to our junk-food eatin' President!!!

Maybe these will save the economy!!!

Coronavirus isn't stopping people from getting their party on -- they're just doing it in front of computer screens at home now. Welcome to 2020.

Due to multiple state-wide stay-at-home orders, the online event planning biz is seeing a massive spike in engagement for all sorts of get-togethers ... some more adult-friendly than others.

Evite made its name peddling online invitations, but has since become a go-to destination for online events. The company says it's seen a 1,130% increase in events tagged "virtual party" in the last year ... but it believes the lion's share of the boost has come in the last month.

We're told their biggest categories of online get-togethers of late include birthdays, cocktail parties and happy hours -- with average group sizes between 15 to 20.

Paperless Post -- another event planning company -- says in the past 12 days, virtual party events have jumped to 48% of their total biz. It used to be less than 1% ... so that's a clear quarantine-related shift.

As a result, PP's shifted to offer way more online invitation options -- for kids' birthday parties, game nights, book clubs, dance parties, brunch ... all the party possibilities.

Pretty amazing how quickly society adjusted. We've heard of workout groups, baby showers and even charity galas ... all moving to the online realm.

As you'd expect, in-person event planning is down, but not dead. We're told traditional invites for big stuff, mostly weddings, are still ordered -- but by and large event planners are marketing for online biz now.

Evolve or die.

Two airline pilots in Southeast Asia abandoned airship after hearing they had potential coronavirus-infected passengers aboard -- and their escape is bonkers.

The video, shot Friday, shows the AirAsia pilots -- moments after they landed in New Dehli, India -- popping out of the cockpit window and getting down to the tarmac that way ... rather than go through the cabin with the rest of the crew and passengers. The reason for their hasty, and awkward, retreat -- there was a rumor they had a couple sneezy travelers.

Check it out ... one pilot opens up a hatch and slithers through, safely making his way onto the airstairs before helping his buddy out. They were acting pretty caj about it, but c'mon ... this ain't normal.

Apparently, word started circulating mid-flight about suspected cases of COVID-19 in the first row -- so it looks like the pilots didn't wanna chance being anywhere near those seats. As it turns out, nobody was actually infected -- AirAsia says the passengers were screened and tested negative. The plane was fumigated and cleansed too.

Still though ... better safe than sorry.

Mike Huckabee has a solution for the toilet paper shortage being experienced across the country -- wipe up with Mother Nature's own stockpile ... straight from the cornfield!

The former Arkansas governor tweeted out the bizarre advice, saying people should simply turn to the crafty crop for their bathroom needs. He wrote, "Those of us from rural south know how to handle toilet paper shortage."

MH continued, "Eat more corn on the cob! The corn isn't important, but the cobs are free and work great!  (Just don't flush them!) You're welcome!" Now, Mike's no farmer ... and isn't said to have grown up on one either. So, proceed with the homemade toiler paper recommendation at your own risk -- hard to tell if there's any truth or science behind it.

We should also say for those not totally up to speed on their produce terms here, Gov. Huckabee's not talking about using the husk (the outer leafy coating covering the corn itself) ... he's referring to what lies beneath. The cob is what the corn kernels grow on ... the so-called "pole," if you will, that's left behind when an ear of corn is shaved down.

Coronavirus is the mother of invention -- just ask the exotic dancers at Atlanta's Magic City, who've found a way to stay on the pole through the pandemic.

The world-famous strip joint closed its doors last week -- like most strip clubs in the ATL -- but Magic City's keeping its strippers employed through a Livestream. On Friday, the club went live with a deal regular customers have gotta love.

For $20, online patrons get 24-hour access to watch strippers do their thing onstage. Once you're virtually in, you can switch between each dancer who's on the clock. As the club reminded its nearly 100k Instagram followers ... "Who Checkin In For DayShift Action 👀 🤑"

Not exactly the same as "Gentlemen, coming to the stage ... " but these are weird times. We're all adjusting.

Btw, $20 is the usual cover charge just to get inside the club. You'd end up dropping way more in real life on lap dances and -- for you ballers -- champagne room dances.

If you've got the time -- and we know ya do -- they've got dancers who still gotta get through school. Just sayin' ...

America and junk food are getting back together after years apart ... and it only took a global pandemic to kick start the reunion.

According to a new Bloomberg report, a massive and noticeable trend is starting to emerge in the buying pattern of panicked U.S.-based shoppers these past few weeks ... who've been flocking to their local grocery stores and grabbing the essentials off the shelves en masse.

Long story short ... the country's giving up kale, and they're going back to Oreos. In other words, keeping up with the health kick is over, people. We're going back to what we know.

There's a number of possible reasons for this outlined in the report, but the biggest seems to be basic shelf life and expiration dates. A lot of the junk food shoppers are pivoting to is simply going to last longer than pretty much any of super/health foods they've gravitated towards of late. Plus, a lot of the old-school snacks are sold in bulk, and are easier to grab and go in these scary times. Another explanation ... we're creatures of habit.

The numbers are there to back up the theory too -- sales for companies like General Mills, Tyson Foods, Campbell Soup, Kraft and Heinz are going through the roof of late. The company behind Spam is also blowing up with a 37% spike, and Oreo maker Mondelez Int'l is also peaking.