For Real? Expensive Pigeon, Dead or Alive, & a Stone Head

Racing Pigeon Sold for $1.9 Million

A racing pigeon from Belgium was sold at auction for the record-setting price of $1.9 million last Sunday. The price paid for a pigeon called “New Kim” easily beat the old record set in 2019.

Some kinds of pigeons have the ability to find their way home over long distances. In pigeon racing, these pigeons are timed as they fly back to their homes. The pigeon that flies the fastest wins. Sometimes people bet a lot of money on the races.

A racing pigeon from Belgium called New Kim was sold for $1.9 million last Sunday. In pigeon racing, special pigeons are timed as they fly back to their homes. The pigeon that flies the fastest wins. Above, the start of a pigeon race in the UK.

Fast pigeons are worth a lot of money partly because they win races, and partly because their children are likely to be great racers, too.

Even so, the price for New Kim surprised the auction house. “These record prices are unbelievable, because this is a female,” said Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, who runs the auction house. He explained that males are usually worth more than females because they can produce more chicks.

The $1.9 million paid for the racing pigeon “New Kim” easily beat the old record of $1.4 million, set last year. The racing pigeon above is not New Kim, but it’s being inspected by the man whose pigeon set the previous record.

Still, New Kim is just two years old. Pigeons can have chicks until they are about 10. The new owners are most likely expecting that New Kim will keep having chicks for many years.

By Mistake, French Radio Reports Living People as Dead

Last Monday, the French public radio station RFI (Radio France Internationale) reported that about 100 living people, including Queen Elizabeth II of England, had died. The good news is that the reports weren’t true – they were the result of a computer problem.

A news article about someone who has died is called an “obituary”. Some big news groups write rough early versions of obituaries for famous people while they’re still alive. That allows the news services to quickly update and release the article when the person really dies.

Last Monday, the French public radio station RFI reported that about 100 living people, including Queen Elizabeth II of England (above), had died. The good news is that the reports weren’t true – they were the result of a computer problem.

RFI was changing over to a new computer program to run its website. In the process, they published their pre-written obituaries on the internet by accident.

While many people were shocked, some of the living people were amused to be able to read an article about their own “death”.

RFI was changing over to a new computer program to run its website. In the process, they published their pre-written obituaries on the internet by accident. RFI has corrected the problem and apologized for any worries the mistake caused.

Careful readers could tell that something was wrong because many of the details had been left out – because they hadn’t happened yet.

RFI has corrected the problem and apologized for any worries the mistake caused.

2,300-Year-Old Statue Head Found in Greece Sewer

Just below the busy streets of Athens, Greece last weekend, workers found a stone head that was carved over 2,000 years ago. They were working in the city’s sewer at the time.

Athens is famous for its many statues, but to find something so important in the sewer came as a surprise. The head is believed to be from a bust (a sculpture of just the head and shoulders) of the Greek god Hermes.

Long ago, busts of Hermes were set up on square stone columns as street markers in Athens. Somehow, over time, the head was separated from its column and wound up built into the wall of a sewer.

Archeologists are now studying the head to learn more about when it was made and by whom. The style of the head is reported to be similar to the style of a famous Greek artist.