Awesome! | Oh, Canada

• Indian computer coder Suyash Dixit braved perilous terrorist-infested territory and drove six hours in early November to plant his flag and declare himself king in the last remaining unclaimed habitable place on Earth -- Bir Tawil, a border area between Sudan and Egypt. "I am the king! This is no joke, I own a country now! Time to write an email to U.N.," he told The Telegraph. King Dixit has also created a website for his new nation, where he is encouraging people to apply for citizenship. However, Anthony Arend, an international law and politics scholar, scolds that "under international law, only states can assert sovereignty over territory." [The Telegraph, 11/14/2017]

• Montreal police may win the Funsuckers of the Year award after pulling over 38-year-old Taoufik Moalla on Sept. 27 as he drove to buy a bottle of water in Saint-Laurent. Moalla was enthusiastically singing along to C+C Music Factory's song "Gonna Make You Sweat" when a patrol car pulled behind him with lights and sirens blaring. Officers directed him to pull over, and four officers surrounded Moalla's car. "They asked me if I screamed," Moalla told CTV News. "I said, 'No, I was just singing.'" Then he was issued a $149 ticket for screaming in public, a violation of "peace and tranquility." "I understand if they are doing their job, they are allowed to check if everything's OK," said a "very shocked" Moalla, "but I would never expect they would give me a ticket for that." His wife, however, said she wasn't surprised and would have given him a ticket for $300. [CTV News, 10/22/2017]