News Weird News Compilation

[gmax137]

... C-17 ...

Have you ever been inside one of those? They're huge. They bring one into the Reno Air Races most years as part of the "static display." I thought the C-130 was big until I walked up into the C-17.

 

[Astronuc]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/27/us/fawn-fire-california-charges/index.html

Woman charged with starting California's Fawn Fire while trying to boil water​

(CNN) A woman who was attempting to hike to Canada is facing charges connected with the Fawn Fire, which authorities say she started while trying to boil drinking water, according to a criminal complaint from the Shasta County District Attorney's Office in California.

I heard that the woman walked out of the brush with a lighter.

"We are aware that there are possible additional fires here in our county that she may be linked to as well as other charges in other fires, statewide," Bridgett said at a news conference Friday. "My office will not hesitate to prosecute (any) person who either intentionally or recklessly starts a fire."

 

[berkeman]

What a story. Nobody boils water anymore, we just use filters...

Plus, campfires were probably not allowed by that time in the woods. In most places in Cali you need to get a campfire permit from CalFire for the area you will be in, and into the middle and late summer permits are not issued.

 

[nsaspook]

Have you ever been inside one of those? They're huge. They bring one into the Reno Air Races most years as part of the "static display." I thought the C-130 was big until I walked up into the C-17.

I've only taken a trip on the old C-5 to Diego Garcia once back in the 80's. That was a huge plane too.

 

[berkeman]

I've only taken a trip on the old C-5 to Diego Garcia once back in the 80's.

Did you deplane via parachute?

 

[Astronuc]

What a story. Nobody boils water anymore, we just use filters...

Plus, campfires were probably not allowed by that time in the woods. In most places you need to get a campfire permit from CalFire for the area you will be in, and into the middle and late summer permits are not issued.

I'm not sure she had sufficient equipment to hike to Canada. I'm wondering if she is not all there.
Meanwhile, in Texas, of course,

A teen truck driver in Texas ran over six cyclists on Saturday, sending four of them to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The cyclists riding along a highway in Houston when a black diesel pickup truck intentionally slowed down and then accelerated in front of them to blow exhaust on the cyclists, one of the riders said.

The driver was not arrested.
https://www.insider.com/truck-runs-...zed-after-attempted-blow-smoke-exhaust-2021-9

 

[berkeman]

The driver was not arrested.

The article says not arrested yet. I've been a Medic SAG on many bike rides and races, and we've had to deal with unruly drivers a number of times. Luckily no major injuries or deaths from the incidents so far. At least this kid had the good sense to stay on-scene afterwards to wait for the police to arrive. 16 years old, Lordy.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

John Hinckley Jr was released from any restrictions for shooting President Reagan 40 years ago.

I noticed that he has online music videos.

 

[nsaspook]

Did you deplane via parachute?

No, we landed normally and the nice British man at immigration stamped my passport.

It was still pretty much like this back then.

 

[Keith_McClary]

the nice British man at immigration stamped my passport.

It was still pretty much like this back then.

UN court rules UK has no sovereignty over Chagos islands​

The UK is ignoring this (but somehow still gets a say in appointing the judges).

 

[jack action]

Danish museum wants artist to pay back money after producing blank canvasses

"The work is that I have taken their money,"

 

[pinball1970]

Danish museum wants artist to pay back money after producing blank canvasses

View attachment 289991​

“The museum's reaction has so far been mixed.”

Mixed? Really? They hand over $83,000 and he hands them blank canvases?

I would be thumbing through the contract to the part where it says breech of contract.

 

[256bits]

This is a stunt with tragic consequences.
A man in New York City died early Saturday morning while subway surfing on top of the J-train on the Williamsburg Bridge.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Man+dies+after+falling+while+subway+surfing+in+New+York&efirst=5&filters=tnTID:"MSNOS_2E6D640BD3A2A104FDA2C0166EDFFFB6"+tnVersion:"1a32a604-595f-4534-9de3-cbae71e35785"+Segment:"popularnow.carousel"+tnCol:"5"+tnOrder:"730a94cb-7eef-4822-97b4-c6469c3cd3d9"&form=HPNN01

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Alligator steals 7-year-old angler's fish and pole​

 

[nsaspook]

 

[BillTre]

Alligator steals 7-year-old angler's fish and pole​

This reminds me of a few years ago.
I was on a boat on a lake with a friend who was trolling for fish.
No bites all day, Weather was getting bad. We were going in, he got a hit and was reeling it in until a Bald Eagle flew down and snatched the fish off the line as it got to the surface and flew off with it.

Great No-Fish Story.

 

[Hornbein]

Rich Buckley​

3 days ago (edited)
I've talked to a number of pilots that experience a dream pretty much like this pilot flew. They are on a city street, need to get airborne but the overhead is laced with wires. They are in their takeoff role and looking for a gap in the wires to climb out through. Seems to be a dream metaphor that they are able to then relate to current issues in their daily life. UPDATE I didn’t expect so many responses. I’ve had this dream 4 times, once every 10 rears or more between the dream. I used to carry fear and anxiety at night until I got tired of being afraid. The last time I had the dream, I cycled the engines into afterburner, found a gap and blasted skyward free of the power lines and into the blue. Today, nearly two decades since the last occurrence, I’m a changed person. Fear is not at all the same as before. What I do know is something spiritual changed. I don’t have to have faith in eternal life, I seem to now know.

James Phillips​

3 days ago
I've had that dream. Should I be concerned? lol.

Bender Aviation​

3 days ago
@James Phillips same

imaPangolin​

3 days ago
I have had that dream several times.

moyadapne​

3 days ago
Same. It was a question of breathing in, and away we go. But I don't fly. My father flew Spits in WW2 and he'd often dream of flying backwards, looking over his shoulder.

Tom Crozier​

3 days ago
I used to have that dream all the time, but I’ve stopped flying under wires.

blancolirio
2 days ago
A BIG time recurring dream in my life...very weird.

J​

2 days ago
I had that dream a lot when younger. In that dream I didnt even need an airplane. Weird.

D Medlin​

2 days ago
I have this pilot dream ALL the time. Like a fabric of power lines above me, everywhere.

Tom Crozier​

2 days ago
Regarding the “wires” dream and the update: I’ve known many pilots who’ve had it, as I have. It was very frequent when I was younger and less secure in my career path. Now I’m basically retired with few worries except for my kids. Even though they’re now in their 30’s and well established I’ve heard that’s a worry that will always be there. Anyway, I too remember when the dream stopped. I’d had it so often that one night I realized that it was in fact a dream, and just pulled back and blew right through the wires. One of the most exhilarating imaginary experiences I’ve ever had. Haven’t had it since. I kind of miss it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

This reminds me of a few years ago.
I was on a boat on a lake with a friend who was trolling for fish.
No bites all day, Weather was getting bad. We were going in, he got a hit and was reeling it in until a Bald Eagle flew down and snatched the fish off the line as it got to the surface and flew off with it.

Great No-Fish Story.

He's just lucky the gator went after the fish and not him!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Danish museum wants artist to pay back money after producing blank canvasses

View attachment 289991​

You have to think this has happened a thousand times before and the museums would be experts at managing situations like this.

 

[Astronuc]

If he is innocent, why the silence, then disappearance? Why not call police or sheriff immediately when she 'disappeared'. Instead he drove nearly 2400 miles in her van, then didn't call authorities or her parents when he arrived home without her (he is her fiancé afterall), then remained silent for 10 days and didn't respond to police questions or her families queries but instead reached out to a lawyer, then disappeared. Seems awfully suspect. And he's still only a person of interest?! Some people have been arrested and prosecuted for much less.

This story just gets weirder. Whereas before there was speculation about Laundrie and the homicide of two women near Moab, there is now allegedly evidence that could tie him to the vicinity of the double homicide.

On August 18, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the bodies of two women were found in the La Sal Mountains near Moab, a popular tourist destination outside Arches National Park. The women have been identified as Turner and Schulte. Both had suffered gunshot wounds and had last been seen on Friday, August 13.

https://www.abc4.com/news/local-new...ble-homicide-of-kylen-schulte-crystal-turner/

Laundrie and Petito interacted with Moab police on August 12, and they separated overnight. It is believe the two women were killed sometime on August 14 - 18, perhaps earlier during the period. Brian Laundrie apparently flew home on August 17 (day before two womens' bodies discovered) and returned on August 24. Certainly, there could be a coincidence.

Police did later clarify that the deaths were "not related" but that hasn't stopped people from pointing out Laundrie's connection to each case.

It's not clear when that determination was made, or that assertion has changed.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...-flew-home-days-after-their-deaths/ar-AAOwAso

Allegedly, there is a set of keys that could be linked to Laundrie.

Online dectectives have claimed that a set of keys was found near Turner and Schulte's bodies with a membership card for a rock climbing gym attached.

The keys were reportedly given to Schulte's father who turned them into the police after carrying out his own search of the area.

Putting aside allegations and circumstantial evidence, why the heck is Schulte's father handling potential evidence to a double homicide?!

If Laundrie committed the homicide, and Petito found out, then that could be motive for her homicide.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I wonder if he is gator poop.

He might have left the country long ago. He also might be making use of an empty vacation home located near the reserve. Apparently there are a lot of empty homes this time of year.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My guess is that someone in the Laundrie family, most likely the father, helped Brian leave the area and cover his tracks.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

One expert says that gators in the reserve are not used to seeing humans. So unlike gators in a place like a golf course that do frequently see humans, these are unlikely to attack. Most of the time they run if they see a person.

However, he said the water moccasins are thick and they WILL come after you. Between that and the flooding, there is no way he is alive in the reserve. Either he is dead or he is somewhere else.

 

[BillTre]

A woman, Ruth Hamilton, living in British Columbia was awoken when a 2.8 pound meteorite fell through her roof and ceiling to land on her bed.

There were many videos of the meteorite in the sky.

Ms. Hamilton’s rock was one of two meteorites that hit Golden that night. Researchers about 160 miles east, in Calgary, said they had traveled to the town to find the second one in a field less than a mile away from Ms. Hamilton’s house, after triangulating its location based on photographs and videos that several people around the area had sent in.

NY Times story here.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/16/snakes-california-santa-rose-rattlesnakes

‘I kept finding snakes’: more than 90 rattlesnakes found under California home

 

[Jarvis323]

In-Depth: Scientists warn of a new type of advertising: manipulating your dreams

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.10...dvertising-manipulating-your-dreams?_amp=true

 

[Astronuc]

I wonder if he is gator poop.

Apparently, human remains (or partial remains) were were found near the 24,565-acre Carlton Reserve, where Laundrie’s parents told police they believed he was headed when they reported him missing last month.
https://news.yahoo.com/brian-laundrie-human-remains-found-gabby-petito-203534636.html

"Earlier today, investigators found what appears to be human remains as well as personal items such as a backpack and notebook belonging to Brian Laundrie," Michael McPherson, special agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa Field Office, told reporters. "These items were found in an area that up until recently had been under water. Our evidence response team is on scene using all available forensic resources to process the area. It’s likely the team will be on scene for several days."

“Chris and Roberta Laundrie [parents of Brian Laundrie] went to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park this morning to search for Brian," Bertolino said in a statement. "The FBI and NPPD were informed last night of Brian’s parents’ intentions, and they met Chris and Roberta there this morning. After a brief search of a trail that Brian frequented, some articles belonging to Brian were found. As of now, law enforcement is conducting a more thorough investigation of that area.”

If his personal stuff intact, hopefully he left an explanation of what happened and why. If the remains are those of Brian Laundrie, then it may be a potential suicide following the apparent murder of Gabby Petito.

Edit/update: https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-confirms-human-remains-brian-laundrie-florida-215634780.html

The FBI confirmed Thursday that it had found the remains of Brian Laundrie, the 23-year-old fiancé of Gabby Petito and the only person of interest in her death.

In a statement, the FBI's Denver field office, which has been leading the investigation, said a comparison of dental records confirmed that the human remains found in Carlton Reserve and the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Sarasota County, Fla., on Wednesday were those of Laundrie.

Cause of death is indeterminate. Skeletal remains have been sent to an anthropologist.

Weird update:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/26/us/brian-laundrie-police-errors

(CNN) Investigators in Florida confused Brian Laundrie's mother with her son while they were monitoring the family's home in the days after Laundrie's fiancée, Gabby Petito, was reported missing, a police spokesperson said.

"They are built kind of similarly," North Port Police Department spokesperson Josh Taylor told CNN affiliate WINK on Monday in an exclusive interview. "No case is perfect"

No they are not. Those officers should not be on surveillance.

 

[fresh_42]

Court Rules Pablo Escobar's Cocaine Hippos Are Legally People​

More than 80 hippos in Colombia are the first non-human creatures to be legally considered people by a U.S. court.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pabl...standing-as-people_n_6171cee3e4b010d9330e81c8

Can anybody tell me, why a US court has any relevance to animals in Columbia?

And even more important, why this should not be considered an act of imperialism? Just saying.

However, a U.S. law allows interested persons in Colombia to go to a U.S. federal court to seek the ability to obtain documents and testimony, so the ALDF applied for the hippos’ rights to compel two Ohio wildlife experts who study nonsurgical sterilization to provide testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs.

 

[BillTre]

 

[Borg]

It's not as bad as it seems because the person didn't realize people were looking for them. Still pretty funny though.

Missing hiker ignored calls from rescuers because it was an unknown number​

 

[BillTre]

Looks like a pumpkin:

 

[nsaspook]

Looks like a pumpkin:

View attachment 291479

See it when I'm heading back from the casino.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...bdee96a5a2926!8m2!3d45.0411966!4d-123.5209048

 

[Keith_McClary]

Looks like a pumpkin

Also with canola:

strijdom van der merwe plants two Earth symbols with canola and wheat in south africa​

 

[jack action]

Looks like a pumpkin:

View attachment 291479

Also with canola:
View attachment 291518

strijdom van der merwe plants two Earth symbols with canola and wheat in south africa​

Well if these fall into the "weird news" category, it cannot get any weirder than this one:

 

[kyphysics]

 

[berkeman]

Well if these fall into the "weird news" category, it cannot get any weirder than this one:

A couple hundred cans of green spray paint or one chainsaw can fix that right up...

 

[Astronuc]

Looks like a pumpkin:

View attachment 291479

The 'larch' trees are specifically Western Larch (Larix occidentalis), which turns a golden color in the fall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_larch
https://www.conifers.org/pi/Larix_occidentalis.php

The oldest crossdated sample, presumably based on living-tree material, spans 493 years (International Tree-Ring Data Bank, chronology WA052, limiting dates 1487-1980). An age of 920 years is reported for a ring count from a stump in a clearcut near Cranbrook, BC (Stoltmann 1993). This may be the same tree reported by Flynn and Holder (2001) as having 915 rings.

I don't know when the conifers.org page was created (it was recently updated in August), but the statement, "It is currently one of the most valuable timber-producing species in western North America, where its close-grained, durable wood is used in framing, railway ties, pilings, exterior and interior finishing work, pulp and as firewood. The bark contains Arabino galactan, a water-soluble gum used for offset lithography and in pharmaceuticals, paint and inks (Parish et al. 1996, Parker 1993)," still holds true.

In some areas, more than 70% of western larch as been harvested. It's not clear how much has been replanted.

 

[fresh_42]

A couple hundred cans of green spray paint or one chainsaw can fix that right up...

Discovered 1992 by chance, on 60 x 60 meters. They assumed it had been a "birthday present" at the time. A chain saw removed 40 trees in 1995 - problem solved.

Btw., it is illegal in Germany to use or display Nazi symbols.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-...nghai-are-posing-costco-pretending-l-rcna4162

Influencers in Shanghai are posing at Costco, pretending they're in L.A.​

 

[kyphysics]

Realtor who flew to the Capitol riot on a private jet and said she wouldn't go to jail because of her 'blonde hair' and 'white skin' gets 60 days behind bars​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/realtor-flew-capitol-riot-private-181136423.html

 

[Borg]

I guess she'll be taking a limo to jail.

 

[Astronuc]

Science Publisher Retracts 44 Papers for Being Utter Nonsense

The publisher Springer Nature was forced to retract over 40 papers from its Arabian Journal of Geosciences after realizing they were nothing more than garbled jargon. This is just the latest in a series of shoddy research papers getting past the publisher.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...44-papers-for-being-utter-nonsense/ar-AAQmJbm

The journal is intended for geoscience research; discussion of volcanoes, soils, and rocks are par for the course. But these questionable papers’ topics were further afield, with many discussing sports, air pollution, child medicine, and combinations of the aforesaid.

They read a bit like a college student throwing around big words to cover up a lack of understanding. Though purportedly written by humans, the content of each paper definitely reads as if it were put together by a computer that doesn’t quite grasp speech patterns or grammar. The papers are filled with redundancies and generally lack logic.

 

[BillTre]

An Ecuadorian Navy three masted sailing ship (for training) caught a narco sub (actually a low profile surface boat) powered by three outboard motors, off the coast of Ecuador and Columbia.

The 257-foot-long (78 meter) sailing ship, powered by more than 15,000 square feet (1,393 square meter) of sails hung from three towering masks, was on a training cruise when it spotted the drug-running vessel and made the stop, the Ecuadorian military said.

 

[fresh_42]

Science Publisher Retracts 44 Papers for Being Utter Nonsense

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...44-papers-for-being-utter-nonsense/ar-AAQmJbm

Here is a publisher that came my way today:
https://www.hrpub.org/index.php

They claim

Horizon Research Publishing(HRPUB) is a worldwide open access publisher serving the academic research and scientific communities by launching peer-reviewed journals covering a wide range of academic disciplines.

... but I had an article that definitely wasn't reviewed. Or if it was, then the reviewers couldn't even use WolframAlpha.

 

[Astronuc]

2011, Marshall Islands - Two men from the Pacific nation of Kiribati who were lost at sea for a month have managed not only to survive, but to unravel a 50-year-old family mystery.

Uein Buranibwe, 53, and Temaei Tontaake, 26, made headlines late last month when they washed ashore in the Marshall Islands after 33 days lost at sea.

They were more than 600 kilometres from home. Their global satellite positioning system had run out of batteries after they left their island on what should have been an 80km trip to get gas.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-12/fishermen-unravel-family-mystery-after-month-at-sea/3727492

one of the men discovered that his uncle, feared drowned at sea 50 years earlier, had also wound up on the same atoll and married into the community.

"[The uncle had] set out, got lost and drifted ashore on Namdrik, there were no communications so [it is] easy to see how he would have merged into the community, settled down and had kids."

The uncle has since died, but his story raises hope about others who have disappeared off the horizon.

Taking a long trip on the ocean? Take extra batteries in a water tight container, or know the sun, moon and stars. And probably take extra water or have a water purifier. And consider a solar power system.

 

[Borg]

First there were lotteries in US cities and now this. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be first in line.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/worl...ccination-voucher-tgb-nobilo-intl-hnk-vpx.cnn

 

[jack action]

In the category «We love smart people»:

Tougher boxes? Better packaging? Different shipping partners? Nothing worked. Bikes obviously didn’t have the kind of priority flat-screen TVs have for example...

And that was it. The lightbulb moment. Our co-founder Ties Carlier’s simple idea. Our boxes are about the same size as a really big, expensive, flat-screen television. So we put an image of one on every box. We assumed handlers would care a little more about that. And we were right.

That small tweak had an outsized impact. Overnight our shipping damages dropped by 70-80%.

 

[mfb]

But what about theft rates?

 

[Astronuc]

Vicious rain, dust storms, and snow in the southern city of Aswan last week drove out scorpions as well as snakes, Al-Ahram, a government-run Egyptian newspaper, reports. Three people have died from scorpion stings and 450 people have been injured by the stings thus far, BBC News reports, citing an unnamed health official.

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/14/1055...injured-after-storms-rouse-scorpions-in-egypt

Scorpion stings can be lethal. The Egyptian fat-tailed scorpion, a species found throughout Northern Africa, in particular has been described by one of the most deadly in the world, according to the Saint Louis Zoo.

 

[Hornbein]

A city overrun by angry scorpions.