News Weird News Compilation

[nsaspook]

https://www.boston25news.com/news/l...ai-school-project/FLHKVXSQPRDLZD7TTMWCRNI54I/
Parents of Hingham student sue school district after son disciplined for using AI on school project

HINGHAM, Mass. — The parents of a Hingham High School senior disciplined by school officials for using artificial intelligence on his social studies project are now suing the school district claiming that the boy’s civil rights were violated.

Dale and Jennifer Harris of Hingham claim in their lawsuit that their son, identified only as “RNH” in court paperwork, “will suffer irreparable harm that is imminent” after his teachers disciplined him and another classmate for using AI on their school project.

“He’s been accused of cheating and it wasn’t cheating, there was no rule in the handbook against AI,” said Jennifer Harris, the student’s mother.


The couple is also asking the court to order school officials to change their son’s final grade from a “D” to a “B,” to “cease and desist” from barring him from being inducted into the National Honor Society, and “to cease and desist from characterizing the use of artificial intelligence” by their son as “cheating,” the lawsuit states.

A "D" was generous.

 

[Astronuc]

Artisan cheese seller in a pickle after thieves made off with massive cheddar haul
https://apnews.com/article/cheddar-...s-yard-dairy-e482c4ea63305493797c75eb103221e7

LONDON (AP) — Thieves with a nose for fine cheese have pulled off a massive cheddar ripoff in London.

Neal’s Yard Dairy said a con artist posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer had made off with 22 metric tons (48,488 pounds) of award-winning cheddar worth 300,000 British pounds ($390,000) before the company realized it had been scammed and reported the theft on Monday.

“The high monetary value of these cheeses likely made them a particular target for the thieves,” Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor, wholesaler, and retailer of British artisanal cheese, said in a statement.

Detectives at Scotland Yard and international authorities are searching for the culprits.

Nearly 1,000 wheels of cloth-wrapped cheese from three makers have gone missing: Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar, and Pitchfork cheddar.

The dairy sells a wedge of Hafod cheddar for 12.90 pounds ($16.70) for 270 grams (9.5 ounces).

 

[Astronuc]

Update on the cheddar heist - 'Grate cheese robbery': Man arrested after 24 tons of cheddar totaling $390,000 is stolen in London
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...-tons-cheddar-totaling-390000-stol-rcna178224

Three cheeses from three different suppliers were stolen: Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar and Pitchfork cheddar. Neal's Yard Dairy said that "despite the significant financial blow," it has paid each of its artisan cheesemakers in full for its products.

Tom Calver of Westcombe said in a video on Instagram that "it was a hoax — it was theft, it was fraud." Behind him were rows of empty shelves in the dairy, showcasing how much cheese was taken.

Another cheesemaker, Trethowan Brothers, which supplied the Pitchfork cheddar, said Neal's Yard Dairy “fully (and swiftly) paid” it, despite the theft.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg57yr2dqd2o

 

[nsaspook]

https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/30/r...s-in-car-buttons-are-an-anomaly/?guccounter=1
Rivian’s chief software officer says in-car buttons are ‘an anomaly’

The trend of big touchscreens in cars has left many yearning for the not-so-distant days when most user interactions happened with physical buttons. But Rivian’s chief software officer Wassym Bensaid believes using buttons in a car is an “anomaly.”

“It’s a bug. It’s not a feature,” Bensaid said Wednesday at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. “Ideally, you would want to interact with your car through voice. The problem today is that most voice assistants are just broken.”

 

[Tom.G]

https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/30/r...s-in-car-buttons-are-an-anomaly/?guccounter=1
Rivian’s chief software officer says in-car buttons are ‘an anomaly’

By Voice??
Uh yea, sure.

Just try an emergency maneuver to avoid a sudden hazard in the road by talking about it. By the time you get the second word of instruction out of your mouth you are already hamburger splattered on that obstruction.

Oh, and don't forget the mental processing time to create the word(s). That is processing time better spent in action and in a real emergency, many people are initially speechless; then add the time to inhale so you can speak.

Oh, well; “The best-laid plans of mice and men oft’ go awry.” (famous line from a poem by Robert Burns)

Cheers,Tom

p.s. Thanks for the 'heads-up' about what car Not to buy.

 

[Swamp Thing]

I think he means interacting with the AC, sound system etc and not the actual driving.

 

[Tom.G]

Similiar problem, using mental processing power versus so-called 'muscle memory' and tactile feedback to find the knob or pushbutton.

But the tactile feedback is a necessary ingredient. Unfortunately that is missing on the touch-screen interfaces.

 

[jack action]

https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/30/r...s-in-car-buttons-are-an-anomaly/?guccounter=1
Rivian’s chief software officer says in-car buttons are ‘an anomaly’

This is a weird approach.

If you focus your efforts on using AI for the "simpler task" of a fully self-driving car where you enter the car destination and have nothing else to do until arrival, you have all the time and attention in the world to push buttons. If you are hungry, it is easy to find your new destination - whether looking on your phone or doing a poll with all the passengers - and ask the AI to modify its destination. With the trend right now, modifying your car destination would probably even be with an app on your phone - with buttons or speech-to-text.

If you are still driving, having a "discussion" with AI about its suggestions for nearby restaurants will necessarily take a lot of your attention that you are not putting on the road.

 

[nsaspook]

I think he means interacting with the AC, sound system etc and not the actual driving.

And the car completely freaks out from voice control.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/05/schneider_electric_cybersecurity_incident/
Schneider Electric ransomware crew demands $125k paid in baguettes

Schneider Electric confirmed that it is investigating a breach as a ransomware group Hellcat claims to have stolen more than 40 GB of compressed data — and demanded the French multinational energy management company pay $125,000 in baguettes or else see its sensitive customer and operational information leaked.

And yes, you read that right: payment in baguettes. As in bread.

Like, lay some bread on me man.

 

[Arjan82]

California men use bear costume to pull off bizarre insurance fraud plot​

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/fake-...n-attempt-bizarre-stunt-for-insurance-payouts

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KRCR) — Four Los Angeles men have been charged with fraud after claiming a bear caused damage to their luxury vehicles, but they were actually using a bear costume to fake the attacks for insurance payouts.

 

[nsaspook]

 

[nsaspook]

California men use bear costume to pull off bizarre insurance fraud plot​

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/fake-...n-attempt-bizarre-stunt-for-insurance-payouts

Got suspicious when the bear checked its iPhone.

 

[collinsmark]

While this news story does involve the satirical, online news magazine, "The Onion," the actual news story itself is not satire.

Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction with Sandy Hook families’ backing​

The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.​

​

The purchase turns over Jones’ company, which for decades has peddled in conspiracy and misinformation, to a humor website that plans to relaunch the Infowars platform in January as a parody. Within hours of the sale’s announcement Thursday, Infowars’ website was down and Jones was broadcasting from what he said was a new studio location.​

​

Source (Associated Press): https://apnews.com/article/onion-buys-infowars-alex-jones-6496f198d141c991087dcd937b3588e9

 

[nsaspook]

While this news story does involve the satirical, online news magazine, "The Onion," the actual news story itself is not satire.

Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction with Sandy Hook families’ backing​

View attachment 353504

The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.​

​

The purchase turns over Jones’ company, which for decades has peddled in conspiracy and misinformation, to a humor website that plans to relaunch the Infowars platform in January as a parody. Within hours of the sale’s announcement Thursday, Infowars’ website was down and Jones was broadcasting from what he said was a new studio location.​

​

Source (Associated Press): https://apnews.com/article/onion-buys-infowars-alex-jones-6496f198d141c991087dcd937b3588e9

https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/

Here’s Why I Decided To Buy ‘InfoWars’​

What’s next for InfoWars remains a live issue. The excess funds initially allocated for the purchase will be reinvested into our philanthropic efforts that include business school scholarships for promising cult leaders, a charity that donates elections to at-risk third world dictators, and a new pro bono program pairing orphans with stable factory jobs at no cost to the factories.
...
No price would be too high for such a cornucopia of malleable assets and minds. And yet, in a stroke of good fortune, a formidable special interest group has outwitted the hapless owner of InfoWars (a forgettable man with an already-forgotten name) and forced him to sell it at a steep bargain: less than one trillion dollars.

 

[Arjan82]

Got suspicious when the bear checked its iPhone.

I think they just compared damage and found it to be 'rather mild' for a bear:

With pictures.
https://www.wfsb.com/2024/07/26/black-bear-cub-destroy-car-connecticut-after-getting-trapped-inside/

View attachment 348975View attachment 348976View attachment 348977

 

[berkeman]

First it was Snakes on a Plane, now this!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hamsters-loose-tap-airlines-plane-portugal/

A Portuguese airline was forced to ground one of its passenger planes last week after discovering that 132 hamsters had escaped from cages in the cargo hold and roamed free throughout the aircraft, according to an aviation news website in the country.

A TAP airlines Airbus A321neo that flew from Lisbon to the Azores island of Ponta Delgada on Nov. 13 was taken out of service after its arrival and for four days as ground crew members scoured the plane for the rodents, according to the Aviação TV news website.

Reports by multiple Portuguese news outlets cited anonymous sources as saying baggage handlers had first noticed damaged cages after the plane landed, and then saw the hamsters running amok in the cargo hold.

 

[Borg]

I hate flying economy.

 

[mfb]

Bear drops on hunter, killing him.
Drop bears are real!


... if you shoot bears in trees while standing under them.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.livescience.com/health/...cannabis-kills-2-in-new-york-in-unusual-cases
Bat poop used to grow cannabis kills 2 in New York in unusual cases

Both men, based in Rochester, shared a love of "Mary Jane" and cultivated their own cannabis plants for personal use. They each developed a condition called histoplasmosis after breathing in spores of a harmful fungus known as Histoplasma capsulatum from bat poop, or guano.


The first man, who was 59-years-old, had purchased guano online to use as fertilizer for his cannabis plants. The other man, 64, was intending to fertilize his cannabis plants with guano he'd found in his attic following a "heavy" bat infestation.

The men developed an array of symptoms from their infections, including fever, chronic cough, extensive weight loss, blood poisoning and respiratory failure. Despite being hospitalized and treated with antifungal medication, both men died of their illnesses, according to a report of their cases, published Dec. 4 in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Col. Bat Guano

 

[BillTre]

https://www.livescience.com/health/...cannabis-kills-2-in-new-york-in-unusual-cases
Bat poop used to grow cannabis kills 2 in New York in unusual cases

View attachment 354595
Col. Bat Guano

Excellent movie reference!

 

[nsaspook]

Attack of the killer squirrels.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/carnivorous-feeding-squirrels-documented-california
Carnivorous Squirrels Documented in California
First Evidence of Ground Squirrels Hunting and Eating Voles in Bay Area



This is how the zombie outbreak starts.

For squirrels observed consuming their kills immediately rather than carrying the carcass back to a den, the behavior followed a grimly methodical pattern. In every case, the squirrels “first removed the head of the vole” before pulling meat from the torso. They then “stripped fur from each of the body parts” before devouring the exposed flesh, organs and even cartilage, behavior that was reminiscent of a more seasoned predator.

 

[pinball1970]

Grapes....

https://phys.org/news/2024-12-grapes-math-ordinary-fruit-quantum.html
https://journals.aps.org/prapplied/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.22.064078
I thought it was some sort of xmas spoof.
I suppose electron pears are next?
I wonder if their Eigen dates will be well defined?
These fruits and bad jokes were harvested in the Quantum field (not Filbert's space)

You’re welcome.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I remember when this happened. It was quite the mystery!

That night, Gloria Ramirez was undergoing a rapid heartbeat and a drop in blood pressure. The woman could hardly breathe and was answering questions in incoherent sentences.

...Doctors and nurses went to work on Ramirez right away to try to save her life. They followed procedures as much as possible by injecting her with drugs to try to bring her vital signs to normal. Nothing worked.

When nurses removed the woman’s shirt to apply defibrillator electrodes, they noticed a strange oily sheen on her body. Medical staff also smelled a fruity, garlicky odor coming from her mouth. Nurses then placed a syringe in Ramirez’s arm to obtain a blood sample. Her blood smelled like ammonia and there were manila-colored particles floating in her blood.

...The doctor in charge of the ER that night looked at the blood sample and agreed with the nurses on duty. Something wasn’t right with the patient and it had nothing to do with heart failure.

Suddenly, one of the attending nurses started to faint. Another nurse developed breathing problems. A third nurse passed out, and when she awoke, she was unable to move her arms or legs.

What was going on? A total of six people were unable to treat Ramirez because they kept having strange symptoms that were somehow related to the patient...

https://allthatsinteresting.com/gloria-ramirez

 

[nsaspook]

 

[nsaspook]

Why in the hell would firefighters drive around a train stop gate arm?

 

[berkeman]

Why in the hell would firefighters drive around a train stop gate arm?

Yeah, that can't possibly be allowed in that department. It looks like they got confused by the freight train clearing the crossing, and the crossing arms not going up soon enough (but that's because there was a train coming from the other direction). I'm pretty sure some FFs will lose their jobs over this.

If the train had hit the cab, it probably would have killed all 3 FFs. Close call.

 

[jack action]

Yeah, that can't possibly be allowed in that department. It looks like they got confused by the freight train clearing the crossing, and the crossing arms not going up soon enough (but that's because there was a train coming from the other direction). I'm pretty sure some FFs will lose their jobs over this.

If the train had hit the cab, it probably would have killed all 3 FFs. Close call.

Coincidentally, I just saw this video today:

​

 

[berkeman]

Coincidentally, I just saw this video today:

Crap! But at least for the firetruck they had an unobstructed view of the tracks on their side, and should have seen the train coming.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Coincidentally, I just saw this video today:

​

UGH! That didn't end well.