Federal agents discovered a dumpster filled with almost 250 working rifles and shotguns in Oklahoma, and allege that a man was given 2 free shotguns to hang on his wall

Almost 250 guns ended up in a dumpster outside an Oklahoma City gun store.

Federal agents are looking into whether the owner properly disposed of the guns, which he said were defective.

A man said a teen employee gave him two guns from the dumpster for free, per court documents.

Federal agents are trying to figure out why an Oklahoma gun store owner threw almost 250 guns in a dumpster, and why a man was allegedly allowed to keep two of them as a memento.

According to court filings first reported by CourtWatch, on January 19, 2023, an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, sanitation worker stumbled upon a dumpster with 236 rifles and 12 shotguns in it. The shocking finding led him to call authorities, who found many of the guns were functional, the filings stated.

Investigators wrote that in late 2022, the owner of the store, International Firearm Corporation, Anthony Mussatto, had asked agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms how to destroy the weapons, citing a manufacturer's defect.

Mussatto was told in the fall by the ATF to slice the faulty guns in three different areas, according to a January 26 search warrant.

Several months later, on same day the agency was contacted by the sanitation worker, ATF agents visited the dumpster and found functional guns, "despite being partially cut," according to the warrant.

The agents then encountered two men near the store who told them that they had seen the dumpster loaded with guns on separate occasions, months before the January incident.

Mike Keenum, one of the men near the store, told agents that a teen employee had been cutting the weapons outside of the store multiple days a week, when he approached the employee and said he was interested in owning the guns.

"Mr. Keenum told the man that he did not intend to shoot the guns, but rather wanted to hang the firearms on his wall," an ATF agent said in the warrant. "The male employee permitted Mr. Keenum to take two uncut firearms and gave Mr. Keenum two magazines, one for each firearm."

Per the warrant, authorities are seeking to search Mussatto's homes and other businesses to see whether the two guns given away were documented. Agents are also looking into whether Mussatto followed the gun disposal laws required for federal firearm licensees, and whether he lied to investigators in 2022.

Mussatto did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

The man who got the free dumpster guns, under the table, said that they were in working condition.

"Mr. Keenum told SA Moore it was clear between him and the employee that the firearms he was taking had not yet been cut by the man," agents said in the filing.

Now, agents are looking into whether Mussatto improperly disposed of the weapons and whether his staff provided a man two shotguns for free, potentially allowing him to skip a background check, an ATF agent said in a filing.

https://www.insider.com/feds-discovered ... oma-2023-2

Fucking feds and snitches, instead of quietly and hurriedly grabbing everything someone decided to REPORT it. I want to discover such dumpster myself.

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -6)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

[ozswede]

Pork Pie Roundabout ‘Should Have Name Changed,’ Say Vegan Activists

Vegan activists are demanding the famous ‘Pork Pie Roundabout’ has its name changed to aid ‘preventing animal cruelty’.

According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), plant-based eaters have written to the mayor of Leicester to request that the roundabout be renamed ‘Vegan Pie Roundabout,’ which would encourage the public to ‘make healthier food choices’ and ‘prevent animal suffering’.

The site says: “As the word ‘vegan’ was coined in Leicester by Donald Watson in 1944, changing the name of this busy roundabout would also be a great way to celebrate the city’s vegan and pie-loving heritage.



Kate Werner, a campaigns manager for the organisation, sent a letter to the mayor about the name of the locally-famous roundabout.

“As recent reports revealed that Leicestershire has some of the highest obesity rates in the UK, there’s never been a better time to stop going around in circles and take a bite out of Leicester’s dangerous obesity crisis.

“Eating meat, including pies made from pigs, is particularly linked to colon cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lymphoma, and stomach cancer.

“Animal-derived foods contain many substances that can directly increase the risk of cancer, such as haem, nitrates, nitrites, heterocyclic amines, and polycyclic amines.

“Vegans are less likely than meat-eaters to suffer from heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

“Plant pies are the future, Leicester!”



The roundabout actually got its name from a famous library building in the city, which resembles a pork pie when looked down on from above.

Ms Werner added: 'PETA would be happy to offer a bountiful supply of delicious vegan pies to the local community to celebrate the name change.'

However, people in Leicester were unimpressed with the proposition and was instead met with anger and bemusement by residents.

Simon Chambers said: 'Are you having a laugh? It's nothing to do with an actual pork pie. Leave our city's history alone please.'

Carol Lennon commented: 'Even if you called it Radish Roundabout literally everyone would call it pork pie island, so what's the point? Some things are best left alone.'

According to the BBC, the Mayor of Leicester replied and, unfortunately for PETA, the roundabout will not be changing its name at this moment in time.

In response to the request, he said: “It’s a funny and quite clever way of drawing attention to themselves and their cause – but there is no way we could change the name people have given to the library and the roundabout next to it.

“It has been known locally as the Pork Pie Library since it was built in the 1930s, thanks to its distinctive circular shape. Any talk of changing its name is just pie in the sky.”

[Fatima99]

Teen wins £30m on first ever lottery ticket she bought to mark 18th birthday



A teenager has set a new record after winning nearly £30million on the lottery, despite it being the first ticket she's ever bought.

Aged 18, Juliette Lamour from Canada bagged a whopping CA$48m (£29.7m) on Friday.

This means Juliette is currently the youngest player to have ever won a jackpot that high.

READ MORE: Teen's £182million lottery dream crushed after boyfriend already 'spent jackpot'

While she may not be the youngest winner, a prize this high is unheard of for an 18-year-old.

According to Juliette, her buying the ticket was a pure coincidence.

Speaking to Global News, she said her grandfather suggested she play the lottery as a way of marking her 18th birthday.

“I just turned 18 and my grandfather suggested I buy a lottery ticket for fun,” she said.

“When I went to the store, I wasn’t sure what to ask for because I had never bought a ticket before, so I called my dad who told me to buy a LOTTO 6-49 Quick Pick.

“I still can’t believe I hit the Gold Ball jackpot on my very first lottery ticket!”

Juliette had actually forgotten that she bought the ticket.

Her work colleagues were discussing the recent win, with the local news reporting that the winning ticket had been sold in Sault Ste Marie, where Juliette lives.

Juliette checked her app and couldn’t believe her luck.

She said: “My colleague fell to his knees in disbelief. He was yelling, in fact, everyone was yelling that I won $48 million!”

When opening to check, a winning jingle started playing, with a message displaying “Big Winner”.

“While there have been other 18-year-old lottery winners across Canada in recent years, no one has won as much as Juliette,” the lottery company said.

Juliette said she plans to invest her winnings back into her education. She dreams to one day be a doctor and give back to her community.

[PennySerenade]

Rare meteorite found in Antarctica wows scientists with its size



An international team of researchers have discovered five new meteorites in Antarctica, including one that is among the largest ever found on the icy continent.

The unassuming black rock is about the size of a cantaloupe but weighs a whopping 8 kilograms (around 17 pounds), owing to its high mineral density. Though the size of a meteorite doesn’t necessarily determine its scientific value, University of Chicago research scientist Maria Valdes said the discovery is “rare, and really exciting.”

Antarctica is a veritable gold mine for meteorites — approximately 45,000 space rocks have been found on the continent’s icy surface in the past century. The 8 kg meteorite is one of around 100 that size or larger found in Antarctica, according to Valdes, who helped lead the expedition alongside scientists from Belgium and Switzerland.

In an interview with NPR, Valdes revealed that the massive meteorite almost escaped detection.

“We had found four meteorites, about 150 grams or less up until that point. And we were about to go home, pack up our tents and drive the snowmobiles back to base,” she said. “It was literally the last hour of the last day. And we stumbled upon this huge meteorite just sitting by itself in the middle of a blue ice field.”

“We got so excited. And we were like, what amazing luck,” Valdes added.

All five meteorites retrieved by the team are being analyzed at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, but sediment that may contain tiny micrometeorites has been divided among the four researchers for their own study.

Valdes told CNN that her focus is cosmochemistry, and she plans on using strong acids to dissolve her specimens to isolate various elements.

“Then I can start to think about the origin of this rock, how it evolved over time, what kind of parent body it came from, and where in the solar system that parent body formed,” Valdes said. “Those are the big questions that we try to address.”

A press release from the Field Museum regarding the find says that Antarctica is “one of the best places in the world to hunt for meteorites” because of its ideal landscape. The “black space rocks stand out clearly against snowy fields,” and Antarctica’s dry climate limits any weathering the meteorites experience.



Spotting meteorites is a surprisingly low-tech endeavour. Though the researchers were led to specific sites using state-of-the-art satellite imagery, Valdes told NPR that the researchers would simply drive slowly across the ice fields on snowmobiles, searching for black rocks against the white expanse.

The Field Museum press release notes that “even when meteorites sink into the ice, the glaciers’ churning motion against the rock below helps re-expose the meteorites near the surface.”

Once the researchers find a rock that looks like a meteorite, they look for a few signs to see if it’s the real deal.

“There are a lot of terrestrial rocks that do look like meteorites. We call these meteor wrongs,” Valdes told NPR.

“But what we’re looking for is a telltale fusion crust in the first place. This is a glassy crust that develops all over the meteorite as it enters our atmosphere at high speeds and melts slightly. And then secondarily, we can also see if it’s very heavy for its size,” she said.

Valdes says she’s eager to learn what the meteorites can reveal about their origin, and ultimately our own.

“Studying meteorites helps us better understand our place in the universe. The bigger a sample size we have of meteorites, the better we can understand our Solar System, and the better we can understand ourselves.”

[Misstee]

14 dancing dogs form conga line for Guinness World Record
By Ben Hooper



Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A German dog trainer earned a Guinness World Record with his team of talented canines when 14 performing pooches formed a conga line.

Wolfgang Lauenburger earned the record for most dogs in a conga line when his 14 trained canines arranged themselves into the party dance formation under his instruction.

Lauenbruger, an accomplished trainer with multiple Guinness World Records, took the record from his own daughter, Alexa Lauenbruger, who managed to get 9 dogs into a conga line in February 2022.

The dogs who formed the conga line for Lauenbruger's record attempt are named Emma, Filou, Fin, Simon, Susy, Maya, Ulf, Speck, Bibi, Katie, Jennifer, Elvis, Charly and Cathy.

[goldie0608]

Bioengineers Devise a Way of Growing Skin in the Shape of Hands That Can be Pulled on ‘Like a Glove’



If you’ve ever tried gift-wrapping an odd-shaped present like a teddy bear, you can appreciate the challenge that surgeons face when grafting artificial skin onto an injured body part.

Now, bioengineers have devised a way of growing skin in the shape of hands to make it easier for surgeons in the future to graft the personalized skin onto burn victims.

Currently, engineered skin comes in flat pieces which, like wrapping paper, can be difficult and time-consuming to stitch together around an irregularly shaped body part, such as a hand or foot.

Columbia University researchers say engineering skin cells into complex, three-dimensional shapes in experiments using mice is a groundbreaking first step.

“Three-dimensional skin constructs that can be transplanted as ‘biological clothing’ would have many advantages,” said lead developer Hasan Erbil Abaci, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology at the university’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “They would dramatically minimize the need for suturing, reduce the length of surgeries, and improve aesthetic outcomes.”

The study, published last week in Science Advances, also revealed that the continuous 3D grafts have better mechanical and functional properties than conventional, pieced-together grafts.

“We hypothesized that a 3D fully-enclosed shape would more closely mimic our natural skin and be stronger mechanically, and that’s what we found,” Abaci says. “(It) significantly improves the composition, structure, and strength of the graft.”

“Another compelling use would be face transplants, where our wearable skin would be integrated with underlying tissues like cartilage, muscle, and bone, offering patients a personalized alternative,” Abaci says.

The process of creating the new skin grafts begins with a 3D laser scan of the target structure, such as a human hand. Next, a hollow, permeable model of the hand is crafted using computer-aided design and 3D printing.

The exterior of the model is then seeded with skin fibroblasts, which generate the skin’s connective tissue, and collagen (a structural protein). Finally, the outside of the mold is coated with a mixture of keratinocytes (cells that comprise most of the outer skin layer, or epidermis) and the inside is perfused with growth media, which support and nourish the developing graft.

Except for the 3D scaffold, the researchers employed the same procedures used to make flat engineered skin and the entire process took the same time, about three weeks.

In a first test of the 3D engineered skin, constructs composed of human skin cells were successfully grafted onto the hind limbs of mice.

“It was like putting a pair of shorts on the mice,” Abaci says, “The entire surgery took about 10 minutes.”

Four weeks later, the grafts had completely integrated with the surrounding mouse skin, and the mice reacquired full functions of the limb.

Mouse skin heals differently than human skin, so clinical trials on humans are likely years away.

The researchers say their 3D grafts are the first major re-design of engineered skin grafts since they were first introduced in the early 1980s.

“Engineered skin started with only two cell types, but human skin has around 50 types of cells. Most research had focused on mimicking the cellular components of human skin,” Abaci said. “As a bioengineer, it’s always bothered me that the skin’s geometry was overlooked and grafts have been made with open boundaries, or edges. We know from bioengineering other organs that geometry is an important factor that affects function.”

Abaci and his team realized they could make more lifelike grafts when 3D printers became available and could create three-dimensional scaffolds necessary for making the engineered skin.

In the future, Abaci envisions grafts could be custom-made from a patient’s own cells. With only a 4X4 mm skin sample, enough cells can be cultured and multiplied to create enough skin to cover a human hand.

[lush]

Blind Computer Scientist Creates AI-Powered Suitcase For the Visually Impaired
January 30th, 2023*

AI Suitcase is a smart suitcase developed by a blind computer scientist to aid the visually impaired in navigating their surrounding more efficiently without the aid of white canes or guide dogs.

65-year-old Chieko Asakawa has been completely blind since she was only 14, following a tragic accident. A computer scientist and also the director of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, also known as Miraikan, in Tokyo she is living proof that the visually impaired can overcome their disability to achieve great things. But as someone who has long struggled with navigating unfamiliar and crowded places, Asakawa came up with an idea to help the visually impaired get around easier. In 2017, her own experiences inspired her to come up with the idea of a smart suitcase that could guide its user with the help of built-in sensors and cameras. Six years later, the AI Suitcase is almost ready for its commercial debut.



“AI guides me as it replaces the sight I have lost. It is a dream to be able to go out freely by myself,” Asakawa said during a 2020 interview when her invention first made international news headlines.

After the user inputs their destination on their smartphone, the AI Suitcase, which is small enough to be brought onboard flights as carry-on luggage, can plan an optimal route to that point. The smart suitcase then relies on a suite of sensors and a precise GPS system that can determine its position within a 10-centimeter margin of error to assess its surroundings and avoid bumping into other people and obstacles on its route.



The AI Suitcase offers feedback to the user both through a built-in conversational component, but also through haptic sensors in the handle. Although earlier prototypes were equipped with small wheels best suited for indoor use, the latest iteration of the smart suitcase features large, sturdy wheels and a powerful motor that can tackle outdoor environments as well.

The ingenious device is currently available for testing by any visually impaired person in front of the Miraikan Museum until February 6th. Asakawa and the companies that financed her work over the last few years (IBM, Omron, ALPS Alpine, etc.) want to make the AI Suitcase available for hire at airports, shopping centers, and train stations in the near future.

In the past, we’ve seen some other innovative technology designed for the visually impaired, like these AI-powered walking shoes.

‘Unbelievable’ gold deposits discovered in Bosnia


Miloš Bošnjaković, general manager of Lykos Balkan Metals, said gold was discovered along the river Pliva near Mrkonjic Grad. He told Nezavisne Novine that there was “an unbelievable amount” of gold in the soil. [Shutterstock/optimarc]

Geological works in north-western Bosnia-Herzegovina have unearthed highly concentrated gold deposits, which will now be tested for possible exploitation, the company doing the works said on Thursday.

Miloš Bošnjaković, general manager of Lykos Balkan Metals, said gold was discovered along the river Pliva near Mrkonjic Grad. He told Nezavisne Novine that there was “an unbelievable amount” of gold in the soil.

“High amounts of gold were confirmed at three locations, going up to the unbelievable 27.5 grammes per tonne, in a continuous line of 60 metres,” he told Nezavisne Novine.

Bošnjaković explained it would take years to determine if the gold deposits are suitable for exploitation but said that “testing of samples in accredited laboratories has shown a high potential for further geological research”.

The parent company, Lykos Metals, is listed on the Australian stock exchange and its Balkan branch has been doing geological research in Bosnia-Herzegovina and across the Balkans since last year.

According to the chief geologist, Mladen Stevanović, the original aim was to search for copper and cobalt.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, which became a candidate for EU membership in December, is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with a GDP per capita of $7,143. according to World Bank data. Only Albania, Kosovo, Moldova, and North Macedonia are behind in economic terms.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politi ... in-bosnia/

Let's sleep on it -


White, brown, green and pink noise: Can these sounds help you to sleep better?

TikTok is full of people singing the praises of *insert preferred colour* noise. What's the difference between them all, do they really help you drift off, and what do the experts say?



Sleep: don't get enough and you feel rubbish, get too much and you feel rubbish.

But what about when you can't even get to sleep?

You get into bed at a reasonable hour with all good intentions, only to spend the next 45 minutes scrolling Instagram reels or TikToks with one eye doing all the work as the other sits face down squashed into your duck-down pillow.

At least you're in the right place to discover all the different colour noises that promise to help you drift off.

So do these colourful noises work? And if so, how? And which colours? So many questions...

We spoke to some experts.

Let's start with the OG: white noise

White noise holds all sound frequencies at the same volume and often carries multiple sound waves, from low, to midrange and high.

This noise is often used to soothe babies, improve focus and aid sleep in both adults and children.

White noise can be heard in everyday life from fans, air conditioners and radio static.

So in short, it does a good job of masking outside noises by giving you consistent noise.

Dr Lindsay Browning, a psychologist, neuroscientist and sleep expert, explains that when we sleep, part of our brain is still awake and monitoring for potential problems: crying babies, fire alarms etc.

Dr Browning says these noises may help "mask those sudden outside noises" and help you to stay asleep rather than be disturbed.

It gives "a constant noise of multiple frequencies of sound helping to mask (or reduce), the disruption caused by sudden noises in the silence of the night".

But beware - if the environment you are in is fairly quiet, these noises may not help aid better sleep, but rather "the white noise machine may cause more disruption to your sleep than any benefit it gives because it is producing sound when there would otherwise be silence", Dr Browning adds.

Dr Hana Patel, a GP in London, says she has seen some of her patients benefit from background noise to help them sleep.

"Some people find white noise helpful as the brain has something relaxing to focus on instead of the surrounding environmental noises. White noise can not only help some people to fall asleep, it can help them to stay asleep."

Brown noise

Drawing in a deeper and stronger tone - this frequency is similar to the sound of a storm.

It contains very low frequencies at a greater volume than the higher frequency sounds, like the low roaring sound of an aircraft, Dr Browning says.

Steve Adams, a sleep expert at Mattress Online, told Sky News: "Brown noise can trigger relaxation through low frequencies and is said to produce a sound that many people find soothing."

He said it can aid those who struggle to fall asleep, but also improve the way people sleep.

"The low humming sound can help to block out external noise and even soothe tinnitus symptoms by masking the telltale ringing sound associated with the condition," he says.

Green noise - the new sound on the block

This sound has now taken over TikTok, with the hashtag #GreenNoise.

Dr Browning told Sky News this sound is more like a natural background tone at around 500 Hz.

She adds: "This is similar to brown or pink noise, but is generally more pleasant and relaxing to listen to."

Though it's not a well-used term (well, it wasn't before TikTok at least), Dr Browning says green noise "is a recording of an actual sound in nature - such as a gentle waterfall or rain".

Pink noise? This is all getting a bit Reservoir Dogs

This type of sound contains all the frequencies of white noise, but with a "less pleasant" and higher frequency of sounds at a quieter volume, like the gentle sound of rain, for example.

Ok I'm still awake - white, brown, green or pink?

To sum up, all of these sounds help drown out background noise, they have different frequencies, and when it comes to choosing which one is best, well, it's up to you. Try them all and see which one helps you the most.

Why do people take their sleep so seriously?

There are obvious reasons - sleep is great and we all would love an extra hour in bed every time our alarms go off.

But actually, bad sleep can have serious consequences when it comes to your mental and physical health.

Last year, data from the NHS revealed around 64% of young people aged 17-23 struggled to sleep. This figure was much higher for young women by 76% compared to young men at 53%.

According to the Sleep Foundation, young adults between the ages of 17-25 and adults between 26-64 need around seven to eight hours of sleep per night.

"It is a continuum, though," says Dr Browning, stating that "some people will need less sleep than others, depending on your age, activity levels and genetics".

"Science suggests that if you regularly get the recommended amount of sleep, you are at a lower risk of developing certain physical and mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, heart, disease, stroke, dementia, diabetes, and certain types of cancer."

Dr Patel adds: "There is a link between sleep and mental health, and something I see many patients about. People living with a mental health problem may also affect how well they sleep, and poor sleep can have a negative impact on our mental health."

https://news.sky.com/story/white-brown- ... r-12799693

Owl escapes Central Park Zoo after his exhibit was vandalized




An owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo after his exhibit was vandalized has been on the loose ever since as park rangers and even police officers were mobilized to search for the bird of prey.

Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl, went missing from his exhibit around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday after the stainless steel mesh of the enclosure was cut, the Central Park Zoo said in a statement Friday.

"A team was mobilized to search for the bird. Citizens and police spotted the owl on the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue but it flew off," zoo officials said.

The office of New York City Mayor Eric Adams shared a photo of officers with the NYPD standing guard at an area of the sidewalk cordoned of with police tape as Flaco looked at bystanders.

"Well, that was a hoot. We tried to help this lil wise guy, but he had enough of his growing audience and flew off," the NYPD's 19th Precinct said in a post on Twitter.

"Rangers, be on the lookout -- he was last seen flying south on Fifth Avenue."Zoo staff later located the owl perched in a tree near the zoo and stayed with it throughout the night, the Central Park Zoo said in its statement Friday.

"At sunrise this morning, the owl flew from the tree on 5th Avenue and into Central Park where we continue to have visual contact with the bird," the statement reads.

"Our focus and effort at this time is on the safe recovery of the owl."Rangers with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation shared a photo of Flaco perched in a tree in Hallett Sanctuary, a nature preserve at the southeast corner of Central Park, on Friday morning.

"We ask that parkgoers give space so that he can be rescued," NYC Parks said in the statement.

Flaco first arrived at the Central Park Zoo in 2010 and is one of the largest species of owl.

Birdwatchers across the Big Apple have since tried to snag photos of the escaped owl, many of which have been shared by the account Manhattan Bird Alert.

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -6)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

[ozswede]

Court rules nudist can continue to walk streets naked

A court in Spain has ruled that a man can walk around the streets naked if he wants, after previously having fined him for doing it.

It would be something of an understatement to suggest that Alejandro Colomar likes being naked.



The 29-year-old computer scientist likes being nude so much that he has been fighting against fines and legal action to protect his right to wander about with no clothes on.

In the end, he’s won his battle as well, arguing that he is not doing any of it for some sort of unusual sexual reason, just because he wants to and prefers nakedness.

He claims he has been attending nudist beaches in Spain since he was a child, but started wandering around a few streets near his house back in 2020.


Alejandro also likes a nude cycle, it seems.

Colomar claims that nobody has a problem with it, and he’s within his rights to do so.

To be fair to him, public nudity is not a crime in most of Spain under a ruling made in 1988.

Although some places such as Barcelona and Valladolid do have rules against it, for the most part, it is fine.

It certainly is in Alejandro’s home town of Aldaia.

In the end, Alejandro’s case was upheld by the Spanish high court in Valencia, who ruled he had ‘limited himself to remaining or circulating naked at different times in two different streets of Aldaia,’ and that his actions did not imply an ‘alteration of citizen security, tranquility or public order’, according to reports from Reuters.

Even the court case was a bit controversial, with Colomar only turning up to one sitting with his shoes and socks on.

He was denied entry to the court, only later being admitted when he put some clothes on.

For his part, Colomar says that people have been broadly supportive of him, but that didn’t stop him from accruing fines up to around £2,500.

On those fines, he said: "The fine doesn't make any sense,

"They accused me of obscene exhibitionism.

“According to the dictionary that implies sexual intent and (that) has nothing to do with what I was doing."


Now, he can cycle where he pleases - within reason.

Alejandro’s attorney Pablo Mora said he was fined for violating some of the city laws of Valencia that cover extreme nudism, although he was not in contravention of those laws.

He said: “It is understood that obscene exhibitionism is to masturbate or do really obscene acts, the mere fact of going naked we understand that it is a manifestation of Alejandro’s ideological freedom.”

The high court in Valencia did acknowledge that there was a ‘legal vacuum’ in Spanish law surrounding public nudity.

(Alejandro certainly exposed that, amongst other things. )

Adorable cat-shaped slices of delicious Japanese bread now become Disney cats for a limited time



Cat-shaped bread and Disney characters? Shut up and take my money!


Cat-shaped bread is an idea we already love. I mean, who doesn’t want to eat slices of toast shaped like a cat’s head for breakfast every day? But now, for a limited time only, they’re made even better by drawing popular Disney cat faces on them! The cat-shaped bread loaves known as Neko Neko Shokupan, sold by Neko Neko bakeries across Japan, are teaming up with Disney to sell limited-edition cat-shaped bread sets inspired by Disney cats.
The bread will be sold as part of Shop Disney’s Happiness Sweets, which is a short-term snack subscription. If you sign up, every month for four months you’ll be sent a different flavor of cat-shaped bread inspired by a different Disney cat character. For example, the box themed on Marie from the The Aristocats contains white, fluffy bread, just like Marie’s beautiful coat. The recipe for this bread uses milk instead of water to make it extra soft and milky, and also includes Japan-grown wheat and cream cheese.
Each box includes a loaf of Neko Neko Shokupan’s cat-shaped bread as well as a stencil of a Disney cat and a topping you can use with it, such as cocoa powder or powdered sugar. You’ll also get a special die-cut plate of the Disney cat’s face to match the stencil, which you won’t be able to find anywhere else. To top it off, everything will come in a unique Neko Neko box that folds up into a house, which is, of course, also themed on the featured cat.

Shipments of the subscription will start in March, and each month one of four varieties will be delivered to your home until the last arrives in June. Marie’s loaf ships first, and then the Chesire Cat loaf arrives in April. This loaf is made of strawberry-flavored dough swirled with Nekonbeko Shokupan’s famous white bread to emulate the Cheshire Cat’s pink and purple stripes. White chocolate has also been kneaded into the dough for a nice, sweet accent.
In May, you’ll receive Dinah’s loaf. Dinah is also from Alice in Wonderland; she’s Alice’s pet kitten, who at one point in the animated film wears a crown of flowers on her head, which is the depiction featured in the stencil. Her loaf is flavored with melon, perfect for the start of summer. This set comes with powdered sugar to use with the stencil, and the sweetness of it perfectly blends with the refreshing fruit flavor of the melon.
Lastly, they’ll send out Luficer’s loaf in June. Lucifer is the wicked gray-and-white cat from Cinderella, and his loaf is suitably flavored with black sesame. This loaf is aromatic and flavorful with just a hint of a mature appeal, but no doubt everyone will love it.
You can enroll in this limited-time-only subscription through the Shop Disney Online Store between now and 9:59 p.m. on February 27. Each bundle of that month’s loaf of bread, stencil, and plate is priced at 4,950 yen (US$38) after shipping charges, for a total of 19,800 yen for the whole four-variety set. They’ll only be available online and not at physical-store Neko Neko locations, but there are plenty of other reasons to visit the bakeries, not least of which is their cat-shaped cheesecake.

[goldie0608]

NJ man hired hitman for $20K in Bitcoin to kill a 14-year-old



A New Jersey man who admitted to paying a hitman $20,000 in cryptocurrency to have a 14-year-old child murdered may face up to 10 years behind bars.

John Michael Musbach, 31, pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with one count of “knowingly and intentionally using and causing another to use a facility of interstate and foreign commerce, that is the internet, with the intent that a murder be committed,” the Department of Justice said Thursday.

The Haddonfield man is accused of exchanging sexually explicit photographs and videos with the then-13-year-old victim during the summer of 2015. The victim lived in New York at the time.

After the victim’s parents learned of the “inappropriate contact,” they notified law enforcement, who identified Musbach in the case.

In March 2016, Musbach was arrested on child pornography charges, the DOJ said.

Prosecutors allege that Musbach decided to have the victim killed so that the victim could not testify against him in the pending criminal case.

Musbach repeatedly contacted the administrator of a murder-for-hire website on the dark web, which purported to offer contact killings or other acts of violence in exchange for cryptocurrency, from May 7, 2016, to May 20, 2016.

“Musbach asked if a 14-year-old was too young to target, and upon hearing that the age was not a problem, paid approximately 40 bitcoin (approximately $20,000 at the time) for the hit,” prosecutors said.

Following his payment, Musbach repeatedly messaged the website’s administrator to inquire about when the murder would occur. The administrator then requested an additional $5,000, which prompted Musbach to try and cancel the hit and get his $20,000 returned.

The website’s administrator then revealed to Musbach that the operation was a sham, and threatened to turn Musbach over to law enforcement.

Musbach faces a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine “of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Musbach or twice the gross losses to the victim of his offense.”

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13.