[goldie0608]

I found a huge, hairy tarantula in my jeans after vacationing in Mexico



This guy was really buggin’ out — and rightfully so!

A wave of dreadful shock surged through a man’s body as he unpacked his suitcase following a Mexico vacation to find a nearly 5-inch-long, furry tarantula in his jeans.

“I let out a yelp!” confessed James Mugridge, 31, from England, to South West News Service. “It really was the last thing I was expecting.”

Mugridge — a business consultant who had caught a flight to Cancun with his girlfriend Emma Forrester, 27, for a two-week holiday on April 15 — had just returned to the UK when he made the creepy-crawly discovery.

While emptying his luggage, an unsuspecting Mugridge went bug-eyed when he saw the legs of the hulking spider, which is believed to have been a Mexican red-rump tarantula, peeking out of his denim pants.

But after peeling back the fold of the jeans with a pair of chopsticks, he realized that the eight-legged invader — known scientifically as the Tliltocatl vagans — had died in transit.

“I think it was in [the jeans] for a couple days at least,” said Mugridge.

During his Mexican excursion, he and Forrester took the two-hour drive from Cancun to Tulum, where they stayed at a number of jungle-style hotels.



While vacationing in the wild, the couple encountered several Mexican red rumps; however, they had no intention of taking one back home with them as a souvenir.

The twosome was utterly clueless to the fact that the critter had stowed away in Mugridge’s baggage.

“We’re lucky because the bag was supposed to come in the [airplane] cabin,” he said. “But there was not enough space, so they put it in the [cargo] hold.”

“Subsequently, the tarantula froze to death,” Mugridge added, “but in the cabin, I fear it would have been alive and kicking.”

Following the skin-crawling incident, Mugridge learned that the Mexican red rump’s bite is mostly harmless to humans.

“The sting on it is said to be worse than a bee sting, but it’s not fatal,” he conceded.

His revelation about his hairy hitchhiker’s fangs aside, Mugridge remembers the initial bolt of panic that struck him upon encountering the Mexican arachnid.

“I was absolutely terrified when I saw the little thing had made its way into my jeans,” he said.

[HogwartsExpress]

“Stop!” Pixies Apologize for “Where Is My Mind?” Preemptively Turning Off Google Alarms
"Sorry about that!" the band tweeted





“Stop!” That’s the word that opens Pixies’ iconic “Where Is My Mind?” and it’s also the word that’s making some folks’ morning routines a little trickier. That’s because Google Pixel phones have a feature in which you can turn off alarms simply by saying, “Stop,” and if “Where Is My Mind?” happens to be your alarm, then it will literally turn itself off.

One Redditor discovered the phenomenon recently. The user reported that their morning alarm uses songs from a shuffled Spotify playlist, but some mornings the alarm didn’t go off. Waking up early to see what the issue was, they caught the culprit: the spoken “Stop” during the intro of “Where Is My Mind?” The explanation thread rose to the top of the Google Pixel subreddit, earning a write-up from Android Police that Pixies themselves shared.

“Sorry about that!” the band wrote, tweeting the link to the article. Check out video proof of “Where Is My Mind?” turning off a Google Pixel alarm below, followed by the song itself.

The feature causing the error was added to Google devices a few years back, and was brought to their phones with the release of the Pixel 6 in 2021. The idea is that users only need to say “Stop” or “Snooze,” and their alarms will respond in kind. Ironically, this feature doesn’t work when there’s music in the background, specifically because Google wanted to avoid a situation like this one in which alarms could turn themselves off. Nonetheless, Pixies’ isolated, spoken-toned “Stop” effortlessly does the trick — maybe the band could make a remix that starts with “Snooze” instead?

Beyond accidentally extending the mornings of some Google Pixel users, Pixies have been busy recently, and are currently on the road for their 2023 tour. They will also be hitting the road this fall for a co-headlining tour with Modest Mouse. Grab your tickets here.



src: https://consequence.net/2023/05/pixies-stop-google-alarms-where-is-my-mind/

[Fatima99]

What is Star Wars Day? Why fans greet each other with 'May the Fourth be with you' today

May the Fourth be with you. If you're a Star Wars fan, you'll no doubt look forward to uttering this greeting to fellow enthusiasts on May 4 every year.

Star Wars is one of the biggest movie franchises of all times, and each May 4 takes on a very special significance for millions of fans around the world.

The unofficial event continues to become more and more popular as it celebrates one of cinema's most successful franchises.

Its popularity continues after the release of Mandalorian and other Star Wars-inspired series on Disney, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi.



Star Wars Day, or May 4, is an annual date where fans from around the world celebrate all things from a galaxy far, far away.

Observances of the day stretch right back to 1978, just one year after the original film released and changed cinema forever.

Many fans choose to dress up as their favourite characters, watch the films together or share their favourite moments online.

It's an annual tradition for Star Wars fans to use the phrase May the Fourth be with you on May 4, because it resembles one of the most iconic phrases in the franchise.

Why do people say May the Fourth be with you?



The pun on the date May 4, which you might hear today, is based on the phrase May the Force be with you, which is a phrase from the Star Wars universe used to wish an individual or group good luck or good will.

The speaker is wishing that the Force will work in favour of the addressee.

Obi-Wan Kenobi explains the Force: "Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

The phrase was often used when individuals parted ways, or faced an impending challenge.

The phrase originated in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which was released in 1977.

It was first used by General Jan Dodonna, after Luke Skywalker says: "It's not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they're not gonna get bigger than two meters."

Then, General Dodanna says: "Then man your ships. And may the Force be with you."

The phrase has continued to be used in Star Wars stories ever since.

Meanwhile, others believe the line originated from the Latin phrase Dominus vobiscum, which means The Lord be with you.

This blessing is traditionally used by the Clergy in Roman Catholic Mass, as well as modern services.

What to reply if someone says May the Fourth be with you



There is still much debate as to what you should reply if someone says May the Fourth be with you.

One person on Twitter said: "The proper response to 'May the 4th be with you' is 'and with your spirit'".

Someone replied saying: "Still prefer 'and also with you'. Probably because I'm old!".

Another agreed, saying: "Call me a hipster but 'and also with you' will always be the true response."

Deputies find reported 'fight in progress' involved brawling goats



Florida deputies responding to a 911 call about a "fight in progress" in a residential neighborhood arrived to find the street brawlers were a pair of feuding goats.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that deputies were summoned to a neighborhood in Palatka where a resident had reported a "fight in progress."

Deputies arrived on the scene and discovered a pair of goats butting heads.

"The suspects were pretty maaaadd at one another and the fight escalated into the yards of nearby residences," the post said. "Both were pretty hard-headed, but officers managed to separate, wrangle and bring them to the Putnam County Jail."

The sheriff's office said deputies were later able to make contact with the owner of the escaped goats.

[prokroustis]

POSSIBLE BURIAL PITS FROM BATTLE OF MARSTON MOOR IDENTIFIED USING DRONES



An amateur archaeologist has identified possible burial pits at the site of the Battle of Marston Moor using drones equipped with thermal cameras.
The Battle of Marston Moor took place in 1644 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639 – 1653), near Long Marston in Yorkshire, England.

The battle was fought between a combined force of Scottish Covenanters commanded by the Earl of Leven and English Parliamentarians led by Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester, against the Royalist army commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquess of Newcastle.

The deciding action in the battle was led by Oliver Cromwell commanding the Parliamentarian cavalry, which drove the Royalist cavalry off the battlefield. The enabled them to join forces with Leven’s infantry to completely destroy the Royalist infantry, resulting in the death of 4,000 Royalist soldiers and 1,500 captured.

Tony Hunt from the Yorkshire Archaeological Aerial Mapping project used thermal cameras attached to drones to survey the battlefield. This revealed long grubbed out boundaries and three large features that appear man-made, suggesting that they could be burial pits containing the remains of those that died in the conflict.

Tony Hunt told Telegraph and Argus: “We have these shapes showing up on the thermal imagery and the infra-red. There have been changes in the chemistry of the ground. That changes the growth patterns of plans showing human intervention.”

According to Hunt, some of the wealthy families retrieved the bodies of family members who were brought to York Minster, Bilton-in-Ainsty church, or their own family graveyards for burial, however, thousands of fallen soldiers were buried at the battlefield which should now be preserved following an “appropriate and respectful” investigation to confirm the findings.

Hunt is also currently in talks with Leeds East Airport at Church Fenton to apply the same survey method to investigate the site of the 1461 Battle of Towton, near Tadcaster, one of the bloodiest battles fought during the War of the Roses.

[PennySerenade]

Australian Reptile Park Announces the Birth of Its 100th Koala Joey: 'A Significant Achievement'



Some serious cuteness is on the way!

This week, the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, Australia, announced the birth of its 100th koala joey.

"This is a significant achievement for the park and for the conservation of the species," says Hayley Shute, Life Sciences Manager of the park. "With proper care and conservation efforts, we can make a difference."

Though the joey hasn't been seen yet — at just around 4 months old, it won't be poking its head out of its mother's pouch for a while — the birth has extra special significance. This joey was born to Ash, who herself was the first joey born after the devastating Black Summer bushfires of 2019 and 2020.

"To see Ash give birth to the 100th koala joey born at the Australian Reptile Park is an incredible symbol of hope for the specials," says Shute.



Earlier in 2022, koalas were declared an endangered species in eastern Australia; Shute says this is due to climate change, disease, habitat loss and bushfires, all of which make it hard for the animals to find homes and eucalyptus trees from which to eat.

According to NPR, Australia's Environment Minister Susan Ley announced in February that the government was allocating millions of dollars in conservation funding for the creatures, in addition to "seeking states' approval for a national recovery plan," the outlet wrote. Changing koalas' status from "vulnerable" to "endangered" also gives them increased protection. Without such help, the animals could be extinct by 2050, NPR added.

In a sign of hope, Shute says six joeys total are expected at the Australian Reptile Park this year, and "they will grow up healthy and strong and contribute to the survival of the koala species."

My brain exploded when I sneezed – but it made my dreams come true



A man whose brain “exploded” after he sneezed claims the near-death experience was actually a blessing in disguise — because it inspired him to pursue his dreams.

“So, that was how I came into this whole career, having a really random brain surgery,” Sam Messina, 26, told Jam Press of the catastrophe.

The Illinois entrepreneur is now the successful founder of Moouse Media, which specializes in creating video content for such high-profile brands as Acura.

Messina said he was fascinated by video ever since he was a child and would experiment with a camcorder. However, as childhood dreams often do, his passion faded: He became interested in hockey and he ended up ditching his camera for a pair of ice skates.

Messina later got accepted at the University of Alabama, where he joined the hockey squad and began living the college dream.

Shortly thereafter, however, his halcyon days were derailed by a freak accident in September 2016.

“I was in the middle of thriving in college, like, just doing the whole college thing. [I was] starting my junior year when I was lying in bed and I sneezed,” Messina said. “And when I sneezed, I basically had an aneurysm.”

Indeed, the seemingly innocuous nose function reportedly caused the potentially fatal condition, in which a blood vessel in the brain bursts, per the Mayo Clinic.

“My brain pretty much exploded and the clot came out of my nostrils,” said the horrified university student while describing this cerebrovascular butterfly effect. “It caused me to have a stroke as well, so I passed out and pretty much should have died.”

Before going unconscious, Messina managed to call his mom and girlfriend, who got him out of his apartment and to the hospital.

Doctors diagnosed the hockey player with arteriovenous malformation, a condition that causes a tangle in the blood vessels that connect arteries and veins in the brain.

Messina reportedly had a dormant blood clot that would have ruptured some time in his 20s, but it was triggered prematurely by his sneeze.

Fearing the worst, doctors transferred the patient to another facility to undergo emergency surgery.

“It was terrifying, but I knew if that was what needed doing, I’d have to do it,” described the college student, who dropped out of school so he could undergo the procedure.

Over the next week, the patient underwent a staggering three surgeries to remove the blood clot. Stitching his head back together required a whopping 27 staples.

He then spent a month recovering at home before having the sutures removed.

While Messina was out of the woods medically, he was reportedly struggling to figure out how to get his “life back on track.”

Thankfully, inspiration seemed to come naturally. “I was just a different person after the surgery. All I wanted to do was make videos, shoot videos – anything revolving around that,” the changed man described.

He added that he thought the medical episode would throw his life “off track,” but “in reality, it pushed me to where I needed to be, and that was behind the camera.”

Like the interstellar Big Bang, Messina’s unfortunate ordeal had seemingly gotten the creative juices flowing.

Indeed, the stars seemed to align, as “around the same time, social media started to become a really big thing,” the budding videographer described.

While Messina had always been fascinated by video — often making home movies for his family growing up — he didn’t have a platform until now.

Without hockey or school to distract him, Messina could focus solely on turning his childhood passion into a profession.

He returned to school the next semester with his camera, and shortly thereafter, created his first company, Moouse Media, named after his college moniker, Moose.

The venture was “basically just a content-creation company where I was shooting content for brands on campus, and really just anything I could get my hands on,” said Messina.

He said he started earning $4,000 a month shooting videos for sororities and other educational institutions as students clamored to capture their college memories on camera.

Today, his company is worth six figures — a credit to him expanding out of the university sphere and working with prominent companies. Clients have including Gucci Mane, Acura, MLB Network — as well as more personal brands.

“I’ve worked with personal brands like Mark Wahlberg, as well a lot of athletes, a lot of drink companies and really just anyone who needs social media content,” explained Messina, who moved to Los Angeles in 2020 to pursue business opportunities. “I have the ability to shoot with them and create content for them that they can use and promote their business and on their website.”

Some of the Moouse campaigns feature his girlfriend, Nicole Kramer, whom he’s been dating since before his aneurysm.

Messina, who currently resides in Beverly Hills, says his vision over the next 10 years is to make his company earn seven figures.

He also wants “to connect with as many cool brands, including personal brands, and meet with as many people as possible and see them grow as I grow.”

Along with making a name for himself, the budding entrepreneur also wanted to help other students who, like him after his stroke, were struggling to find a purpose in life.

In accordance, he launched Moouse University, which empowers college students to find their passion or even start their own company.

“I wanted to help out other college students who were in that position of not knowing what they want to do with their life and possibly having a passion that they didn’t know what to do with,” Messina described. “We teach them how to do the business side of things, help them edit and connect them with work, and they learn to be professional and how to become a brand themselves.”

He added, “The whole Moouse brand is inspired by my story of how I was extremely lost in college and didn’t know what I was doing. I had a brain surgery, I almost died.”

In fact, Messina ultimately credits this ordeal for his success.

“This may sound crazy, but I’m glad for the sneeze, the brain aneurysm and the surgery that forced me to drop out,” he told E! “Without those events, I wouldn’t get to where I am today, and I wouldn’t be in a position to help others change their lives for the better.”

https://nypost.com/2023/05/04/entrepren ... -disguise/

[Misstee]

Ancient DNA from a 25,000-year-old pendant reveals intriguing details about its wearer
Katie Hunt
By Katie Hunt, CNN
Published 1:26 PM EDT, Wed May 3, 2023




An artist's impression of what the pendant may have looked like when worn.

Myrthe Lucas


Traces of ancient DNA contained in old bones have spilled fascinating secrets about the past.

But extracting genetic material involves a certain amount of damage to the object in question, and many archaeologists have been reluctant to hand over their most precious finds to DNA labs.

Now, scientists have found a way to extract DNA in a non-invasive manner, applying the pioneering new technique to a pierced deer tooth likely worn as a pendant. The research, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, revealed intriguing details about its ancient wearer and is the first time scientists have successfully isolated ancient human DNA from a Stone Age artifact.

Excavated from Denisova Cave in southern Siberia, the pendant was worn by a woman who lived between 19,000 and 25,000 years ago, according to the analysis of human genetic material preserved in the pendant. She belonged to a group known as Ancient North Eurasians, which have a genetic connection to the first Americans.





The tooth was unearthed during excavations in Denisova Cave in 2019.

Sergey Zelensky

The new method will hopefully allow scientists to learn about the sex and genetic ancestry of the Stone Age makers, wearers and users of an array of bone tools and ornaments unearthed from digs around the world.

“It’s amazing. It means that we’ll be able to answer very simple questions such as what tasks males and females were doing at that point time,” said study coauthor Marie Soressi, a professor and chair of human origins at Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University in the Netherlands. “We actually will have a direct line of evidence to tell us.”
Excavation of the Xiongnu Elite Tomb 64 containing a high status aristocratic woman at the site of Takhiltiin Khotgor, Mongolian Altai.

Ancient DNA reveals secrets of empire that pushed China to build its Great Wall

The technique may also, for example, be able reveal whether a tool was used by a Neanderthal or our own Homo sapiens ancestors, she added.
Trial and error

Human DNA was likely preserved in the deer bone pendant because it is porous and therefore more likely to retain genetic material present in skin cells, sweat and other body fluids.



Shown here is the ancient DNA extraction lab at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Typically, researchers would use a small drill to extract bone powder from an artifact or bone. Lead study author Elena Essel, a molecular biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, described the newly developed technique as a “laboratory washing machine without the movement.”

The pendant was submerged in a sodium phosphate buffer solution while gradually increasing the temperature. This allowed the DNA to be released into the solution, where it was isolated, purified and sequenced using existing tools.

“If we want to stay in this image of the washing machine, it’s the wash water that was exciting for us,” Essel explained.

While bone tools and artifacts are rarer than stone ones, they are still much more common in the archaeological record than humans remains, opening up new avenues for research.
Artist_s reconstruction of Kap København Formation two million years ago

Oldest DNA sheds light on a 2 million-year-old ecosystem that has no modern parallel

The pendant study, however, is essentially a proof of concept, and it’s not clear how easy it will be to extract ancient human DNA from other bone ornaments and tools.

The technique, at least as it stands, only worked on freshly excavated material and where archaeologists had taken steps to ensure that the artifact is “clean” — i.e. not contaminated with modern human DNA — by wearing gloves and a mask and making sure the object was sealed in a bag immediately after being unearthed.

The technique didn’t identify ancient DNA when applied to a set of bone tools from the French cave Quinçay excavated back in the 1970s to 1990s — when nobody had any idea that genetic material could be preserved for so long.




The pierced deer tooth discovered in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia yielded ancient human DNA.

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Nor was it possible to extract ancient DNA from three freshly excavated tooth pendants from Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria, home to some of the earliest known modern humans in Europe, according to the study.

“Right now, it’s like this one sample. I would be really interested in learning more about how often we can can extract ancient human DNA and if it’s like a specific type of artifact that is more promising or if it works equally well for (bone) tools,” Essel said.

It’s not known why the deer tooth pendant contained such a large amount of the ancient woman’s DNA (about the same amount as a human tooth) — perhaps it was well-loved and worn close to the skin for an exceptionally long period of time, Essel said.

“How we think it works is that the longer there was close body contact, the higher the chances that a lot of DNA is in the material … but we have no idea if we’re talking about days or months or years or decades.”

[lush]

City warns residents to keep watch for escaped marmoset monkeys
May 4, 2023 / 12:54 PM*


The Lancaster City Council in England is asking residents to search their properties for an unspecified number of marmoset monkeys that escaped from a local home. Photo courtesy of the Lancaster City Council

May 4 (UPI) -- Officials in an English city are asking residents to check their bird boxes, garages and sheds for marmoset monkeys that escaped from a local home.

The Lancaster City Council said an unspecified number of marmosets escaped from a home in the Carnforth area.

The council said the marmosets are native to Central and South America and would be likely to seek out a warm place to spend the night.

"Check bird boxes, garages and sheds," the city council said on its website. "Please do not attempt to catch the monkeys as this may cause risk of injury to yourself or the monkeys and please do not try to feed them either."

Local police said they are aware of the escaped monkeys and the investigation has been turned over to the RSPCA.

Is The "Woolly Umbrella" The New Cannabis?
A plant that smells like curry produces large amounts of the medicinal cannabinoid CBG.



A plant that is totally unrelated to cannabis has been found to produce large numbers of cannabinoids, the compounds responsible for the various pharmacological effects of weed. Known as the woolly umbrella (sometimes spelled "wooly"), the plant makes several of the same molecules present in cannabis as well as dozens of previously unknown cannabinoids, some of which may have medical properties.

Woolly umbrella – or Helichrysum umbraculigerum, to give it its proper name – is a South African flowering plant of the daisy family that is best known for smelling like curry. Historical sources hint at its use as an intoxicant in folk rituals and a study conducted decades ago indicated that it may contain cannabinoids, although until now researchers had never pinpointed the structure of these compounds.

After sequencing the plant’s genome and analyzing its chemical components, the authors of a new study were able to identify more than 40 cannabinoids in the leaves of the woolly umbrella. By comparison, cannabis produces well over 100 cannabinoids.

However, because cannabis-derived cannabinoids are found in the plant’s flowers, the commercial production of these compounds requires intensive cultivation practices which come at a high economic and environmental cost. In contrast, the study authors describe woolly umbrella as “a perennial, fast-growing, commercially viable plant source for bioactive cannabinoids.”

And while H. umbraculigerum doesn’t produce THC or CBD – the two most famous cannabinoids found in cannabis – it does manufacture large amounts of CBG, a cannabinoid that has shown promise as a treatment for neurological disorders, colon cancer, and various other medical conditions.

According to the researchers, cannabinoid signaling is “projected to have therapeutic potential in almost all human diseases.” For many patients, however, the psychoactive properties of THC are undesirable, which means medically relevant cannabinoids must be isolated from cannabis extracts.

The fact that the woolly umbrella doesn’t produce THC may therefore be an advantage and could allow for easier access to CBG and other cannabinoids without having to worry about patients getting stoned.

"We have found a major new source of cannabinoids and developed tools for their sustained production, which can help explore their enormous therapeutic potential," explained study author Dr Paula Berman in a statement. After identifying the enzymes involved in the creation of these cannabinoids, the researchers were able to modify brewer’s yeast to produce the exact same compounds.

And while six of the cannabinoids identified in the woolly umbrella are also present in cannabis, the rest are completely new. "The next exciting step would be to determine the properties of the more than 30 new cannabinoids we've discovered, and then to see what therapeutic uses they might have," said Berman.

Curiously, scientists still don’t fully understand why plants produce cannabinoids, although there is some evidence to suggest that they may help to deter predators and could even act as a kind of natural sunblock by protecting plants from ultraviolet rays.

"The fact that in the course of evolution two genetically unrelated plants independently developed the ability to make cannabinoids suggests that these compounds perform important ecological functions," explained study author Professor Asaph Aharoni.

"More research is needed to determine what these functions are."

https://www.iflscience.com/is-the-woolly-umbrella-the-new-cannabis-68775

[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
FRIDAY MAY 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]

Polar bear cub born at Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg for first time in 21 years

A zoo in Hamburg has welcomed its first polar bear cub in 21 years, sharing photos of its "minor sensation".

Tierpark Hagenbeck has announced its bear, Victoria, gave birth to a healthy cub in the protection of her den on December 19.


The cub and its mother Victoria spent months together undisturbed.

Director Guido Westhoff said Victoria and her cub spent the first few months together, undisturbed, before staff checked on the pair to see they were "healthy, lively and alert".

The first days after birth are critical for polar bear cubs, which are born nearly naked, blind and deaf, and weigh only about 900 grams.

Keepers and veterinarians can monitor mother from a camera showing the birthing den.



He said the second-generation offspring was an enormous breeding success and proof that efforts to help the endangered species were paying off.

It is not yet clear yet when the general public will have the chance to visit the cub.

Until then, a monitor will be installed at the polar bear enclosure for people to watch.

"I am very proud that we can now present to our visitors our absolute highlight this summer: a polar bear baby, alongside other special cubs, such as leopards, tigers and orangutans," managing director Dirk Albrech said.


Zoo in Hamburg welcomes new born polar bear.

The zoo said the cub's father would leave the zoo with staff from the European Endangered Species Program to allow the mother and cub to have more space.

Director Guido Westhoff said Victoria and her cub spent the first few months together, undisturbed, before staff checked on the pair to see they were "healthy, lively and alert".

[goldie0608]

Hundreds of pounds of pasta dumped in New Jersey woods



Officials in New Jersey are noodling over a pasta mystery in Old Bridge.

More than 500 pounds of pasta was dumped in the woods last week, including ziti, spaghetti and other noodles.

A community advocate posted photos of the heaps of food along a creek in Veterans Park.

The photos she posted started to circulate on several local Facebook groups.

"The township has no bulk garbage pickup," Nina Jochnowitz said. "And the funny dump this time was pasta which you all picked up."

While several people on the Street including Nina say they know who did it, but that its a person they care deeply about and is a sensitive situation.

This instance of illegally dumping may seem like a bizarre one off occurance, but Nina said it points to the larger issue of bulk garbage. She said financial constraint sometimes prevents people from properly disposing of large items like couches.

Jochnowitz said adding bulk pick-up would add less than $90 a year to people's garbage bills, but she said the township voted down the proposal.

Some people have taken to secret and illegal dumping as their go-to answer. Eyewitness news found a spot a few hundred feet from a waterway with televisions, grills, bedroom furniture and construction material.

Christopher Eskesen lives in Old Bridge and said he tries to do his part to keep the waterway clean when he takes his kayak out.

"I got 4 dumpsters and filled them with tires furniture," Eskesen said. "All this stuff that floats up.Constantly It gets cleaned up. A week later it's back again."

Town officials said they estimated that several hundred pounds of uncooked pasta was removed from the packaging and dumped along the creek. They said it looked like it was there a short time, but moisture from the area did start to soften some of the pasta.

The Department of Public Works visited the site and found what appeared to be 15 loads of illegally dumped pasta in the residential neighborhood.

Police were called to the scene to take a report and then two Public Works employees cleaned up and got rid of all the pasta in less than an hour.

The incident is under investigation by the police department.

Scientists recover an ancient woman's DNA from a 20,000-year-old pendant

Date: May 3, 2023

Source: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Summary:
An international research team has for the first time successfully isolated ancient human DNA from a Paleolithic artefact: a pierced deer tooth discovered in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. To preserve the integrity of the artefact, they developed a new, nondestructive method for isolating DNA from ancient bones and teeth. From the DNA retrieved they were able to reconstruct a precise genetic profile of the woman who used or wore the pendant, as well as of the deer from which the tooth was taken. Genetic dates obtained for the DNA from both the woman and the deer show that the pendant was made between 19,000 and 25,000 years ago. The tooth remains fully intact after analysis, providing testimony to a new era in ancient DNA research, in which it may become possible to directly identify the users of ornaments and tools produced in the deep past.

[prokroustis]

Giant penis mowed into lawn at King Charles' coronation party site



A giant penis has appeared at King Charles' coronation party site - the news no royalist really wants to hear.

Just days before the Coronation party, cocky pranksters have mowed a large willy into a 'perfect lawn' on one of Britain's most famous streets.

The huge d*** appeared overnight on the grass outside the posh Royal Crescent in Bath on Thursday (4 May).

As things stand, no one knows who is responsible.

The free willy appeared just two days before a large Coronation party, which is said to be planned for the grounds of The Royal Crescent, known globally as the 'perfect lawn'.

It's surrounded by a number of posh homes from the 18th century.

According to a flyer, on the day of the Coronation (Saturday, 6 May) the Royal Crescent is hosting a Georgian-themed 'Grand Coronation Party'.

It reads: ''Celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Georgian era.

''Decorate your own regal crown, watch demonstrations on royal fashion and visit the Georgian Cook cooking up delicious recipes in the kitchen.''

LADbible has contacted Royal Crescent for comment.