Utility workers find medieval tunnel while relocating a pole in Wales




A Welsh utility company said workers excavating a trench for relocation of a pole on a customer's property made an unusual discovery -- a previously unknown medieval tunnel.

Western Power Distribution said members of the company's East Wales team were working in Tintern, in the Wye Valley, after a customer requested relocation of a pole on their property.

The workers were excavating a trench when they discovered what they initially believed to be a cave.

"I have been involved in other excavations where we have discovered old wells and cellars not shown on any plans, but nothing as exciting and impressive as this," WPD technician Allyn Gore said.

"Further investigation revealed it was a man-made tunnel around 4 feet in height," Gore said.

He said the tunnel runs under a sidewalk parallel to the Angiddy Brook, and appears to follow the brook's path.

Gore said the team manager called in a representative from Cawd, Wales' historic and cultural heritage service.

"He was very impressed with the sheer scale of the tunnel and quite fascinated to see it. In his opinion, it could possibly be linked to the iron work ruins previously discovered in the area," Gore said.

The Tintern Abbey iron works ruins, located nearby the site of the tunnel's discovery, date from the 1100s.

Gore said research into the area's history failed to unearth any mentions of the tunnel in ordinance survey maps dating back to the 1700s. He said it also does not appear in any public records.

WPD said work on the project was halted while Cawd archaeologists take over the investigation.

"For now, we have back-filled the trench and reinstated everything and we are planning an alternative route for the customer. It could take years before the investigations are concluded," Gore said.

[hybridhen]

'Floating ship' photographed off Cornish coast by walker


An optical illusion caused the ship to appear as though it was floating above the horizon


Images of what appears to be a floating ship have been captured as the result of a rare optical illusion off the coast of England.

David Morris took a photo of the ship near Falmouth, Cornwall.

BBC meteorologist David Braine said the "superior mirage" occurred because of "special atmospheric conditions that bend light".

He said the illusion is common in the Arctic, but can appear "very rarely" in the UK during winter.

Mr Morris said he was "stunned" after capturing the picture while looking out to sea from the hamlet of Gillan

Mr Braine said: "Superior mirages occur because of the weather condition known as a temperature inversion, where cold air lies close to the sea with warmer air above it.

"Since cold air is denser than warm air, it bends light towards the eyes of someone standing on the ground or on the coast, changing how a distant object appears.


David Morris took the photographs from the hamlet of Gillan, near Falmouth

"Superior mirages can produce a few different types of images - here a distant ship appears to float high above its actual position, but sometimes an object below the horizon can become visible."

[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 MARCH 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 may post One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can enter only 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 to under a minute, 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
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

[hija]

A billboard campaigned launched promoting empathy



They grease the wheels of consumerism, helping brands promote their products to the masses. But advertising billboards in parts of London are this week carrying a different kind of messaging, promoting the virtues of empathy.

With billboard space not selling across the capital during the pandemic, Brotherhood Media, an ad agency, invited artists and musicians to submit designs that would help spread positivity. The Gorillaz, Pet Shop Boys and Chrissie Hyde are among the artists to have contributed so far. The latest billboards (main picture above) – in Shoreditch, Camden and Bethnal Green – are the work of the band Never Not Nothing and carry the words ‘Become Empathy Machines’.

“The brief we gave was simply for positivity, it could be meaningful, abstract, amusing,” said Dominic Murphy from Brotherhood Media, which also designed its own ads thanking the NHS. “The only rule was that it couldn’t be selling anything.” The agency has since committed to donating billboard sites that don’t sell in future to positive causes.

Cat sat on 125mph train roof delays passengers for 2 hours before "swaggering off"



A cat held up a train at one of Britain's busiest stations by sitting on top of a carriage and refusing to budge for more than two hours.

The feline took up a spot atop an Avanti West Coast train at Euston Station in London half an hour before it was due to leave on Tuesday evening.

The train, which reaches speeds of 125mph, was unable to get moving on its scheduled journey to Manchester as staff feared for the animal's welfare.

The train was taken out of service and replaced with another with only a slight delay - but while passengers were able to continue their journey, the cat stayed put.

Having avoided a high-speed dash up north, it remained perilously close to the 25,000 volt overhead lines which power the trains.

After two and a half hours, the cat eventually decided it wished to make a move.

A bin was brought alongside the carriages to act as a makeshift platform.

The cat was seen "swaggering off", according to station staff.

It remains unknown how the cat reached the top of the train, bemused railway staff said.

"We often have to deal with birds inside the station but in all my time here this is the first train surfing cat!" said Joe Hendry, Network Rail station manager for Euston.
"Thankfully curiosity didn't kill this cat and we're glad it avoided using up one of its nine lives thanks to the swift action of the station team and Avanti West Coast staff who organized for passengers to get on to a different train for the rescue to take place."

A video clip filmed by a passenger on an adjacent train shows the cat walking across the train roof before it leapt down and trotted off to safety.

The passenger, Kyle Evans, 23, said: "I was heading home when I looked out of the window and saw a cat just walking along the roof.

"I was watching it for a few minutes and laughing, if I'm honest! I was very confused at how the cat got up there - obviously you see birds up there all the time, but never a cat!

"Of course, as soon as I pulled my phone out, the cat started to disappear. My train then left just five minutes late because of the cat."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cat-sat-125mph-train-roof-23607155

[goldie0608]

Heroic Sailor Dives Into Choppy Seas to Save 4 Kittens From Burning Ship



A brave navy sailor recently plunged into choppy waters to rescue four kittens from a burning ship off the coast of Thailand.

23-year-old Thatsaphon Saii received the emergency call and dove into the water—while still wearing his pants—to swim over to the wreckage.

All eight crew members had already escaped the inferno and been picked up by a passing fishing boat.

However, four terrified kittens were left behind. They moved to the bow and were left clinging to a crane structure as the flames rapidly engulfed the ship.

Heroic Thatsaphon swam 50 feet through rough seas before he climbed aboard the sinking ship and put three cats into an old rice sack.

The other kitten, he carried one on his shoulder.

The sailor emerged with the trembling moggies and paddled with them in his arms back to the navy vessel. The kittens were dehydrated and given fresh water while they recovered onboard.

The boat, an old wooden fishing vessel, was left to burn and sink into the depths near the island of Koh Adang.

Thatsaphon, who’s part of the Royal Thai Navy’s Air and Coastal Defence Command Operation Unit 491, said: ‘When we arrived it was to secure the wreckage and check for oil spills. But we noticed the cats onboard.

“I immediately took off my shirt and put on a life jacket so I could jump into the sea. The flames were at the back of the boat but it was starting to sink, so I knew I had to be quick.

“I’m so relieved that we were able to save the kittens. They would have drowned or died of thirst if they went into the sea.”

All four kittens are now fully recovered from their adventure on the high seas, with navy officials currently looking after the little cats at their office.

[BigGlen]

‘The Scream’ Has A Hidden Message In It And Experts Just Figured Out Who Wrote It



Curators have finally identified the author of a mysterious message inscribed into Edvard Munch’s iconic painting “The Scream.” Turns out, it was Munch himself.

The note, faintly scrawled in the top left corner of the painting in old-fashioned Norwegian, reads: “Could only have been painted by a madman!”

The identity of the message’s author has stumped experts for 117 years. The inscription was first noticed by a Danish art critic in 1904, about a decade after the painting’s debut. Since then, experts have debated its authorship — could it have been Munch himself, or simply a vandal who didn’t like his painting? But now we have a definitive answer.

“The writing is without a doubt Munch’s own,” said Mai Britt Guleng, the curator of the National Museum of Norway.

To uncover the message’s author, a team at the National Museum of Norway first had to fully uncover the message itself.

“It’s been very difficult to interpret,” noted Thierry Ford, the painting conservator at the National Museum of Norway. “Through a microscope, you can see that the pencil lines are physically on top of the paint and have been applied after the painting was finished.”


The pencil marks that make up the inscription are faint and hard to make out.

To get a closer look at the faint message, the museum’s team took infrared photographs of the painting. This made the carbon from the writer’s pencil easier to see. Next, the team looked through Munch’s diaries and letters to study his handwriting. Then, they compared the inscription on the painting with Munch’s handwriting.

It was a match — in more ways than one.


Investigators used infrared scans to identify the carbon marks made by Munch’s pencil.

Not only did Munch’s handwriting match the message, but the message’s sentiment also matched Munch’s state of mind at the time it was likely written.

Guleng explained: “The handwriting itself, as well as events that happened in 1895, when Munch showed the painting in Norway for the first time, all point in the same direction.”

So, what had inspired the artist to inscribe such a message into his own painting?

Munch painted the now-iconic piece in 1893 after taking a sunset walk with two friends. Pausing to take a breath, Munch recalled that he saw: “blood and tongues of fire” streaking across the sky. “My friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

The result was a masterpiece. But not all of Munch’s contemporaries agreed.

After showing the painting abroad, Munch displayed it in Norway for the first time later in 1893. His countrymen gave it a cold reception.

An art critic named Henrik Grosch, then director of the Norwegian Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, wrote that “The Scream” was proof that people should not “consider Munch a serious man with a normal brain.”


Edvard Munch’s self-portrait, painted in 1895.

During a discussion of Munch’s painting — where Munch was likely present — a medical student named Johan Scharffenberg also questioned Munch’s mental state. According to the National Museum of Norway, Scharffenberg claimed that “The Scream” proved that Munch “was not of sound mind.”

Scharffenberg went on to say that the painting might mean that Munch was prone to hallucinations and should probably be sent to a hospital and forbidden from painting.

The artist was horrified. Not only did the criticism of his work hurt him personally, but Grosch and Scharffenberg had touched on one of Munch’s insecurities. He feared that he, like other members of his family, might fall into madness. Both his father and grandfather had suffered from depression and his sister was sent to a psychiatric hospital. Munch himself would be hospitalized after a nervous breakdown in 1908.


Edvard Munch in 1902, a few years before his nervous breakdown.

The criticism of the painting festered inside Munch. He referred to it often in his letters and diary entries, even decades later. And, it seems, it drove him to pick up a pencil and inscribe a note into “The Scream” sometime before 1904.

“He might have been drunk doing it,” Guleng said. “It might have been a moment of emotional distress.”

The inscription, she continued, could be read as an “ironic comment” or as “an expression of the artist’s vulnerability.” But today, Munch’s contemporaneous critics have long since eaten their words. A pastel version of “The Scream” — there are four versions, three in the National Museum of Norway — was sold at auction for $120 million in 2012.

“The scream is more than a painting,” noted one London dealer after the gargantuan sale. “It’s a symbol of psychology as it anticipates the 20th-century traumas of mankind.”

[Fatima99]

World's oldest bird, Wisdom the albatross, hatches chick at the age of 70

Wisdom has hatched up to 36 chicks in her lifetime, experts claim.



The oldest known bird in the world has hatched a chick at the age of 70.

Wisdom the albatross welcomed her new baby on 1 February on the Midway Atoll in the North Pacific.

Biologists on the islands near Hawaii first noticed the egg pipping on 29 January and announced the news on Twitter on Friday.

Wisdom was banded by experts in 1956, outliving the person that classified her all those years ago, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

"At least 70-years-old, we believe Wisdom has had other mates," said USFWS biologist Dr Beth Flint.

"Although albatross mate for life, they may find new partners if necessary, for example if they outlive their first mate."

Wisdom's current mate is a male albatross called Akeakami, who she has been hatching chicks with since 2012.

Biologists on the Pacific islands believe she has hatched 30 to 36 chicks throughout her life. Albatross only hatch eggs every few years - and just one each time.

The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge off the coast of Hawaii is the largest colony of albatross in the world, and where millions of the birds return to each year for mating season.

[PennySerenade]

Vaughan, Ont. high school to be renamed after Somali-Canadian journalist Hodan Nalayeh


At least 10 people were killed in an extremist attack in Somalia in 2019, including Hodan Nalayeh, a prominent Somali-Canadian journalist, and her husband.

TORONTO -- A school in Vaughan, Ont., will soon be renamed after late Somali-Canadian journalist Hodan Nalayeh, known for her courageous storytelling and passion for education.

Trustees with the York Region District School Board voted on Tuesday night to change the name of Vaughan Secondary School, which originally honoured Benjamin Vaughan, a slaveholder in the 18th century.

Ten out of 12 trustees voted in favour of the motion, which was initially put forward due to a push from the Black community in the region.

“It is with a heavy-heart and with a deep sense of gratitude that the Nalayeh Family accepts the … decision to rename the school in question with Hodan’s name,” the late journalist’s family said in a statement on Wednesday.

“With it, comes a tremendous responsibility to uplift and support all students, their families and the communities … whether local to the school or across our great region.”

The trustees said Nalayeh was known for her passion for education, as well as telling stories. She had a TV show and led advocacy work for the Somali community in Canada. She died in an attack on a hotel in Somalia in 2019.

[She] was a journalist and inspirational storyteller whose message to youth was that achievement depends on perseverance and education,” Trustee Bob McRoberts said during the meeting on Tuesday.



“She has family who still live in Vaughan … I found it to be a special connection that Hodan’s nephew is currently a student at the school.”

McRoberts said it is thanks to the efforts of the Black community in York Region that the “historical” wrong is being corrected in some way.

“If it weren't for the lobbying efforts and the persistence and concern initiated and expressed to us by the Black community, the name of the school would still be Vaughan Secondary School,” he said.

“We had no reason or awareness of the need for a change.”

Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School will be the first secondary school with the York Region District School Board to be named after a person of colour. It will be the second named after a woman.

Politicians, students and activists across the province welcomed the renaming of the school after Nalayeh, saying the board trustees should be proud of their decision.

Through a process of town halls and surveys, the board found that Hodan Nalayeh was a favourite among students and the community.

“Hodan Nalayeh was the people's choice, the communities’ choice,” Trustee Elizabeth Sinclair said. “She came out on top in first, second and third preferences.”

[1wendy1]

Introducing vagina-scented masks…

Vagina-scented face masks are a thing and, yes, they’re selling like hot cakes

New Jersey native Angela Anderson has been making a killing with her online business. The 55-year-old founded Coronapussy, a company that sells vagina-smelling face masks for $4.99

The strangest thing is that she managed to sell 500 in the first 24 hours.

Anderson thought of the idea after being fired from her hotel job, and decided on supplementing her income by designing a mask different from any other.

“Next week we’ll release another 500 units for sale at the same price, they’re not made fast… otherwise the aroma disappear in a few hours,” she told the online publication.

We know what you’re thinking: how does she acquire that “authentic” smell for her masks?

She explained that a fine cloth is placed in the vagina for two hours and then glued inside the mask.

“With (these) face masks you can be protected and also enjoy that vaginal smell that people love. This idea is working out,” she said.

And apparently business has been booming for Anderson. So much so that she plans to add a penis-scented mask to her collection.

COVID brings out the crazy in people.....Who is going to order and tell us if the "aroma" is genuine...

Source: https://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/health/ ... 3a3a8e33ea

[HogwartsExpress]

I worried more about my background than my look

[HogwartsExpress]

Give him an award

Lake of Skeletons mystery: Experts baffled by shrinking lake that holds 800 human remains

Roopkund Lake has baffled scientists for almost 80 years following a discovery from a British forest ranger in 1941. The lake is located 5,029 metres (16,500ft) above sea level, and expands and shrinks with the seasons. When it shrinks, it reveals the remains of up to 800 people who have seemingly been laid to rest in the region.

How the assembly of dead bodies came to be in the lake is unknown and dozens of groups of researchers have tried to shed a light on the reasoning behind the remains over the years.

One theory had suggested it was a local civilisation which was wiped out during a cataclysmic weather event.

Another theory stated it was an army who had died in battle while in the shallow shores of Roopkund Lake.

A third suggestion is that it was the burial ground for a local village which was hit by an epidemic.





However, the latest study has found that none of these events could possibly be true.

Researchers from 16 different institutions across the planet analysed some of the remains and found the genetic diversity through the corpses varied massively.

This suggests all of the individuals were from different backgrounds.

For example, some of the individuals were found to be similar to people living in southeast Asia, while others were more similar to modern-day Europe, particularly those on the Greek island of Crete.



What's more, no weapons were found beside the individuals, which rules out the possibility they died in battle.

Both men and women were discovered, and some of the people died more than 1,000 years apart, according to the research published in the journal Nature Communications.

The study reads: "A group of 23 individuals have ancestry that falls within the range of variation of present-day South Asians.

"A further 14 have ancestry typical of the eastern Mediterranean.

"We also identify one individual with Southeast Asian-related ancestry.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/la ... ns/ar-BB1e

[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 MARCH 6
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 may post One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can enter only 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 to under a minute, 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
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

[hybridhen]

Take a deep breath: how 'Cornish' air sells for £60 a bottle (even if it's from Devon)

A firm selling air from ‘unspoiled places’ has caused a row by marketing air from Devon as being from the ‘Cornish heritage coast’. But who is selling air?



Name: Bottled air.

Age: Fresh as a daisy, sir, just bottled this morning.

Appearance: Invisible, but the boutiquey bottle is very nice.

And what is it exactly? Air in a bottle, sir, captured at coastal locations across the UK, and yours for £60 for the 500ml bottle or £75 if you want the 700ml version. There’s a significant saving, of course, if you do buy the larger size.

Of course. But let me get this straight. It’s air, put into a bottle, and it costs £60? Or £75 for the larger bottle.

Is this some kind of April fool’s joke? You know it’s only the start of March. No need to adopt that tone, sir. Coast Capture Air, based at Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, travels “the length and breadth of Great Britain seeking unspoiled places of natural beauty to monitor and capture the freshest coastal air”. Consumers all over the world fed up with breathing in car fumes are snapping it up as an aid to healthy living.

But this is madness! It’s an empty bottle! I’m sorry you feel that way, sir. The company bottles air from Suffolk, the Isle of Wight and Hartland Point on the Cornish coast.

Hartland Point is in Devon! There has admittedly been some pushback on that point down in the south-west. Coast Capture Air prefers to market its Hartland Point product as being from the “Cornish heritage coast”, and Devonians are not very happy about it.

You stir up the rivalry between Devon and Cornwall at your peril. The air battle has, sadly, been added to the controversy over Cornwall claiming to have invented the pasty when it was actually Devonian, and the long-drawn-out war over whether you apply jam or cream first to a scone in a cream tea.

It’s jam first if you want to maximise how much cream you can get on. But look, who cares if the air at Hartland Point is pure Devonian, or has come up from Cornwall, or across from Ireland, or all the way from Timbuktu? It’s just air, and you are trying to sell it to me for 60 quid. And very therapeutic it is, sir. Take a sniff of that. Perfect as part of one of your mindfulness sessions.

I don’t do mindfulness sessions. Well, if you did, you could purchase some coastal sounds, too, as the perfect accompaniment.

Oh, I give up! I need some air. I knew you’d come round to our way of thinking, sir.

Not to be confused with: Swiss Air Deluxe, which sells tins of Alpine air, or Vitality Air, which supplies air from the Canadian Rockies.

Do say: “People used to mock the idea of bottled water.”

Don’t say: “Many of us still do.”