Shark Swims Up To Diver For a Cuddle Every Time She Sees Him

This has been going on for 7 years!

By Elizabeth Claire Alberts

To visit his friend, Rick Anderson has to strap on an oxygen tank, put a regulator into his mouth and dive into the ocean off the coast of Nobbys Beach in New South Wales, Australia.

Anderson's friend is a 6-foot female Port Jackson shark. She doesn't have a name, but Anderson recognizes her by her markings.



And she always recognizes him, according to Anderson.

"I started playing with her about seven years ago when she was just a pup about 6 inches long," Anderson told The Dodo in 2017. "I approached her carefully so as not to spook her, then began to gently pat her. Once she got used to me, I would cradle her in my hand and talk soothingly to her through my regulator."

"I did this each time in the first season she was here," he said. "Then over the following seasons, she'd recognize me and would swim up to me for a pat and cuddle. She soon got used to me — to the point where she will swim up to me when I'm going past, and tap me on the legs until I hold my arms out for her to lay on for a cuddle."



"Most divers seeing this for the first time can't believe it," he added. "I don't feed her or any of the other sharks I play with — I basically treat them like I would a dog."

Port Jackson sharks are a lot smaller than great white sharks, but any kind of shark tends to ignite fear, especially as the media often wrongly portrays sharks as dangerous to people. In reality, people are far more dangerous to sharks — it's estimated that people kill 73 million sharks per year.

Anderson, who's been scuba diving for more than 30 years and runs a dive school, hopes his friendship with this Port Jackson shark will make people less fearful of sharks.

"The biggest misconception about sharks is that they are all mindless killers lying in wait for people to enter the water so they can be devoured," Anderson said.

Besides Port Jacksons, Anderson dives with other shark species, such as banjo sharks, grey nurse sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks and even the odd great white shark.

"I have always felt comfortable swimming with these animals," he said.

Anderson is always open to giving a shark a cuddle, and even after so many years, his friend — the Port Jackson — can't seem to get enough of Anderson.

[PennySerenade]

Canadian among three winners of economics Nobel prize



STOCKHOLM -- A Canadian economist based in the U.S. won the Nobel prize for economics Monday for pioneering research that transformed widely held ideas about the labor force, showing how an increase in the minimum wage doesn't hinder hiring and immigrants do not lower pay for native-born workers. Two others shared the award for developing ways to study these types of societal issues.

Canadian-born David Card of the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded half of the prize for his research on how the minimum wage, immigration and education affect the labor market.

The other half was shared by Joshua Angrist of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dutch-born Guido Imbens of Stanford University for their framework for studying issues that can't rely on traditional scientific methods.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the three "completely reshaped empirical work in the economic sciences."

Together, they helped rapidly expand the use of "natural experiments," or studies based on observing real-world data. Such research made economics more applicable to everyday life, provided policymakers with actual evidence on the outcomes of policies, and in time spawned a more popular approach to economics epitomized by the blockbuster bestseller "Freakonomics," by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt.

In a study published in 1993, Card looked at what happened to jobs at Burger King, KFC, Wendy's and Roy Rogers when New Jersey raised its minimum wage from US$4.25 to $5.05, using restaurants in bordering eastern Pennsylvania as the control -- or comparison -- group. Contrary to previous studies, he and his late research partner Alan Krueger found that an increase in the minimum wage had no effect on the number of employees.

Card and Krueger's research fundamentally altered economists' views of such policies. As noted by the Economist magazine, in 1992 a survey of the American Economic Association's members found that 79% agreed that a minimum wage law increased unemployment among younger and lower-skilled workers. Those views were largely based on traditional economic notions of supply and demand: If you raise the price of something, you get less of it.

By 2000, however, just 46% of the AEA's members said minimum wage laws increase unemployment, largely because of Card and Krueger.

Their findings sparked interest in further research into why a higher minimum wouldn't reduce employment. One conclusion was that companies are able to pass on the cost of higher wages to customers by raising prices. In other cases, if a company is a major employer in a particular area, it may be able to keep wages particularly low, so that it could afford to pay a higher minimum, when required to do so, without cutting jobs. The higher pay would also attract more applicants, boosting labor supply.

Their paper "has shaken up the field at a very fundamental level," said Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "And so for that reason, and all the following research that their work ignited, this is a richly deserved award."

Krueger would almost certainly have shared in the award, Dube said, but the economics Nobel isn't given posthumously. Krueger, Imbens said, co-authored papers with all three winners.

Krueger, who died in 2019 at age 58, taught at Princeton for three decades and was chief Labor Department economist under President Bill Clinton. He also was Obama's chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Card's research also found that an influx of immigrants into a city doesn't cost native workers jobs or lower their earnings, though earlier immigrants can be negatively affected.

Card studied the labor market in Miami in the wake of Cuba's sudden decision to let people emigrate in 1980, leading 125,000 people to leave in what became known as the Mariel Boatlift. It resulted in a 7% increase in the city's workforce. By comparing the evolution of wages and employment in four other cities, Card discovered no negative effects for Miami residents with low levels of education. Follow-up work showed that increased immigration can have a positive impact on income for people born in the country.



Angrist and Imbens won their half of the award for working out the methodological issues that allow economists to draw solid conclusions about cause and effect even where they cannot carry out studies according to strict scientific methods.

Card's work on the minimum wage is one of the best-known natural experiments in economics. The problem with such experiments is that it can be difficult to isolate cause and effect. For example, if you want to figure out whether an extra year of education will increase a person's income, you cannot simply compare the incomes of adults with one more year of schooling to those without.

That's because there are many other factors that might determine whether those who got an extra year of schooling are able to make more money. Perhaps they are harder workers or more diligent and would have done better than those without the extra year even if they did not stay in school. These kinds of issues cause economists and other social science researchers to say "correlation doesn't prove causation."

Imbens and Angrist, however, figured out how to isolate the effects of things like an extra year of school. Their methods enabled researchers to draw clearer conclusions about cause and effect, even if they are unable to control who gets things like extra education, the way scientists in a lab can control their experiments.

Imbens, in one paper, used a survey of lottery winners to evaluate the impact of a government-provided basic income, which has been proposed by left-leaning politicians in the U.S. and Europe. He found that a prize of $15,000 a year did not have much effect on a person's likelihood to work.

Card said he thought the voice message that came in at 2 a.m. from someone from Sweden was a prank until he saw the number on his phone really was from Sweden.

He said he and his co-author Kreuger faced disbelief from other economists about their findings. "At the time, the conclusions were somewhat controversial. Quite a few economists were skeptical of our results," he said.

Imbens' wife, Susan Athey, is also an economist and president-elect of the American Economic Association, and Imbens said they sometimes argue about economics in front of their three children.

"This means, I hope, they'll learn that they need to listen to me a little bit more," he said. "I'm afraid it probably won't work out that way."

At home in Brookline, Massachusetts, Angrist said: "I can hardly believe it. It's only been a few hours and I am still trying to absorb it."

He also missed the call from Nobel officials and awoke to a torrent of texts from friends. Fortunately, he said, he knew enough other Nobel Laureates that he got a callback number from them.

As a youth, Angrist dropped out of a master's program in economics at Hebrew University in Israel, although he did meet his future wife, Mira, there. He has dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship.

"I did have sort of a winding road," he said. "I wasn't a precocious high school student."

The award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over US$1.14 million).

Unlike the other Nobel prizes, the economics award wasn't established in the will of Alfred Nobel but by the Swedish central bank in his memory in 1968, with the first winner selected a year later. It is the last prize announced each year.

Kentucky store earns Guinness record for world's largest pocket knife



A 34-foot, 6-inch folding knife created in Kentucky was certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest pocket knife.

The knife, installed outside Red Hill Cutlery in Radcliff, the home of the Kentucky Museum of American Pocket Knives, was confirmed as the world's largest pocket knife by Guinness, and a ceremony was held Wednesday to commemorate the achievement.

Jason Basham, co-owner of Red Hill Cutlery and the mastermind behind the record attempt, said the hope is that the world's largest pocket knife will serve as a tourist attraction for the museum and the town.

Red Hill Cutlery said the blade alone weighs about 1,500 pounds.

Guinness World Records said the rules required that the folding knife be fully functional. The organization said the knife's creators also took care to ensure it would be able to withstand harsh weather including tornadoes and ice storms.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/10/14 ... 634231454/

[BigGlen]

COVID-19 Patient Dies After Rare 3-hour Erection in Hospital



Doctors say a 69-year-old man died of COVID-19 last year after exhibiting a bizarre and extremely rare side effect of the disease, which they described as a three-hour erection.

The U.S. patient was suffering from priapism, which involves a persistent erection that outlasts or has nothing to do with sexual stimulation, according to the case report published in the January edition of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

According to the case report, the patient had a history of obesity and was suffering from a prolonged cough, congestion, anorexia, weakness and shortness of breath when he went to the emergency room at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, last year. He tested positive for COVID-19 and remained in hospital for several days, during which his health continued to decline. He was eventually sedated, intubated, placed on a ventilator and moved into a prone position to make him more comfortable.

“Nursing noticed an erection” on the afternoon after he was repositioned, doctors wrote in the case study. Health-care workers tried to help by placing ice packs around the man’s penis, but it stayed erect for three hours.

Experts took a look at the man and ran ultrasound scans. They ultimately determined that he was suffering from ischemic priapism, an urgent and potentially dangerous condition during which blood cannot leave the penis. The condition was likely triggered by a blood clot caused by COVID-19, according to the case report.

Doctors gave the man medication to help with his blood flow, then used needles to drain some of the blood and provide his penis with a bit of relief. His erection lasted for a total of three hours by the time they managed to tame it.

Megan Fox Makes Graphic Sex Confession About Machine Gun Kelly



Megan Fox has made a rather NSFW confession about getting nasty in the bedsheets with her boyfriend, Machine Gun Kelly.

The actor lifted the lid on her intense and passionate relationship with the rockstar in an interview with British GQ Style.

While promoting the chat, Fox wrote on Instagram that the pair has experienced a hell of a lot together in their short relationship.

She explained all the things that stick out in her mind including 'feverish obsession', 'guns', 'addiction', 'shamans', 'lots of blood', 'general mayhem', 'therapy', 'tantric night terrors', 'binding rituals', 'chakra sound baths', 'psychedelic hallucinations', 'organic smoothies' and 'the kind of sex that would make Lucifer clutch his rosary'.

Well, that certainly is a lot.




While they have certainly had a full-on time together, it seems like the first time the met was a bit of a fizzer.

They had a brief encounter a a GQ Party years before they would properly meet on a movie set and Megan recalled how Machine Gun Kelly, real name Colson Baker, didn't have a face that night.

"This weird thing happened. We didn't see each other," she said to British GQ Style. "I don't remember your face... And I definitely would have remembered his face.

"I just remember this tall, blond, ghostly creature and I looked up and I was like, 'You smell like weed'.

"He looked down at me and he was like, 'I am weed'. Then, I swear to God, he disappeared like a ninja in a smoke bomb."

While it might sound like a fleeting first interaction, Megan explained that it was probably a good thing they didn't meet properly.

"I think we weren't allowed to see each other yet," the Jennifer's Body star said.



"We weren't supposed to run into each other that night, so our souls, our spirit guides, were luring us away from each other, because you literally had no face, like that thing from Spirited Away.

"Thank God, [because] what torture had I known you were there and I couldn't get to you. It was better that I didn't know."

The next time they met was on the set of Midnight In The Switchgrass, which they both starred in.

Megan recalled how there was so much chemistry in the air and she knew from then that something was going to happen with MGK, whose real name is Colson Baker.

They started texting each other and MGK's first message to the superstar actor was a reference to the first thing he ever said to her: "I am weed."

Machine Gun Kelly also explained what happened when they finally gave into their urges.

"Even our first kiss, she wouldn't kiss me. We just put our lips right in front of each other and breathed each other's breath and then she just left," he said.

(Tantric Night Terrors and Organic Smoothies. Mmmm! That is so hot!)

[lush]

Scientists Ship Ocelot Balls from Texas to Ohio to Try and Save the Species
October 14, 2021*

• Anything for nature, right?



There’s a lot of weird stuff that goes through the mail system every day. But we’re ready to bet that most delivery staff don’t handle packages of animal testicles on a regular basis.

But scientists recently made such a bizarre delivery from Texas to Ohio. And it was all done in the name of saving the endangered species.

Let’s take a step back and start from the beginning. Our story begins in late July when an unfortunate ocelot from the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge got into a fatal accident.

The ocelot, codename OM 283, was crossing the road FM 106 at an unsafe location. The foolhardy crossing ended in his demise.

Hilary Swarts, a wildlife biologist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, called OM 283 a “lovely boy.” According to her, the nine-year-old ocelot died because he got too adventurous.

“He had been using [protected wildlife road crossings] for nearly a year, safely, effectively. It was like: ‘This guy’s got it,’” Swarts told Texas Standard.

“And then he went on a different route and unfortunately got hit by a car.”



A Weird Phone Call

Now, ocelots are an extremely endangered species in the U.S. Their only population in Texas consists of only around 80 individuals.

As such, the loss of even one breeding-age ocelot is a serious blow to the whole community. Who knows how many offspring OM 283 could still have sired.

But wait, thought the ocelot conservationists. Could we still help OM 283 continue his lineage, even from the grave?

This question led to Thomas deMaar, senior veterinarian at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, get one strange phone call.

“Swarts called me during the night, I believe, to tell me that she had a report of a recently dead ocelot, that she was going to pick it up and she was going to put it on ice and bring it in first thing in the morning. … We would try to collect the testes for the goal of collecting reproductive materials,” deMaar recalled.

And that’s just what Swarts did. She threw OM 283 into a freezer box and chauffeured him over to deMaar.

The animal experts weren’t cutting the ocelot’s balls off just for giggles, though. DeMaar says the procedure is a valid method for preserving the species.

“If the gonads are collected soon after death, you can actually retrieve either sperm or eggs and then subject them to freezing. They can be used at a later date to produce offspring in another uterus, so to speak,” he said.

Onward to Ohio

The late OM 283’s testicles were now safely in a freezer box. But they didn’t have the equipment necessary to harvest his sperm in Texas.

So, the ‘nads got a one-way ticket to the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. Time wasn’t on the scientists’ side, though, since the genetic material starts deteriorating rapidly within 24 hours of death.

“We received the sample here 36 hours after the cat was hit by the car. That was extraordinary,” said Bill Swanson, director of conservation at Cincinnati Zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife.

As such, Swanson didn’t expect to find a single valid sperm. To his surprise, though, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

“I got 250 million sperm, which was a lot. I froze 20 semen straws, and theoretically, we could do 20 artificial insemination procedures with those straws,” Swanson explained.

“But in practice, that probably really means maybe 10 procedures because we want to maximize our chances to get a pregnancy.”

Swanson added that the quantity and quality of OEM 283’s sperm was a testament to the ocelot’s power and virility.

“May he rest in peace,” he concluded.

Danger in Texas

Ocelots are a species of spotted wild cat that lives mostly in Mexico, Central and South America, and some Caribbean Islands. The cats look a little bit like a housecat got busy with a leopard.

According to Swanson, ocelots as a species aren’t in danger. It’s just the U.S. population in Texas that’s at risk of disappearing.

“Once those ocelots are gone, we’ll probably never have ocelots in the United States or Texas again,” said Swanson.

One of the issues the Texan ocelots face is their dedication to their natural habitat. They live only in a small patch of thorn scrub areas right at Texas’ most southern tip.

“They’re really, really loyal to this one habitat type, and you don’t really find them anywhere else. Sometimes getting from one habitat patch to another requires crossing a road, and vehicle mortalities are the largest source of known mortality for ocelots,” explained Swats.

Of course, scientists would like to see the ocelots make babies the natural way. Unfortunately, with so few remaining cats and scattered population areas, they’ve started keeping their genes in the family, so to say.

We don’t need to tell you that incest is not a good idea. That’s why conservationists often end up using artificial insemination to try and preserve the ocelots.

A little bit of good news at the end — OM 283’s sperm has already been used. And the results look good.

“Her name is Lucy. She had eight ovulations on her ovaries which is a pretty large number for an ocelot, so that was very promising,” said Swanson.

Here’s hoping OM 283’s line will continue, even if he himself is no more.

A British beast rarer than the panda



Chillingham Castle is home to one of the world's last remaining herds of wild cattle, whose gene pool is so isolated that every animal is essentially a genetic clone.
"The good news is, if they charge us, you don't have to outrun them. You just have to outrun the person next to you," said Denene Crossley, one of the two sisters who serve as wardens of these strange and rare beasts.

Ill-tempered, unpredictable and capable of a not-exactly-leisurely top speed of 30mph, Chillingham wild cattle are not to be trifled with. Crossley and I were observing the animals from a safe distance, amid the sloping meadows and ancient oak and alder forests of Chillingham Cattle Park in Northumberland, where they have roamed free from human interference for the better part of 1,000 years.

White as snow, with sinewy frames, a fierce temperament and vast horns that curve menacingly into jet-black tips, these are no ordinary oxen. Among the last remaining wild cattle in the world, they retain a primeval character. They are also some of the rarest animals on the planet; currently numbering around 130, they are far fewer in number than giant pandas, Siberian tigers or mountain gorillas.

"Although there are about 1.2 billion cattle in the world, only very few – on a few oceanic islands, and at Chillingham – live free of human interference or management," explained Stephen Hall, professor of animal science at the University of Lincoln and a trustee of the Chillingham Wild Cattle Association. "They are the only British breed of cattle to have escaped 'improvement' by selective breeding during the so-called Agricultural Revolution of approximately 200 to 300 years ago."

In general body size and shape they are, effectively, medieval cattle

This is evident in their small stature – the bulls weigh in at around 400kg, less than one-third that of modern continental breeds – and in the cows' small udders, which only have to produce milk for one calf at a time. "In general body size and shape they are, effectively, medieval cattle," said Hall.



It was the medieval fervour for blood sports that meant the Chillingham cattle were originally enclosed in the park around 800 years ago – and left to live in a wild state. "They were treated like a large game animal," explained Crossley. "The residents of Chillingham Castle would have come across on horseback with packs of hounds and lances, and they would have chased them through the park. That's why they were kept wild in the first place – they wanted that fight-or-flight response."

The cattle's spectral form fits in perfectly against the backdrop of the castle, located next to the cattle park but now under separate ownership and said to be the most haunted castle in Britain. Dave Godfrey, a tour guide in one of the castle's opulent state rooms, spoke of disembodied voices that babble incoherently in the chapel, ghouls flitting across moonlit courtyards and a frail figure who approaches guests in the pantry, begging them for water.

"Then there's the Blue Boy, who heard some wrongdoings being plotted and was encased in a wall while he was still alive," said Godfrey.

Reports of a ghostly boy seen in the castle's Pink Room were just another part of the estate's folkloric fabric, until workmen in the 1920s made an unexpected discovery while excavating a wall. "They found the remains of a boy, with the bones on his fingers worn down. They gave him a Christian burial, and his ghost hasn't been seen since." My girlfriend and I couldn't resist the opportunity to spend the night in the castle's old guard room, although we didn't experience anything spooky. Nor has Godfrey, in several years of working there. "I frighten the ghosts off, I think," he said with a chuckle.

The Chillingham cattle's characteristics may have been frozen in time in the medieval era, but theories as to their earlier origins are manifold and colourful. A 2nd-Century terracotta oil lamp, depicting a bovine with a curly forelock like that of the Chillingham breed, was found on the grounds of the castle. The discovery ignited speculation that the Romans, known for their religious veneration of white animals, might have sacrificed Chillingham cattle in the Mithraic temples along nearby Hadrian's Wall.


Due to centuries of inbreeding, Chillingham wild cattle are genetic clones that all look identical

The New York Times attributed an even more ancient sacrificial importance to the cattle, positing that they emerged after pre-Roman Celtic druids attempted, through "a process of segregation and selective slaughter", to engineer an all-white version of the aurochs, the wild progenitor of all modern cattle species, for use in religious rituals.

The theory that the Chillingham cattle are the last relic of aurochs herds that once widely roamed Britain's woodlands is seductive but misguided. "All modern-day European cattle were created as a result of domesticating the aurochs when man started farming thousands of years ago," explained Ellie Waddington, Crossley's sister and fellow cattle warden. "I wouldn't describe the Chillingham cattle as any more closely related to them than any other modern breed, but they do give us a real insight into how the aurochs may have behaved. The herd structure, the psychology, the mating rituals and so on – nowhere else can you see and study a truly natural herd structure."

Unusually compared to dairy breeds, the Chillingham herd have a 50/50 gender split, and they produce young year-round. Competition among the males is fierce, bloody and occasionally fatal; as these are wild animals, the wardens let nature run its course. "Eye injuries, broken ribs, puncture wounds – we have no veterinary intervention at all," said Crossley. "That doesn't sit right with everyone, but they're wild animals; they don't want our help."

The limit of human involvement is leaving hay for the animals in the harsh winters and putting them out of their misery if they are sick or injured beyond the point of recovery. It's just as well that the cattle all look identical, so it's impossible to identify individuals. "Given that the only way we can assist them if they're suffering is to shoot them, it's best not to be on a first-name basis," said Crossley.

The reason for their homogeneity is centuries of inbreeding, to the point that the cattle are essentially genetic clones. The damaging effects of inbreeding are well known – many scientific studies have shown that it causes animal populations to be more prone to birth defects and infectious diseases than those that draw on a wide gene pool. If you've ever seen a Habsburg jaw gurning down at you from one of the great portrait halls of Europe, you'll know that it's not a good idea in humans, either.


Chillingham wild cattle are known to have a fierce and unpredictable temperament

Ordinarily, inbreeding causes populations to die out, but, by a quirk of evolutionary fate, it has had the opposite effect in the Chillingham cattle – a trait unique in the natural world. "Being isolated, they've managed to essentially purify their gene pool through inbreeding, to the point where they're natural clones of each other and there's not enough diversity to cause harmful mutations," explained Crossley. "It goes against everything we know about inbreeding." The cattle themselves take steps to maintain this genetic equilibrium. "The last calf to be born with a mutation was about 20 years ago, and it was missing its tail. The mother abandoned it and it died within about 24 hours, and that was it. Whatever caused that mutation didn't get passed on."

They've managed to essentially purify their gene pool through inbreeding, to the point where they're natural clones of each other

If that sounds cruel, maybe it's because the Chillingham cattle have learned the lessons of survival the hard way, with the herd having nearly died out on several occasions. "They were down to five bulls and eight cows in the harsh winter of early 1947," said Hall. "The main threat facing them, though, is diseases, such as foot-and-mouth." That very illness almost saw off the cattle in 1967, getting within two miles of the park; any closer and the cattle would have been culled. That prompted the establishment of a backup herd in a secret location in Scotland and a store of frozen embryos.

For now, though, the herd is thriving. The population is at its biggest since record-keeping began at the behest of Charles Darwin in the 19th Century; and Waddington has christened the latest cohort of young bulls "The Hoodies" for their boisterous disregard for their elders. Modern visitors to the park are confronted with a sight unchanged since the medieval era: a population of rare genetic outliers, living in a wild state as they have done for hundreds of years. Just don't get too close.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210915-a-british-beast-rarer-than-the-panda

[Fivetide]

Man uses gun to defend pet duck from neighbor’s dog: cops


Clinton Wilson had fired warning shots to protect his pet duck from a dog attack.
Escalon Police Department

He should’ve warned people to duck.

A California man was arrested Monday after allegedly firing his gun in the air to prevent a neighbor’s dog from mauling his pet duck.

Escalon police said they responded to reports of gunshots in the morning and arrested the culprit, named Clinton Wilson, who was later charged with reckless endangerment stemming from willfully discharging “a firearm in a grossly negligent manner,” according to police in Escalon, California.

The bizarre incident occurred at around 9:15 a.m., whereupon the neighbor’s dog allegedly bit Wilson’s pet duck, reportedly leaving his fine feathered friend with a broken leg.

Upon noticing his duck buddy was unable to walk, the aggrieved quack fiend reportedly “went into his house and retrieved his .38 caliber pistol,” per the police report. He then left his house and proceeded to discharge the weapon in the air and yell at his neighbor.

Sgt. Gustavo Flores of the Escalon Police Department told CBS that “Mr. Wilson had fired the gun to scare the dog” away from his pet after seeing the canine leap over the fence.

Nonetheless, the officer called the bird owner’s actions “reckless,” adding that it was lucky that Wilson’s warning shots didn’t hit anybody on the way down.

Wilson’s neighbor, Alejandro Mancilla, who had reported the gunfire to the police, seconded Flores’ sentiment.

“There’s other ways to scare off a dog than shooting shots in the air,” he said. “That’s not very responsible and living around the area it’s scary to think someone’s doing that.”

The dog was taken to an animal shelter and eventually returned to its owner, who was cited for keeping an unlicensed pet and letting it run at large.

Farmer carves proposal in field before flying girlfriend over in hot air balloon



Each and every proposal story has its own unique set of highlights - from the location to the method of asking.

They can be a stressful affair - as many tend to overthink the nerve-wracking situation where they ask the love of their life to marry them.

One farmer went viral after ploughing the words 'will you marry me?' into a field before flying his girlfriend over the top - in a hot air balloon.

Romantic Sam Tucker, 24, ploughed the words into the ground at his dairy farm in Wellington, Somerset.

It took him two hours to make the message - which stretches over 100 metres - using a machine of just three metres wide.

"It was a beautiful day too, which was lucky. October isn't the best month for British weather to do it, but it was a really perfect morning.

He then hired a balloon and flew his girlfriend of two years Megan Wilkins, 23, over the countryside before dropping to one knee - and luckily she said yes.

Sam said: ''I actually proposed in the balloon, I got down on one knee up there.

"I don't know what specifically inspired me to do it, I must have seen it somewhere, but I've had the idea in my head for years, so it's been a long time coming.

"I think we're planning on having at least the reception in a field. Megan isn't from a farming background but she loves it now.''

Sam was helped by Bailey Balloons a hot air balloon company based in Bristol.

Jo Bailey of Bailey Balloons said: “Megan was delighted as they took off from his farm and she saw the message straight away and was delighted and said yes.

“They then enjoyed flying over Sam’s farm and looking at all of the places where they grew up.”

[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 OCTOBER 15
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 -5)
2:00 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]

Portland pachyderms pulverize pumpkins in pre-Halloween ‘Squishing of the Squash’

The Oregon Zoo’s elephant herd partook in the 23rd annual “Squishing of the Squash” on Thursday, October 14, with the world’s largest land mammals reducing giant pumpkins into pulps, including one gourd weighing 650 pounds.

With physical distancing requirements and restrictions on large gatherings in place, the zoo wasn’t able to hold a public event this year, but the elephants still had fun, doing all their stomping and chomping this morning before the zoo opened.

“Everything looks a little different for us this year, but the elephants didn’t seem to mind,” senior keeper Dimas Dominguez said. “They got one 650-pound pumpkin and a couple more pretty big ones to play with. First, they destroy them, then they enjoy them.”

This year’s pumpkins were provided by Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers Club members Larry Nelson and Jacob Baldridge.

The Oregon Zoo’s Squishing of the Squash tradition dates back to 1999, when Hoffman’s Dairy Garden of Canby dropped off a prize-winning 828-pound pumpkin for the elephant family. In those days, local farmers often donated overstock pumpkins for use in the zoo’s groundbreaking animal enrichment efforts — improving animals’ well-being by providing stimulating and challenging environments, objects and activities.

The concept of environmental enrichment was established at this zoo back in the 1980s, and the first international animal enrichment conference was held here in 1993.

The Oregon Zoo is recognized worldwide for its Asian elephant program, which has spanned more than 60 years. Considered highly endangered in their range countries, Asian elephants are threatened by habitat loss, conflict with humans and disease. It is estimated that just 40,000 to 50,000 elephants remain in fragmented populations from India to Borneo. The zoo supports a broad range of efforts to help wild elephants, and has established a $1 million endowment fund supporting Asian elephant conservation.

As part of the Metro family, the Oregon Zoo helps make greater Portland a great place to call home. Committed to conservation, the zoo is working to save endangered California condors, northwestern pond turtles, Oregon silverspot and Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies, and northern leopard frogs. To learn more, visit oregonzoo.org/recovery.

Support from the Oregon Zoo Foundation enhances and expands the zoo’s efforts in conservation, education and animal welfare. Members, donors and corporate and foundation partners help the zoo make a difference across the region and around the world. To contribute, go to oregonzoo.org/donate.

Source

[Fatima99]

Nurse sues NHS claiming 'hypnosis' at hospital was 'making her fart against her will'



A former nurse has unsuccessfully sued the NHS, claiming that she was subject to 'hypnotic experiments' at work which made her 'fart against her will'.

Xandra Samson, who worked at Ealing Hospital in London, was sacked in December 2019 after refusing psychiatric help. She then sued London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

She claimed at a recent employment tribunal that bosses were trying to "control" employees, making the workplace hot and poorly ventilated to allow their consciousnesses to be altered.

At the time of her sacking, Samson contacted the National Hypnotherapy Society in an attempt to back up her allegations.

She added that she was the target of a little-known hypnotic practice called the "ideomotor phenomenon" which allegedly forces people into unconscious behaviours.

She said at the tribunal: "I would like to report an observed pattern of likely inappropriate use of hypnosis/ideomotor phenomenon in my NHS workplace.

"I am a healthy individual and do not have any past medical history but recently I have had various symptoms including headaches, breathing difficulty (a feeling of getting choked), and gastrointestinal disturbance (borborygmus, spasms, flatulence).

"It becomes extremely bothersome and a distraction at work. It also involves a feeling of being attacked in various parts of the body including that of one’s private part, which I feel is very inappropriate.

"I understand that control is achieved in this phenomenon with an altered state of consciousness and the poorly controlled thermoregulation and inadequate ventilation in the area is set up for this purpose.

"I have also noticed that I am being subjected to significant stress/anxiety, which I think makes the subject control easier in this process."

Before her sacking, two separate doctors had deemed Samson unfit for work.

She lost this recent case at the Watford Employment Tribunal Centre.

Judge Oliver Hyams sided the the NHS, admitting that he "had no idea what ideomotor phenomenon was".

He added: "[NHS bosses] did what they did purely because of what they perceived to be impairments to her mental health exhibited by her various statements."

[prokroustis]

Greek artifacts exhibited underwater off the Asia Minor coastline

The “Lycia-Kaş Underwater Art Park” will exhibit replicas of smuggled historical Greek civilization artifacts under the sea in Turkey’s southern province of Attaleia (Ἀττάλεια, Turkish: Antalya) in the district of Antifellos (Αντίφελλος, Turkish: Kaş).

More than 650 lost Greek artifacts from the ancient city of Lycia (Λυκία) will be presented to visitors of the art park in an area of approximately 10,000 square meters under the sea.

The Greek artificts were lowered into the water by divers.

Underwater photographer Şükrü Gürsoy made 25 dives and stayed underwater for 30 hours to capture the moments while the artworks were being replaced in the water.

“The purpose is to create an area where visitors who come to the region with tour boats can watch without diving,” said Kaş District Governor Şaban Arda Yazıcı.

“The artifacts lowered into the Limanağzı region will offer pleasant visuals to visitors in a depth of 5 meters to 20 meters.

“Thanks to the project, the pressure of the boats that anchor heavily in the area where the artifacts are unloaded will be prevented, and fixed vaults will be placed on the area in order to protect the posedonia meadows.”

Among the works to be exhibited underwater are the columns on the Patara Colonnaded Street, Poseidon and his Horses, the Chimera and the Legend of Bellarophoron, and the Erbinna Monument (Nereids) in the ancient city of Xanthos that stand out.

Lycia appears as an important figure in Greek mythology and is frequently referenced.

The historian Herodotus records one version of Lycian descent, claiming that the inhabitants of Lycia were originally from Crete (1.173.3).

He relates their origin to a royal dispute between the two sons of Europa, namely Sarpedon and Minos. Sarpedon, the defeated brother, was cast out but went on to found Lycia.

During this period, Herodotus claims that the settlement was known as Termilae.

It was not until a man called Lycus, who was banished from Athens, arrived at Termilae that the site was then known as Lycia.

[Fivetide]

At flooded restaurant near Bangkok, the special is a splash


Customers of the riverside Chaopraya Antique Café enjoy themselves despite the extraordinary high water levels in the Chao Phraya River in Nonthaburi, near Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. The flood-hit restaurant has become an unlikely dining hotspot after fun-loving foodies began flocking to its water-logged deck to eat amid the lapping tide. Now, instead of empty chairs and vacant tables the “Chaopraya Antique Café” is as full as ever, offering an experience the canny owner has re-branded as “hot-pot surfing.” (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A flood-hit riverside restaurant in Thailand has become an unlikely dining hotspot after fun-loving foodies began flocking to its waterlogged deck to eat amid the lapping tide.

Now, instead of empty chairs and vacant tables, the Chaopraya Antique Café is as full as ever, offering an experience the canny owner calls “hot-pot surfing.”

If you like your food washed down with plenty of water, this is the place for you.



Shortly after the water tops the parapet, the first diners arrive. Before long, the deck is crammed with carefree customers happily tucking in as if dining in a deluge is the norm.

The wait staff — some clad in rubber boots — step gingerly through the swirl that quickly rises to more than 50 centimeters (20 inches).



The restaurant, in Nonthaburi near Bangkok, opened in February in a riverside location that perfectly complements its antique architecture and décor.

But a recent severe tropical storm and heavy monsoon rains combined to raise the river’s water level. Add in the tides and the result has been daily inundation.



Coming straight after a monthslong coronavirus shutdown, it could have spelled disaster. Instead — boosted by publicity in the Thai media — it’s now so popular that customers need to make reservations.

“This is a great atmosphere. During this flood crisis this has became the restaurant’s signature attraction. So I wanted to challenge myself and try out this new experience,” 24-year-old Siripoj Wai-inta said as he munched his food with the water creeping up his shins.



The owner has dubbed the experience “hot-pot surfing.” When a passenger boat motors past you find out why. The delighted scramble to avoid a soaking from the wave is the moment everyone waits for, and with one passing every 15 minutes, no one goes home disappointed.

It’s TV presenter Titiporn Jutimanon’s first restaurant venture. He says he was worried what would happen when the floods came.



“It turns out the customers have a great reaction. They are happy. We can see the atmosphere of customers enjoying the experience of eating in the water. So a crisis has turned into an opportunity. It encourages us to keep the restaurant open and keep customers happy.”

Best of all, he says, it means he can keep his staff happy by keeping them employed. So, even amid harsh economic times, the only thing that needs a bailout is the restaurant itself.

See news video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuz4bM4atDg

Man finds nearly 50-year-old message between two walls of his home



An Australian man renovating his home found a message in a bottle concealed between two walls, and was able to find one of the construction workers who wrote the note nearly 50 years earlier.

Matt Streatfeild, of Newcastle, New South Wales, said a glass milk bottle was found between two walls in his home during a recent renovation project, and inside was a note signed by four construction workers who built the walls decades earlier.

The note, dated April 5, 1974, lists the workers who completed the project and explains the project was among their first after converting to the metric system.

"You always hear the legend of messages in a bottle, but you never think you'll find one in between two walls in your own house," Streatfeild told NBN News.

Streatfeild posted photos of the note to Facebook, and was later able to get into contact with Ron Niddrie, one of the workers who authored the message.

"One of these little mementos has paid off," Middrie said. "The fact that it was 47 years ago was even more of a shock."

Streatfeild said he plans to return the bottle to its former home when the renovation project is completed, along with a message in a bottle of his own.

He said he is planning to include a "little face mask from 2021 and a bit of a description of how life's been for the last couple of years."

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/10/14 ... 634241103/