[johngriffen]

IN OTHER NEWS...
CURRENTLY OFFLINE

Hold off posting your news stories
The editors and accountant department are reviewing last weeks reports to insure that all our reporters get their proper paycheck

[johngriffen]

FOR STORIES POSTED THE W/O OCTOBER 18
Our news editors at IN OTHER NEWS have carefully reviewed all the stories submitted by our reporters
Following is last weeks Reporter Log

LEGEND:
X = Acceptable Story
PP = PULITZER PRIZE
NA = Not Acceptable Story
DS = Duplicate Story
NOTE: If you feel the editors made a mistake, please feel free to PM me so that we can review your claim

A SPECIAL THANKS TO 12 ACE REPORTERS WHO FILED A NEWS STORY EVERY DAY
annonymous777
BigGlen
Deepintexas
Fatima99
goldie0608
Jmalarkey1010
lasos1
lush
Mintrydream00
ozswede
PennySerenade
prokroustis



Every week the editors will review all the stories and pick the one story that we feels deserves a
MOBI PULITZER PRIZE
There are many different categories for submissions. The previous week, the category was "HOW CUTE?"
But this week, the category was "BEST HEADLINE"

W/O OCTOBER 11 CATEGORY = BEST HEADLINE
ozswede
DAY = SUNDAY OCTOBER 24
STORY = "An Art-Making Robot Was Detained on Her Way to Show at the Pyramids Because Egyptian Customs Officials Thought She Was a Spy"
There were soooooooo many classic headlines this week. However, this one stands out. It has a lot of different elements working to make this one the Headline of the Week

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS WEEKS MOBI PULITZER PRIZE WINNER = 100 WRZ

THE NEXT NEWS CYCLE WILL BEGIN SHORTLY

[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
MONDAY OCTOBER 25
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]

'Talentless' driver's U-turn stunt goes badly wrong as he tries to give police the slip

A speeding driver trying to elude a pursuing West Midlands Police patrol car was left high and dry after he got stuck in an embarrassing U-turn manoeuvre.

The patrol car was in pursuit of a fail to stop suspect on Sunday night as part of the Operation Hercules dangerous driving campaign.

However, the driver attempted to mount a raised central reservation in a bid to flee the pursuing police car and drive down the opposite lane.


Driver mounts central reservation in police chase and gets stuck

The driver, who had clearly been watching too many movies, got stuck and now faces a hefty fine and possible court appearance.

WMP Traffic tweeted at 11.57pm on Sunday: "The result when the driver fails to stop and runs out of what little talent they thought they had."

[Fatima99]

Baked Bean Fanatic Has Spent Over £10,000 Turning His Life Into All Things Beans



A baked bean fanatic has adapted every aspect of his life to centre around his 'passion' and has even forked out over £10,000 ($13,700) on bean-themed merch.

Mr Beany himself - formerly known as Barry Kirk - renovated his bathroom and kitchen some years ago. Instead of going for neutral tones with a splash of colour here and there, the 67-year-old painted every wall orange.

On top of that he stuck bean stickers all over the gaff, bought some orange flannels and towels before creating pyramids using tins of baked beans.

His renovation, as well as all the other merchandise he's splashed out on over the years means that Captain Beany estimates an expenditure at around £10,000.





The Captain - who claims to eat baked beans around four times a week - changed his name by deed poll back in May 1991 and he's become something of a local celebrity in his town of Port Talbot ever since.

Speaking affectionately about the creation of this 'character', Captain Beany told LADbible: "I have created this persona to engage with the local community at large with some wacky stunts to generate re-sauces [he just doesn't stop] for all manner of charitable causes whatever large or small."

He went on to add: "I have always felt that I was physically and mentally destined to make a valid existence to my well being, and loved performing in school plays and 'dressing up' to be in character.

"I feel empowered when I am in superhero mode and conducting my own performance to make families happy and so 'full of beans'."



Captain Beany doesn't shy away from the inevitable either and has spoken about the extravagant plans he has put in place for when he reaches his 'sell by date'.

He explained: "I'm not planning to escape Earth just yet, but I have made provisions by having my own personal 'space capsule' made.

"I would love to have a rich billionaire such as Elon Musk of SpaceX to bean me on board his spacecraft and launch me into outer space.

"Perhaps one day in the near future, aliens shall commandeer my 'space capsule' and resurrect me on a far off distant planet, preferably Planet Beanus."

Well if anyone's going there, I think we can all agree it'll be Captain Beany. Here's his coffin, emblazoned with 'R.I.B [rest in beans, apparently] Captain Beany'.



Before Captain Beany ends up using his 'space capsule', he's hoping to find his Mrs Right... his 'Tina Beans' and has even submitted his application for Married At First Sight.

He told us: "I've previously had some loving, long-lasting relationships but never bean and done it when it comes to walking down the church aisle."

We wonder whether there's a woman out there that will love him from his baked bean tattooed head to his teeny weeny... TOES.

Alligator caught trying to break into community pool in North Carolina



Police in North Carolina said they were called to a neighborhood to eject an alligator found trying to gain access to a community pool.

The Sunset Beach Police Department said in a Facebook post that officers were dispatched to the Oyster Bay Drive area of the city on a report of an alligator trying to get into the community pool.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=239591478205719

On Friday October 15, 2021, Officers from the Sunset Beach Police Department were dispatched to Oyster Bay Drive for complaints of a 9 foot alligator walking through the neighborhood. The alligator had also attempted entry into the community pool area. When officers arrived, the alligator had broken through porch lattice at the reservation office. Out of concern for the safety of property owners and neighborhood residents, the gator was relocated to a nearby pond.

Officers arrived on the scene to find the reptile had broken through the porch lattice at the pool's reservation office.

The alligator was escorted to a nearby pond.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/10/21 ... 634852157/

Moment spectator wipes out race leader in brutal collision just yards from the finish line at Spanish cycling event




Video shows cyclists racing towards finish line surrounded by spectators
A woman walks out into the road and collides with the front-runner
Footage shows the pair both get knocked to the ground in the brutal crash
Woman was treated at the scene but rider went to hospital with a head injury
Incident took place at Condaca Salmor cycling event on El Hierro, Canary Islands

By William Cole For Mailonline
Published: 07:17 EDT, 25 October 2021 | Updated: 08:28 EDT, 25 October 2021

This is the shocking moment a spectator at a cycle race walked onto the track just before the finish line, knocking over the would-be champion.

Racing fans can be heard screaming as the woman and rider are sent crashing to the ground in the brutal collision, filmed on Saturday.

The incident took place at the Condaca Salmor cycling event on El Hierro in the Canary Islands.

Footage shows the cyclist with victory in his sights sprinting towards the finish line of the 55-mile route.

Spectators stand on both sides of the road, and at one point a man casually crosses the track with plenty of time to spare.

However, with the first cyclist now just yards away, a woman decides to follow in his footsteps.

She appears to lean out from the crowd before skipping across the road but the cyclist hits her head-on.

The collision sends both cyclist and spectator sprawling to the ground, with the cyclist robbed of victory.

Medical staff tended to the pair, with the woman only requiring treatment for minor injuries at the scene.

However, the cyclist suffered a 'moderate' head injury and was taken to the Nuestra Senora de Los Reyes Hospital in the island's capital, Valverde, for treatment.

According to reports, the cyclist suffered memory loss in the collision.

Local news outlet Cope reported that the Spanish Civil Guard got involved with the case, but it is not clear if any criminal charges have been pressed.

The identities of those involved were not reported.

[Mintydreams00]

Belgian malinois piggy backs schnoodle half his size - and always has done

Milan and Charlie, from North Carolina, are an unlikely doggy duo - but have been melting hearts on TikTok with their piggy backs

A Belgian malinois cross has ‘won TikTok’ after trying to hitch a piggy back from his tiny brother.

The one-year-old dog, named Milan, is a Dutch shepherd cross Belgian malinois, and lives with his 12-year-old brother, Charlie - a ‘Schnoodle’.

And over the last 12 months, whilst the fully-grown schnauzer poodle mix has remained the same size, Milan grew considerably bigger without even realising.

In a viral clip viewed more than 1.7 million times this week, it shows a huge Milan trying to ‘sit’ on Charlie’s back in the kitchen to the ‘I’m Just a Kid’ audio.

Owner, Hannah Dopson, from North Carolina, then shows a clip of Milan doing the very same thing as a puppy, in the same spot in the kitchen.


A much bigger Milan, aged one, still trying to piggyback Charlie, 12 (Image: TikTok @Hannahdopson)

The second clip sees a much smaller Milan with his back legs hanging over Charlie’s back, who was bigger than the puppy at the time.

The video, captioned ‘Piggy back rides for life’, has won over their 2,730 followers on the popular video sharing app, with many taking to the comments to say how cute the video is.

One said: “The white dog is like ‘how did he get so big?’”

Another said: “It never really worked but it became their ‘thing’ and now it’s always their ‘thing’.”

“This wins TikTok. This made my night,” said a third.

Both Dutch shepherds and Belgian malinois are intelligent and athletic breeds, often used in the police force and army as working dogs for search and general purpose.

TeamDogs spoke to the trainer of one malinois, called Shinga, who was being trained to protect rhinos in Africa.

Part of Dogs 4 Wild, in South Wales, Shinga was getting ready for a deployment to Zimbabwe where she would be tracking humans across nature reserves, as well as act as a deterrent to poachers looking to hunt antelope, giraffes and warthogs.

[PennySerenade]

Toronto raccoons have become a symbol of life in the city but they get up to antics all over the place.

Such was the case when a portly raccoon found itself stuck in a roof just north of Toronto, in Aurora, this week.

Here in Toronto, we have seen raccoons get trapped on condo balconies, they have been found in fireplaces and stuck on bridges.

Aurora resident Bernie Zeesman spotted the trapped trash panda on Oct. 21 just across the street.

"I opened my drapes and 9 a.m., when I start my workday, and it was it was stuck in there," Zeesman tells blogTO.

Video Here:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1451652341967503367



He thinks the raccoon may have gotten in a hole sometime overnight.

Shingles had come off the roof and Zeesman noticed a hole in the roof the day before. The home had been recently sold and was rented out but he thought the residents had been away for a few days.

"So there was so there was nobody to contact," he says. "So many people were stopping and people called animal control and nobody could do anything because the homeowner has to be involved."

Meanwhile, the poor raccoon was stuck, feet up inside the hole. By the afternoon, two men working in the area, driving in Synergy Energy trucks, finally stopped to help. They climbed on the roof with a ladder but at first couldn't get the poor guy out.

"At first they pulled on its legs and it was really stuck."

The raccoon may have been overweight or pregnant.

"It's clear that this was a big raccoon so we're still not sure if was it pregnant and maybe it was looking for a place to go have its babies."

Luckily, people came by with things to help.

"One of the neighbors brought out some olive oil and some Dawn dish soap, [they were] literally pouring it over trying to lube it up."

Another neighbour brought a children's hockey net to protect the workers in case the raccoon attacked.

Eventually, they got a really good grip and they wiggled the raccoon out.

"It was not happy but it was probably too tired."

It had been in the roof for more than six hours and had trouble walking when it was finally released. He believes the raccoon eventually made it off the roof. He later noticed the roof hole was patched up.

Zeesman says raccoons also tried to get into his roof a while back but he had it quickly repaired. The raccoon problems seem to be migrating north.

"I think it's still worse in Toronto for sure but they're definitely out of here."

Doctor Finds Spider Scurrying Around Inside Woman's Ear Canal



Skin-crawling footage shows a tiny spider hanging out inside a woman's ear canal - at one point suddenly scurrying towards the miniature camera as a doctor tries to remove the unwanted visitor.

The creepy crawly had made its way inside the ear of a patient from Zhuzhou, which is located in China's Hunan Province.

The woman, named as Yi in local media reports, went to the hospital on Monday 18 October after the spider reportedly spent the WHOLE NIGHT inside her ear canal.

Nope. No thank you. Absolutely not.



She had been out the night before when she felt a strange discomfort in her ear, and realised she could also hear a noise.

After the itchiness became too much for her to bear, Yi eventually went to hospital to get herself checked out.

According to local media outlet Beijing News, the doctor found a spider crawling around 'on the surface of the tympanic membrane' of her ear.



The medic inserted a small camera to take a look, with horrifying footage showing the arachnid scurrying around her ear canal - rushing towards the camera a few seconds into the clip.

Thankfully, the doctor was able to remove the spider using an electric otoscope, which is a device used to look inside people's ears.



Recently, a photograph emerged of a spider found underneath a man's bed in Ecuador - which was not only one of the world's most venomous spiders, but also so big it was the size of the bloke's hand.

Photographer Gil Wizen noticed tiny spiders appearing in his bedroom and decided to take a look under his bed to see where they were coming from when he got a very nasty surprise.

At the time, he was staying at a reserve in Napo, where he was greeted by a huge Brazilian wandering spider and its offspring.

Perhaps even more incredibly, the image named 'The spider room' won Mr Wilzen a Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for Urban Wildlife.



Speaking on his blog about the photograph, which appears to be from 2014, he said: "Not only there were literally thousands of spiderlings under the bed, right beside them rested one of the biggest 'non-tarantula' spiders I have ever seen.

"Its body length was 45mm but with its leg span it could easily cover my hand."

(The itty bitty spider, went in my ear canal
It must have took a wrong turn, was my rational
In went the tweezers and took away the pain
Cuz I'm pretty sure that spider, was going for my brain.)

[goldie0608]

'Sweet' K9 Officer Welcomed Home from Hospital After Getting Shot in the Head: 'He's a Hero'

Members of the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department and the Wisconsin community celebrated K9 officer Riggs' recovery after being shot in the forehead last week while on duty



Welcome back, Riggs!

A K9 officer for the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department in Wisconsin has recovered and is being hailed a "hero" after recovering from a gunshot wound sustained while apprehending a suspect tied to several murders in Chicago.

The eight-year-old German shepherd, named Riggs, is back at home, police say, after spending time in the hospital. Riggs was shot in the forehead Thursday while on duty. Following the incident, Riggs was taken to an emergency veterinarian facility in northern Illinois.

"They brought him in, we triage him and they decided we just kind of had to see what was all going on," veterinarian Dr. Taylor Naef told ABC7. "We stabilized him [and] he was a little shaky after taking a bullet to the head."

Following his treatment and recovery, Riggs was able to leave Buffalo Grove Vet Clinic on Sunday. To celebrate, human and K9 officers gathered outside the animal hospital to give Riggs a hard-earned "hero's welcome" as he left the facility.



"We are grateful for the amount of support received by surrounding agencies and the Kenosha County community. Welcome back, Riggs!!!" the department wrote on Facebook alongside photos from the sweet moment. Photos show Riggs getting greeted by a procession of his supporters from the community.

Sheriff David Beth recalled the moment Riggs — who has spent five years on the police force — was injured, calling the dog a "hero" for his actions.

"In a lot of ways, he's a hero today because he at least initially took the suspect down, kept him from running onto the Highway 50," he said, NBC Chicago reports. "In my world, Riggs is a hero and possibly saved someone else from being injured."

Riggs and his handler, Deputy Terry Tift, are taking time away from work following Riggs's recovery.

"It has been a rough few days," Tifft told ABC7 before thanking both Riggs and the community.

"He's family, he's always been," he continued. "He's a sweet dog, but he did his job, and he saved my life … The show of support from the community means more to me than you guys will ever know."

[Basia1971]

Overlooked No More: Claude Cahun, Whose Photographs Explored Gender and Sexuality *****

Society generally considered women to be women and men to be men in early-20th-century France. Cahun’s work protested gender and sexual norms, and has become increasingly relevant.


“Untitled (Claude Cahun in Le Mystère d’Adam)” by Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, 1929.Credit...Estate of Claude Cahun, via San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Google Pays Homage to Claude Cahun, Surrealist Photographer Who Rejected Gender Binary.



On Monday, Google’s homepage paid homage to Claude Cahun, who was born on this day in 1894. Until recently, Cahun was regarded as a secondary figure within the Surrealist movement. Born under the Lucy Schwob, Cahun rejected gender constructs and imploded the division between masculine and feminine in her photographs. A Jewish refugee, she was also a political dissident and opposed German occupation during World War II.



Here she’s a man. There she’s a woman. Sometimes she’s a little of both. Sometimes her head is shaved. In one photograph, Cahun brings together two silhouette portraits of herself, bald and austere, sizing each other up. “What do you want from me?” her caption reads.


“Que me veux-tu?” by Claude Cahun, 1928.Credit...Claude Cahun, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, via Alamy.

“Masculine? Feminine?” she wrote in her book “Aveux non Avenus,” published in English as “Disavowals.” “It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”

As writer and photographer, Cahun worked at upending convention. “My role,” she wrote in an essay published after her death, “was to embody my own revolt and to accept, at the proper moment, my destiny, whatever it may be.”

Despite gender non-conformity being widely considered taboo in 1920s Paris, Cahun’s decision to publicly identify as non-binary met with controversy, but they explicitly rejected the public fuss. Cahun explored gender-fluidity through literature and melancholic self-portraiture such as the 1927 series “I am in training, don’t kiss me.” This work depicted the artist costumed as a feminized weightlifter, blurring the line between masculine and feminine stereotypes. In addition to their lifelong artistic work, Cahun worked with others to resist fascist occupation. The French government awarded their efforts with the Medal of French Gratitude in 1951.

In 2018, the Paris City Council named a street in honor of Cahun and Moore in the French capital’s sixth district, where the duo once lived. In addition to increasing focus on their pioneering work in the Surrealist movement and breaking down gender barriers in the photographic arts, Cahun’s work has influenced gender bending celebrities, the modern LGBTQ+ community, and conversations on identity and expression to this day.

Happy birthday, Claude Cahun!


“Self Portrait,” with cat, in garden, by Claude Cahun, 1950.Credit...Jersey Heritage Collections/Jersey Heritage

A meme a day keeps the therapist away, study on pandemic stress shows

A meme a day keeps the therapist away. This could be the lesson of fresh research into the impact of humorous content from social media during the pandemic.

A few funny memes every day can be enough to help people better cope with the everyday stresses of life during the pandemic, according to a US study on the effect of the humorous online content, published in the Psychology of Popular Media journal.

Such comical photos shared on social media can also increase people’s confidence in their ability to deal with the pandemic – but only if they are not too cutesy, according to the researchers.

The idea that memes, of all things, could be a key weapon in the mental health battle during the pandemic is not as far-fetched as it might sound at first.

Last year a study published in the journal Scientific Reports had reported that memes about depression can help lift the mood of those with mental health problems.

“As the pandemic kept dragging on, it became more and more interesting to me how people were using social media and memes in particular, as a way to think about the pandemic,” says Jessica Myrick, lead author of the new study.

For the Penn State University professor, it is not the first time she has dealt with a pop-cultural internet phenomenon. One of her previous studies had looked at the effects of cat videos on happiness.

For her new study, Myrick and her team surveyed 748 people online last December to find out whether viewing different memes influences emotions, anxiety, information processing and generally coping during the pandemic.

To do this, the researchers collected hundreds of popular memes on relevant platforms and divided them into different categories, such as whether the caption referred to COVID-19 or not.

For the study, those memes were selected that were rated as equally funny and cute by a group of participants.

For some memes, the researchers wrote new COVID- or non-COVID-related captions. For example, one meme featured a picture of an angry cat with the caption, “New study confirms: Cats can’t spread Covid-19 but would if given option.”

The non-Covid-related version of the meme had the caption: “New study confirms: Cats can’t sabotage your car but would if given option.”

The next step was to randomly assign subjects to see different memes or, as a control, different types of imageless text.

The researchers then examined how cute and funny the study participants found the media they saw, what emotions they reported and how equipped to deal with the pandemic they felt.

They found that people who viewed memes showed higher levels of humour and more positive emotions than others, which was indirectly associated with a reduction in stress related to the pandemic.

Subjects who viewed memes with captions about COVID-19 were even more likely to feel less stress about the pandemic than those who viewed memes without coronavirus-related captions.

At the same time, those who viewed COVID-related memes thought more intensely about the content and felt more confident about coping with the pandemic.

However cute memes had a different effect, and participants who saw particularly cute memes featuring human or animal babies were less likely to think about the pandemic and its impact on their own lives – even if the captions referred to the coronavirus. “Cuteness responses, generally, were associated with decreased coping efficacy,” the authors write in the study.

The study comes in contrast to much previous research on the psychological impact of social media platforms such as Instagram, where the emphasis on beauty and success have been shown to have negative mental health impacts. At the same time, a recent study showed that “doomscrolling” through pandemic news headlines can also sour a person’s mood.

However lead author Myrick stresses that things are different for memes. “While the World Health Organization recommended that people avoid too much COVID-related media for the benefit of their mental health, our research reveals that memes about COVID-19 could help people feel more confident in their ability to deal with the pandemic.”

Officials could use such memes as a cheap and accessible way to communicate with the public about stressful situations. Myrick concludes: “The positive emotions associated with this type of content may make people feel psychologically safer and therefore better able to pay attention to the underlying messages related to health threats.”

Giant owl not seen for 150 years pictured in wild for first time



A giant owl that has gone almost unseen in African rainforests for 150 years has been photographed in the wild for the first time by British scientists working in Ghana.

Shelley’s Eagle Owl was spotted on 16 October in what has been hailed as a “sensational discovery” by ecologists.

With only a few thousand thought to be in existence, the species is officially classified as being at risk of extinction.

A picture of the bird was taken by Dr Joseph Tobias, of the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, and Dr Robert Williams, an ecologist from Somerset.

The pair discovered the owl, of which there have been no confirmed sightings since the 1870s, during its daytime roost earlier this month.

Despite only seeing the bird for around 15 seconds, they managed to snap enough pictures to identify it – substantiated by its distinctive black eyes, yellow bill, and huge size.

“It was so large, at first we thought it was an eagle,” Dr Tobias said.

“Luckily it perched on a low branch and when we lifted our binoculars our jaws dropped. There is no other owl in Africa’s rainforests that big.”

The owl was first described in 1872 after Richard Bowdler Sharpe, curator of the bird collection at the Natural History Museum, obtained a specimen from a hunter in Ghana.

There have since been occasional unconfirmed sightings of Shelley’s Eagle Owl in recent decades in west and central Africa.

Dr Nathaniel Annorbah, of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Ghana, said: “This is a sensational discovery. We’ve been searching for this mysterious bird for years in the western lowlands, so to find it here in ridgetop forests of eastern region is a huge surprise.”

[prokroustis]

Stunning 3D recreation brings Alexander the Great and the legends of the past to life (incredible photos-videos)

They look like your average person today

It is no surprise that humans have always been fascinated with figures from the past that left an indelible mark on history. Our intrigue stems not only from our desire to learn of their deeds through history books and accounts left behind but most importantly what made them tick, what they thought, as well as how they actually looked.

Although there are many surviving pieces of art from antiquity like statues and images that do give us an idea of what Alexander the Great or Cleopatra looked like they are probably the idealised versions of these legendary individuals.

Through the use of 3D modelling software, it has become possible to render impressive recreations of many of the people of the past. One example of an artist that seems to be standing out and gaining some traction on social media with positive feedback for his work is a graphic artist from Cyprus.

Based in Larnaca, Cyprus, Panagiotis Konstantinou says he initially created his YouTube channel as a hobby, “to spend time doing something useful”. As he says after reconstructing many of the famous faces of the past from the ancient Greek and Roman eras, he realised that they were no different than a person you might find walking down a street of Athens or Rome today. Through his impressive work, Panagiotis, in a way de-mythologised the great men and women of the past, making them more relatable to us everyday modern people. They had become one of us…

As he says, since starting his channel the comments are overwhelmingly positive, although he adds that he has received some negative feedback from extremists on both sides of the political spectrum.

He says that he would be interested in doing more research on the Byzantine emperors “and try to create faces, having as a source of inspiration references of contemporary historians and what people look like from their place of origin.”

https://youtu.be/SoHXmz2Gco4