News of the Weird - this just in!

[Nereus]

Needed in Thailand!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SHUmflIOScM

[pharvey]

Needed in Thailand!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SHUmflIOScM

Pretty sure you'd have an empty bottle or betting slip thrown back in Aus, and God only knows what in Thailand... I wouldn't try it in the US - likely to be shot or sued, the UK - likely to be knifed (in London/Birmingham/Manchester).... The list is too long.

Doesn't happen in Wales due to Labour inflicting f'ing ridiculous speed limits and the fact that we have to concentrate on avoiding Potholes!!

[STEVE G]

They've discovered how to handle extreme heat in India by drinking heavily:

Indians battle intense heat with ‘mad rush’ for air conditioners, beer

BENGALURU - Demand for beer in India is at a multi-year high, and air-conditioner sales are skyrocketing as the intense, unprecedented heat scorching parts of the country becomes a boon for some consumer businesses.

Temperatures in the Indian capital Delhi and the western state of Rajasthan soared to almost 50 deg C in recent weeks, with scientists saying the hot summer has become even more intense due to human-driven climate change. While rain lashed Delhi on June 28, many northern areas such as Punjab recorded temperatures above 40 deg C on June 27.

Beer sales volumes are expected to jump 10 per cent this summer, and demand is at its highest since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Mr Vinod Giri of the Brewers’ Association of India, which represents leading beer makers Carlsberg, Anheuser-Busch InBev and United Breweries.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/india ... oners-beer

[pharvey]

Takes "Trouser Snake" to a whole new level....

Man in China Caught Smuggling 100 Live Snakes in His Trousers

"A man has been caught trying to smuggle more than 100 live snakes into mainland China by cramming them into his trousers, according to the country’s customs authority.

The unnamed traveller was stopped by customs officers as he sought to slip out of semi-autonomous Hong Kong and into the border city of Shenzhen, China Customs said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Upon inspection, customs officers discovered that the pockets of the trousers the passenger was wearing were packed with six canvas drawstring bags and sealed with tape,” the statement said.

“Once opened, each bag was found to contain living snakes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours,” it added.

The statement said officers seized 104 of the reptiles, including milk snakes and corn snakes, many of which were non-native species.

An accompanying video showed two border agents peering into transparent plastic bags filled with squirming red, pink and white snakes."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... s-trousers

[STEVE G]

Vietnamese pheasant found after escape from Welsh zoo

The Plantasia Tropical Zoo in Swansea said Thursday that the male Vietnamese pheasant, also known as an Edwards' Pheasant, was found to be missing from his enclosure and was believed to have flown the coop.

"The pheasant is not in any way dangerous but it might be shy and scared which is why we are asking anyone who spots it to report that sighting to us immediately rather than approaching the bird," the zoo said on social media.

A follow-up post Friday said the pheasant, named Jack, had been found after numerous reported sightings Thursday night and Friday morning.

"Thanks to several helpful leads, our team searched the areas mentioned late last night and early this morning. I'm delighted to confirm that at 10:15 a.m., Jack was safely retrieved and returned to Plantasia Tropical Zoo," the post said.
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/07/12 ... 720814942/

[dtaai-maai]

Vietnamese pheasant found after escape from Welsh zoo

"Thanks to several helpful leads, our team searched the areas mentioned late last night and early this morning. I'm delighted to confirm that at 10:15 a.m., Jack was safely retrieved and returned to Plantasia Tropical Zoo," the post said.
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/07/12 ... 720814942/

Lies. Not a word of truth,

I have it on good authority that the bird's neck was wrung and it is now hanging from the ceiling of pharvey's garden shed.

[STEVE G]

It was a very wooly pheasant!

[buksida]

Bid to hide Thailand trips from wife lands man in jail
A passenger was detained at the Mumbai International Airport before he could embark on his flight to Thailand on Thursday after the immigration official discovered that he had tampered with 12 pages of his passport to conceal his previous travel records to Bangkok and Thailand.

Sahar police arrested the passenger, identified as Tushar Pawar (33), who claimed that he committed the offence to avoid a confrontation with his wife, who was not aware of his three earlier trips Thailand in 2023 and 2024.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit ... 721603.cms

[STEVE G]

^I remember that many years ago, Don Muang airport used to have a very large left luggage department to accommodate the golf clubs of all the people who had told there wife's that they were going to Thailand to play golf!

[Nereus]

Are you related to Donald Trump?

Everyone on Earth shares the same single ancestor – and no, it's not Adam

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/ev ... 9f52&ei=18

Diversity is the ultimate key to beauty – just look around you and you’ll see.

Yet, flowers, animals, landscapes and humans weren’t always so richly varied because, in fact, all life on Earth derives from a single ancestor. And despite what the Bible says, its name isn’t God or Adam but LUCA.

This acronym stands for the “Last Universal Common Ancestor,” which scientists believe was a tiny, and very basic, organism.

They think that this single cell being was the forefather from the smallest of bacteria to the biggest of beasts. And now, a new study has found that LUCA is even older than the experts had thought.
(It would appear that in the case of Mr. Trump, he may have reverted to a single cell: twisted:)

For years, researchers have estimated that LUCA emerged on our planet some 4 billion years ago – just 600 million years after the world’s formation.

However, new research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, suggests that our ancestor was around even earlier than that.

The paper also reveals some stunning insights into LUCA’s likely characteristics and what its life would have been like on the infant Earth.

The international team of authors, based in the UK, Netherlands, Hungary and Japan, said they had to “work backwards” to “zero in on exactly when LUCA appeared on Earth.”

To do this, they compared genes in living species, and counted the mutations that have occurred since they all shared a common ancestor (LUCA).

“Using a genetic equation based on the time of separation between species, the team worked out that LUCA must’ve been mucking around on Earth as early as 400 million years after its creation,” the researchers explained.

This puts the organism “smack in the middle of the hellish geologic nightmare known as the Hadean Eon.”

The Hadean Eon, named after Hades, the Greek god who ruled the underworld, was the unofficial time period that began with the formation of Earth.

Its name – which also derives from the Hebrew word for “hell” – is inspired by the fiery conditions at the time, when the planet would have consisted of a partially molten surface and been characterised by constant volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts.

The fact LUCA was able to survive in such an environment is impressive to say the least, and so the researchers sought to learn how this was possible.

They concluded that whilst LUCA was a simple prokaryote (a single-cell organism whose cell lacks a nucleus and other membrane-bound structures), it likely had an immune system. This enabled it to fight off primordial viruses.

“It’s clear that LUCA was exploiting and changing its environment, but it is unlikely to have lived alone,” Tim Lenton, of the University of Exteter,(sic) who co-authored the study, said in a statement.

“Its waste would have been food for other microbes, like methanogens, that would have helped to create a recycling ecosystem.”

Nevertheless, although LUCA is our oldest established common ancestor, scientists are still trying to work out how complex life evolved from its origins

Further work must now be done to dig deeper into our primordial history and discover how exactly we, and the extraordinary world around us, came to be.

[STEVE G]

Man named Literally Anybody Else running for president

A Texas man legally changed his name to Literally Anybody Else to apply for a particularly difficult-to-get job: President of the United States.

The 35-year-old military veteran and middle school math teacher, formerly known as Dustin Ebey, said he is running for president to protest the current major-party candidates -- President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump -- and show his distaste for a system that his website states "often prioritizes partisan battles over real solutions."
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/07/18 ... 721319000/

[pharvey]

^ Fair play to him!!

[PeteC]

Shocking, but hopeful they can reattach the leg.

Australian surfer's leg washes up after shark attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cprqxqz2deno


The severed leg of a surfer who was attacked by a shark has washed up on an Australian beach, with doctors now racing to see if it can be reattached.

Kai McKenzie, 23, was surfing near Port Macquarie in New South Wales (NSW) on Tuesday, when a 3m (9.8ft) great white shark bit him.

He managed to catch a wave into shore, where an off-duty police officer used a makeshift tourniquet to stem his bleeding, according to authorities.

His leg washed up a short time later and was put on ice by locals before being taken to hospital, where a medical team is now assessing surgery options.

Mr McKenzie - who is an amateur pro-surfer - remains in a serious but stable condition, according to emergency services, who have thanked the off-duty officer for his rapid response to the incident.

“He used the lead off his dog as a tourniquet... and essentially saved his life until the paramedics got there,” said NSW Ambulance's Kirran Mowbray.

She described Mr McKenzie as “calm” and “able to talk” following the attack. “He’s just a really brave and courageous young man,” she added.

Mr McKenzie was rushed to a local hospital shortly after the incident, before being flown to the John Hunter Hospital - which is a major trauma centre - in Newcastle some 200km (124 miles) away. His severed leg also made the long journey.

The keen surfer had only recently returned to the water after suffering a significant neck injury which forced him to take time off from the sport, according to local media reports.

A GoFundMe page to help Mr McKenzie's family with his medical and rehabilitation costs has been created, attracting over A$75,000 ($49,000; £38,000) as of Wednesday.

While Australia has more shark attacks than any other country except the US, fatal attacks remain relatively rare.

[pharvey]

Perhaps we should start a a Thread of "WTF?!" - really going to What The F*** is wrong with these people?!! I'm seriously at a loss..

"A dangerous new online trend claimed the life of its first star this week.

Pan Xiaoting collapsed and died at 24 while livestreaming a 'mukbang' video, a binge-eating trend that has exploded in popularity since around 2016

Her autopsy showed she had undigested of food in her stomach after eating a reported 10kg of food - the equivalent of 22 pounds of food including cake and fried chicken -- over several hours.

Yet some of the most popular mukbangers are in the US, with upwards of four million regular subscribers and viewers.

Doctors warn that every time they carry out one of these eating marathons, they drive their heart rates up, breathing becomes heavier as the body's demand for oxygen increases, and their blood pressure and insulin levels rise.

Mukbang started in Korea, and comes from the words for 'eating' and 'broadcast'. From the trend's inception, a few users in both the US and Korea began garnering floods of views and soon began making money off them through advertising and sponsorships.

In the past decade, an entire cottage industry of on-camera eaters has emerged. The number of content creaters has ballooned to just a few to hundreds, many of the most popular being from the US. "

This BS doesn't hit us so much in Wales thankfully as we prefer eating Leeks and Lava Bread... Which obviously needs to be enjoyed slowly...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti ... kbang.html

[Dannie Boy]

Not to mention a bit of Welsh Rarebit!!


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