News of the Weird - this just in!

[PeteC]

There's something not being told here. How do those cars ignite with no electrics or motors in them and burn like that?

Ferris wheel blaze in Germany injures several people

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c5y8qvkg5eko (Video report)

Several people have been injured after a Ferris wheel caught fire at a music festival in eastern Germany.
Video showed two carriages on the wheel alight with smoke billowing into the air in the city of Leipzig.

Eighteen people were taken to hospital.

According to local police, four people suffered burn injuries, with one person injured by falling.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

[PeteC]

Pakistan parliament fights rats big enough to scare cats

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlr0gyk288o

Pakistan's parliament has a problem - and it is nothing to do with the politicians.

No, the problem besieging the building - terrifying new starters and turning its offices into overnight “marathon” tracks - is rats. Big ones.

The scale of the problem came to light after an official committee asked to see the records of meetings from 2008. When the records were collected, it was found most had been badly gnawed by rats.

“The rats on this floor are so huge that even cats might be afraid of them,” National Assembly spokesman Zafar Sultan admitted to the BBC.

The infestation is now so widespread that an annual budget of 1.2m rupees ($4,300; £3,300) has been dedicated to making Pakistan’s halls of power rat-free.

It seems most of the rats are located on the first floor - an area which not only houses the office of the senate opposition leader, but also hosts most of the political party meetings and standing committees.

It is also, perhaps crucially, the location of a food hall.

But the rats generally keep themselves out of sight - until, that is, people have departed for the day.

“When there are usually no people here in the evening, the rats run around in there like it’s a marathon,” a National Assembly official said.

“The staff posted there are now used to this, but if someone comes here for the first time, they get scared.”

Advertisements have now gone out in several Pakistan newspapers, in order to find a pest control company which can help officials deal with the rats.

So far, just two have shown any interest.

[STEVE G]

Not a headline you see everyday:

One half of world-famous gay penguin couple dies in Sydney aquarium

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/21/travel/f ... index.html

Sphen, an Australian gentoo penguin who became an unlikely global symbol for equality, has died from apparent natural causes at age 11, the aquarium in Sydney where he resided said Thursday.

Sphen rose to global fame in 2018 when he partnered with fellow male gentoo penguin Magic, after the two were spotted waddling around and swimming together before breeding season.

The same-sex penguin power couple known as “Sphengic” inspired millions with their unshakeable bond and heartwarming family. Together they raised two chicks: Lara, 6, and Clancy, 4.

[Nereus]

One half of world-famous gay penguin couple dies in Sydney aquarium

I think that he was a mascot for Quantas Airways.
They don't say where the couple stole the eggs to make babies.

[PeteC]

Tourists scaling the Great Wall of China can now get takeout delivered by drone

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/22/tech ... index.html


Hong Kong CNN —

Hungry tourists hiking on the Great Wall of China can now get their lunch delivered – from the air.

Chinese food delivery giant Meituan says its new drone service, announced last week, will bring food, drinks and other goods such as medical supplies to customers at a far-flung section of the ancient monument on the outskirts of Beijing........

[Nereus]

Locals stunned by driver's 'absolutely amazing' act on Aussie road
The incredible display is apparently not uncommon in Melbourne, with locals quickly identifying the blue macaw as 'Bosco' – a local celebrity

https://au.news.yahoo.com/locals-stunne ... 46761.html

Posting from Footscray, about five kilometres from the CBD, one local captured the moment a man pulled up at a set of traffic lights, called into the sky and blew his whistle, and watched as his beautiful blue macaw flew right back in a matter of seconds.

The "amazing" display is apparently not uncommon in the city, with locals quickly identifying the blue bird as "Bosco", a well-known local in the area. Melburnians say Bosco, and his companion Coco — who is red — often brighten the days of residents, and even have a dedicated social media presence.

Local celebrities put on a show for excited Melburnians
As one person put it "they’re local celebrities — they free fly during the day and [their owner] calls them home in the afternoon". In the footage, the bird's owner can be seen calling its name while looking into the sky, much to the surprise of those watching from the footpath.

Then, he pulls out a whistle and gives it a sharp blow. Within seconds the striking blue and yellow bird soars down from above and gently lands on the roof of his companion's car. "What the f***k, holy s***t," the person videoing the incredible sight says, as others audibly cheer and chant nearby.

"We had both his birds in our backyard in Footscray one afternoon. One of them told us to F-off," one person said.

photos and video at the link..........................................

[PeteC]

Russian 'spy whale' found dead off Norway

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cje2p3z8nlyo (Photo)

A beluga whale suspected of having been trained as a spy by Russia has been found dead off the Norwegian coast.

The body of the animal - nicknamed Hvaldimir - was found floating off the south-western town of Risavika and taken to the nearest port for examination.

The whale was first spotted in Norwegian waters five years ago with a GoPro camera attached to a harness that read "Equipment of St Petersburg".

This sparked rumours the mammal could be a spy whale - something experts say happened in the past. Moscow never responded to the allegations.

Hvaldimir's lifeless body was discovered at the weekend by Marine Mind, an organisation that has tracked his movements for years.

Marine Mind founder Sebastian Strand told AFP news agency that the cause of death was unknown and that Hvaldimir's body had no obvious injuries.

"We've managed to retrieve his remains and put him in a cooled area, in preparation for a necropsy by the veterinary institute," he told AFP news agency.

With an estimated age of about 15, Hvaldimir was not old for a Beluga whale, whose lifespan can reach 60 years.

He first approached Norwegian boats in April 2019 near the island of Ingoya, about 415km (260 miles) from Murmansk where Russia's Northern Fleet is based.

The sighting attracted attention because belugas are rarely seen this far south of the high Arctic.

The discovery led to an investigation by Norway's domestic intelligence agency, which later said that the whale was likely to have been trained by the Russian army as he seemed accustomed to humans.

The whale became known locally as Hvaldimir, a pun on the Norwegian word for whale, "hval", and President Vladimir Putin.

Russia has a history of training marine mammals such as dolphins for military purposes and the Barents Observer website has identified whale pens near naval bases in the north-west area of Murmansk.

Russia has never officially addressed the claim that Hvaldimir may have been trained by the Russian military. It has previously denied the existence of any programmes seeking to train sea mammals as spies.

[STEVE G]

A lost cat’s mysterious 2-month, 900-mile journey home to California


A gray cat living an extraordinary life of visits to the beach and trips to the lake went on his biggest adventure alone: traveling hundreds of miles from Wyoming to California.

But how the feline named Rayne Beau — pronounced “rainbow” — made it home two months after getting lost in Yellowstone National Park during a summer camping trip remains a mystery.

Benny and Susanne Anguiano and their two cats arrived at Yellowstone’s Fishing Bridge RV Park on June 4 for the cats’ first trip to the forest. But soon after they arrived, Rayne Beau was startled and ran into the nearby trees.

The couple looked for him for four days, even laying out his favorite treats and toys. When they finally had to drive back to Salinas, California, on June 8, Susanne Anguiano said she was crushed but never lost hope she would find him.

In August, the Anguianos received amazing news when a microchip company messaged them that their cat was at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Roseville, California, nearly 900 miles (1,448 kilometers) from Yellowstone. He was only about 200 miles (322 kilometers) away from his home in Salinas.

A woman who first saw Rayne Beau wandering the streets of the northern California city fed him and gave him water until she trapped him on Aug. 3 and took him to the local SPCA.

The couple still doesn’t know how their cat got to Roseville but believes he was trying to get home. They have reached out to the media hoping to fill in the blanks.
https://apnews.com/article/cat-travel-9 ... 5f8a64a015

[pharvey]

Now I just need to make sure the LHG is in the house to load it with "drinks & nibbles" when the sport's on!!



It's actually quite interesting how it was all designed and put together....

https://www.decarpentier.nl/carpentopod

[Dannie Boy]

Not sure whether this is the best place to post it, but a fascinating article regarding the secretive tropical island of Diego Garcia a British Indian Overseas Territory.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckdg7jjlx2go

[STEVE G]

Museum Elevator Technician Accidentally Throws Out Alexandre Lavet Artwork

Sometimes, even museum workers aren’t sure where the art ends and the real world begins. Case in point? The LAM museum in Lisse, the Netherlands, which recently found one of its artworks in the trash, accidentally thrown out by an elevator technician who mistook it for garbage.

The misunderstanding is somewhat understandable. (It has also happened before.)

At first glance, Alexandre Lavet’s All the good times we spent together by (2016) appear to be a pair of empty beer cans, drunk and discarded, one slightly crushed. But closer inspection reveals that these weren’t regular beer cans—and Lavet is no readymade artist.

Instead, he meticulously hand painted the cans, creating two perfect replicas of cans of Jupiler beer. Lavet intended the piece as a tribute to memories of good times spent with friends.

The worker responsible for throwing out the art was filling in for the museum’s regular technician. That meant he wasn’t familiar with the works in the museum’s collection, which it advertises as the world’s largest museum collection of food art.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lam-m ... rk-2546229