Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...
- A herd of elephants in China are confounding experts. Elephants normally wander over relatively short distances but the herd have so far trekked more than 300 miles (483km) over the last year, generally
northwards from the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve near the border with Myanmar, along the way bathing in a canal, eating crops and, on one occasion, drinking from a house's outdoor tap after one elephant turned it
on with its trunk. Observers think the herd might be heading back south again now. ● New research suggests that caelocanths, the "living fossil" fish thought to have become extinct around 66 million
years ago until a live specimen was caught by fishermen off South Africa in 1938, lives for up to 100 years, five times as long as previously thought. ● A number of cases of vandalism of cars in a Derby
road over the last few weeks were attributed to humans until one of the residents witnessed two crows scratching a car's bodywork and pulling at its windscreen wipers and antenna. It is thought that the crows -
dubbed Ronnie and Reggie after the infamous Kray twins - are defending their territory. ● A pregnant sow who, along with her offspring, was eventually destined for the slaughterhouse escaped from her
Nottinghamshire farm into woodland where she gave birth to ten piglets. After a dogwalker discovered the "Ollerton 11" an animal charity hoped to rescue them but the farmer recovered them first. A
planned demonstration then persuaded him to hand them over, and they were moved to Brinsley Animal Rescue's shelter before going to their forever home at Surge, a newly-established animal sanctuary in the
West Midlands. ● Squirrels are notoriously acrobatic and capable of overcoming all sorts of obstacles to get to bird feeders, as highlighted by a BBC documentary some years ago, but Sally Stranix, an
Ipswich gardener, has finally beaten them by applying petroleum jelly to a feeder's pole. ● First it was a plague of mice, now the floods in Australia have resulted in swathes of land, bushes and trees
covered in sheets of spiders' silk as thousands, if not millions, of spiders balloon to escape the rising waters - the spiders, which normally live under leaf litter, release strands of silk to catch the wind
and help them escape from threatening situations. ● A scheme to reintroduce dormice to the wild across the UK is celebrating the release of its thousandth captive-bred hazel dormouse.
- In the late 19th Century geologists posited a theory that the Earth experienced world-changing geologic events every 26.2 to 30.6 million years. A recent re-examination of the theory, including more
up-to-date data, has suggested that there is indeed a cycle, dated more precisely to 27.5 million years. The exact cause is unknown but is thought to be a combination of plate tectonics and the
Earth's motion through the Solar System and Galaxy. There is no need to stock up on essentials just yet - the next 'heartbeat' of the cycle should occur in around 20 million years' time. ● The Nippon
Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 initiative to map the world's ocean floors by 2030 released it latest update on Monday to mark World Hydrography Day. Despite the pandemic it added the equivalent area of half of
the United States to its charts and has now mapped 20.6% of the seabed; the project, which has recruited amateur sailors and commercial ships as well as research ships, is confidant it can achieve its goal by the
end of the decade. ● Astronomers have long thought that the surface of Venus was a solid outer shell, totally immobile, but data from NASA's Magellan mission to map the planet has shown ongoing changes
similar to plate tectonics on Earth, although there are no comparable mountain ranges or subduction zones. Three future missions, two by NASA and one by the ESA will further examine how Venus, in many ways
Earth's sister planet, developed.
- Details of two rare gold coins found together by a metal detectorist near Reepham, Norfolk, in October 2019 have been released. One is a rare 1351-52 Edward III gold 'noble', the other is an even rarer 23-carat
gold 'leopard'. The 'leopard' was first minted in 1344 and withdrawn from circulation within months, so very few survive, and this is the first to be discovered with another coin. A coroner's inquest is
currently deciding whether to classify them as treasure. ● Paleontologists in China have found fossil evidence of a previously-unrecorded species of giant rhinoceros that weighed the equivalent of four
modern large African elephants and grew to almost 23' (7m) tall, enabling it to graze from treetops. Paraceratherium linxiaense lived during the Late Oligocene period between 34 and 23 million years ago.
- The Tulare County Sheriff's office in California has uncovered an illegal pistachio nut operation after the Touchstone Pistachio Company reported that 42,000lbs (19,050kg) of its nuts had been discovered to be
missing in a regular stock audit. The authorities tracked a tractor-trailer hired by the company that had been moved from Montemayor Trucking to an unnamed lot, and the missing pistachios were found in it, in
2,000lb (907kg) bags. Truck driver Alberto Montemayor was arrested, under suspicion of planning to rebag the nuts in smaller bags for resale. The Sheriff's staff were praised online for having "really
cracked" the case... ● Two men have been banned from driving for 16 months after being caught riding e-scooters erratically in Liverpool while also over the drink-driving limit. The e-scooters are
being trialled in the city and can be hired using a phone app by anyone with at least a provisional driving license. ● Hundreds of people climbed low fences to celebrate the summer solstice sunrise at
Stonehenge in Wiltshire despite official advice not to attend. Wiltshire Police said that the event was peaceful but there had been incidents at the nearby Avebury Stone Circle. English Heritage had to pull the live
video feed of the sunrise, resulting in more than 200,000 people worldwide watching pre-recorded footage until it was restored around 8 minutes after the sun came up to show the cloudy skies over the stones.
- Matthew Scott, 38, from Great Clifton, Cumbria, has successfully walked to the tops of ten Lake District fells (peaks) in 10 hours to raise money for the MS Society. He did so barefoot. Scott told reporters
that he was able to walk the uphill sections quite quickly, but was slowed down on the descents by the rocky paths. He hopes to encourage others to take up barefoot walking.
- While the world - or at least a subset of it - awaits the US government's report on UFOs following released military footage [Our prediction: Russian or Chinese drones, not aliens -Ed] someone has put up a
large sign in Sedgely, West Midlands, reading "3 ALIEN ABDUCTIONS HERE IN ONE WEEK!! WHEN ARE THE COUNCIL GOING TO DO SOMETHING??" The area has become something of a British UFO hotspot in recent
years, with an unnamed Dudley council officer telling the Daily Star Sunday newspaper that "There is something definitely going on with UFO activity in the West Midlands - but no one would ever go
on the record to confirm that. But as for alien abductions in Sedgely - not so sure about that." The council were due to remove the sign.
- Brothers Moises and Daniel Monterrubio have set a record for the longest highline walked across mountains, in Yosemite National Park, California. They traversed a single 2,800' (853.4m) line strung west from
a set of granite boulders at Taft Point over a series of gulleys with drops as far as 1,600' (487.8m) to an old tree trunk. Highlining is a form of tightrope-walking using a 1"- (2.5cm)-wide, thin, strong nylon
webbing strip with a safety harness attached to a ring around the line. In the event of a fall highliners have to either pull themselves back onto the line or make their way - generally upside down - back to an
anchor point. The line took a team of 20 climbers six days to set up.
- Darren Wilson's 22-year-old daughter ordered a Father's Day card for him from Funky Pigeon. Unfortunately the company sent the wrong card, resulting in him receiving one which bore a photograph of a
few-month's-old baby and reading "Happy 1st Father's Day, Pops!" He was at work when it arrived and his partner opened it. She then smashed up the TV, his laptop and phone in anger. Wilson, 52,
explained to reporters that she had "gone absolutely ballistic. Of course it's not her fault she's suspicious because I was a naughty boy 15 years ago. But I've changed now." Kerry, his partner, said
that she feels "a bit embarassed" but had really been triggered by the word 'Pops' which is the same nickname Wilson's daughter uses for him. Funky Pigeon apologised and the couple have "made up
now."
- When Florida resident Julia Yonkowski went to withdraw $20 (£14.30) from a cash machine it warned her that the withdrawal would take her account into overdraft and incur fees, so she then asked the machine
to display the account balance. It said that she had $999,985,855.94 (£714,778,509.12), which would have made her the 615th richest person in America. After several attempts to contact her bank
to have the money transferred back to whoever its rightful owner was, and fearing that her account might be being used for fraud by criminals, a representative eventually replied, telling her it was an error caused
by a programming bug.
- The US Geological Survey registered a magnitude 3.9 earthquake off America's east coast earlier this week, but it was not an actual quake. It was the US Navy performing "full ship shock trials" on
the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier [hey, if the USN ever need a name for a new garbage scow we know of a twice-indicted former president who is desperate to have something named after him... -Ed] part of
which involved detonating 40,000lbs (18,144kg) of explosives a short distance off its bow to simulate battle conditions. The carrier survived the blast but will now head to dry dock for a detailed examination and
modernisation.
IN BRIEF: The latest controversy debated on Twitter appears to be over the use of brioche buns for burgers by some restaurants. ● Christmas advertising usually starts after Halloween in the UK
(or Thanksgiving in the US) but a restaurant in Deansgate, Manchester, is already advertising for bookings for its "proper Christmas with all the trimmings" dinner. In June... ● Artist David
Wright has created a portrait of Danish footballer Christian Eriksen - recovering from a heart attack during the Euro 2020 match against Finland - using hundreds of Rubik's cubes, taking more than five hours
to arrange the colours on each visible face. ● A golf fan ran onto the course of the US Open in La Jolia, California, wearing shorts, a crop-top and a rainbow cape, took two practise swings and danced a bit
before security arrested him. ● The new, plastic £50 ($70) note bearing the image of computer pioneer Alan Turing has entered circulation in the UK, on the anniversary of his birth. ● Emergency
services called to a report of a body floating upside down in the sea off Japan pulled out what turned out to be an rubber sex doll. ● As this issue is being written, Sonic the Hedgehog has just turned
30. [Feeling old? We are... -Ed] ● Alan Jones, 85, from The Wirral, England, has had his hair styled as a Mohican for more than 20 years, after originally getting it cut that way for charity.
CORONAVIRUS ROUND-UP: A large blue facemask has been added to a 187'- (57m)-tall Buddha statue at a temple in Aizuwakamatsu, Japan; it will stay in place until the pandemic is under control. ●
A Glasgow man misses flying so much during travel restrictions brought in as a result of the pandemic that he is recreating airlines' inflight meals for himself and his husband, served on authentic plates bought
from airlines on his travels. ● A drug courier was caught with heroine and crack cocaine worth £60,000 ($84,000) on him after officers stopped him for not wearing a face mask on a train and he began
acting suspiciously. ● After legislation allowing Middlewich Town Council to hold meetings via Zoom expired in May, and with the town hall being used as a vaccination centre, the council have taken to
holding socially-distanced meetings in a car park.
UPDATES: The Mayflower autonomous boat attempting to recreate the Pilgrim Fathers' voyage to America has had to turn back and return to Plymouth after developing a fault. ● The petition
to block Amazon founder Jeff Bezos from returning to Earth after his planned sub-orbital space flight now has 105,727 signatures at time of writing. ● Astronomers have confirmed that the dimming of
Betelgeuse is down to a combination of cool spots on the star and dust caused by ejected gas condensing. ● Wally the Walrus has been sighted and filmed off the Isles of Scilly. ● The South African
woman who claimed to have given birth to ten babies from the same pregnancy has been arrested and discharged into the care of a psychiatric ward for "inventing" the whole story. ● Sotheby's has
postponed its auction of the "lost library" literary collection to give British institutions including the British Library and the Brontë Parsonage time to raise the money to stop it being sold
to a collector.
Little Jennifer had come home from school. "How was school today?" her mother asked.
"Well, Mummy it was good and bad. On the plus side, Miss said that my handwriting is much better," Little Jennifer said.
"And the bad bit?"
Little Jennifer pouted as only she could. "Then she said that because my writing is better she can see how bad my spelling is!"
