Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...
- Scientists looking to conserve fish by using lights instead of fish to lure crabs into pots have made a serendipitous discovery. Even more tempted by the lights were scallops. Currently the most valuable catch in
England, scallops are usually caught using seabed-damaging drift nets or expensive scuba diving, which could both now be replaced. ● The Nonhuman Rights Project has sued the Bronx Zoo in New York, looking to have
Happy the elephant declared to be a person, and subject to the rights of personhood. Specifically they want her removed from her "one acre prison" to a sanctuary where she will be able to decide what to
do for herself. ● New research appears to suggest that dolphins recognise each other by swimming through and tasting their urine as well as their whistling. ● Oysters were once farmed in Belfast Lough but
the population had died off by 1903. In 2020 a small number of oysters were rediscovered at six sites and a scheme is now underway to repopulate them using larvae from nursery cages hung under the pier at Bangor Marina.
Increasing the numbers of the oysters will create reefs to benefit other sea life as well as cleaning the water. ● A team of divers who cut away an illegal drift net that had become caught on the head of a
humpback whale off Mallorca, preventing it from even opening its mouth, told reporters that the whale initially appeared nervous when they approached, but then relaxed and appeared to give them "a little thank
you sign" after it had been freed.
- In 1977 astronomers at the Big Ear radio telescope detected a 72-second radio burst twenty times stronger than the background radio. It was so remarkable that Jerry R. Ehman circled it on the printout and wrote
the word 'Wow!' beside it. Ever since it has been known as the Wow signal. Because the Big Ear telescope was fixed the signal was lost as the Earth rotated, and the origin was not recorded. Now amateur astronomer
Alberto Caballero, using data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission has identified three likely candidate stars, two of which are similar to the Sun. The most likely candidate, identified as 2MASS
19281982-2640123 is 1,800 light years away, making the sending of a reply impractical, but Caballero suggests that the star and its area would be worth monitoring for "techno-signatures". ● NASA's
InSight Mars rover is being retired after four years exploring the Red Planet because its solar panels have become covered in dust and are producing a tenth of the power they did when it landed. InSight completed its
original mission goals - its seismometer confirmed that Mars is geologically active and has a liquid core - within two years and its mission was extended. Before being shut down controllers had the rover send back one
last selfie. You can see it here [CalTech/JPL], complete with the dust-covered panels. ● Voyager 1, launched 44 years ago and
still communicating from the interstellar medium outside the Solar System is sending back seemingly random data from its attitude articulation and control systems, which keep its antenna pointed at the Earth. While
the antenna is still angled correctly, its signal is as strong as it should be, and the probe has not put itself into "safe mode", the diagnostic data suggests that something is not right within the system.
Suzanne Dodd, project manager for the Voyager probes shrugged off the problem, pointing out that the craft is almost 45 years old and operating in a high-radiation environment unlike anything probes have
experienced before, but if needed NASA could send software changes or have the probe switch to a backup system.
- Neolithic people living in a settlement close to Stonehenge probably ate undercooked offal and fed the scraps to their dogs, archaeologists have revealed after studying 19 coprolites - preserved faeces - of
humans and dogs found at the site. The coprolites contained eggs from capillariid worms, parasites that live in the lungs and liver of their hosts. ● Archaeologists are usually associated with the history of
a hundred to thousands of years ago, but a team in Glasgow are looking for something more modern - remnants and traces of the Glasgow Garden Festival held in 1988. The 120-acre site on the south bank of the River
Clyde was transformed from abandoned dockyards, and has mostly been redeveloped, including the Glasgow Science Centre, BBC Scotland headquarters, hotels and homes, but a council-owned park is now being studied,
with the aim of filling in gaps in oral and documented histories of the festival. ● It has been announced that in 2019 detectorist George Ridgway, 31, a self-confessed lifelong fan of the Indiana Jones films,
unearthed what could be the largest hoard of Roman era precious metal yet found in Britain, comprising 748 Roman and Iron Age gold and silver coins, brooches and a broken pot, which he thinks the coins had been
buried in, near Ipswich. The British Museum is still evaluating the find. ● A group of amateur historians in Leicestershire who found an old US Air Force dog tag in the River Soar have reunited it with its
owner's family. Robert M. Luetgert was stationed in England in the 1950s, and his descendents were traced through social media. ● Archaeologists in Cornwall have unearthed a previously undetected stone circle
at the Castilly Henge site near Bodmin. Most of the stones had been removed or pushed over, but they found clear evidence of seven regularly-spaced pits in a horseshoe formation around the site. ● A copy of
Detective Comics #27, the issue that marked the first appearance of Batman in 1939, has sold at auction for $1,740,000 (£1,393,000), beating the previous record for the comic, fewer than 40 examples of
which are known to exist. ● A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé has become the most expensive car sold at auction, going for €135m (£114m; $142m). The previous record holder was a
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO which sold for a (relatively) mere $48.4m (£38.7m) in 2018.
- A Birmingham man who escaped from HMP Sudbury in Derbyshire last weekend phoned the Birmingham Mail newspaper to explain why he absconded, telling them that "We're in prison for the last 17 years. It's driving
me insane." He did not reveal his whereabouts but said he would give himself up in time for his parole hearing... ● A courtroom rang with laughter after defendent Dean Crawford, 42, appearing on a charge
of speeding at 119mph (192 km/h), tried to plead "exceptional hardship", saying he was living on benefits and would not be able to afford taxis to the gym or to visit his family if he lost his license.
Prosecutor Matt Routly suggested that he could sell his £37,000 ($46,230) BMW M135i XDrive Auto car, which he had been caught on the speed camera driving... ● A Minnesota woman being pursued by police
after being seen using a bullhorn to "spread the word of God" as she drove through a red light came to a very sudden stop as she drove through a warning barrier into a freshly-laid 150'- (46m)-long
stretch of freshly-poured concrete. ● A gun amnesty in Sacremento, California, that offered free fuel vouchers in exchange for firearms with no questions asked ran out of vouchers after just 45 minutes. ●
A former HMRC (tax) compliance officer in Scotland has been jailed for using the identity of a dead man to conceal a £171,000 ($213,640) tax fraud. ● Two men have been arrested in Louisiana and charged
with illegally transporting a house, damaging power lines, post boxes, signs and trees before abandoning the low-loader truck carrying it, blocking the road.
- California's redwood trees growing in drier locations in the south of the state have been found to be evolving leaves better suited to suck in more water from the air around them than redwoods in other, wetter
areas. ● Explorers in China have discovered a 630'- (192m)-deep, 1,000' (304m)-long 490' (149m)-wide sinkhole, so large that it has a "well-preserved primitive forest" with trees reaching 131' (40m)
high at its base. Scientists believe it could hold previously-undiscovered animal species.
- Fast food outlets McDonald's and Wendy's are the subject of an attempted class action lawsuit by a New York man claiming that their advertising is misleadingly suggesting their burgers are 15% larger than they
actually are. The man is seeking $50m (£40.3m) in damages. In March Burger King was hit with a similar lawsuit in Florida. Both suits involve the same law firm. ● A toddler in Texas gained the admiration
of the online world after playing with his mother's phone - which she had forgotten to lock - and ending up ordering 31 cheeseburgers, at a cost of $91 (£72.84) plus a $16 (£12.81) tip for the delivery
driver, via the DoorDash app. His mother posted a picture of the smiling boy sitting next to the burgers. ● Wisconsin man Don Gorske has eaten a Big Mac almost every day for the last 50 years, missing just
eight days, including one when a snowstorm closed the local branch and the day his mother died.
IN BRIEF: The Circle K market in Tempe, Arizona, made famous in the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is to close - but not before hosting two screenings of the films earlier this week.
● The BBC has apologised after a training session for its on-screen news ticker accidentally went live, leaving it to broadcast that "Manchester United are rubbish" and "Weather rain
everywhere" on BBC News on Tuesday morning. ● Cyclist Biniam Girmay, celebrating winning a stage at the Giro d'Italia competition, becoming the first Black African to do so, popped open a bottle of Italian
sparkling wine on the podium, hitting himself in the eye with the cork and causing him to have to withdraw from the race. ● Five-year-old Josh Vinson Jr has defended his title as the No. 1 Josh at the second
Pool Noodle Battle in a Nebraska park. The event, which started as a joke last year after Josh Swain posted online to challenge anyone who shared his name to a fight with the polyethylene flotation devices, raised
nearly $21,000 (£16,800) for the Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, which the Josh Cellars wine label has pledged to match. ● A Man in California has spent $35,000 (£28,000) building
a Wild West-themed 3,280'- (1,000m)-long rollercoaster in his backyard. ● The annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, usually attracts protests, but this year's crop includes a group called
Patriotic Millionaires who are calling on world leaders to solve the cost of living crisis by taxing them - and other millionaires - more. ● New York City has removed its last freestanding public pay phone.
● A YouTube prankster confused passengers landing at Gatwick Airport after putting a 196'- (60m)-long sign reading "WELCOME TO LUTON" on grassland visible from approaching aircraft. Luton Airport is
60 miles (97km) south of Gatwick. ● A Mississippi man snorkelling off the coast of Gulf Shores, Alabama, found a set of dentures "sitting there on the bottom, just smiling at me". There was a name on
them, and their owner was traced via social media; he had been swimming at the same spot a week earlier when he was hit by a wave and lost them. ● Last issue it was twin sisters giving birth within hours of
each other, now two brothers' partners have given birth to sons on the same day in Worcester Royal Hospital, with the same midwife attending.
UKRAINE: Former US President George W. Bush caused a stir after using a speech to condemn "the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq... I mean of Ukraine."
'Dubya' was much criticised for launching the dubiously-legal invasion of Iraq during his presidency. ● With Finland applying to join NATO in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine the small Olaf's Brewing brewery
in Helsinki has launched a NATO-themed beer. The beer, in cans with a blue-and-white label showing a picture of a knight with armour bearing the NATO symbol is called "Otan olutta" which means "I'll
have a beer" in Finnish, but OTAN is also the French abbreviation for NATO. ● A high-tech Russian missile, valued at around £4m ($5m), which had been launched at Odessa veered off course and hit a
beach, destroying just a public toilet. ● Vladimir Putin's 35-year-old daughter Katerina Tikonova is reportedly in a relationship with a Russian ballet dancer and director called Igor Zelensky, presumably
unrelated to Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky...
UPDATES: Oceanographers from the University of Auckland who have mapped the underwater Hunga-Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano which erupted so spectacularly in January [viz earlier TFIrs] have
found that it has survived "surprisingly intact", albeit with a massively enlarged caldera.
The teacher had come into the classroom holding a crate of fruit. "OK, children," she said, "let's see if you remember how to spell the names of these fruits. I'll hold one
up and ask someone, and if you get it right, you can have it to eat in break time. Don't worry if I don't ask you, there's something for everyone anyway." She held up an orange. "Little Simon, can you spell
'orange'?"
"O-R-A-N-G-E, Miss," Little Simon beamed.
"Well done, you can collect it when the bell goes." She held up an apple. "Now, Little Jennifer, can you spell 'apple'?"
Little Jennifer smiled as only she could. "Yes, Miss, but I'd rather have a B-A-N-A-N-A!"
