Weird News Compilation

[Keith_McClary]

I hope the individual in the photo is an actor, not a medic!

It could be a "stock photo". Like:

 

[berkeman]

It could be a "stock photo". Like:

OMG, you owe me a new keyboard!

 

[berkeman]

The needle may bend, making it useless, and if the syringe plunger is pushed the vial is now contaminated and must be discarded.

I hope the individual in the photo is an actor, not a medic!

Yeah, I'm not sure what is going on with the syringe and vial, but the thing that caught my eye is the terrible fit of her gloves. There's no way I could work with gloves like that. I guess it's possible that they ran out of every size except for XXL gloves, but I don't think I'd be taking pictures on that day... (plus I always have extra pairs of my favorite gloves on me, in case there is any issue with availability where I'm working)

 

[Astronuc]

Schwab sues former client after accidental transfer of $1.2 mln
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/schwab-sues-former-client-accidental-232946189.html

Schwab meant to send $82.56 to Kelyn Spadoni's Fidelity Brokerage Services account in February, but a computer glitch caused it to erroneously transfer more than $1.2 million, according to the lawsuit.

Yeah, sure! Blame the computer.

 

[mfb]

https://www.reddit.com/r/wheredidthesoldergo/

Mishandling soldering irons are an all-time classic, but for every tool there is a stock photo using it incorrectly.

 

[Astronuc]

Big Dog's Backyard Ultra: The toughest, weirdest race you've never heard of
https://www.bbc.com/sport/56720358

Guillaume Calmettes, a French software engineer who ran 245 miles - 59 hours - to win in 2017, says: "It's painful, but it's painful in a good way."

"I enjoy some level of suffering," says American Maggie Guterl, who became the first woman to win when she breezed her way through 250 miles in 2019. "Most ultra-runners don't want to go to a spa for a relaxing break."

Johan Steene, a 46-year-old chief executive of a Swedish technology company who clocked up 283 miles in 68 hours to win in 2018, describes it as a "special game with fantastic rules".

"It's a fun mental challenge," says American Courtney Dauwalter, runner-up to Steene with 279 miles and a big enough star in the niche world of ultra-running to be a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

A 36-year-old former science teacher who is now one of very few professional ultra-runners, Dauwalter is no stranger to unfathomably long races. In 2017 she was outright winner of the Moab 240 - a 240-mile race over the mountains of Utah - beating the fastest man by 10 hours.

Running continuously for 3 or 4 days?!

 

[mfb]

Caution: 'Large boulder the size of a large boulder' blocks Colorado road
The article has more backstory, but here is the short summary:
A sheriff wanted to write "Large boulder the size of a small car is completely blocking [road]" a year ago, but accidentally tweeted "Large boulder the size of a small boulder is completely blocking [road]". That tweet went viral. A year later a much larger boulder blocked a road, so they wrote the announcement cited above.

The boulder story continues!
Boulders block road in Boulder Canyon near Boulder according to Boulder County Sheriff’s Office

No information whether it was the size of a small boulder or large boulder.

 

[BillTre]

Its a bold story, but could be boulder.

 

[Ibix]

The boulder story continues!
Boulders block road in Boulder Canyon near Boulder according to Boulder County Sheriff’s Office

I'm just glad the roads aren't blocked near Buffalo.

(That's from Mork and Mindy, I think...)

 

[Tom.G]

I'm just glad the roads aren't blocked near Buffalo.

That neighborhood uses both Rain and Snow, usually but not always at different times of the year.

 

[Jarvis323]

This could be an Onion article if it wasn't a serious one.

An underground radioactive chemical storage tank in southeast Washington state is leaking gallons of nuclear waste...

Ok.

his department recognized that B-109's liquid level was decreasing more than a year ago, but that they weren't sure what was causing it. The Washington DOE were notified Thursday, however, that the tank was indeed leaking...

Hmm, decreasing liquid levels in underground tanks. I wonder what alternative hypothesis they had besides leaking.

constructed during World War II to make plutonium for nuclear weapons, includes tanks that contain various mixed waste materials made of both radioactive components and some of the "most dangerous waste created over four decades,"...

Hmm, so it dates back to 8 decades ago, and it's leaking the most dangerous waste created over 4 decades? Which decades are we talking about exactly?

In the past, more than 67 tanks at the reservation have been suspected to be leaking or have actually leaked...

Some of it is confirmed leaking and some of it might be leaking, but also could be just shrinking, or possibly escaping the tank through some kind of not leaking based process.

"It will just basically sit around in the soil but in fact, it does migrate and some of it has migrated," he said...

Hmm. So it will just sit there, but it won't just sit there and some of it has already gone from there. Sounds good.

Alarming, but also reassuring. It's like if the doctor says you might be dying of cancer, but this could also just be a dream or a simulation.

https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEESzqcXZPpFV0yGbZAXLkwQqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowyNj6CjDyiPICMJyFxQU?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

 

[DaveE]

This could be an Onion article if it wasn't a serious one.
Ok.
Hmm, decreasing liquid levels in underground tanks. I wonder what alternative hypothesis they had besides leaking.
Hmm, so it dates back to 8 decades ago, and it's leaking the most dangerous waste created over 4 decades? Which decades are we talking about exactly?
Some of it is confirmed leaking and some of it might be leaking, but also could be just shrinking, or possibly escaping the tank through some kind of not leaking based process.
Hmm. So it will just sit there, but it won't just sit there and some of it has already gone from there. Sounds good.

https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEESzqcXZPpFV0yGbZAXLkwQqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowyNj6CjDyiPICMJyFxQU?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Yes, the internet has killed journalism. It's all about how fast you can type and how many clicks you can get. Copy editors have gone the way of buggy whips.

 

[fresh_42]

In a documentary about long-term implications in Chernobyl, a Ukrainian scientist said, that one major risk is ${}^{241}\text{Am}$ as a consequence of ${}^{241}\text{Pu}$ decay, which was produced in the facility. Americium is solvable in water and bears therefore the possibility that it enters the food chain via groundwater or leaks.

So "stays there, will migrate, has already leaked" can be plausible.

 

[mfb]

Hmm, decreasing liquid levels in underground tanks. I wonder what alternative hypothesis they had besides leaking.

John drank it.

No information how problematic the tank contents are, or why they didn't bother to convert its content to something solid in all these decades.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Alarming, but also reassuring.

35 Years Later, Studies Show a Silver Lining From Chernobyl

 

[fresh_42]

Belgian farmer attacked France!

A major diplomatic incident has been avoided in Europe after a Belgian farmer accidentally moved the border with France, making his home country about 1,000 square meters bigger.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/belgium-farmer-moves-french-border/index.html

 

[Keith_McClary]

Belgian farmer accidentally moved the border with France, making his home country about 1,000 square meters bigger.

This will make up for that time the French janitor knocked over the Meter Bar, making everything smaller.

 

[berkeman]

https://abc7news.com/police-deliver-mothers-day-flowers-after-driver-arrested-for-dui/10605496/

Fairfield police deliver Mother's Day flowers after arresting company driver for DUI​

 

[mfb]

Belgian farmer attacked France!

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/belgium-farmer-moves-french-border/index.html

I heard France surrendered.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...-via-their-rectum-so-humans-probably-can-too/

Pigs can breathe oxygen via their rectum, so humans probably can too

 

[fresh_42]

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...-via-their-rectum-so-humans-probably-can-too/

Pigs can breathe oxygen via their rectum, so humans probably can too

They always knew!

 

[BillTre]

Some turtles do this when they hibernate underwater.
They have greatly reduced metabolic oxygen needs when hibernating and can stay underwater a long time during non-hibernating.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

While India is still dealing with the deadly black fungus (mucormycosis), four cases have been reported of a deadlier white fungus.

https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/in...us-patna-covid-patients-latest-updates-705872

Medical experts say 'White Fungus' is deadlier than Mucormycosis as it affects other organs of the body apart from lungs.

 

[mfb]

Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Associated Mucormycosis (CAM): Case Report and Systematic Review of Literature

Of the eight cases included in our review, [...] All except the index case died.

How can you know it's deadlier than 7/8 with just 4 cases?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

How can you know it's deadlier than 7/8 with just 4 cases?

I don't know. Most of the papers here are saying that it is deadlier, which is why I posted it.

 

[fresh_42]

China 2nd league football (soccer). A millionaire and club owner forced the team manager to send his son on the pitch:

 

[Astronuc]

China ultramarathon: Severe weather kills 21 runners
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57216601

High winds and freezing rain hit participants in the 100km (60-mile) ultramarathon in the Yellow River Stone Forest, a tourist site in Gansu province, on Saturday.
The race was halted when some of the 172 runners went missing, and a rescue operation was launched.

Eight of the 151 rescued runners were injured.

I'm guessing it is in the Jingtai Yellow River Stone Forest, which is located in the southeast of Jingtai County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province.

In Jingtai county:
Highest elevation 3,321 m (10,896 ft)
Lowest elevation 1,276 m (4,186 ft)

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/23/999546242/21-die-in-extreme-weather-in-china-cross-country-race

The race is a 100-km ultramarathon! In the mountains.

The high-altitude Huanghe Shilin Mountain Marathon began saturday morning in sunny conditions, with 172 runners in the lying area. According to local data, around noon yesterday, the ultrarunners contesting the high-altitude stage of the 100-kilometre background race had already arrived between 20 and 31 kilometres of the route.

https://trailrunningspain.com/2021/...in-marathon-extreme-weather-kills-21-runners/

Rescuers said hail, freezing rain and high winds hit the runners when they were about 20-30 kilometers in on the high-altitude section of the race held in the Yellow River Stone Forest in northwestern Gansu province.

https://www.dw.com/en/china-extreme-weather-kills-21-runners-in-ultramarathon/a-57633712

When in the mountains, it is important to be prepared for a rapid change in weather. In places like the Grand Canyon, hikers are told to be prepared for extreme heat and extreme cold.

 

[fresh_42]

Avoid totalitarian regimes by all means, even in air during a fly-over!

Belarus Forces Down Plane Carrying Dissident and Seizes Him​

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/europe/ryanair-belarus.html

 

[Astronuc]

Avoid totalitarian regimes by all means, even in air during a fly-over!

Ryanair flight was flying from Greece to Lithuania. I wonder how close they were to the Polish border.

They should have tried to make it to Polish airspace, and contacted NATO for protection.

 

[fresh_42]

The blue line is by car. It is 900 km longer, so the deviation above EU countries would only have been about 300 km I guess. Still cheaper than the gas needed for an additional landing.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Avoid totalitarian regimes by all means, even in air during a fly-over!
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/europe/ryanair-belarus.html

Forcing down Evo Morales's plane was an act of air piracy

 

[DaveE]

Ryanair flight was flying from Greece to Lithuania. I wonder how close they were to the Polish border.

They should have tried to make it to Polish airspace, and contacted NATO for protection.

I don't think your average low cost airline pilot is going to try to out run a fighter that shows up on it's wing. I bet they weren't giving any advanced warning, they didn't know the political status of each of their passengers, and they would probably lose their job if they did anything risky. No one died, that is the pilots first responsibility; European politics is their last responsibility.

 

[Astronuc]

he blue line is by car. It is 900 km longer, so the deviation above EU countries would only have been about 300 km I guess. Still cheaper than the gas needed for an additional landing.

Maybe 50 km or so to the west would put them over Poland, and maybe 100 to 150 km further.

 

[Astronuc]

I don't think your average low cost airline pilot is going to try to out run a fighter that shows up on it's wing. I bet they weren't giving any advanced warning, they didn't know the political status of each of their passengers, and they would probably lose their job if they did anything risky. No one died, that is the pilots first responsibility; European politics is their last responsibility.

Welfare of the passengers is the responsibility of the crew and pilot. Someone was kidnapped and could be killed by Lukashenko.

 

[DaveE]

Welfare of the passengers is the responsibility of the crew and pilot. Someone was kidnapped and could be killed by Lukashenko.

Welfare of ALL of the passengers, not just one. Plus the captain undoubtedly doesn't have all of the information he would need to make a decision like that.