Weird News Compilation

[fresh_42]

For decades, the papyrus fragment lay unnoticed in the Hamburg State and University Library.​

Papyrus experts have deciphered a manuscript fragment as the earliest surviving copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. They dated the manuscript to the 4th or 5th century, as the Institute for Christianity and Antiquity at the Humboldt University (HU) in Berlin announced on Tuesday. The gospel tells of the childhood of Jesus and is one of the so-called apocryphal writings. These were not included in the Bible, but their stories were very popular and widespread in antiquity and the Middle Ages.

According to the information, the papyrus fragment with the inventory number P.Hamb.Graec. 1011 had been lying unnoticed in the Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library for decades. The discovery was made by papyrus expert Lajos Berkes from the Berlin Institute and his colleague Gabriel Nocchi Macedo from the University of Liège, Belgium.

Spoiler: Source

https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/5...-des-evangeliums-ueber-kindheit-jesu-entdeckt

 

[Borg]

Once again I'm reminded that average IQ means that half the population is below average. Some people work extra hard to check that box.

EDIT: It's since been revealed that the person wasn't driving with a suspended license. Instead, there was a clerical error in his file that the judge was reading. Still, it's not legal in Michigan to drive during a Zoom call.

There is more to this story.
Claim: The Viral Story About a Defendant Driving With a Suspended License Was Fake News
https://www.yahoo.com/news/viral-story-defendant-driving-suspended-202015577.html

And the saga continues. Turns out he *never* had a driver's license in Michigan or any other state. It's a bit difficult to have your license suspended if you don't have one to suspend.

 

[Borg]

I just happened to read the very first post in the thread and wondered what actually happened. That post was from 2016 and the case was finally resolved in Jan. 2023. The artist who didn't paint the painting, ended up being awarded 2.5 million.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/20/artist-peter-doig-lawsuit-painting

The acclaimed painter Peter Doig has won a multimillion-dollar judgment against a former correctional officer who claimed he owned a bona fide Doig work – and that Doig was just lying that he never painted it.

On Wednesday Doig was awarded $2.5m by an Illinois federal court after more than a decade of litigation.

I'm always finding weird things in the news and thought it might be fun if we all shared odd stories we came across. Please feel free to post odd, funny or unusual stories in this thread.

Turns out that Zoobyshoe beat me in posting about this in another thread, so he will officially be known as the starter of this thread.

Here's one where a man appears to have a painting that is not painted by a famous author, but is suing the famous author for saying it's not his and a judge is actually letting it go to court even though the famous author has proof it wasn't painted by him. (only in the US).

Artist sued for $5M over painting he insists he didn’t paint

continued...
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/artist-sued-for-5m-over-painting-he-insists-he-didnt-paint/

 

[Hornbein]

I just happened to read the very first post in the thread and wondered what actually happened. That post was from 2016 and the case was finally resolved in Jan. 2023. The artist who didn't paint the painting, ended up being awarded 2.5 million.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/20/artist-peter-doig-lawsuit-painting

As if a former correctional officer turned scam artist failure has got $2.5 million. I guess they'll garnish any wages he may earn until Peter Doig has mercy on his soul. Or maybe Mr. Fletcher will fake a new identity and move out of Illinois. Can you still get away with that?

 

[Hornbein]

Cedar Point camel escape.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...traightjacket-not-believing-was-fo-rcna156608

Four Tops singer says hospital put him in straitjacket after not believing he was in Four Tops
Alexander Morris alleges in a lawsuit that he told staffers about security concerns due to fans and stalkers but that they thought he was mentally ill, restrained him and ordered a psychiatric evaluation.

The restraint jacket was finally removed, and Morris was placed back on oxygen after being restrained for “approximately an hour and a half or 90 minutes,” the complaint says.

Morris was offered a $25 gift card to Meijer as an apology, which he refused, it says

What a sad incident. I can't believe someone could be so upset as to turn down a Meijer gift card just like that ...

 

[Astronuc]

New Jersey couple just sitting in their backyard when massive object falls from sky 'out of nowhere'​

https://news.yahoo.com/news/jersey-couple-just-sitting-backyard-211346119.html

The roof of a New Jersey home was severely damaged in a chilling incident when a large chunk of ice fell from above on Wednesday.

Paul and Sabrina Gomez were sitting in the backyard of their Patterson home at around 9:30 p.m. when the projectile came out of nowhere and left a gaping hole in the roof, the New York Post reported. The couple were seated at a table less than 12 feet from the impacted area.

The chilling incident comes nearly a year after a chunk of ice weighing between 15 and 20 pounds struck a Massachusetts home, according to the Associated Press.

Jeff Ilg said he and his wife, Amelia Rainville, suspect the ice fell off an airplane traveling to Boston Logan International Airport. The ice chunk, which Ilg said was initially estimated to be 15 to 20 pounds and hit their home in Shirley, 50 miles west of Boston.

https://news.yahoo.com/large-chunk-ice-crashes-jersey-182532005.html

Seems like some folks on a flight path need flight insurance.

Are commercial arilines doing bombing practice on the side?


Meanwhile, further NW,

SpaceX Pays for Rocket Parts That Fell to Farm of Canadian, Who Vows to Use Money to Pay for Hockey Rink​

https://news.yahoo.com/news/spacex-pays-rocket-parts-fell-190639799.html

Earlier this year, massive pieces of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that had delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station came crashing down on a farm in rural Saskatchewan, Canada.

Farmer Barry Sawchuk, who stumbled upon the chunks of space junk, promised at the time to sell the unusual treasure to raise money for a hockey rink that's being built in the town of Ituna, Saskatchewan, where he was born and raised.

And as the CBC now reports, Sawchuk can now make good on his promise. Two SpaceX employees showed up at his farm in a U-Haul truck to cart the pieces away, without offering any comment.


While Sawchuk didn't reveal how much money he had gotten in return, he's still excited to share the proceeds with his community.

 

[Astronuc]

Porsche Crashes Off Rooftop Parking Garage, Wads of Cash Found Atop Wreck
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/porsche-crashes-off-rooftop-parking-154100059.html

Well, there's something you don't see every day: a Porsche Panamera lying in a field besides a parking garage, having apparently flown off the roof, with wads of $100 bills and a cell phone left atop (or rather, on the bottom of) the overturned vehicle. Yet that was the sight officers from New York Police Department came across in the Bronx on June 16th, according to news reports . . . .

Yes, it is an unusual, not-every-day event.

The car crashed through a concrete wall at approximately 5 a.m. on Sunday and landed on its roof about 15 feet below the parking deck, according to the police. No occupants were found at the scene; however, police say a trail of blood was located near the wreck.

Meanwhile, Vehicle falls off upper deck of parking garage in the Bronx: NYPD
https://www.yahoo.com/news/vehicle-falls-off-upper-deck-191039094.html

THE BRONX (PIX11) — A vehicle fell off of the top deck of a parking garage in the Bronx on Sunday, according to police.

The vehicle fell through the wall of the upper deck by 10 W 225th St. Deegan Expressway and Broadway around 11:30 a.m., according to police.

I'm not sure falling through a wall makes grammatical sense. Falling is usually down in the vertical, as in the direction of the local gravitational field. It would seem the car drove through the wall, for whatever reason, and the falling began as the front wheels no long made contact with horizontal surface.

 

[fresh_42]

Porsche Crashes Off Rooftop Parking Garage, Wads of Cash Found Atop Wreck
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/porsche-crashes-off-rooftop-parking-154100059.html

Yes, it is an unusual, not-every-day event.



Meanwhile, Vehicle falls off upper deck of parking garage in the Bronx: NYPD
https://www.yahoo.com/news/vehicle-falls-off-upper-deck-191039094.html


I'm not sure falling through a wall makes grammatical sense. Falling is usually down in the vertical, as in the direction of the local gravitational field. It would seem the car drove through the wall, for whatever reason, and the falling began as the front wheels no long made contact with horizontal surface.

Down is easy. The real artists go up!

https://www.freiepresse.de/nachrich...adtkirchendach-artikel1441799#google_vignette

 

[Astronuc]

Down is easy. The real artists go up!

That is impressive.

Runner up, or honorable mention for trying.
https://abc11.com/jurupa-valley-ca-crash-news-caught-on-video/14663022/

JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. -- A driver who was attempting to make a turn on a residential street in Southern California ended up crashing into the garage of a home.

Making a turn at a high rate of speed.

Same video on youtube.

 

[fresh_42]

That is impressive.

Runner up, or honorable mention for trying.
https://abc11.com/jurupa-valley-ca-crash-news-caught-on-video/14663022/

IIRC then the incident with the church was similar: speed about 100 mph, a small roundabout followed by a small wall around the churchyard. Both worked as a ramp. Maybe the car performed a summersault in the air.

Whatever had happened, it was definitely weird news.

 

[jack action]

Runner up, or honorable mention for trying.
https://abc11.com/jurupa-valley-ca-crash-news-caught-on-video/14663022/


Making a turn at a high rate of speed.

Same video on youtube.

Woah! At the very least, someone needed a change of underwear.

 

[nsaspook]

 

[Borg]

Chinese 7 foot 3 inch teenager towers over competitors

 

[nsaspook]

'motherlode' of graffiti​

Really smart, make a video detailing your criminal activity.
HUF?

 

[Hornbein]

 

[nsaspook]

 

[nsaspook]

"They called off the chase so no one would get....MOWED DOWN"

 

[pinball1970]

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-scientists-strategies-cats-furniture.html

“they (researchers) have gained unique insights into cats' scratching behavior. The goal of this and future research is to develop more effective strategies to manage this behavior,”

Before you mock, cat scratching is a serious business, ask Ted Nugent!

 

[Hornbein]

I never believed that cats were "sharpening their claws" on furniture cloth. I bet they are stretching the muscles that hold the claws back.

 

[nsaspook]

Bricked shoes.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...nike-killing-app-for-350-self-tying-sneakers/

“Immensely disappointing”: Nike killing app for $350 self-tying sneakers​

Without updates or ability to download after August, app will become useless.​

 

[phinds]

Awww ... what a shame.

 

[Hornbein]

Bricked shoes.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...nike-killing-app-for-350-self-tying-sneakers/

“Immensely disappointing”: Nike killing app for $350 self-tying sneakers​

Without updates or ability to download after August, app will become useless.​

So, Android makes changes that kill off old apps? Hard to believe, say I.

I'm sure Apple doesn't do that, but they're killing the app download just the same.

Well, I'm done being outraged by what huge companies do. I've got better uses for my emotions.

 

[Tom.G]

So, Android makes changes that kill off old apps? Hard to believe, say I.

[Rant]
The common name for the situation is Planned Obsolescence.

Hard to believe? Try to run a computer program that has been around for a few years on the "Latest-Greatest" version of an Operating System!

The same problem occurs in the other direction, try running a recent piece of software on an few-years-old OS.

[End Rant]

 

[collinsmark]

So, Android makes changes that kill off old apps? Hard to believe, say I.

I'm sure Apple doesn't do that, but they're killing the app download just the same.

Well, I'm done being outraged by what huge companies do. I've got better uses for my emotions.

There's some truth to the claims, but it doesn't necessarily mean that there's anything nefarious going on.

What happens is that when you release an app to either Android or Apple iOS, you need to specify to the compiler how far back you want to go for backwards compatibility.

All the while, Android and Apple continue to update their operating systems. New OS versions mean some new API calls are added, while some older API calls -- the really old ones -- are depreciated.

As an app developer you might not even need to worry/concern yourself with the API call specifics, depending on which tools you use to write your code. But your compiler does. When new API calls are introduced, it needs to know and compile accordingly.

What all this means is that as an app developer, you need to keep your tools up to date, and recompile and re-release your apps like every six months to a year or so, increasing the minimum OS compatibility version, such that your app isn't relying on depreciated API calls/versions of the OS that are no longer supported.

Arguably, Apple specifically makes this a bit worse in that you have to pay Apple for the privilege of having apps on their app store. If you stop paying Apple for your developer account, you apps will be removed.

Android is free in this respect, but you do need to keep the apps updated, as discussed above.

 

[paradoxlost]

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/baby-...l-circumcision-nyc-orthodox/story?id=15888618

March 12, 2012— -- New York City is investigating the death last September of a baby who contracted herpes after a "ritual circumcision with oral suction," in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish ceremony known in Hebrew as metzitzah b'peh.

In a practice that takes place during a ceremony known as the bris, a circumcision practitioner, or mohel, removes the foreskin from the baby's penis, and with his mouth sucks the blood from the incision to cleanse the wound.

The district attorney's office in Kings County Brooklyn is investigating the death of the 2-week-old baby at Maimonides Hospital, but would not disclose the name of the mohel or whether there would be a prosecution.

"We are looking into it, that's all I can say," a D.A. source told ABCNews.com.

The 5,000-year-old religious practice is seen primarily in ultra-Orthodox and some orthodox communities and has caused an alarm among city health officials. In 2003 and 2004, three babies, including a set of twins, were infected with Type 1 herpes; the cases were linked to circumcision, and one boy died.

The mohel who performed the procedures, Yitzchok Fischer, was later banned from doing circumcisions, according to The New York Times. It is not known if he was involved in this recent death.

"It's certainly not something any of us recommend in the modern infection-control era," said Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University.

"This is a ritual of historic Abraham that's come down through the ages, and now it has met modern science," he said. "It was never a good idea, and there is a better way to do this." (The modern Jewish community uses a sterile aspiration device to clean the wound in a circumcision.)

In the 2004 death and the more recent one, a mohel infected the penile wounds with Type 1 herpes I (HSV-1), which affects the mouth and throat. It is different from Type 2 or genital herpes (HSV-2), which is a sexually transmitted disease and can cause deadly infections when a newborn passes through an infected birth canal.

Neonatal herpes is "almost always" a fatal infection, according to Schaffner. "It's a bad virus. [Infants] have no immunity and so it's a very serious illness. Now we have another death -- an unnecessary, incredibly tragic death."

Infections are rare, according to a 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine, affecting only one infant in 3,200 births. But it is a serious infection, with a fatality rate of about 64 percent even with antiviral treatment. And fewer than 20 percent of those who survive develop normally.

Schaffner was a medical consultant in the 2004 death of the twin, when city and state officials butted heads with religious leaders who defended their freedom to continue the traditional practice.

"Unfortunately, adults can carry the herpes virus without any symptoms," he said. "Applying the mouth to an open wound can transmit the virus, which can disseminate throughout the body of the infant."

Type 1 herpes is common, and 90 percent of all Americans have experienced infection by the age of 50, the vast majority without symptoms, according to Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases.

About two-thirds of all infant boys born in New York City's Hasidic communities, who are ultra-Orthodox, are circumcised in the oral suction manner, according to Rabbi David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America.

"Of course the community is deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy," he wrote to ABCNews.com in an email.

"We really don't know any of the details as yet," he wrote. "Who was the mohel? Did he take the hygienic precautions prescribed by the NYC Health Department in the 2006 protocol it entered with rabbinic leaders of the Orthodox community, which are designed to reduce the risk of transmitting infection?

"Did health officials perform the type of investigation described in the protocols to ascertain the source of the infection? What were the results of any such investigation? It is difficult for us (and should be difficult for anyone else) to comment publicly on this tragedy or to draw any firm conclusions."

Zwiebel said the Orthodox community was "increasingly attuned" to health risks and to the importance of following safety steps.

Earlier this week, he told the New York Times that mohels were aware of the health risks and hygienic practices and warned that regulation could send them "underground."

 

[paradoxlost]

[Rant]
The common name for the situation is Planned Obsolescence.

Hard to believe? Try to run a computer program that has been around for a few years on the "Latest-Greatest" version of an Operating System!

The same problem occurs in the other direction, try running a recent piece of software on an few-years-old OS.

[End Rant]

That is why you should remove yourself from the Apple/Google ecosystem. Linux all the way.

 

[pinball1970]

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-real-life-stillsuit-dune-spacesuits.html

 

[Borg]

Ready for the zombie apocalypse as long as you have a source of water.
Doomsday dinners: Costco sells 'apocalypse bucket' with food that lasts 25 years

 

[Hornbein]

Ready for the zombie apocalypse as long as you have a source of water.
Doomsday dinners: Costco sells 'apocalypse bucket' with food that lasts 25 years

You can't be too safe. Right?

 

[fresh_42]

No comment.​

Popular influencer Aanvi Kamdar has died at just 27 after falling 300 feet into a gorge while filming a video for Instagram at a waterfall in India.
https://www.suggest.com/popular-inf...-gorge-while-filming-instagram-video/2821063/

 

[Borg]

Looks like one airline managed to avoid the CrowdStrike disaster.

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-31-saves-the-day-during-crowdstrike-outage

 

[berkeman]

First there was Cocaine Bear.

Now we have...

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/science/cocaine-sharks-brazil-scli-intl-scn/index.html

Spoiler

The good new is that the sharks are small ones, so unless they learn to gang up like Piranha fish, it should not get out of hand...

 

[fresh_42]

Not sure whether this counts as weird.

Every morning in Frankfurt (Main), Germany, you might catch a glimpse of Jenny, a horse who goes on a long walk every morning, all by herself. She has been taking the same route every morning for 14 years, ever since her owner, now 79 years old, became unable to ride. She enjoys greeting all of the familiar faces along the way, and she stops and gets treats and pettings from some of her favorite humans. The locals treat her like a celebrity and happily clean up after her. A piece of paper is attached to her halter that reads, "My name is Jenny. I didn't run away, I'm just walking. Thank you." But the police get calls frequently from people who don't know about the arrangement. They are very familiar with the horse and the owner, and there have been no incidents in 14 years. A local veterinarian gives her routine checkups and continues to find her to be healthy and showing no anxiety about her unique lifestyle.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=495825483148737&set=a.475149571882995
(I knew the story, but FB was faster than searching for a local news article and translating it.)

To be honest, it's not really downtown where she takes her walks but definitely within city limits.

 

[Astronuc]

Black bear and cub destroy car in Connecticut after getting trapped inside
https://news.yahoo.com/news/black-bear-cub-destroy-car-215006816.html

WINSTED, Conn. (AP) — Trapped inside a car, the adult black bear and cub thrashed about. The horn was blaring and the radio blasting. Outside the car, a second cub ran around in apparent distress by the Connecticut home.

State environmental conservation police were called by the startled vehicle owner on the morning of July 15. They opened a door, and the two bears ran off into the woods safe and sound with the third bear. The car's interior, however, wasn't so fortunate: It was completely torn apart.

The incident in Winsted, in the state's northwest corner not far from Massachusetts, was documented in photos and video taken by the car's owner, who captured images of the bears in the car and the resulting destruction on a cellphone. Officials believe they got in the vehicle by opening a door, but it's not clear how the door then closed.

Over a week, there have been three episodes involving bears in Connecticut that were publicly reported by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection — another sign of the increasing black bear population in the state.

I have to wonder how a bear gets into a car, and how they get trapped.