Weird News ε' - The fifth column

[Snowygerry]

There a few of those...

Chandeleur is 1st of 2 pancake days

This year France gets two pancake days in a week, Chandeleur on February 2 and Shrove Tuesday on February 9

www.connexionfrance.com

Unlike its movable Easter-linked compatriot Shrove Tuesday, which most Britons know as pancake day, Chandeleur is fixed on February 2, 40 days after Christmas.

Chandeleur (Candlemas) marks the presentation of the baby Jesus in the temple at Jerusalem.

In the fifth century Pope Gelasius I chose to mark the event by giving pancakes to the poor of Rome, their round shape symbolising the sun.

Most do not wear them on their head of course

 

[Kyriakos]

Princess Mononoke is real.

 

[Samson]

Princess Mononoke is real.

I am not watching the video, but I guess it is the thing that hunting actually spreads them rather than eliminates them. I find it hard to believe for such a large tasty animal in southern MO, but I am not one to disbelieve the data.

Spoiler Infographic :

 

[Kyriakos]

I am not watching the video, but I guess it is the thing that hunting actually spreads them rather than eliminates them. I find it hard to believe for such a large tasty animal in southern MO, but I am not one to disbelieve the data.

Spoiler Infographic :

Yes, hunting is supposed to have made them stronger. They are crossbred, disease-spreading canadian pigs with notable survival skills and higher fertility rate, who now move in their tusked horde towards Usia.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Firefighters rescue injured owl from crows​

It seems animal rescue is all part of the job for firefighters in Russia too but in Smolensk it was a bit more serious than a cat up a tree.

An owl with an injured wing was found lying outside the gates of a fire station on Monday morning, being pecked by crows, officials say.

Firefighters came out and rescued the stricken bird, warming and feeding it.

The Ural owl (Strix uralensis) was then taken to a vet's for an x-ray and further care.

It will be sent to a wild bird rehabilitation and reintroduction centre in the near future, according to Smolensk's emergency services.

Interviewed by Russian state media, press officer Natalia Arbuzova described how firefighters in the west Russian city had rescued the bird when it was spotted at 10:00 (07:00 GMT).

"The owl was lying motionless with an injured wing and crows were pecking at it," she said.

"When the firefighters saw it they rushed to its aid, driving off the crows. They put the owl on a shovel and carried it inside the station. It was put in a box in a dark place because because it suffered from the light, and they fed it."

The bird is expected to make a good recovery but will remain at the vet's until it can be sent to the rehab centre, she added.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67621665

 

[Broken_Erika]

Chased up a utility pole, this cat came down to earth with a purrfect jump​

Coco landed without injury and is back home resting — and getting lots of treats​

They say cats always land on their feet, and Coco the orange tabby proved it can happen even from a great distance when he leapt off a utility pole in Dildo, N.L., on Monday.

Alice Reid, the owner of the three-year-old cat, had noticed a dog running around her yard Monday when she got a call from her husband asking if Coco was around. After looking around the house, she realized he was outside — and had scurried to the top of a utility pole to seek safety.

Coco began crying out for help, Reid said, and was up on the pole for about an hour. They tried using a ladder to get closer and coax him down.

WATCH ABOVE | See Coco the cat take matters into his own paws during a rescue effort

"We couldn't reach him — he was way out of reach. We tried a board on the ladder, and he tried a few times himself to get down but he was too afraid," Reid said Tuesday.

Reid ended up calling Newfoundland Power, which eventually sent a worker up the pole to retrieve the cat.

That's when Coco took matters into his own paws and hurled himself off of the pole, likely landing in a nearby bush.

"He was down in the trees. I really didn't see him until he took off," Reid said. "There's bushes and that there, but I'm not sure where he landed because it happened so fast. And he just took off running."

Coco was recovered and is back home enjoying sleep and treats in perfect health — although Reid said he likely used one of his nine lives.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/coco-the-cat-pole-jump-1.7049603

 

[Broken_Erika]

Woman Enters MRI Machine With a Gun, Gets Shot in Butt​

The 57-year-old woman denied having any firearms before entering the MRI, according to an adverse event report filed to the FDA.​

A woman’s medical exam turned into a literal pain in the butt, thanks to a poorly placed firearm. An adverse event report sent to the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year details an alleged incident where the woman was shot in the right buttock by her own gun that was activated by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. Thankfully, the injury was relatively mild and she recovered just fine.

The report was first filed in July by the woman’s healthcare provider to the FDA’s Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database—a voluntary reporting system for adverse events tied to medical devices. But the incident appears to have first been publicly unearthed last week by The Messenger.

According to the report, the inadvertent discharge occurred on June 28. The unnamed 57-year-old woman entered the MRI room with a concealed and ferrous (iron-containing) handgun. As she was about to enter the machine, the gun was attracted to the powerful magnet inside it and fired off a single round into and through her right buttock. Luckily, the bullet barely penetrated her skin and the doctor on site described her entry and exit wounds as “very small and superficial.”

As anyone who’s ever worked with or gotten an MRI exam should know, the magnet powering an MRI is always on. And patients are expressly told not to bring anything potentially magnetic like metals into the room to avoid these kinds of incidents. According to the report, the woman received a standard screening for these objects and explicitly said no when asked if she was carrying any firearms. It’s not known whether she had a permit for the gun, however.

It isn’t just guns that can be dangerous while next to an MRI—people have gotten seriously hurt and killed by wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, and even metallic butt plugs. Bullets are a relatively less common threat, but not unprecedented either. Earlier this January, a Brazilian man died of a gunshot to the stomach triggered by an MRI machine while he was assisting his mother (he reportedly also denied having a weapon beforehand, according to medical staff).

The woman in this case was much more fortunate. After the injury, she was taken to a nearby hospital. And she later reported that her wound was “okay and healing well.”
https://gizmodo.com/mri-machine-accidents-gun-shot-woman-butt-1851077446

 

[Kyriakos]

^First lesson in AI crime is how to achieve plausible deniability.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Australian woman charged with stealing van carrying 10,000 doughnuts​

A woman in Australia has been charged with stealing a delivery van packed with 10,000 Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

The van went missing from a petrol station in a Sydney suburb in the early hours of 29 November.

Police found the vehicle abandoned a week later - along with thousands of spoiled doughnuts - at a car park.

They arrested the woman, 28, on Thursday. She was refused bail and faces charges including vehicle theft and driving while disqualified.

CCTV footage of the incident allegedly shows the woman lingering at the service station at around 04:00 local time (17:00 GMT on 28 November) before getting inside the unattended delivery van and then driving away.

It is unclear if she knew the van contained 10,000 doughnuts. Her delicious haul included Christmas-themed and classic doughnuts, News.com.au reported.

Krispy Kreme reported the incident to the police and reassured customers then that it was "working to replace the 10,000 stolen doughnuts".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-67712369

 

[Broken_Erika]

Baby owl discovered in US family's Christmas tree​

A family in Kentucky had a surprise when a baby owl was discovered nestled in their Christmas tree - the bird had gone unnoticed for several days.

A carpet cleaner was working in the home when he says he saw something rustling in the tree and went to investigate.

The family was "shocked" by the discovery of the owl and at first thought it was a prank.

The bird has since been released back into the wild.

Homeowner Michele White said she had spent hours decorating the tree - which the family picks out together every year - and had no a clue that the baby owl was there.

If carpet cleaner Bobby Hayes had not noticed the little bird, it might still be in the family's living room, blending in with the branches.

Mr Hayes was plugging in a piece of equipment when he saw something stirring in the tree.

"The owl was literally sitting on a lower limb here," Mr Hayes said.

It then crawled deeper into the tree and it took several minutes of searching before he found it again.

He pulled the owl out and sent Ms White a photo.

"I was shocked. I was so stunned," she told a local news station.

"I thought he'd put a stuffed animal or an ornament in it, so I called him immediately, like, 'you're kidding me, right?'"

"I have three dogs," Ms White said. "We use this room non-stop: watch TV - the kitchen's right here. No indication."

Mr Hayes released the owl into the family's wooded backyard.

Ms White's daughter, Madeline, shared a video on social media site TikTok about their discovery.

Plenty of people commented with similar stories of finding squirrels, possums and even bats in their Christmas trees.

In honour of their former house guest, Ms White - who needlepoints - said she has been inspired to stitch an owl ornament for their Christmas tree.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67732127

 

[tjs282]

Aww, shucks

All we found this year was a couple of ladybirds...

 

[Hygro]

Chased up a utility pole, this cat came down to earth with a purrfect jump​

Coco landed without injury and is back home resting — and getting lots of treats​

They say cats always land on their feet, and Coco the orange tabby proved it can happen even from a great distance when he leapt off a utility pole in Dildo, N.L., on Monday.

Alice Reid, the owner of the three-year-old cat, had noticed a dog running around her yard Monday when she got a call from her husband asking if Coco was around. After looking around the house, she realized he was outside — and had scurried to the top of a utility pole to seek safety.

Coco began crying out for help, Reid said, and was up on the pole for about an hour. They tried using a ladder to get closer and coax him down.

WATCH ABOVE | See Coco the cat take matters into his own paws during a rescue effort

"We couldn't reach him — he was way out of reach. We tried a board on the ladder, and he tried a few times himself to get down but he was too afraid," Reid said Tuesday.

Reid ended up calling Newfoundland Power, which eventually sent a worker up the pole to retrieve the cat.

That's when Coco took matters into his own paws and hurled himself off of the pole, likely landing in a nearby bush.

"He was down in the trees. I really didn't see him until he took off," Reid said. "There's bushes and that there, but I'm not sure where he landed because it happened so fast. And he just took off running."

Coco was recovered and is back home enjoying sleep and treats in perfect health — although Reid said he likely used one of his nine lives.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/coco-the-cat-pole-jump-1.7049603

I already didn’t believe it was a true story but when they picked that town name for pussycat runs up the pole and jumps into the bush that’s when I knew it was fake.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I already didn’t believe it was a true story but when they picked that town name for pussycat runs up the pole and jumps into the bush that’s when I knew it was fake.

Dildo is a real place

The name, then written as "Dildoe", was first applied to Dildo Island, located offshore from the present-day community of Dildo. This use was recorded in 1711 and 1775, and the name was thereafter applied to the Dildo Arm of Trinity Bay and other local physical features. Social scientist William Baillie Hamilton notes that Captain James Cook and his assistant Michael Lane, who mapped Newfoundland in the 1760s, often displayed a sense of humour in the place names they chose, and were not above selecting names that might "offend over-sensitive" readers. Regardless of the origin, the name has brought the town of Dildo a measure of notoriety. In the 20th century, there were several unsuccessful campaigns to change the name.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dildo,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador

 

[Hygro]

Dildo is a real place

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dildo,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador

I didn’t say otherwise..

 

[Broken_Erika]

Armed robbers' car stolen during Colorado heist, police say​

Three gun-wielding thieves in Colorado allegedly robbed a cheque-cashing business, but, before they could escape, a fourth person stole their getaway car, police said.

Commerce City police arrested two of three suspects on Saturday, describing the series of events as "an unexpected and ironic twist".

Adding to the irony, their car may have "already been stolen", police wrote on Facebook. "We don't know."

Police say an investigation is ongoing.

On Saturday morning, three armed and masked people attempted to rob Hi Lo Check Cashing, the Commerce City Police Department said in a statement. They are believed to be under 18, according to local news, citing a spokesperson for the department.

"As the trio was robbing the business…a fourth criminal stole their getaway vehicle," police said.

Before the alleged thieves could flee on foot, "officers infiltrated the area and quickly chased" them down, police said.

"We are relieved no one was injured," police said.

The Shakespearean-like coincidence of robbers getting robbed at the scene was not lost upon Facebook users who commented on the Commerce City police's Facebook post.

One woman asked if this was from Grand Theft Auto, with a laughing emoji.

"What a plot twist," another user wrote, to which the police responded, "we can't make this stuff up".

Car thefts have been on the rise in the US, up nearly 11% in 2022, according to the latest FBI data. Meanwhile, check cashing stores, which have hundreds of dollars of cash on hand, are frequent robbery targets.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67752007

 

[EgonSpengler]

Armed robbers' car stolen during Colorado heist, police say​

Three gun-wielding thieves in Colorado allegedly robbed a cheque-cashing business, but, before they could escape, a fourth person stole their getaway car, police said.

The Shakespearean-like coincidence of robbers getting robbed at the scene[...]

"Shakespearean"? I was going to say it sounds like a Coen Brothers movie.

 

[Kyriakos]

 

[Arakhor]

They always have to stress it's gay for extra scandal, I guess.

 

[Kaitzilla]

View attachment 679977

This video is making the rounds lately.
The most popular (or second most popular?) TV show in the 90s.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

View attachment 679977