Wierd/silly/amusing/good news

[Puddy_Tat]

Network Rail are building a bridge for dormice. Isn't that nice of them

A miniature railway crossing is being built for endangered hazel dormice in Lancashire

The miniature railway will encourage dormice to find food, look for a new mate or to find better nesting sites

propermanchester.com

would have hoped the dormouse would look less pissed off about it, though...

 

[Raheem]

It's good the North is getting something, at least, to compensate for the loss of HS2.

 

[LDC]

A bridge for dormouses! A bridge! For little dormouses!

Dormouse bridge across railway line could help save endangered species

Tiny bridge in Lancashire will connect two wild populations of the tree-dwelling hazel dormouse

www.theguardian.com

 

[hitmouse]

Hackers Are Spamming Businesses’ Receipt Printers With ‘Antiwork’ Manifestos

Dozens of printers across the internet are printing out a manifesto that encourages workers to discuss their pay with coworkers, and pressure their employers.

www.vice.com

 

[spring-peeper]

Dozens of camels barred from Saudi beauty contest over Botox

Saudi authorities have conducted their biggest-ever crackdown on camel beauty contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday, with over 40 camels disqualified from the annual pageant.

www.cp24.com

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Saudi authorities have conducted their biggest-ever crackdown on camel beauty contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday, with over 40 camels disqualified from the annual pageant.

Saudi Arabia's popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66 million in prize money. Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels' heads, necks, humps, dress and postures.

Judges at the monthlong festival in the desert northeast of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, are escalating their clamp down on artificially enhanced camels, the official news agency reported, using “specialized and advanced” technology to detect tampering.

This year, authorities discovered dozens of breeders had stretched out the lips and noses of camels, used hormones to boost the beasts' muscles, injected camels' heads and lips with Botox to make them bigger, inflated body parts with rubber bands and used fillers to relax their faces.

“The club is keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels,” the SPA report said, adding organizers would “impose strict penalties on manipulators.”

 

[hitmouse]

Friendly, foul-mouthed crow befriends entire Oregon elementary school before state police are called in

The bird became a temporary mascot at Allen Dale Elementary School in Grants Pass in November.

www.oregonlive.com

 

[hitmouse]

QUANTUM TARDIGRADE:

Scientists Put A Tardigrade In A Strange Quantum State And It Survived

<p>Scientists have successfully managed to perform yet another boundary-breaking experiment on a tardigrade, this one more complex than any before it. Tardigrades – sometimes referred to as water pigs for their cute, chubby piglet-like shape – are invisible to the naked eye, ranging from between...

www.unilad.co.uk

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

QUANTUM TARDIGRADE:

Scientists Put A Tardigrade In A Strange Quantum State And It Survived

<p>Scientists have successfully managed to perform yet another boundary-breaking experiment on a tardigrade, this one more complex than any before it. Tardigrades – sometimes referred to as water pigs for their cute, chubby piglet-like shape – are invisible to the naked eye, ranging from between...

www.unilad.co.uk

The short version:

Quantum and biological systems are seldom discussed together as they seemingly demand opposing conditions. Life is complex, "hot and wet" whereas quantum objects are small, cold and well controlled. Here, we overcome this barrier with a tardigrade -- a microscopic multicellular organism known to tolerate extreme physiochemical conditions via a latent state of life known as cryptobiosis. We observe coupling between the animal in cryptobiosis and a superconducting quantum bit and prepare a highly entangled state between this combined system and another qubit. The tardigrade itself is shown to be entangled with the remaining subsystems. The animal is then observed to return to its active form after 420 hours at sub 10 mK temperatures and pressure of 6×10−6 mbar, setting a new record for the conditions that a complex form of life can survive.

 

[Dom Traynor]

Star Trek Discovery

 

[Dystopiary]

Have a shufty through these.

 

[spring-peeper]

This 6th-grader gave a classmate the Heimlich and saved a woman from a fire in one day​

This 6th-grader gave a classmate the Heimlich and saved a woman from a fire in one day

An 11-year-old boy from Oklahoma is being honored for his heroism after he saved a choking classmate and rescued a woman from a house fire in one day.

www.npr.org

An 11-year-old boy from Oklahoma is being honored for his heroism after he saved a choking classmate and rescued a woman from a house fire in one day.

Davyon Johnson was named an honorary member of both the sheriff's office and police force, and recognized by the board of education in his hometown of Muskogee, a city about 50 miles southeast of Tulsa.

"Davyon performed the Heimlich maneuver on a classmate on December 9 and that evening helped a woman from her house that was on fire," the Muskogee County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook last week.

Muskogee Public Schools posted a series of photos showing Johnson posing with his various awards and certificates.

 

[T & P]

Coldplay dismay fans with news they will stop recording in 2025 | Coldplay | The Guardian

Chris Martin says band will continue to tour in interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2

amp.theguardian.com

Not entirely clear if the dismay emanates from the fact that they are to stop recording, or that we have to wait three more years for it to happen.

 

[JimW]

Florida man with drugs around penis denies they were his

Florida authorities say they found cocaine and methamphetamine wrapped around a man’s penis during a traffic stop, but the man denied the drugs were his.

apnews.com

 

[T & P]

Italian mafia boss caught after Google Maps sighting in Spain

Gioacchino Gammino had been on the run for two decades, but was spotted in Spain on Google Maps.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[hitmouse]

Have we had goldfish car on here yet?

Scientists Build Robot Fish Tank That Lets Goldfish Drive Around on Land

The goldfish are coming for us all.

futurism.com

 

[quiet guy]

Italian mafia boss caught after Google Maps sighting in Spain

Gioacchino Gammino had been on the run for two decades, but was spotted in Spain on Google Maps.

www.bbc.co.uk

How the ... did they manage that as everyone's face is pixelated, unless he looked like one of those paintings that the church cleaner refreshed.

 

[T & P]

Brilliant

Stranded dog saved from rising tide after rescuers attach sausage to drone​

Stranded dog saved from rising tide after rescuers attach sausage to drone

Team in Hampshire ties sausage to drone as ‘last resort’ to rescue Millie the jack russell from mudflats

www.theguardian.com

 

[T & P]

Robot vacuum cleaner escapes from Cambridge Travelodge

The automated vacuum device ignores a hotel door's threshold and makes a break for freedom.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Serge Forward]

I liked the comment about someone being worried about it as "nature abhors a vaccum"

 

[Sprocket.]

Chuckle Brothers: Plan to rename hometown park after duo Chuckle Brothers: Plan to rename hometown park after duo

Nice for something for the bairns in Rotherham.

 

[hitmouse]

Chuckle Brothers: Plan to rename hometown park after duo Chuckle Brothers: Plan to rename hometown park after duo

Nice for something for the bairns in Rotherham.

For a second I read this as them planning to rename all of Rotherham as Chuckleham or something.

Anyway, rats that play Doom:

I Trained Some Rats To Become Gamers

Viktor Tóth eventually wants to create an immersive experience where people can compete against the rats or watch them face off.

www.vice.com

 

[hitmouse]

I'd definitely rather be a rat that plays Doom than a Bitcoin mouse:

The Plan to Put Bitcoin in Mouse DNA With a Genetically Engineered Virus

BitMouseDAO has exactly two investors and almost no money, but they do have a wild idea.

www.vice.com

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

get your platinum jubbly crockery here

 

[T & P]

Covid: Louis Maxwell spent most of £50,000 loan on drugs

Louis Maxwell is given a six-year bankruptcy order after buying Class A drugs with a Covid loan.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Orang Utan]

Covid: Louis Maxwell spent most of £50,000 loan on drugs

Louis Maxwell is given a six-year bankruptcy order after buying Class A drugs with a Covid loan.

www.bbc.co.uk

Wrong thread

 

[nogojones]

Chuckle Brothers: Plan to rename hometown park after duo Chuckle Brothers: Plan to rename hometown park after duo

Nice for something for the bairns in Rotherham.

You know Paul Chuckle has a new career as a DJ and is playing Bangface this year?

Not just for the bairns.

 

[nogojones]

I'd definitely rather be a rat that plays Doom than a Bitcoin mouse:

The Plan to Put Bitcoin in Mouse DNA With a Genetically Engineered Virus

BitMouseDAO has exactly two investors and almost no money, but they do have a wild idea.

www.vice.com

Maybe not the thread for it, but getting critters to engage with the internet or the metaverse may not be purely for the animals benefit.

Cows thinking they're roaming the fields, brings in the milk, but they're really in some bovine matrix.

Russian cows get VR headsets 'to reduce anxiety'

The herd was shown "a unique summer field simulation program" in a bid to boost milk yields.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[T & P]

Wrong thread

It’s not necessarily good news, but definitely qualifies as amusing in my book, even though I still disapprove of the the man’s fraudulent actions.

 

[hash tag]

Is this the best front page from this rag?
Bamber Gascoigne RIP. Wags with more money than sense and Zouma.

 

[hitmouse]

Not good news, but pretty fascinating:

The Never-Aging Ants With a Terrible Secret

A parasite gives its hosts the appearance of youth, and an unmatched social power in the colony.

www.theatlantic.com