And Finally...

A mysterious person known as the ‘Piss Bandit’ has been causing a stir in Pasadena, California, for the past six years.

The person comes out at night donned with a mask and latex gloves, regularly leaving bottles of urine in an influential neighbourhood, carefully arranging them on a utility box before vanishing into the night, as reported by New York Post.

The bottles, which include soda bottles, juice cartons, and gallon jugs are filled with yellow liquid, and are accompanied by crude drawings and notes like ‘human urine’ and ‘HIV positive.’

The bandit sometimes strikes multiple times a week, leaving behind fresh bottles each morning that disappear by nightfall.

The city attempted to stop the bandit by adding a pointed metal cover to the utility box, but the Piss Bandit simply removed it and continued his antics.

"It’s been a tug-o-war between the neighborhood and this guy," said Grant Yansura, who, along with filmmaker Derek Milton, launched an investigation into the mysterious figure.

Their TikTok videos about the case have garnered over 600,000 views.

While Yansura and Milton see the bandit as a vigilante artist akin to Robin Hood, many neighbours view him as a nuisance.

One local expressed disgust, stating he never considered the act an art form. Another neighbour threatened the bandit, saying, “If I catch you leaving your piss here, I will make you drink every last drop!”

Despite the attention, the bandit remains elusive. He ignored the duo's attempts to communicate, even stealing their cameras. Ultimately, Yansura concluded, “Sometimes you just have to let an artist pee.”

Electrocuted, flaming bird carcasses are falling off of power lines and causing wildfires across the U.S. This surprisingly common phenomenon has been responsible for at least three Colorado wildfires so far this summer.

These events are not isolated. A 2022 study found that electrocuted birds caused 44 wildfires in the contiguous United States between 2014 and 2018. That study was led by Taylor Barnes, a biologist who now works for electric utility company EDM International. In the paper, Barnes wrote that “avian-caused ignitions” happen when a bird sits on an overhead power line. For reasons that can vary from case to case, sometimes the bird receives a powerful electrical shock, setting its feathers on fire. The dead or dying bird then falls, and, on occasion, lands in some brush or other flammable material.

“Sometimes they burst into flames,” Barnes told 9News, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. “Sometimes they just fall dead. Not every bird that is electrocuted will fall to the ground and start a fire.”

Odds are, you’ve seen birds perched on electrical wires countless times without witnessing spontaneous sparrow combustion. Barnes said birds just going for a sit pose no threat. Because the birds are not touching the ground, the electricity in the power line has no way to the ground and is not dangerous to them. It’s only when the birds get into a part of the power infrastructure where a circuit can be completed that they end up crispy.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/7954805

The model – who is 38 but previously claimed she has no clue how old she is – has recalled the time she was stalked by not one, not two, but three unidentified flying objects… on the A3.

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She described the alleged UFOs as ‘oblong shapes of white light’ that appeared above her car.

‘Bizarrely, the other day, I was on the A3 and I was driving. Now, I’m not even joking, this is so true, Sophia saw it herself,’ Abbey began, naming her daughter as a witness.

Peter quizzed: ‘What did you see, a UFO?,’ to which Abbey replied: ‘Yes, it’s going to sound mental.’

Detailing what she saw, Abbey explained: ‘What I saw was very unusual. It was a grey rainy day, it had been raining but it wasn’t raining.

‘It was pre-dusk, there was no natural bright light and the street lights hadn’t gone on yet. There were three oblongs of light – white light – above my car.

‘But there was no glass, so it couldn’t have been reflecting off any glass to create a rainbow effect. I was like, “Sophia, can you see them lights?”

‘And they were coming close together and they were travelling along the car, and then the three of them just went [makes whizzing noise] in three different directions.’

After this, ‘they were gone.’

The mum-of-four issued a plea to listeners: ‘I would love an alien expert to get in touch and tell me if what I saw was really a UFO… there was no explanation at all.’

A man who mixed his sperm with his father’s to help get his partner pregnant will not be forced to take a paternity test, the high court has ruled.

The man, identified as PQ as he cannot be named for legal reasons, and his partner (JK) had experienced fertility problems and were not able to afford IVF treatment, the court heard at a hearing last month.

As a result he agreed to mix his sperm with his father’s (RS), which was then injected into the woman. The arrangement, which Justice Poole was informed had been “always intended” to be kept secret, led to the birth of a now five-year-old boy (D).

But once Barnsley council became aware of the circumstances of the boy’s conception as a result of separate proceeding, it launched a legal bid to determine his parentage.

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However, in a judgment handed down on Thursday, Poole dismissed the bid, saying that he found the council had “no stake in the outcome”.

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“A wish to uphold the public interest in maintaining accurate records of births does not confer a personal interest in the determination of such an application.”

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Throughout the case, the judge said that the family had “created a welfare minefield”, adding: “I cannot believe that JK, PQ and RS properly thought through the ramifications of their scheme for JK to become pregnant, otherwise it is unlikely that they would have embarked upon it.”

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“Without testing, his biological paternity remains uncertain but there is a strong chance, to say the least, that the person he thinks is his grandfather is his biological father, and that the person he thinks is his father is his biological half-brother.”

The dinner plate of the future might include some beefy rice. No, not beef and rice. Beef rice. In a new study, researchers in Korea say they’ve created rice infused with muscle and fat cells from cows. The hybrid grain purportedly contains more protein and fat than typical rice, and the team argues that it should be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to produce than beef and rice combined.

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To produce their hybrid food, they seeded rice grains with precursor muscle or fat cow cells, intended to create either protein-rich rice or fat-rich rice. These grains would then be placed inside a nutritious petri dish, and over the next 10 days or so, the cells would hopefully replicate and develop into mature cells nestled within the rice. But they soon realized that bare rice alone might not be the best scaffold for these cells. So they decided to first coat the rice with fish gelatin and the food additive microbial transglutaminase, believing that these ingredients would enhance the rice’s stickiness to the cells.

Their subsequent creation, which they call “microbeef,” seems to be an early success. Compared to bare cooked rice, the two batches of hybrid rice contain about 8% more protein and 7% more fat, respectively. They also ran tests of the food’s odor profile, indicating that it has a rich flavor, with notes of beef and almond for the rice with added protein and notes of cream, butter, and coconut oil for the rice with added fat.

Greggs aren't playing around when it comes to playing Cupid this year, as the famous bakers are launching a box full of baked goodies, which you can have delivered to your Valentine.

Over the years, Greggs have been trying to inject some serious romance into the UK, whether it be turning one of their Newcastle branches into an a la carte restaurant on February 14th, or giving people the chance to get a duo of sausage rolls or doughnuts for people to share with the object of their affections.

But this year they have even surpassed their own creative high standards with a Valentine's Bake Tray. Emulating the famous Milk Tray boxes that are given from husbands to wives every year without fail, the pasties come in a beautiful red and gold box, making them every inch decadent present to the person who holds the key to your heart.

The contents of the tray should win you loads of brownie points with your Valentine, as Greggs have rebranded some of their best known pasties in heartfelt fashion, with the steak bake now called the Steak Temptation, the famous sausage and bean melt now the Sausage and Bean Dream and their always popular sausage roll called The OG Sensation.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/7851533

A self-proclaimed “time traveller” claims to have returned from the year 2671 to warn of us of pending disasters including one this weekend.

Eno Alaric, who is also known as @radianttimetraveller on TikTok, has built up a following of more than 826,000 followers as he tells of looming catastrophes that are set to affect the world.

The social media user has previously issued warnings about twin planets colliding with Earth, alien visitors and even the start of World War 3. And this time he is advising of further bizarre and sometimes horrific events that he claims will happen including an earthquake and a “Pandora’s Box” that will take people to another universe.

But before that the time traveller is saying that there will be a devastating tornado, the first ever force six, that will hit Houston in Texas and will be the worst ever to affect humans.

He starts off by stating: “Attention, yes I am a real time traveller, these are major events to come in the rest of 2024.” And then he leads into the events: “Part 1. February 17: The first ever f6 tornado occurs, hitting Houston, Texas. It destroys almost the entire city, making it the worst tornado in history of mankind.

“March 28: An ancient artifact is found, when touched, it sends you to another universe. It’s called ‘Pandora’s Box’, the universes can be very similar, or completely different, like people being dorito shaped. April 2: A 9.8 magnitude earthquake, called Big John, occurs on the San Andreas fault. Soon after this, a 750ft high tsunami hits the California coastline, many large cities are in ruins, including San Francisco.

“May 15: An alien lands on Earth known as ‘The Champion’, he is here to take 10000 people to another habitable planet. He was here once before and has returned to try to save us from The 47, they will be chosen randomly.

My son says it means taking out the player without getting the ball, all while shouting ‘Brexit means Brexit’. Sound familiar?

For the umpteenth time, my son, with an Ikea stuffed ball he has had since infancy, is playing football in the living room. He is joined by one of his best friends, an equally football-obsessed 10-year-old who, before slide-tackling in what can only be described as a deliberate attempt to knock my son’s legs off, shouts: “Brexit means Brexit!” Confused, I pass it off as an example of tweenage precocity: which 10-year-old is happy to quote Theresa May while playing football?

I must admit, this gives me some hope for the future.

The mixup happened when police were called to a large hotel in Enderby near Leicester after receiving a call about a person inside carrying a knife near the lifts.

A number of officers attended the scene only to discover the offending weapon was in fact a wand being carried by a Harry Potter fan.

In an update on the local police Facebook page on Sunday, an officer said: “I attended a large hotel in Enderby this morning with a number of firearms officers, following a report of a male inside near the lifts carrying ‘a large knife’.

“Following enquiries we quickly established that it was a Harry Potter fan with a wand. Thankfully no harm was caused to any resident and there was no sign of ‘Voldermort’ [sic].”

A follow up to an earlier post:

A man has been awarded the Guinness world record for creating the tallest structure using matchsticks, after his Eiffel Tower replica was initially rejected.

Richard Plaud, from France, said he had been on an “emotional rollercoaster” this week, after spending 4,200 hours building his model from more than 706,000 matches and 23kg of glue. “For eight years, I’ve always thought that I was building the tallest matchstick structure,” he said.

However, Guinness World Records initially told him the 7.2-metre (23.6 ft) structure did not qualify because he had not used matches that were commercially available.

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Mark Mckinley, a director at Guinness World Records, said: “We’re really excited to be able to approve it ... We’re happy to be able to admit that we were a little bit too harsh on the type of matches needed in this attempt, and Richard’s attempt truly is officially amazing.”

Banned Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has blamed her positive doping test on a strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather on a chopping board he used to crush his pills.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has now published its full report on its verdict, justifying its ban on the athlete, who claimed the food was inadvertently contaminated by her grandfather's heart medication.

The word "strawberry" featured 43 times in the document detailing why the judges rejected her argument.

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Valieva proposed three possible explanations for the positive test, all of which revolved around a strawberry dessert she claimed her grandfather, Gennaidy Solovyov, gave her the night before she left for St Petersburg.

In submitted evidence, Valieva referenced her grandfather's heart medication and added: "Probably, this pill got into a dessert, which he usually gives to me.

"Or, I saw a few times accidentally, that he crushed the pills with the knife and dissolves them in a glass, and took them. So I might have drunk from the same glass or there, at home, I might have eaten something from the same chopping board and so on."

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According to the judgement, WADA submitted it was "inherently implausible" that an athlete at this elite level would take a homemade strawberry dessert with her across Russia and eat it during a competition period.

WADA also questioned the lack of medical evidence relating to Valieva's grandfather's heart condition, saying it was "nearly impossible" for him to have had such a condition "without there being any contemporaneous evidence of it".

Domino's Pizza and Cadbury have been blasted by a former health minister after they teamed up to make a Domino's cookie that contains a whole Creme Egg.

Conservative Lord Bethell of Romford posted scathing tweets about the controversial cookie, which Domino's announced for the first time on Thursday.

"This is disgusting," said Lord Bethell.

"These are serious corporate food companies. What are they thinking," he continued.

"The executive team, the board and the shareholders should be ashamed of themselves."

In his second tweet, he reiterated that the team behind the controversial cookie, which are available in Domino's stores from Monday, should be "ashamed" and added they should use their talents to find less "egregious" ways to make a return.

An Idaho state representative wants to build out the state’s law against cannibalism over fears that the composting of human remains could lead to humans consuming other humans. Republican Heather Scott floated a bill on Thursday that would make it illegal to serve “the flesh and blood of another human being” to someone who does not know or consent to it, The Idaho Statesman reports. Idaho already outlaws cannibalism and is the only state to do so, even though other states have laws that punish abuse of corpses. Human composting is legal in some states because it can be more eco-friendly than other methods like cremation. But rather than target composting, which would require a rewrite of rules for morticians, Scott figured it would be easier to expand the cannibalism law. She was apparently inspired by a clip from a prank TV show she had seen, in which personalities pretended to feed people human flesh in sausage links. “They didn’t tell the people, they fed it to them,” she told the Statesman.

Selfie-takers are damaging valuable art at museums around the world by walking backwards into paintings and objects, according to specialist insurer Hiscox.

Robert Read, head of art and private clients at Hiscox, said that venues are being forced to cover mounting costs from selfie-related accidents when objects are damaged or knocked over.

He said that the “pandemic of selfies” was forcing museums and galleries to install protective barriers, and hire enforcers responsible for stopping people about to have an accident.

Mr Read said: “Pre-mobile phones people had a sense of what was acceptable and what wasn’t. Now when people have a phone in their hand, it’s as though they have no inhibitions.

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In 2017, one careless selfie-taker reportedly destroyed $200,000 (£158,000) of artwork after losing her balance at a Los Angeles-based art exhibition displaying the sculptures of UK-born artist Simon Birch.

Meanwhile, a pumpkin sculpture by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama in her renowned Infinity Mirror Rooms was damaged when a selfie-snapper lost her balance in 2017.

The National Gallery in London and the British Museum for years have banned the use of selfie-sticks amid concerns over safety, individual privacy and the overall visitor experience.

Archive link (original)

Hundreds of the world's "worst" album covers have gone on display in Northumberland.

The exhibition, at Alnwick's Bailiffgate Museum and Gallery, includes 400 covers by the Beatles, Prince and the Rolling Stones, as well as work by less known musicians from around the world.

Museum volunteer Mick Grant said the collection had already brought smiles - and there are hopes people will have a dance too.

The exhibition, which has been on tour since 2022, will be in Alnwick until 21 April.

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"Everybody who's been here has at the very least smiled. A lot of people have burst out laughing," Mr Grant said.

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The curious covers belong to Steve Goldman, from Huddersfield, who has been collecting them for over seven years.

The album that started it all was Roadstar by Peter Rabbitt, which shows the bands' faces superimposed onto the bodies of rabbits, and is also on display.

The sleeves had to be "unintentionally funny" to earn a place in the collection, Mr Goldman said.

"I want a record where the designers have tried to do something that's gone horribly wrong," he explained.

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It also includes an educational album recorded by Muhammad Ali encouraging children to brush their teeth - it was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1977.

This is Steve's website: The Worst Record Covers in the World. He's also on Instagram.

An inspector who sold his police trousers for £4 online has had his rank reduced after being found guilty of gross misconduct at a hearing.

Owen Hurley of Hertfordshire Police admitted he sold the item on Vinted, a second-hand selling app.

He told the misconduct hearing the trousers had been in his wardrobe at home for "a long time" and he wanted to "make space" after redecorating.

Mr Hurley was reduced to the rank of sergeant, effective immediately.

The trousers were spotted and reported to the force by a member of the public in summer 2023.

At the hearing on Tuesday Mr Hurley described the sale as "a mistake."

He confirmed the trousers did not bear a police logo or insignia, but admitted the listing on Vinted indicated they were police issue.

Chief Constable Charlie Hall found the former inspector had ordered two new pairs of police trousers in January 2023, which were the same size as the items listed on the app.

Mr Hurley, who had served for 15 years, had said the old trousers were a poor fit.

The Mr Bean actor was name-checked in the House of Lords on Tuesday during its environment and climate change committee meeting.

Thinktank Green Alliance gave its views on the main obstacles the government faces in its bid to phase out petrol and diesel cars before 2035, and said a comment piece by the Johnny English star published in June 2023 was damaging to the cause.

The pressure group told peers in a letter that was shared: "One of the most damaging articles was a comment piece written by Rowan Atkinson in The Guardian which has been roundly debunked.

"Unfortunately, fact checks never reach the same breadth of audience as the original false claim, emphasising the need to ensure high editorial standards around the net zero transition."

The 69-year-old actor's piece was headlined: "I love electric vehicles - and was an early adopter. But increasingly I feel duped."

Atkinson wrote that EVs were "a bit soulless" and criticised the use of their lithium-ion batteries.

He suggested solutions like drivers keeping the same car for longer periods of time and increased use of synthetic fuel would negate the need for EVs, saying: "Increasingly, I'm feeling that our honeymoon with electric cars is coming to an end, and that's no bad thing."

The actor, who described himself as a "car person" having got a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, said he advised friends to "hold fire for now" on EVs unless they have an old diesel vehicle.

A mum-of-three who sells dolls has been forced to put up signs in her home window urging people not to ‘panic’ after police broke in thinking one was a real baby.

Ava Prior, who paints ultra-realistic ‘reborn’ dolls as a hobby and sells them, says officers mistook one for an ‘abandoned’ child.

Officers smashed the door down to rescue it, causing more than £400 worth of damage.

The seller said: ‘It wasn’t hilarious at the time but I can see the funny side now.

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In December Ava, from Malvern in Worcestershire, put the finishing touches on a doll, dressed it in a snowsuit and put it in a carrycot so she could take photos to sell it online.

After taking a few photos of the realistic baby, which sell for up to £180 per doll, she left the carrycot on the floor, turned the light off and headed to her friend’s with her youngest son for a catch up.

At the same time Ava’s mum, who she speaks to regularly, couldn’t get through to her daughter as her phone was switched off and charging.

Worried, her mum called the police, who immediately went round to her house, and this is when the mix-up with the doll happened.

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In a bid to prevent anything similar happening again, Ava made stickers for her windows that read: ‘Reborn dolls on premises. NO babies are alone in the house – please do NOT panic or break doors/window. Many thanks :)’.

Gold-mounted false teeth worn by Sir Winston Churchill have been sold at auction in Cheltenham for £18,000.

The upper dentures were worn by the wartime leader during many of his most famous speeches, including the "We shall fight on the beaches" address.

They were specifically made to preserve his natural lisp and so important he carried two sets with him at all times.

The Cotswold Auction Company said the teeth were "snapped up" for more than double the £8,000 guide price.

Richard Plaud, 47, said he spent eight years and 4,200 hours assembling 706,900 matches to build the world's tallest structure made of matches, measured at 7.19m (23.6ft).

It would have been enough to beat the record that's been held by Lebanese model maker Toufic Daher since 2009, who used six million matches to create an Eiffel Tower replica measuring at 6.53m (21.4ft).

But after completing his creation on 27 December, Mr Plaud said he submitted an application to Guinness World Records only for it to be rejected without even being looked at.

In a scathing social media post, Mr Plaud said the decision was a "great disappointment" and relayed the record company's reasons for rejecting his work.

He said it was because the structure must be built from matches that are available to the public for purchase and don't have flammable red tips - and they must "not be cut, disassembled or deformed to the point where they are no longer recognised" as matches.

Mr Plaud told French media outlet TFI he started off the tower with matches bought commercially, but became tired of having to cut off their red tips one by one, so ended up contacting the main French manufacturer to have the wooden rods delivered in 15kg boxes.

He says he did not know this would disqualify him from breaking the record.

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Mr Plaud isn't sure what he'll do with the model now, he told TFI. He said his hope was to present it at the Olympics in Paris this summer, but that organisers told him "there was no room high enough to accommodate it".

Apple Vision Pro, the massive tech company’s foray into the VR headset space that hit stores just a few days ago, is very expensive. It’s an impressive piece of tech (hence the price tag) that you can use for working from home (by virtually pinning windows all over your house—take that, return-to-office mandates!), going in-depth into the hottest VR-capable games like Resident Evil 4, or watching sports games complete with real-time stat updates. But one thing you can’t do with the Apple Vision Pro is watch VR porn, and fans of scintillating smut are not happy about that.

As reported by 404 Media, the VR porn community quickly realized that their favorite kind of content won’t work on the headset. In a Reddit post on the r/oculusnsfw subreddit, one user asked if anyone had “figured out porn on the Vision Pro?” “Dying to get this to work haha,” the post reads. “If anyone has a success story please tell me how.” The top-voted comment doesn’t mince words: “worse than PSVR2. $3500 chastity belt [clown emojis].”

Michael Whitty, from Liverpool, was nabbed at Manchester Airport after sniffer dogs got a whiff (no pun intended) of his illegal stash which included cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine. The 25-year-old chocolate-filled bloke was stopped by UK Border Force officers as he waited to board his flight to a bender.

Archive link (original but it's the Daily Star)

A rusting rocket discovered in a man’s garage in Washington state is in fact an inert nuclear missile, police have said.

Authorities contacted a man in Bellevue after he called the Air Force Museum offering to donate a military-grade rocket that belonged to his late neighbour. He said that his neighbour had bought the item from an estate sale.

Bellevue police bomb squad technicians said it was a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, an unguided air-to-air rocket that is designed to carry a 1.5kt W25 nuclear warhead. They said there was no warhead attached and there was no danger of an explosion.