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Fortean Headlines

Is a Giant Purple Nipple the Digital Nose of the Future?

Osh Agabi’s solution to one of biotechnology’s thorniest problems looks like an iridescent purple nipple the size of a steering wheel. Other than that, it’s inconspicuous. It doesn’t beep or pulse or hum. Hanging from a wall, it just sits quietly and smells.

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But Koniku Inc., which Agabi founded in 2015, says it’s landed upon a sensory breakthrough. In July the company struck an agreement with the world’s biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, to deploy the Konikore, as the purple bubble is called, to measure how a beverage’s aromatic notes are perceived and experienced by the nose, with the aim of enhancing flavor.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...-smell-is-one-of-the-hardest-problems-in-tech

maximus otter
 

Man who sexually assaulted Tickle Me Elmo wants charges dropped​


https://torontosun.com/news/weird/man-who-sexually-assaulted-tickle-me-elmo-wants-charges-dropped

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A Michigan man who sexually assaulted a Tickle Me Elmo doll during a home inspection wants his charges dropped.

Kevin VanLuven, 59, was charged earlier this month with an indecent act with the stuffed doll has requested that a judge ignore his verbal and written confessions to police, which came after cops were called to a home in suburban Detroit in March, reportedThe Smoking Gun.
 
A Russian naval vessel that has been identified with cable-tapping and clandestine surveillance has been spotted loitering off Irish coastal waters, in the vicinity of important trans-Atlantic comms cables, according to various reports. (Navalnews.com)

Russian Spy Ship Yantar Loitering Near Trans-Atlantic Internet Cables
"Russia's secretive special survey ship Yantar raises eyebrows when she appears off Western shores. She has previously been noted conducting operations off Syria, in the Persian Gulf and off Americas. And elsewhere. Now she is off the coast of Ireland, loitering in the vicinity of underwater internet cables."

Yantar_research_vessel_04.jpg

(Image: Wikipedia)

There seems to be little doubt about the nature of the ship, according to references.

It also has the ability to launch two classes of mini-subs with diving depths of up to 6,000m.

Hmmm, troubling.
 
Can't Geronimo escape to a south american country with no extradition treaty? I have a feeling he would be able to blend in with the locals. Apart from the accent.
 

Woman condemned in Salem witch trials on verge of pardon 328 years later​

Elizabeth Johnson Jr, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1693, could be cleared thanks to an eighth-grade civics class.

"More than three centuries after a Massachusetts woman was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death, she’s finally on the verge of being exonerated – thanks to a curious eighth-grade civics class.

State senator Diana DiZoglio, a Democrat from Methuen, has introduced legislation to clear the name of Elizabeth Johnson Jr, who was condemned in 1693 at the height of the Salem witch trials but never executed."

More here from The Guardian.
 
From Twitter:
A lesson in the ruthlessness of the British state: slaughtering an alpaca with just four years’ notice and three court cases.
This really is a 1960s Children's Film Foundation movie in the making, with Jack Wild and Sally Thomsett in flares escaping with Geronimo by night and smuggling him cross-country with Ron Moody in pursuit as an evil Home Office Vet.

(theme tune, "Keep Your Wool On, Daddy-o", by Russ Thimble and the Sowers available on Decca. 2'6d.)
 
Children's Film Foundation movie in the making

Or already made, sort of.
My brother worked on a CFF film back in the 80s IIRC, which was called 'High Rise Donkey' about a group of kids that hide a Donkey in their tower block to protect it from someone or something (I can't quite recall the plot but it was probably some devilish property developer).
I shall search t'interweb and see if I can turn up anything.

Ahah!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386509/
The efforts of three children, who live in high rise flats, to save a donkey from two small-time crooks who want to sell it as horsemeat, by providing a temporary stable for the donkey in the block of high-rise flats.

It had all the stars of the day in it, Pat Coombs, Alfie Bass, Roy Kinnear, Wilfred Bramble.....

and
 
This really is a 1960s Children's Film Foundation movie in the making, with Jack Wild and Sally Thomsett in flares escaping with Geronimo by night and smuggling him cross-country with Ron Moody in pursuit as an evil Home Office Vet.

(theme tune, "Keep Your Wool On, Daddy-o", by Russ Thimble and the Sowers available on Decca. 2'6d.)
At the end, Jenny Agutter waves her knickers around in protest and Victor Maddern says ‘Well, we can hardly kill it now, can we?’
 
A mom, Dad, toddler, and their dog are all dead after a hiking trip in Northern California.

A California Family Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances. Toxic Algae May Be To Blame​

SAN FRANCISCO — Investigators are considering whether toxic algae blooms or other hazards may have contributed to the deaths of a Northern California couple, their baby and the family dog on a remote hiking trail, authorities said.

The area in the Sierra National Forest where the bodies were found on Tuesday had been treated as a hazmat site after concerns were raised about the deaths being linked to potentially toxic gases from old mines nearby.

But the hazmat declaration was lifted Wednesday, and Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said he didn't believe the mines were a factor, the Fresno Bee reported Thursday.

"This is a very unusual, unique situation," said Kristie Mitchell, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office. "There were no signs of trauma, no obvious cause of death. There was no suicide note."

More https://www.npr.org/2021/08/20/1029...ious-circumstances-toxic-algae-may-be-to-blam
 
To be fair, it is the Kent and Sussex courier.
Distance from Kent to Cornwall is considerable, even for a car journey in the UK.
I expect that doing the journey by bus is quite remarkable, as a single route between the counties would not exist, thus requiring some impressive route-planning.
I'm not sure of the start and end points of his journey, but the distance from Truro to Maidstone (the county towns) by road is 293 miles.
The website 'Rome2rio' lists the various ways of getting from one to the other, Bus, Train, Driving and even flying, and a combination of all.
The option of using mostly the bus, is the cheapest but longest journey, at £29 for 9 hours & 16 minutes.
Driving in a car is the quickest way, at 5 hours & 3 minutes.
Flying, which would also require some use of buses and/or trains, comes in at a little over 6 hours and also is NOT the most expensive!
No, that is reserved for Trains alone, which if we were really going to try and encourage people to ditch their cars should work out as the cheapest and quickest option, but unfortunately (if you took the option of travelling through Exeter), it would cost between £129 - £358 and you would not arrive at your destination for (a minute short of) 8 hours.
 
To be fair, it is the Kent and Sussex courier.
Distance from Kent to Cornwall is considerable, even for a car journey in the UK.
I expect that doing the journey by bus is quite remarkable, as a single route between the counties would not exist, thus requiring some impressive route-planning.
I'm not sure of the start and end points of his journey, but the distance from Truro to Maidstone (the county towns) by road is 293 miles.
The website 'Rome2rio' lists the various ways of getting from one to the other, Bus, Train, Driving and even flying, and a combination of all.
The option of using mostly the bus, is the cheapest but longest journey, at £29 for 9 hours & 16 minutes.
Driving in a car is the quickest way, at 5 hours & 3 minutes.
Flying, which would also require some use of buses and/or trains, comes in at a little over 6 hours and also is NOT the most expensive!
No, that is reserved for Trains alone, which if we were really going to try and encourage people to ditch their cars should work out as the cheapest and quickest option, but unfortunately (if you took the option of travelling through Exeter), it would cost between £129 - £358 and you would not arrive at your destination for (a minute short of) 8 hours.
With a bus pass it's possible to do it for free, but it will take a long time
 
A mom, Dad, toddler, and their dog are all dead after a hiking trip in Northern California.

A California Family Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances. Toxic Algae May Be To Blame​

SAN FRANCISCO — Investigators are considering whether toxic algae blooms or other hazards may have contributed to the deaths of a Northern California couple, their baby and the family dog on a remote hiking trail, authorities said.

The area in the Sierra National Forest where the bodies were found on Tuesday had been treated as a hazmat site after concerns were raised about the deaths being linked to potentially toxic gases from old mines nearby.

But the hazmat declaration was lifted Wednesday, and Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said he didn't believe the mines were a factor, the Fresno Bee reported Thursday.

"This is a very unusual, unique situation," said Kristie Mitchell, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office. "There were no signs of trauma, no obvious cause of death. There was no suicide note."

More https://www.npr.org/2021/08/20/1029...ious-circumstances-toxic-algae-may-be-to-blam
The San Fran Chronicle (turn off JavaScript to read) hints that some people are thinking it might be related to other bad things that happened in the area - first mention of Mariposa Bermuda Triangle. Also, it was in an area known as "Devil Gulch".

“They’re so young, those people — something’s weird,” Murdock said, standing behind her tray of glazed doughnuts. “Everyone is shocked. This is a very safe town. It’s like Mayberry up here.”

Despite the sleepy vibe, Mariposa and the Hites Cove Trail have a dark side, she said. One of her regulars, calls it the “Mariposa Bermuda Triangle.”

Three years ago when the Ferguson Fire swept through the valley, burning more than 96,000 acres, a firefighter rolled his dozer down a ravine along the Hites Cove Road stretch of the trail and died. The north side of the trail empties out onto Highway 140 and the Yosemite Cedar Lodge, a notorious landmark.

In 1999, serial killer Cary Stayner was working as a handyman at the motel when he murdered 42-year-old Carole Sund; her daughter, 15-year-old Juli Sund; Juli's friend, 16-year-old Argentine exchange student Silvina Pelosso; and Yosemite Institute employee Joie Ruth Armstrong. Sund and the teens had been staying at the motel.
 
With a bus pass it's possible to do it for free, but it will take a long time
I expect the bus pass would not cover the 'National Express' route listed, so you would have to engage in a series of short hops from one town to the next.
Indeed, once you include the amount of time you might have to wait at a stop for the next leg of your journey, and the frequency (or lack) of services, this could run into several days.
 
The San Fran Chronicle (turn off JavaScript to read) hints that some people are thinking it might be related to other bad things that happened in the area - first mention of Mariposa Bermuda Triangle. Also, it was in an area known as "Devil Gulch".

Devil Gulch doesn't sound like an inland Bermuda Triangle, though, it sounds like somewhere Roy Rogers would head you off at the pass.
 
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