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Fortean Headlines

Man’s eyes turn bloody, yellow after plunge into pee-filled canal

It was his yellow, bloody eyes that gave his illness away. The previously healthy 18-year-old showed up at an emergency department in the Netherlands after two days of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. His heart was beating rapidly and his abdomen was a bit tender.

The whites of his eyes were splotched with blood, a sign that blood vessels on the surface of his eyes had burst. Areas that weren't bloodied were a jaundice yellow. Lab tests would later indicate he had acute kidney injury as well as liver dysfunction. But an equally important clue as to what was causing his acute illness was the mention that three weeks prior he had fallen into a canal.

In all, it was a textbook case, according to a report published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. The man had a rare but severe bout of leptospirosis, which is a bacterial infection marked by fever, jaundice, kidney failure, and hemorrhage. The source: a fall into a canal that was likely tainted with the urine of infected rodents.

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...are-infection-in-man-with-bloody-yellow-eyes/

maximus otter
 
I can't find a thread which deals with advances in shipping technology.
So this thread can act as a placeholder.
(This article also references other shipping designs like the resurgence of sailing vessels for cargo)

Flying boats and other tech for cleaner shipping
The Pioneer of Belfast glides above the water, quiet and smooth, leaving little wake behind it.
"Even in big waves and wind, we can see the benefits of flying above the waves," says Katrina Thompson, programme director at Artemis Technologies.
The Pioneer, developed by Artemis Technologies, is the world's first electric foiling workboat to be brought to market.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63700540
 
I wish 'they' would give us a bit more notice about stuff like this - I mean FFS it could land anywhere. And 'anywhere' could be my house!

Fiery Destruction Expected: NASA Earth Radiation Budget Satellite To Reenter Atmosphere Today
As of Thursday, January 5, the Department of Defense predicted that the 5,400-pound satellite will reenter the atmosphere at approximately 6:40 p.m. EST on Sunday, January 8 with an uncertainty of +/- 17 hours. NASA and the Defense Department will continue to monitor the reentry and update the predictions.

https://scitechdaily.com/fiery-dest...budget-satellite-to-reenter-atmosphere-today/
 
Well, this would be bothersome:

Bear Breaks Into Cemetery, Digs Up Grave and Eats Corpse​

A bear has broken into a cemetery, dug up a grave and eaten a corpse in Malaysia.

Mazlan Aluij, 50, arrived at his deceased wife's grave in Kampung Dakoh, on December 26 to find it savaged by the wild animal. Aluij's wife, named Amek Along, had died just a few weeks before from a stroke, the New Straits Times reported.

Aluij told the New Straits Times that he and his son had visited the graveyard routinely before the incident.

"I visit the graveyard to clean it with my son on December 26 and suddenly I noticed footprints and bear excrement in the area where my late wife was buried," he told the news outlet. "The next day, I brought the village residents along to check the area. We found that Amek's body was eaten by a wild bear and it was roaming around the graveyard."
https://www.newsweek.com/bear-breaks-cemetery-digs-grave-eats-corpse-1772208
 
I wish 'they' would give us a bit more notice about stuff like this - I mean FFS it could land anywhere. And 'anywhere' could be my house!
Fiery Destruction Expected: NASA Earth Radiation Budget Satellite To Reenter Atmosphere Today
. . . "And 'anywhere' could be my house!"

You must have an enormous house then 'Trevp666!' :points:
 
Lying in bed with the flu, listening to youtube documentaries. Stumbled on this.
I wonder how much worse synthetic drugs can still get. It's reached Philip. K. Dick levels:

An animal sedative that’s harmful to human health is showing up in street drugs across the United States, and it appears to be spreading. The drug, called xylazine, causes severe skin wounds and knocks users out for hours at a time, leaving them vulnerable and exposed.

Public health officials say xylazine, also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope,” is infiltrating the nation’s illicit drug supply in substances such as heroin and fentanyl. It’s also becoming increasingly prevalent in overdose deaths.

A recent analysis by Brown University found xylazine in more than 40 percent of street drug samples in Rhode Island, reports ABC News’ Nicole Wetsman. Another recent study found the drug in 36 states and the District of Columbia. And in 2021, the most current data available, xylazine showed up in more than 90 percent of dope samples in Philadelphia.

One of the drug’s hallmarks in humans is the presence of gruesome wounds and decaying skin tissue called eschar, which can become infected and lead to amputation.


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...sedative-infiltrating-street-drugs-180981408/

We are now in the so-called fourth wave of the overdose crisis. Underground labs are pumping out an evolving plethora of novel synthetic compounds. These synthetics are added to fentanyl-based street drugs in pursuit of newfound highs and more addictive properties. These ever-shifting chemical formulations leave consumers with little knowledge of what’s in the drugs they’re using.

One popular product in this line, for example, is “tranq dope.” It first emerged in Puerto Rico, then spread to Philadelphia, and is now becoming prevalent all over the United States. Tranq dope is fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that’s never been approved for human use. Although systematic study has been made difficult by the underground nature of production and use, this combination has been linked to dangerous blackouts, severe skin and soft tissue damage, and unusual blood disorders.

Another street formulation, “benzo dope,” mixes fentanyls with synthetic benzodiazepines. Benzo dope is now popping up in the US after already becoming pervasive in Canada and Scotland, where a single one of these benzodiazepine additives, Etizolam, was involved in 59 percent of all drug-related deaths in 2019. Benzo dope is associated with significantly increased risk of fatal overdose by sedating people while suppressing their respiratory drive, slowly suffocating them until their heart stops beating.


https://www.thenation.com/article/society/synthetic-drugs-fentanyl/
 
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Lying in bed with the flu, listening to youtube documentaries. Stumbled on this.
I wonder how much worse synthetic drugs can still get. It's reached Philip. K. Dick levels:

An animal sedative that’s harmful to human health is showing up in street drugs across the United States, and it appears to be spreading. The drug, called xylazine, causes severe skin wounds and knocks users out for hours at a time, leaving them vulnerable and exposed.

Public health officials say xylazine, also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope,” is infiltrating the nation’s illicit drug supply in substances such as heroin and fentanyl. It’s also becoming increasingly prevalent in overdose deaths.

A recent analysis by Brown University found xylazine in more than 40 percent of street drug samples in Rhode Island, reports ABC News’ Nicole Wetsman. Another recent study found the drug in 36 states and the District of Columbia. And in 2021, the most current data available, xylazine showed up in more than 90 percent of dope samples in Philadelphia.

One of the drug’s hallmarks in humans is the presence of gruesome wounds and decaying skin tissue called eschar, which can become infected and lead to amputation.


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...sedative-infiltrating-street-drugs-180981408/

We are now in the so-called fourth wave of the overdose crisis. Underground labs are pumping out an evolving plethora of novel synthetic compounds. These synthetics are added to fentanyl-based street drugs in pursuit of newfound highs and more addictive properties. These ever-shifting chemical formulations leave consumers with little knowledge of what’s in the drugs they’re using.

One popular product in this line, for example, is “tranq dope.” It first emerged in Puerto Rico, then spread to Philadelphia, and is now becoming prevalent all over the United States. Tranq dope is fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that’s never been approved for human use. Although systematic study has been made difficult by the underground nature of production and use, this combination has been linked to dangerous blackouts, severe skin and soft tissue damage, and unusual blood disorders.

Another street formulation, “benzo dope,” mixes fentanyls with synthetic benzodiazepines. Benzo dope is now popping up in the US after already becoming pervasive in Canada and Scotland, where a single one of these benzodiazepine additives, Etizolam, was involved in 59 percent of all drug-related deaths in 2019. Benzo dope is associated with significantly increased risk of fatal overdose by sedating people while suppressing their respiratory drive, slowly suffocating them until their heart stops beating.


https://www.thenation.com/article/society/synthetic-drugs-fentanyl/
Keith Moon would have given it a go.
 
I wonder how much worse synthetic drugs can still get. It's reached Philip. K. Dick levels:
Sounds more like William S. Burroughs. Honestly, who hears "vulnerable and exposed" and "decaying skin tissue" and says "I'll have some of that"?

I sense these are legitimate concerns, not like the exaggerated overstatement of dangers that was once used to scare people away from milder recreational drugs.
 
Honestly, who hears "vulnerable and exposed" and "decaying skin tissue" and says "I'll have some of that"?

Try Googling the Russian street drug “Krokodil”. (Note: The images available online would put a hyena off its dinner.)

Here are some of its “ingredients”:
  • Hydrochloric acid (HCL)
  • Gasoline
  • Lighter fluid
  • Red phosphorus
  • Paint thinner
  • Iodine
Average life expectancy of Krokodil user: Two years.

maximus otter
 
The people of Wisconsin were shaken, not stirred:

James Bond becomes Wisconsin’s first openly LGBTQ cabinet secretary​

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Wisconsin history was made Monday when the number two man in the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs was elevated to the agency’s top job. With his appointment, James Bond will become the first openly LGBTQ person to head a cabinet agency in Wisconsin, the governor’s office indicated, citing a Legislative Reference Bureau review.
https://www.nbc15.com/2023/01/09/james-bond-becomes-wisconsins-first-openly-lgbtq-cabinet-secretary/
 
The people of Wisconsin were shaken, not stirred:

James Bond becomes Wisconsin’s first openly LGBTQ cabinet secretary​


https://www.nbc15.com/2023/01/09/james-bond-becomes-wisconsins-first-openly-lgbtq-cabinet-secretary/
I find the LGBTQ label very uninformative. This man is a classic straight gay person, none of that innovative stuff :)
He looks responsible. I would vote for him. He could even play in a James Bond movie. Just look at that chin!

1673607625865.png

Bond lives in Madison with his husband and their two sons.
 

Japanese killer chokes to death on prison food while awaiting execution​


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...son-food-while-awaiting-execution/ar-AA16rIN3

---------------------------------------------------------
A Japanese woman on death row for killing two men died behind bars when she choked while eating prison chow in her cell.

Miyuki Ueta, 49, a former bar employee, lost consciousness during her meal at the Hiroshima lockup on Saturday afternoon, the Japan Times reported.

Guards tried to remove the food from her throat and performed other rescue measures, but Ueta was declared dead at a hospital less than three hours later, according to the outlet.
 

Japanese killer chokes to death on prison food while awaiting execution​


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...son-food-while-awaiting-execution/ar-AA16rIN3

---------------------------------------------------------
A Japanese woman on death row for killing two men died behind bars when she choked while eating prison chow in her cell.

Miyuki Ueta, 49, a former bar employee, lost consciousness during her meal at the Hiroshima lockup on Saturday afternoon, the Japan Times reported.

Guards tried to remove the food from her throat and performed other rescue measures, but Ueta was declared dead at a hospital less than three hours later, according to the outlet.

It probably went down well with the victims' families.
 
I was going to put this in the planespotting thread, but this seemed more apt as dicks are involved:

malta.jpg

Helicopter called out for rude-shaped flight path​

Eyebrows were raised and sniggers were heard when a helicopter on the other side of the world served up this distinctive sight.
One would say it is a ballsy stunt – but apparently the phallic shape was not deliberate.

An Armed Forces of Malta’s (AFM) helicopter was responsible for appearing to create a penis-shaped flight pattern over the island of Comino in Malta on Monday.
The incident left many in the aviation industry with their eyebrows raised, with the act first being spotted by flightradar24.com.
The popular website tweeted: “Meanwhile, in Malta …”
According to the manufacturer’s site, it is “a helicopter that can adapt to multiple missions” and boasts “superior performance”.
https://www.news.com.au/travel/trav...h/news-story/3bdf83d9d60e62eef7eef9d5f7dd6037
 
"but apparently the phallic shape was not deliberate."

Yeah, sure, right......"I believe you....thousands wouldn't."
 
US Marines Use Cardboard Box to Defeat DARPA Robot Trained to Detect Humans
DARPA spent a week with a group of Marines at a test site in order to help train an AI robot by attempting to defeat it. The robot was parked "in the middle of a traffic circle" and the Marines had to approach it undetected. (...) "If any Marines could get all the way in and touch this robot without being detected, they would win."

In a great example of how terrible AI still is, all of the Marines managed to remain undetected. DARPA trained the AI to detect humans walking, but not much else (...) two of the Marines "somersaulted for 300 meters," another two hid under a cardboard box, and another "stripped a fir tree and walked like a fir tree." Apparently a lot of giggling was involved, which is another feature of humans the robot hadn't been trained to detect.

https://uk.pcmag.com/news/144990/us...o-defeat-darpa-robot-trained-to-detect-humans
 
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