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l want to be a standup comic wherever they are. lt doesn’t take much to get them convulsing with laughter.

maximus otter
From the accents, it could be the Netherlands (but I'm just guessing). At first, I thought it was Turkey.
 
French Scientist's Photo of ‘Distant Star’ Was Actually Chorizo

Étienne Klein’s tweet was liked and retweeted thousands of times before he revealed he was trolling and the photo showed a slice of sausage, not Proxima Centauri.

1659697288207-chorizo-james-webb-space-telescope.jpeg


Images from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration between NASA and Canada and Europe’s space agencies, went viral throughout July as its first images were released to the public. But a few days later, Klein revealed that the photo he tweeted was not the work of the world’s most powerful space telescope, as he had in fact tweeted a slice of chorizo sausage.

Klein told French news outlet Le Point that his intention had been to educate people about fake news online, adding that “I also think that if I hadn't said it was a James Webb photo, it wouldn't have been so successful.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/akeemk/chorizo-james-webb-space-telescope
 
This offer of a free haunted refrigerator in the London area is believed to be a hoax. Here's the poster that was circulated to advertise it:

FREEHauntedFridgePoster-2208.jpg
Owner is trying to give away ‘cursed fridge’ that ‘houses’ stepmother’s soul

It’s chilling . . . in more ways than one.

A “free fridge” offer comes with a catch: The kitchen appliance is likely haunted, the owner warns.

“My stepmother had a heart attack on our kitchen floor in the middle of an electrical storm, and her soul was transferred into the computer unit of our smart fridge,” says the poster, which was distributed around London.

And apparently the stepmother “talks” to them.

“She has been subtly undermining me ever since, commenting on how many slices of cheese I’ve eaten, or whether I’ve properly put the lid back on something,” they claim.

The owner held out for a while and then decided they had had enough, according to South West News Service.

“I’m starting to feel it is completely unreasonable that she’s decided to live in our fridge, judging me on my culinary decisions,” according to the poster. “She has to go.” ...

FULL STORY: https://nypost.com/2022/08/05/owner-is-trying-to-give-away-cursed-fridge-that-is-haunted/
 
An old hoax.

Why do people keep falling for hoaxes?

Moreover, what is it about certain hoaxes that maintain an iron hold on public imagination, long after their con is exposed? The Roger Dodsworth hoax of 1826 managed to fool so many people and remain in so many memories that a short story about it, published nearly forty years later, still seemed relevant to readers, writes English literature scholar Charles E. Robinson.

Great Britain suffered through an usually hot summer in 1826, and the popular press took full advantage of it, banking on the unusual and “chilling” tale of the so-called Roger Dodsworth to sell copies. According to newspapers in Lyons, Rouen, and Paris, Dodsworth was the thirty-year-old son of the sixteenth-century English antiquarian Roger Dodsworth. As the story went, Dodsworth the younger had been frozen in ice for 166 years, having been trapped under a avalanche while on expedition at Mount St. Gothard in the Alps in 1660. The story was picked up in London; the most popular publications of the day sensationalized an already sensational tale. Even the conservative weekly John Bull published letters supposedly penned by the remarkable survivor. The public, fully under sway of the imagination and emotion that shaped the age of Romanticism, was enthralled and seduced by the story as it passed from page to page in the London papers.

The popularity of the tall, cold tale had risen and fallen in the span of a year.

Eventually, readers generally accepted that the Dodsworth revivification was false—common sense apparently triumphed in people’s overactive minds—and the story ceased circulating in early November 1826; the popularity of the tall, cold tale had risen and fallen in the span of a year. The fate of the actual (possibly French) claimant remains unknown; it seems that after their fifteen minutes of fame, they simply vanished in obscurity.

https://daily.jstor.org/the-hoax-that-inspired-mary-shelley/
 
This image of Mark Zuckerberg saying 9/11 “never happened” in the metaverse is altered.

In the original Facebook post, the Meta CEO promoted the company’s virtual reality platform but did not mention the terrorist attacks

Screenshot_20220825-223543_Twitter.jpg
 
A Texas couple pulled a prank to get back at serial porch pirates in their neighborhood. The porch pirates retaliated with a prank of their own ...
Austin couple puts dirty diapers in box to trick porch pirates, thieves strike back with cow manure

Several people in a south Austin neighborhood said their doorbell cameras have caught the same people swiping packages from their porches. ...

“We need to stop this now, especially before the holidays get started,” said Gabriela, one of the neighbors. “They’re hitting in the middle of the day, the middle of the night. Same car. Same people.”

She was already frustrated when it happened to her, but when she saw other people post videos of what looked like the same suspects and vehicle, she stepped in, hoping to thwart the operation.

She and her husband put a box of dirty diapers on the front porch.

“The same [people] came back and took [the] package,” she said. “And when they discovered it was a bunch of dirty diapers they came back and smeared those diapers on our front door.” ...

It didn’t stop there.

“Thirty minutes later, they came back with a giant bag of cow manure. They spread that all over our front porch and on our cars in the driveway,” Gabriela said. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I called police, filed a report, and now there’s a detective on the case.”

Gabriele said the people seen stealing the packages are driving around in a black Chevy Suburban with no plates.
The Austin Police Department said it’s an active case, and the manure-smearing portion could hit the point of criminal mischief. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.kxan.com/news/crime/aus...-pirates-thieves-strike-back-with-cow-manure/
 
A Texas couple pulled a prank to get back at serial porch pirates in their neighborhood. The porch pirates retaliated with a prank of their own ...
...
The Austin Police Department said it’s an active case, and the manure-smearing portion could hit the point of criminal mischief. ...
...
Now that the perps have gone beyond trivial annoyances like burglary and operating an unregistered motor vehicle, and escalated their crimes to mischief, I'm sure the police will get right on it.
 
Think about this . . .

These perps retaliated against the homeowners because they were dissatisfied with package they stole. The perps apparently feel they are ENTITLED to lift anything they see sitting on some one's front porch.

Hell in a handbasket . . .
 
This offer of a free haunted refrigerator in the London area is believed to be a hoax. Here's the poster that was circulated to advertise it:



FULL STORY: https://nypost.com/2022/08/05/owner-is-trying-to-give-away-cursed-fridge-that-is-haunted/
Is it just me, or is there some doubt about the ID of the person haunting this fridge? The poster says "stepmother", but also that it's the author's wife's mother, which would make her the mother-in-law.

I mean, if I am going to accept a free haunted fridge, then I want to know who's the haunter!
 
End of an era

Man ends 20-year Llandegley airport sign prank that cost £25k​


A man who spent £25,000 on a fake airport sign in mid Wales is bringing the prank to an end after 20 years.
For the past two decades, a billboard for Llandegley International has been a landmark in the Powys village.
It looks like an ordinary road sign, but actually signposts to an airport that only exists in people's imagination.
After spending thousands of pounds to erect and maintain the sign, the owner decided it's time to take it down.
Since 2002, if you travel eastwards along the A44 between Rhayader and Kington, you will see a sign directing drivers to Terminals 1 and 2 of Llandegley International airport.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63600184
 
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Writers kill off characters but less often themselves.

No one saw this plot twist coming.

In September 2020, a Facebook post from someone claiming to be the daughter of indie romance author Susan Meachen announced the writer had died by suicide. Ms Meachen wrote what she described as "perfectly flawed" romance novels and had fostered a tightknit online community of readers and fellow authors who supported each other's work.

As word of her death spread, author Susan A Cole recalled being shocked.

"When it came out that one of our own had taken her life, that was destructive enough, we were grieving for that alone," Ms Cole told the BBC.
Then rumors began to spread online that Ms Meachen had been bullied.

"All the finger pointing started and it drove a huge wedge in the community that lasted for months," Ms Cole said.

The group marked the anniversary of Susan Meachen's death for two years. Fundraisers and book auctions were held in her honour and authors like Candace Adams contributed to an anthology of short stories that was dedicated to keeping "bullying where it belongs - in fiction".

But that all ended this week, when suddenly Ms Meachen was resurrected.

She announced her return on social media - much to the shock and confusion of fans and friends - and admitted her suicide had been staged.

"There's going to be tons of questions," the post said, according to screengrabs shared online. "Let the fun begin."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64179548
 
Did Giant Grasshoppers Jacked Up On Fertilizer Plague A Montana Orchard In 1937?

In the pursuit of truth we must sometimes lift the curtain on “facts” we’d sooner have believed were true, such as the rumor that in the 1930s giant grasshoppers were hurling themselves around Montana. A black and white photo of a man holding his enormous catch gave rise to the myth, but unfortunately for fans of giant, meter-long insects, it’s just one in a string of novelty edited grasshopper postcards.

hoppers-whoppers-m.webp


One reason we know the photo isn’t real is because of the simple giveaway that the giant grasshopper doesn’t have a shadow. While huge grasshoppers might seem like a strange thing to trend in the world of postcards, they were a huge hit back in the 1930s after photographer Frank D “Pop” Conard witnessed a swarm, writes the Kansas Historical Society.

“Hopper Whoppers”, as the genre became known, were retouched to look like they were pulling carts, holding up trains and fighting humans, but they were never real.

Juneau%2BCounty%2BChronicle%252C%2B16%2BSept%2B1937%252C%2Bgiant%2Bgrasshopper%2Bhoax.JPG


Jurassic World Dominion aside, you’re not going to find a meter-long grasshopper bouncing about in the wild.

Grasshoppers don’t have lungs and instead breathe through holes called spiracles that are found in a few spots across the length of their body. They’re spaced like this because they need to deliver oxygen directly to the localized tissues, as oxygen isn’t carried around insects’ bodies by blood like it is in mammals.

The bigger you are as an insect, the more space you need for these dead-end breathing tubes to reach all your girth, and eventually there becomes a size where this just isn’t possible. In prehistoric times Earth enjoyed Palaeozoic hyperoxia where the air was flush with oxygen, meaning insect giants could get enough of it to their lumbering body parts.

That all changed at the end of the Permian when oxygen levels plummeted from 30 percent to around 21 percent.

https://www.iflscience.com/did-gian...ilizer-plague-a-montana-orchard-in-1937-67616

maximus otter
 

Cops hoping to spot lurking mountain lion set up camera. Something menacing appeared


Authorities in a small town in Wyoming thought they might have a mountain lion on their hands, so they set up trail cameras hoping to spot it.

Two or three weeks later, the Evansville Police Department posted photos from the trail camera on Facebook. There was no sign of a mountain lion among the photos of turkeys, raccoons, skunks, housecats, deer … and an unrecognizable, monstrous humanoid.

Creeper-e1683953436708-860x484.jpg


“Here are some photos of what is running in the wilds of Evansville along the river,” officials said in the May 8 post. “If you know anyone that is scared of the dark please pass this along to them so they can see there is nothing to be afraid of.”

“It’s a mystery for sure…” the original commenter replied.

“This is the police chief!” someone correctly guessed.

Chief Mike Thompson confirmed it was him in a phone interview.

He figured he’d get a head start on the “friendly competition” the department has with the nearby town of Barnum every Halloween, when the department organizes a haunted hay maze at the town fire station.

“I took my Halloween mask and thought this should be fun,” he said. “I’m a bit of a prankster.”

The police department put up the cameras when the public works department found deer and other animal carcasses in a part of town where it wouldn’t normally find them.

https://news.yahoo.com/cops-hoping-...N16lwMJLW0k737SMkciwDDUR7dN3FZp3ZdC0rAHhaWTA5

maximus otter
 
A rather nasty prank.

Travellers on an intercity train in Austria were startled on Sunday when a recording of an Adolf Hitler speech was played on board.

Instead of the normal announcements, a crowd could also be heard shouting "Heil Hitler" and "Sieg Heil" over the train's speaker system. The operator said there had been several such incidents in recent days.

One passenger on the Bregenz-Vienna service told the BBC that everyone on the train was "completely shocked".

David Stoegmueller, a Green Party MP, said the speech by the Nazi German leader was played over the intercom shortly before the train, an OEBB Railjet 661, arrived in Vienna.

"We heard two episodes," he said. "First there was 30 seconds of a Hitler speech, and then I heard 'Sieg Heil'."

Mr Stoegmueller said the train staff were unable to stop the recording and were unable to make their own announcements. "One crew member was really upset," he added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65599302
 
"We can currently assume that the announcements were made by people directly on the train via intercoms.

I'm guessing this means like one of those hand-held microphone things that hang up somewhere (like on the back of the plane for the crew to do announcements on) and some joker idiot is playing stuff from his/her phone into it so that it gets amplified through the speakers in the carriages.

I doubt that it's some kind of error with the recorded messages that play out automatically.
 
I'm guessing this means like one of those hand-held microphone things that hang up somewhere and some joker idiot is playing stuff from his/her phone into it so that it gets amplified through the speakers in the carriages.

Could be smarter than that, using a device like the Flipper Zero radio frequency hacking tool (or one of the several similar devices that has become commercially available in the last few years).

This reminds me strongly of the spate of airliner PA systems being taken over in the same way in the US about six months ago.
 
Giant turtle hoax returns to Indiana
A hoaxed Facebook post sparked concern from extremely gullible Hoosiers who believed a man-eating turtle was in Bloomington’s Lake Monroe. The article by a wannabe screenplay writer Kevin Goodman said that a 9ft long and 300-year-old snapping turtle had killed a person in the lake according to “forensic scientists at Purdue University”. The piece said decapitated human remains were found recently. The post contained additional false details and was easy to fact-check with Purdue U. and the coroner. https://fox59.com/indiana-news/tota...ut-a-9-foot-man-eating-turtle-in-lake-monroe/

Goodman fessed up to the fakery but, as these things go, the hoax horse had long left the bar and could not be easily corralled. The Department of Natural Resources had to make a statement debunking the claim of a giant turtle at all. Only one article made deliberate mention of the likely origin of this giant turtle story, The Beast of ‘Busco - an exaggerated tale of a giant turtle in a pond in Churubusco, Indiana that was used as a tourist stunt in 1949. https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/s...g-turtle-in-indianas-lake-monroe/70424307007/
 
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