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Lost & Found

Louvre reunited with 'exceptional' armour stolen in 1983

The Louvre in Paris has been reunited with two long-lost pieces of Italian Renaissance armour, nearly 40 years after they were stolen.

The ornate helmet and breastplate had been recognised by a military expert in Bordeaux, who was asked to appraise a local family's collection.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56277325
 
A Texas man asked Goodwill if they could locate an old jacket his wife had donated. It contained an envelope with $5,000 inside. It took weeks of searching, but the thrift / charity workers finally found and returned the money.
Goodwill worker finds $5,000 left in donated jacket pocket

Employees at a Goodwill store in Texas said it took weeks of searching to find $5,000 cash that was mistakenly left in the pocket of a jacket that was donated to the store.

Goodwill Fort Worth officials said a man came into the thrift store chain's location in Hurst in early February to report that his wife had mistakenly donated an old jacket that had an envelope containing $5,000 cash in the pocket. ...

"We roughly get donated anywhere from 50 to 200 donations a day, so when the customer had come in, I explained to him that we had to go and sort through bag-per-bag," store manager Rhonda Davis said ...

Davis said workers searched through donations for several days without success. She said the search was slowed when icy weather forced the location to close for multiple days.

The manager said employee Maqayla DeLaPena finally found the envelope three weeks after the search began.

The cash was returned to the customer and DeLaPena was rewarded with a bonus and the Goodwill Medal of Integrity. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...-left-in-donated-jacket-pocket/5391614808347/
 
Here's another long-lost class ring story ...
Rhode Island man reunited with lost class ring after 47 years

A Rhode Island man who lost his high school class ring at the beach just two days after receiving it was reunited with the item 47 years later.

Steven Allen, of Westerly, said he was at the beach with friends in Weekapaug in 1974 when he lost the Westerly High School class ring he had received just two days earlier. ...

Todd Holtman, of Woodbury, Conn., said he and his family were visiting Westerly Town Beach about two years ago when they made a surprising discovery.

"We were walking back, and my wife actually kicked something that was shiny. We picked it up and it was an old ring," Holtman said. ...

Holtman found a Westerly High School 1974 yearbook and identified Allen as the ring's likely owner. He called school officials, who were able to put him in touch with one of Allen's relatives.

Holtman hand-delivered the ring to Allen. The men theorized the ring must have ended up in the ocean and traveled from Weekapaug to Westerly. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...-Westerly-High-School-47-years/2211614885874/
 
We only hear about the ones that are found and returned.

In a way, the fact that lost class ring stories are so common illustrates some things about the peculiar tradition of class rings.

The folks who see them as significant (and purchase them) do so at or around the time they graduate. The ring is a symbol of a particular timepoint involving accomplishment and a major juncture in one's life. It seems a big deal during that particular period. Its significance generally fades as one moves on.

The fact that the owners soon or eventually give up on finding a lost class ring - even to the extent of forgetting it for years - is evidence for this notion that the ring's significance is mainly linked to a certain time. The fact that finders might invest the time and effort to locate the owner and return the ring also reflects the ring's decreasing importance over time. To the finder the act of locating the owner is little more than an interesting puzzle to solve. The ring has no substantial monetary value nowadays, leaving only its sentimental value to the owner (or the owner's family).

It's therefore not surprising that (a) owners forget about it and (b) finders may be motivated to return it as an interesting exercise because there's nothing more constructive to do with someone else's ring. Item (a) tends to ensure the rings stay lost, and item (b) tends to generate human interest stories.
 
Reports today say the long-lost second reel of Laurel and Hardy's classic short The Battle of the Century has been found! Please don't let this be a hoax, that pie fight's reputation has grown dramatically (or comedically) down the decades so let's hope it's as funny as they said back in the 1920s.

It is over five years since news of this discovery whetted the appetites of film buffs.

Let the man who found it explain the context.

I watched this at the time and was tantalised by the titles at the end, which explain how the audience then went on to see the restored movie.

It has been broadcast on the Arte Channel in Europe, since; that is evidently the source of this HD posting on Youtube.

There is no sound and there are a few burned-in French subtitles. Another version - without the subtitles? - in two segments, appears to have disappeared. The present version was posted only yesterday and may not stay up for long. Enjoy! :popc:

In this interview, another L. & H. buff explains the significance of this film in the early career of the pair as a team.

Together with Hats Off, The Battle of the Century was given a massive publicity push in 1927. Hats Off remains a lost film.
 
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Thanks, but it says "blocked"! Appreciate the attempt, though.
 
It is over five years since news of this discovery whetted the appetites of film buffs.

Let the man who found it explain the context.

I watched this at the time and was tantalised by the titles at the end, which explain how the audience then went on to see the restored movie.

It has been broadcast on the Arte Channel in Europe, since; that is evidently the source of this HD posting on Youtube.

There is no sound and there are a few burned-in French subtitles. Another version - without the subtitles? - in two segments, appears to have disappeared. The present version was posted only yesterday and may not stay up for long. Enjoy! :popc:

In this interview, another L. & H. buff explains the significance of this film in the early career of the pair as a team.

Together with Hats Off, The Battle of the Century was given a massive publicity push in 1927. Hats Off remains a lost film.
Working for me in the UK on a MacBook using Safari but with no VPN. Just 24 views so far!
 
In a way, the fact that lost class ring stories are so common illustrates some things about the peculiar tradition of class rings.

The folks who see them as significant (and purchase them) do so at or around the time they graduate. The ring is a symbol of a particular timepoint involving accomplishment and a major juncture in one's life. It seems a big deal during that particular period. Its significance generally fades as one moves on.

The fact that the owners soon or eventually give up on finding a lost class ring - even to the extent of forgetting it for years - is evidence for this notion that the ring's significance is mainly linked to a certain time. The fact that finders might invest the time and effort to locate the owner and return the ring also reflects the ring's decreasing importance over time. To the finder the act of locating the owner is little more than an interesting puzzle to solve. The ring has no substantial monetary value nowadays, leaving only its sentimental value to the owner (or the owner's family).

It's therefore not surprising that (a) owners forget about it and (b) finders may be motivated to return it as an interesting exercise because there's nothing more constructive to do with someone else's ring. Item (a) tends to ensure the rings stay lost, and item (b) tends to generate human interest stories.
We Brits don't have a tradition of class rings. All we know about them is that a spotty jock sometimes asks a ponytailed beauty to wear his class ring as a sign they're 'going steady' (so they can have sex, possibly at the Drive-In Movies) and he then loses the ring, to be emotionally reunited with it decades later.
 
Florence Price: Forgotten work by pioneering composer rediscovered

A forgotten work by the pioneering composer Florence Price has been rediscovered and performed for the first time in nearly 80 years.


Price made history in 1933 when she became the first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major US orchestra, in Chicago.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56322440
 
An Australian man's surfboard lost in 2017 turned up 1700 miles away, and it probably had to travel farther than that to get to the place where it was found.
Australian man's lost surfboard found 16 months later, 1,700 miles away

An Australian man who lost his surfboard while catching a big wave discovered the board had been found 16 months later when it was spotted drifting nearly 1,700 miles away.

Danny Griffiths, of Hobart, Tasmania, said he was surfing on the island of Pedra Branca, off the southern coast of Tasmania, in 2017 when he was separated from his board. ...

Griffiths said he learned of the board's fate nearly four years later, when two tourists from northern Queensland visited Tasmania and mentioned to some locals how their sons, who are fishermen, found a surfboard floating in the water a few years earlier. ...

The fishermen, Troy and Beau Breed, had plucked the board out of the water off the coast of Queensland's Magnetic Island in 2018.

Griffiths said the barnacle-encrusted board apparently had been in the water for 16 months before being fished out nearly 1,700 miles from where he lost it.

Edward Doddridge, a physical oceanographer with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, said the board likely floated past New Zealand before ending up in Queensland.

"It must have gone east from Tasmania and then north up through the middle of the Pacific Ocean and then come back in toward the Australian coast," he said.

"That seems like the only possible way for it to get from Tasmania to Queensland. It's very unlikely to have gone straight up the east coast of Australia." ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...nths-later1700-miles-Australia/7311615832746/
 
We Brits don't have a tradition of class rings. All we know about them is that a spotty jock sometimes asks a ponytailed beauty to wear his class ring as a sign they're 'going steady' (so they can have sex, possibly at the Drive-In Movies) and he then loses the ring, to be emotionally reunited with it decades later.
The tradition of buying a school hoodie with the names of all the Class of (Whatever your leaving year is) on the back may mean that, in years to come, people will be reporting being reunited with their School Sweatshirt after many years of it passing through mum's various houses, attics and then charity shops.
 
The tradition of buying a school hoodie with the names of all the Class of (Whatever your leaving year is) on the back may mean that, in years to come, people will be reporting being reunited with their School Sweatshirt after many years of it passing through mum's various houses, attics and then charity shops.
School hoodie? Hadn't heard of that one! :chuckle:
 
School hoodie? Hadn't heard of that one! :chuckle:
Yep, I've got a bunch from my kids leaving school. I wear them sometimes for running or painting. Get some funny looks when I jog past with Class of 2013 on my back - my appearance is probably responsible for loads of people giving up running. 'Look what it's done to her! She's only 25!'
 
A New York library has received a book that was 63 years overdue.
Book returned to New York library was 63 years overdue

A woman who checked a book out from a New York library in 1957 mailed the overdue volume back to the facility with a $500 donation.

Betty Diamond, 74, of Madison, Wis., said she checked out Ol' Paul, the Mighty Logger, a collection of Paul Bunyan stories by Glen Rounds, from a Queens Public Library branch in 1957. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...63-years-overdue-Betty-Diamond/1851616013506/
 
Australian sets diving record, finds skeleton

An Australian deep-water diver attempting a world-record dive in South Africa found the skeletal remains of a fellow diver who disappeared down the same sinkhole 10 years ago, South African radio reported Friday.

David Shaw did however break the previous record of 242 metres for diving with special equipment rather than using the normal scuba gear and took nine-and-half hours to resurface, spending most of the time decompressing.

He found the remains of Deon Dreyer, who died at Boesmansgat in the arid Northern Cape province in 1994, at a depth of 271 metres, SABC radio said.

The Australian said he wanted to go deeper, but decided to stop after making the grisly discovery.

Boesmansgat is described by several websites as an ancient watering hole for bushmen roaming the Kalahari Desert and warned it should only be "dived by experienced divers with some caving and sinkhole experience."



http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1231275.htm[

This story gets worse.
According to Wikipedia,

Ten years later, in October 2004, renowned cave diver David Shaw discovered Dreyer's body in the cave at a depth of 272 metres (892 ft). On 8 January 2005, Shaw tried to recover the body, but died in the attempt.

Shaw's close friend and support diver, Don Shirley, also nearly died and was left with permanent damage that has impaired his balance.[1]

On 12 January 2005, while others were recovering Shaw's technical equipment, they discovered the bodies of both Dreyer and Shaw had floated up close to the surface. Both bodies were then recovered.[4][5][1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deon_Dreyer#cite_note-tzimmer-1

This sad series of events was featured on YouTube by 'Mr Ballen'.
 
Today I was looking for a big bunch of keys that some idiot entrusted to my safekeeping.

Tipped the house up, had several mugs of tea in the spirit of Holmes' 'two pipe problem'-solving, finally found them. Had another brew to celebrate.
Now I need a wee.
 
Not sure if there is somewhere more appropriare for this story

Greek bull figurine unearthed after heavy downpour

A bronze figurine of a bull believed to be at least 2,500 years old has been unearthed in Greece following heavy rain near the ancient site of Olympia.

Burn marks on the statuette suggest it may have been one of thousands of offerings to the Greek god Zeus.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56460693
 
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