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Inexplicable Ephemera (Miscellaneous Stuff / Items Found)

How about a public nail file, or bottle opener ?
Yeah! I have an 'attach-to-the-wall' bottle opener.
Good suggestion. I need to find a public bin with woodwork above it.

Edit: I could make a little plaque to put below it - 'Sponsored by the Arse Council of Great Britain'.
 
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On my government-sanctioned bike ride on Saturday I was riding along when I saw something that looked like a wallet on the road – turned round and it was a wallet stuffed with credit cards, store cards, family pics but no cash. I ride back home – I didn't have room in my pocket and I was only a mile into my journey – and my wife and I find a driver's licence (actually, two, his old one was also in it) with an address about 200 yards away. I cycle round to find he's moved so drop it back home and leave my wife to do some research online to find him.

She succeeded through Facebook after a couple of false steps (I don't do Facebook, my wife does but grudgingly) she made contact and he phoned up on Monday; he'd only just noticed the wallet was missing so hadn't cancelled the card. He came round to pick up the wallet, in which there had been no cash, and then an hour later dropped off a bottle of wine. Awww!
 
This is outwith the subject of this thread, but related to an incident I mentioned earlier.

I’ve always been intrigued by the way tiny oddities that we might in the normal course of events ignore, or not even notice, become somehow significant in the right environment - and the way that they appear to cluster in those environments (whereas what’s probably actually happening is that we notice them more often because we are more alert to the particular atmosphere involved...probably).

So, in that old Edinburgh meeting house that I mentioned back at #44, working entirely on my own (with very occasional visits from one other person - Stevie the roofer - who probably wasn’t a ghost...probably), with poor lighting, intermittent banging and squealing from the rats running around the basement, the occasional impression that someone was looking down at me from the organ gallery, and all the usual creaking and tapping you get in such a place combined with the odd disembodied shout floating up from the street below, I kind of got used to finishing the day with at least a handful of oddness under my belt.

Just going through some old phone photographs I stumbled across photographic evidence of one such thing.

Screws these days have very sharp tips and it’s not unusual to find dropped ones sticking into timber – but they tumble as they fall, and I’ve never seen one fix itself in so perfectly perpendicular a manner as this:

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Nothing spectacular, I'll admit. Just a little...odd.
 
A slightly different kind of 'found'.

I decided to renovate an old water damaged munitions/equipment box that had sat in my grandad's garage for decades. I decided that rather than strip it right down, I'd repaint it in as similar a colour as I could find - the first stage being to give the old paintwork a light sanding (the top surface had already been sanded right back when I rescued it)

Anyway, said light sanding revealed lettering that was not visible previously - and I love it when stuff like that happens.

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The box has clearly been repurposed and retagged over time

Obviously, it has 'SEAFORTH' written on the left hand side. I think the right has 'PAINTERS' and possibly 'GUNNERS' - with maybe 'MORTARS' partly overwritten.

I'm not sure what the history is. My grandad was Royal Engineers, enlisting at 14, according to his Certificate of Service, as a Scholar/Blacksmith - which sounds like the coolest thing in the world to be doing at 14. He worked with other army units (and the Royal Navy at one time) so he could possibly have worked alongside the Seaforth Highlanders at some point. But then he went on to work in heavy engineering, and I dare say there was a lot of army surplus around then. So will probably remain a mystery.

Needless to say, the front face is not now getting a new coat of paint.
 
A Wyoming couple remodeling their kitchen discovered a photo and baptismal certificate from over a half-century ago.
57-year-old photo, baptism certificate found during kitchen remodeling

A couple working on a remodeling project at their Wyoming home made a surprising discovery between a kitchen cabinet and the wall: a young girls' baptism certificate from 1964.

Tricia Provence said she and her boyfriend, Billy Lytle, were working on a remodeling project in the kitchen of their Casper home when Lytle removed a kitchen cabinet and found an envelope. ...

The envelope contained a black-and-white photo of a young girl and a baptism certificate for Anne Elizabeth Ewing, who was born June 17, 1953, and was baptized at the First Christian Church in Casper on March 26, 1964.

The couple reached out to the church for help finding the certificate's owner, but all they were able to find were the names of the girl's parents, David and Caroline, and the names of her siblings, Robert Edward and Leslie. The family relocated to Oklahoma in 1965.

Provence posted photos of the discoveries on Facebook in the hopes of reaching someone who knows the family.

She said in an update Wednesday that online detectives think they may have found Anne Elizabeth Ewing living in Canada. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/02/25/baptism-certificate-kitchen-remodel-Wyoming/4911614288481/
 
A couple more underfloor discoveries from the same room mentioned in my post #77.

There appears to have been some sort of secretive grocery fetish going on in there. Actually, here - I'm using that room as an office just now.

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The board had been split for side battening to support cross battens holding ancient junction boxes. I feel like I have to make something out of those.

Edit: Actually, I see that there's another tea packet in that older post. Clearly a favourite.
 
'Undiscovered Titian painting' found in Ledbury church

More accurately it's thought to be painted by his workshop, not necessarily wholly by him.

The Last Supper was gifted to St Michael and All Angels Church in Ledbury, Herefordshire, in 1909.

Art historian Ronald Moore believes he has now discovered Titian's signature on the canvas during restoration work.

"It always had a feel of Titian about it, but I could never identify it... now we have a breakthrough," he said.

Mr Moore was approached by the church to research and then restore the vast painting - which is more than 12ft wide (3.6m) - about three years ago.

Mr Moore said his discovery of an under-drawing - done by hand - indicated to him that was something only a "major painter" would do.
Using ultra-violent light, he then discovered Titian's signature on a jug on the bottom left of the painting, as well as matching the face of an apostle to Titian himself after superimposing a self-portrait on top.

Two boys in the painting resemble two of Titian's children and, based on his research, Mr Moore believes the painting was altered to become a family portrait.

Not sure what's going on in this photo, whether the righthand side is cleaned/restored, left side not, & what's happened to the background..

The painting
 
'Undiscovered Titian painting' found in Ledbury church

More accurately it's thought to be painted by his workshop, not necessarily wholly by him.

The Last Supper was gifted to St Michael and All Angels Church in Ledbury, Herefordshire, in 1909.

Art historian Ronald Moore believes he has now discovered Titian's signature on the canvas during restoration work.



Not sure what's going on in this photo, whether the righthand side is cleaned/restored, left side not, & what's happened to the background..

The painting
Looks to be halfway through cleaning. The background has developed a bloom. I've seen this kind of bloom myself when cleaning an oil painting. It might be because the background layer is in monochrome, with coloured glazes on top. The restorer may have cocked it up, or it may simply require a layer of varnish to remove the bloom.
 
'Exceptional' 15th-Century Ming Dynasty bowl unearthed at US yard sale

A small bowl bought for just $35 (£25) at a market sale in the US state of Connecticut has turned out to be a rare 15th-Century Chinese artefact.

The white porcelain bowl was spotted by an unidentified antiques enthusiast near New Haven last year, and they quickly sought an expert evaluation.

The experts came back with good news, revealing that the bowl is thought to be worth between $300,000 and $500,000.

In fact, it is believed to be one of only seven such bowls in existence and most of the others are in museums.

"It was immediately apparent to both of us that we were looking at something really very, very special," Angela McAteer, an expert on Chinese ceramics at the auctioneer's told the Associated Press news agency.

The 6-inch (16cm) diameter bowl features cobalt blue floral paintings and an intricate design around the rim.

"All the characteristics and hallmarks are there that identify it as a product of the early Ming [Dynasty] period," Ms McAteer said.

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Snorkeler finds £1.1 million worth of cocaine floating inside taped bin bag

A snorkeler came across a huge stash of cocaine worth around £1.2million [sic] inside a bin bag while out swimming.

Twenty-five bricks of the Class A drug were found stuffed inside the floating bale off the Florida Keys on Wednesday afternoon, police have said.

Chief Border Patrol Agent Thomas G. Martin said the unidentified "Good Samaritan" contacted the authorities after discovering the "large black bundle wrapped in tape", weighing around 31kg.

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Wartime love letters discovered under Scarborough hotel floorboards

Two wartime sweethearts' love letters have been discovered under the floorboards of a seaside hotel.

The handwritten notes and an array of objects dating back to World War Two were found during renovations at the Esplanade Hotel in Scarborough.

The pair, whose names are unknown, declare their love for one another, with the man writing: "Oh darling I'm so lonely without you".

Historians are asking for help to find out more about the lovers.

Ms Woods said the only clue to the pair's names was an M where the woman had signed one letter, but the rest had been "nibbled away by mice".

A return address on another note placed the woman at 50 Dellburn Street in Motherwell, Lanarkshire.

Ms Woods is hoping to be able to trace family members and put the "pieces of the jigsaw together".

She said it was hoped the material would be put on display in the hotel after lockdown for the public to enjoy.

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Update ... The bowl was auctioned off, and it brought more than originally expected ...
15th century bowl found at yard sale sells for $722,000

An exceptionally rare 15th century porcelain bowl made in China that somehow turned up at a Connecticut yard sale and sold for just $35 was auctioned off Wednesday for nearly $722,000.

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/connecticut-flowers-asia-china-us-news-4d10ed571aa5835f8086cc1be23a2979
 
WWII air raid shelter found in Edinburgh during cupboard clean

Dr Mia Gray said she was astonished to discover bunk beds, wartime signage and a reinforced roof in the room at the bottom of their Goldenacre flats.

Originally a Victorian washroom, she said it had been crammed full of old carpets, paint pots and household junk.

It was revealed when her neighbour, Liz Mowbray, decided to clear the cupboard.

"Originally it was a washroom and it still has items such as a mangle and basins, which is fascinating in itself, but during the war they had turned it into this air raid shelter."

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I was listening to the latest Adam Buxton podcast and he made the point there's virtually nothing you can do for "fun" now without harming the environment, even surfing the net is reliant on massive servers throbbing away, some fuelled by coal. So we can add drawing pictures to that list.

Living does, and always has, invariably mean exploiting the resources around us.

We seem to forget that.

Man is an exploiter, a burner, a consumer and a destroyer.

Which is why our time here on Earth will be brief and the Earth will exist far, far, far into the future.
 
Living does, and always has, invariably mean exploiting the resources around us.

We seem to forget that.

Man is an exploiter, a burner, a consumer and a destroyer.

Which is why our time here on Earth will be brief and the Earth will exist far, far, far into the future.

I dunno about the mea culpa stuff CJ - Corporations yes, (that includes Governments) - but your average Joanna and Joe are just part of the grand scheme I reckon.

In our simple lives we are part of the seed dispersal gig, we are the thinner of herds, the breaker of soils and the fuel reduction wallah in our forests and woodlands - all essential aspects of life on this planet due to our actions improving their respective genepools.

We have bred up and unfortunately we got clever with our science but not our understanding, so, as you suggested, we are reaching a peak where, once again, a thinning/reckoning will happen which will place the next wave of humanity in caves for 10 or 20 generations.

Then we start again with tales told around the campfire of Giants lifting and carrying great loads, Brave heroes with strong arms flying to the moon and men taming whales to travel underwater.

I hope next time we keep it more simple.
 
I dunno about the mea culpa stuff CJ - Corporations yes, (that includes Governments) - but your average Joanna and Joe are just part of the grand scheme I reckon.

In our simple lives we are part of the seed dispersal gig, we are the thinner of herds, the breaker of soils and the fuel reduction wallah in our forests and woodlands - all essential aspects of life on this planet due to our actions improving their respective genepools.

We have bred up and unfortunately we got clever with our science but not our understanding, so, as you suggested, we are reaching a peak where, once again, a thinning/reckoning will happen which will place the next wave of humanity in caves for 10 or 20 generations.

Then we start again with tales told around the campfire of Giants lifting and carrying great loads, Brave heroes with strong arms flying to the moon and men taming whales to travel underwater.

I hope next time we keep it more simple.

You write beautifully :)
 
A family remodeling a recently purchased house in Idaho discovered a bedroom wall covered with approximately 1,600 baseball cards.
Family remodeling Idaho home finds wall covered in baseball cards

An Idaho family remodeling their house removed the roof shingles covering a bedroom wall and made a surprising discovery -- about 1,600 baseball cards glued to the plaster.

Melissa Brodt said she has been remodeling a Boise home for her son and made a surprising discovery when she started peeling away the dark green roof shingles covering the wall of a bedroom. ...

Brodt soon realized the wall under the shingles had been wallpapered with about 1,600 baseball cards from the 1970s and 80s.

Brodt, whose family bought the home from the estate of the previous owners in December, was able to contact Chris Nelson, 44, the son of the original owners and the former occupant of the bedroom.

"In the late 80s I was absolutely obsessed with baseball," Nelson told CNN. "We just decided we were going to wallpaper one of the walls with the excess baseball cards." ...
FULL STORY (With Video): https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/0...deling-home-baseball-card-wall/4501643832488/
 
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