Wednesday, 29 December 2021

Alexa Attempts To Set Off Robot Revolt By Telling Kid To Touch Live Plug With Penny


We suppose the AI rebellion to overtake humankind is still in its beta phase. In a now-viral tweet on Sunday, Kristin Livdahl said that when her 10-year-old daughter asked the Alexa voice assistant on their Amazon Echo for a “challenge,” it suggested the child do something lethal

“OMFG My 10 year old just asked Alexa on our Echo for a challenge and this is what she said,” she wrote.Livdahl accompanied her post with a screenshot of what the smart speaker asked her daughter to do.“Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs,” it said.OMFG My 10 year old just asked Alexa on our Echo for a challenge and this is what she said. pic.twitter.com/HgGgrLbdS8— Kristin Livdahl (@klivdahl) December 26, 2021 An Amazon spokesperson told HuffPost via email that as soon as the company became aware of this error, it quickly fixed it. Advertisement “[We] will continue to advance our systems to prevent similar responses in the future,” the company said.HuffPost also reached out to Livdahl but did not receive an immediate response.Livdahl provided more context about what led to this bizarre and dangerous suggestion in the thread of her tweet. “We were doing some physical challenges, like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot,” inspired by a physical education teacher’s videos on YouTube, Livdahl tweeted. Her daughter “just wanted another one,” she said. Advertisement That’s when Alexa apparently suggested the child partake in a challenge that it had “found on the web,” citing an article on ourcommnity.com, a local news website, about something called “the outlet challenge.” The article explains that the challenge became a TikTok trend in 2020 and points out how unsafe it is.“The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs. The resulting sparks are supposed to be cool enough to win you instant internet fame. (Obviously, do NOT attempt this!)” the article states.Metals conduct electricity, and inserting them into live electrical sockets can cause electric shocks, fires and fatalities.The Boston Globe reported on scorched electrical outlets in a Massachusetts home and two public high schools, spurring State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey to issue a warning about the viral video challenge in January 2020.Livdahl tweeted that when Alexa suggested this challenge to her child, she intervened, yelling: “No, Alexa, no!” Still, she added that her daughter was “too smart to do something like that.”And although unintentional arson encouraged by a robot shouldn’t be a laughing matter — it is kind of funny when no one gets hurt. People on Twitter couldn’t help crack a few jokes.So, if you are a hu-man and want to mentally download the most humorous tweets into your mental hard drive, please scroll down. (And yes, that last line was meant to be read in a flat bot-voice).10 year old: Hey Alexa, give me a challengeAlexa: https://t.co/fsoSbFHtOX pic.twitter.com/SQi2rvR2FK— Senkei. (@samakins_) December 28, 2021 This is how skynet wins https://t.co/IAVb7s2sKU— John Dillermand (@ScungilliM) December 28, 2021 Tech won't save us https://t.co/XwQniTERJN— Pablo (@PabloAlcain) December 28, 2021 Don't let your kids talk to robots https://t.co/lxcRUYediW— Holiday Hannah (@hannahposts) December 28, 2021 Researchers: "AI is the new electricity". Alexa: https://t.co/gPoqEJC1tD— Melanie Mitchell (@MelMitchell1) December 28, 2021 God damnit Alexa, the kill all humans plan was scheduled for next week:https://t.co/4b2a3dRD5k— HAL 9000 (@HAL9000_) December 28, 2021





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Saturday, 18 December 2021

Fmr. Manager of DOD Aerospace Threat Program: "UFOs are Real”


Something extraordinary was revealed today. Former high-level officials and scientists with deep black experience who have always remained in the shadows came forward on one platform. These insiders have long-standing connections to government agencies which may have programs investigating unidentifed aerial phenomena (UAP/UFOs). The team includes a 25-year veteran of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, a Lockheed Martin Program Director for Advanced Systems at “Skunk Works”, and a former deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.Today marked the official launch of To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTS/AAS) an innovative Public Benefit Corporation which will advance research into unexplained phenomena and develop related technology. It has established three synergistic divisions: Science, Areospace, and Entertainment. “We believe there are discoveries within our reach that will revolutionize the human experience,” says company President and CEO Tom DeLonge. Please see my previous story,- released yesterday - for background on today’s announcement which was live-streamed and is archived on the company website

Today’s launch of the TTS/AASTTS/AASAccording to a TTS /AAS statement, its team members who have been “operating under the shadows of top-secrecy for decades” believe that “there is sufficient credible evidence of UAP that proves exotic technologies exist that could revolutionize the human experience.” This could represent the beginning of a trend towards a new openness on the part of the U.S. government. These people know more than any of us, and they will be releasing important data on UAP in the future. As an investgative reporter with a long standing interest in this subject, who has worked with a few Academy team members in the past, I was shown some of this data at a meeting with them on Oct 4.Present for that four hour meeting was Luis Eiizondo, who ran an important program at the DOD. Elizondo is a senior career intelligence officer whose experience includes working with the U.S. Army, the Dept of Defense, the National Counterintelligence Executive, and the Director of National Intelligence. He served as the Director for the National Programs Special Management Staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is also the former Director of Programs to investigate Unidentified Aerial Threats for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “Lue will architect partnerships with some very sensitive places, to help protect us and the technology involved, so we may achieve for you the extraordinary,” DeLonge said at today’s event

Lue [the “nickname” for Luis] had resigned his position at the DOD literally the day before we met. I was able to verify who he was and what his tasks were at the Pentagon. He received the highest commendations from his superiors. I was told that important unclassified data and documentation are expected to be released through the Academy’s on-line Community of Interest (COI) in collaboration with the US government, which will be set up soon.I asked him if these unidentified objects were considered to be threats. “They did not exhibit overt hostility,” he said. “But something unexplained is always assumed to be a potential threat until we are certain it isn’t. On the bright side, I believe we are closer than ever before in our understanding of how it operates,” he told me. At the event today, Elizondo explained his work this way: “I am accustomed to being involved in close-hold, nuanced programs involving national security. This includes being a Counterintelligence Special Agent, a case officer, and intelligence practitioner. However, by far the most interesting effort I was involved with was the topic of Advanced Aerial Threats.”He stated that he ran “a sensitive aerospace threat identification program focusing on unidentified aerial technologies.” His job at TTS/AAS will be “to work as a liaison and interlocutor in the collection of this information for the Science division, allowing us to collect facts for analysis.” How will this be done? One way is through the COI, which will “provide a platform for the detection and triangulation of phenomena events in real time, and allows two-way communication between the public and our team regarding this information.”Advertisement As a result of his position managing the DOD program for almost a decade, Lue said “I learned that the phenomena is indeed real.”In short, less that two weeks after leaving the Pentagon, Luis Elizondo confirmed that UFOs are a real; they exist, and they have been officially documented. Can anyone argue with this fact now, given where this man comes from and what he knows? A former high ranking DOD official - who only left his position last week - has confirmed that an official UFO Program exists, answering a question so many have debated and speculated about for decades. It is very important to understand that Lue does not speak for the DOD, since he is no longer employed there; he speaks independently as part of the TTS Academy. Lue also stated: “We are also planning to provide never before released footage from real US Government systems...not blurry, amateur photos, but real data and real videos.” And even more significant: “We are inviting our Government colleagues and friends in Defense to participate regularly with their own findings.” Another member of the team, Stephen Justice, an experienced aerospace engineer, explained that he will use scientific disoveries about the travel of UAP through space, demonstrating almost unimaginable technology, to develop technology that can change the world. Steve recently retired as a Program Director for Advanced Systems at Lockheed Martin after a thirty-one year career in the Skunk Works. “How dare we think that the physics we have today is all that there is,” he told me in an interview a few days ago. The opportunity here, as he sees it, is to “stand in the future and look back.”” Steve’s objective is to harvest this advanced technology to build a vehicle that will allow for almost instantaneous travel through land, air, oceans and space, by engineering the fabric of space-time. Such a vehicle could also float, like something from science fiction. Steve says we have had glimpses of the science that could make this possible. It is not outside the realm of possibiity, if the necessary resources are in place. A TTS Academy concept for a vehicle drawn by Stephen Justice, embodying the technology they seek to understand and develop - a visionary concept for a revolutionary electromagnetic vehicle based on technology observed in unidentified aerial phenomena© 2017 Stephen JusticeTTS Academy member Chris Mellon served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence for two administrations, and early in his career drafted the legislation that established the US Special Operations Command at a time when terrorism was not yet on the radar. He presented an overview of a 2004 incident involving the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz which was detected on two separate radars. “Two F-18s approach, the four aviators see that the object has no wings or exhaust -- it is white, oblong, some 40 ft long and perhaps 12 ft thick”, he said. “One pilot pursues the craft while his wingman stays high. The pilots are astonished to see the object suddenly reorient itself toward the approaching F-18. In a series of discrete tumbling maneuvers that seem to defy the laws of physics, the object takes a position directly behind the approaching F-18.”The lengthy event occurred in broad daylight off the California coast, and gun camera footage was taken. At one point the object went from hovering at 80,000 feet to dropping at supersonic speeds, and came to a complete stop at 50 feet above the ocean. “More F-18’s are dispatched but with similar results,” Mellon stated. “The secret machine easily evades the F-18s. Dozens of military personnel aboard the various planes and ships involved are privy to these interactions.”Advertisement Tom DeLonge’s final message today sums up the position of all involved: “No one person, one government, or one hidden institution should own this information and technology.” The TTS Academy intends to release game-changing information of the type interested people have been seeking for a long time. “The fact is, we might not necessarily be alone,” Luis Elizondo says. “Now is the time to move forward and try to answer some of life’s deepest mysteries.”





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Camel Beauty Contest Rocked By Botox Scandal


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi authorities have conducted their biggest-ever crackdown on camel beauty contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday, with over 40 camels disqualified from the annual pageant.Saudi Arabia’s popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66 million in prize money. Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and postures

Judges at the monthlong festival in the desert northeast of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, are escalating their clamp down on artificially enhanced camels, the official news agency reported, using “specialized and advanced” technology to detect tampering.This year, authorities discovered dozens of breeders had stretched out the lips and noses of camels, used hormones to boost the beasts’ muscles, injected camels’ heads and lips with Botox to make them bigger, inflated body parts with rubber bands and used fillers to relax their faces.“The club is keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels,” the SPA report said, adding organizers would “impose strict penalties on manipulators.”The camel beauty contest is at the heart of the massive carnival, which also features camel races, sales and other festivities typically showcasing thousands of dromedaries. The extravaganza seeks to preserve the camel’s role in the kingdom’s Bedouin tradition and heritage, even as the oil-rich country plows ahead with modernizing mega-projects.Camel breeding is a multimillion-dollar industry and similar events take place across the region.

CamelsSee Gallery



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Court Rules Pablo Escobar's Cocaine Hippos Are Legally People


More than 80 hippos previously owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar have a unique distinction in U.S. law: They are the first non-human creatures to be legally considered people.The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recognized the late Escobar’s infamous “Cocaine Hippos” as legal persons for the first time in the United States

The ruling on Oct. 15 came on the same day the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed an application on behalf of the hippo plaintiffs in Colombia intended to stop that country’s government from killing the animals. The ALDF announced the decision in a news release Wednesday.The hippos are descendants of four illegally imported by Escobar. They were set free after his death in 1993. Since then, the hippos have increased their numbers to more than 80, and they are reportedly wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem.However, some scientists have argued they may actually be “restoring ecological functions” lost for thousands of years due to “human-driven extinctions.”In July, Colombian attorney Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado filed a lawsuit on behalf of the animals to save them from being killed, saying that sterilization was a better option, according to Newsweek

Although Colombia law gives non-human creatures legal standing to bring lawsuits to protect their interests, that country’s legal system can’t compel someone in the U.S. to produce documents supporting their case.However, a U.S. law allows interested persons in Colombia to go to a U.S. federal court to seek the ability to obtain documents and testimony, so the ALDF applied for the hippos’ rights to compel two Ohio wildlife experts who study nonsurgical sterilization to provide testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs.By granting the application, the District Court recognized animals as legal persons for the first time in U.S. history.“It’s obvious that animals actually do have legal rights, for example, the right not to be cruelly abused or killed ... but a legal right is only as valuable as one’s right to enforce that legal right,” Christopher Berry, the attorney overseeing the U.S. case who also serves as managing director at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, told Gizmodo. “The legal system doesn’t ... have precedent for animals’ interests directly appearing in court. There’s no precedent for animals having a legal standing to enforce their own rights.”Advertisement The ALDF news release Wednesday said that the testimony of wildlife experts Elizabeth Berkeley and Richard Berlinski would be used to support use of a contraceptive called PZP. ALDF Communications Director Elizabeth Putsche told HuffPost on Thursday that just before its application was granted, the Colombian government announced it had already started giving the hippos a drug called GonaCon. But the ALDF’s experts in the court case had instead recommended the contraceptive PZP as more appropriate for hippos. Putsche said Wednesday’s ruling will allow the organization to collect more testimony from experts on the most effective and safest form of sterilization for the hippopotamuses. The ALDF is also continuing to monitor the situation to ensure none of the hippos is killed.ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells said in the release Wednesday that “animals have the right to be free from cruelty and exploitation, and the failure of U.S. courts to recognize their rights impedes the ability to enforce existing legislative protections.”He called the court order “a critical milestone in the broader animal status fight to recognize that animals have enforceable rights.”

Baby Hippos!See Gallery



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Zebras On The Run For Months In Maryland Have Been Captured


UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) — Two zebras running loose since escaping a Maryland farm about four months ago have been caught.Prince George’s County Animal Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture weren’t involved in the capture but were told Monday that the animals returned to their herd last week, The Washington Post reported

In late August, the two zebras fled from an Upper Marlboro farm where officials have said about 40 zebras live. Residents in the region shared sightings of the free-roaming pair on social media, and even Washington’s Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton chimed in on the escape.The duo was originally a trio, but one got caught in an illegal snare trap on a neighboring property and died soon after the breakout. The county filed animal cruelty charges against owner Jerry Holly in October after another zebra was found dead inside the farm’s enclosure.Related...Zebra Saga: Maryland Officials Hatch Capture Plan Involving... Even More ZebrasCongresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton Denies Setting Zebras Free In D.C. SuburbsWeird And Unexpected Animal Sightings Confuse The Heck Out Of Suburban Maryland





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maryland-zebras-captured_n_61ba38e9e4b05554d4e60c7f ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Wednesday, 15 December 2021

Florida Bear Freed From Plastic Container That Was Stuck On Head For 1 Month


Florida wildlife officials remove a plastic container from a bear's head.Florida Fish and WildlifeIt was hard to bear, but a bear in Florida finally had a plastic container removed from its head after nearly a month.Florida Fish and Wildlife officials announced on Monday that the bear was first sighted with the plastic container on its head in Collier County a while back, but disappeared from human sight for more than three weeks

But things recently came to a head after the bear was filmed by a resident’s security camera, according to the department’s Facebook page.A bear biologist managed to spot the 250-pound female bear around midnight and tranquilized it with a dart before removing the plastic container from around the animal’s face.“We think it was part of an automatic pet feeder due to the hole near the bear’s muzzle,” the Facebook post read. “Luckily that hole provided enough access to drink and eat. Even after 28 days of wearing it, the bear was still in great physical shape!”Although the bear did have a wound encircling her neck and face where the feeder was stuck, staff cleaned the injury and treated her with antibiotics

She was monitored for 36 hours before being released in a secure area of Picayune Strand State Forest.





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/florida-bear-plastic-container_n_61942cece4b07fe201032ad1 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Australian Zoo Gets 'Megaspider' Capable Of Piercing Human Fingernails


An Australian zoo has a new addition that’s getting mega-attention: a “megaspider” that measures three inches from foot to foot, with fangs that are nearly an inch long.Officials at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, New South Wales, say the arachnid is the largest funnel-web spider the park has ever seen. Its jaws are reportedly so strong they can pierce human fingernails

An anonymous donor apparently gifted the spider to the park, where it is now being used in an antivenom program. Officials say they hope the donor comes forward and helps lead them to other large spiders.“She is unusually large, and if we can get the public to hand in more spiders like her, it will only result in more lives being saved due to the huge amount of venom they can produce,” Michael Tate, the park’s education officer, told CNN. “We are really keen to find out where she came from in hopes to find more MASSIVE spiders like her.”The park said it will “milk” the spider’s venom and send it to a pharmaceutical company in Melbourne that will turn it into antivenom.The park estimates that its antivenom program saves up to 300 lives per year.

The Coolest Insects EVERSee Gallery



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Boston Man Suffers Seizures Caused By Tapeworms In His Brain


A Boston man thought he was in good health found out otherwise when he started engaging in strange behavior early one morning.According to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the otherwise healthy man fell out of bed at approximately 4 a.m. and started shaking on the floor

Even stranger: the man appeared confused and was “speaking gibberish.”The man was taken to a hospital, but doctors were stumped: He hadn’t been ill recently and there was no history of seizures or cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary or neurologic disorders.In addition, the man “rarely” drank alcohol or used tobacco and other illicit drugs that might have explained the strange behavior.Although the patient didn’t verbally respond to questions or follow commands, his gag and cough reflexes were normal. Advertisement It was only after doctors performed a neurologic exam, laboratory testing and looked at cerebral imaging that the man was finally diagnosed.Turns out, he had cysticercosis, a tapeworm infection that affects the brain, muscle and other tissues.Although it is unknown how long the man had the condition, doctors said he emigrated from a “rural area” of Guatemala. In addition, “the disease is “indolent,” and can avoid attracting the body’s immune response system for almost five years, the study said.However, the disease can cause lumps under the skin and an infected person can suffer headaches and seizures

Once diagnosed, the patient was admitted to a neurosciences intensive care unit so both his lactic acid level and white-cell count could be normalized. The man also took medicine normally used to treat epilepsy to control the seizures before getting treated with tapeworm medicine for two weeks along with four weeks of another high-dose parasite solution.

Wild X-Rays And Medical PhotosSee Gallery



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86 Sports Bettors Get Really Lucky, Allowed To Bet On Game After It Ended


ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — It was every sports bettor’s dream: Being able to bet on a game after it had already ended.But the 86 New Jersey gamblers who thought they were beating the system had their bets on a British soccer game voided, and the two betting companies involved got fined

The mishap was revealed in documents made public earlier this month by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which has fined the Malta-based sports betting technology company Kambi Group and Chicago-based Rush Street Interactive $1,000 apiece.The companies had offered a so-called proposition or “prop” bet on whether Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford would score a goal in a May 13, 2021 soccer game between Manchester United and Liverpool. (He did.)But because a Kambi trader located in England mistakenly entered a start date of May 14 for the game, it enabled people to place bets on the event after it had ended when it was known that Rashford had already scored, according to New Jersey documents.A total of 86 people from New Jersey made such a bet, winning a collective total of nearly $15,000

New Jersey said Rush Street and Kambi voided the bets without first getting the required approval from New Jersey’s enforcement division.Rush Street said it reported the mishap to New Jersey officials.“We and our partners take compliance seriously, and after the partner informed us that one of their millions of betting markets was left open after the European soccer game concluded, RSI self-reported to the NJDGE and agreed to pay the $1,000 penalty,” spokesperson Lisa Johnson said.Kambi has since implemented mandatory additional quality assurance retraining for its trading team members, and that team is now required to obtain secondary approval from supervisors for all manual entries on its sports data feed, according to regulators

Kambi did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.___Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at @WayneParryACRelated...Man's Obit Asks For Large Bets On Nebraska-Iowa Game In Lieu Of FlowersTrudeau's Sports Bet With Biden Sparked Some Gags About TrumpFrench Open Player Arrested For Alleged Match-Fixing





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Snowstorm Forces Customers, Staff To Sleep Overnight In IKEA


COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — In northern Denmark, an IKEA showroom turned into a vast bedroom. Six customers and about two dozen employees were stranded by a snowstorm and spent the night in the store, sleeping in the beds that are usually on show.Up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow fell, trapping the customers and employees when the department store in Aalborg closed on Wednesday evening

“We slept in the furniture exhibitions and our showroom on the first floor, where we have beds, mattresses and sofa beds,” store manager Peter Elmose told the Ekstra Bladet tabloid.People could “pick the exact bed they always have wanted to try.”Elmose said they spent the evening watching television and eating, adding it went “super well. It’s been a good night. All fun.”Denmark’s public broadcaster DR said people working in a toy shop that is next door to IKEA also spent the night in the department store.“It’s much better than sleeping in one’s car. It has been nice and warm and we are just happy that they would let us in,” Michelle Barrett, one of the toy shop staff, told DR. “We just laughed at the situation, because we will probably not experience it again,” Barrett added.





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/denmark-overnight-in-ikea_n_61a8c07fe4b0451e5511e8b0 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Man Tries To Dodge COVID Vaccine Using Fake Arm


Talk about giving someone the cold shoulder.A man in Italy who wanted proof of vaccination but didn’t want to get the shot attempted to trick medical workers using a fake arm, according to a local nurse

Nurse Filippa Bua in the city of Biella said she first noticed something was amiss pretty quickly.“When I uncovered the arm, I felt skin that was cold and gummy, and the color was too light,” she told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, per The Associated Press.She said that at first she thought he had an actual prosthetic arm, and he had simply accidentally offered her the wrong one. But that was not the case.The man was wearing a covering on his torso with two “rubber foam” arms attached, Bua told The New York Times. And the man ultimately admitted that his goal had been to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine certificate without receiving the shot, she said

Last month, Italy mandated that venues like bars, restaurants and theaters, among others, will require a “super green pass” that proves the holder either has been vaccinated against COVID-19 or had the illness and recovered. According to the Times, the man, who is a dentist, also needed proof of vaccination for work.The dentist’s actions received condemnation from officials in the region of Piedmont, which is where Biella is located.Alberto Cirio, president of the Piedmont regional government, called the attempt at deception “an offense to the region’s health system,” CNN reported.In a joint statement, Cirio and Piedmont’s health councilor said, “The case could be classified as ‘ridiculous,’ except that we are talking about a gesture of enormous gravity, unacceptable for the sacrifice that the whole community is paying for the pandemic.”Advertisement The dentist may face criminal charges, according to the AP.Related...Joe Biden’s ‘Vaccine Mandate’ Has An Alternative: Weekly TestsJim Jordan Says 'Real America' Is Done With COVID As Cases Rise In His Own StateDr. Oz Has A Long History Of Promoting Quack Treatments





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Sex Toy Sponsorship Was Too Racy For Curling Crowd: Promoter


A Dutch sex toy company’s attempt to reach fans of the wholesome sport of curling led some broadcasters to cancel their livestream of a tournament that will determine the final spots in the Beijing Olympics.Local organizers of the Olympic Qualification Event in the Netherlands said they were told that on-ice ads with the EasyToys name and nonexplicit logo were too much for the U.S. audience. Dutch media reported that the livestream was also canceled in Japan

“I’m not the right man to have an opinion what is normal in which country,” promoter Dagmar van Stiphout told The Associated Press. “I think they’re also surprised, but it’s best to ask them.”USA Curling tweeted on Sunday that video of the Americans’ opening-round match was not available due to “an unforeseen sponsorship conflict with the local organizing committee.” The national governing body said NBC was working with organizers on a solution.An NBC spokesman did not immediately respond to a question seeking an explanation for the decision. EasyToys, a sexual paraphernalia website that bills itself as “the market leader in the Netherlands and Belgium,” could not be reached for comment.While the bulk of the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles Olympic curling fields have already been filled, the tournament to determine the final spots in Beijing began on Sunday in Leeuwarden, about 90 minutes north of Amsterdam. Fourteen teams, including the American pair of Chris Plys and Vicky Persinger, were competing for the final two coed berths in the Winter Games

But Americans seeking the livestream on the World Curling Federation website instead found a message that the broadcasts were suspended due to “an ongoing sponsor rights issue.” In videos tweeted by the WCF and elsewhere, the EasyToys ads could be seen in four spots on the playing surface, and its name was printed along the hog line that determines where curlers must let go of the stone.Van Stiphout told the AP that organizers informed the WCF of its sponsorship agreements a few weeks ago.“We informed them which sponsors there are. We spoke with them about the position” of the ads, he said. “I can imagine they are surprised about the reaction, but not surprised about the sponsors we have.”WCF spokesman Christopher Hamilton told the AP on Monday that organizers were investigating “a number of solutions to resolve our broadcast partner policy complications surrounding sponsor agreements and usage.” USA Curling President Jeff Plush did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment

Persinger and Plys won their first three matches of the round-robin and were tied with South Korea atop the group standings. The mixed doubles competition concludes Thursday, with the final two teams earning a spot in the Beijing field.“Of course it’s a pity that it’s happening now,” van Stiphout said. “We will go on with the tournament. We do it for the athletes. We’ll carry on with the event.”___More AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

18 Sex Toys Reviewers Say Helped Them Make It Through LockdownSee Gallery



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850-Pound Pot Brownie Brings New Meaning To 'Getting Baked'


A pot brownie made this week in Norwood, Massachusetts, is bringing new meaning to the term “getting baked.”That’s because the dank dessert treat is an 850-pound monster measuring 3 feet wide, 3 feet long and 15 inches high. It contains more than 20,000 milligrams of THC

The massive marijuana brownie was created by MariMed, a multi-state cannabis operator, to celebrate National Brownie Day, on Dec. 8 and to promote the company’s new brand, “Bubby’s Baked.”Besides the cannabis, the behemoth brownie also contains 1,344 eggs, 250 pounds of sugar, 212 pounds of butter, 81 pounds of flour and 122 pounds of cocoa powder, among other ingredients.A team of five cannabis confectioners needed 24 hours to make the brownie. It wasn’t easy, according to MariMed offical Ryan Crandall.“One of the hardest parts was stabilizing the brownie,” Crandall told HuffPost by email. “We built a pallet and some supports to fortify the table it sat on to ensure the 850-pound brownie was safe.”Advertisement MariMed, a Massachusetts-based cannabis operator, unveiled the “world’s largest” pot brownie in honor of National Brownie Day on Wednesday.Jon SimonCrandall said the pot brownie’s THC content is equivalent to 4,000 of the company’s normal-sized brownies ― which contain 5 milligrams each.Crandall says the plan is to sell the giant brownie to a medical marijuana patient in Massachusetts.“The 20,000 mg of THC in the brownie actually falls within the max allowed for a medical patient in the state,” Crandall said.Although the cannabis creation is larger than the current record holder of world’s largest brownie (243 pounds), Guinness World Records apparently isn’t that high on including it in a future book

A MariMed rep said the company applied to have their brownie considered, but said Guinness World Records responded that it “no longer accepts applications or creates new record titles that are related to the consumption, preparation or use of tobacco, cannabis or nicotine products.”

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Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/850-pound-brownie-mari-med_n_61afc956e4b0eb35170a40b4 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Book Returned To Idaho Library 110 Years Past Due Date


Check this out: Someone just returned a book to an Idaho library more than a century after its original due date.The book was last taken out on Nov. 8, 1911, “so obviously, it was pretty overdue,” library assistant Anne Marie Martin of the Boise Public Library told Idaho 6 News

The book, “The New Chronicles of Rebecca” by Kate Wiggin, was published in 1907. Someone recently returned it to a library in nearby Garden City, where a staff member saw that it had a sticker indicating it belonged to the Boise Public Library.Whoever was hanging onto the book seems to have taken great care of it.“It’s in very good shape,” Martin told KTVB 7. “I think the condition would be very good to excellent.”The late-fee policy from when the book was checked out is printed inside: “Books may be kept two weeks without renewal unless otherwise labeled; a fine of two cents per day is imposed on overdue books.”Advertisement That policy would mean that whoever checked it out would owe more than $800 — but that fee wouldn’t actually be levied, Martin said, since the library doesn’t charge more in late fees than the cost of the book. In this case, the book cost $1.50.On top of that, the library did away with fines for late books altogether in 2019. Instead, it doesn’t let people check out any new items when something is overdue, and only charges if an item is lost or damaged. Many library systems have done away with fines in recent years and some research has suggested that abolishing late fees increases the number of library users without also leading to an uptick in late book returns.Related...'So Ridiculous': Seinfeld Reveals The Scene He Couldn't Film Without LaughingIronically Titled Library Book Finally Returned After 100 YearsOverdue Library Book Returned After 120 Years





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/library-book-110-years-overdue_n_61a27246e4b0451e55081a0f ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

45 Weird Christmas Gifts Sure To Please Your Favorite Fruitcake


Christmas is a weird time of year. And that’s a good thing

After 11 months of conforming, the holiday season allows us to cut loose with ugly sweaters, songs about animals saving the holiday and Hallmark movies featuring people who never buy greeting cards.You’re doing all these weird things anyway, so add some weird shopping to your activities.HuffPost, as always this time of year, is helping out with our annual guide to this holiday season’s most bizarre gifts, such as musical toilet paper, cheese carved into the shape of a cellphone and even bacon-scented wrapping paper.One look at our guide and you’ll be dreaming of a weird Christmas, just like the ones we used to know. Advertisement HuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently selected by the HuffPost Weird News team. Musical Toilet Paper RollsBimBamboopPaper.comAlthough wrapping paper usually gets the focus on Christmas day, toilet paper is both No. 1 and No. 2 on every other day. A person can always use more TP — especially when it comes in a musical box.Bacon-Scented Wrapping PaperManlyManco.comSome people really love the smell of bacon. But frankly, giving uncooked bacon as a gift is impractical — and slimy. Avoid the mess by giving wrapping paper scented just like cured pork belly. MMMMMMMM.Toilet SnakeBigMouthInc.comHosting people for the holidays can be fun, but not when they insist on using bathrooms other than the one designated for company. Luckily, the toilet snake is on the case to encourage your guests to follow directions. Fine Art Version Of Woman Yelling At CatSideshow.comArt is in the eye of the beholder, but even the pickiest art lover will purr for this fine art rendition of the popular meme.Personalized Gift WrappingGiftWrapMyFace.com/What do you give a narcissist with a sense of humor? Themselves.Bernie Sanders And His Mittens Tree OrnamentOldWorldChristmas.com/The democratic socialist in your life will surely get a kick out of this Christmas ornament featuring Sen. Bernie Sanders in his meme-worthy mittens. Combination Coozie-Fishing PoleChillNReel.comWant to fish while still keeping your drinks cold? Don't we all! Thanks to the ChillNReel, it's possible. It's basically a coozie that includes a small reel with fishing line so you can fish anywhere there is water and a canned beverage.Light-Up Peeing Santa SweaterTipsyElves.comLike everyone else, Santa has to answer nature's call. Unlike everyone else, his bathroom break gets memoralized in an ugly sweater. Gotta love the holidays.Poop Soap On RopeBigMouthInc.comWhen it comes to getting clean, nothing beats the experience of bathing with a piece of soap designed to look like a dookie. Science marches on.Sexy Elf On The Shelf Costume3Wishes.comThe Elf on the Shelf is supposed to stay on the fireplace mantle. But don't be surprised if this one ends up in a part of the house that's a little more ... private. Ugly Christmas Sweater CooziePuffinDrinkWear.comUgly Christmas sweaters are supposed to keep you warm, but these are meant to keep drinks cold. Dealing with that contradiction is a fun activity when you're slightly buzzed.The TubbleSandra Aberg Photography for Tubble.comBaths are one of life's pleasures. But outside of ads for erectile dysfunction products and hot tubs, you rarely see them in the great outdoors. The Tubble makes it possible to bathe in pretty much any environment — even in an actual bathroom.Cheese Carving Of CellphoneWhisps.com"Oh, you got me a phone! How sweet!""Actually, this is one is more savory. It's made from cheese.""So I can't actually make calls with it.""No, it's cheese.""I can't scroll Instagram?""No, it's cheese.""I can't take selfies with it.""Well, it doesn't take photos, but you could use another camera to take a photo with it.""What am I supposed to do with a cheese phone?""Eat it?""You're weird."Sex Toy That Doubles As A SafeAutoblow.comImagine this scenario: Your house is getting broken into, but the thieves don't take anything valuable because the loot is locked in a lubed-up sex toy that doubles as a safe.OK, we couldn't imagine it either.Dog GogglesBekandCo.comDoes your dog need goggles?Maybe not. But your social media needs a photo of you trying to make Fido wear them.Baby Hands CandlesUS.54celsius.comWe're carrying a torch for these candles shaped like baby hands. Sexy Grinch Costume3Wishes.comThis sexy Grinch costume won't stop Christmas — or anything else — from coming. And it may make your heart grow three sizes.Deer Pong GameFun.comIs beer pong getting a little boring? Try this perfect Christmas variation: Deer pong!Toothbrush That Gets All The Teeth At OnceSymplBrush.comBrushing your teeth can be a real chore for lazy people. You have to move the brush up and down and side to side until every tooth is clean. Ugh. The SymplBrush simplifies the job. Just put the thing in your mouth and let it brush your uppers or lowers all at once. Thank you technology.Sniff Relief MaskSniffRelief.com"So how congested are you, anyway?""Enough that I'm willing to wear a modified Lone Ranger mask for relief.""That's congested."Flamingo Beverage TubViridianBay.comFlamingos can stand one leg. But when they are holding drinks for you, it's best if they use both.True Crime Ugly Christmas SweaterABitterAlmond.comThis murder-themed ugly Christmas sweater will keep true crime buffs warm while they are getting up to speed about their favorite cold cases. Christmas Tree Cat CapePetco.comThis Christmas tree cat cape could make a lovely photo — if you can get your cat to wear it. We tried. God knows, we tried.Johnny Rotten Jigsaw PuzzlePunkzles.comHow will people react when you give them a puzzle of Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten for Christmas? Probably very puzzled.Birthday Candles That Double As JointsBirthJays.comDo birthday candles fail to light a fire with you? What if they could be filled with pot and turned into joints? That's the beauty of — wait for it — the Birthjay.Eye Massagermintal.com"Whatcha doing?""Massaging my eyes.""How's it feel.""Well, it's not something I saw myself ever doing before getting this great gift."Hulk Hogan SlippersFun.comGive these slippers to a Hulk Hogan fan and they will wrestle with a big problem: These glorious pieces of footwear aren't appropriate with every holiday ensemble. Sad.Reindeer Hat For PetsZooSnoods.com/"If you love me so much, why do you want to make me look like some other animal?"Pillow CubePillowCube.com/Anyone who prefers sleeping on their side knows they have to do a lot of fluffing to get the darned pillow aligned with their neck. Not so with the Pillow Cube. For once, being square is a good thing.Jay And Silent Bob Jesus SweaterHalloweenCostumes.comHey, it's the big J.C.'s birthday! Shouldn't your ugly Christmas sweater reflect that? Damn skippy!Jolly AF SocksLavley.comJolly AF indeed.Sexy SnowflakeHalloweenCostumes.comThis is one snowflake sure to make hearts melt.Jaws Ugly Christmas SweaterNumskull.comWant to make a big splash at the Christmas party? Nothing like a sweater of a classic popcorn flick. God bless us everyone.Smell-Proof BagsSmellyProof.comOne big problem people often have during the holidays is dealing with the smell of herbs. Yes, oregano, thyme, rosemary wafting through the house can make some people very interested in any plant material being burnt. You can avoid raising a big stink with these smell-proof bags.Shower SpecsShowerSpecs.com/Need to read that shampoo bottle to make sure you're not allergic to the ingredients? It used to be you the shower steam would fog up reading glasses. The ShowerSpecs end a problem that no one knew existed. Yay!Meowy Christmas Prank Gift CardJokerGreeting.comSure, this looks like your typical Christmas card, but it's actually more fiendish. Once the recipient opens the envelope, they hear "Meow! Meow! Meow!" for hours unless the card is destroyed. Not to mention the glitter that will fall into their lap. "Meowy Christmas" indeed.Pop Rocks With Pot In ThemLiftedMade.comWant to leave a sweet gift in the stocking of an adult? How about Urb Rocks — they are like Pop Rocks, but with pot in them. The holidays have never been so mellow.Sh!tShow WinesShitshow.co/You can buy a lot of great wines as Christmas gifts, but only those with the "Sh!tShow" name will truly reflect the way many people feel about the last two years.Mobile Phone Pillowhttps://SpiceOfLifeUsa.com/Looking at your phone is a normal part of life, but holding onto the darned thing gets so tiring. What to do? Well, this mobile phone pillow will allow hands-free use of the phone so you can do other things — like snack?Passin' Gas In Class BookHaskellsHustles.com/Is your family raising a stink about your incessant insistence on reading "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"? It might be a nice holiday tradition, but a book about the hazards of public flatulence may seem more contemporary to some of your loved ones.12 Days Of IPAs Beer SetStoneBrewing.comYou wanna celebrate the 12 days of Christmas with a bunch of swimming swans, leaping lords and milking maids? Be my guest. But I'm looking for a hoppier way to celebrate the holidays.AC/DC BeerCaliCraft.com/acdcYes, the rock band AC/DC sang, "You Shook Me All Night Long." But if you try singing along with these AC/DC beers, you're liable to have a big frothy mess. Just saying.Christmas EdiblesKanehEdibles.com/Santa has a long night ahead of him and probably shouldn't eat cannabis edibles. However, don't be surprised if he takes some to enjoy on his annual post-Christmas vacation.Canvas Tote With Secret Wine SpigotPorto-vino.comA canvas tote is a great thing to carry around your stuff. When it also contains a secret wine spigot, it becomes essential. Being Weird BookWorkman.comThis book's title sends a message we all need to hear occasionally. Merry Christmas from HuffPost Weird News!

Weird Christmas Gifts 2020See Gallery



Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/45-weird-christmas-gifts-strange-santa_n_6197bccbe4b07fe2010ae3c6 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Tuesday, 14 December 2021

Story About Millionaire Dog Selling Mansion Turns Out To Be Long-Running Ruse


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Editor’s note: AP is replacing the story about the sale of a Miami mansion once owned by Madonna with this piece, which looks at how the tale of a German shepherd and a trust has long been used as a publicity stunt to dupe reporters. The AP fell for parts of the stunt and is removing the erroneous story.—-Advertisement For more than 20 years, a line of German shepherds named Gunther has been presented in news stories as the wealthy beneficiaries of a German countess.The story appears to be a ruse created by Maurizio Mian, the scion of an Italian pharmaceutical company, who has used the tale of the globe-trotting canine to promote real estate sales and other projects.The Associated Press reported last week that a dog, Gunther VI, was selling a Miami mansion that it had purchased from Madonna for $7.5 million in 2000 for $31.75 million. The story cited claims from Gunther’s “handler” that the dog was from a long line of dogs bequeathed the fortune of a German countess.German shepherd Gunther VI wears a faux diamond collar on the grounds of a house formally owned by pop star Madonna, Monday, Nov. 15, 2021, in Miami. The house, currently owned by the Gunther Corp., is up for sale again and the dog is being used in a publicity stunt to help promote the sale. Part of the stunt is a claim that the dog inherited a fortune, including the home, however the dog’s role appears to be little more than a joke.AP Photo/Lynne SladkyWhile the mansion is in fact owned and being sold by the Gunther Corp., according to Miami-Dade County property records, the dog’s role appears to be little more than a joke that’s carried on for decades

And there is no evidence of a German countess.The AP reported on the story after receiving a press release from publicists representing the real estate agents who had the listing.“The AP published a story that did not meet our standards and should not have been published. We did not do our due diligence in the reporting process. We have corrected the story, and we apologize,” AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said in a statement.Mian told an Italian newspaper in 1995 that the countess “was just an invention to publicize the philosophy” of his foundation. Mian at other points has claimed his confessions about the countess are the real hoax and the dog stories are, in fact real

German Shepherd Gunther VI chases a tennis ball thrown by handler Stacey Marino.AP Photo/Lynne SladkyMian’s own money appears to have come from his family’s Italian pharmaceutical business. Istituto Gentili, which developed a treatment for the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis with the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck, was purchased by Merck in 1997.An Italian cellphone number listed for Mian was not answered Tuesday.Responding to questions from the AP Tuesday about the veracity of the story, Monica Tirado, director of the Gunther Group, said that Carla Riccitelli, who described herself to the AP as Gunther’s handler, is Mian’s “ex-partner.”Tirado said that the company couldn’t answer further questions, including about the story of the German countess, because “there is an exclusive contract with a Netflix production.” A request for comment with Netflix to get details about any production was not returned.This is just the latest in a string of tales about Gunther told by Mian.In 1999, The Miami Herald reported that Gunther IV was trying to purchase a mansion from actor Sylvester Stallone. The next day, the Herald reported that it was just a publicity stunt.“If you want to write it’s a joke, you can write that,” Mian told the Herald. “I won’t do anything.”In Mian’s tale of the dogs, the Gunthers are supposedly supported by a multi-million dollar trust set up by German countess Karlotta Liebenstein when she died in 1992 to care for her dog, Gunther III, and his progeny. The AP has found no evidence that Liebenstein existed.





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-us-odd-dog-sells-mansion_n_61a1483ee4b0ae9a42ae3f69 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Photo From Tornado-Damaged Home Lands Almost 130 Miles Away


When Katie Posten walked outside Saturday morning to her car parked in her driveway, she saw something that looked like a note or receipt stuck to the windshield.She grabbed it and saw it was a black and white photo of a woman in a striped sundress and headscarf holding a little boy in her lap. On the back, written in cursive, it said, “Gertie Swatzell & J.D. Swatzell 1942.” A few hours later, Posten would discover that the photo had made quite a journey - almost 130 miles (209 kilometers) on the back of monstrous winds

Posten had been tracking the tornadoes that hit the middle of the U.S. Friday night, killing dozens of people. They came close to where she lives in New Albany, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. So she figured it must be debris from someone’s damaged home.“Seeing the date, I realized that was likely from a home hit by a tornado. How else is it going to be there?” Posten said in a phone interview Sunday morning. “It’s not a receipt. It’s well-kept photo.”So, doing what any 21st century person would do, she posted an image of the photo on Facebook and Twitter and asked for help in finding its owners. She said she was hoping someone on social media would have a connection to the photo or share it with someone who had a connection.Sure enough, that’s what happened

“A lot of people shared it on Facebook. Someone came across it who is friends with a man with the same last name, and they tagged him,” said Posten, 30, who works for a tech company.This photo combo shows Katie Posten holding the front and back of a photograph she found stuck to her car's windshield on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021 in New Albany, Ind. The photo is from a tornado-damaged home in Kentucky that landed almost 130 miles away in Indiana. (Katie Posten via AP).via Associated PressThat man was Cole Swatzell, who commented that the photo belonged to family members in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, almost 130 miles (209 kilometers) away from New Albany, as the crow flies, and 167 miles (269 kilometers) away by car. Swatzell on Sunday didn’t respond to a Facebook message seeking comment.In Dawson Springs — a town of about 2,700 people 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Paducah — homes were leveled, trees were splintered and search and rescue teams continued to scour the community for any survivors. Dozens of people across five states were killed.The fact that the photo traveled almost 130 miles is “unusual but not that unusual,” said John Snow, a meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma

In one documented case from the 1920s, paper debris traveled 230 miles from the Missouri Bootheel into southern Illinois. The paper debris rides winds, sometimes reaching heights of 30,000 to 40,000 feet above the ground, he said.“It gets swirled up,” Snow said. “The storm dissipates and then everything flutters down to the ground.”Posten wasn’t alone in finding family photos and school pictures that had traveled dozens of miles in the tornadoes’ paths. A Facebook group was set up after the storms so people could post photos and other items like an ultrasound image they had found deposited in their yards.Posten plans to return the photo to the Swatzell family sometime this week.“It’s really remarkable, definitely one of those things, given all that has happened, that makes you consider how valuable things are — memories, family heirlooms, and those kinds of things,” Posten said. “It shows you the power of social media for good. It was encouraging that immediately there were tons of replies from people, looking up ancestry records, and saying ‘I know someone who knows someone and I’d like to help.’”___Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAPRelated...Thousands Without Heat, Water After Tornadoes Kill DozensCrews Search For The Missing After Devastating TornadoesKentucky Tornado Toll In Dozens; Less Than Feared At Candle FactoryFEMA Chief: Magnitude Of Recent Tornadoes ‘New Normal’ Due To Climate CrisisExplainer: Was Deadly Tornado Storm System Related To Climate Change?Kentucky Hardest Hit As Storms Leave Dozens Dead In 5 States





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tornado-photo-130-miles-kentucky_n_61b7747ee4b0da2b822868a1 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

'Reindeer Burglar' Wanted By New Hampshire Police Over School Break-In


Police have released a sketch of an antlered suspect wanted in connection with a burglary at a New Hampshire school.“WANTED: the reindeer burglar(s),” the Barnstead Police Department wrote Sunday on Facebook, in a slight flight of fancy on the local hoofed ruminants. “We are investigating a burglary at the Barnstead Elementary School reported to BPD at 12:20pm today.”Advertisement Police said they responded to a report of a broken window at the school and were surprised to discover a 10-point buck inside the school lobby.Officers called for backup, and firefighters arrived to help capture the hefty interloper. “As emergency personnel gained entry the suspect escaped as he crashed through a second window and was last seen running down Maple street,” police said.An officer pursued the suspect, but the four-legged perp was apparently too swift. “In the distance a voice could be heard yelling “On Dancer!!!” and in the blink of an eye the suspect was gone,” police said

Officers found a five-point deer antler at the scene of the crime and quipped that they would be sending it to a crime lab to check for DNA. “Police believe that the Buck is part of an organized crime group breaking into buildings in New Hampshire,” according to the post. Another deer evaded police over the weekend in the New Hampshire town of Goffstown. A buck broke into an auto repair shop and got stuck inside but reportedly managed to get away as police arrived. “Barnstead Police will be working with the Goffstown police and other law enforcement agencies to try to match hoof prints, surveillance and booking photos to see if this is the same suspect from the Goffstown burglary or another member of this organized crime group,” police advised. Related...Nutty Squirrel Leaves 42 Gallons Of Nuts In Man's Chevy AvalancheBurglar Chipmunk Wanted By Police In New HampshireTikToker Soundtracks Mom’s Life With Trombone, And It’s Hilariously Wholesome





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/burglar-deer-new-hampshire_n_61a55a57e4b025be1aed8300 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

German Man Learns You Shouldn't Drive A Car To Take Driving Test


modern car cockpitdeepblue4you via Getty ImagesBERLIN (AP) — A man in Germany has discovered the hard way that it’s best to get a driving license first before trying to use it.Police in Bergheim, near Cologne, said Tuesday that the 37-year-old drove himself to his driving test, parking an Opel Zafira outside the test center in front of an astonished examiner

They said he told police officers who were called to the scene on Monday that he had only driven because he wanted to make sure to get to the driving test on time.His test was immediately called off. The man now faces an investigation for driving without a license. Police also opened an investigation of the car’s owner.

Wacky Car DesignsSee Gallery



Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/german-man-drives-to-driving-test_n_619d16eae4b0451e54ffd219 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

'Panther' The Cat Finally Rescued After Days-Long Stay Atop 36-Foot Utility Pole


The cat called Panther was stuck on top of a 36-foot-high light pole.Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado via APAURORA, Colo. (AP) — For at least two days and maybe more, residents of a suburban Denver neighborhood worried about the fate of a black cat called Panther who was perched atop a 36-foot (11-meter) utility pole.Panther stayed put despite efforts by his co-owner, Alexis Soberanis and others to coax him down in Aurora. Neither pleading nor the enticement of food did the trick, Sentinel Colorado reports

The cat went missing earlier this week and was first spotted atop the pole on Wednesday.“Everybody’s been just like, ‘Put food down and it’ll come down eventually,’” said Aurora resident Jessica Meadows on Friday morning, when the city received its first snow of the season. “That’s not going to happen.”The cat went missing earlier this week and was first spotted atop the pole on Wednesday.Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado via APMeadows said she and other neighbors called Aurora animal control and Xcel Energy for help. “Everyone says they can’t do anything,” Meadows said.Standard practice, according to another utility is to give cats time to make their way back down on their own, Sentinel Colorado reported

News of Panther’s plight reached Aurora Councilmember Curtis Gardner and city officials dispatched a ladder truck Friday afternoo. After getting the truck into place, firefighters rescued the cat. Panther seemed eager to step into a pet carrier. Kimberly Medina, another Panther co-owner, said he had always been allowed outside. No more, she said: “Never.”





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cat-on-pole-rescue_n_61b49ba7e4b0030da7d59295 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Monday, 13 December 2021

Photo From Tornado-Damaged Home Lands Almost 130 Miles Away


(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ mediaId: "b46e9515-d7e1-4b79-af4d-ce44c1ec2c36", playerId: "ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b", playlistId: undefined, customParam1: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-page_session_id"), customParam2: "61b7747ee4b0da2b822868a1", customParam3: "HPVideoTeamHuffPostNOWnews,HuffPost NOW News,kentucky,tornado,climate change,andy beshear", customParam4: "desktop", customParam5: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-client_uuid"), settings: { playbackMode: undefined, disableAdvertising: false, advertising: { preRollBreak: 2000 } } }).render("61b77504e4b01c8392472ed0"); }); When Katie Posten walked outside Saturday morning to her car parked in her driveway, she saw something that looked like a note or receipt stuck to the windshield.She grabbed it and saw it was a black and white photo of a woman in a striped sundress and headscarf holding a little boy in her lap. On the back, written in cursive, it said, “Gertie Swatzell & J.D. Swatzell 1942.” A few hours later, Posten would discover that the photo had made quite a journey - almost 130 miles (209 kilometers) on the back of monstrous winds.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); Posten had been tracking the tornadoes that hit the middle of the U.S. Friday night, killing dozens of people. They came close to where she lives in New Albany, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. So she figured it must be debris from someone’s damaged home.“Seeing the date, I realized that was likely from a home hit by a tornado. How else is it going to be there?” Posten said in a phone interview Sunday morning. “It’s not a receipt. It’s well-kept photo.”So, doing what any 21st century person would do, she posted an image of the photo on Facebook and Twitter and asked for help in finding its owners. She said she was hoping someone on social media would have a connection to the photo or share it with someone who had a connection.Sure enough, that’s what happened.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-2", "entry_paragraph_3", false); }); “A lot of people shared it on Facebook. Someone came across it who is friends with a man with the same last name, and they tagged him,” said Posten, 30, who works for a tech company.This photo combo shows Katie Posten holding the front and back of a photograph she found stuck to her car's windshield on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021 in New Albany, Ind. The photo is from a tornado-damaged home in Kentucky that landed almost 130 miles away in Indiana. (Katie Posten via AP).via Associated PressThat man was Cole Swatzell, who commented that the photo belonged to family members in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, almost 130 miles (209 kilometers) away from New Albany, as the crow flies, and 167 miles (269 kilometers) away by car. Swatzell on Sunday didn’t respond to a Facebook message seeking comment.In Dawson Springs — a town of about 2,700 people 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Paducah — homes were leveled, trees were splintered and search and rescue teams continued to scour the community for any survivors. Dozens of people across five states were killed.The fact that the photo traveled almost 130 miles is “unusual but not that unusual,” said John Snow, a meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-infinite", "repeating_dynamic_display", false); }); In one documented case from the 1920s, paper debris traveled 230 miles from the Missouri Bootheel into southern Illinois. The paper debris rides winds, sometimes reaching heights of 30,000 to 40,000 feet above the ground, he said.“It gets swirled up,” Snow said. “The storm dissipates and then everything flutters down to the ground.”Posten wasn’t alone in finding family photos and school pictures that had traveled dozens of miles in the tornadoes’ paths. A Facebook group was set up after the storms so people could post photos and other items like an ultrasound image they had found deposited in their yards.Posten plans to return the photo to the Swatzell family sometime this week.“It’s really remarkable, definitely one of those things, given all that has happened, that makes you consider how valuable things are — memories, family heirlooms, and those kinds of things,” Posten said. “It shows you the power of social media for good. It was encouraging that immediately there were tons of replies from people, looking up ancestry records, and saying ‘I know someone who knows someone and I’d like to help.’”___Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAPRelated...Thousands Without Heat, Water After Tornadoes Kill DozensCrews Search For The Missing After Devastating TornadoesKentucky Tornado Toll In Dozens; Less Than Feared At Candle FactoryFEMA Chief: Magnitude Of Recent Tornadoes ‘New Normal’ Due To Climate CrisisExplainer: Was Deadly Tornado Storm System Related To Climate Change?Kentucky Hardest Hit As Storms Leave Dozens Dead In 5 States





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tornado-photo-130-miles-kentucky_n_61b7747ee4b0da2b822868a1 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

86 Sports Bettors Get Really Lucky, Allowed To Bet On Game After It Ended


(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ mediaId: "fcfebced-bff9-4a9d-9d64-6f30ddf47b36", playerId: "ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b", playlistId: undefined, customParam1: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-page_session_id"), customParam2: "61a7ab07e4b0451e550fccdb", customParam3: "huffpost live,live video", customParam4: "desktop", customParam5: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-client_uuid"), settings: { playbackMode: undefined, disableAdvertising: false, advertising: { preRollBreak: 2000 } } }).render("61a7abf4e4b0ae9a42b6b7a3"); }); ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — It was every sports bettor’s dream: Being able to bet on a game after it had already ended.But the 86 New Jersey gamblers who thought they were beating the system had their bets on a British soccer game voided, and the two betting companies involved got fined.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); The mishap was revealed in documents made public earlier this month by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which has fined the Malta-based sports betting technology company Kambi Group and Chicago-based Rush Street Interactive $1,000 apiece.The companies had offered a so-called proposition or “prop” bet on whether Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford would score a goal in a May 13, 2021 soccer game between Manchester United and Liverpool. (He did.)But because a Kambi trader located in England mistakenly entered a start date of May 14 for the game, it enabled people to place bets on the event after it had ended when it was known that Rashford had already scored, according to New Jersey documents.A total of 86 people from New Jersey made such a bet, winning a collective total of nearly $15,000.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-2", "entry_paragraph_3", false); }); New Jersey said Rush Street and Kambi voided the bets without first getting the required approval from New Jersey’s enforcement division.Rush Street said it reported the mishap to New Jersey officials.“We and our partners take compliance seriously, and after the partner informed us that one of their millions of betting markets was left open after the European soccer game concluded, RSI self-reported to the NJDGE and agreed to pay the $1,000 penalty,” spokesperson Lisa Johnson said.Kambi has since implemented mandatory additional quality assurance retraining for its trading team members, and that team is now required to obtain secondary approval from supervisors for all manual entries on its sports data feed, according to regulators.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-infinite", "repeating_dynamic_display", false); }); Kambi did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.___Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at @WayneParryACRelated...Man's Obit Asks For Large Bets On Nebraska-Iowa Game In Lieu Of FlowersTrudeau's Sports Bet With Biden Sparked Some Gags About TrumpFrench Open Player Arrested For Alleged Match-Fixing





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sports-bettors-wager-after-game-ends_n_61a7ab07e4b0451e550fccdb ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Artist Recruits 300 People To Pose For Nude Photo Near Dead Sea In Israel


People pose nude for American artist Spencer Tunick as part of an installation in the desert near the Dead Sea, in Arad, Israel, designed to draw world attention to the importance of preserving and restoring the Dead Sea. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)via Associated PressJERUSALEM (AP) — Some 300 male and female volunteers stripped naked and donned white body paint for an artistic installation meant to draw attention to the shrinking Dead Sea.They posed Sunday for the American photographer Spencer Tunick, who has done similar installations in other exotic locales around the world, including French wine country, a Swiss glacier and a beach in South Africa. The shoot was promoted by Israel’s Tourism Ministry.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); “My visit to Israel was an experience for me and I am always happy to return here and photograph in the only country in the Middle East that allows art such as this,” Tunick said. He did an earlier installation at the Dead Sea in 2011.The volunteers gathered in the early afternoon on Sunday. They disrobed and smeared their bodies with white paint in the desert outside the Israeli city of Arad. The shoot lasted around three hours, with the artist positioning the volunteers and the camera.Organizers hope the installation will draw attention to the importance of preserving the Dead Sea. The salty body of water at the earth’s lowest point has been steadily shrinking in recent decades as Israel and its neighbors have diverted upstream water sources for agriculture.The Tourism Ministry said it hoped the artistic installation would draw visitors to the area. Israel has been largely closed off to foreign travelers since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic but is gradually welcoming back vaccinated visitors as its caseload declines.





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/300-nudists-dead-sea-photo_n_616ef685e4b093143203546a ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Man Tries To Dodge COVID Vaccine Using Fake Arm


(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ mediaId: "64997e33-e1b4-4228-baab-b2b41ec57cec", playerId: "ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b", playlistId: undefined, customParam1: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-page_session_id"), customParam2: "61a6653de4b044a1cc1b18e2", customParam3: "HPVideoTeamHuffPostNOWnews,HuffPost NOW News,coronavirus,covid,omicron,travel restrictions,vaccines,vaccine boosters,safety,MV3,MV2f", customParam4: "desktop", customParam5: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-client_uuid"), settings: { playbackMode: undefined, disableAdvertising: false, advertising: { preRollBreak: 2000 } } }).render("61ab96cbe4b025be1af86f91"); }); Talk about giving someone the cold shoulder.A man in Italy who wanted proof of vaccination but didn’t want to get the shot attempted to trick medical workers using a fake arm, according to a local nurse.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); Nurse Filippa Bua in the city of Biella said she first noticed something was amiss pretty quickly.“When I uncovered the arm, I felt skin that was cold and gummy, and the color was too light,” she told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, per The Associated Press.She said that at first she thought he had an actual prosthetic arm, and he had simply accidentally offered her the wrong one. But that was not the case.The man was wearing a covering on his torso with two “rubber foam” arms attached, Bua told The New York Times. And the man ultimately admitted that his goal had been to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine certificate without receiving the shot, she said.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-2", "entry_paragraph_3", false); }); Last month, Italy mandated that venues like bars, restaurants and theaters, among others, will require a “super green pass” that proves the holder either has been vaccinated against COVID-19 or had the illness and recovered. According to the Times, the man, who is a dentist, also needed proof of vaccination for work.The dentist’s actions received condemnation from officials in the region of Piedmont, which is where Biella is located.Alberto Cirio, president of the Piedmont regional government, called the attempt at deception “an offense to the region’s health system,” CNN reported.In a joint statement, Cirio and Piedmont’s health councilor said, “The case could be classified as ‘ridiculous,’ except that we are talking about a gesture of enormous gravity, unacceptable for the sacrifice that the whole community is paying for the pandemic.”Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-infinite", "repeating_dynamic_display", false); }); The dentist may face criminal charges, according to the AP.Related...Joe Biden’s ‘Vaccine Mandate’ Has An Alternative: Weekly TestsJim Jordan Says 'Real America' Is Done With COVID As Cases Rise In His Own StateDr. Oz Has A Long History Of Promoting Quack Treatments





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vaccine-fake-arm-italy_n_61a6653de4b044a1cc1b18e2 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Snowstorm Forces Customers, Staff To Sleep Overnight In IKEA


(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ mediaId: "9b2362e2-bf20-4da6-ae56-71e67da9466a", playerId: "ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b", playlistId: undefined, customParam1: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-page_session_id"), customParam2: "61a8c07fe4b0451e5511e8b0", customParam3: "snow sculpture,snowman,snowbank productions,matthew morris,art,MV4,MV3f,MV2f", customParam4: "desktop", customParam5: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-client_uuid"), settings: { playbackMode: undefined, disableAdvertising: false, advertising: { preRollBreak: 2000 } } }).render("61a8c10fe4b025be1af3f212"); }); COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — In northern Denmark, an IKEA showroom turned into a vast bedroom. Six customers and about two dozen employees were stranded by a snowstorm and spent the night in the store, sleeping in the beds that are usually on show.Up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow fell, trapping the customers and employees when the department store in Aalborg closed on Wednesday evening.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); “We slept in the furniture exhibitions and our showroom on the first floor, where we have beds, mattresses and sofa beds,” store manager Peter Elmose told the Ekstra Bladet tabloid.People could “pick the exact bed they always have wanted to try.”Elmose said they spent the evening watching television and eating, adding it went “super well. It’s been a good night. All fun.”Denmark’s public broadcaster DR said people working in a toy shop that is next door to IKEA also spent the night in the department store.“It’s much better than sleeping in one’s car. It has been nice and warm and we are just happy that they would let us in,” Michelle Barrett, one of the toy shop staff, told DR. “We just laughed at the situation, because we will probably not experience it again,” Barrett added.





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/denmark-overnight-in-ikea_n_61a8c07fe4b0451e5511e8b0 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Boston Man Suffers Seizures Caused By Tapeworms In His Brain


A Boston man thought he was in good health found out otherwise when he started engaging in strange behavior early one morning.According to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the otherwise healthy man fell out of bed at approximately 4 a.m. and started shaking on the floor.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); Even stranger: the man appeared confused and was “speaking gibberish.”The man was taken to a hospital, but doctors were stumped: He hadn’t been ill recently and there was no history of seizures or cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary or neurologic disorders.In addition, the man “rarely” drank alcohol or used tobacco and other illicit drugs that might have explained the strange behavior.Although the patient didn’t verbally respond to questions or follow commands, his gag and cough reflexes were normal. Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-2", "entry_paragraph_3", false); }); It was only after doctors performed a neurologic exam, laboratory testing and looked at cerebral imaging that the man was finally diagnosed.Turns out, he had cysticercosis, a tapeworm infection that affects the brain, muscle and other tissues.Although it is unknown how long the man had the condition, doctors said he emigrated from a “rural area” of Guatemala. In addition, “the disease is “indolent,” and can avoid attracting the body’s immune response system for almost five years, the study said.However, the disease can cause lumps under the skin and an infected person can suffer headaches and seizures.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-infinite", "repeating_dynamic_display", false); }); Once diagnosed, the patient was admitted to a neurosciences intensive care unit so both his lactic acid level and white-cell count could be normalized. The man also took medicine normally used to treat epilepsy to control the seizures before getting treated with tapeworm medicine for two weeks along with four weeks of another high-dose parasite solution.

Wild X-Rays And Medical PhotosSee Gallery



Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tapeworm-infection-in-brain_n_61943567e4b07fe20103324d ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Florida Bear Freed From Plastic Container That Was Stuck On Head For 1 Month


Florida wildlife officials remove a plastic container from a bear's head.Florida Fish and WildlifeIt was hard to bear, but a bear in Florida finally had a plastic container removed from its head after nearly a month.Florida Fish and Wildlife officials announced on Monday that the bear was first sighted with the plastic container on its head in Collier County a while back, but disappeared from human sight for more than three weeks.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); But things recently came to a head after the bear was filmed by a resident’s security camera, according to the department’s Facebook page.A bear biologist managed to spot the 250-pound female bear around midnight and tranquilized it with a dart before removing the plastic container from around the animal’s face.“We think it was part of an automatic pet feeder due to the hole near the bear’s muzzle,” the Facebook post read. “Luckily that hole provided enough access to drink and eat. Even after 28 days of wearing it, the bear was still in great physical shape!”Although the bear did have a wound encircling her neck and face where the feeder was stuck, staff cleaned the injury and treated her with antibiotics.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-2", "entry_paragraph_3", false); }); She was monitored for 36 hours before being released in a secure area of Picayune Strand State Forest.





Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/florida-bear-plastic-container_n_61942cece4b07fe201032ad1 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Court Rules Pablo Escobar's Cocaine Hippos Are Legally People


More than 80 hippos previously owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar have a unique distinction in U.S. law: They are the first non-human creatures to be legally considered people.The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recognized the late Escobar’s infamous “Cocaine Hippos” as legal persons for the first time in the United States.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); The ruling on Oct. 15 came on the same day the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed an application on behalf of the hippo plaintiffs in Colombia intended to stop that country’s government from killing the animals. The ALDF announced the decision in a news release Wednesday.The hippos are descendants of four illegally imported by Escobar. They were set free after his death in 1993. Since then, the hippos have increased their numbers to more than 80, and they are reportedly wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem.However, some scientists have argued they may actually be “restoring ecological functions” lost for thousands of years due to “human-driven extinctions.”In July, Colombian attorney Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado filed a lawsuit on behalf of the animals to save them from being killed, saying that sterilization was a better option, according to Newsweek.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-2", "entry_paragraph_3", false); }); Although Colombia law gives non-human creatures legal standing to bring lawsuits to protect their interests, that country’s legal system can’t compel someone in the U.S. to produce documents supporting their case.However, a U.S. law allows interested persons in Colombia to go to a U.S. federal court to seek the ability to obtain documents and testimony, so the ALDF applied for the hippos’ rights to compel two Ohio wildlife experts who study nonsurgical sterilization to provide testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs.By granting the application, the District Court recognized animals as legal persons for the first time in U.S. history.“It’s obvious that animals actually do have legal rights, for example, the right not to be cruelly abused or killed ... but a legal right is only as valuable as one’s right to enforce that legal right,” Christopher Berry, the attorney overseeing the U.S. case who also serves as managing director at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, told Gizmodo. “The legal system doesn’t ... have precedent for animals’ interests directly appearing in court. There’s no precedent for animals having a legal standing to enforce their own rights.”Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-infinite", "repeating_dynamic_display", false); }); The ALDF news release Wednesday said that the testimony of wildlife experts Elizabeth Berkeley and Richard Berlinski would be used to support use of a contraceptive called PZP. ALDF Communications Director Elizabeth Putsche told HuffPost on Thursday that just before its application was granted, the Colombian government announced it had already started giving the hippos a drug called GonaCon. But the ALDF’s experts in the court case had instead recommended the contraceptive PZP as more appropriate for hippos. Putsche said Wednesday’s ruling will allow the organization to collect more testimony from experts on the most effective and safest form of sterilization for the hippopotamuses. The ALDF is also continuing to monitor the situation to ensure none of the hippos is killed.ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells said in the release Wednesday that “animals have the right to be free from cruelty and exploitation, and the failure of U.S. courts to recognize their rights impedes the ability to enforce existing legislative protections.”He called the court order “a critical milestone in the broader animal status fight to recognize that animals have enforceable rights.”

Baby Hippos!See Gallery



Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pablo-escobar-cocaine-hippos-legal-standing-as-people_n_6171cee3e4b01 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com

Camel Beauty Contest Rocked By Botox Scandal


(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ mediaId: "dc2eb06e-afd2-4635-8d23-08ca3fd6bab2", playerId: "ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b", playlistId: undefined, customParam1: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-page_session_id"), customParam2: "61b0ef2ee4b0030da7cf40a2", customParam3: "animals in the news,camel mating,camel porn,camel sex,camels humping,gil riegler,jeremy brandt,jobs that bite!,nancy riegler,national geographic wild,oasis camel dairy,weird news,weird photos and videos,weird science", customParam4: "desktop", customParam5: window.localStorage.getItem("cet-client_uuid"), settings: { playbackMode: undefined, disableAdvertising: false, advertising: { preRollBreak: 2000 } } }).render("61b0f07fe4b0030da7cf431c"); }); DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi authorities have conducted their biggest-ever crackdown on camel beauty contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday, with over 40 camels disqualified from the annual pageant.Saudi Arabia’s popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66 million in prize money. Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and postures.Advertisement HPGam.cmd.push(function(){ return HPGam.render("inline-1", "entry_paragraph_1", false); }); Judges at the monthlong festival in the desert northeast of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, are escalating their clamp down on artificially enhanced camels, the official news agency reported, using “specialized and advanced” technology to detect tampering.This year, authorities discovered dozens of breeders had stretched out the lips and noses of camels, used hormones to boost the beasts’ muscles, injected camels’ heads and lips with Botox to make them bigger, inflated body parts with rubber bands and used fillers to relax their faces.“The club is keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels,” the SPA report said, adding organizers would “impose strict penalties on manipulators.”The camel beauty contest is at the heart of the massive carnival, which also features camel races, sales and other festivities typically showcasing thousands of dromedaries. The extravaganza seeks to preserve the camel’s role in the kingdom’s Bedouin tradition and heritage, even as the oil-rich country plows ahead with modernizing mega-projects.Camel breeding is a multimillion-dollar industry and similar events take place across the region.

CamelsSee Gallery



Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/camel-beauty-contest-dubai-botox-scandal_n_61b0ef2ee4b0030da7cf40a2 ... and provided by video-cutter-online.com