SIDELINES...
TANK FAIL
DOUBLE YOUR MONEY
Scotty Thomas, 49, from Fayetteville, North Carolina, could not remember whether he had bought his regular lottery ticket, so he bought a second identical one just in case. As a result, he now receives two payouts of $25,000 a year for life as that proved to be the week his numbers hit the jackpot. D.Star, 14 Dec 2021.
GLOBETROTTING BALL
A basketball washed up on a Hebridean beach was found to be covered in over 200 goose barnacles. These only grow in warm water, so it is suspected that currents had carried the ball all the way from Florida on a journey that is likely to have taken at least 18 months. Metro, 9 Nov 2021.
ENFORCED SADNESS
To mark the 10th anniversary of the death of North Korea’s last leader, Kim Jong-Il, on 17 December 2021, his son Kim Jong-un declared an 11-day period of mourning during which all North Koreans were banned from laughing or drinking alcohol, and on the 17th itself they were also banned from shopping for any kind of groceries. theguardian.com, 21 Dec 2021.
PONG BRAIN
For some years now, researchers have been able to grow brain cells in dishes and get them to form “mini-brains” known as organoids for research purposes. Now, scientists have succeeded in teaching brain organoids to play the video game Pong by responding to pulses of electricity, and to learn more quickly than the fastest AI can. “We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains,” says Brett Kagan of Cortical Labs, where the research was carried out. newscientist.com,
17 Dec 2021.
Army veterans Andy Langdon and Mark Fearn decided to mark Remembrance Sunday 2021 by hiring a Scimitar tank and driving it to the war memorial in the village of Bollington, Cheshire, waving to villagers as they passed. When they left it for the one-minute silence, however, they forgot to put the handbrake on and it rolled into the memorial garden’s gate, demolishing it. The Royal British Legion who ran the event said: “We were not aware that his vehicle would be used, and it is entirely inappropriate.” The men paid for repairs and made a donation to the Legion. Metro, 16 Nov 2021.
THIS CHARMING MAN
Cambridgeshire police flagged down a car on the M11 after a concerned motorist noticed that it contained a roll of carpet with a pair of feet sticking out. Instead of a body, though, they found a mannequin of Prince Charming en route to a themed birthday party. Police said: “Advice was given to the driver to avoid such circumstances occurring again.” BBC News, 17 Jan 2021.
TASTEFUL TELLY
Homei Miyashita, an associate professor at Meiji University in Japan, has created a TV with a screen that viewers can taste. His device uses a combination of 10 flavours that can be combined to simulate the taste of foods shown on the TV. These are deposited on a thin film that slides across the screen, allowing viewers to lick it and add a taste dimension to their viewing. He believes it could give people unable or unwilling to travel the ability to sample flavours from around the world. [UPI] 23 Dec 2021.
LOST A FOOT?
Two years after a severed foot was found on a footpath in New Waltham, near Grimsby, police have issued an appeal for any woman missing one to come forward. Attempts to identify its owner by combing NHS records, checking databases across Europe and using forensic DNA analysis have all drawn a blank. Police know that the foot comes from a woman aged over 16 who is around 5ft 2in (157cm) tall. They are hoping that someone who has had their foot amputated privately since 2014 will be able to solve the mystery. D.Mail 15 July 2021.