And Finally...

A piece of fossilised vomit dating back to the time of the dinosaurs has been discovered in Denmark.

Local fossil hunter Peter Bennicke found the fossil at Stevns Klint - a Unesco-listed coastal cliff in the east of the country.

The self-declared "fossil geek" said he came across some unusual-looking fragments which turned out to be pieces of sea lily - an underwater species related to starfish and sea urchins - in a piece of chalk.

Mr Bennicke took the fragments to be examined at the Museum of East Zealand, which confirmed the vomit could be dated to the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago - a time when dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops existed.

Jesper Milan, palaeontologist and curator at the museum, told the BBC it was "truly an unusual find" as it helps explain relationships in the prehistoric food chain.

"It tells us something about who was eating who 66 million years ago," he said.

During the period fish and sharks would eat sea lilies, which are hard to digest meaning they would then "regurgitate all the chalk bits", he explained.

A flatulent whale sparked fears Russian spy drones were spying on UK nuclear submarines on behalf of Vladimir Putin.

The suspected farting was twice picked up by Navy sensors that had been scanning key locations around the UK to see if the country's enemies were spying on top military vessels. The sound initially raised concerns that Putin's drones had dropped a device on the seabed between between Applecross in North West Scotland and the Isle of Raasay.

The stinky vibrations were first spotted moving toward the open sea and away from the range. It returned a few days later before travelling south toward the Skye Bridge until it turned around and left.

An unnamed naval official told The Sun: "We have been analysing the sounds and now believe it was a marine mammal. A whale.” Another source told the outlet: "We are taking it very seriously. We have to assume the worst."

A pensioner has spoken about how he fought off a mugger with the aid of a pair of jeans.

Ron Croker, 84, was drying his clothes at the Coin-Op Launderette in Maltby, near Rotherham, on the morning of 7 January when a masked thug burst in and demanded money.

Thinking the man could be carrying a knife, Ron grabbed his newly folded jeans, wrapped them around his hand and arm and shoved the attacker back.

"I've worked all my life for my money. He's not having it," Mr Croker said.

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After a brief scuffle, Mr Croker managed to push the assailant back towards the door with his jeans wrapped tightly around his hand.

"I gave him an almighty shove and he went rolling into the road."

Mr Croker sustained bruises to his hands and arm in the incident but otherwise escaped without losing his wallet or any other items.

But he admits the experience has left him "shaken" and "struggling to sleep".

"I do think about it when it's quiet at night. That's when the thoughts come. But I don't regret it."

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A fundraiser to support Mr Croker has also been set up and more than £2,000 has been donated.

Carl Goodfellow, who started the page, said: "Let's spread some joy into this man's life and show him he is not alone."

Police say that the man had been intoxicated and began arguing with patrons inside the establishment, and that the dispute then spilled into the street. At some point in the melee, the aggressor's pants fell down and his penis apparently became stuck to the ice. Somehow, though details were not specified, emergency personnel managed to detach him, relatively uninjured. He was subsequently arrested but not charged with a crime.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/23281078

A man’s ongoing efforts to track down the elusive sasquatch in remote areas of British Columbia suggest he’s capable of working, and therefore not entitled to spousal support, a judge has ruled.

The unusual circumstances were detailed in a recent divorce decision handed down in B.C. Supreme Court, which makes multiple references to the 57-year-old’s sasquatch-seeking expeditions.

It was one such venture that led to the couple’s separation in August 2020.

His wife told the court he went on a camping trip on Vancouver Island that month in search of the mythical ape-like creature – and brought along an ex-girlfriend without telling her.

“The respondent was extremely upset by this,” Justice Robin Baird wrote, in his Jan. 17 decision.

“Before the claimant returned home she fired off a text to him declaring that their marriage was over, and she never changed her mind.”

The husband’s claim for spousal support also hinged on him being unable to work due to a mishap that occurred during a previous sasquatch outing years earlier.

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But Baird was ultimately not convinced the husband was left “totally disabled” by the accident, or that he “cannot earn income from employment of some kind or other” – partly because of his ongoing sasquatch-related endeavours.

“The claimant continues to enjoy camping, fishing, hunting, riding ‘quad’ motorcycles, and exploring remote areas of B.C. in search of sasquatch,” the judge wrote.

He had been given his first mobile phone for his 18th birthday and had just discovered text messaging.

He made up a random number and sent off a message saying "hello", to which his future wife Kirsty wrote back "hi".

They said: "That single moment led to over 20 years of love, laughter, and partnership."

Out of several messages to unknown numbers he sent from the Coventry pub where he was working that night, Kirsty in Cleethorpes was the only one to reply.

In 2002, the couple got married in Scotland, where Kirsty is from, and now have two children, aged six and nine.

Mini painter and model builder Michael Patterson, of YouTuber channel Nat 1 Videos, has successfully launched a Warhammer 40k Space Marine miniature into low orbit. He tells us how he achieved this feat using a weather balloon, help from his engineer brother Stephen, and a lot of messages to the British Civil Aviation Authority.

Stephen and Michael are “both nerds, but very different kinds of nerds”: while Michael builds DnD terrain, Lord of the Rings dioramas, and Warhammer 40k cosplay props for his YouTube channel, Stephen has a PhD from Imperial College and teaches engineering in London.

Stephen “runs a programme for his students where they launch small satellites called ‘can sats’ by using large weather balloons”, Michael says. The project to send a Space Marine into space “came about as a way for my brother and I to spend time together”, he explains, an activity that combined his “love of the miniature-based hobby” and his brother’s love “of sending stuff into the stratosphere”.

You can watch the project’s diaries, and the incredible footage of the Space Marine floating at the very limits of earth’s atmosphere, in the video below.

Video below

A stubborn grandfather had a motorway built around his house in China after refusing to move, despite being offered £180,000 in compensation.

Huang Ping’s two-storey home in Jinxi, China, is now surrounded by a construction site with constant dust, noisy builders and vibrating walls.

He says he now regrets not taking the Chinese government’s money and fears what living in his property will be like once the expressway opens in Spring.

“If I could turn back time, I would agree to the demolition conditions they offered. Now it feels like I lost a big bet,” he said.

A cruise company was forced to apologize after employees dressed up as "upside down snow cones" were mistaken for KKK members in videos shared online.

Videos and photos shared to social media showed crew members dressed head-to-toe in white and wearing pointed, cone-shaped hats with white masks attached to them, with only holes for their eyes.

While some passengers can be heard clapping and cheering, others can be heard gasping and whispering. In a video obtained by RT.com, one passenger can be heard saying "what happened" while others can be heard booing.

After several passengers and social media users thought that the costumes looked like KKK members, P&O Cruises Australia issued an apology clarifying that the staff was supposed to be dressed as "snow cones."

A bid to free five elephants from a Colorado zoo has been rejected after a court ruled elephants are not people.

An animal rights group argued Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo were effectively imprisoned at the zoo, and had filed to have them moved to an elephant sanctuary.

It tried to bring a habeas corpus claim on behalf of the animals - a legal process which allows a person to challenge their detention in court.

The Colorado Supreme Court said the matter boiled down to "whether an elephant is a person" and therefore had the same liberty rights as a human - ultimately deciding that they did not.

It ruled 6-0 in favour of a previous district court decision that said the state's habeas corpus process "only applies to persons, and not to nonhuman animals".

This was true "no matter how cognitively, psychologically, or socially sophisticated they may be," State Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter added in her ruling, external.

While she said the five elderly African elephants were "majestic," the court ruled the claim could not be brought "because an elephant is not a person".

Is "pee stain denim" the hottest new fashion trend?

Jordanluca, a high-end fashion brand, has sparked discourse on TikTok and other social media sites for a pair of jeans it released as part of its Fall/Winter 2023/2024 collection. Priced at over $800, the jeans appear normal in every way − save for stains on the crotch social media users say make the wearer look like they wet themselves.

"Where are we going as a society when this is high fashion?" one TikToker asked. "At first I thought these were fake," said another. "It makes me wonder the psychology of the people who are buying it," another said. " ‘Pee Stain’ Denim," declared an Instagram user.

Yet, the online mockery hasn't seemed to hinder sales. A lighter-wash version of the jeans, priced at $814 online and featuring "a stonewash stain on the crotch" per Jordanluca's website, has sold out.

Brevard County Deputy Lexi Gordon, assisted by K9 Aurora, pulled over a vehicle in which Teryn Acri was a passenger, according to police.

A search of her belongings led to the discovery of a bag labeled "Definitely Not A Bag Full Of Drugs," which indeed contained methamphetamine, needles, Narcan, digital scales, and other drug-related items.

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The case echoes a similar incident in Oregon in October 2024, when police discovered a bag with the same "Definitely Not A Bag Full Of Drugs" note during a traffic stop that uncovered fentanyl, methamphetamine, cash, and a loaded revolver.

Someone's nickname in the competition is literally "The annihilator" lmao.

It actually sounds like a lot of fun, and I'd be interested to see the whole thing.

Jeff Woodward isn't a meteorologist, but he has prepared a forecast for the rest of winter and spring that has some flavour.

Woodward uses pig spleens to determine temperature and precipitation trends for six-month periods. He spreads their fat onto a large piece of cardboard on his dining room table and traces them with a marker.

He said the patterns they form tell the weather story for the next half year.

"Each one of these veins of fat, they actually show where there's a rainfall or snowfall event going to happen," Woodward remarked as he split the traced fat into six even sections, representing the months from January to June.

The tradition dates back hundreds of years to rural Sweden, where Woodward's ancestors believed pigs could predict what kind of winter their farm could expect.

A pig would be butchered, and its spleen read by family and friends — with a shot of alcohol sometimes involved.

The ritual continued when the family immigrated to Canada more than 100 years ago.

Woodward learned the practice from his uncle, Gus Wickstrom, who was well-known in Saskatchewan, and even internationally, for his pig spleen weather prognostications.

A fare-dodging passenger on a German high-speed train ended up clinging to the outside when it pulled out of the station before he was ready to get on, police say.

The 40-year-old man had boarded the ICE train in Munich without a valid ticket and wanted to take a smoking break at the station in Ingolstadt.

But he lingered too long over his cigarette and the train doors closed, leaving him with the prospect of being stranded.

He then jumped on to a bracket between two carriages and held on to cables while the train powered on towards Nuremberg at up to 282 km/h (175mph), until federal police brought it to a halt about 30km away.

Witnesses alerted officials and they contacted the train driver, who made an unscheduled stop at Kinding in Upper Bavaria. The intercity express was on a six-hour journey to the northern city of Lübeck.

The man, a Hungarian national, told police he had left his luggage on the train during his cigarette break and did not want to be parted from it.

He was "amazingly" unharmed after his daredevil ride, said a police spokesman.

Scientists have discovered a never-before-seen giant sea bug after studying samples purchased from fishers in Vietnam.

Bathynomus vaderi belongs to the genus Bathynomus — giant isopods that are abundant in cold, deep waters. It is a "supergiant," weighing over 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) and growing up to 12.8 inches (32.5 centimeters) long, making it one of the largest known isopods.

The species is named "vaderi" because its head resembles Darth Vader's iconic helmet from "Star Wars."

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The researchers noted that Bathynomus species have recently become a delicacy in Vietnam, often compared to lobster. The local demand has turned these sea bugs into an expensive staple of the live-seafood market, leading to increased fishing pressures in the region.

Reference:

• A new species of supergiant Bathynomus A. Milne-Edwards, 1879 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cirolanidae) from Vietnam, with notes on the taxonomy of Bathynomus jamesi Kou, Chen & Li, 2017

Progresso is celebrating National Soup Month by reimagining a classic comfort food — as a hard candy called Soup Drops.

The company this week launched its first-ever "soup you can suck on," a savory lozenge that captures the taste of Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup.

Designed as a portable alternative to the classic meal, the drops come packaged in a can modeled after Progresso’s soup cans and contain 20 individually wrapped candies. Each drop has flavors of broth, chicken, vegetables, soft egg noodles, and a hint of parsley.

A people smuggler from Middlesbrough is among several facing jail time after being found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration, following an investigation that was launched following the discovery of a woman crammed inside a car glove box, the Home Office said.

On Monday, January 13, officials at the Cantacuzino Hospital in Bucharest alerted police that a man stole three amputated legs from the storage area. While two were later found, the third is still missing.

The incident took place three days prior, on January 10, and was captured by surveillance cameras. Images published by Euronews Romania show a man whose face is hidden, wearing a jacket and sports pants, entering the storage area designated for medical waste and then exiting with a yellow bag, in addition to the black bag he was already carrying. The individual later abandoned one of the bags.

Investigators have opened a criminal case for qualified theft and are searching for the suspect. They are also trying to determine the whereabouts of the third leg. Two have already been found: one within the hospital premises near the medical waste area and another on a street near the medical facility.

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The hospital, which was fined RON 4,400 (EUR 885) by the authorities for mishandling the legs, has started its own investigation alongside that of the police.

Prof Stephen Wallace from the University of Edinburgh is among those turning the fatbergs into perfumes. "It's a crazy idea," he admits to me, "but it works."

Fatbergs are accumulated lumps of fat from cooking oils, toilet and other food waste that people put down their drains. Prof Wallace gets his from a company that specialises in fishing them out of sewers and turning them into biofuels. They arrive at the lab in a tube.

The first step is to sterilise the material in a steamer. Prof Wallace then adds the specially modified bacteria to the remnants of the fatberg. The bacteria have a short section of DNA inserted, to give the bacteria their particular properties.

The fatberg gradually disappears, as the bacteria eat it, producing the chemical with the pine-like smell - this can be used as an ingredient in perfumes.

Prof Wallace says that while the UK has taken a lead role in establishing the technology, it now needs to show it can go to the next step. "We are at this nervous point where the core technology that enables a huge range of sustainable industrial technologies is established and we are now progressing to the stage of scaling up to manufacturing.

"But there is a challenge in the UK to create infrastructure... and progress to commercialisation at a rate that is comparable to investment in Europe and the US."

Lazio fired the far-right sympathiser who handles their eagle mascot on Monday after he posted a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis online.

Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olympia the eagle since the 2010-11 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance.

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Bernabe defended the decision to publish the images by saying in an interview with radio station Radio24 that “nudity is normal, I grew up in an open-minded, naturist family”.

The 56-year-old Spaniard has previously been in hot water over his openly hard-right politics, and was suspended by Lazio in 2021 for performing a fascist salute at the end of a match with Inter. He was filmed by fans at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico making the gesture and chanting “Duce, Duce” while holding Olympia and dressed in full Lazio kit.

Bernabe then told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that he was “proud” to be a supporter of far-right Spanish political party Vox “like many footballer friends of mine”. He confirmed that he had performed the chants in favour of Benito Mussolini, who founded the National Fascist Party and ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 before being killed near Lake Como by Italian partisans in 1945. “I did it and I don’t regret it because I admire Mussolini, he did great things for Italy as Franco did for Spain,” he said in the same interview. “I admire both of them and I’m proud of it.”

The lure of remote-controlled intimacy gadgets isn’t hard to understand. Whether you’re in a long-distance relationship or just like the convenience, these devices have taken the market by storm.

According to a 2023 study commissioned by the U.K.’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT), these toys are some of the most vulnerable consumer IoT products.

And while a vibrating smart egg or a remotely controlled chastity belt might sound futuristic, the risks involved are decidedly dystopian.

Forbes’ Davey Winder flagged the issue four years ago when hackers locked users into a chastity device, demanding a ransom to unlock it.

Fast forward to now, and the warnings are louder than ever. Researchers led by Dr. Mark Cote found multiple vulnerabilities in these devices, primarily those relying on Bluetooth connectivity.

Alarmingly, many of these connections lack encryption, leaving the door wide open for malicious third parties.

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A TechCrunch exposé revealed that a security researcher breached a chastity device’s database containing over 10,000 users’ information. That was back in June, and the manufacturer still hasn’t addressed the issue.

In another incident, users of the CellMate connected chastity belt reported hackers demanding $750 in bitcoin to unlock devices. Fortunately, one man who spoke to Vice hadn’t been wearing his when the attack happened. Small mercies, right?

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And let’s not forget: IoT toys are multiplying faster than anyone can track, with websites like Internet of Dongs monitoring the surge.

The official statement does not elaborate on the reasons of the dismissal, but local media linked it to the disappearance of the anti-tank mines in June 2024, which Kępczyński allegedly concealed from his superiors.

According to the reports, soldiers failed to unload part of the train carrying over 1,000 tons of explosives in total, and the anti-tank mines continued to circulate around the country before they went missing. On paper, false information about the number of mines was provided, media reports.

Officials apparently became aware of the problem when the weapons were found sitting in the IKEA warehouse, at which point someone called the military to ask “when they would collect their mines.”

It’s the sort of injury that will make you suspicious of sex toys for a long time. The internet has caught wind of a resurfaced story involving a young woman who was sent to the hospital after she underwent a MRI scan while having an apparently metallic butt plug inside herself.

An anonymous medical provider reported the strange incident to the Food and Drug Administration in April 2023, though it’s received renewed media attention this week. The 22-year-old woman reportedly screamed out in pain as she was pulled out of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine following a scan, which then prompted her delayed admission of having had a “butt plug” inserted. Though an ambulance did take her to a hospital afterward, the patient’s ultimate fate is unknown.

It’s January, and while for many Londoners the first month of the year means no drinking, eating healthily and an overly ambitious new exercise regime, for others, it marks the return of a slightly weird annual event – the No Trousers tube ride.

Following last year’s well-attended event – which we at Time Out documented in photos here – the trousers-free tube ride is back in 2025, with hundreds of people expected to take part.

If this is your sort of thing, here’s all the information on how to take part. Let’s hope it’s not a cold day!

When is the no-trousers tube ride?

The pants-free fiesta will take place on Sunday January 12. Participants will be meeting at the Old Pagoda in Chinatown from 2.45pm for a 3pm start. Organisers ask you to still be fully clothed at this point, please, and bring a bag to store your trews in for when the time comes to strip down to your skivvies.

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What’s the point of it all?

Ultimately, the no-trousers tube ride is just a bit of cheeky fun. It’s not attached to any charities or making any kind of political statement – the tradition started in New York in 2002 and persists to this day. The whole point is to remain as nonchalant as possible, despite your trouser-free state.