If you look up the St. Louis suburb of Des Peres, Missouri, on Wikipedia, you'll see the usual entries about its history, population, etc. Des Peres, however, is unique in that it also has an entry under "Jar of Pickles," notes the Wall Street Journal. It seems that more than a decade ago—maybe 2011 or 2012—someone placed a jar of pickles atop a concrete barrier along the exit of Manchester on I-270. A commuter named Barb Steen noticed the oddity and started a Facebook page devoted to it. The jar remained in place for a few years until disappearing around 2015—only to be replaced by another. And another. And all these years later, the jar has become something of a cultural phenomenon.

"They were just always there," Steen recalls to Fox 2 Now of the early days of the pickles. "I would Snapchat them to friends or coworkers or share them on my Facebook." The page she created for the jar now has more than 29,000 followers from around the world. "Word got out in some way somehow, and it exploded," she says. The brand of pickle, incidentally, has varied over the years. A Journal reporter investigated a recent iteration—a jar of Mt. Olive Kosher Dill affixed to the barrier with some kind of caulk.

The continued popularity of the jar has raised concerns that it might someday cause a traffic accident if a passerby slows to gawk or take a photo. So far, however, the city has received no complaints, says public safety director Eric Hall. "I don't suspect our people," he adds, referring to speculation that employees of his department might be behind the jar, given their official 24-hour access to the area. "But you never know."

Westminster Magistrates Court heard that 30-year-old Paolo Bollag stripped off in central London's Kensington Gardens last April and indulged in a series of lewd acts.

Bollag, from west London, denied a charge of outraging public decency, and opted for a crown court trial. He was bailed on the condition that he does not enter the park again before it begins.

Magistrates heard Bollag had been pleasuring himself before 'thrusting' into an unspecified tree in the park, which it situated next to Kensington Palace.

The court further heard that the investment manager, whose LinkedIn profile says works at Oakley Capital, rammed soil into his underwear and rubbed his crotch.

Archive (original link - warning, it's The Daily Fail)

Allen Ray McGrew, 41, from South Carolina, was seen dancing in his star-spangled suit on his favorite holiday as members of the neighborhood gathered for a street party in Summerville, Dorchester County. Carelessly enjoying the festivities, Allen was seeing dancing a jig just minutes before tragedy struck.

His wife Paige told how her husband had placed the large firework on top of his head to "show off" after drinking for several hours during the day, reports the Post and Courier. Paige told the publication: "He was holding this firework over his top hat I thought he was just showboating before he set it on the ground. I didn’t realize he had already lit it."

Paige described how she urged her husband to stop before it suddenly erupted and he fell to the floor. Coroner Paul Brouthers said the exploding device caused massive head injuries that would have killed McGrew instantly. He was officially pronounced dead at the scene at 11:10 p.m.

The grieving widow said her husband died doing what he loved, adding how July 4 was his favorite holiday. Paige said: "Allen loved this holiday," she said. "He was a patriot; he was proud of his son and he was excited to have a new daughter-in-law. He was living his best life last night."

Firefighters from the Colorado Springs Fire Department were dispatched about 4:45 a.m. on June 26 to a home on the city's south side for a reported fire, according to a Facebook post. The homeowners had alerted authorities of a "fire on the stove in their home that had been extinguished by one of the homeowners."

Firefighters and rescue teams didn't find an active fire when they got to the home and learned a resident had extinguished the blaze before crews arrived, the department said. The resident was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. No other injuries were reported.

But investigators found an interesting culprit when they examined surveillance footage from the home.

"After talking to the homeowners and looking through their home security footage, we determined their pup got a bit curious and accidentally switched on the oven which had some boxes on top of it," the fire department said.

Video footage captured by the home's security camera shows the dog jumping on the stove and sniffing the boxes before scampering away. Seconds after dog leaves, the boxes on the stove catch fire and the whole kitchen is engulfed in smoke.

A Kelowna household was the latest subject of a covert restoration project undertaken by an 'un-gnome' organization.

The group calls themselves the 'Gnome Restoration Society,' and Kelowna resident and gnome-owner Kelly Blair has no idea who or how many people may be involved in the secretive organization.

In late June, Blair was sad to discover that his beloved, albeit weathered and worn, gnomes were missing from his front lawn.

Having already had a few items – including a canoe – go missing from his property over the last few weeks, Blair assumed that thieves had snatched his gnomes and accepted the fact that the tiny men were likely never to be seen again.

"They were just gone," said Blair.

However, on July 3, Blair curiously heard a knock at his backdoor.

There stood an elderly woman who presented a perplexed Blair with a blank envelope addressed to "The Homeowner."

Inside the envelope was a cut-out image of a gnome with the words "The Gnome Restoration Society" inscribed on the back.

The woman, would not answer any questions, then instructed Blair to follow her to her vehicle.

"The lady wouldn't tell me anything," said Blair.

The woman told him that she was simply delivering the gnomes and was unable to answer any questions about the gnomes had been or who was involved in the secret society.

She told Blair, "These folks want to remain anonymous."

Then, she opened the back of her car and there they were – all of Blair's gnomes in pristine condition.

Every single gnome that had gone missing from his lawn, plus two extra had been cleaned, painted and were smiling up at him from boxes in the back of the mysterious woman's vehicle.

"The gnomes are home," said Blair, to Black Press, in disbelief that he had been involved in such silly and wonderful mischief.

Rangers who oversee a herd of clifftop goats have urged people to contact them rather than the emergency services if they spot any problems.

The herd of 50 goats graze the steep cliffs between West Cliff and Southbourne in Bournemouth.

The plea comes after firefighters were called to the cliffs when a goat got its head stuck in a fence on Monday.

Kid goat, King, was freed by the goat's grazier and has since been fitted with a dowel between his horns to stop him getting stuck again.

...

The goats have become something of a tourist attraction since being introduced in 2009 and even have their own social media accounts.

With a consistent flow of passers-by, it is normally moments before any issues are raised, their grazier Mark Jackson said.

They live on a seven-mile (11km) stretch of cliffs year-round to graze back the invasive plants on the steep inaccessible cliffs.

Before the herd was introduced to munch the vegetation, BCP Council had to foot the cost of using specialist cliff teams to clear the cliffs.

The goats are part of a Environmental Stewardship agreement between the council and Natural England.

A lack of regulation at Queensland's fertility clinics may have led to a donor fathering hundreds of children, sparking incest fears.

An investigation into the state's assisted reproductive technology providers has also revealed claims of a couple receiving the wrong sperm.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said on Wednesday she was shocked by the Office of the Health Ombudsman's damning findings.

Ms Fentiman had requested the investigation following more than 200 complaints.

...

A key finding was the substandard record keeping of the number of sperm donations from a single man, with fears he may have fathered hundreds of children.

In one case, a woman reported the sperm donor she used had donated on more than 200 occasions at the same clinic, raising concerns about how many siblings her child may unknowingly have.

When investigating a number of clinics, the probe was unable to establish the number of families created or how many siblings a child may have from the same donor.

It said the excessive recurrent use of sperm donations in a number of fertility treatments could pose the risk of donor-conceived individuals "inadvertently having a sexual relationship" with a blood relative.

...

The ombudsman recommended all stored donor material - eggs, sperm and embryos - that does not meet identification requirements be destroyed.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/14265279

The upward intonation, the guttural “ck” and even the cheeky comeback to win the argument: at just 19 months old, baby Orla has mastered the crucial elements of speaking like a scouser.

Impressively, the toddler who featured in a viral video this week appears to have done so without the need for actual words.

A clip posted on TikTok, and now viewed more than 20m times, shows Orla babbling in a Liverpudlian accent as her babysitter, Olayka, tries and fails to coax her into taking a nap. Scientists say that the cute exchange is also a vivid illustration of the processes by which babies acquire language – and the surprising role of accents.

Babies are so tuned in to the musical ups and downs of speech that even as newborns they cry in distinctive ways that reflect the languages that they have heard while in the womb.

In one 2009 study, Prof Kathleen Wermke, a pioneer in the field of speech development at the Würzburg University in Germany, found that French infants tend to wail on a rising note and German babies favour a falling melody and other patterns have been seen for Mandarin, Swedish and African languages. “When I started 40 years ago, if I told people I was recording babies crying and making high-pitched sounds they’d look at you and think ‘Is this really science?’,” she said.

Everyone loves ice cream on a hot, summer day. And trying to break a Guinness World Record is about as American as it gets, especially on the Fourth of July. But when it came time to break the record for the biggest “human ice cream cone” ever, it seems the heat — just like it would with real ice cream — won out.

Following a parade along Capitol Hill, hundreds of people signed up to try to help break this obscure record. The goal was to group together for a picture looking like an ice cream cone.

Participants were excited to take part — at first.

“I’ve been standing for most of my life so I think I’ve got this,” said Stephanie Murray-Miller, who lives in Missouri but was in D.C. to visit a friend. “I’ve ate some ice cream before so that was another preparation.”

That sort of good humor, you might call it, among those participating would soon melt away in the heat, though.

You see, part of looking like ice cream cone involved putting on a poncho. In that heat, with no shade, patience melted away even faster inside that plastic bag. At least one participant even needed help from paramedics.

...

The goal was to get at least 479 people to participate, and come up with a picture that was unmistakably a group of people forming a giant ice cream cone. More than 700 people had indicated interest online, but as the lift came down, Ready knew the outcome.

“Unfortunately I was not able to validate that this record met all of our guidelines,” Casson told those who stuck around to hear her decision. “We were not able to get a completely accurate count in the moment of the record attempt. Also, there was not a very clear image of the ice cream cone up to the caliber that we would require to consider this a broken record. But it was still a valiant attempt.”

A man has been jailed for brandishing a replica of a sword from the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda on the streets of a Warwickshire market town, which he said was a “fidget toy” to keep his hands busy.

Anthony Bray, 48, of Nuneaton, was sentenced to four months in prison after being found in possession of a bladed article in public.

The article in question was a replica of the “master sword” from The Legend of Zelda series which had a total blade length of 6in, Warwickshire police said.

...

Sgt Spellman, of the patrol investigations unit, said: “We take a zero tolerance [approach] to bladed articles in public, and Bray has fallen afoul of this.

“It is possible to find fidget toys that aren’t six-inch blades. It is possible not to walk down the street holding them out in front of you. With a bit more self-awareness, Bray could have avoided contact with us completely.”

Police are investigating after the suspected theft of a mythical sword that was embedded in a cliff in the hill-top village of Rocamadour, south-central France.

Durandal was the famed sword of Roland, the protagonist of La Chanson de Roland, an epic poem and the oldest surviving major work of French literature.

The sword was embedded in a cliff face in Rocamadour (Lot) until it went missing on Saturday, June 22.

...

However, the sword, a popular sight among visitors to the Unesco World Heritage town, was the “umpteenth copy” of the original, Father Florent Millet, rector of the sanctuary of Rocamadour, told ActuLot, confirming there was no historical value to the replica.

A woman with diabetes who died after stopping her insulin while taking part in a four-day slapping therapy workshop regarded the person who ran the retreat as a “messenger sent by God”, a jury has heard.

Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, wrote glowing testimonials about Hongchi Xiao saying she believed he was starting a revolution in healthcare, Winchester crown court was told.

Xiao allegedly congratulated Carr-Gomm when she announced she had stopped taking insulin at the start of the four-day workshop, attended by “keen disciples” of his methods, at Cleeve House, a country manor in Wiltshire.

When Carr-Gomm fell seriously ill because she had not taken her insulin, Xiao allegedly told other participants that she was experiencing the “darkness before dawn breaks” and did not call for medical help.

...

She was one of 30 people who attended the workshop in October 2016 run by “Master Xiao”, a champion of paida lajin therapy, in which patients are slapped or slap themselves repeatedly.

Atkinson said Carr-Gomm previously attended a workshop of Xiao’s in Bulgaria and, though she became unwell there, left testimonials on his website in which she said he was “definitely” a “messenger sent by God” and that he was “starting a revolution … to put the power back in the hands of the people to cure themselves and to change the whole system of healthcare”. She added: “I admire you and thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The jury heard that participants in the workshop fasted and drank only Chinese tea. At classes, Xiao allegedly slapped them using his hand and a paddle.

...

The court has heard that Xiao was convicted of manslaughter in Australia after a six-year-old boy with diabetes stopped taking insulin allegedly under his instruction and died about 17 months before Carr-Gomm’s death. He is said to have told participants in Australia there was “no pain, no gain”.

It takes a scientific mind to see the grunting hulk of a hippopotamus and wonder whether, given sufficient motivation, such an improbable beast might ever become airborne.

And so to researchers at the Royal Veterinary College in North Mymms, Hertfordshire, whose painstaking examination of footage of the creatures revealed that when the hefty herbivores reach top speed they do indeed take off.

Video showed hippos got all four feet off the ground at once up to 15% of the time when thundering along at full pelt, often to chase off hippo rivals.

The finding plugs a gap in scientific knowledge and places hippos somewhere between elephants and rhinos in terms of the athletic prowess displayed by some of the heaviest land animals when they need to get a move on.

“I’ve struggled to get any work done on hippos before because they’re so hard to access,” said John Hutchinson, a professor of evolutionary biomechanics who led the research. “They’re incredibly dangerous, they tend to be most active at night, and they spend a lot of their time in the water.”

After finding no satisfying answer to the question in the scientific literature, Hutchinson dispatched a student, Emily Pringle, to Flamingo Land resort in North Yorkshire, where resident hippos have room to run. She videoed the animals as they moved between their stable and watering hole and brought back the footage for analysis.

The researchers went through it, and more gathered from YouTube, frame by frame to see whether hippos ever managed to get all four feet off the ground at once. Writing in PeerJ, they conclude that, unlike other large mammals, hippos typically stick to a trotting movement whatever speed they are moving at, but can become airborne in a rush.

...

And yet, further research beckons. Word has reached Hutchinson that pygmy hippos, a different species to the animals he studied, can gallop. It raises the question of whether baby hippos can do the same, suggesting a return trip to Flamingo Land may be in order.

Authorities in Eau Claire responded to what they called, “The most Wisconsin complaint ever,” around 9:46 p.m. on Monday.

According to a Facebook post by the Eau Claire Police Department, officers were sent to check on a report from a driver that somebody was chasing them down and throwing cheese at their car.

“Not gouda,” the post said. “It’s un-brie-lievable that someone would do that.” The viral post on Facebook has over 200 comments filled with cheese puns and more than 1,000 shares.

Not the first cheese attack to grace this community: 'Irate male' assaulted Newfoundland officers with block of cheese, police say

Detached male genitalia was found floating alongside children and other guests in a wave pool at Cedar Point Shores in Sandusky, Ohio.

The Cedar Fair theme parks have been fixtures in the news over the last few weeks. Just days before completing its merger with Six Flags, the theme park went viral when two camels escaped the petting zoo and terrorized amusement park guests.

Days later, a woman was attacked by goats that also escaped the petting zoo.

Now, internet attention has turned to Cedar Point once again. A viral video from the Midwestern theme park shows lifeguards fishing a realistic adult toy out of the wave pool at its adjacent water park, Cedar Point Shores.

...

At first, guests thought the floating item was human fecal matter or a detached body part. Families were disgusted by the implications of other guests bringing the dildo to the water park. Lifeguards giggled as they fished it out.

A dog born with six legs and dumped in a car park has finally found her forever home.

Ariel made headlines around the world when, aged 11 weeks, she was discovered outside a Pembrokeshire supermarket last October.

About £15,000 was then raised by well-wishers for a life-changing operation to remove her extra back limbs, which partially fused together to resemble a mermaid's tail.

Now the spaniel - named after Disney's The Little Mermaid - has finally been adopted, aptly starting a new life by the sea with a couple who teach people with disabilities how to surf.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/23992689

Archive/mirror: https://archive.ph/zoBGi

Police in Japan have sent papers to prosecutors concerning a woman under suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Act for allegedly riding an "electric suitcase" on a sidewalk without a license.

The police say this is the first time someone has been identified for an alleged traffic offense involving such ridable luggage in Japan.

...

Electric suitcases can move at a maximum of 13 kilometers per hour, and are legally in the same category as small motorcycles.

But they are not allowed on public roads in Japan as they do not meet standards for brakes and blinkers set by the Road Transport Vehicle Act.

The woman is reportedly denying the charges saying during voluntary questioning that she was not aware that the suitcase is a vehicle that requires a driver's license.

Wanting to talk to women, a man hatched a plan to soil their clothes with a mixture of his urine and flour so that he could have an opportunity to break the ice between them and him.

On June 20, Tan Jun Hao, a 31-year-old Malaysian, was fined $1,200 after he pleaded guilty to using criminal force on one of the women.

He followed a 26-year-old woman as she was going up an escalator from Nicoll Highway MRT station at around 8.30pm on April 9.

He then squirted the mixture, which he had earlier mixed in a small plastic bottle, on her dress as she was walking along a nearby overhead bridge.

Instead of stopping to talk to the woman after that, he walked past her.

...

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun said: "The accused intended to squirt the mixture on the clothes of ladies, especially young ladies wearing dark-coloured bottoms, and then alert them that their clothes had been dirtied.

"He wanted to create opportunities for him to talk to these ladies."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16991987

An online shop has started selling women's worn knickers, dirty socks and used tampons, netting sellers healthy additional incomes.

The website is called Sububis, which means underwear in Latin, and its founder, a 32-year-old woman who wishes to remain anonymous, set the business up to sell lingerie and underwear worn by various men and women in October 2021.

She also reportedly sells used bras, socks and shoes. A pair of worn female underwear goes for about $120, while a pair of dirty socks goes for about $44.

"I kept hearing from acquaintances who receive enquiries on social media as to whether they want to sell their underwear."

This gave her the idea to offer these items online so that the sellers and buyers can remain anonymous and never have to meet.

"Anonymity was not guaranteed during the payment process and that put many people off, although they are not fundamentally averse to the business," she said.

A friend of the woman reportedly told her that she was stalked by a buyer on Instagram after selling a similar item. The experience reportedly scared her so much that she stopped selling these items online.

...

But the founder said that she does not want to sell her own items on the platform, saying it would be "too intimate for me".

"I want to make a clear distinction. If I knew who was getting my clothes, I would feel like I was giving too much away," she said.

Instead, a total of seven women and men are selling their worn underwear on the platform, which has been operating since October 2021.

"It is going very well. We have several orders a day, I'm already recruiting new 'subabes'," she said.

...

Underwear and socks reportedly sell the best. The shop reportedly only has male buyers at the moment. There is reportedly a growing demand for tampons and worn period pads as well.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/23926129

A Japanese man borrowed some of the luck of the Irish and broke a Guinness World Record by growing a 63-leaf clover.

Yoshiharu Watanabe, 45, started cross-pollinating clovers at his Nasushiobara home in 2012 with an aim toward breaking the world record.

"Since the number of leaves has increased year by year, I have been aiming for the Guinness World Records title ever since," he told Guinness World Records.

Watanabe said he used a combination of letting his clover patches pollinate naturally and hand-pollinating those with the most leaves. He said his methods weren't always successful.

"Sometimes the number of leaves can go down, or sometimes you end up with the normal three-leaf clover," he said. "We know that genetics are involved in a higher number of leaves, yet we don't exactly know how it works."

Watanabe's prize clover has 63 leaves, beating the previous record of 56 leaves, set by fellow Japan resident Shigeo Obara in 2009.

Archive/mirror: https://archive.ph/78AIL

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/13907451

Glastonbury, the massive UK festival held nearly every year since 1970, will provide gallons of urine to a start-up that has found an interesting use for it.

NPK Recovery is implementing its tech to recycle festivalgoer pee into environmentally friendly fertilizer. This is being done by partnering with Glastonbury’s female toilet provider, Peequal. After everything is collected post-festival, NPK’s labs will receive it for processing.

This isn’t the first time urine has been used in such a way at the festival. With so many people, in 2019, they were able to power the screens on the Pyramid Stage with a special urinal. We also previously reported on NASA recycling astronaut pee for drinking water.

Coming up on the 54 year anniversary.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16938759

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16933715

A Florida man eating in a diner with his wife recently sneezed so forcefully it caused parts of his intestines to exit his body through a surgical wound, according to researchers.

The case, published in a May 2024 edition of the American Journal of Medical Case Reports, describes the unnamed man as a 63-year-old with a history of prostate cancer.

...

The morning of the sneeze, the man’s doctors reported that he was healing well and could remove staples binding the wound together.

He and his wife went out to breakfast at the diner to celebrate.

"During breakfast, the man sneezed forcefully, followed by coughing. He immediately noticed a ‘wet’ sensation and pain in his lower abdomen. Looking down, he observed several loops of pink bowel protruding from his recent surgical site," the researchers write.

Stunned, the man covered the protuberance with his shirt and considered driving himself to a hospital, but feared changing positions would make the wound worse and called an ambulance instead.