Weekly Weird News for 1 April 2022
Not joking, but I wish I was
I don’t like putting out a post on April 1 for obvious reasons. Note that all of these stories are not dated today - they are real, to a point. The thread that runs through most of the stories I post here is that our “news” feeds are just information - they aren’t always factual or complete. I approach all stories with a severe case of incredulity (doubt) because there are millions of examples of news reports being entirely wrong, misrepresented, lazily incomplete, or deliberately bogus. Without reliable sources of factual news, we can’t make reasonable decisions in our lives. This current situation vexes me every week; so the best I can do is to explain what may be very off with perceptions of situations that are propagated by news media. All I can do is hope that people make an effort to think before accepting what they hear as the truth.
The story of the Houston light pillar from last week’s WWN merged with other reports around the world into a really dumb headline. The article, syndicated from tech review website BGR, was tagged as “science” but it was silly. The truth - that this was a natural atmospheric phenomenon - was buried in the article that most people won’t read. This is the gist of today’s “click bait” journalism. Such stories end up circulating on “news” media sites people think are reliable. Last weekend, I saw a video report by Reuters (whom many might consider a top tier international news source) that had an egregious mistake where they repeated messed up the difference between waste coal (the rocky bits from a coal mine) and coal ash - the remains of burned coal. We don’t have solid fact-checkers and reviewers anymore. The quality of news is very poor overall. Notice how so much of the news reporting is lazy reposting of eyewitness photos, videos, or twitter remarks. It’s good to have this evidence from those who witness events, but when news stories are based solely on these bits, with no additional follow-up at all, it’s garbage.
And so… let’s begin with a story about garbage on the beach.
Garbage on the beach
COVID lockdowns meant regular trash clean-up events were curtailed for two years. Trash has piled up along roadsides and beaches. In New Jersey, 10,000 volunteers picked up a record amount of trash in 2021. Among the items found as reported by the Clean Ocean Action group are many plastic items, male enhancement pills, dentures, a set of braces, a glow-in-the-dark condom, a fake eyeball, a lottery ticket, a TV remote control, a set of rosary beads and a Turkish Airlines hygiene kit. https://apnews.com/article/oddities-sports-new-jersey-oceans-8b642bbf4ba30a248b694cd326af4f20
Mysterious animal on a beach in Australia
Animal remains found on a beach in Queensland, Australia made for this week’s “mystery carcass” story. Beached carcasses are sometimes highly decomposed from being submerged for a long time. This body was discovered by a dude who shared it on Instagram and suggested it looked like an alien. It was furless, with a long tail, clawed hands, and an exposed skull. Tabloids were quick to label it “creepy” and “mysterious”. As always, they play up the ignorance and goofy guesses of the person who found it instead of asking someone who might know what it is. Many people guessed by the tail that it might be a baby kangaroo or wallaby. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10663723/Creepy-alien-like-creature-flabby-limbs-CLAWS-washes-Australian-beach.html
But one of my go-to sources for mystery creatures, Markus Buhler, says it resembles a brushtail possum*. Later news stories did say this but buried the truth far enough down the page that people won’t read it.
*Edited: I originally wrote “opossum” here, which is incorrect. The “possum” of Australia is more closely related to kangaroos than the N. American opossum.
He notes that many animals look very weird after decomposition renders them hairless and distorted - a point I made in this article from several years ago which provides other news-making examples. https://sharonahill.com/2013/02/28/freak-out-over-hairless-mystery-beasts/
Coincidentally, a week earlier, a possum was rescued clinging to a buoy in Victoria, Australia. The animal was approached by a boat when it jumped back into the water. It was netted and released inland. The rescuers suspected it might have been nesting on a boat, got spooked, and, jumped into the water. Later it took refuge on the buoy. Maybe the first possum wasn’t so lucky. https://www.9news.com.au/national/portsea-rescue-happy-ending-for-possum-who-ended-up-stranded-out-at-sea/60fcb6a6-5712-4c71-86f8-ed746540ef31
Weird animal in Florida scary but not mysterious
Another mystery animal sighting got attention this week, in Tampa, Florida. A user posted a picture of a wrinkled, grey-skinned canid in a residential area. Many people responded that it was a “chupacabra”. While the traditional description of the legendary chupacabra is of an alien-looking bipedal creature, when the legend migrated to the US, any weird-looking animal, often diseased coyotes, foxes, or raccoons were described at El Chupacabra. In this case, the animal was IDed as a coyote with mange. https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/strange-sick-looking-animal-spotted-in-citrus-park-is-coyote-with-mange-fwc-says/
Saving salamanders
Marquette, Michigan closed a road in Presque Isle Park to protect blue-spotted salamanders that migrate across the road each spring to breeding ponds. In previous years, high mortality was noted so the city coordinated the project beginning in 2020 which has been highly successful. Nice job living with nature! https://www.miningjournal.net/news/front-page-news/2022/03/saving-salamanders-1-road-closure-at-a-time/
Netting deer
After last week’s deer rescue by gunshot - where a buck was freed from the netting after his antlers were tangled - here is another case from Georgia. This time, the rescuers did the more reasonable thing and cut him free. Maybe don’t use so much of this netting stuff? https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/03/25/Sandy-Springs-Georgia-deer-net-rescue/5381648231498/
New mammals may be out there
The crux of cryptozoology is that there are large legendary creatures still out there that science hasn’t recognized but people report seeing. The truth is that there are likely many new species, including mammals, yet to be designated but they are mostly small, nondescript, and hidden in museum drawers. Some are already too rare to readily find. A new predictive model in taxonomy research suggests there may be hundreds of mammals out there yet to classify based on a model of diversity but it says nothing about the potential for Bigfoot to be real. Unless Bigfoot is a rodent that looks a lot like other rodents…. https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-estimate-the-number-of-mammal-species-left-to-be-discovered
Missing flamingos not lost, but free
Flamingos can escape from zoos and owners and do very well in the wild. This week, there is an update on a flamingo who escaped a storm in Kansas almost 17 years ago and is still doing fine as it regularly is spotted in Texas. The bird is banded so people can tell it was once captive. It’s tricky to capture flamingos and, by now, what’s the point. Pink Floyd has earned his freedom. https://www.kansas.com/news/state/article259861105.html
Don’t feed the turkeys
A West Des Moines neighborhood has a problem with wild turkeys. With an ample food supply available from the manicured yards and from people who feed them, the turkeys, like Canada geese, become accustomed to people and can get aggressive or just be a nuisance. The turkeys have disrupted traffic and pedestrians. https://who13.com/news/wild-turkeys-terrorizing-west-des-moines-neighborhood
Them bones!
A box of human bones found in an Ohio garage is supposedly from the Independent Order of Odd Fellows - a group that used them for rituals. It’s very fuzzy how the box was discovered - apparently by someone trespassing in a garage - or where the bones originated. But the various reports from police say they assume the bones are over a century old. https://www.wlwt.com/article/cincinnati-box-of-bones-found-mount-healthy/39537364
Elsewhere in Ohio, just a few days later, a resident collecting firewood found human remains near railroad tracks. https://www.cleveland19.com/2022/03/28/summit-county-resident-finds-skeletal-human-remains-police-say/
Police in San Antonio, Texas were a bit more relieved when they investigated a report of skeletal remains that turned out to be a fake plastic skeleton. https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-area-skeletal-remains-17034624.php
The litter box rumor
A conservative lawmaker in Nebraska believed the silly rumor that children self-identified as cats in school even to the point where litter boxes were placed in the restrooms. Sen. Bruce Bostelman expressed his outrage in a televised debate. Even though the claim was shot down, it persisted because a segment of the population is highly upset by changed social norms (particularly about race and gender rights) that they exaggerate wildly to enforce their point. Bostelman apologized this week acknowledging the story wasn’t true. However, there are plenty of lies circulating, some of which are far more insidious, that portions of society believe and use to demonize others that represent what they dislike. Media fuels these feelings; we are in very dangerous times, especially when our lawmakers can be this gullible. It’s likely that many people will only remember the wild claim and never hear about its exposure as false. https://apnews.com/article/nebraska-lincoln-316c87249779706d6d78b58641c4a75e
Anomalous methane clouds in Alabama
Earth monitoring satellites have detected plumes of methane gas over the Alabama coal mining region. The find is stumping officials who never realized it was happening and can’t account for the amount of gas released. The high methane was spotted three times. The coal companies, who monitor the gas in the mines, did not notice the spike. The emissions also did not appear to correlate with a pipeline leak of oil or gas. Coal mines produce significant amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, over time. So, the high spike remains anomalous. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-25/powerful-clouds-of-methane-spotted-in-alabama-coal-country
Exploding ash trees
A fungal disease killing ash trees in the UK has a nasty side effect. The sick trees can explode because the internal strength of the tree has been lost. A falling branch can cause the rest of the tree to suddenly break apart injuring anyone nearby. Tree surgeons called in to remove the trees have noted several instances where they narrowly avoided injury while removing these trees. Officials warn that homeowners should not attempt this themselves. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-60929266
Ghost video explained as compression artifact
Last week, a video was circulating, thanks to tabloids, of what was called a stunning depiction of a ghost. The video showed legs without a visible body appearing in a hallway. The figure was then discernible as a body but it disappears. A cat reacting to the appearance lent it credibility. To me, this wasn’t news. No “mysterious” video is going to be legit unless it’s backed up by considerably more physical evidence. It would certainly not be enough to declare it as evidence of a ghost. What is worthy of news is to explain that this video, and many others promoted on social media as evidence of the paranormal, are manipulated, created, or show an artifact of the camera or environment. In this case of the hallway ghost, a paranormal news website revealed that video compression results in data loss and the image looks pixelated or distorted in the decoded playback. In other words, not a ghost. Remember this next time. https://www.higgypop.com/news/explained-ghostly-figures-on-cctv/
Catalytic converter thefts
Keep a watch on your catalytic converter. Car insurance companies are reporting an increase in the theft of the auto device used for emission control. The devices contain rare metals like platinum, rhodium, and palladium. With the continued world instability, rare metals become even more scarce. The auto part is stolen from cars left unattended. California is the top state for these reports. https://www.mining.com/web/metal-thieves-stealing-exhaust-pipes-send-us-auto-claims-1000-higher/
Fine-ally
I can’t help but end with a feel-good story involving at least some retribution for the action of one lowly piece of scum named Alex Jones. In ongoing lawsuits, Jones has attempted to skirt his responsibilities and avoid providing answers and evidence in legal proceedings where he was found liable for defamation. A judge has fined him for failing to appear at a deposition regarding the lawsuit filed against him by the families of those killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting. Jones had no qualms about making money by egregiously lying about and harassing these devastated families, promoting conspiracies that reverberate through our dysfunctional American society to this day. But he claimed he was sick and had to miss the court appearances. He turned in a doctor’s note blaming sinus issues. Hmm. Many of us manage our non-defamatory, middle-class lifestyles with sinus issues just fine. Jones behaves like a disgusting coward of the worst kind. And, is the world’s real crisis actor. https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2022-03-31/attorneys-for-alex-jones-say-hell-sit-for-a-deposition-and-appeal-a-judges-fines
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Did the original article about the numbers of mammal species yet to be named really say that this would include hundreds of kinds of members of the orders Carnivora and Primates? I find it hard to believe that it would say that and would cetainly disagree strongly if it did, especially in the case of the Carnivora. The popular article linked to here doesn't say that. I wanted to see the original scientific publication but didn't want to pay for it, although I still may. There certainly must be quite a few mammal specimens in museum drawers, that, unknown to everyone so far, actually represent unnamed ''new'' species, I've named some of that sort myself, but there are certainly plenty still out there that haven't been collected yet and will be recognized as ''new'' right away or very soon after they're collected. I disagree with the statement that small mammals are necessarily harder to recognize as ''new'' than bigger ones, because of their smallness. We routinely use dissecting microscopes to study the teeth and fine skull features of the small mammals collected and there are often external features that indicate that they are new anyway. And the utility of DNA analyses isn't affected by the size of the animal.
I once attended a talk by Professor of photography who showed us dozens of "ghost" pictures and a fair few "UFO" pictures. He then explained what caused them. In every case it was some sort of artefact of the camera – either a double exposure, or a reflection, or something tiny and out of focus close to the lens. I hadn't realised so many things could go wrong with taking a picture.