Weekly Weird News for 8 April 2022

Welcome to another edition of the not so mainstream news roundup of the week. It wasn’t a particularly weird week but there were a number of amazing stories worth highlighting.

Let’s start with news about the news and Americans’ trust in news sources. Then, you can see some examples that follow where the headlines and rumors reveal that one should always be diligent about blindly accepting what’s put out there.

Paying people to not watch Fox News

An interesting scientific paper came out on April 3 from researchers who paid a group of over 700 people, who were regular viewers of Fox News, to watch CNN instead. The researchers reported that the participants appeared to recognize the partisan slant that they had been subject to with the Fox News coverage. The research particularly focused on the information regarding COVID-19 and Donald Trump. While the results did show some effects in the “incentivized period” these results didn’t seem to last long afterward. But the researchers were able to show how partisan media influences viewers, particularly by filtering out information that isn’t flattering to the preferred ideology. The results suggest there are good reasons why public opinion is resistant to change which bodes ill for democracy. https://osf.io/jrw26/

Getting your unbiased news from The Weather Channel

When it comes to reliable news sources, in the opinion of 1500 random Americans polled by YouGov, the top choice is … The Weather Channel. Now, this is not as strange as it sounds. The website usually sticks to its main topic but will post stories about general news events. Because they mostly steer clear of political topics, they avoid the accusations of bias in their coverage. Curiously, the BBC comes in second in this survey. Those in Europe might disagree with that ranking but those in the US see the BBC as removed from the competitiveness for viewership on the home soil. It’s not really a great idea to only get your news from one source, especially one that only covers a sliver of world events like TWC. However, people aren’t usually so willing to seek out and evaluate multiple sources, especially if they have a strong ideological viewpoint they are inclined to support. At least they are getting some solid climate change info. https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/04/05/trust-media-2022-where-americans-get-news-poll

Tesla camera sees “ghosts”

People are reporting that Tesla dashboards are depicting “people” in cemeteries where none are visible. This is not the first time that Tesla cameras have recorded this. In fact, it’s a “Tik Tok Challenge” for people to give this a try and see what they find. You’ll find a number of these videos floating around suggesting that the Tesla cams can see ghosts. The camera will decode upright, wide tombstones as people - its best approximation. In this video, it’s obvious that the Tesla camera is picking up the tall decoration and interpreting it as a person. Better safe than sorry I guess. It knows it’s something that you should pay attention to and avoid hitting. These days, any technology can be manipulated into being a ghost detection device. Devices have glitches and glitches mean “ghosts” to the willing believers. The Tesla software isn’t perfect. But it’s also not that spooky. People are too easily amused. This was a silly story to get attention but that is the case whenever “news” sources trawl social media for clickbait. https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/lifestyle/tesla-cemetery-detects-people-video-b2052907.html

Ball lightning face-scratcher returns

I’m not sure what to make of this bizarre story out of India about ball lightning, metal debris from the sky, and mysterious “face scratchers”, but make of it what you will. People reported seeing lights streaking across the sky the same night others reported that a metal ring and a sphere fell from the sky. News sources say that remains from a Chinese rocket were tracked as reentering the atmosphere, visible over Maharashtra. Yet, there are no reports that actual pieces landed there. Meanwhile, a meteorologist in India reported that the lights were instead “ball lightning” of a kind seen in this area in 2002. In that event, people reported the balls of light as “Muhnochwa” or “face scratchers” because they hit some people in the face. The Muhnochwa has a more complicated explanation related to belief in supernatural entities. But in 2002, it was also said to be a form of ball lightning due to dry conditions. None of this is very logical. I’m afraid I can’t actually put the story into context because I’m not seeing any reasonable reporting on it. Most of the reporting may be in foreign sources. Yet, it does, at first glance, appear that the rocket debris was misinterpreted, which caused people to attribute the meteor-like lights to something more local. What I do not think fits at all is the ball lightning suggestion. Ball lightning is quite rare and not prone to hit people in the face. However, this might be a natural anomaly that has not been well documented. It sure qualifies as weird. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/fireballs-observed-in-skies-ball-lightning-phenomenon-scientist/articleshow/90650299.cms

Mystery block on Texas beach

Mystery objects washed up on beaches always make for fun news stories where people try to guess what the object is. Often, like last week, they are weird carcasses, but they can also be lost pieces from ships. A family in Texas spotted this strange item on the beach. Officials from the Padre Island National Seashore posted that the object was a bale of raw rubber that had been cargo, possibly from a ship that sunk in 1944. Similar bales had washed up in Brazil. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2022/04/07/family-finds-mysterious-wwii-era-object-washed-up-on-texas-beach/

Darwin’s missing notebooks returned

Two notebooks by Charles Darwin went missing from the archives of Cambridge University Library 20 years ago. They have been mysteriously returned intact via a pink gift bag with a box wrapped in brown paper addressed to the Librarian with a message of “Happy Easter”. It is still unclear who took the items originally. Security for such items has been increased since then. Police are still investigating the original theft. https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/04/darwins-missing-notebooks-returned-to-cambridge-univ-library-after-20-years/

Meat attacks in UK

Lamb chops were stuffed into an exhaust pipe and various pieces of meat and eggs were thrown onto two properties in Credenhill, Herefordshire, England. Why someone would waste good meat to harass others is a true mystery. Police have appealed to social media as they don’t have suspects or a motive. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-60988695

Grandma is a witch

A 74 yr old woman called up the Hollidaysburg (PA) state police to ask the officer to drop minor drug charges against her grandson or else she would practice witchcraft on him. She suggested the effects of that might be dangerous. She called back several times unaware that she was making a threat. While there is no law against “white witchery”, her excuse that she was just “making statements” and not threats didn’t hold up. Now she is in bigger trouble than her grandson. https://www.wearecentralpa.com/news/local-news/grandmother-used-white-witchery-to-threaten-officer-police-report/

Potato grenade

A potato chip factory in New Zealand found an unusual object masquerading as a potato on the conveyor belt. One of the potato-like muddy brown spheres was a grenade. This was the first time such a device was found this way. The police were called in and determined it was not live. It had been simply dug up with the rest of the spuds. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/464814/grenade-found-among-the-spuds-on-chip-factory-conveyor-belt

Chicago, where the buffalo roam

A bison has been seen again roaming a Chicago suburb. The animal was filmed walking down the street and through yards. Previously, the animal had escaped from a local farm and has been wandering around since last September. The female “buffalo” has become a media star and hasn’t injured anyone, but people are warned not to approach her. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-runaway-bison-hawthorn-woods-april-fools-20220405-yvwwlpweu5drhgrwbyqfgyj5am-story.html

More furry furor

In a sequel to last week’s story about a legislator who had to admit there were no children self-identifying as cats in Nebraska schools, a Wisconsin school was the subject of false rumors that they also allowed students to self-identify as animals and to engage in disruptive behaviors. The district did not have a “furry protocol” as the claims stated. The rumor was being circulated by conservative members of the community who seem to believe extremist claims about diversity. https://journaltimes.com/news/local/ap-fact-check-waunakee-school-district-does-not-have-furry-protocol/article_81bbcc70-b5dc-11ec-8693-17538e96a7d5.html

Tanis fossil site back in the news

A controversial fossil site in North Dakota called “Tanis” has made news again this week as researchers claim that the remains found there depict direct victims of the asteroid strike that caused the mass extinction of non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The scientists report a dinosaur leg fossil, extraordinary preserved, and suggest it died and was buried instantaneously. It would be extraordinary to find direct evidence of animals dying from the energy of the impact. It’s difficult to date rocks that precisely. Yet, the student leading the dig is making the claim that the animal remains do show this. Skepticism abounds. Unfortunately, not all the work has been published and made available for peer review. A BBC TV documentary has been in preparation for 3 years that will allow the public to see the finds. The Tanis site is a jumble of fossils of land, sea, and air animals suggesting it was created in a catastrophic event. However, this isn’t the only interpretation and it will take many years to tease out the answers. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61013740

Dinosaur paleontologists and enthusiasts were gleeful this week after being given a sneak peek of a new series called Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV+. MANY legitimate researchers worked on the show and it is set to present the most scientific and realistic depiction of ancient animals ever done. It looks absolutely incredible. 

Do mushrooms talk?

Well, if you go by poorly-written headlines, you might think that. New research suggests that fungi send electrical signals through the ground via their filamentous structures in order to “communicate” through a network. One researcher likened it to a vocabulary and patterns of human speech. Ehhh… no. It’s not much like that - the metaphor seems to reach too far. Plenty of organisms emit electrical and chemical signals that we have yet to study and are extraordinarily interesting. But those processes do not have the same purpose as human speech - the comparison is not a good one. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/apr/06/fungi-electrical-impulses-human-language-study

Amazing art saved from the trash

A contractor cleaning out an abandoned barn in Watertown, CT found large painted canvasses.  The artwork was recovered from a dumpster. Art curators now value the collection of pieces by Francis Hines, a famous creator of public art “wrapping” of monuments and buildings, as worth millions of dollars. The work will be exhibited in May in NYC. The artist’s family has allowed the finders to keep the art. https://www.ctinsider.com/living/article/francis-hines-art-hollis-taggart-southport-17066528.php

Life is short-er

U.S. life expectancy fell for the second year in a row thanks to deaths from COVID, to the lowest in 25 years. From 2019 to 2021, there was a net loss of 2.26 years. The average life span is now 76.6 years. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/04/07/1091398423/u-s-life-expectancy-falls-for-2nd-year-in-a-row

Puppy gets a medical miracle

A German Shepherd puppy born with six legs, two colons, four testicles, and two penises, has had two successful surgeries to date to give him a more normal dog’s life. The dog, apparently born in Indiana last year, may have been a twinning situation gone wrong. Additional surgeries may be needed but he seems to be thriving. See lots of pictures in the linked article. https://www.indystar.com/picture-gallery/news/2022/04/07/puppy-two-penises-has-birth-defects-cleared-up-veterinary-surgery/9460755002/

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Thanks for reading!