[Misstee]

‘Poohniverse’ horror flick with Bambi, Pinocchio coming next year as iconic Disney characters enter public domain
By Social Links for Shannon Thaler
Published April 16, 2024, 9:34 a.m. ET


“Winnie the Pooh” is slated to star in a horror flick next year alongside a slew of other iconic Disney characters whose copyright protections have expired — including Bambi, Pinocchio, Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty.

British production company and prolific horror filmmakers Jagged Edge Productions teamed up with independent film distributor ITN Studios to create “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” in 2023.

Though Disney still owns the rights to animated versions of “Winnie the Pooh,” the original story in AA Milne’s book on the honey-loving teddy bear entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2022.

Since then, the characters in Milne’s 200-page book published in 1926 are free to use legally.

Poster art for the cancelled film 'Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey' 4
Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios — the same collaborators behind “Poohniverse” — also created the slasher-film riff “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” last year, plus its sequel that was released in March. AP

Among the movies in that collection are: “Bambi: The Reckoning,” “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare” and “Pinocchio Unstrung,” plus “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its sequel, which was released just last month.

For reference, Bambi’s copyrights expired in January 2022 while Peter Pan and Pinocchio booth entered the public domain early this year.

Though other details of the forthcoming film’s plot are unclear, the movie poster features a murderous Pooh swinging a bear trap on a chain while riding a bloodthirsty Bambi, Variety earlier reported.

Representatives for Jagged Edge and ITN Studios did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Many beloved animated characters are beginning to enter the public domain — becoming available for use without licensing or payment — in 2019, after a two-decade drought brought on by congressional extensions of the copyright period in 1998, according to Fortune.

However, the public didn’t appear to notice until 2022, when “Winnie the Pooh” became free to use following its 95-year-long copyright period.

The 1928 version of Mickey Mouse, for example, entered the public domain in January 2024 despite Disney trying to save its copyright on the iconic character that started it all.

Accordingly, Disney lost the copyright of Steamboat Willie — the original version of Mickey that appeared in a short animation by the same name — as well as the earliest version of Minnie, which also appeared in the cartoon.


Teaser poster for the 2025 horror film 'Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble', featuring a dark version of children's character Winnie the Pooh 4
“Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble” is set to be released in 2025 starring Winnie the Pooh, Bambi, Pinnochio and other beloved animated characters that have recently entered the public domain. ITN Studios / SWNS

The slasher-film riff on the original good-natured, yellow-furred Pooh made headlines at the time for costing under $50,000 to make — then raking in an impressive $5.2 million at the box office, according to Variety.

On the heels of that success, the same two London-based horror collaborators are set to release “Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble” in a year’s time starring a murderous version of beloved Pooh bear.

The forthcoming film was born out of Jagged Edge chief Scott Chambers’ desire to see “an Avengers that is all villains,” according to Variety.

“It’d have Freddy Krueger, Jason, ‘Halloween,’ ‘Scream,’ all of those. Obviously that will never happen, but we can make it happen in our own little way, and that’s where this film has been born,” Chambers told the outlet.

Other characters set to appear in “Poohniverse” will first star in standalone films being released throughout 2024 as part of Jagged Edge’s version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which it calls the Twisted Childhood Universe.


Though Disney still owns the rights to animated versions of “Winnie the Pooh,” the origianl story in AA Milne’s book on the honey-loving teddy bear entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2022, meaning the characters are free to use legally



Poster art for the cancelled film 'Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey' 4
Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios — the same collaborators behind “Poohniverse” — also created the slasher-film riff “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” last year, plus its sequel that was released in March. AP

Among the movies in that collection are: “Bambi: The Reckoning,” “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare” and “Pinocchio Unstrung,” plus “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its sequel, which was released just last month.

For reference, Bambi’s copyrights expired in January 2022 while Peter Pan and Pinocchio booth entered the public domain early this year.

Though other details of the forthcoming film’s plot are unclear, the movie poster features a murderous Pooh swinging a bear trap on a chain while riding a bloodthirsty Bambi, Variety earlier reported.

Representatives for Jagged Edge and ITN Studios did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Many beloved animated characters are beginning to enter the public domain — becoming available for use without licensing or payment — in 2019, after a two-decade drought brought on by congressional extensions of the copyright period in 1998, according to Fortune.

However, the public didn’t appear to notice until 2022, when “Winnie the Pooh” became free to use following its 95-year-long copyright period.

The 1928 version of Mickey Mouse, for example, entered the public domain in January 2024 despite Disney trying to save its copyright on the iconic character that started it all.

Accordingly, Disney lost the copyright of Steamboat Willie — the original version of Mickey that appeared in a short animation by the same name — as well as the earliest version of Minnie, which also appeared in the cartoon.

[goldie0608]

The Next Grumpy Cat? Pouty Pet Stuck Between 2 Walls Frowns Through Their Rescue

A calico, peke-faced cat is drawing comparisons to the late Grumpy Cat, for the annoyed face they made in their rescue photo



The world may have found its next "Grumpy Cat."

On April 14, the U.K.'s Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service shared a Facebook post about a "curious cat" with an agitated face.

According to the fire department, firefighters responded to a call in Preston about a feline stuck between two walls. To free the cat from the "tight squeeze," firefighters "carefully chiseled" the pet out of the walls.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service did not share how the cat ended up in the predicament but noted on social media that "cats always like to keep us on our toes."

The Facebook post about the rescue also included a photo of the feline with one of their heroes. Even though the cat emerged from the incident "safe and sound," she looks pretty perturbed in her picture.

The picture shows the feline, a peke-faced calico cat, in the arms of Crew Manager Friar. The pet is sporting a noticeable frown, similar to the pout that made internet sensation Grumpy Cat famous.

Grumpy Cat died in 2019 at the age of 7 following complications from a urinary tract infection. The famous feline, known initially as Tardar Sauce, went viral in 2012 after photos of her frowning face circulated on Reddit, earning over 1 million views in 48 hours.

The cat turned her online fame into talk show appearances, endorsement deals, a Lifetime movie, an appearance in a Broadway production of Cats, and much more.

The unnamed feline rescued from the walls in Preston might not find the same fame as the original Grumpy Cat, but the pet certainly has the look.

"If gratitude had a face, it wouldn't be this kitty cat," one commenter on Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service's post shared.

"Not curious cat … furious cat!" added another.

Pyrite May Be Known as Fool’s Gold, but It Actually Contains a Kind of Green Gold–Lithium



Pyrite, or ‘fool’s gold’ – CC 3.0. Benjamint444, Wikimedia

Appalachian mining country seems an unlikely place to find a potential breakthrough in renewable energy, but samples of mine tailings in West Virginia have turned up plenty of lithium contained inside fool’s gold.

The team of scientists behind the discovery described it as “previously unheard of” and they hope that lithium extracted this way could mean a sustainable, steady supply of the rare earth element that currently has to be mined.

Because of its extreme reactivity, lithium is a great material for batteries, used for storing excess energy generated from solar panels and powering the millions of electric cars sold worldwide every year.

Demand for lithium has skyrocketed recently as countries attempt to transition to greener energy sources, and though massive deposits are present in the Lower 48, American lithium would still have to be extracted via environmentally harmful mining.

A research team from West Virginia University wanted to discover new stores of lithium. In particular, they were interested in whether waste streams from previous industrial operations such as mine tailings or drill cuttings could serve as a source of lithium without generating new waste.

This is already common in the gold mining industry, with companies like DRDGold and its subsidiary Far West Gold Recoveries, treating old slime dams and sand dumps around South Africa’s gold fields to extract gold that’s been missed, making over $1 billion net in the most recent fiscal year.
cientists studied 15 middle-Devonian sedimentary rock samples from the Appalachian Basin in the US and found plenty of pyrite inside shale that contained lithium.

“This is unheard of,” said lead researcher and Ph.D. student Shailee Bhattacharya. “But it is promising because it hints at the possibility that certain shales could be a lithium source that doesn’t require new mines.”

The study, due to be presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2024 General Assembly, found that lithium was more likely to be found in sulfur-rich pyrite, although further research will be needed to establish why this is.

“Organic-rich shale may show potential for higher lithium recovery because of the curious interaction between lithium and pyrite,” Ms Bhattacharya said.

“I am trying to understand this association, but the hope is, with lithium discovered in pyrite, we can talk about sustainable energy without using a lot of energy resources.”

Bizarre Marine Worm Has Eyes That Weigh 20 Times More Than The Rest Of Its Head

Its gigantic peepers endow it with an impressive level of eyesight.


E.T. is that you?!
Image Credit: Michael Bok

Scientists investigating a strange sea critter with an enormous set of eyes have discovered it has surprisingly advanced eyesight for such a small animal, and might even use them for a unique method of secret communication.

Imagine lugging around an extra 100 kilograms (220 pounds) in the form of two gigantic eyeballs. That would probably look incredibly cursed, but that’s the reality – at least in relative terms – for Vanadis bristle worms, which have bright orange-red eyes that together weigh 20 times more than the rest of their head.

However, these odd-looking Mediterranean marine worms are also nocturnal – so what’s the point in them having such massive eyes?

A team of scientists set out to find out, examining the morphology of the eyes, as well as conducting electrophysiological tests to determine what kind of receptors were in the eyes, and thus what wavelengths of light the worms could see.

They also carried out optical analysis to get an idea of the kind of resolution they could see in, though this was a bit more complex than getting a worm to squint at a bunch of letters on a distant poster.


Vanadis is named after the Norse goddess of love, Freya.
Image credit: Michael Bok

The tests revealed that the worms have what the researchers called “outstanding vision”, capable of high-resolution and tracking even small objects and their movements – something that’s pretty unusual for such a creature.

“Its eyesight is on a par with that of mice or rats, despite being a relatively simple organism with a miniscule brain," said study author Anders Garm in a statement. "It's really interesting because an ability like this is typically reserved for us vertebrates, along with arthropods (insects, spiders, etc.) and cephalopods (octopus, squid).

It’s still not entirely clear what benefit having such bright, enormous eyes actually has for the worms, but the discovery that their vision appears to be geared to ultraviolet (UV) light has given the team some ideas.

"We have a theory that the worms themselves are bioluminescent and communicate with each other via light,” explained Garm. “If you use normal blue or green light as bioluminescence, you also risk attracting predators. But if instead, the worm uses UV light, it will remain invisible to animals other than those of its own species. Therefore, our hypothesis is that they’ve developed sharp UV vision so as to have a secret language related to mating."

They also suggest that it could help them see UV bioluminescent prey – but let’s be honest, the idea that they have ginormous peepers to spot stealthy sexy messages is far more amusing.

“Regardless, it makes things truly exciting as UV bioluminescence has yet to be witnessed in any other animal. So, we hope to be able to present this as the first example,” Garm concluded.

The study is published in the journal Current Biology. (open access)

[Zbignieww]

Airplane passenger fined in Sydney for urinating in a cup


FILE - Two Air New Zealand passenger jets taxi past each other at Sydney Airport on July 13, 2003. A passenger has been fined for urinating in a cup during a delay on deplaning after landing at Sydney Airport. Officials said on Friday, April 5, 2024, in incident after a 3-hour Air New Zealand flight from Auckland occurred in December last year and a Sydney court fined the 53-year-old man 600 Australian dollars for offensive behavior in February. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)


SYDNEY (AP) — A passenger has been fined for urinating in a cup during a delay in deplaning after landing at Sydney Airport.

The incident, after a 3-hour Air New Zealand flight from Auckland, occurred last December and a Sydney court fined the 53-year-old man 600 Australian dollars ($395) for offensive behavior in February, officials said Friday.

The incident only came to public attention on Friday, when New Zealand news website Stuff reported that a passenger in the same row, identified only as Hollv, said she had reported the behavior to the air crew.

She said she and her 15-year-old daughter were sitting in the aisle and middle seats when the man in the window seat, whose name has not been released, was urinating in a cup.

Holly said the plane had been on the tarmac for about 20 minutes, waiting for a terminal gate to be allocated, when she heard the unmistakable sound of the passenger urinating in a cup, Stuff reported.

She said the man was “obviously quite drunk” and spilled urine on a flight attendant as he left the plane, it reported.

But the mishap with the attendant wasn’t his crime. Australian Federal Police said in a statement that officers removed him from the plane because he had “urinated into a cup while in his seat.”

Air New Zealand said it does not comment on individual incidents. It said it bans between five and 10 customers each month for disruptive behavior, including intoxication.

https://apnews.com/article/australia-ur ... 7cd94542f7

[goldie0608]

Woman No Longer Cooks Husband Dinner After He Refuses to Do Dishes: 'He Can Handle His Own'

In an anonymous Reddit post, a woman said her husband won't clean up after she makes family meals



An anonymous woman is stirring conversation on Reddit after revealing that her husband refuses to clean the dishes when he cooks dinner for the family — so she's no longer making enough food for him.

Identifying herself only as a woman in her 30s who loves to cook, the anonymous poster writes that she was making dinner every night for herself, her husband and their 4-year-old son.

"I don’t typically make things that take 100 dishes or leave a massive mess but there’s usually a couple of pots and pans, some utensils and a cutting board," she writes.

While both her son and husband will typically rinse their dinner plates and place them in the dishwasher, the poster writes that she ends up with all the cooking dishes to clean.

"I have brought this up to my husband and asked if he could do the dishes after I cook as I’m tired from doing the cooking," she writes. "He says that since I made the mess I should deal with it myself. I was mad but didn’t ask again."

So the next night, she changed her routine.

"The next night I made dinner that was just enough for me and my son. None for husband," she writes, adding, "He was confused."

She continues: "I told him if he wasn’t going to do his part for the meal then he could make his own. I think this is fair! If he thinks cleaning our dishes from our shared meal that I worked to make then he can handle his own food!"

The anonymous Reddit user ended her post by adding that she is "not a stay at home parent."

"We both work full time and I handle most of the house and kid stuff. His job is manual labor and mine is a desk job," she adds.

Fellow Reddit users were quick to come to the poster's defense, saying that if she did the cooking, her husband should do the cleaning.

"I cook every night. My spouse does the dishes. It's called division of labor. Your spouse should get a clue. I like your malicious compliance?" wrote one.

Another wrote: "By your husband’s logic you should also stop doing his laundry, making his side of the bed, and any other household chores that involve things he uses."

Still others were a little more straightforward. "And he contributes what, exactly (besides mess)," wrote one commenter.



due to late start of ION for 17th April, this post to be included in Wednesday's news

[rflash8]

Pandas' diets may be sabotaging their sex lives and they should be fed a more 'wild' diet, says new study

Feeding captive pandas a seasonal diet could help them reproduce, according to a new study from Beijing. The species are particularly bad at reproducing, which hampers conservation efforts.



Pandas are not good at reproducing, especially when they are held in captivity. Now, their poo may help scientists understand why.

Lots of animals struggle to mate in captivity. Cheetahs, polar bears, certain leopards and giant pandas all find it difficult to reproduce.

Pandas, however, have it particularly hard.

Females only ovulate once a year in spring and there's a short, 40-hour window when they are fertile.

If they do get pregnant, they will usually give birth to two cubs but only one generally survives - and then stays with its mother for up to three years.

In captivity, pandas also get stressed by being stuck in confined spaces and males do not seem to like a lack of choice in mates.

When conservationists try to help out by artificially inseminating females, the mothers show less maternal behaviour than if they had conceived naturally.



All this means that conservation efforts to save pandas are particularly hard. A team of scientists in Beijing suspected the diets of captive pandas may not be helping.

"In captivity, animals lack the freedom to choose optimal food," said the Beijing Normal University team in their new study. This means they may be missing out on nutrients that are "essential for reproduction".

Bamboo makes up the majority of their diet but they lack a gene that would help them digest it. That means they have to eat between 12-38 kilograms of bamboo every day to get enough nutrients and they rely on their gut bacteria to break it down.

Now, by studying 72 poo samples from 20 male giant pandas, the scientists have discovered males who had successfully reproduced had "significantly higher" levels of a gut bacteria called 'clostridium'. The Beijing team thinks this could be impacting their fertility.

In order to boost the levels of that bacteria, they have recommended that zookeepers and conservationists feed their pandas a more "wild" diet by increasing the amount of shoots and flavonoids the pandas eat.

Panda conservation has had recent success despite breeding problems. The species was recently downgraded from 'endangered' to 'vulnerable' after their population increased by 17% in a decade.

There are now 1,864 living in the wild, after efforts by the Chinese government, conservationists and scientists to protect their habitats and bring the species back from the brink.

due to late start of ION for 17th April, this post to be included in Wednesday's news

[Fatima99]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
WEDNESDAY APRIL 17
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -5)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

[Fatima99]

Bioengineered Corneas Stand to Cure Blindness For Millions of People Around the World



In an interview with the Brisbane Times, an Australian ophthalmologist and biotech entrepreneur lays out his vision for a world in which curing blindness in millions of people worldwide is easy and can be done with a bit of cell replication and a 3D printer.

Professor Gerard Sutton is co-founder of Bienco, which he claims now possesses a product—both physical and intellectual—that will soon be able to mass-produce natural corneas for transplantation into the blind.

Cornea transplantation is the most common way of restoring lost sight, but it’s a very technical procedure that relies on donors. The thin see-through “windscreen” of the eyeball, damage or disease to the cornea is a major cause of non-hereditary blindness worldwide.

In the interview, Sutton’s voice shrinks as he recalls a trip he took to Myanmar in 2004 when he was hoping to help the situation of blindness from the previous civil war by training surgeons to perform cornea transplants. On ice, he said, he had brought along four donated corneas from the NSW Eye Bank.

On his arrival at the clinic set to host him, 1,000 people were waiting, thanks to a small article in a local paper. Out of a thousand blind men and women, he had to select four who would be the most suitable for transplant: he picked young people.

This was a transformational experience, and when paired with a follow-up trip to Cambodia where a similar situation occurred, Professor Sutton realized he needed to do something more: something “out of left field” that would allow him to send as many corneas to these parts of the world as was needed.

“At present, there is only one donor cornea available globally to treat every 70 people requiring a corneal transplant,” said Professor Damien Harkin who is a part of Bienco’s staff based at the Queensland University of Technology. “Through laboratory cultivation we estimate that a single donor cornea could provide treatment for 30 people.”



Bienco’s artificial corneas are based on collagen, the proteins that make hair, skin, nails, and connective tissue. This tends to create opaque tissue, like our skin, and so the first challenge was to make collagen see-through.

Once this was done, Sutton and the other members of Bienco like Harkin had to figure out how to apply the many layers of collagen to make a cornea structure that could be transplantable.

In 2021, Sutton managed to convince the Medical Research Future Fund set up by the treasurer of Australia to back Bienco to the tune of AUD$35 million.

Armed with this unprecedented injection of cash, Sutton believes they are “three to four years” from achieving their goals and making Australia the center of bioengineering on Earth.

[HogwartsExpress]

Ant species named after Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort after Pilbara discovery



Researchers say the pale, elongated body of a newly discovered species of ant living in Western Australia's outback inspired them to give it a villainous name.

The ant has been given the name Voldemort — in honour of the main antagonist in the Harry Potter series.

Mark Wong from the University of Western Australia made the discovery near Newman in the Pilbara region in early March, and gave the insect the full scientific name of Leptanilla voldemort.

He said he noted that it looked very similar to Ralph Fiennes' portrayal of the character.

"They live exclusively underground, and have pale features — it looks very ghostly," Dr Wong said.

"It's extremely slender and it's got sharp fangs.

"That villainous appearance inspired me to name it after a famous villain like Lord Voldemort."

Dr Wong, who grew up reading the Harry Potter books and watching the film series, said he was a fan of the villain — often referred to in the series as "He Who Must Not Be Named".
He joked that he was nearly tempted to call it "the ant who must not be named".

Animals named after film and TV characters are fairly common, especially insects.

Two spider species share a name with The Big Lebowski, and in Australia two wasps have been named after Crocodile Dundee.

A number of organisms also share names with other Harry Potter characters, including a spider bearing the name of Gryffindor, a crab named for Severus Snape, and a wasp similarly named for a villain, Lucius Malfoy.

Surprisingly, this latest discovery seems to be the only one that bears the dark lord's name.

"This is probably the first organism that is named after Voldemort," Dr Wong said.

A rare discovery

There are more than 14,000 species of ants around the world, but this latest discovery is a unique one.

The villainous ant falls under the Leptanilla genus — of which only about 60 are known to exist worldwide.

This latest discovery is only the second time Leptanilla ants have been found in Australia.

"Leptanilla ants are very rare," Dr Wong said.

"We hardly encounter them, even as experienced myrmecologists, or ant scientists."

The two confirmed specimens of L. voldemort were only discovered when researchers drilled a 25-metre-deep hole and extracted them.

Dr Wong said like their namesake, Leptanilla voldemort appear to be ruthless, specialised hunters.

Although not much is currently known about the species or Leptanilla ants in general, Dr Wong said the latest discovery will help better understand global ant species.

"Documenting the diversity of these and other ants that live underground is the next frontier in myrmecology."

Much like the activities of rogue wizards, experts in the field of myrmecology are keen to learn more about these species.

src: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/an ... r-BB1lG5RT

[ozswede]

Paddling down the Tumut River ... in a giant pumpkin

If you were down Tumut way last weekend and spotted a man resplendent in a Popeye hat and pipe paddling down the Tumut River in an odd-looking orange vessel, you weren't seeing things.

The biggest pumpkin grown in Australia this year has been given a second life as an intrepid commodore paddled it down river over the weekend.

Adam Farquharson spotted an opportunity for hijinks after his friend Mark Peacock grew a Royal Easter Show blue ribbon-awarded monster pumpkin.

The 407-kilogram gourd named Tormund, after Game of Thrones character Tormund Giantsbane, was the biggest pumpkin awarded in any show across the nation in 2024, according to Mr Peacock.


Popeye the Pumpkin Man paddles the Tumut River.

A former commodore of the Tumut Canoe Club, Mr Farquharson said he had attempted to grow giant pumpkins big enough to paddle in previous years but that turned out to be an "abject and hilarious failure".

"It grew to about the size of a softball, rotted off and died," he said.

So when Mr Peacock informed him that his mammoth cucurbit would be used for stock feed, Mr Farquharson pounced.

"Barry Humphries said that he's a big fan of the unnecessary, and I am too. I'm a big one for shenanigans," he said.

Mark Peacock grew the monster 407kg pumpkin which would eventually be ridden down the Tumut River.

Inspired by Popeye, he completed the one-mile trip in the hollowed-out "slimy" gourd christened Cinderella on Saturday, sporting a sailor hat and pipe.

Up to 1,000 people lined the banks of the river, chasing the pumpkin canoeist as he paddled along.

Pumpkin a cult figure

Mr Peacock initially thought it was a joke, but said the idea was "very Adam".

"He's really hilarious. But he's random, occasionally," he said.

He said the pumpkin had gained a cult following in the southern New South Wales town which sits on the foothills of the Snowy Mountains.

"I intentionally grew this as a family project and then started doing Facebook updates every week," Mr Peacock said.

"So it was a fitting send-off that the community got to experience Tormund the pumpkin one more time in a different capacity."

Saturday's 1,000 strong crowd watching the event

Mr Farquharson said he took to the water for no real reason other than to amuse himself and to make people smile.

"It's just something really cool to do. I've paddled that river so many times, [but] that's the most fun I've ever had floating down the Tumut River," he said.

"It made me happy and apparently it made other people have a bit of a smile too."

His wife Alana said it was indicative of a sweet-natured man who wanted to make others happy.

"It didn't surprise me at all. He loves a joke," she said.

Bigger than Taylor Swift

Mr Farquharson believes he is the first person to achieve the feat — in the Tumut River at least.

He said he knew of another person who paddled a smaller pumpkin in Collector Creek, on the other side of Canberra.



But all that really mattered was the next feat, he jokingly said, saying he fancied getting behind a speedboat wearing "some marrows" on his feet for water skis.

Locals have taken to calling him Popeye the Pumpkin Man, but he said he was sure the fame would be short lived.

"I think the worldwide fame will wear off pretty soon. I won't end up like Taylor Swift. I'll just get back to life as normal," he said.

His famed vessel will now end up as was originally intended, feeding cattle.

"It was a sad moment. I did jokingly say to my wife that I should petition the prime minister to have it preserved and put next to Phar Lap's heart at the National Museum," he said.

"She thought I was an idiot."

[lush]

Neglected Pensioner Leaves $2.8 Million Fortune to Her Pets, Nothing to Her Children
012624*

An elderly Chinese woman has decided to leave her 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) fortune to her pet cats and dogs, claiming that they were always there for her, unlike her three children.

The woman, made her first will some years back, splitting all her possessions among her three children, but she recently had a change of heart after being neglected by her human offspring. She claims that her children never visited or at least arranged for her to be taken care of when she was ill, and they hardly ever contact her, so she has decided to leave all her assets to the only creatures that have always been by her side – her pet cats and dogs. The Shanghai-based woman has already changed her will to reflect her wishes that all her money be used to care for her pets and their offspring after her passing.


Photo: Camellia/Unsplash

Unfortunately for the woman, surnamed Liu, Chinese law forbids people from leaving possessions directly to their pets. However, after consulting a lawyer, Liu found a way around it – she appointed a veterinary clinic as the administrator of her wealth, entrusting it with caring for her beloved pets.

Chen Kai, an official from China’s Will Registration Centre headquarters in Beijing, told the South China Morning Post that Liu’s current will puts her assets at risk, adding that his office had instructed her to appoint a person she trusts to supervise the veterinary clinic in how it manages the inheritance.

“Liu’s current will is one way, and we would have advised her to appoint a person she trusts to supervise the vet clinic to ensure the pets are properly cared for,” Kai said.


Photo: Melinda Gimpel/Unsplash

Another legal expert expressed his hope that Liu’s kids will come around and that she will change her mind about making her pets the only heirs.

The elderly woman’s story touched the hearts of millions in China, most of whom were sympathetic to her situation. Filial piety is a big deal in the Asian country and children who neglect their parents in their old age are punishable by law.

“Well done. If my daughter treats me poorly in the future, I will also leave my house to others,” one person wrote on Sina Weibo, China’s version of X (Twitter).

Couple on viral nine-month cruise reveal huge daily wifi cost
Source: Yahoo!



A couple on the viral nine-month Royal Caribbean cruise have revealed how they secured half price tickets for the worldwide voyage - only to end up paying more than $300 (£240) for onboard wifi.

Joshua Terry and his fiancee Ina Ar are among thousands of passengers on the global trip which departed Miami in December, making 150 stops in 275 days before its planned last leg in September 2024. The pair, who met in 2020, sold their car, investments and used savings to board the ‘ultimate world cruise’, securing a cheaper place on board as ‘back-to-backers’ with 17 individual trips, rather than the full price ticket.

After four months, the Serenade of the Seas has taken in the Americas, Asia and Australia, but also been beset by flooding, alcohol shortages and passenger tension as hundreds of TikTok influencers film the ‘nine month reality show’ on board. Having already shelled out $30,000 (£24,000) each for the trip, however, Joshua and Ina had to take another big financial hit to stay online at sea – as Royal Caribbean’s WiFi costs $25.99 (£21) each day.

Speaking to Yahoo News UK about life on board, Terry, 34, said he initially thought the Royal Caribbean trip was unaffordable (full single tickets start at £42,462), so didn’t consider booking. As time went on, however, the cruise company started selling mini segments of the trip. Ina said: “They came out with a new one with 17 small legs and then it became the whole cruise, so then we noticed the price is much better than the chunky one booking.”


Joshua Terry and his fiancée Ian Ar on the deck of the Serenade of the Seas as it sailed through Antartica


Joshua Terry and Ina Ar having dinner on the cruise.

Terry left his job as a comedy club manager and Ar quit hers at an IT company, they packed a suitcase each, and the pair - who’d planned to move house shortly before booking - joined the cruise. Terry added: “We already got rid of everything and just hopped on the world cruise, so we’re not paying rent anywhere.”

Having booked their journey as 17 individual trips, the pair have to pack their cases after each of the two- to four-week segments and check back into a new room. Joshua said: “This is like 17 cruises in actuality, where everything is reset from payments to cards to events so a lot of it’s repeated.”

Royal Caribbean passengers who want to check in online whilst at sea face hefty daily charges, as Joshua and Ina have discovered. The firm’s VOOM on board internet packages charge guests $25.99 per day, with Joshua having so far paid $332 (£266) in WiFi charges, less than half way through the trip.


Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas docking in north China’s Tianjin Municipality Sunday, April 07, 2024.

Joshua said he’s requested free WiFi whilst on board as compensation for finding a maggot in his food during one meal, and the phone not working in their room, but only been offered a bottle of wine by Royal Caribbean instead.

Joshua, from Vancouver, Canada, has had to pay the significant wifi costs regularly on board to post TikToks of his trip, where he’s gained 15,000 followers since boarding. A large number of TikTok influencers have boarded the 960ft Serenade of the Seas – with Terry adding that the constant filming and posting on social media has become a slightly sensitive subject on board.

He added: “There are people on the ship who are like, ‘I hate TikTokers and social media’. They’re here trying to enjoy the cruise, and there are people who are just filming. There was an announcement at one point where a staff member said: ‘We won’t have wifi, so there’ll be no more TikToks for a bit’, and everyone cheered.”

The couple are considering getting married on the cruise, but due to the itinerary changes, they have not been able to make it happen yet. Terry also said that, as ‘back-to-backers’ rather than guests who paid for one single trip, they haven’t been invited to all passenger meetings and ‘have definitely been treated differently by Royal Caribbean’.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Yahoo UK that WiFi is complimentary for cruise guests on the Ultimate World Cruise and Ultimate Cruise 60 nights+ segment, but for guests who ‘choose to book the trip via multiple back-to-back sailings at an individual sailing rate’, there is an ‘additional cost’.

[PennySerenade]

Blue Jays player signs jersey for man in hospital



Ontario resident Carla Norris-Hutcheson says she never expected to be gifted a Blue Jays jersey for her ailing husband when she sat alone at the team’s home opener next to a couple of kind strangers.

She said that one minute, she was chatting away with the group of young men, and the next they handed her a gift bag with a blue George Springer jersey, her husband’s favourite, saying it was a gift to help uplift him during this difficult time in hospital.

“I just started crying,” Hutcheson told CTV News Toronto on Monday. “It really touched me that they did that for us. I told my husband what happened and he felt just so blessed.”

“He felt really wonderful that somebody took care of me while he couldn’t.”

Her husband, Paul Klith, is at the Toronto General Hospital due to liver failure. Hutcheson says she been visiting him from Gananoque for the past two weeks since he was admitted.

Hutcheson said she was at the game at her husband’s insistence. She was spending long days and nights in hospital, and he wanted her to have a little bit of fun and to celebrate their anniversary.

“I felt very nervous. I had never been to a game alone,” she said. “I was scared because you don’t know who you are going to sit with and maybe they wouldn’t talk to me but everybody was so kind.”

“It’s been such a long journey, every night being in a hotel on my own and sitting in a room watching him sleep and trying to help.”

Things took an even more shocking turn, she told CTV News Toronto, when star player George Springer and his team tracked her down on social media and offered to sign the jersey.

“My husband was in shock. He thought it was a joke,” she said. “He is so excited and wishes he could go to a game, but for now he’s just watching it on TV.”



Despite being a huge Blue Jays fan, Hutcheson said Klith never had a jersey before. He’s never been to a game, she said, because he’s a truck driver for Tim Hortons and always on the road so this signed jersey will be extra special.

“We always kept saying we’re going to get to the game this summer, but it was hard for him,” Hutcheson said.

Laura Brady, Toronto resident and Blue Jays fan, told CTV News Toronto on Monday that she witnessed the whole act of kindness transpire at the home opener and shared the story on social media to inspire others.

“It was just a purely kind gesture,” Brady said. ”it was just really lovely to witness.”

She said she never expected that George Springer’s representatives would contact her and ask to be connected with Hutcheson, whose number and name she did not have. She said her post exploded on social media, going viral.

Eventually, Hutcheson was found after her friend in Gananoque saw Brady’s post and knew it was about Hutcheson.

“If my one friend had not seen it I wouldn’t have known they were searching for me,” she said.

CTV News Toronto reached out to the Toronto Blue Jays for comment but have not received a response yet.

Hutcheson said she’s very grateful for everyone who came together to show kindness to her husband and herself, especially the group of young men.

“Paul, Alex and Chris were the ones that sat beside me in the game and they just checked on me and they made me laugh and they were just so good to me,” she said. “I just hope this will get to them so they know how much it really really helped me and helped by husband.”

“We’re trying to be very positive during this time and hoping for the best.”

The Car Fueled Entirely by the Sun Takes Huge Step Towards Production


credit – Aptera, via X

One of the most hotly anticipated concept cars in recent history, the Aptera solar-powered car took a large step towards reality recently as the first-ever production-grade body arrived at the company’s headquarters in San Diego.

This three-wheeler is advertised as containing 34 square feet of solar paneling that actually powers the car as it drives or while it’s parked, but so many aspects are completely new in a commercial automobile designed for mass production that extra precautions and preparations are needed before it can hit the road.

“We had so much fun last week celebrating a company milestone—the arrival of Aptera’s first production body in San Diego,” the company wrote in a post on X. “Now Team Aptera is back to work finalizing the cable routing, connectors, and placement of components in preparation for our first [production-intent] builds.”

According to Elektrek, the company has ordered all the parts for its production-intent battery packs, and other non-structural components are currently being “validated” in Italy by the company’s supply partner.

The suspension, safety equipment, and drivetrain are yet to be finalized for production models. Still, the company has gone further than many before them, because the design they are currently finalizing is not meant to be an eye-raiser or science project, like some GNN has reported on.

When the PI-2 Aptera solar trike is finally ready, it will be because the company is producing 10,000 a year.

Despite looking as dramatic as any Pagani or Lamborghini, the Aptera’s tapered backside, aerodynamic body, and arched, dolphin-like undercarriage are all designed to reduce drag.

In fact, the detail paid to the reduction of drag and energy use borders on obsessive. But it’s through this ultra-efficiency that solar power, a relatively limited form of electricity generation, can actually become a useful feature for powering a car.

“We think energy should be used to turn your wheels—that starts with aerodynamics,” says Co-CEO Chris Anthony, in a video released by the company in 2021 announcing it was taking preorders.

“In a typical vehicle you use 60% of your fuel just pushing the air out of the way at highway speeds; so if you could take that aerodynamic drag down to 0, you’d instantly get 60% better fuel economy.

“Instead of having 200-300 parts to the body, [the Aptera] have four parts to the main structure, and that makes it much easier to build, track, and assemble,” says Steve Fambro, the second co-founder of the company, in the same video.

The company says the Aptera’s solar panels will deliver 40 miles of range from charging per sunny day, but the car can be plugged in like any other EV. Aptera also maintains that its vehicle will have 1,000 miles of range because of this perfect aerodynamism, low-weight, and efficient drivetrain.