Boing Boing, February 28, 2025
All our posts from the past 24 hours
Here are today's Boing Boing stories. Thanks for supporting Boing Boing!
Woman breaks dogs out of pound, winds up in jail herself (video)
Jason Weisberger / 9:00 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
A woman decided to answer the question of "who let the dogs out" dramatically. At the San Bernardino Animal Shelter, it was she.
A woman was caught on video using bolt cutters to spring all the dogs locked up at the San Bernardino, California Animal Shelter. All but one of the dogs has been recovered, and the woman was taken into custody. The shelter is not designated a no-kill shelter, so it may be this was an ethical demonstration or just chaos.
Video released by the city's animal services department shows the dogs running outside the building, while the woman walked away around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The San Bernardino Police Department eventually took the suspect into custody. Most of the dogs were located, including four that were found in a dumpster.
However, one dog is still missing – a cream-colored female Chihuahua named Louise.
Watch this incredibly precise roller coaster implosion (video)
Jason Weisberger / 8:48 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Kingda Ka, a steel rollercoaster at a New Jersey Six Flags, was dramatically disassembled.
Here are a few more angles:
In the first video, you can see nearly every piece of the coaster come apart. Must make clean up easier!
Gentleman tries to escape police by swimming away — in Rome's Trevi Fountain (he doesn't get very far)
Carla Sinclair / 7:48 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
A New Zealand gentleman tried to escape police in Rome — by swimming away in the city's iconic Trevi Fountain. But he didn't get very far.
The tourist had already jumped into the 18th-century fountain once, along with his two traveling sidekicks, before police began to escort the trio away. That's when the 30-year-old chap thought he could make a quick getaway by diving back into the fountain. But nope, $524 later — the fine he was ordered to pay — he learned that such an escape is not possible.
"Alcohol was definitely involved," Rome's Capital Police told CNN about the New Zealander, who was reportedly banned from ever coming near the famous fountain again.
Taking a dip in the fountain has been an aspiration for many tourists, inspired by Federico Fellini's 1960 film "La Dolce Vita," during which Anita Ekberg waded into the waters in an evening gown, purring to her paramour, played by Marcello Mastroianni, to join her.
About a dozen tourists are fined for dipping everything from their toes to water bottles into the fountain each year, according to Roman police.
A greater number of would-be thieves are stopped for trying to steal some of the 1.5 million euros worth of coins that are thrown into the water each year. The money, which goes to charity, is collected daily.
— CNN
Previously: Dumb tourist climbs across Rome's historic Trevi Fountain to fill her water bottle (video)
Video: testing the surprising heat resistance of pineapple skin
Popkin / 7:42 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
This pineapple experiment shows the heat-resistance of pineapple skin. This super heated, iron ball was heated to 1800 degrees and then placed on top of the pineapple skin without making a mere dent in it. The rind of the pineapple helps retain moisture within the fruit, and helps protect the fruit from the drying effects of heat.
Another one of the reasons that pineapple skin can withstand heat is the tough and fibrous quality of the skin. This helps protect the fruit from damage due to exposure to the sun. Pineapples grow in hot climates, so it's important that they can survive the weather.
Spongebob Squarepants was smart when he decided to live in a pineapple. I think we should all be doing the same. Maybe airplanes should be made out of pineapple skin, too.
See also: Would you like a miniature pineapple?
Fyre Fest 2 "does not exist," say local officials
Rob Beschizza / 7:27 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Fyre Fest 2 tickets are on sale, but that doesn't mean you should buy them. The Guardian reports that there's little evidence the sequel to the worst-planned festival since DashCon is even real. And local government at the purported venue warning that "for us, this is an event that does not exist."
But the festival seems to be repeating its own history as an improvised disaster after the local government in Isla Mujeres denied knowing anything about it.
"We have no knowledge of this event, nor contact with any person or company about it," Edgar Gasca, from the tourism directorate of Isla Mujeres, told the Guardian.
"For us, this is an event that does not exist."
There is hapless, well-meaning incompetence—and then there's this.
Somehow, Cybertrucks just got even uglier
Grant St. Clair / 6:31 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Given that Cybertrucks fall to pieces in the face of a particularly menacing spray paint can, the rationale behind wanting to take one camping is just as strange as the rationale behind buying one in the first place. Given that absolutely abysmal bed space, though, you're likely going to want something to make the experience a little easier – the very first dedicated Cybertruck camper has arrived, although it predictably makes the Deplorean even more of an eyesore.
I honestly almost prefer the gold plating. The CyberPhoenix, so it's called, makes the Cybertruck go from an unpolished chunk of steel to an unpolished chunk of steel with a malignant growth on its back. It comes with a $60,000 price tag and only makes a halfhearted attempt to look like it actually belongs on the truck, but nonetheless Musk fanboys – the people for whom the phrase 'more money than sense' was coined – are snapping it up all the same. For their sake, I hope it manages to survive its first rainy day, because the truck it's attached to sure won't.
EA open-sources classic Red Alert games
Rob Beschizza / 6:29 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Command & Conquer: Red Alert and its spinoffs represented the peak of the 1990s real-time strategy genre. EA has released the source code to many of the games in the series, now available at Github with an open-source license.
The current state of the source code does not fully compile and will require some effort to restore it. If you wish to restore the original build environment, the following tools are required; Watcom C/C++ (v10.6) for C/C++ source files; Borland Turbo Assembler (TASM v4.0) for assembly files. To use the compiled binaries, you must own the game. The C&C Ultimate Collection is available for purchase on EA App or Steam.
Steam Workshop is in; the ancient code is otherwise released without any support. Fans of the series have already developed a remake of the game engine, OpenRA, presumably a better point of call for people wanting to play the games on modern systems and with modern UX conveniences and features. And I see that Red Alert 2 is missing even though more recent titles are included in the set; I vaguely remember rumors the source was lost.
What are Markov chains? Interactive guide with examples
Mark Frauenfelder / 5:24 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
I've heard of Markov Chains, but I didn't understand them until I visited this site that explains them with simple interactive animations.
Look at the illustration above. The gray circle can move in the direction of the blue and orange arrows. At the moment I took the screen grab, the circle moved from point A to point A. Once it reaches A it can either move to B or loop back to A. I could go on, but if you are interested in learning about Markov Chains, just visit the site. It only takes a few minutes to read.
The site has other interactive math tutorials, too. The one for sine and cosine is good.
See all seven planets at once this week in a "planetary parade"
Gail Sherman / 5:07 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
This week, there will be a great planetary alignment, also known colloquially as a planetary parade, where all the planets in our solar system will be visible simultaneously in the night sky. Weather permitting, just after sunset, all seven planets will be visible in a line called an ecliptic.
Mercury and Saturn will only be visible for a short time after sunset, and a short time later, Neptune and Venus will join them below the horizon. Jupiter, Uranus, and Mars will be visible all night.
A great alignment is possible only when the planets are all relatively far from the sun, so they are visible at night, and all in approximately the same half of the sky, so they can be seen at the same time. It is a remarkable orbital coincidence – sometimes there are multiple great alignments in a year, and sometimes several years pass without a single one. A similar event isn't due to occur until 2040.
The unusual display will peak on February 28th. Apps like Night Sky and Star Watch can help identify the plane and aid novice and veteran skywatchers.
Federal judge says Elon Musk's DOGE-led mass firings need to stop now: "Illegal"
Carla Sinclair / 5:07 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
A federal judge put the kibosh on Elon Musk's DOGE-led mass firings of federal workers, calling the billionaire's tactics "illegal."
San Francisco's U.S. District Judge William Alsup said on Thursday that the Office of Personnel Management can hire and fire employees within its own department, but "cannot order or direct some other agency to do so."
"The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees within another agency," said the judge, via NPR. "It can hire its own employees, yes. Can fire them. But it cannot order or direct some other agency to do so."
"OPM has no authority to tell any agency in the United States government, other than itself, who they can hire and who they can fire, period," Alsup added.
But, although Alsup has blocked Donald Trump's OPM from continuing to burn down the U.S. federal workforce (at least for now), he wasn't able to reinstate the jobs of workers already fired.
The ruling is a setback for the Trump administration's ongoing effort to dramatically shrink the federal workforce. But it does not appear to immediately help any of the federal workers who have already lost their jobs.
That's because U.S. District Judge William Alsup stopped short of ordering the agencies to reinstate the fired workers or to halt looming firings. Alsup said he doesn't currently have the authority to do that.
The San Francisco-based judge, however, did order OPM to rescind any directives it has issued requiring the mass terminations. OPM also must inform several agencies that it has no power to dictate firings across the federal bureaucracy.
In the end, Judge Alsup admonished the OPM for their despicable dishonesty when it cited "performance" as the reason thousands of employees were fired.
"That's just not right in our country, is it, that we would run our agencies with lies like that and stain somebody's record for the rest of their life?" Alsup said as he issued his ruling from the bench after a court hearing in a lawsuit brought by labor unions and organizations whose members are served by agencies hobbled by the mass terminations. "Who's going to want to work in a government that would do that?"
And Alsup is just getting started. In March, according to Mediaite, the judge will "call acting OPM Director Charles Ezell to testify under oath at an upcoming hearing in March."
Previously: Trump is now mocking federal workers with memes threatening their jobs
Video of tuckered-out bus-riding dogs after a day of adventure
Jennifer Sandlin / 5:06 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
I never tire of watching videos of adorable puppies getting bussed to doggy daycare. We've previously shared the bus riding adventures of the precious pups from Skagway, Alaska-based Mo Mountain Mutts—including their sweet tribute to regular rider Bernie.
I'm thrilled to share with you a different pup bus! This one is run by Escape to the Country, a doggie daycare and pet boarding company based in Okotoks and serving the South Calgary, Alberta area. Here's a sweet video introducing the regular riders, and here's a much longer one showing lots of dogs boarding the bus, riding to their adventure play area, and then thoroughly enjoying themselves running and jumping across a snowy park, wading in a stream, and playing with all of their friends.
I think my favorite video is this "before and after" one. It first shows how excited the dogs are as they board the bus in the morning and ride to their adventure day, and then cuts to the end of the day as the utterly exhausted—and thoroughly happy—dogs ride back home after an amazing outing.
See more videos of all the cute canines at Escape to the Country's Instagram.
They should have named the new dual-branded Applebees-IHOP restaurant "Hopplebee's"
Jennifer Sandlin / 4:51 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Loosen your belt by a few notches, or, even better, don your comfiest elastic-waist pants, because the first-of-its-kind combination Applebee's-IHOP restaurant is now open near San Antonio, Texas. Culture Map San Antonio provides some details:
The dual-branded restaurant serves IHOP pancakes and breakfasts side-by-side with Applebee's burgers and boneless wings. It's a unique menu with items from both brands that can be mixed, matched, and ordered any time of day, including specialty cocktails such as an espresso martini or Irish coffee – all under one roof. . .
When diners walk through the doors, they'll find two distinct dining areas to choose from: the warm, familiar atmosphere of Applebee's or the bright, cheerful ambiance of IHOP.
Shared common areas include the host stand and bathrooms, creating an integrated experience. There's also a shared back-of-house with a single kitchen, which provides operational efficiencies.
Ain't it exciting? You can down a huge plate of Cinn-A-Stack pancakes and slurp down a cup of joe at IHOP for breakfast before wandering over to Applebee's for lunch—perhaps some Chicken Wonton Tacos? And after a few signature cocktails—a "Mucho Tipsy Leprechaun," anyone?—you can then settle in for a Whole Lotta Bacon Burger for dinner. Imagine, a full day's worth of dining at your two favorite mediocre casual dining restaurants without even leaving the building!
And don't worry, if you're nowhere near San Antonio, parent company Dine Brands, which currently has 13 international dual-branded locations franchised in Canada, Mexico, Honduras, and the Middle East, plans to open 14 more dual-branded locations across the United States in the next two years.
I'm sure I'll probably never set foot in any of them, since I haven't visited an Applebee's nor an IHOP in decades. But I *will* freely share my best branding advice: They really should have named the combo restaurant "HOPplebee's." It was truly a missed opportunity.
Shrek 5, starring Zendaya, is coming. Be very afraid.
Grant St. Clair / 4:47 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Shrek 5 feels overdue, right? Am I alone in this? Well, regardless, we're getting it anyway, after years of having to sustain ourselves on fan remakes and surprisingly great Puss in Boots-focused spinoffs. (Go watch The Last Wish.) Although rumors have swirled for a while, the first teaser for the upcoming film was released just today, featuring an unexpected addition: Zendaya, who will apparently be playing the adolescent version of one of Shrek and Fiona's three children. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz all return, as does All Star by Smash Mouth, naturally. No word yet on Antonio Banderas, although he and his character seem like no-brainers given just how well Oscar nominee Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was received by children and adults alike. (Seriously, go watch it!!)
Right from the jump, Shrek 5 seems interested in continuing the series' tradition of using its fairy-tale setting to poke fun at modernity – the magic mirror turning into a TikTok feed is right in line with, say, Shrek 2's segment parodying Cops. There's not much to chew on in this short teaser save for the core cast list and the new art style, but this series is beloved for reason – hopefully, this new one will better be than Shrek 3 (which is not a high bar).
New Sly Stone doc explores the price of musical genius
Mark Frauenfelder / 4:32 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
From the excellent Boomerang newsletter (subscribe at their wehsite), here's a recommendations for the Sly & The Family Stone documentary streaming on Hulu:
Your next TV-night absolutely needs to include the just-dropped documentary SLY LIVES! (AKA The Burden of Black Genius) now streaming on Hulu.
It's directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (who did the phenomenal Summer of Soul which you should also see if you haven't), about the legacy and brilliance of Sly & The Family Stone.
If you don't know much about Sly's origin story — or even if you don't know much about his music except for the hits — it's a good primer.
The doc captures the rise, reign and subsequent fadeout of one of pop music's most influential artists, and explores an empathetic human story about the cost of genius. It's an inspiring, rollicking, funky good ride. And of course there's the gigwear. (Wow, just wow.)
Surgery implants tooth into eyeball to help blind patients see again
Ellsworth Toohey / 4:07 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Canadian surgeons are giving new meaning to the term "eye teeth" by transplanting patients' own teeth into their eyes to restore vision.
The surgery, known as osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis (OOKP), involves removing a patient's canine tooth, installing a plastic optical lens inside it, and implanting the modified tooth into the eye.
Dr. Greg Moloney, who led the pioneering Canadian operations at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital, has already successfully performed seven such surgeries in Australia.
"There is no risk of rejection, because we're using part of the patient's own body," Moloney told CBC Radio's As It Happens.
The tooth works perfectly as a lens housing because dentine is the hardest substance the body produces. The two-stage procedure begins with removing and preparing the tooth, then implanting it temporarily in the patient's cheek to develop blood supply before final placement in the eye.
Among the first Canadian recipients is Brent Chapman, 33, who lost his sight at age 13 due to a rare autoimmune reaction. Despite initial apprehension about the unusual approach, Chapman was convinced after speaking with a successful OOKP patient from Australia. "She had been completely blind for 20 years, and is now snow skiing," he said.
The surgery's track record is impressive — a 2022 Italian study found 94% of patients maintained vision even 27 years after the procedure. While currently only available to patients with specific types of corneal blindness, there are plans to establish Canada's first permanent OOKP clinic in Vancouver,.
"Hopefully, this'll break some ground," Chapman said. "If there's other people in Canada that maybe need this and it becomes an established thing here, I'd feel really great about that."
Microsoft finally putting Skype out of our misery
Ellsworth Toohey / 3:11 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Dear Skype, please sit down. We found something in a routine scan of your source code, and we have to tell you, it doesn't look good.
Take a look for yourself:
"Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams."
Listen, you had a good run. Back in 2003, you revolutionized how we awkwardly video-chatted with distant relatives and conducted job interviews in our pajama bottoms. That $8.5 billion price tag Microsoft paid for you in 2011? You were the belle of the digital ball! But, times have changed, and your app now moves slower than a turtle churning through Silly Putty.
Remember the pandemic, when everyone was desperate to video chat? That was your moment to shine! Instead, you sat in the corner while Zoom became a verb and Teams took over the corporate world. Even your notification sound started to feel less like a friendly chirp and more like the death rattle of outdated technology.
We tried to help you adapt. Really, we did. The "Skype Clips," the AI integration — but watching you try to keep up with modern apps was like watching Elon Musk trying to talk tech with his engineers.
And let's not even talk about your inability to sync messages across devices. That's just embarrassing at your age.
So it's time to join Clippy, Windows Vista, and Internet Explorer on that great digital ice floe in the cloud.
Thank you for all the glitchy international calls, the awkward frozen faces mid-conversation, and that weird period when you were randomly integrated into everything Microsoft touched.
With fond memories and several thousand dropped calls, The Internet
P.S. Say hi to Bob and Zune when you get there.
Unknown disease spreads to 1,000 people, killing 60 so far in DRC — death 48 hours after symptoms
Carla Sinclair / 3:08 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
An "unknown disease" continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 60 people and infecting 1,000 others since it first broke out in January, reports CBS News. Even more concerning, the majority of deaths have taken only 48 hours from when symptoms first appeared.
The outbreak — which seems to have hit two separate villages, although the two clusters haven't yet been proven to be related — started in January after three children ate a bat, reports Time. Two days later they died.
Although tests have so far ruled out Ebola, the symptoms of this unidentified disease are similar to those of Ebola and Marburg, which include fever, headache, chills, a stiff neck, muscle aches, a runny or bleeding nose, coughing, vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the World Health Organization.
"These are symptoms you could see with any number of infectious diseases," said CBS medical reporter Dr. Céline Gounder. "Ebola, Marburg, dengue and yellow fever have been ruled out, but there are a lot of other diseases — like malaria, typhoid, and meningitis — which could cause some of these symptoms."
From CBS:
60 deaths have been reported, the bulletin from the WHO's Africa office says. The initial outbreak, the Bolomba cluster, reported at least 12 cases and 8 deaths, while the second, the Basankusu cluster, reported at least 943 cases and 52 deaths.
The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been just 48 hours in the majority of cases, and "that's what's really worrying," Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center, told The Associated Press on Monday.
Children under 5 years old make up at least 18% of cases and 15.5% of deaths, the WHO bulletin says.
While preliminary investigations linked the first outbreak to children who had eaten a bat carcass, the exact cause of the outbreaks remains unknown, the WHO's Africa office said. Additionally, because it's unknown if the outbreaks are linked, there could be separate causes.
In other related health news, the Trump-Musk administration ordered the CDC to "immediately" cut ties with the World Health Organization on Jan 26 — right as these outbreaks were flaring up. Why the United States would sever communications with world experts on global diseases is about as much a mystery as the mystery disease itself.
Previously: Dr. Deborah Birx: "Our agencies are making the same mistakes they made with COVID"
RIP Boris Spassky: "one of the greatest chess players of the Soviet era and the world, but also a true gentleman"
Ellsworth Toohey / 2:11 am PT Fri Feb 28, 2025
Boris Spassky, the World Chess Champion who faced Bobby Fischer in the legendary "Match of the Century," died Thursday at age 88.
Spassky was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), where he became a grandmaster at 18. He claimed the world championship in 1969 and held it until his historic 1972 loss to Fischer in Reykjavik — a match that was a symbolic Cold War battle between the US and USSR.
Beyond his technical brilliance, Spassky was known for his grace and charm. As ChessBase editor Frederic Friedel recalls from their decades of friendship, Spassky approached even casual encounters with characteristic courtesy. "I recognized you on the plane, but I did not want to disturb you. Maybe we could now have dinner together?" Spassky once said to Friedel in a Toronto hotel, leading to an all-night conversation where the champion shared his vast knowledge of chess history.
After immigrating to France in 1976, Spassky took on the role of elder statesman of chess with young players crowding around to hear his stories. A stroke in 2012 left him wheelchair-bound after his return to Russia, but he maintained his wit and perspective to the end.
Spassky said of his final years: "I do not prepare for chess. I am preparing for death! It is a long and difficult endgame."
Conservatives upset at DOGE officials being named
Rob Beschizza / 6:44 pm PT Thu Feb 27, 2025
Elon Musk is making the most of his vague but powerful role in Trump's administration, but conservatives are upset that his cronies and hatchetmen—the "Department of Government Efficiency"—are being publicly named. Such is the price of being a public official responsible for firing thousands of people.
Former Newsmax employee Breanna Morello posted on X that identifying the individuals working for the White House was somehow "putting the lives of DOGE employees at risk."
"You'll notice they have no problem detailing the individuals cutting fraud and wasteful federal spend, while hiding the names of the so-called reporters who worked on this hit piece," Morello continued, outing herself for not finishing the article, where the bylines of some 15 Times reporters are listed.
But despite DOGE's mandate, some experts believe that the organization's haphazard work chopping the government into nonfunctional bits will actually add to the deficit. On Tuesday, The Atlantic's Jonathan Chait argued that DOGE's "inflated" savings thus far had amounted to little more than a "rounding error" and that the group's decision to take a metaphorical chain saw to the IRS had effectively decimated the government's ability to collect revenue (taxes)—moves that could actually increase the nation's debt.
They want to do it in secret, to avoid accountability. They can't, and the authoritarian types hate that. Some of the DOGE guys are realizing that they won't be taken care of, either, if it doesn't work out.
"Manipulative gardener" conned clients and must pay them back
Rob Beschizza / 4:31 pm PT Thu Feb 27, 2025
I didn't think there could be a job title better than "Evil Hypnotist," but the "Manipulative Gardener" of Suffolk, England, has taken the title—with a title given to him by a magistrate in Ipswich punishing him for swindling some $45,000 out of his clients. Adam Fox, of Primrose Hill, in Haverhill, Suffolk, escaped jail but must do community service, stay out of trouble for two years and pay back what he still owes his victims.
The court heard how Fox would ask customers for a 50% deposit, often totalling thousands of pounds ahead of carrying out any works. The father-of-three would then either fail to complete the projects for which he had received payment or perform the tasks but to a "poor quality". During the hearing, it was said that Fox had claimed the business was "legit at the start" but "suffered a number of setbacks" due to his mental health and financial issues. It was also said that Fox, who was told his business venture had "failed miserably" as he sat without emotion in the dock, had refunded some of the money to his victims. "It was always going to catch up with him eventually," said Ms Laura Austin, representing Suffolk Trading Standards.
My opinion of ChatGPT has improved: I asked for similarly awesome job title ideas and it came up with "Malevolent Sommelier", "Unlicensed Puppeteer" and "Predatory Cartographer," and I feel I have my future planned out now for at least fifty years.
Imposter ship captain steals an 80-foot, $8 million boat with the crew still aboard
Allan Rose Hill / 2:59 pm PT Thu Feb 27, 2025
On Washington's Pacific Coast, a man posing as a ship captain boarded a huge commercial boat, woke up the crew, and ordered them to head out into Grays Harbor. The crew just assumed the imposter was a new skipper assigned to the Jamie Marie, an 80-foot, $8 million fishing vessel.
Eventually though, the crew noticed he was "not making any sense" and explained that their destination was the "Chinese Mothership" out in the ocean. That's when they called the prior captain who alerted police.
"The imposter skipper was found to be in possession of $4000 cash and a large quantity of individually weighed and packaged marijuana," reports the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police. "As the investigation played out, it was learned the same subject boarded another large vessel in the early morning hours and managed to start the main engines and was attempting to rally the crew for a trip to sea. They ran him off the boat but did not report the activity until the current theft…"
The boat eventually returned to port and police charged the faux captain with theft, stolen property, vehicle prowling, and Violation of the Uniform Controlled Substance Act.
The hellish heat from Mount Vesuvius's eruption turned this victim's brain to glass
Allan Rose Hill / 1:47 pm PT Thu Feb 27, 2025
Researchers in Pompeii were studying the skeleton of a young man who died following the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Inside his skull, the found strange glass fragments. A close look revealed what appeared to be solidified nerve cells. Turns out, the shiny shards are bits of the fellow's brain.
"When we realized that there was really a glassy brain, the scientific question was: how is it possible?" said Roma Tre University geologist Guido Giordano, co-author of a new paper in the journal Scientific Reports.
This is the first discovery of biological soft tissues that turned into glass. In this case, the transformation occurred at 510° Celsius (950° Fahrenheit).
From Science News:
The researchers reasoned that the swift onslaught of hot volcanic ash, rock and gas that entombed Herculaneum could not have been responsible for turning the brain chunks to glass. Similar pyroclastic flows have been found to max out at 465° C and would not have cooled fast enough to turn brain to glass. Instead, a much hotter ash cloud probably hit the young man and dissipated fast, allowing for the necessary cooling. Only later were the remains buried in the thick volcanic debris, the team says.
Bird dropped severed human hand into schoolyard
Allan Rose Hill / 1:28 pm PT Thu Feb 27, 2025
A severed hand turned up outside Our Lady Immaculate School in Darndale, Dublin, Ireland last Friday. Obviously concerned, police combed CCTV footage but found no evidence of any violent act. But they did spot a bird flying overhead with the hand in its beak, and then watched the hand fall to the ground.
They've since identified the source of the hand and it's, unsurprisingly, quite sad.
"A 12-year-old boy is now being treated for horrific hand injuries following [an] incident at a bonfire in Darndale," reports the Irish Mirror. "It's understood he lost his hand when a gas canister exploded."
A DNA analysis is apparently underway to confirm the connection between the two incidents.
Poachers brag to off-duty wildlife officers
Jason Weisberger / 12:38 pm PT Thu Feb 27, 2025
Failing to ask the scripted movie question: "You guys aren't cops are you?" has landed some braggy hunters in hot water.
SF Gate shares excellent story about some dumb, misguided hunters. Seated on a plane near some plainclothes Fish and Wildlife officers who were flying home from training, two hunters disclosed they were carrying an illegal turtle skull. They had quite a collection of other unlawful trophies at home, and showed off videos. When they landed, the hunters knew enough not to display the skull near TSA agents but forgot to ask the question so many movies have taught us cops must truthfully answer, "are you guys cops?" before showing the skull to the cops.
According to the CDFW, the unsuspecting passengers disclosed they were transporting a sea turtle skull from the East Coast and admitted they had also unlawfully taken a mountain lion — a specially protected species in California that cannot be hunted or possessed even if it dies from natural causes. They also mentioned a relative in Napa County with taxidermic mountain lions, a wolverine and wolves, even showing a video of the "trophy room."
The officers asked to see the sea turtle skull after the flight landed, the CDFW said. The couple, aware of the legal implications, revealed it only once Transportation Security Administration personnel were out of sight. The skull belonged to a green sea turtle, a federally endangered species illegal to possess and transport in the United States.
The poachers, and some others they unwittingly exposed, pleaded guilty and are subject to fines and probation.