And Finally...

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18671151

Metal replica conker found in pocket of David Jakins AKA King Conker, first-time winner after competing since 1977

A former Countdown champion who is accused of stabbing a fellow contestant at an event for past competitors of the game show is set to stand trial. John Cowen, 30, appeared in Preston Crown Court facing charges of Section 18 wounding and possession of a bladed article, following allegations he attacked Thomas Carey at the Countdown in Blackpool 2024 event last month.

Emergency services were called to Hornby Road at 11.35am on September 14, 2024, following reports of an assault. Mr Carey was hospitalised and Cowen was arrested on suspicion of wounding with intent and knife possession.

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Both men are understood to have been attending the annual event for winners of the popular Channel 4 TV show prior to the alleged attack. In 2017, Cowen featured in 12 episodes of the daytime quiz show, winning eight consecutive contests and earning the sought-after title of 'octochamp'.

He also achieved the third highest total of the entire series, identifying the nine-letter word 'spreading'. He competed in the Series 77 finals in December 2017, but lost to Bradley Horrocks in the semi-final, reports Lancs Live.

He was defeated by Horrocks again in the quarter-final of the Championship of Champions XV series in 2019.

Context, probably, at least in my head

A woman has questioned if she was in the wrong for telling a stranger that she had been pronouncing her own daughter's name incorrectly. The unnamed woman took to Reddit to detail the incident.

An annual event involving dirt, beer and cash once again drew dozens of eager competitors to a ski resort in Maine on Saturday.

More than 30 couples competed in the North American Wife Carrying Championship, a 278-yard (254-meter) race during which contestants splash through water, leap over logs and trudge through mud — all while carrying their partner like a sack of potatoes.

The sport’s origin story isn’t exactly politically correct. It's based on a 19th century Finnish legend involving a man known as “Ronkainen the Robber,” whose gang was known to pillage villages and carry away the women, according to one of the explanations included on the website wife-carrying.org.

Traditionally, the Finnish event featured male competitors carrying a woman. On Saturday, competing couples didn’t have to be married, nor did they have to be a man and a woman.

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The champion leaves with the weight of the “wife” in beer and five times the “wife's” weight in cash. To estimate the amount they win, the winning “wife” is put on one side of a see-saw-like scale that organizers balance out on the other side with cases of beer.

A UK court has ruled that calling a man “bald” can be considered sexual harassment. The ruling stems from a case involving Tony Finn, a former employee of the British Bung Company, who sued the West Yorkshire-based firm for sexual harassment after an offensive remark was made by a supervisor.

Tony Finn, an electrician, had worked at the British Bung Company for nearly 24 years before being dismissed in May 2021. Following his dismissal, Finn took legal action against the company, alleging unfair dismissal and sexual harassment, with one of his key complaints being the derogatory comments made about his baldness.

The harassment incident occurred during a heated argument on the shop floor, where Jamie King, a factory supervisor, called Mr. Finn a “bald cunt”. Offended by the personal nature of the remark, Mr. Finn pursued legal action, claiming the comment was not just an insult, but sexual harassment.

In February 2022, an Employment Tribunal ruled in favor of Mr. Finn, agreeing that the baldness-related comment constituted sexual harassment. Mr. Finn also won claims of unfair dismissal and wrongful termination.

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In November 2023, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, overseen by Mrs. Justice Naomi Ellenbogen DBE, dismissed the company’s appeal. Justice Ellenbogen concluded that the comment was “inherently related to sex” and that baldness, particularly in men, is often used as a point of ridicule linked to masculinity.

“The remarks about Mr. Finn’s baldness were directed specifically at his appearance and masculinity, making the comment inherently related to his sex,” said Justice Ellenbogen in the court’s ruling.

A woman who sued her former employer over not being given a leaving card lost her case when it was revealed it had been hidden from her after only three people signed it.

Karen Conaghan claimed that the “failure to acknowledge her existence” at IAG, the parent company of British Airways, was a breach of equality law.

However, a former colleague told an employment tribunal that managers had indeed bought a card but did not present it to Conaghan because of the low number of signatures, the Times reported.

The judge, Kevin Palmer, said: “He believed it would have been more insulting to give her the card than not to give her a card at all.”

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Conaghan, a former business liaison lead, brought 40 complaints against the company for sexual harassment, victimisation and unfair dismissal. But the tribunal dismissed every claim, with Palmer concluding that Conaghan, who started working at the company in 2019, had adopted a “conspiracy-theory mentality”, mistaking “normal workplace interactions” for harassment.

In one claim, she said a colleague had copied her use of the word “whiz” in a card for a colleague, but corrected her spelling by writing “whizz” instead.

She said another employee had asked her: “Are you taking the piss, Karen?” The tribunal heard that this was after Conaghan suggested she had “done all of the hard work” and it was his “turn to do some”.

Conaghan moved to Richmond, North Yorkshire, in September 2021 despite it being expected that all employees live within two hours of the office in Heathrow, the tribunal heard. She was made redundant in the same year as part of a restructuring of the organisation, with colleagues saying in evidence that many people also left around the same time.

King Charles III had no idea what cling film was and “shrieked” the first time he saw it, an author has claimed in an unauthorised biography which detailed a selection of interesting stories about our new monarch.

Author Tom Bower said he interviewed over 120 people for his biography of Charles, entitled ‘Rebel Prince’.

The book delves into Charles’s struggles to overcome unpopularity, and includes some pretty unexpected tales along the way.

Explaining how the royal reportedly had his first encounter with cling film, Bower wrote: “He walked into the dining room and shrieked. Fearing the worst, Camilla dashed in after him. ‘What’s this?’ asked her husband, pointing at the food.

“’It’s cling film, darling,’ she replied.”

In 1921, German composer Paul Hindemith sought to debut his one-act opera Sancta Susanna, which explores a nunnery's descent into sexual frenzy, at the prestigious Stuttgart Opera.

But outrage over its allegedly blasphemous text, which one critic at the time called a "desecration of our cultural institutions", forced the premiere to be postponed until the following year at the Oper Frankfurt.

Now, over a century later, Stuttgart’s State Opera has brought a radical-feminist reinterpretation of Hindemith's work to life with Sancta, directed by the avant-garde choreographer Florentina Holzinger.

And so far, its proven to be anything but your typical night at the opera...

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In short, the opera is nearly three-hours of uninterrupted batshit craziness.

On stage, naked nuns roller skate around on a movable half-pipe, while a bouldering wall of crucified naked bodies dripping blood looms in the background. To add to this chaos, there are live piercings, crucifix swallowing acts, unsimulated sex scenes and a sprinkle of spanking thrown in for good measure.

One particularly unforgettable moment sees an actress with dwarfism dressed as the Pope, being spun around by a robotic arm, while another features an actress belting out Eminem tracks while dressed as Jesus (because why not?).

For a taste of the mayhem, please check out this trailer.

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Archbishop of Salzburg Franz Lackner described the show as “seriously offensive to believers’ religious feelings and convictions”.

The opera's Austrian choreographer Holzinger has made a name for herself, with past productions that have incorporated elements of pain, nudity, body horror, acrobatics, sword-swallowers and Japanese bondage artists.

“This is an opera about the breaking forth of the repressed female libido, so we decided to have a lot of fun," the 38-year-old dancer told The Guardian earlier this year.

Despite reports of more than a dozen attendees falling ill, all five remaining shows at the Stuttgart state opera, as well as two performances at Berlin’s Volksbühne in November, have completely sold out.

Ismail Tamar, 41, with an address at South Circular Road, was charged with assault causing harm to Mouro Di Dio on Wednesday.

Mr Tamar, who moved to Ireland from Afghanistan, appeared before Judge Monika Leech at Dublin District Court.

Garda James Butler alleged Mr Di Dio suffered ligament damage to one of his hands when he tried to protect himself. He claimed Mr Tamar attempted to strike him with a wooden stick, and Mr Di Dio also put up his leg to protect himself but had one of his shoes taken by the defendant.

The court heard they lived in neighbouring flats, but there had been a deterioration in their relationship and several incidents where the complainant and his wife suffered abuse at the hands of Mr Tamar.

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Mr Di Dio told the bail hearing that the defendant had been banging on his door and walls every night and that he had recorded incidents.

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Mr Di Dio rejected the defence suggestion that “it is because he snores very loudly, and you would have been complaining to him about his snoring.”

Archive

Robot vacuums in multiple US cities were hacked in the space of a few days, with the attacker physically controlling them and yelling obscenities through their onboard speakers.

A Labour MP has launched a campaign to cut the price of Freddo chocolate bars to 5p.

Patrick Hurley, who represents Southport, has said he set up a petition after speaking to students at a school in his constituency.

Announcing the move on social media, he said: "20 pence for a Freddo is too much, especially in a cost of living crisis".

The 18g Cadbury chocolate bar was originally introduced to the UK in the 1973 and then relaunched in 1994 when it cost 10p.

For over a decade, the price of a Freddo stuck at 10p, not rising with inflation.

Since the mid 2000s the price started to rise and costs currently stand at around 30p.

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Hurley told the BBC he was inspired to launch his campaign after speaking to students at a local school in his constituency.

"The girls were very clued-up about political issues, including assisted dying and the Middle East."

However, he said one of the students also asked if he could launch a petition to cut Freddo bars to 5p.

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The Southport MP added that since announcing the campaign he had "learnt more about Freddos than any person should".

A Kentucky woman was arrested after police found dismembered body parts partially cooked in her home.

The gruesome discovery was made by a man who had been hired to work on Trudy Fields’ home in Mount Olivet on Wednesday.

When the worker arrived at the property he couldn’t find the homeowner but then came across a dismembered body in the backyard, authorities said. At first, he thought the remains were Fields’ and called the Kentucky State Police.

Officers attended the property and found a woman’s body on a blood-stained mattress. Troopers then spotted a second blood-stained mattress that had been dragged toward the back of the house, according to the Louisville Courier Journal, citing an incident report.

After discovering another woman inside the house, troopers attempted to speak with her, but she allegedly refused to acknowledge them or allow them entry, forcing them to procure search warrants.

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SRT members were eventually forced to remove Fields from her home, but they reportedly did so without incident. After taking her into custody, troopers discovered that parts had been removed from the body outside and were stuffed into a folded-up mattress.

When troopers finally took Fields into custody, she had blood on her face, hands, and clothing. They entered her house and reportedly found a stainless steel pot contained body parts that appeared to have been cooked in an oven. Troopers noted in their findings that the pot was hot to the touch.

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The construction worker who discovered the body told troopers that Fields had been on the property during one of his previous visits and had been “casting spells on them and was being confrontational”.

A 300-year-old gravestone commemorating a woman who was mauled to death by a tiger has been restored.

Hannah Twynnoy was living in Malmesbury in the 18th Century when the animal, thought to have been part of a travelling menagerie housed in a pub yard, escaped and attacked her.

Her gruesome death, aged just 33, has attracted visitors to her grave in the grounds of Malmesbury Abbey ever since.

The inscription on her headstone had become so illegible that, prompted by a local campaign, masonry restorers were brought in to spruce it up.

Hannah Twynnoy was working as a servant in the White Lion Inn when she died on 23 October 1703.

Believed to be the first person to be killed by a tiger in England, the exact nature of her death is unknown as nothing was written about it until about 100 years later.

However, according to local history, the pub accommodated wild beasts for exhibition, one of which was a tiger.

Despite being told regularly not to tease the animals, it is believed that Hannah taunted the tiger, which lunged at her, pulled its fixing from the wall and "tore her to pieces".

A man caught with extreme animal pornography, including videos depicting sexual acts with a tortoise and a horse, has been handed a six-month suspended sentence.

James Owen, 30, from Llanfechell, near Amlwch, Anglesey, had also pleaded guilty to having an indecent image of a young girl in the most serious category of child sexual abuse.

Owen told police the extreme animal pornography had been sent to him "as a joke" and he insisted he had not viewed the child abuse image.

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They then uncovered the video images of the extreme pornography, which showed sexual acts with a horse, a dog and a tortoise.

Mr Edwards said Owen claimed not to know the animal images were illegal.

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The court was told alcohol played a significant role in Owen’s offending and he had been undergoing rehabilitation sessions to address the problem.

Going breakdancing today? If so, maybe go easy on the headspins. Unless you want to end up with a “cone-head”, that is.

Breakdancing’s extreme physical demands mean it is known to involve a high risk of injury: everything from hair loss to sprains and damage to almost every part of the anatomy.

But now breakdancing enthusiasts have been warned of a new danger: that spinning on their heads too much could lead to them developing a sizeable protrusion on top of their head.

This has emerged as a potential hazard in a case report in a leading medical journal about a man in his 30s in Denmark who developed such a visible lump on his head, as a result of undertaking breakdancing training up to five times a week for 19 years, that he had surgery to remove it.

It grew as a result of what breakdancers call “headspin hole” or “breakdance bulge”, which BMJ Case Reports describes as “a unique overuse injury in breakdancers caused by repetitive headspins”.

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Doctors initially considered a number of possible diagnoses, including that the bulge could be cancer or a benign tumour.

An MRI scan showed that it was what the authors of the case report call “a subgaleal mass measuring 34cm x 0.6cm x 2.9cm near the midline vertex”.

It turned out to be an extreme example of the lump on the scalp that “headspin hole” can involve. “In radiologic descriptions, the term ‘cone-head sign’ is used,” the doctors write.

...and it contained a meth/fent dealer starter kit; cash, gun, drugs and scales.

The dangerous and violent scene unfolded two weeks ago. Hundreds of people and vehicles gathered for approximately a dozen car meetups that ended with thousands of dollars and damage and a police officer injured.

Videos from social media are part of the police investigation, and police say there was one person involved who stuck out in particular.

"The man was dressed in a banana costume," remarked Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum.

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Investigators say Thomas faces a list of charges, including damaging at least one police vehicle.

"He is linked to the patrol wagon for sure, but the conspiracy charge comes in with other vehicles involved too. Throwing items and, in one instance, they try to set the police car on fire," Rosenbaum said.

Investigators tell us they were able to track down the suspect after his own social media posts, wearing the costume, were later linked on different platforms to his high school yearbook photo.

The winner of Fat Bear Week has finally been crowned - and she's no stranger to the title.

Voters chose 128 Grazer, a mother bear who won Fat Bear Week last year, and whose cub was recently killed by her last remaining opponent in the competition, 32 Chunk.

The competition, which started a decade ago, allows viewers to watch live cameras of Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve and pick their favourite brown bear after the animals have beefed up on salmon in preparation for winter.

In a post on X, explore.org, the nature network that runs the contest, said 128 Grazer was "the first working mom to ever be crowned champion".

In July, two of Grazer's cubs were swept over a waterfall, where Chunk - the most dominant bear on the river - attacked them both, according to explore.org. One later succumbed to its injuries.

The two bears were later pitted against each other in Fat Bear Week's competition, with Grazer eventually coming out on top, winning more than double Chunk’s votes with more than 71,000 votes.

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Fat Bear Week came after a grisly series of events this year. The beginning of the contest was delayed by one day after a female bear was killed by a male bear on camera.

Each year, 12 bears are chosen for the Fat Bear Week bracket and fans can vote online to decide the winner.

Grazer also beat Chunk in 2023, when nearly 1.4 million votes were cast from more than 100 countries, according to Katmai Conservancy and explore.org.

Previously:

• A Fat Bear Week rematch could be on the cards as heavyweights progress to finals

A mysterious person known as the ‘Piss Bandit’ has been causing a stir in Pasadena, California, for the past six years.

The person comes out at night donned with a mask and latex gloves, regularly leaving bottles of urine in an influential neighbourhood, carefully arranging them on a utility box before vanishing into the night, as reported by New York Post.

The bottles, which include soda bottles, juice cartons, and gallon jugs are filled with yellow liquid, and are accompanied by crude drawings and notes like ‘human urine’ and ‘HIV positive.’

The bandit sometimes strikes multiple times a week, leaving behind fresh bottles each morning that disappear by nightfall.

The city attempted to stop the bandit by adding a pointed metal cover to the utility box, but the Piss Bandit simply removed it and continued his antics.

"It’s been a tug-o-war between the neighborhood and this guy," said Grant Yansura, who, along with filmmaker Derek Milton, launched an investigation into the mysterious figure.

Their TikTok videos about the case have garnered over 600,000 views.

While Yansura and Milton see the bandit as a vigilante artist akin to Robin Hood, many neighbours view him as a nuisance.

One local expressed disgust, stating he never considered the act an art form. Another neighbour threatened the bandit, saying, “If I catch you leaving your piss here, I will make you drink every last drop!”

Despite the attention, the bandit remains elusive. He ignored the duo's attempts to communicate, even stealing their cameras. Ultimately, Yansura concluded, “Sometimes you just have to let an artist pee.”

A traffic camera in Dortmund, Germany, captured the moment a speeding driver dressed in a Cookie Monster costume barreled down a highway going 60 mph.

The police are now on the hunt for the Sesame Street-loving prankster, who the cops say deliberately sped past the camera, hoping it would take a picture of them wearing the outfit.

A sign outside a store in Shiga prefecture, Japan, which featured a photo of a baby, has turned into something out of a horror movie as the ink melted due to intense heat in recent years.

Many people have since stopped outside the store, Hangai Nagahama, to take pictures of the ghastly sign, the store owner told Japanese media FNN in 2023.

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The black ink used for the baby's eyes and mouth melted and spread across the sign, smudging the baby's features into something more sinister.

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The owner, Masanao Itaya, said the summer heat likely melted the sign, which has been up at the storefront for almost a decade.

He told FNN in 2023 that he failed to notice the deteriorated state of his "favourite sign" until then, adding that he had never seen the sign melt so fast.

"I noticed it at the beginning of August and thought some people might find it creepy, so I thought about changing it," he told Japanese media.

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"I thought I'd leave it as it is for a while, so that people can enjoy it as a summer horror experience," he added.

Here is how it progressed:

A woman who spent 48 years wondering why an application for her dream job was never answered has finally found out why.

Tizi Hodson, 70, from Gedney Hill in Lincolnshire, could not believe her eyes when she opened the post to discover her original letter applying for a job as a motorcycle stunt rider, sent in January 1976, had been stuck behind a post office drawer all these years.

Despite it getting lost in the post, the setback did not hamper her daredevil career as she found a job that took her all over the world.

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At the top of the letter is a handwritten note that reads: “Late delivery by Staines Post Office. Found behind a draw [sic]. Only about 50 years late.”

Ms Hodson doesn’t know who returned the letter, or how it even found its way to her.

“How they found me when I’ve moved house 50-odd times, and even moved countries four or five times, is a mystery,” she said.

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"Every day I looked for my post but there was nothing there and I was so disappointed because I really, really, wanted to be a stunt rider on a motorcycle.”

Luckily for Ms Hodson, the silence following her application did not put her off from trying for other jobs.

She moved to Africa, worked as a snake handler and horse whisperer, learned to fly and became an aerobatic pilot and flying instructor.

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Looking back at the letter she sent when she was just starting out, Ms Hodson said: “I was very careful not to let people who were advertising for a stunt rider know that I was female, or I thought I would have had no chance of even getting an interview.

“I even stupidly told them I didn’t mind how many bones I might break as I was used to it.

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“If I could speak to my younger self, I would tell her to go and do everything I’ve done. I’ve had such a wonderful time in life, even if I have broken a few bones.”

Australian flag carrier Qantas has apologized after an R-rated movie was played on every screen during a flight.

The incident occurred on a flight between Sydney and Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

Technical issues with the Airbus A330's in-flight entertainment system meant passengers couldn't select their own movies.

Qantas said its crew members had a limited list of movies that could be played across every screen, and some passengers had requested a particular movie.

The Guardian reported that the film shown was "Daddio" — a 2023 film starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn.

It's rated R for language throughout, sexual material, and brief graphic nudity. According to the Guardian, one passenger described it as "40 minutes of penis and boobs."

A mother who transforms frozen rats into ‘sexy showgirls’ with coloured feathers, handmade nipple covers and fake eyelashes has said her novelty taxidermy business regularly requires 12-hour days to keep up with demand.

Caitlin Hillis, 36, runs her business called Showtime Taxidermy from her home, where she sells ‘quirky and bizarre’ rats for £148.

The rodents are dressed and posed as glam performers – and it all began during a craft night four years ago.

Caitlin said: ‘We watched videos online and we made our first taxidermy together, me, my daughter and my sister, and it was comically bad, but we loved it. We had such a fun time, so we did it again and we made others, and the natural next step was, ‘Let’s make it sexy and fun and add costumes’.’

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Caitlin explained that she buys the rats frozen from an ethical local breeder who supplies food for zoos, and she keeps them in a large freezer.

The rats cost four dollars each, but Caitlin ensures there is as little waste as possible, as a friend uses the bones to make jewellery.

With materials such as clay, foam and wire, Caitlin puts the skins in borax, which is a preservative, and then shapes the skins around her desired moulds before letting them solidify.

Caitlin said the rats’ poses are inspired by acrobats, burlesque performers and belly dancers, but tailored to suit the animals’ smaller limbs, which is part of their ‘charm’.

The drying process typically takes two to three weeks, and she then adds decorations such as coloured feathers, rhinestones, velvet and fake eyelashes, and she even makes her own ‘signature’ nipple coverings for the rats, with six on each animal.