Interesting & funny news from around the world, Интересные и забавные новости со всего мира

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'Shocking' report casts light on meat-eating habits of California ground squirrels

California ground squirrels that scientists thought ate only grains are eating voles, too, according to researchers at University of California-Davis and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

"We had never seen this behavior before. Squirrels are one of the most familiar animals to people," Jennifer E. Smith of UW-Eau Claire said in a UC Davis statement. "We see them right outside our windows; we interact with them regularly. Yet here's this never-before-encountered-in-science behavior that sheds light on the fact that there's so much more to learn about the natural history of the world around us."

Smith added it was "shocking."

According to a UC-Davis statement on the findings, "The squirrels' carnivorous summer behavior peaked during the first two weeks of July, coinciding with an explosion in vole numbers at the park reported by citizen scientists on iNaturalist. This suggests that the squirrels' hunting behavior emerged alongside a temporary increase in the availability of prey, the study said.

Smith and other scientists observed the squirrel's meat-eating behavior June 10 to July 30.

UC Davis Sonja Wild postdoctoral research fellow said in a statement, "I could barely believe my eyes."

She added once they started looking the researchers saw that behavior nearly every day.

"Voles (have come to) recognize the squirrels as predators," said John Koprowski, dean of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, who wasn't involved in then the study. "There's likely some really neat interplay between the two species because being eaten is usually not a great way to continue passing on your genes."

The scientists never say the squirrels eating other mammals, only the voles.

According to Smith California ground squirrels are "incredible opportunists."

The research team wants to know more about the squirrel behavior and plans to go back into the field next summer to try to see how widespread the hunting behavior is and how it is passed down from parent to pup.

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Tyler Perry: 'The Six Triple Eight' honors unsung Black female soldiers

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (UPI) — Director Tyler Perry said his latest film, The Six Triple Eight, premiering Friday on Netflix, showcases a Black female World War II army unit that even the soldiers did not discuss after the war.

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was the Women's Army Corps' only unit of color. Its job was to sort and deliver 17 million pieces of mail between servicemen and their loved ones accumulated over three years.

"A lot of them didn't even talk about what had happened because there was a stigma about women in the military," Perry told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "There was a lot of shame when a lot of the women came home, so they didn't even talk about it."

One source of shame that Perry did not include in the film, but acknowledged, was that the Black community believed Black women were only being deployed as concubines to Black soldiers.

"At the time, white soldiers were really angry that Black men were dating European women," Perry said. "So they thought these 855 women were sent over there to basically be prostitutes for them, which was not the case at all."

Perry met 6888th Cpl. Lena Derriecott King, whom Ebony Obsidian plays in the film, and incorporated many of her stories in the script. King died in January at age 100.

King told Perry about her boyfriend, Abram, whom she did not know died in the war until his dog tags were found in the mail. King's post-Abram romance with a man she met abroad was also true.

"She and that man were married for 50 years," Perry said.

Obsidian attended King's 100th birthday party and observed that King still felt like part of a unit even in her final year of life.

"She never spoke of herself," she said. "Whenever speaking of that time period, it was the battalion, all of us."

The film shows King's superior officer, Maj. Charity Adams (Kerry Washington), requesting deployment from the Army. Adams recognizes that the Army assigned them the mail task, expecting it cannot be done.

So, Adams mobilizes the effort to prove the military wrong and deliver news to both soldiers and families awaiting word. Adams gives a speech to Gen. Halt (Dean Norris) when he chastises them for not sorting three years' worth of mail fast enough.

"In Charity Adams' book, she talks about saying that to the general and being court-martialed," Perry said, adding that Adams successfully defended herself for defying orders.

Halt is openly racist toward the Black soldiers, and Perry said he encouraged Norris to surrender to the nature of the role.

"What I tell all the actors who work with me is don't judge the characters," Perry said. "He just went in and did what was necessary to create this real-life moment."

The film shows how the unit identified symbols on envelopes and even traced scents sprayed on paper.

"They had to bring in their skillset from their everyday life back home," Obsidian said. "There's perfumers. There's people who knew a lot about stamps because they had maybe worked for the mail back home."

Perry had the set for the mail warehouse built at his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. The set was based on black and white photographs and King's first-hand descriptions and employed hundreds of extras to sort mail behind the leads.

"It was really making these black-and-white photos come to life in living color," Perry said. "I think the photos and the historical references themselves dictated how that all turned out."

The historical scale of The Six Triple Eight also gave Perry an opportunity to apply a reignited passion for filmmaking. He said his 2022 film, A Jazzman's Blues, reinvigorated his approach to filmmaking.

"I didn't realize and understand the camera is there to not only tell the story, but draw the audience into these beautiful worlds," Perry said. "It was Jazzman that really laid into that for me."

Between meeting with King at 100 and listening to interviews she gave in her '90s, Obsidian studied King's dialect. She and her co-stars also learned military marching and posture.

"It was knowing how to hold yourself and how women held themselves during that time even outside of being a soldier," she said. "You didn't have room to slouch."

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Spherical egg sells at auction for £200

A "one-in-a-billion" spherical egg that a man spontaneously bought after a few pints has sold at auction for £200.

Ed Pownell, from Lambourn in Berkshire, shelled out £150 for the oddity and donated it to the Iuventas Foundation - a charity that provides mentoring, life coaching and mental health support to young people across Oxfordshire.

The charity thought the donation "was a joke" at first before putting it up for sale.

Roz Rapp, from the foundation, said: "We're delighted and thrilled the egg sold as it means we can continue to do what we are doing."

Ms Rapp explained the hen's egg was just one item in the auction for the charity and the total funds raised were £5,000.

The round rarity was originally discovered by a woman who found it in a box from her local supermarket in Ayr, Scotland.

Mr Pownell described buying it as "money well spent".

David Miller, who works for Thomson Roddick Callan auction house where it was previously sold, said round eggs were thought to be a "one-in-a-billion" occurrence.

Ms Rapp added: "The money raised will help... 13-25-year-olds struggling with their mental health.

"It will enable us to reach more youths who are needing support or are on long waiting lists."

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Movie review: 'Unstoppable' beset with movie cliches

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (UPI) — Anthony Robles is an inspiring real-life figure. Unfortunately, not all historically-based sports dramas turn out as well as Rudy and A League of Their Own, so Unstoppable, in theaters now, cannot overcome the cliches to do his story justice.

In this real-life story, Anthony (Jharrel Jerome) was born without a right leg. He is introduced as he competes in a high school wrestling match during which he makes some spectators eat their words after they had mocked him.

In his senior year of high school, he dreams of going to Iowa State to join its wrestling team which has produced the most college champions.

Iowa State does not accept him, and Anthony rejects a full scholarship from Drexel to attend Arizona State, paying part of his own way just to be a walk-on for a more competitive team.

Any biographical movie necessarily has to condense and consolidate the complexities of a life to fit into two hours. The machinations of Unstoppable seem distractingly intent on creating feel-good, redemptive moments that obscure the real story.

Anthony's mother, Judy (Jennifer Lopez), supports him unwaveringly, but his stepfather, Rick (Bobby Cannavale), thinks Anthony should take the Drexel offer and continues to provoke him.

Anthony's stepfather is an important figure to overcome, but Rick is written one-dimensionally, though performed accurately. It's obvious Rick's aggressive parenting is masking insecurity before the film reveals he is indeed abusive and delinquent.

Director William Goldenberg and cinematographer Salvatore Totino film scenes in the Robles home handheld, unable to hold still for no reason. It is a superficial way to assign tension to scenes that should be tense enough, but this parlor trick only highlights their shortcomings.

It should be noted that ASU training and wrestling scenes are filmed more gracefully and are stronger for it.

Judy points out a gangster neighbor with whom she warns Anthony should not to get involved. Were that character to ever appear again in the film, he could be a subplot, but as such he is stereotypical shorthand for the criminal temptations of Anthony's neighborhood.

ASU coach Sean Charles (Don Cheadle) and his teammates challenge Anthony to keep up with the regimen the wrestling team endures. The film depicts him participating in rigorous exercises, often coming up with inventive solutions to compensate for his crutches.

Whether the most intense training scenes depicted were actually part of ASU curriculum, they are geared toward the Rocky moments of proving the skeptics wrong. In fact, when competing in Philadelphia, Anthony visits the art museum steps shown in Rocky and has a Rocky poster in his room, just in case that connection wasn't obvious.

One of Anthony's younger brothers says he prays to have one leg so he can be like his brother. It was already clear Anthony was an inspiration without treacly sentiment.

Budget cuts force Anthony's teammates to make a collective decision like the one Rudy Ruettiger's team made in Rudy. Perhaps ASU really did cut the wrestling budget that year, but at least Rudy built it up for the entire movie. Here, it's just one more thing dumped on Anthony.

The biggest issue with Unstoppable is simply that there is not enough wrestling. When it shows Anthony competing, he has real grace.

That is also the work of the real Robles, doubling for Jharrell when seen from behind. The film highlights Anthony's junior year match and senior year rematch with the same opponent, which seem to come out of nowhere after long stretches of administrative and family issues.

All of the sports cliches from movies and real-life athletics are present. The toughest opponent Anthony faces is himself and what he has is more powerful than what he lacks.

The cast commits to sincere portrayals of real-life subjects. The film's greatest accomplishment could simply be encouraging viewers to look into the real Robles story.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.

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Google Doodle video spotlights most searched-for topics of 2024

Friday's Google Doodle included a 4-minute video revealing some of the website's most searched-for topics of 2024.

Subjects included the rise of country music, Canadian singer-songwriter Celine Dion's triumphant return after a health scare, the 2024 summer Olympics, the accomplishments of basketball greats Caitlin Clark and Steph Curry, gymnast Simone Biles, K-pop band Stray Kids, pop star Sabrina Carpenter, Moo Deng, Thailand's adorable baby hippo, Inside Out 2, the solar eclipse and Northern lights and the re-election of Donald Trump, artificial intelligence and Hurricane Helene.

"This animated Doodle celebrates some of 2024's Breakout Searches — the moments that truly defined the year and had the whole world searching for more," Google said.

"From major breakthroughs in science and technology to unforgettable performances that captivated the world, these Breakouts reveal what captured our collective imagination. They tell stories of triumph, surprise, and innovation, like the awe-inspiring Northern Lights displays, the rare cicada emergence, and the breathtaking eclipse that united skywatchers everywhere."

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'Beverly Hills Cop,' 'Dirty Dancing' included on National Film Registry

Dec. 17 (UPI) — The U.S. Library of Congress announced Tuesday that Dirty Dancing, Beverly Hills Cop and The Social Network have been enshrined on the National Film Registry.

Also among the movies selected for preservation are Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Spy Kids, Mi Familia, My Own Private Idaho, Uptown Saturday Night, Up in Smoke, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, No Country for Old Men and Angels with Dirty Faces.

"Films reflect our nation's history and culture and must be preserved in our national library for generations to come. We're honored by the responsibility to add 25 diverse new films to the National Film Registry each year as we work to preserve our cultural heritage," Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a press release.

"This is a collective effort in the film community to preserve our cinematic heritage, and we are grateful to our partners, including the National Film Preservation Board."

Turner Classic Movies is slated to air a television special Wednesday showcasing a selection of films named to the registry this year.

Hayden will appear alongside TCM host and film historian Jacqueline Stewart, chair of the National Film Preservation Board, and talk about the movies.

Twenty-five films are chosen for inclusion on the registry each year.

There are now 900 titles on the list.

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Overdue book returned to U.K. library after 30 years

A library book that has been overdue for more than three decades was finally returned to the U.K. library where it belongs.

The Crediton Library posted about the late return on their Facebook page Thursday.

"We are very grateful to anonymous borrower who posted us back our copy of Thomas's ABC this week," the post says. "We checked the date label and note that this book was slightly overdue by 31.5 years."

The library included two photos with their post. One showed the book's cover, and an envelope with no return address.

The other image shows the borrowing card, with the last stamp dated Mar. 25, 1993.

"Fortunately, Libraries Unlimited no longer issue fines on children's books so we have cancelled our trip to the Bahamas over the Christmas holiday on this occasion," the post continues.

"It's a Christmas miracle!" wrote one Facebook user in the comments.

This wasn't the only severely overdue book returned this holiday season.

Chuck Hildebrandt found a book that he'd unintentionally kept for 50 years, but when he tried to bring it back to the library, they wouldn't take it.

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'Karate Kid: Legends' trailer: Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio team up in new sequel

Dec. 17 (UPI) — Sony Pictures is teasing the new film Karate Kid: Legends.

The studio shared a trailer for the movie Tuesday featuring Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio.

Karate Kid: Legends is a new sequel in the Karate Kid franchise. Macchio plays an adult Daniel LaRusso, who teams up with Chan's Mr. Han to teach martial arts to a new protogé, Li Fong (Ben Wang).

The trailer includes a nod to Daniel's mentor Mr. Miyagi, played by late actor Pat Morita in the original films.

"In Karate Kid: Legends, after a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Wang) is uprooted from his home in Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. Li struggles to let go of his past as he tries to fit in with his new classmates, and although he doesn't want to fight, trouble seems to find him everywhere," an official synopsis reads.

"When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition — but his skills alone aren't enough. Li's kung fu teacher Mr. Han (Chan) enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown."

The cast also includes Joshua Jackson, Ming-Na Wen and Shaunette Renée Wilson.

Karate Kid: Legends is directed by Jonathan Entwistle and opens in theaters May 30.

The film's release will follow the conclusion of Cobra Kai, the Netflix series based on the Karate Kid movies.

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Monopoly superfan's collection breaks own Guinness World Record

A British board game fanatic broke his own Guinness World Record when his collection of Monopoly board game memorabilia was tallied at 4,379.

Neil Scallan, whose collection is largely composed of different Monopoly editions, set the record with 1,677 sets in 2016, and broke his record with 1,999 in 2017 and 2,249 in 2018.

His collection stands at 4,379, cementing his position as the world record holder for the largest collection of Monopoly board game memorabilia.

"I started with the standard set. Then I'd get them from different countries as I was traveling," Scallan told Guinness World Records.

"On the sets, when you'd go abroad, would be places that you'd visited, so it was a nice double whammy. It was nice to have something which was a memento of your trip and all the places you'd been in a collectible."

Scallan said there is one "holy grail" still missing from his collection: a rare edition of the game created for the Cronulla Sharks, an Australian rugby team.

"The set that everyone is after, and even myself, is Cronulla Sharks from Australia," he said. "I was in the [game board company] Winning Moves headquarters in Sydney, and they had one on the shelf, and I was looking at it saying, 'Please can I have it?' But he said, 'It's my own personal edition.'"

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Trapped cat rescued from inside chimney in Wyoming

Police in Wyoming said a "cat-astrophe" was averted when a feline decided to play Santa Claws and became stuck inside a chimney.

The Powell Police Department said officers were summoned to Northwest College Foundation's Nelson House, where staff had heard a cat crying from inside the chimney but were unable to reach the animal.

Sgt. Dustin DelBiaggio and Officer Isaac Gutierrez responded to the scene, but the cat fled further up the chimney.

The officers said they dropped objects into the chimney from the roof in an attempt to spook the cat into climbing lower.

"The two of us tried to squeeze into the fireplace together, and kind of were able to hold on to it, onto both sides, until [Gutierrez] was able to get the good grasp on it and pull it out of there," DelBiaggio told the Powell Tribune.

The cat was dirty and thirsty, but uninjured.

The pet's owners said the cat had been wandering outside for longer and longer periods of time lately. They said it had been missing for about a week when it turned up in the chimney.

The family is currently out of town for Christmas, but will be reunited with the cat at the local animal shelter when they return.

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