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

Archaeologist's message in a bottle found at dig site 200 years later

Students working at an archaeological site in France made a surprising discovery: a message in a bottle from an archaeologist who worked at the same site 200 years earlier.

Guillaume Blondel, head of the town of Eu's Regional Archaeology Service, said student volunteers were working on an emergency dig at the remains of a Gaulish village endangered by cliff erosion when they found the small glass bottle inside an earthenware pot.

They brought the bottle to Blondel, who opened it up and read the message inside.

The message reads: "P.J Féret, a native of Dieppe, member of various intellectual societies, carried out excavations here in January 1825. He continues his investigations in this vast area known as the Cité de Limes or Caesar's Camp."

"It was an absolutely magic moment," Blondel told BBC News. "We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago ... it was a total surprise."

Blondel said local records revealed Féret was a well-known archaeologist at the time and conducted his first dig at the village site 200 years ago.

"Sometimes you see these time capsules left behind by carpenters when they build houses. But it's very rare in archaeology. Most archaeologists prefer to think that there won't be anyone coming after them because they've done all the work," he said.

Toad found in bagged salad bought from grocery store

A reptile rescue group in England is caring for a toad found in a bag of salad that was returned to a supermarket.

Berkshire Reptile Rescue said on social media that the toad was discovered in a bag of salad by a customer and returned to Waitrose in Bracknell.

Rescuer Graham Martin collected the reptile and is keeping it isolated for the time, as it is not yet clear whether it came from overseas.

"He is in a nice little box, he's got some soil and some leaves to hide in, he's got a little water bowl. I've chucked in some beetles for his dinner and he's loving life," Martin told the BBC. "I have no idea where he came from but he's happy where he is."

John Lewis Partnership, Waitrose's parent company, apologized to the customer in a statement.

"While our growers minimize pesticide use to promote sustainable farming and reduce harm to wildlife, there is a stringent sorting and washing process which should have removed this toad," the statement said. "Although this is a very rare occurrence, we are really sorry to the customer who found it."

Mysterious green color in Sydney Harbor believed to be harmless dye

A portion of Australia's Sydney Harbor was temporary turned bright green when a common dye used by plumbers flowed out through a storm drain.

Fire and Rescue New South Wales said investigators responded to the bay in Kirribilli, a suburb of Sydney, after the water turned color Wednesday.

"Our team quickly investigated and confirmed the spill was non-toxic," Fire and Rescue NSW said on social media.

A video from the scene shows the water resembling the Chicago River when it is dyed green during for the city's annual St. Patrick's Day festivities.

Officials said Thursday that the coloring in the Sydney Harbor had a less festive origin — it's believed to be a dye called fluorescein, which is commonly used by plumbers to find leaks.

"We can't say for sure, but that's what we think it is," Superintendent Adam Dewberry told 9News. "It's a common product that does get used to dye water and it's very effective."

Dewberry said the green water did not appear to have any adverse affect on fish and other local wildlife.

Witnesses reported seeing green liquid in a storm drain at Anderson Park the day before the harbor took on the hue, but firefighters said the origin of the chemical still is under investigation.

Bulls on parade: Escaped rodeo bulls cause 'udder' chaos in Massachusetts

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. (WJAR) — Eight bulls escaped from a rodeo event in Massachusetts, with the animals stampeding through a chain-link fence in a crowded mall parking lot and wandering around area streets for several hours.

Footage captured at the scene shows the chaos unfold Sunday around 12:30 p.m. outside the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleborough.

People are heard screaming as the animals make a run for it.

"The eight bulls managed to escape their pens, run through the parking lot and jump over a fence surrounding the event’s perimeter. The bulls then fled south from the parking lot towards the woods behind BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse," theNorth Attleborough Fire Department said in a statement.

While one bull was captured right away, six bulls were found stuck behind a fence at a house a few miles away in Attleboro at about 4:30 p.m.

Witnesses said they couldn't believe their eyes.

"We were literally sitting on the couch, and in the corner of my eyes, I thought we saw something like a horse, and then we went outside, we saw six bulls just coming down the road. And we were in panic, trying to tell my neighbor over there because he was outside," Chris Mooney said.

Mooney said it took crews around 40 minutes to capture the bulls, with the animals then safely corralled into a trailer.

Officials said no one was hurt.

As of Monday, authorities said one of the bulls remained on the run.

“Community members should exercise extreme caution and not approach the bull if found. If found, community members should call 9-1-1,” the fire department said in a statement.

North Attleborough Fire and Police, along with the Massachusetts Environmental Police, helped with the searched. Members from the New England Rodeo in Norton and members from the rodeo at the mall also assisted.

A spokesperson from the town of North Attleborough later told WJAR the town is no longer working to find the last bull.

The rodeo, which was a one-day event at the mall, is under investigation, according to fire officials.

Gardener grows world record breaking celeriac

An "enthusiastic amateur" gardener has broken the Guinness World Record for the heaviest celeriac by 10lbs (4.5kg).

Graham Barratt from Gloucester has taken a collection of his produce to Malvern Autumn Show, including a 29lb (13kg) cucumber and a 13lb celeriac.

Mr Barratt received confirmation on Thursday that he had broken the Guinness World Record for heaviest celeriac.

Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Mr Barratt said: "It's either weight or length for giant veg, but it's not beauty. Some of them are quite ugly."

Malvern Autumn Show runs until Sunday at the Three Counties Showground.

Mr Barratt, from Abbeydale, said he would have been taking "a lot more" entries but nature had had some "terrible disasters" in store.

"You get there one day, and you find your tomato has gone soft and rotted and it's dripping, so you can't take it," he said.

"I had what I said would be the world record broad bean, but it withered up and shrank before I had the chance to have it measured, or ratified by a horticulturalist."

Speaking about the other produce he was taking to the show, Mr Barratt added: "I've got a tomato, not the biggest I've ever grown.

"I did grow my biggest this year but it's in the fridge and it's not lasted, it's just melted.

"A runner bean, long chilli, cucumbers.

"I have quite a big celery, I think it's about 30kg (66lbs)."

Mr Barratt also had a lengthy cucumber to take to the show.

"I weighed it today, and it weighed at 29lbs (13kg). The world record is 30lbs," he said of his cucumber.

"That's just how cruel the business is at times."

Prior to the show, Mr Barratt said he had been "a bit excited" about his celeriac, a "more obscure" vegetable among growers, with marrows and cucumbers those frequently found at such events.

Mr Barratt also grows loofahs, which are used to make the skin-exfoliating shower accessories.

World's largest cheesecake served at Cream Cheese Festival in N.Y.

An annual Cream Cheese Festival in Lowville, N.Y., hosted a successful Guinness World Record attempt featuring a 15,008-pound cheesecake.

The Kraft-Heinz plant in Lowville set the record for the world's largest cheesecake at the festival in 2013, but was beaten by a team from Russia who made a 9,347-pound cheesecake in 2017.

Derrick Langdon, quality manager at Kraft-Heinz, said he and his team decided to smash the previous record at this year's festival.

"If you're going to beat it, might as well go big," Langdon told WWNY-TV. "We decided we're going to smash that record, make it almost twice as big as the last one. If they were going to beat it, they'd have to go really big. It was go big."

A Guinness World Records adjudicator was present for the cheesecake's unveiling and confirmed it weighed in at 15,008 pounds, more than enough to reclaim the title.

"This is just unbelievable," Cream Cheese Festival Chair Jeremiah Papineau said. "To have a record in 2013, and to win the record again this year, it just shows how this community comes together, and we couldn't be more proud."

The cheesecake was sliced and served to festival attendees. The leftovers were donated to local food banks.

Pa. student spent years building world's tallest hat

A Pennsylvania man achieved his years-long dream of creating the world's tallest hat when he took a stroll wearing his 17-foot, 9.5-inch cap.

Joshua Kiser successfully broke the record in Breinigsville, Pa., after several years of failed attempts that began when Penn State University closed its campus in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I was browsing the records on the GWR website looking for some inspiration. Eventually I stumbled upon a picture of the eccentric man posing with a gigantic top hat on his head — the world's tallest hat," Kiser told Guinness World Records.

The "eccentric man," Odilon Ozare, had set the record in 2018 with a 15-foot, 9-inch hat.

"For no one single reason, the image of a ridiculously tall hat stuck with me. I shut my laptop and went off to search for materials to make a tall hat. I was convinced I'd be able to set the record and have my name in the history books in no time," Kiser said.

His first attempt, involving cardboard blocks and Velcro, failed to surpass even 5 feet tall.

"The Velcro couldn't hold the blocks together tight enough and I had no way to keep it on my head," he said.

Kiser's next idea, wooden dowels, was similarly unsuccessful.

"I had planned on attaching nuts and bolts to the tips of the dowels to attach them together the long way. It wasn't nearly sturdy enough to point over 15 feet straight up in the sky," he said. "I needed something sturdy — I thought about rebar, or metal rods, but I knew those would be too heavy. This idea did not work. I still had no way to attach it to my head even if it did."

Kiser also attempted to use chicken wire, but ended up giving up on that idea.

His final design was inspired when he came across some lightweight gutters at Home Depot, as well as a Philadelphia Eagles trash can that he said "looked about the circumference of my noggin."

The hat was reinforced with expanding foam and covered it with Santa-style red fabric to give it the appearance of a hat.

He successfully walked the required distance of 32.8 feet while wearing the 26.4-pound hat, successfully taking the title.

Ohio couple's trip to Kentucky restaurant ends in $100,000 lottery win

An Ohio couple visited their favorite restaurant in Kentucky and ended up winning a $100,000 lottery prize.

Steven Green of Alexandria told Kentucky Lottery officials he and his wife, Wendy, frequently visit Lake Cumberland to spend time on their boat, and while in town they like to eat at Wings and Rings on Somerset.

Green bought a Keno ticket during a recent visit to the eatery. He said he frequently plays the game, and usually and selects the same 10 numbers, a combination of family birthdays and ages.

Green said he mixed up his routine by changing a couple digits and buying a $5 ticket instead of his usual $10 ticket.

"Oh my god, we hit a lot of numbers on this one," Wendy Green recalled saying when she examined the ticket.

The couple asked a bartender to scan their ticket.

"She scanned it, but it gave them the message, 'See KLC Corp, prize exceeds cashing limit,'" Steve Green recalled.

The ticket had matched 10 of the 20 numbers in the Keno drawing, earning a $100,000 prize.

"I kind of yelled, '$100,000,'" he said. "I had goosebumps. It took about 10-15 minutes for it to sink in."

The Greens said their prize money will help them save for their approaching retirement.

The T/E Egg Drop Team had the drop height of more than 83 feet (23 meters) certified by Guinness World Records.

Comprised of Conestoga High School seniors Matthew Ma, Charlie Gawthrop, Jeffrey Wang, Valley Forge Middle Schooler Breckin Shefflerwood, and teacher Dr. Derrick Wood, the team made their record-breaking drop on Aug. 18 in West Chester.

"It was a lot of video evidence and paperwork to compile over the past few weeks, but it was definitely worth it," Wood told Patch. "Hopefully this record will be like our egg—unbroken—for quite some time!"

The previous record was 54.13 feet, achieved by Ritesh N., in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, on in December 2023.

The T/E Egg Drop Team went through many iterations of their device, and was tested at multiple heights to ensure effectiveness.

The team searched for device concepts online and used the materials at their disposal to make their own, bespoke device.

"For our first attempt, the general shape was more rectangular, and that was effective from our 43-foot drop," Ma told Patch in August. "Since then, we have changed the shape to be triangular, which has survived an 80-fo0t drop with limited assistance from the parachute."

While designing the device, the team had to adhere to strict guidelines set by Guinness.

Directly surrounding the egg is foam and cardboard to hold the device together.

Straws jut out from all sides to act like a crumple zone, waiting to absorb energy from the drop.
But most importantly, Ma said, was the parachute. The team used a simple plastic bag and an elastic string to give their device the help it needs in landing softly.

"I think I can speak for the whole team when I say we never imagined this idea would take us this far," Ma said of the prospect of breaking the Guinness World Record. "What started as a crazy concept in our Science Olympiad class has now grown into something real, something with a dedicated team behind it that could actually make an impact."

He said holding the Guinness World Record is a testament to how far the team has come, really proving that anything is possible.

Father and son earn world record for 'Doctor Who' collection

A Chicago-area father and son earned a Guinness World Record for their collection of 7,507 pieces of Doctor Who memorabilia.

Lee Thompson said he has been a Doctor Who fan since watching the British sci-fi series on PBS when he was a child, and he introduced his son, William Thompson, to the franchise when it returned to the airwaves in 2005.

"The first episode [of the revival], just both my sister and I, we watched it, and we're like, 'Holy cow, this is amazing,'" William Thompson told KERA News. "Then my dad got excited, and then he started looking everywhere, and he got some old VHS of the original Doctor Who, and then he showed us all that. Then it just kept going."

The duo have amassed more than 21,000 items in their collection, which they dubbed The Thompson Library, and 7,507 items were approved by Guinness World Records to earn them the title for the largest collection of Doctor Who memorabilia.

The previous record-holder, British woman Lily Connors, had her collection counted at 6,641 items in 2016.

The father and son posted a video to YouTube showing their process of tallying each piece in their collection.

"We are thrilled to have broken this record," Lee Thompson said in a news release. "Our love for Doctor Who is clear in this collection, which speaks to the show's enormous impact on our lives. We are determined to honor the rich history of Doctor Who and encourage other fans to follow their interest in it."