Nobody Cares if it's Off Topic

[Innula Zenovka]

Nailed it: man, 82, builds bench for wife in 30 minutes after council plea ignored

Manuel Souto took matters into own hands to provide resting place for wife on daily walks in Spanish town

www.theguardian.com

Whatever the rustic bench that sits on a street in the north-west Spanish town of A Estrada may lack in finish and elegance, it more than makes up for in the devotion that went into its creation.

The pale wooden seat was cobbled together after Manuel Souto, an 82-year-old retired lathe operator, decided to find somewhere for his wife to sit and rest on their daily walks. María Souto, who is 79 and has osteoarthritis, walks with a stick and finds her morning exercise increasingly difficult.

After efforts to lobby the local council to install benches along their usual route came to nothing, Souto took matters into his own hands and headed to the local DIY shop.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Ganges river: India boatman praised for saving baby girl floating in a box

The 21-day-old baby girl was found in a wooden box in the Ganges river and is now in hospital.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Annoying mispronunciations: do they make you go nucular? Probly

How did specific become pacific and neckties become assessories? If you’re regularly annoyed by the misuse of language, a new survey shows you are certainly not alone

www.theguardian.com

 

[Essence Lumin]

Prolly can blame George Bush for nukular.

 

[Essence Lumin]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Tree cut in half in neighbour row over driveway pigeon poo

A dispute over nesting pigeon's poo escalates into drastic arboreal surgery in a Sheffield suburb.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Free]

This is somebody I can respect.

Man who sucks at pool designs table where every shot goes in

He may not be a true shark, but he’s definitely the Minnesota Fats of his own private domain

www.avclub.com

 

[Isabeau]

If you’re wondering how emergency alerts sound in different countries…

There’s a part 3 under 2nd tweet. I can tell you that the Canadian one is highly effective in bringing your heartbeat up.

 

[Free]

Sorta interesting thread. A bit technical.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Reminds me of Peter Watt's "Domesticating Vampires" video (and of course the novel Blindsight)

 

[Free]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Remember all those mysterious packets of seeds from China that started turning up all over the place last year via Amazon?

No one's sure what happened still, or rather, plenty of people are sure they know, but they disagree about what it was.

Anyway, it's apparently all a bit more complicated than I had hitherto believed.

The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds

Why did so many Americans receive strange packages they didn’t think they’d ordered?

www.theatlantic.com

Evernote link because why not

 

[Clara D.]

Remember all those mysterious packets of seeds from China that started turning up all over the place last year via Amazon?

No one's sure what happened still, or rather, plenty of people are sure they know, but they disagree about what it was.

Anyway, it's apparently all a bit more complicated than I had hitherto believed.

The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds

Why did so many Americans receive strange packages they didn’t think they’d ordered?

www.theatlantic.com

Evernote link because why not

Do I get a cookie for being right? I'd guessed it was part of an e-commerce scam and seeds where the cheapest, lightest thing possible. Mislabeled as jewelry to get them breezed through customs.

It wasn't always seeds. Socks, combs, toothbrushes, and any other small cheap thing were fodder. Seeds grabbed people's attention in a ZOMG BIO WARFAER way.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Do I get a cookie for being right? I'd guessed it was part of an e-commerce scam and seeds where the cheapest, lightest thing possible. Mislabeled as jewelry to get them breezed through customs.

It wasn't always seeds. Socks, combs, toothbrushes, and any other small cheap thing were fodder. Seeds grabbed people's attention in a ZOMG BIO WARFAER way.

Though I think the article's reconstruction makes a persuasive alternative, which certainly explains all the known facts, and has so far been true of every Amazon delivery number they''ve tried to trace.

That is, the recipient had, in fact, ordered the seeds some time ago, the delivery had been held up by lockdowns in China, and by the time the lockdown had lifted there and the backlog cleared, they'd forgotten about it.

This has certainly been true of all the recipients who have shared their Amazon purchase history with the reporter and, Amazon say, of all the customers who complained to them.

Nevertheless, the USDA clearly remained unconvinced by my arguments. El-Lissy reiterated to me that the agency still thought all the circumstantial evidence pointed to brushing. “We continue to believe it is implausible,” he said, “that thousands of people around the globe ordered seeds and either forgot about them or lied about forgetting them.”

However, I guess that, whatever may have happened in any particular case, the USDA can only say that everyone who received some seeds from Amazon and doesn't know what they are, should send it to them to the USDA for further investigation and safe disposal.

If it turns out it's something they'd ordered, then that's what happened and everyone can stop worrying these particular seeds. If they're not, then they're in safe custody while the matter is further investigated.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Remember all those mysterious packets of seeds from China that started turning up all over the place last year via Amazon?

No one's sure what happened still, or rather, plenty of people are sure they know, but they disagree about what it was.

Anyway, it's apparently all a bit more complicated than I had hitherto believed.

The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds

Why did so many Americans receive strange packages they didn’t think they’d ordered?

www.theatlantic.com

Evernote link because why not

I was one of those people who got seeds. I order seeds on Amazon all the time so, at the time I received them, I thought it was just a double shipment or something. Also I got additional packages with the seeds I ordered saying "Thank you for the order, this is a gift". I ended up planting all the seeds and got Morning Glories, Asian Cucumber, Marigolds, Purple Yams and black radishes. Often times the packets were not labeled or they were labeled in Chinese so I did not have a clue what I was planting until it started growing. I think the theory of forgetting that they were ordered is very probable, especially in my case where I have ordered so may Asian seed products on Amazon because so many of Asian plants grow well in Florida's climate. I also know that somethings shipped from China can take months to show up.

 

[Clara D.]

Though I think the article's reconstruction makes a persuasive alternative, which certainly explains all the known facts, and has so far been true of every Amazon delivery number they''ve tried to trace.

That is, the recipient had, in fact, ordered the seeds some time ago, the delivery had been held up by lockdowns in China, and by the time the lockdown had lifted there and the backlog cleared, they'd forgotten about it.

And possibly some seed sellers are throwing in extra random as a goodwill gesture.

Darn those wily Chinese. </s>

 

[Essence Lumin]

Does Nick Cave have anything to say about this?

 

[Free]

 

[Isabeau]

 

[Free]