Article Link: https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-promotes-bear-bile-as-coronavirus-cure
Discussion posted by: IRWeasel
China has been promoting bear bile as a coronavirus treatment, upsetting wildlife activists. In a list published earlier this month, China’s National Health Commission recommended a number of treatments for the symptoms of the virus, including both traditional Chinese and Western remedies.
Article Link: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200309-ogopogo-the-monster-lurking-in-okanagan-lake
Discussion posted by: David McNamara
Not long after I moved to Kelowna, a city in southern British Columbia known for its wineries, water sports and hiking trails, I saw a news story about a monster sighting. Two brothers had seen something undulating across the water in the middle of Okanagan Lake, an 84-mile long lake that curves down the Okanagan Valley past Kelowna in the shape of a serpent. The wave crested and fanned out like a wake, but there wasn’t a boat in sight. They were adamant it was Ogopogo.
Article Link: https://www.oddee.com/how-cemeteries-are-turning-back-into-public-spaces/
Discussion posted by: David McNamara
Cemeteries hypothetically serve a handful of important purposes, but in some cases, they merely take up space—offering little in the way of public service. While they still function as a way for people to pay respects to their loved ones who have passed on, there isn’t much else to see or experience. And in many cases, the space they take up could have been used for something more engaging or valuable to the community. Does that mean we should get rid of cemeteries? Of course not. Instead, it means we should be working to help cemeteries evolve—and that’s just what experts are doing.
Article Link: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-claim-professor-after-leaving-senate-confusion
Discussion posted by: IRWeasel
Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to have made some factual errors during a virtual roundtable on Wednesday regarding this claim that he “became a professor” after leaving the Senate. During an online campaign event, Biden took questions from young people and while discussing the student debt crisis, Biden spoke about all the time he had spent on “campus.” “When I left the United States Senate, I became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania,” Biden said. “And I’ve spent a lot of time — and the University of Delaware has the Biden School as well, so I’ve spent a lot of time on campus with college students.”
Discussion posted by: David McNamara
Have you ever wondered where our pet cats go when we’re not looking? What mysterious antics they get up to when they’re prowling around the great outdoors? And will we ever understand the inner mysteries of the noble cat mind? In an effort to answer these ancient questions, which have plagued the minds of cat-fanciers since the time of the Pharaohs, one team of scientists launched an initiative to track the movements of our feline friends and glean some insight into their outdoor lives. The Cat Tracker Project is simple in concept: find out where cats go and what they do. Founded by researchers from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the team placed GPS collars on the cats of willing volunteers.
Article Link: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/621085/why-mcdonalds-sells-all-soft-drinks-1
Discussion posted by: David McNamara
If you’ve ever walked up to a McDonald’s counter with the intention of ordering a normal-sized Coke and walked away with a full 32 ounces of fizzy liquid, you’re definitely not alone. Since all McDonald’s soft drinks are $1, it’s hard to pass up the opportunity to upsize your small to a large. It seems strange that a business would be willing to sell such drastically different amounts for the exact same price, but it’s actually a savvy business tactic. McDonald’s introduced the $1-fits-all promotion for soft drinks back in 2017 as a way to compete with Wendy’s, Burger King, and other fast food chains that had been slowly stealing its customers. According to Reader’s Digest, it worked—sales increased by 4 percent, and the deal became a mainstay on the dollar menu.
Discussion posted by: IRWeasel
A Russian slaughterhouse worker has been jailed for killing three boozing buddies — then eating them and ditching their remains in a nearby river. Cops say Eduard Seleznev, 51, from northwestern Russia, heard voices in his head telling him to kill his friends between March 2016 and March 2017. The doomed trio had passed out from overdrinking.
Discussion posted by: IRWeasel
A Russian bodybuilder has been slammed for an Instagram photo she posted of herself in a bikini made of surgical masks. Absolut nonsense! As the world grapples with the terrifying threat of COVID-19, Yulia Ushakova thought she’d give the world a bit of a giggle. The problem is that no one is laughing, not even her 515,000 Instagram followers.
Article Link: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/engineer-builds-vending-machine-for-crows/
Discussion posted by: David McNamara
A strange experiment in wildlife behavior turned into a jaw-dropping lesson on the importance of reassessing our predispositions towards new ideas. In this presentation, Joshua Klein talks about how building a vending machine for crows has helped to teach people about the empowerment of embracing diversity—particularly biological diversity—as we navigate the ever-changing world together with our animal counterparts.
Article Link: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/50815/49-hoaxes-people-actually-believed
Discussion posted by: David McNamara
Get your gullibility cap on. Here are 34 hoaxes—from alien autopsies to left-handed Whoppers—that people actually believed.