the "Headline That Caught My Attention or the WTF" thread

this actually supposed to be a thread about strange & bizarre headlines - hence the WTF designation - for actual real & serious news - there's cany's What's going on in the World thread

How far their reputation has fallen....

[URL unfurl="true"]https://nypost.com/2023/04/06/fbi-agents-handcuff-interrogate-delta-pilot-after-entering-wrong-hotel-room/[/URL]

because it'll end up in a death sprial of a thread with the anti-Trumpers yelling at the pro-Trumpers as it always does - accomplishing absolutely nothing

Can you please repeat that in Mandarin, just saying.

Can you please repeat that in Mandarin, just saying.

因为它最终会陷入死循环，反特朗普者会一如既往地对支持特朗普者大喊大叫——什么也没做

a true WTF??!??!?!?!

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/filipinos-nailed-crosses-despite-church-043235908.html[/URL]

How far their reputation has fallen....

[URL unfurl="true"]https://nypost.com/2023/04/06/fbi-agents-handcuff-interrogate-delta-pilot-after-entering-wrong-hotel-room/[/URL]

Yeah, I agree.
Delta Pilots used to be amongst the most respected ones out there back in the day

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-s-merchant-of-death-warns-donald-trump-his-life-is-in-danger/ar-AA19AZFH?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=d1af66647a0546158b26c16f45d7daf6&ei=11[/URL]

Did Timothy Leary have a former life in the Bronze Age????

[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]Tripping in the Bronze Age[/SIZE][/HEADING]
A new study based on strands of hair found in a Spanish burial cave reveals that humans living about 3,000 years ago used hallucinogens, likely derived from local plants, as part of their rituals.

Bronze Age humans have been credited with a number of civilizational advancements: the invention of irrigation, the wheel, writing systems and the ability to forge weapons and tools from the durable metal that lends the era its name.

Now, strands of human hair discovered in an ancient burial cave in Spain suggest another novelty: a proclivity for consuming psychoactive drugs.

The hair, found inside wooden containers hidden deep within a sealed grotto on Minorca, an island off the coast of eastern Spain, tested positive for a number of mind-altering compounds, suggesting that the people who lived there 3,000 years ago incorporated hallucinogenic experiences into the rituals of their lives.

The findings, published Thursday in [Scientific Reports]('https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31064-2') of the journal Nature, provide the first direct evidence that ancient Europeans consumed psychoactive drugs much like their pre-Columbian brethren in Mesoamerica, the researchers said.

Elisa Guerra-Doce, the lead author of the study, said researchers were stunned by the results, especially because the cave interiors yielded no detectable signs of the drugs’ presence. A chemical analysis of the hair revealed evidence of three alkaloid substances known to produce altered states of consciousness: ephedrine, atropine and scopolamine.

The compounds themselves are produced by flora native to Minorca. Atropine and scopolamine, powerful hallucinogens, can be found in plants in the nightshade family, among them mandrake, henbane and thorn apple. Ephedrine, a stimulant, can be extracted from joint pine.

“These findings are so singular,” said Ms. Guerra-Doce, an expert in the anthropology of intoxication at the University of Valladolid in Spain. “Sometimes when people think about drugs, they think it’s a modern practice. These results tell a different story.”

Ms. Guerra-Doce said the way the compounds were distributed through each hair strand suggests the drugs were consumed over the period of a year, and well before death.

The cave, Es Càrritx, was discovered by spelunkers in 1995 and held the remains of more than 200 people who had been laid to rest over the course of six centuries, with the latest burial in roughly 800 B.C.E. Many were related across multiple generations. Curiously, the cave did not contain the bodies of pregnant women or babies.

For anthropologists, the cave’s most significant treasure were the tubular boxes, mostly wooden but some made of antler, that held tufts of hair dyed red. The boxes and their contents survived in large part because the cave’s opening, more than 80 feet beneath the upper ledge of a 300-foot-tall gorge, had been sealed off by rubble that had collapsed long ago.

Although there is no way to know why these ancient people were consuming such powerful drugs, Ms. Guerra-Doce noted that the boxes featured patterns that present-day humans might interpret as psychedelic inspired — a series of concentric circles suggesting the hypnotic bull’s-eye drawings of yore.

Ancient humans are thought to have used drug plants for both medicinal purposes and religious ceremonies, but until now, much of the scholarship has been based on indirect evidence such as pottery vessels, smoking pipes or plant residue from opium poppies or cannabis found at archaeological sites across Eurasia.

Giorgio Samorini, an Italian ethnobotanist who specializes in the archaeology of psychoactive plants and who was not involved in the study, said he was exhilarated by the findings. He said they added to a growing body of evidence suggesting that hallucinogens were an integral part of ancient societies worldwide.

He said the context of the findings suggested the drugs were consumed as part of a religious ritual. “This was not a profane purpose of ‘searching for a high’ but more generally the search for existential meaning that has been largely lost to time,” he said in an email.

Because the strands lacked hair bulbs, scientists were unable to do a DNA analysis that would allow them to determine the sex of those who had consumed the compounds.

The three compounds have a long history of human use. Ephedrine is a stimulant that provides bursts of energy and mental clarity, and it can stave off sleepiness. Atropine and scopolamine are powerful deliriants that can produce hallucinations and out-of-body experiences. In higher concentrations, atropine can lead to respiratory failure, paralysis and death.

Although impossible to know for sure, Ms. Guerra-Doce said the presence of these drugs suggested that the people who used them were guided by someone, perhaps a shaman, who understood their powers. “There is so much more we need to learn,” she said.

Real life SNAKES ON A PLANE!!

[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]A Cobra Appeared Mid-Flight. The Pilot’s Quick Thinking Saved Lives.[/SIZE][/HEADING]
The pilot made an emergency landing after feeling a Cape Cobra slither under his shirt while flying across South Africa. “I had a moment of stunned silence,” he said.

A South African pilot is being hailed as a hero this week after he unexpectedly came face-to-face with a venomous snake 11,000 feet in the air.

The pilot, Rudolf Erasmus, 30, laughed about the incident in an interview on Friday, but he and his four passengers, all colleagues, were not hurling any “Snakes on a Plane” [jokes]('https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/19/movies/19snak.html') on Monday, when he noticed a Cape Cobra, one of South Africa’s most dangerous snakes, slithering around the cockpit.

The group was on the second leg of its journey from the Western Cape to Mbombela, in the eastern region of the country, when Mr. Erasmus, a pilot for an engineer consulting company, felt something unusual. “I felt this cold sensation that was underneath my shirt, underneath where the hip area is,” he said.

He initially thought his water bottle was leaking. As he turned to the left, he saw the head of the snake under his feet. He estimated it to be between four and five feet long.

“I had a moment of stunned silence, like a moment of disbelief,” he said. “It’s as if my brain didn’t register what was going on."

Not long before he set off for his journey that day, airport workers told him that a Cape Cobra had been spotted climbing into the engine of the aircraft, a Beechcraft Baron 58, a small airplane that seats just a handful of people. But no one found the snake before takeoff, he said, so it was assumed that it had left on its own.

Cape Cobras typically live in the Cape provinces of South Africa, but are also found in southern Botswana and Namibia, [according to the African Snakebite Institute]('https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/snake/cape-cobra/'). A bite from this snake, which comes in a range of colors and can grow to more than seven feet in length, can cause progressive weakness, issues with the respiratory system and even death. Most snakebite deaths in the southern portion of Africa come from Cape Cobras and Black Mambas, the institute said.

On the plane, Mr. Erasmus was considering what to do next. He was scared that the snake would slip through to the back of the cabin and cause panic among the passengers. Knowing that, he spoke over headsets to say that there was an uninvited guest onboard.

“No one was panicking or getting hysterical about the snake,” he said. “And there was a moment of silence in the cabin. You could hear a needle drop.”

It didn’t take long for Mr. Erasmus to make arrangements to land at the nearest airport. “That was definitely the longest 10, 15 minutes of my life,” he said.

After landing, the passengers exited the plane one by one. Mr. Erasmus was the last to leave.

“As I was standing on the wing, I moved the seat forward a little bit, and I saw this snake curled up in a nice little bundle underneath my seat,” he said.

A snake handler later arrived on the scene, but, again, the snake was nowhere to be found. After two days of searching, and disassembling parts of the plane, its whereabouts remain a mystery.

By Wednesday, Mr. Erasmus had bravely decided to fly back to the Western Cape on the same aircraft — this time, covering up as many holes as possible. “I was not really in the mood to come to a face-to-face with that again,” he said.

Poppy Khoza, the director of the civil aviation authority in South Africa, praised “how he handled what could have been a major aviation incident” in a statement. “He remained calm in the face of a dangerous situation and managed to land the aircraft safely without any harm to him or his fellow passengers on board,” Ms. Khoza said.

Richard Levy, an aviation expert and retired American Airlines pilot based in Dallas, said it was rare for pilots to encounter such scary incidents while mid-flight. He too praised Mr. Erasmus’s quick and calm thinking, and said the extensive training pilots undergo prepared them for unusual situations.

Mr. Levy mused that Mr. Erasmus could now land a job at any major airline, if he wanted. “I give him an A-plus for how he handled it, mentally, and for a very successful emergency landing,” he said. “He’s a hero, in my mind.”

It’s now four days after the ordeal and Mr. Erasmus said he was shocked that his story had become so popular. He said that by Tuesday he had become overwhelmed with calls from reporters, friends and family.

He’s currently enjoying the long Easter weekend and planning to get back to work next week, flying the same aircraft.

This time, he’ll be much more vigilant before setting off, he said.

[[IMG alt="The Telegraph"]https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/oCUalfI8UVjQTNAukRulgg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTIwMDtoPTQ4O2NmPXdlYnA-/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2020-12/92f3d230-338d-11eb-bf5e-84c9bd66668a[/IMG]]('http://www.telegraph.co.uk/')
[HEADING=2]US has real UFO problem and it’s not Chinese spy balloons, says former Navy fighter pilot[/HEADING]

A former US Navy fighter pilot has told how his squadron [encountered UFOs]('https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/06/25/ufo-report-us-government-sightings-pentagon-congress-aliens/') almost daily for months while training off the American coast.

The sightings included a near collision with an object that appeared like a cube inside a sphere, and a close encounter with a fleet of objects moving at 120 knots into the wind.

Lieutenant Ryan Graves, an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot, is now leading an effort to encourage reporting of sightings, and advocating for scientific study of what the military calls Unidentified Aerial Phenomena [UAPs].

Last year, Congress held its [first hearing into UAPs for 50 years]('https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/05/14/us-hold-open-hearings-ufos-bid-solve-greatest-mystery-time/'), and the Pentagon has received 350 new reports in the last two years, 171 of which remain unexplained.

[HEADING=1]Sealed-off block of airspace[/HEADING]
Lt Graves told the Telegraph how in 2014 his squadron - the VFA-11 “Red Rippers” - was based on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, preparing for a deployment to the Persian Gulf.

The pilots trained in a sealed-off block of airspace called W-72 off the coast of Virginia, where nothing else was allowed to fly.

After the planes’ radar was upgraded pilots began picking up objects in the training area.

They were initially dismissed as radar errors, but then they flew closer and started seeing them on their FLIR systems, which are infrared cameras that detect heat.

“It was almost as if the sun was shining a flashlight [on the UAPs],” said Lt Graves. “We would have them on a radar, and then we’d have a FLIR. We’d fly by them as low as we could trying to see them.

“We were trying to figure out what the heck these things were. We were seeing them pretty much daily. We’d go out there and they’d be out there in the morning, they’d be out there in the evening.

“These things were pretty much always out there. That would range from two to three of them, to six or seven.”

Then, the near collision happened when an object passed right between two jets, within 50ft of the lead aircraft.

Lt Graves said the pilot involved was shaken up after landing back on the carrier.

[HEADING=1]Black cube inside of a clear sphere[/HEADING]
“He said ‘I almost hit one of those damn things!’ and we all knew what he was talking about,” he said.

“It was completely stationary and he described it as a dark grey or black cube inside of a clear sphere.

“He cancelled the flight, not trusting his ability to clear his airspace in front of him.”

The pilots began operating in different parts of their training area to avoid hitting the unidentified objects.

In early 2015 the USS Theodore Roosevelt relocated, as scheduled, from Virginia to Jacksonville, Florida.

But the sightings of UAPs continued near the ship even though it had moved 600 miles south.

That was when an F/A-18 pilot filmed one of the most famous of all UFO videos, showing an object looking like a “spinning top” or “gimbal”.

“It was a unique object that we recorded on one particular night only,” said Lt Graves.

“One aircraft from my squadron, they were returning to the boat, they were east of the ship, about three or four miles off the shore. That’s when they saw the gimbal.”

On the video, which was later declassified, the pilots can be heard shouting “Oh my gosh!” and “Look at that thing dude!” and “It’s rotating!”

Lt Graves was in the post-flight briefing with other pilots and a sizeable group of “intelligence folks”.

He said: “No one thought this was benign. It was very clear that this was unusual and outside the normal.

“What you don’t see [on the declassified footage] is the radar information, which shows a formation of four to six objects that were operating kind of outward of the gimbal.

“They turned very quickly, and they all kind of got jumbled up, and then they rolled out and reformed in the opposite direction. They turned, it was a sharp turn.”

He added: “I don’t know 100 per cent if they were the same objects we were seeing before [off Virginia].”

[HEADING=1]Americans for Safe Aerospace[/HEADING]
Since leaving the Navy, Lt Graves has launched Americans for Safe Aerospace, which is aimed at promoting reporting of UAPs, aiming to help coordination between the public and private sectors.

He said: “I think it’s moving in the right direction. I think a lot of the cultural baggage that had prevented the reporting has gone away, at least in the Navy, I can’t speak for other branches.

“I’ve been getting reports from people that are still flying out there, that are still seeing these objects.

“Some of them were describing cubes and spheres. I’ve heard it described over the course of eight or nine years, basically the same object being reported. Also nondescript, white objects are reported as well.”

He added: “We have to be aware that there are objects in our airspace and we are not fully aware of what they are. Uncertainty in our airspace is a national security threat.”

In terms of what they could be - foreign drones, extraterrestrial - he doesn’t know.

“An F/A 18 is not a proper scientific tool for understanding what we’re seeing,” said Lt Graves.

“So we need to gather more data. There’s a lot of things on the table, but we need more data.

“We’re just not at a point where we can draw conclusions.”

[IMG alt="Video grab image shows part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots showing interactions with unidentified aerial phenomena - AFP"]https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/WXrZmKWI4yF1mg89RoL3YQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYwMjtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_telegraph_258/6c876be41a3dbfaded4714747867b481[/IMG]
Video grab image shows part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots showing interactions with unidentified aerial phenomena - AFP

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.foxnews.com/politics/greg-abbott-working-swiftly-pardon-army-sergeant-convicted-murder-black-lives-matter-riot.amp[/URL]

???

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brian-sims-yuengling-gay-boycott_n_58122664e4b0390e69ce8ea6[/URL]

The cool kids be drinking Yuengling this weekend.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/leak-bottom-sea-may-harbinger-180932935.html[/URL]

[URL unfurl="true"]https://nypost.com/2023/04/11/missing-woman-found-alive-in-submerged-jeep-in-texas-cops/?dicbo=v2-xcJhMeV[/URL]

[URL unfurl="true"]https://nypost.com/2023/04/11/missing-woman-found-alive-in-submerged-jeep-in-texas-cops/?dicbo=v2-xcJhMeV[/URL]

was just about to post this......

[URL unfurl="true"]https://justthenews.com/government/congress/china-threatens-biden-revealing-hunter-bidens-bank-records-senate-republicans[/URL]

Mixed emotions on this. Happy that Na can replace Li in batteries because of the availability, but not pleased with the source of the technology...

[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]Why China Could Dominate the Next Big Advance in Batteries[/SIZE][/HEADING]
China is far ahead of the rest of the world in the development of batteries that use sodium, which are starting to compete with ubiquitous lithium power cells.

In Changsha, deep in China’s interior, thousands of chemists, engineers and manufacturing workers are shaping the future of batteries.

The city’s Central South University churns out the graduates who are advancing the technology, much as Stanford University molded the careers of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who pioneered microchips. Across the Xiang River, vast factories mix minerals into the highly processed compounds that make rechargeable batteries possible.

These batteries, mostly made of lithium, have powered the rise of cellphones and other consumer electronics. They are transforming the auto industry and could soon start doing the same for solar panels and wind turbines crucial in the fight against climate change. China dominates their chemical refining and production.

Now China is positioning itself to command the next big innovation in rechargeable batteries: replacing lithium with sodium, a far cheaper and more abundant material.

Sodium, found all over the world as part of salt, sells for 1 to 3 percent of the price of lithium and is chemically very similar. Recent breakthroughs mean that sodium batteries can now be recharged daily for years, chipping away at a key advantage of lithium batteries. The energy capacity of sodium batteries has also increased.

Read the rest here: Why China Could Dominate the Next Big Advance in Batteries

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/first-radar-detected-meteor-fall-155808805.html[/URL]

$155,000 a Year

NYC Rat Czar Will Make $155,000 a Year, Mayor Eric Adams Says - Bloomberg.4 hours ago

[HEADING=2]‘A job that’s made for her’: Mayor Adams appoints NYC’s new rat czar[/HEADING]

[IMG alt="Mayor Eric Adams speaks during NYPD announcement of deployment of innovative technologies on Times Square"]https://cms.prod.nypr.digital/images/337921/fill-700x467%7Cformat-webp%7Cwebpquality-70[/IMG]

Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Shutterstock

[HEADING=2]Ukrainian Hackers Say They Have Compromised Russian Spy Who Hacked in 2016[/HEADING]

By [Reuters]('https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-04-11/ukrainian-hackers-say-they-have-compromised-russian-spy-who-hacked-democrats-in-2016')
|
April 11, 2023, at 10:23 a.m.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-04-11/ukrainian-hackers-say-they-have-compromised-russian-spy-who-hacked-democrats-in-2016