We enter the world of crime this week. We learn about inept robbers who get foiled by a bong and a pothead who gets busted by her own toddler. We also discover that if you want to murder your husband, you probably shouldn’t write an essay on the topic and post it online beforehand. In the animal world, we learn about curious amphipods that kidnap other creatures to help them ward off their own predators.
10 Game Night At Vyborg Castle
Last month, officials from the Russian castle-turned-museum Vyborg revealed that they’d found a secret chamber inside the structure originally built as an outpost for the Kingdom of Sweden over 700 years ago. Museum director Vladimir Tsoi recently announced the preliminary findings in an online post. Most intriguing was a medieval board game.
The “board” consisted of intersecting lines of squares carved into a clay brick. Tsoi identified it as a version of Nine Men’s Morris, a strategy game that has been played since Roman times, at least. The goal is to move your pieces, called “men,” into rows of three called “mills.” When a mill is achieved, the opposing player loses a game piece.[1] A modern variant called “cowboy checkers” is still played today.
Vyborg Castle has seen many restorations over the course of its seven-century existence as it changed hands between Russia, Sweden, and Finland. Archaeologists are hopeful that the chamber will turn out to be a secret passage which links the castle, which sits on an islet, to the city nearby. More historical finds are expected in the months to come.
9 Remodeling The Lizard People’s Lair
To be fair, there are some weird things about the airport. According to its dedication stone, it was partly funded by something called the “New World Airport Commission,” an organization on which there is almost no information. It also has some creepy murals and a giant statue of a blue horse which killed its creator when a piece broke off and landed on him.
Finally, it seems that officials have decided to come clean regarding the airport’s sinister background, as recent posters placed around the terminals announce that their workers are remodeling the lizard people’s lair.[2]
In reality, this is just a cheeky nod to the airport’s bizarre reputation in order to conceal renovations. Others suggest the posters are being used for a cover-up. In 2008, Kim Day became the new chief executive for Denver International Airport and decided to embrace the conspiracies. Since then, they’ve had Illuminati art exhibits, conspiracy costume parties, and even a contest to win a tour of the mysterious underground facilities underneath the airport.
8 Hostage Situation At Sea
Scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany report on the unusual behavior of certain amphipods that kidnap pteropods, also known as sea snails, in order to ward off predators.
Researchers first observed the phenomenon in the austral summer of 2016–2017 during an expedition into the Southern Ocean. The intended goal was to investigate the distribution, abundance, and ecological role of amphipods. However, biologists noticed that certain specimens were carrying something strange. Upon closer inspection, that something turned out to be pteropods. These sea snails produce chemicals which ward off predators, although they don’t seem to affect amphipods. Icefish that prey on both are deterred from attacking the crustaceans with the sea snail backpacks.
A search revealed that the phenomenon was first reported by US researchers in 1990, but only in coastal waters and never in the open ocean. This time around, biologists were interested in seeing if there is some kind of mutualistic relationship between different species—perhaps amphipods are protected from predators, and pteropods save energy by being carried around. Actually, the practice doesn’t benefit the sea snails at all. They are trapped in place by the crustaceans using two pairs of legs. They become unable to feed, and they starve.[3]
Researchers first observed the phenomenon in the austral summer of 2016–2017 during an expedition into the Southern Ocean. The intended goal was to investigate the distribution, abundance, and ecological role of amphipods. However, biologists noticed that certain specimens were carrying something strange. Upon closer inspection, that something turned out to be pteropods. These sea snails produce chemicals which ward off predators, although they don’t seem to affect amphipods. Icefish that prey on both are deterred from attacking the crustaceans with the sea snail backpacks.
A search revealed that the phenomenon was first reported by US researchers in 1990, but only in coastal waters and never in the open ocean. This time around, biologists were interested in seeing if there is some kind of mutualistic relationship between different species—perhaps amphipods are protected from predators, and pteropods save energy by being carried around. Actually, the practice doesn’t benefit the sea snails at all. They are trapped in place by the crustaceans using two pairs of legs. They become unable to feed, and they starve.[3]
7 Busted By Her Progeny
A toddler landed her mom in trouble with the law when she took out the mother’s weed stash in front of police during a traffic stop.
State troopers pulled a car over outside Albany, New York, when they saw a young passenger who was not in a child’s car seat. They became suspicious after noticing several butt ends of marijuana cigarettes in the ashtray.
One of the troopers was questioning the mother and the man behind the wheel while the other one was supervising the toddler. The three-year-old girl decided to narc on her parent and pulled out a bag of marijuana and a smoking pipe from under the front seat.[4]
The mother and the driver were arrested and charged with child endangerment. Authorities turned the child over to other family members and notified the county child protective services of her mother’s arrest.
6 What Won’t People Do For Pizza?
