Dumb news stories

[Potato]

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A cleaner destroyed decades of "groundbreaking" work by shutting off a lab freezer containing key samples over an "annoying" alarm sound, US lawyers have claimed.

A sign explained how to mute the beep, but a breaker was reportedly switched off after a reading error.

Samples stored at -80C (-112F) were left "unsalvageable", causing $1m in damages, lawyers said.

The lab's school is suing the cleaner's employer for improper training.

The company held a $1.4m (£1.1m) contract to clean the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York back in 2020 which is when the alleged incident happened, paper Times Union reported.

Research on photosynthesis, headed by Prof KV Lakshmi, had the potential to be "ground-breaking" in furthering solar panel development, a lawyer for the institute wrote.

A few days before the freezer was turned off, an alarm went off to alert a 3C temperature rise. Though the fluctuation could have been catastrophic, Prof Lakshmi "determined that the cell cultures, samples and research were not being harmed," the legal case read.

A report filed by public safety staff at the institute said the cleaner thought they were flipping the breaker on when they actually turned it off, the New York Post reported.

The temperature had allegedly risen by 50 degrees to about -30C by the time researchers discovered the error.

Lawyer Michael Ginsberg told NBC News that the cleaning employee heard "annoying alarms", and lawyers that interviewed him reported "he still did not appear to believe he had done anything wrong, but was just trying to help."

[benji]

[Potato]

Fuck this kid in particular

[TylenolJones]

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Thanks Mom!

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[benji]

A Florida man, who is an ultra-marathon runner, was arrested while allegedly attempting to run across the Atlantic Ocean to London in a makeshift human-sized hamster wheel.

The U.S. Coast Guard first spotted Reza Ray Baluchi's homemade "Hydro Pod vessel" 70 miles off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia, on Aug. 26 in the midst of preparations for Hurricane Franklin, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida. The vessel was afloat by wiring and buoys and can best be described as a hamster wheel. He made a similar attempt in 2021, according to USA TODAY Network partner Daytona News-Journal.

This is not Baluchi's first attempting at crossing the Atlantic. He was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard in a floating "hydro pod" bubble in 2014.

All told, it took the U.S. Coast Guard about five days to bring Baluchi ashore during his latest attempt, according to the complaint. He was apprehended approximately 70 nautical miles east of Tybee Island.

Baluchi initially said his vessel was registered, but later said he couldn't find his documentation. When officers approached the vessel to end a "manifestly unsafe" voyage, Baluchi said he was armed with a 12-inch knife and threatened to die by suicide, according to the criminal complaint.

Another attempt the next day by officers to force Baluchi to disembark also failed after he allegedly threatened to blow himself up. Officers observed him holding wires, prompting them to contact the U.S. Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit to help determine the blast radius of Baluchi's alleged bomb, according to the complaint. The complaint states that Baluchi admitted the next day that the bomb threat was not real.

[TylenolJones]

You missed the best part

Baluchi claims a history of successful extreme runs, including a 2007 run around the perimeter of the U.S. to raise money for the Children's Hospital of Denver.

One year after the 9/11 attacks, Baluchi was arrested for attempting to enter the country illegally, according to CNN. He told CNN a judge agreed to release him on humanitarian grounds after he pledged to undertake a run from Los Angeles to New York City to commemorate the second anniversary of the attacks.

Suck on that Bin Laden!

[Polident]

[Uncle]

the best name in the universe

[benji]

NEVR 4GET

[Uncle]

there HAS TO have been some prophecy about what this signifies

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[Potato]

I am very positive about embracing large breasts and I'm not even a women!

[BIONIC]

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[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

Just a regular day down under.

[Potato]

It's South Australia. It's either a slow news day or serial killers. No in-between.

[Potato]

Love a good bone-apple-tea.

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If you see your teen using the term “lala bop” on social media or in a message, be warned that this online slang isn’t as innocent as it may sound.

Parents are likely unfamiliar with the seemingly innocuous term, leaving many caretakers to ask: What does "lala bop" mean?

"It's used to bully and slut-shame," Titania Jordan, chief parenting officer for Bark Technologies, a company that creates internet safety products, tells TODAY.com. "It's used to 'call out,' whether true or not, 'body count' — meaning how many people somebody has 'hooked up' with or slept with."

Jordan says the term originated from a 2021 song titled "Lala Bop" by rapper Almighty Rexxo, which features explicit, sexual language.

"Lala Bop" has appeared primarily in online posts on TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter. It is also being discussed by concerned parents on Facebook and Instagram, some of whom have shared notices from their children's schools warning caregivers that the term is being used to bully students.

"Slut-shaming (is) a form of bullying that criticizes one’s actual or assumed sexual behavior," Dawn Bounds, a psychiatrist-mental health nurse practitioner and assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, tells TODAY.com.

According to Jordan, social media apps and emojis have made it possible for teens to slut-shame their peers in a variety of ways that may not be obvious to parents.

"Those of us who grew up before smartphones experienced rumors flying around middle school and high school," Jordan says. "It's now compounded, and the negative effects are exponential and forever-lasting."

One 2021 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that slut-shaming is "gender-base violence" used primarily against young girls and women, and can cause psychological and physical health problems.

The same study of over 600 girls between the ages of 10 and 18 found that 14% of participants had experienced sex-shaming at least once.

Jordan says parents may not even be familiar with the slang kids use to slut-shame, "like 'smash' (casual sex) or 'thirsty' (desperate for sexual attention)."

"It's not just words and letters — it's emojis, too," Jordan adds, referring to various food items used to represent sexual acts or body parts.

"The first thing to do is to accept the fact that if you're a parent, you're now old and you're not cool," Jordan says. "You might think you know all the terms, but you don't. Every day there are new things coming up that are not what they sound like. 'Lala Bop' sounds like a cute kid's cartoon."

While "lala bop" was first used to slut-shame others, Jordan says the term has now evolved "beyond sexual encounters, real and perceived" to include "overeating and really any other activity that might embarrass someone."

Jordan says she has seen instances in which "lala bop" was used to shame someone who was diagnosed autistic and someone with what others assume to be an eating disorder.

"It's pretty heartbreaking," Jordan adds.

Bark Technologies, Jordan says, sends alerts to families using their products about online bullying situations, adding that the "lala bop" term escalated quickly once it started appearing online at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023.

"Every day, we're sending between 85 and 100 severe self-harm and suicidal ideation alerts," Jordan says. "Those alerts are taking place for a variety of reasons, whether that's text-based or social media-based or children writing suicide notes in Google Docs.

"Some of those instances were a result of 'lala bop' and ensuing conversations that happened because of that," she adds.

[Uncle]

not once does the article demonstrate how the phrase is used in context?

do you just say it and everyone knows what it means? is it a verb, a noun?

"stop being such a lala bop Stacey"

"man Braxton was being a real lala bop last night"

"what's up loser? what did you do this weekend, did you go out lala bopping again?"

[BIONIC]

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[Uncle]

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT

THIS TWEET BURIES THE LEDE WHAT THE FUCK

https://nypost.com/2023/11/01/lifestyle/utah-man-caleb-woods-says-grubhub-driver-gave-him-cup-of-urine-instead-of-chick-fil-a-milkshake/?utm_campaign=nypost&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

A Utah man was infuriated and left in shambles after realizing he drank urine instead of what he thought was a milkshake he ordered from GrubHub earlier this week, Fox 59 reported.

Caleb Woods said he decided to order fries and a milkshake from Chick-fil-A off the GrubHub app, but knew something was up when he “took a sip” from the beverage that he claims made him sick afterwards.

“When I started eating my meal upon delivery, I put a straw in my cup that was delivered and took a sip,” Woods said. “I soon discovered that the cup delivered to me from the GrubHub driver was a warm cup of urine.”

[Uncle]

stupid fucking people who don't read the story  

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

stupid fucking people who don't read the story  

Driver needs to drink some water.