This England: White-van Manx
BBC News (Amanda Welles)
So long, suckers
A 'Holy Grail' Lego octopus has been found by a stunned beachcomber decades after falling into the sea. The black octopus was one of millions
of items lost on the Tokio Express cargo ship off Land's End in 1997. A freak wave knocked 62 containers and about 4,200 Lego octopuses into the sea. Only a handful have been found since,
many of which washed up in Cornwall. Jenny Smith, 43, came across the latest one while out on the beach at
Ginst Point. 'I squealed with excitement, shouted at my husband, and the kids and sat in complete shock,' she said.
Cornwall Live (Adam Robertson)
Guzzly bears
Two young bears escaped from their Wildwood Trust enclosure in Devon – and devoured a week's worth of honey. In a tale straight out of Winnie-the-Pooh, Mish and Lucy immediately dashed for the food store during their hour of freedom. Visitors were 'promptly escorted to a secure building'.
Sidmouth Herald (Steve Morley)
[See also: Britain is growing old disgracefully]
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Western Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Western Telegraph
Fire at Broad Haven sauna next to Off the Hook Bistro
The incident on Marine Road, Broad Haven, saw firefighters from Haverfordwest called to the scene shortly before 9pm. The fire was in an outbuilding used as a sauna and adjacent to Off the Hook Bistro. There were local fears that the popular eating establishment was on fire, but Off the Hook was quick to reassure customers that it was trading normally and had not been affected. The fire broke out in the outbuilding used as a sauna. (Image: Pembrokeshire - I Love It!) In a Facebook post on Saturday morning, Off the Hook said: "Just a quick update after last night. "Had a small fire outside of the building and luckily, after a quick response from the fire service, it was handled quickly and everyone was ok, so a massive thank you to the fire service and the public that helped. They added: 'Open today 'til 9pm, and despite popular request, smoked haddock is not on the menu!' Dyfed-Powys Police also attended the scene and closed Marine Road while the firefighters dealt with the fire. A spokesperson for MAWWFRS said: "At 8.58pm on Friday, July 18, the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service crew from Haverfordwest was called to an incident at Marine Road in Broad Haven. "The crew responded to a fire within an outbuilding used as a sauna. "Crew members utilised four breathing apparatus sets, two hose reel jets and one covering jet to extinguish the fire. "The crew was involved in cutting away parts of the structure to assess for any remaining hot spots. "The crew left the scene at 10.46pm."
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
I was virgin before university but ended up sleeping with five different guys since… I feel disgusted
I have gone from having no sex to doing it just for fun - I'm so confused DEAR DEIDRE I was virgin before university but ended up sleeping with five different guys since… I feel disgusted Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DEAR DEIDRE: WHEN I arrived at university less than a year ago I was a virgin, but now I've already slept with five different guys. I used to have a boyfriend when I was living at home, but my parents are very strict and religious and frown on sex before marriage. They rarely let me and my boyfriend out of their sight. I'm an 18-year-old girl. When I applied for university my parents insisted I had to live in halls as they thought it would be safer than a house but they don't know the halls I'm in are mixed. On my first night I went to the student bar and ended up drinking far too much and going back to one guy's room and having sex with him. I felt guilty but managed to get over it. I had sex with him a few more times but he stressed it was just for fun. Although I really liked him, I acted as if I was happy with that. He would come to my room late at night and let himself in, then return to his room afterwards. I don't see him now as he has changed course. I started seeing another student but he was controlling. He reminded me of my parents so I dumped him. There was another one after him but we weren't compatible. Then I've had a couple of one-night stands that haven't gone anywhere. At the weekend I bumped into the first guy in a bar. Dear Deidre on relationships, jealousy and envy I told myself I wasn't going to have sex with him but we ended up in my bed. I feel disgusted with my behaviour. I have gone from having no sex to doing it just for fun. I'm so confused. DEIDRE SAYS: Casual sex risks both your emotional and sexual health but don't beat yourself up. You grew up without being given a chance to develop a sense of responsibility to decide on healthy boundaries for your sexual behaviour. You're giving off vibes that you're up for a casual fling, rather than spelling out what you really want. No-strings sex is unlikely to lead to a relationship. The good news is you can do something about this. Set your boundaries firmly. Only have sex with men who are as open as you are to the possibility of it leading to a relationship. Drinking too much alcohol is seriously affecting your judgment so keep your boozing in check. Get in touch with Deidre Every problem gets a personal reply, usually within 24 hours weekdays. Send an email to deardeidre@ You can also send a private message on the DearDeidreOfficial Facebook page. I'M FED UP OF MOVING HOME AS HE BUILDS HIS CAREER DEAR DEIDRE: I AM sick of following my husband and his job around the country. Is it time for me to break free and move to another area? 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The National
2 days ago
- The National
Hostile takeover of craft groups by Tedooo app is soul-destroying
The project in question is a hollowed-out piece of log housing a woodland scene complete with hand-sculpted hedgehog and owl. It's fake, obviously. The photo is fake, the sob story is fake, and there's another tell-tale sign that it's fake – the part of the story that mentions 'the Tedooo app'. READ MORE: Scottish ice rink to close due to 'spiralling energy costs' Anyone who is a member of a craft or DIY Facebook group will be familiar with those three infuriating little words. Over the past five years, countless thriving communities have been taken over by this Israeli start-up, which calls itself 'the first social-commerce platform dedicated and customised for the handmade, crafts and DIY communities'. Members are then spammed with content that is either AI-generated fakery, or stolen from other online sources. In some cases, long-established groups with hundreds of thousands of members appear to have been bought from their previous owners and renamed accordingly. In others, the takeover is more stealthy, with the original moderators switching to posting Tedooo-promoting spam. The post with the sad boy was shared on 'DIY Crafty Fun & Crafters on the Tedooo app!', a group with one million members, by a moderator named Artur Zamber, who appears to be an elderly Russian with 18 Facebook friends. The post has 31,000 reactions and nearly 6000 comments, most complimenting the fake boy on his implausible skills. While some may be from bots, many others are from real people. READ MORE: Banned tall ship seen floating near Buckie harbour You might be thinking, who cares? If gullible folk want to waste their time on such nonsense, let them. But the extent to which Tedooo has disrupted and destroyed groups for creative people is driving members to distraction, and the site's unethical practices are having real-world negative impacts. 'The paid pattern sharing in their groups is rife,' says Bea King, an Aberdeen-based crafter who sells crochet patterns under the brand name cottontail&whiskers Ltd. King made direct contact with Tedooo's founder, Michelle Apelker, to have her products taken down, as the app had no copyright infringement system in place. Pictures of King's wonderfully detailed creations have also been pinched and used as false advertising on groups taken over by Tedooo, and she's in contact with many others who have had the same experiences. 'No-one knows exactly how they got all the groups,' she says. 'That bit is a mystery.' Another maker, Shropshire-based Laura Sutcliffe, has also been in direct contact with Apelker, to complain that her patterns and those of many others were being shared in the chat section of the Tedooo app itself. Apelker's response amounted to little more than a shrug. 'There's groups with hundreds of thousands of members. The groups made by private people. And they are managing their own groups.' READ MORE: Perth artist to sell Harris Tweed designs at major event this weekend She suggested that the same culprits were undoubtedly sharing copyrighted material on other social media platforms too, so Sutcliffe should take it up with them directly. When Sutcliffe pushed back, saying Apelker should take responsibility for the activities on her own app, her Tedooo account was suspended. Venture capital firm Stardom Ventures, which has funded Tedooo to the tune of at least $2 million, proclaims that it looks for 'rebels who want to revolutionise the way we create and consume media'. Tedooo is certainly doing that, by ruining users' experiences, permitting content theft and either driving people out of long-established groups or sucking them in with time-wasting trickery. The process of 'enshittification' of an online platform, as first articulated by journalist Cory Doctorow in 2022, comprises three stages: 'first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those [[business]] customers to claw back all the value for themselves.' It's difficult to see quite how this applies to Tedooo's business model, given the limited evidence that the app itself has many satisfied customers (except perhaps those looking for stolen crochet patterns). Its aggressive marketing might prompt intrigued new users to sign up, but surely it proceeds to alienate them by ruining their favourite communities. Unless, of course, the initial sign-up – and the data surrendered – is where the value lies. Among the infiltrated groups are those offering low-budget DIY and decorating tips, which were once an invaluable resource for people trying to maximise bedroom space for their children or make their homes more accessible to disabled family members. Now that the vast majority of posts are spam, featuring stolen content, any questions posed in the comments go unanswered. Close inspection of many pictures showing space-saving 'hacks' reveals them to be physically impossible. It's sad to see these wholesome, positive spaces captured, and trust among users broken. Hopefully those that have resisted the Tedooo takeover will survive and thrive.
