Latest news with #PhoneA
The Age
07-07-2025
- The Age
Why our mushroom murder trial fixation is a sign of hope
The conversation descended, as it always does, to the mushroom lunch trial. Beef Wellington, specifically individual beef Wellingtons. Dehydrators. Asian grocers. Death caps, foraging, gastric band surgery, factory resets, Phone A and Phone B, grey plates and orange plates. The trial created its own lexicon of contenders for the Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year. Australians have been fixated on criminal trials before, but those can mostly be traced to universal themes and shared emotions. The backpacker murders and the outback killing of Peter Falconio played to deep Wake In Fright fears about the wide brown land. Kathleen Folbigg's and Keli Lane's trials touched the nerve of maternal filicide. Lindy Chamberlain's trials combined both. The public fascination with the mushroom lunch trial was different. There is something broader to be said about in-laws and cooking, but it was the trial's very singularity, its bizarre uniqueness, that connected it to the times we are living in. What does it have to do with us? How does it affect us? Nothing and not at all. When we are waking up each morning to discover what new atrocities were committed overnight, when we are asked whether nuclear war, artificial intelligence or climate change is the greatest threat to humanity, the mushroom lunch trial was trivia. But this is why it gripped so many of us, and it was actually a good thing. While pondering why I'm suddenly so well informed about beef Wellington, wild mushrooms and dehydrators, I came across a New York Times essay by Ken Jennings, host of the TV quiz show Jeopardy!, now in its 61st unbroken year. Since taking over from Alex Trebeck in 2020, Jennings had asked himself if such quizzes could 'survive the conspiracy theories and fake news of our post-fact era'. 'Facts may seem faintly old-timey in the 21st century,' Jennings wrote, 'remnants of the rote learning style that went out of fashion in classrooms (and that the internet search made obsolete) decades ago.' But if you look around, trivia quizzes – and therefore facts – have never been more popular. Media is spiced with quizzes for the reason that they suck in audiences. We get stirred up about the ambiguous wording of a question in the Good Weekend Superquiz. Pub trivia, imported from Britain since the 1970s, is booming among 18- to 25-year-olds. And let's not get started on those of us (guilty!) who use our phones less as communications devices than as pocket encyclopedias. 'Hold that thought, let me see what shows we've seen him/her in.' 'Don't mind me, I'm just checking.' As annoying as it can be, this behaviour does mean something. 'Trivia is far from trivial,' Jennings writes. He would say that, wouldn't he? But the supporting evidence is enlightening. It was January 22, 2017, when Kellyanne Conway, an adviser in the first Trump administration, defended spokesman Sean Spicer's false claims about the crowd size at Trump's inauguration. Chuck Todd, host of Meet The Press, asked Conway how Spicer could 'utter a provable falsehood'. Conway replied that Spicer was providing 'alternative facts'. Todd said: 'Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods.'
Sydney Morning Herald
07-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why our mushroom murder trial fixation is a sign of hope
The conversation descended, as it always does, to the mushroom lunch trial. Beef Wellington, specifically individual beef Wellingtons. Dehydrators. Asian grocers. Death caps, foraging, gastric band surgery, factory resets, Phone A and Phone B, grey plates and orange plates. The trial created its own lexicon of contenders for the Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year. Australians have been fixated on criminal trials before, but those can mostly be traced to universal themes and shared emotions. The backpacker murders and the outback killing of Peter Falconio played to deep Wake In Fright fears about the wide brown land. Kathleen Folbigg's and Keli Lane's trials touched the nerve of maternal filicide. Lindy Chamberlain's trials combined both. The public fascination with the mushroom lunch trial was different. There is something broader to be said about in-laws and cooking, but it was the trial's very singularity, its bizarre uniqueness, that connected it to the times we are living in. What does it have to do with us? How does it affect us? Nothing and not at all. When we are waking up each morning to discover what new atrocities were committed overnight, when we are asked whether nuclear war, artificial intelligence or climate change is the greatest threat to humanity, the mushroom lunch trial was trivia. But this is why it gripped so many of us, and it was actually a good thing. While pondering why I'm suddenly so well informed about beef Wellington, wild mushrooms and dehydrators, I came across a New York Times essay by Ken Jennings, host of the TV quiz show Jeopardy!, now in its 61st unbroken year. Since taking over from Alex Trebeck in 2020, Jennings had asked himself if such quizzes could 'survive the conspiracy theories and fake news of our post-fact era'. 'Facts may seem faintly old-timey in the 21st century,' Jennings wrote, 'remnants of the rote learning style that went out of fashion in classrooms (and that the internet search made obsolete) decades ago.' But if you look around, trivia quizzes – and therefore facts – have never been more popular. Media is spiced with quizzes for the reason that they suck in audiences. We get stirred up about the ambiguous wording of a question in the Good Weekend Superquiz. Pub trivia, imported from Britain since the 1970s, is booming among 18- to 25-year-olds. And let's not get started on those of us (guilty!) who use our phones less as communications devices than as pocket encyclopedias. 'Hold that thought, let me see what shows we've seen him/her in.' 'Don't mind me, I'm just checking.' As annoying as it can be, this behaviour does mean something. 'Trivia is far from trivial,' Jennings writes. He would say that, wouldn't he? But the supporting evidence is enlightening. It was January 22, 2017, when Kellyanne Conway, an adviser in the first Trump administration, defended spokesman Sean Spicer's false claims about the crowd size at Trump's inauguration. Chuck Todd, host of Meet The Press, asked Conway how Spicer could 'utter a provable falsehood'. Conway replied that Spicer was providing 'alternative facts'. Todd said: 'Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods.'
Perth Now
02-06-2025
- Perth Now
Mushroom cook's phone act aired in court
Alleged triple-killer Erin Patterson rotated through mobile phones at a 'frequent' pace, moving her SIM nine times over four years, her trial has been told. On Monday jurors in the trial, now in it's sixth week, continued to hear from Detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall. Under cross examination from defence barrister Colin Mandy SC, Constable Eppingstall was taken through a 'flow chart' that tracked Ms Patterson's phones from 2019 to 2023. Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall returned to the witness box for his fifth day of giving evidence. NewsWire/ David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia The record indicates she changed between seven different phones, from LG, Nokia, Samsung and Oppo, nine times until August 2023. The detective agreed the chart indicated the 'reasonably frequent setting up' of phones. Previously the jury was told prosecutors allege a Samsung A23, dubbed Phone B in the trial, was factory reset three times before it was handed over to police on August 5 and once remotely the following day. Mr Mandy took Constable Eppingstall to a section of the flow chart, that showed a factory reset on February 12 was followed by Ms Patterson's son's SIM card being placed into the phone. The barrister asked if this was 'consistent' with the son taking over the use of that phone. 'Yes, sir,' the officer responded. Next Mr Mandy took Constable Eppingstall to phone records from a second Samsung A23 dubbed 'Phone A' in the trial. Prosecutors allege this was Ms Patterson's phone used in the period preceding and immediately after the lunch. Last week, Constable Eppingstall told the jury the phone had never been located by police. Mr Mandy confirmed the Telstra records indicate the SIM card 'lost connection' with the network sometime between 12.01pm and 1.45pm on August 5. It next connected in a different handset, receiving a text message at 1.44am on August 6, he said. Constable Eppingstall agreed, saying 'that's my understanding' of the records. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty. Brooke Grebert-Craig. Credit: Supplied Constable Eppingstall, the jury was told last week, was the final witness prosecutors planned to call in their case against Ms Patterson. The 50-year-old is facing trial after pleading not guilty to murdering three of her husband's relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth. Prosecutors allege a beef Wellington lunch she served on July 29, 2023, was deliberately poisoned with death cap mushrooms, while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident. Her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson died from organ failure in after falling ill following the meal Ms Patterson hosted at her Leongatha home in Victoria's southeast. Ms Wilkinson's husband, long-serving Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, fell ill following the lunch but recovered after spending about a month and a half in hospital. The trial continues.
West Australian
02-06-2025
- West Australian
Erin Patterson trial: Alleged mushroom poisoner changed phones frequently
Alleged triple-killer Erin Patterson rotated through mobile phones at a 'frequent' pace, moving her SIM nine times over four years, her trial has been told. On Monday jurors in the trial, now in it's sixth week, continued to hear from Detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall. Under cross examination from defence barrister Colin Mandy SC, Constable Eppingstall was taken through a 'flow chart' that tracked Ms Patterson's phones from 2019 to 2023. The record indicates she changed between seven different phones, from LG, Nokia, Samsung and Oppo, nine times until August 2023. The detective agreed the chart indicated the 'reasonably frequent setting up' of phones. Previously the jury was told prosecutors allege a Samsung A23, dubbed Phone B in the trial, was factory reset three times before it was handed over to police on August 5 and once remotely the following day. Mr Mandy took Constable Eppingstall to a section of the flow chart, that showed a factory reset on February 12 was followed by Ms Patterson's son's SIM card being placed into the phone. The barrister asked if this was 'consistent' with the son taking over the use of that phone. 'Yes, sir,' the officer responded. Next Mr Mandy took Constable Eppingstall to phone records from a second Samsung A23 dubbed 'Phone A' in the trial. Prosecutors allege this was Ms Patterson's phone used in the period preceding and immediately after the lunch. Last week, Constable Eppingstall told the jury the phone had never been located by police. Mr Mandy confirmed the Telstra records indicate the SIM card 'lost connection' with the network sometime between 12.01pm and 1.45pm on August 5. It next connected in a different handset, receiving a text message at 1.44am on August 6, he said. Constable Eppingstall agreed, saying 'that's my understanding' of the records. Constable Eppingstall, the jury was told last week, was the final witness prosecutors planned to call in their case against Ms Patterson. The 50-year-old is facing trial after pleading not guilty to murdering three of her husband's relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth. Prosecutors allege a beef Wellington lunch she served on July 29, 2023, was deliberately poisoned with death cap mushrooms, while her defence argues the case is a tragic accident. Her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson died from organ failure in after falling ill following the meal Ms Patterson hosted at her Leongatha home in Victoria's southeast. Ms Wilkinson's husband, long-serving Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson, fell ill following the lunch but recovered after spending about a month and a half in hospital. The trial continues.
