Author: Ben

A group of wild pigs dug up huge chunks of Geyserville New Tech Academy, leading to an estimated $150,000 worth of damage. The devastation caused by the pigs, who remain at large, shocked school workers and locals alike who use and pass by the Sonoma County education center. Not First Incident Samuel Cruz/Unsplash Although this was a costly attack, it was not the first time a group of wild pigs had terrorized the academy. Last year, they targeted the campus’ sports grounds, ripping up parts of their baseball, soccer, and softball facilities. Defenses Erected Nick/Unsplash Due to their past experiences,…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that two dietary supplements have been voluntarily recalled due to containing sildenafil, despite the Viagra component not appearing on their list of ingredients. This poses a potentially deadly ‘interaction’ risk to unaware consumers, hence the recall, and continues a disturbing trend of “hidden ingredients” in health products. Overwhelming Testing Capacity The US FDA/Wikimedia The FDA, who are responsible for testing the safety and efficacy of new drugs, said that they are not able to test all new supplements reaching the market during an earlier crisis. Their statement read: “FDA is unable to…

California State Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a $250 million deal with Google to help fund journalism and AI development in California, around half of which would be funded by Google. The deal includes the dropping of legislation that would have required Google to pay fees long-term to access content from news sites. Lobbying Success? Christian Wiedi/Unsplash The deal follows an intense period of tech company lobbying, including claims that Google would remove Californian news from their results. In recent years, Google have become dominant in the online advertising sector, diverting a key source of income for online news outlets,…

Kevin Hart, star of hit movies such as Jumanji, Ride Along and Get Hard, revealed how he passed on the opportunity to invest early in a now-global mega-corporation. Hart told of how he made a snap decision at the time based on a vision of the company’s downfall, and of his intense later regret on seeing its development. Hart to Heart Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia The episode was revealed in an episode of Hart to Heart, Hart’s Peacock network TV interview show. In the show, he interviews a number of well-known celebs and businessmen, and in this episode was with Mark Cuban,…

Several branches of KFC closed down suddenly on Monday morning, and the move came with mass layoffs for KFC employees across the state. The Illinois stores were all run by franchisee EYM Chicken Operations, with some employees being notified as late as 9AM. Multi-State Operation Brady Wilson/Unsplash Issues with the viability of franchisee EYM Chicken Operations threaten chains beyond just Illinois. Aside from owning a chunk of Illinois’ almost-150 KFC stores, the group also own several KFCs in both Wisconsin and Indiana. Fast Food Price Spikes Amirali Mirhashemian/Unsplash Fast food has faced a number of price spikes in 2024, with…

Lawyers acting on behalf of Disney made an argument to absolve themselves of a wrongful death jury trial based on the fact that the claimant had signed up for a Disney+ free trial. The legal position faced a global backlash, and had customers checking the fine print of their subscription agreement, before Disney’s partial walk back on Monday. Circumstances of Death Amy Humphries/Unsplash The victim, Kanokporn Tangsuan, had been eating at a Disney Springs restaurant, in October 2023, before she had an allergic reaction to the food while out shopping. This happened despite her repeatedly asking whether the food contained…

Visitors to one of Florida’s many coastal locations recently may have been surprised to stumble upon illicit packages as they walked along the beach. Some $1 million worth of cocaine packages washed up on Florida beaches, and speculation was that tides from recent storms led them to their unusual destination. Debby Devastation Mick Haupt/Unsplash Hurricane Debby hit the south-east of the US early this month, causing chaos across several states. Over a period of multiple days, the hurricane caused torrential floods, storms, and the conditions it created led to tornadoes. Large Quantity of Drugs Colin Davis/Unsplash A large volume of…

Recent research into 4000-year-old tablets has revealed that the messages in the stones carry with them grave warnings of the future. The tablet, discovered more than 100 years ago, has only now revealed its portentous omens, and gives some insight into the favored prediction methods of the time. Discovery in Iraq Hasanmajed/Unsplash The tablets were discovered in the remains of the ancient Babylonian city of Sippar, in modern day Iraq. Although they were found just over 100 years ago, the tablets likely date back as far as 1200 BC. Gathering Dust Egor Myznik/Unsplash The tablets are a set of 4,…

Floods have killed 2 people in storms that have devastated areas of Connecticut and Long Island, New York, and caused heavy rain in parts of New Jersey. The floods were caused by a “training thunderstorm”, and rains came down rapidly, catching residents off guard and causing transport chaos. Perfect Storm Conditions NOAA/Unsplash The conditions in the areas over Sunday and Monday were extremely favorable for the formation of the storms, explained William Syrett, a Penn State University meteorologist. He said that the “perfect conditions” were in place due to the level of moisture in the air, and the idleness of…

Recent research into 4000-year-old tablets has revealed that the messages in the stones carry with them grave warnings of the future. The tablet, discovered more than 100 years ago, has only now revealed its portentous omens, and gives some insight into the favored prediction methods of the time. Discovery in Iraq Hasanmajed/Unsplash The tablets were discovered in the remains of the ancient Babylonian city of Sippar, in modern day Iraq. Although they were found just over 100 years ago, the tablets likely date back as far as 1200 BC. Gathering Dust Egor Myznik/Unsplash The tablets are a set of 4,…