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Alan MacMasters: How the great online toaster hoax was exposed

For more than a decade, a prankster spun a web of deception about the inventor of the electric toaster. His lies fooled newspapers, teachers and officials. Then a teenager flagged up something that everyone else had missed.

“I read through Wikipedia a lot when I’m bored in class,” says Adam, aged 15, who studies photography and ICT at a school in Kent.

One day last July, one of his teachers mentioned the online encyclopaedia’s entry about Alan MacMasters, who it said was a Scottish scientist from the late 1800s and had invented “the first electric bread toaster”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Things never asked for … A Neil Young Interview

Neil Young: ‘I sound like an old hippy, right? Well, that’s who I am!’

Neil Young’s new album, World Record, begins with a gentle lullaby of a song called Love Earth. “We can bring the seasons back,” sings Young in a reedy tenor as his on-off backing band Crazy Horse do their loose, shuffling thing. “Can you imagine that?” It is a vision of a return to an ecological Eden, and like the rest of World Record it addresses the two big concerns Young has been singing about his entire career: the environment and war. It is, I say to the singer, activist and self-described rich hippy, a rare glimpse of positivity when generally conversations on the environment are overwhelmingly negative.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

‘Gimp Man of Essex’ says Somerset Gimp ‘gives whole gimp community a bad reputation’

A Colchester man who goes by the name ‘the Gimp Man of Essex’ has criticised his Somerset doppelganger for giving the “whole gimp community a bad reputation”. The social media personality is well-known in his local area where he is seen doing his weekly shop in Tesco, clad head-to-toe in black latex.

Under the handle @GimpManofEssex, he even posted images of his travels and shared them with surprised bystanders on social media. He has been visiting his village harmlessly for the past nine years the Mirror reports. He has to appear as “normal as possible” when he is out, but other gimps haven’t always abided by the same standards.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Sacrifice: U.S. So Racist Michelle Obama Couldn’t Wear Braids in the White House

Michelle Obama put up with a lot from a “downright mean” country she never could be proud of until it elected her husband POTUS. But we’re still learning how hellish her eight years in the White House really was.

In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres about her new book The Light We Carry, Michelle Obama said, “As black women we deal with it, the whole thing about do you show up with your natural hair? … As First Lady, I did not wear braids. Being the first – yeah, we had to ease up on the people … I was like, it would be easier. Nope, nope. They’re not ready.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Library in Multicultural Malmo Gets Death Threats over Drag Queen Stories

A library in the multicultural city of Malmo, Sweden claims to have received death threats following a story time performance by a pair of drag queens that took place last month.

An unnamed city library employee received the alleged death threat after a drag queen storytime performance by the drag queens ‘Lady Busty’ and ‘Miss Shameless’ at the end of last month.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Canadian military can work in Europe, Asia at same time: defence minister

OTTAWA – Defence Minister Anita Anand pushed back on Friday against suggestions that growing Canada’s military’s footprint in Asia will come at a cost to the country’s long-standing commitments to Europe, where NATO allies are expecting to see more Canadian troops.

The issue emerged after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at an international summit in Bangkok that the government’s new Indo-Pacific strategy will include “increased defence investments” to ensure peace and stability in the region.

While the prime minister did not offer further details, the statement followed the government’s decision in the summer to send two Royal Canadian Navy frigates to the Asia-Pacific region at the same time, as a sign of Canada’s increased engagement.

What colour is the sky in Anand’s world? No ships, no planes, no personnel. Sounds right.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, WTF?

Two Canadian men charged with shooting animals at safari park

Two Canadian men have been charged with entering a safari park in Quebec and shooting three wild boar and an elk, brazen killings that have left staff at the family-themed park in shock.

Police say Mathieu Godard and Jeremiah Mathias-Polson broke through a barrier at Parc Omega on the evening of 10 November.

A security guard on duty at the time noticed a vehicle had illegally entered the park and alerted police. Moments later he heard gunshots.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Mohammed bin Salman: Saudi leader given US immunity over Khashoggi killing

The US has determined that Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – has immunity from a lawsuit filed by murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancé.

Mr Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi critic, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

US intelligence has said it believes Prince Mohammed ordered the killing.

Oh no Bezos is upset!

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, WTF?

Trudeau’s so called National security officials wanted CSIS threshold for Emergencies Act ‘reconsidered’

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser and other senior officials felt the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s threshold to determine a national threat under the Emergencies Act “should be reconsidered,” a public inquiry has learned.

Jody Thomas told lawyers for the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is investigating the federal government’s decision to invoke the act during the “Freedom Convoy” protests last winter, that in her opinion, the “totality of circumstances” at the time constituted a threat to national security, documents say.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Criminalizing Dissent", WTF?

Fewer than 24 per cent of Ukrainians granted visas have come to Canada: ambassador

Less than one quarter of the 370,000 approved Canadian visa applications from Ukrainians fleeing the war in their country have so far made it to our borders.

Testifying Thursday before the Senate committee on foreign affairs, Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine Larisa Galadza said only between 80,000 and 90,000 Ukrainians managed to make the journey to this country, under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program.

That’s a lot of folks saying no thanks. Makes you wonder if Canada is now regarded as a shithole 3rd world state.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", Canada, WTF?

Freeland wanted Convoy supporters’ bank accounts frozen until they reported to police

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told a secret cabinet meeting that Canadians with bank accounts frozen under the Emergencies Act should be denied their money unless they first reported to police. “Banks were pleased,” said confidential minutes.

“Minister of finance reported on a conversation she had with chief executive officers at the major banks,” said minutes of the Monday, February 21 meeting. “Banks were pleased that the government was working on a plan that would see individuals with their bank accounts frozen report to police prior to the bank to have their accounts unfrozen.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Criminalizing Dissent", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, WTF?