Month: January 2025

The prehistoric giant mackerel shark lived around 23 to 2.5 million years ago, and could be approximately 65ft (20m) in length and could weigh up to 60 tonnes.

Essentially, the megalodon were some of the most terrifying creatures that ever called our seas home.

For reference, they can be over three times bigger than great white sharks. Oh, and they’re the largest shark in history.

Some fans think that the megalodon is back (Getty Stock Photo)

But some think that they could be back as a documentary about the megalodon that aired on the Discovery Channel back in 2013.

It was titled Megalodon: The Shark Lives, and after resurfacing recently on YouTube, a lot of people seem to think that the chilling footage in the video could be telling about the pre-historic creature.

With over seven million views, the video gruesomely shows a blue whale carcass that is beached off the coast of Hawaii, that looks to have been brutally attacked.

Originally filmed in 2009, the blue whale’s insides can be seen hanging out after being cut open by a predator, despite being the biggest animal in the world.

This photo allegedly shows a six foot fin (Discovery Channel)

A talking head the programme introduces as a marine biologist explained that the culprit had to be the size of a megalodon, as other scenes in the documentary claimed to show six foot tall fins poking out of the ocean near similar blue whale attacks, as people believed that megalodon could still be around.

One user wrote in the comments: “Six percent of the ocean has been explored, still no sign of the megalodon, but that’s only 6%. Megalodon could still be alive.”

Another added: “I believe in megalodon because we just explored 5% Of The Ocean… Its Lurking Down There….”

But a third pointed out: “Megalodon was a surface dweller, I’m sure we’d of [sic] spotted it by now.”

And a fourth also said about one of the scenes: “That whale died and its guts exploded.”

Graphic images of dead whales were used in the documentary (Discovery/YouTube)

But despite all of this footage and a whole documentary suggesting that the megalodon could have returned, a brief disclaimer at the start of the show said that the potential return of the species was not based on fact.

The whole documentary was actually fake, or fiction, rather.

Discovery Channel viewers couldn’t believe it when they found out that Megalodon: The Shark Lives wasn’t based on any actual scientific research, but instead used edited footage to make viewers believe that megalodon could still be in our waters.

Ask any respected marine biologist though, and they’ll tell you that this isn’t the case.

Shark expert David Shiffman was one person who certainly wasn’t happy about the documentary, telling National Geographic it was a ‘fiasco’ and ‘utter nonsense’.

But usually, these matches only last a minute or so (at a push) and you’ve probably wondered what would happen if you actually held out for the long run

Even just those mere seconds of staring can leave our eyes feeling dry and itchy but if you stopped blinking for a few hours, there would be much worse consequences to your eye health.

And a creepy simulation shows just that.

A YouTube short by ‘zackdfilms’ is said to show what would happen to the human eye if the eyelids were to stop from blinking.

It claims that after 30 seconds, the moisture ‘on your eyeball would start evaporating’.

Then, over a few minutes time, ‘the first layer would dry out’ across your eye.

“Since it relies on the eyelids to cover it with moisture,” the video adds.

The simulation then shows a red eyeball as it concludes: “A few hours later, all moisture would be gone, causing damage to the cornea which would significantly impair your vision.”

It is said we typically blinking between 14,000 and 19,200 times every day and Brimhall eye centre explains the reflex is essential in protecting maintaining our eye health.

There are three key things it lists that may happen if you don’t blink enough, or don’t blink at all.

Even staring at your screen for too long can cause problems (Getty Stock Image)

Dry Eyes

The eye experts says if you’re someone who doesn’t blink enough, you may end up with dry eyes as the cornea won’t get the moisture and nutrients it requires.

“Prolonged periods of no blinking can lead to chronic dry eye syndrome, which has symptoms like discomfort, gritty sensations, and burning/stinging eyes,” the team add.

Increased Risk of Eye Infections

As well as wiping away debris, blinking also gets oxygen to your eyes.

But if you don’t blink enough, you’re cutting all that back, both disrupting the ‘the even distribution of the tear film and increasing the growth of bacteria on the eye’s surface’.

Therefore, you may end up with an infection.

Corneal Swelling

And finally, this may be a consequence if you don’t blink. As the cornea doesn’t have any blood vessels, it relies on that tear film to replenish it with oxygen.

The Brimhall eye centre adds: “If you stop blinking, your cornea may swell, leading to blurry vision, light sensitivity, and discomfort.”

While hair loss isn’t a condition that only affects men, studies show that men are increasingly more likely to shred all their hair compared to women.

The data by the American hair Loss Association reveals two-thirds of men in the US will experience some degree of balding by the time they hit 35 – and by the age of 50, this catapults to around 85 percent of men.

However, male pattern baldness, medically termed androgenetic alopecia, can actually affect both sexes – but in different ways.

Women are more likely to lose the fullness in their hair (Getty Images)

How does hair loss affect men and women?

According to Medline, androgenetic alopecia is a common form of hair loss for men and women, with the condition starting as early as someone’s teen years which gradually increases with age.

The way in which men and women lose their hair also differs, with men losing it rapidly from specific areas to form an ‘M’ shape, while women’s hair doesn’t recede but rather thins out and widens around the center parting.

The American Hair Loss Association states that the condition is behind 95 percent of hair loss cases in men, while the UK’s NHS estimates the condition affects 30 percent of women by the age of 70.

In men, it can be linked to some medical conditions, like coronary heart disease and enlarged prostates, and women’s hair loss can be a result of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can present a number of other symptoms like menstrual irregularities, hirsutism and fertility issues.

The condition is largely hereditary, meaning sufferers are genetically predisposed to inheriting it from their parents, and there is no way to put a stop to it without hair transplant surgery.

Men’s hairlines recede to look like an ‘M’ shape (Getty Images)

Why are men more likely to lose hair compared to women?

Well, it comes down to biology, specifically the dihydrotestosterone (DHT) hormone, according to Harley Street Hair Transplant, which is a by-product of testosterone which men have far more of compared to women – though it can also be present in women.

DHT isn’t a result of androgenetic alophecia, however, it can play a role in the development of hair loss, Medical News Today also says.

As the hormone binds to hair follicles, causing them to ‘shrink and never regrow’, the theory is that the more DHT in your body, the higher the chance of going bald.

While this gives one scientific explanation, the Wimpole Clinic also finds the problem could also come from the fact balding in men tends to be more noticeable.

The hormone tends be more present in men (Getty stock images)

The clinic states: “[I]t is much more obvious when a man begins to lose his hair. Women who suffer from female pattern baldness lose hair differently. Female pattern hair loss presents at a slower rate with hair thinning all over the scalp and therefore gives the appearance of thinning rather than loss.

“Men, however, tend to lose a lot of hair over a shorter period from the specific areas of the crown and the hairline.”

While the condition is generally unavoidable in men, medics advise there are some steps to slow down the process.

For example, Wimple Clinic recommends to avoid ‘inflaming’ the hair follicles with over styling or chemicals, such as hair dye or heat damage.

Hair growth can also be promoted through a balanced diet and supplements that keep the follicles healthy, such as iron, zinc, vitamins and protein.

The official name for such a fear is taphephobia, which originates from the Greek taphos meaning ‘tombs or graves’, and phobos which stands for ‘deep dread or fear’, says FearOf.net.

Symptoms of the condition include breathing hard and an elevated heart rate, avoidance behavior (i.e. refusing to go in underground spaces or cemeteries), and panic attacks.

As well as being super precautious and having such times with you when you’re buried, there’s supposedly another way you could survive being buried alive, as per a simulation created by Zack D. Films.

In the clip it says that (presuming you were buried while wearing a shirt) you should put the clothing over your nose and mouth to ‘filter the dust’.

Then, by using ‘small controlled movements’, you need to punch a hole into the coffin.

Obviously, dirt would then come rushing through, which you then need to try to move down to the bottom half of your body.

Next, you need to sit up, and as you do, continue to direct the falling dirt into the coffin until you’re able to stand up.

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Lastly, once you made it near to the Earth’s surface you have to push through the ground and break free.

It’s important to note that, while the simulation seems somewhat easy, the chances of you actually surviving being buried in a coffin a quite low (sorry, taphephobes).

However, it’s said that an average, healthy person could last anywhere between ten to 60 minutes in a coffin before succumbing to their fate, depending on the oxygen levels, says Popular Science.

I guess if you’re able to do what the simulation shows in that time frame, then you’re onto a winner.

Víctor Amela wanted to experience being laid to rest on the very same farm he had been born on.

He proceeded to be lowered into the ground and had dirt thrown on top, and said afterwards he ‘enjoyed it immensely’.

It’s unclear how long Amela was underground before he was dug back up.

Amela may have lived to tell the tale, but this definitely isn’t one to try at home, kids.

Getting lost in this digital day and age with the likes of live traffic and navigation apps in our phones is hard to imagine.

However, one wrong turn and a buggy GPS system can quickly become a recipe for disaster, as one woman from Belgium found out the hard way.

Sabine Moreau set off from her Hainault Erquelinnes home to pick up a friend at Gare du Nord in Brussels, less than 90 miles from her house.

GPS isn’t always the most reliable (Getty Images)

It should’ve taken the 67-year-old around two hours or less to drive to the destination, but instead she ended up ‘missing’ for two days.

Due to a GPS error, the woman soared across continental Europe, bypassing five international borders, and ended up 900 miles away in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, before realizing she had taken a wrong turn, or several, at some point.

During her unexpected road trip, she stopped off for gas twice and took sleeping breaks in her car by the side of the road, according to local news reports at the time.

Speaking to El Mundo, Moreau said: “I was distracted, so I kept on the accelerator.

“I saw all kinds of signs, first in French, then in German and finally in Croatian, but I kept driving because I was distracted.”

While Moreau’s friend managed to get home without the lift, her son soon reported her abrupt absence in a missing person’s report to police.

She kept driving despite noticing road signs in different languages (Getty Images)

Cops eventually managed to track Moreau down where she claimed she hadn’t even realized she was going the wrong way until she made it to Croatia.

She said: “Until I suddenly appeared in Zagreb and then it dawned on me that I was no longer in Belgium.

“I admit it’s a bit strange, but I was distracted.”

The bizarre tale has caused a stir on Reddit as users say it’s alarming the woman didn’t realize the mistake for so long – or appear to take any notice of the roads.

One comment read: “I don’t understand how someone could be so distracted that they don’t notice a two hour drive turned into a two day drive.”

“I shudder to think I share the road with these people,” another wrote.

A third chimed: “I really wonder how the hell they get their licenses in the first place.”

But others pointed out Belgium has a seemingly relaxed attitude to driving as the country only introduced a compulsory test less than 50 years ago in 1977.

“So it’s quite possible the older drivers you encounter never had to take one,” another user suggested.

Meanwhile, others said they’ve faced similar situations from a GPS flop – but didn’t quite take so long to realize their mistake, rather than taking a 48-hour detour.

Some inmates at a Japanese women’s prison reportedly ‘do bad things on purpose’ because they prefer life on the inside.

In the southern village of Ichinono, Japan, as a result of there being less than 60 people currently residing there, life-sized dolls have been created instead to battle feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Elsewhere, a man has been hiring himself out to lonely people, getting paid pretty much to ‘do nothing’ – so bad is the loneliness epidemic in the country, that members of a women’s prison have since spoken out about why inmates commit crimes and how life compares on the inside versus outside.

Loneliness is reportedly a motivator for women to commit offences to land themselves in prison (Getty Stock Image)

Inmates’ reasoning

An 81-year-old inmate at Japan’s largest women’s prison – Tochigi Women’s Prison – located north of Tokyo told CNN there are ‘very good people’ in the prison and she’s found herself questioning whether prison life is ‘the most stable for [her]’.

The inmate was arrested for shoplifting food and reflected if she’d ‘been financially stable’ and ‘had a comfortable lifestyle’ she ‘definitely wouldn’t have done it’.

In Tochigi Women’s Prison, inmates get regular meals and free healthcare, while being required to work in the prison’s factories.

This, coupled with being surrounded by other women to make friends with, is a motivator for some seeing prison as a better option when compared with life on the outside.

The inmate reflected on her son’s lack of support and how she ended up feeling like she ‘didn’t care what happened anymore’.

Prison provides free healthcare (Getty Stock Image)

She said: “I thought, ‘There’s no point in me living,’ and ‘I just want to die’. […] Being alone is a very difficult thing, and I feel ashamed that I ended up in this situation. I really feel that if I had a stronger will, I could have led a different life, but I’m too old to do anything about it now.”

While the inmate reportedly completed her sentence in October, another inmate, aged 51, claimed some women ‘do bad things on purpose and get caught so that they can come to prison again, if they run out of money’.

And officers at the prison have seen cases like this too.

Some reportedly turn to prison when they’ve run out of money (Getty Stock Image)

Officers’ insights

Officer at Tochigi Women’s Prison, Takayoshi Shiranaga confirmed there ‘are people who come here because it’s cold or because they’re hungry’ or because they receive ‘free medical treatment’.

Shiranaga added: “There are even people who say they will pay 20,000 or 30,000 yen ($130-190) a month (if they can) live here forever.”

On May 19, 2023, Genesis Monita and her sister visited Bill Miller BAR-B-Q in in the 8800 bock of SW Loop 410 in San Antonio.

The 19-year-old allegedly ended up suffering a second-degree burn after dropping one of the chain’s sauces on her lap, and accused the restaurant of making the sauce too hot and not having sufficiently warned her about its temperature.

The incident

The pair reportedly pulled into the restaurant’s drive-thru area and ordered four breakfast tacos before parking up in the lot to eat them.

Monita subsequently filed a lawsuit against the restaurant chain.

The lawsuit

The lawsuit alleged the sauce was ‘served at 189 degrees’ on the day Monita visited the restaurant with her sister and ‘when Monita took the container of bar-b-que sauce it was so hot that it caused her to drop the container and spill the sauce on her right thigh causing a second-degree burn,’ as stated by KSAT.

The lawsuit further claimed that the sauce was 54 degrees higher than the state’s guidelines, which is reportedly 135 degrees, and that the restaurant should’ve warned her it was hot.

Genesis Monita filed a lawsuit against the chain (YouTube/ News 4 (WOAI) San Antonio)

Bill Miller’s sauce policy also reportedly states the sauce is served at 165 degrees although, the Express News reported – as quoted by Law & Crime – with attorney for the chain, Barry McClenahan, saying the sauce is served at a minimum of 165 degrees as required by food safety rules.

McClenahan argued: “At Bill Miller’s, the sauce is always hot, and our customers know that. And that’s why it’s hot. What would we have warned Ms. Monita of that she did not already know?”

The lawsuit alleged Monita suffered not just physical but mental pain and sort damages for lost wages, medical and psychological expenses.

And on Friday (January 17), a jury ruled in favor of Monita.

A jury ruled in favor of Monita (YouTube/ News 4 (WOAI) San Antonio)

The outcome

Fox 4 News reports a jury of six people found the restaurant to be ‘grossly negligent’ in the incident involving Monita.

The restaurant chain has subsequently been ordered to pay a whopping $2.8 million dollars – $900,000 for mental and physical pain, over $25,000 for medical expenses and $1.9 million in punitive damages.

Monita’s lawyer, Lawrence Morales, told KSAT: “We feel very pleased by the results of this case. Genesis just wanted justice.”

You might be hard pressed to find a movie fan who is happy with the state of Hollywood right now.

Admittedly, it is hard to get excited about unnecessary sequels, reboots, or prequels, but what most people didn’t have on their cards to fix some of the issues in the film industry was an ambassador to report directly to the US President.

Donald Trump is set to be sworn into office today (January 20), and he already made it clear how he wants to influence Hollywood.

In his post, Trump said: “It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.

“They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!

“These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!”

While this might have seemed like a well-thought out and thoroughly work-shopped idea, Gibson admitted that he found out at the same time as Trump’s followers.

Speaking to Variety, he said: “I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can.”

Mel Gibson was seemingly shocked when he learned he got this role (John Phillips/Getty Images)

He even jokingly asked: “Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?”

As things stand, it still isn’t clear what exactly these roles will entail.

Gibson has been very vocally in support of Trump over the years, and he made it clear he would be choosing Trump over Kamala Harris in the run-up to the election.

Speaking in a video published by TMZ, Gibson explained it wouldn’t be a surprise who he would be voting for.

He added: “I know what it’ll be like if we let her in. And that ain’t good. Miserable track record. No policies to speak of. She’s got the IQ of a fence post.”

Well, we’ve finally got the answers to settle the debate of what is the most painful natural thing you can experience… and I’m not sure if there’s a winner.

People who have experienced both will tell you just how much worse kidney stones are than giving birth, or being kicked in the balls – a study even touched on the subject and sided with kidney stones.

Authors of the study, Saiful Miah, Charlotte Gunner, Lucy Clayton, Suresh Venugopal, Nigel R Boucher, and Bo Parys wrote: “Thirty-six male and 23 female patients fully completed the questionnaire with age, stone size, and numerical pain rating score recorded.

“There were no statistically significant differences in these parameters between male and female patients.

“From the male cohort of patients, 88.9% stated that it was the worst pain they had ever experienced and for the female cohort this was 78.2%.”

So, that’s pretty definitive.

The last thing you want to do is spend hours in the ER in agonizing pain with kidney stones (Getty stock)

But let’s hear from the medical professionals (not that the authors of the study aren’t).

Professor Troy Madsen, who specializes in emergency medicine and surgery at the University of Utah, dove into the subject himself in 2022 while appearing as a guest on the Who Cares About Men’s Health? podcast.

“I don’t know that I ever see anyone on a regular basis in the ER who has more pain than a person who’s there with a kidney stone,” he explained.

“You can tell,” he added. “You walk in the room, they’re writhing […] It’s just incredible pain.”

Meanwhile, a blog created by doctors at Cedars-Sinai, a medical center in Los Angeles, read: “Passing a kidney stone is said to be some of the most severe physical pain a person can experience.”

If you do think you suffer from a kidney stone, the Mayo Clinic recommends to try drinking water, taking pain relievers, or medical therapy recommended by a professional to try and pass it.

Having to jump through interview hoops is the worst thing, and if loads of people are gunning for a job, companies can essentially take their time when it comes to hiring.

This could mean lots of tests and trials before they even start seriously considering you.

Interestingly, Reddit user SoretoeMcGoo revealed an odd situation they found themselves in during the later stages of a job interview.

The social media user said: “I applied for a job with a major UK energy supplier.

“Made it through the phone interview and was asked to come to a hotel for the next phase which was an aptitude test, there was about 30 of us in a big conference room, around 20 were sent home and the final 10 were asked to stay on and do a face to face interview in a hotel room.

“It was going quite well although I found it strange that they were filming the interview, anyway at the very end of the interview the guy said ‘one last thing, could you sing me a song?’.”

Now the question is, would you start singing? Would you start belting out Mariah Carey to your lung’s horror or politely decline?

The Reddit user explained what he did and even reflected on whether he regrets his decision years later.

The face you make when the intervierwer asks you to sing (Getty Stock Image)

They continued: “I said what? And he said yeah just anything that comes to mind, just sing something.

“I just flat out said no, and the guy kept at it, he eventually said it can be anything, sing happy birthday and I just said no, not doing that.

“So the interview ended and the guy turned off the camera and said ‘you did well, and I feel bad for you but you won’t get the job’, he then told me his boss insisted nobody who refused to sing at the end could be hired no matter how good they did.

“I was only about 19 at the time and found it extremely strange, I was even annoyed at myself for not just singing happy birthday as he suggested, but now when I think back I’m glad I didn’t, it was clearly a test to see how easy I would be controlled.”

Weird and concerning to say the least, but would you have done things any differently?