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Larry Gene Bell was a divorced electrician who kidnapped and murdered at least two girls in South Carolina in 1985 — then tormented their families with taunting phone calls.

Over one terrifying summer month in 1985, fear spread throughout the state of South Carolina following the abduction of two girls in broad daylight in front of their respective homes.

Their abductor and killer, Larry Gene Bell, then traumatized his first victim’s family through a series of taunting phone calls, even providing directions to the locations of both girls’ bodies. Bell ultimately sealed his fate by forcing his first victim write her own last will and testament, by which the FBI were able to trace him.

This is the chilling story of Larry Gene Bell.

Bell Abducts Shari Faye Smith

Larry Gene Bell was born on Oct. 30, 1949, in Ralph, Alabama, moving around the south frequently and training as an electrician. Settling into married life in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in 1972, he was divorced by 1976. During the 1970s Bell tried to kidnap at least three women, using a knife and a starter gun, but served a three-year sentence prison for only one of these attacks.

On Friday, May 31, 1985, 17-year-old Shari Faye Smith of Lexington, South Carolina, was looking forward to singing the National Anthem at her High School graduation that Sunday. Smith and her boyfriend stopped off at a shopping center that afternoon, then Smith drove home alone, completely unaware of the car trailing in her rear-view mirror.

As Smith reached home, she did what she always did, and stopped at the mailbox at the bottom of the drive. Along the straight drive about 100 yards away, Smith’s father Bob, saw his daughter’s car from his home office situated at the front of the house, according to Inquisitr. And he found it strange that she hadn’t pulled up to the house yet.

Bob Smith rolled down the driveway, seeing the mail on the ground, and Shari’s car still running with the driver’s door open — but she was nowhere to be seen. Her purse was still on the front seat containing her important diabetes medication. As fear and confusion gripped the Smith family, over a potential kidnapping, the County Sheriff and FBI organized a huge search effort, with a 24-hour command center set up near the Smith’s house.

Larry Gene Bell Cruelly Taunts The Smith Family

Two days later, Bell called the Smiths, but it wasn’t a ransom demand — it was for his own sadistic satisfaction. Distorting his voice, Bell taunted the Smiths with his description of Shari’s abduction, saying she had “the fear of God in her.” In the meantime, Bell wanted to know if the family had received the letter he had sent, and investigators rushed out to the post office early to intercept the envelope. Bell, however, was just toying with the Smiths, giving them false hope that their child was still alive.

What Bell had sent the family was a handwritten letter dated June 1, 1985, and heartbreakingly titled “Last Will & Testament.” Over two pages Shari Smith bravely tells her family not to let her death ruin their lives: “I love you all so damn much … Sorry, Dad, I had to cuss for once. Jesus forgave me.”

Enjoying the sense of control he exerted over the family, especially the Smith women, Bell made eight telephone calls, with seven being recorded — but a trace took around 15 minutes at that time. Bell would initially ask for Shari’s mother, Hilda, until starting to enjoy his talks with Shari’s older sister, Dawn, who bore a striking resemblance to Shari.

Bell even let it slip that Dawn may have been his original target, not Shari, when he accidentally said, “All I wanted to do was make love with Dawn.” Bell called again with the chilling news that he and Shari were now “one soul,” describing Shari’s death to her sister by telling her how he had wrapped duct tape all the way around her head, suffocating her.

In another call, Bell disturbingly gave precise directions to the location of Shari’s body, saying, “Listen carefully,” before ending his call with, “We’re waiting. God chose us.”

Larry Gene Bell Abducts Debra Mae Helmick

Two weeks after Shari Smith’s body was found, Bell abducted and murdered another young girl — and continued to traumatize the Smith family.

On the afternoon of June 14, 1985, in Wagener, South Carolina, 9-year-old Debra May Helmick and her younger brother were playing in the area beneath the front window of their trailer. A neighbor who later identified Bell saw his car drive rapidly into the trailer park, where Bell stopped and approached the children, grabbing Helmick around her waist, according to court documents.

Bell ran back to his car, holding Helmick as she kicked and screamed, before throwing her inside and roaring off. The neighbor, however, had run outside and gotten close enough to see Bell’s South Carolina tag, displaying the first letter: ‘D.’

Eight days later, on June 22, Bell made his final call to the Smith’s residence, giving directions to Helmick’s body.

Investigators located Helmick’s severely decomposed body, clothed in a tank top, shorts, and a pair of silk adult bikini briefs pulled over her cotton underwear. It confirmed Bell’s depraved sexual motivation for the crime, and adhesive material consistent with duct tape was found in Helmick’s hair, suggesting she, too, had been suffocated.

Larry Gene Bell Is Apprehended

A yellow legal pad used for Shari Smith’s final letter home became Larry Gene Bell’s undoing.

According to AL.com, FBI analysts scrutinized the letter using a special electrostatic device to identify the indent of an incomplete phone number left on the pad from prior handwriting. The complete phone number was traced to an Alabama business, which had been called from a South Carolina address near where the abductions and murders took place.

A South Carolina couple were visiting their son in Alabama and had written down their son’s number on a yellow legal pad in case their housesitter needed it. And the couple’s sitter was none other than Larry Bell, and the couple later identified Bell’s voice from one of the Smith family recordings.

Bell was arrested on June 27, driving a grayish vehicle, and although the car displayed a different license plate, a search of the car revealed the original plate of DCE 604 — confirming the “D” Helmick’s witness had seen. In Bell’s home, six hairs “microscopically similar” to Shari Smith’s were found, as well as silk underwear like the kind found over Helmick’s body.

FBI profiler John Douglas had originally profiled the offender as a white male in his 30s with a failed marriage and prior sex crimes. Now, he sat across from Bell as the killer told him, “All I know is that the good Larry Gene Bell couldn’t have done this, but the bad Larry Gene Bell could have.”

In later interviews, Douglas would describe Larry Gene Bell as one of the most sadistic murderers he’d ever dealt with.

“He wasn’t just satisfied killing a victim,” Douglas recalled. “He wanted to be in full control. It frustrated him when he wasn’t. Committing a horrific crime wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to manipulate the families of his victims.”

Over the course of two trials in June 1986, then in March 1987, Bell was found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of both girls and sentenced to death. Bell was executed on Oct. 4, 1996, and electrician Bell chose to die by electric chair instead of lethal injection, saying it would send him to heaven quicker to be with the two girls he had killed reported UPI.

Bell was also strongly suspected of the November 1984 disappearance of Sandee Elaine Cornett from Charlotte, North Carolina, as Bell had worked and was friends with Cornett’s former boyfriend, according to The Associated Press.

A year after Shari Smith’s death, her sister, Dawn was crowned Miss South Carolina 1986. She later married and became a Christian singer-songwriter, also writing a book on her family’s ordeal.

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After reading about Larry Gene Bell, learn how Larry Eyler became the “Highway Killer.”. Then, read how John List killed his family so he’d see them in heaven.

“Replica” sword found to be genuine Bronze Age artifact, one of the world’s oldest runestones discovered, ancient Egyptian burial uncovered with 142 dead dogs.

Chicago Museum Discovers That Bronze Age “Replica” Sword Is Actually The Real Thing

Warriors in Bronze Age Europe would sometimes toss their weapons into rivers to pay tribute to lost loved ones or to quite literally bury the hatchet. Now, experts believe that’s precisely what happened to this three-foot bronze sword when it was thrown into the Danube River in present-day Hungary some 3,000 years ago.

However, what makes the story behind this sword unique is that it’s been on display in the Chicago Field Museum for the last 100 years as a mere replica. Curators believe that someone simply “wrote it down wrong” when they labelled the sword on its way from Hungary to Chicago in the 1930s. But a recent X-ray, prompted by the suspicions of a visiting archaeologist from Hungary, just confirmed that this “replica” has in fact been a genuine Bronze Age original all along.

Read on here.

Archaeologists In Norway May Have Found The World’s Oldest Runestone

Runes, the characters that make up several early Germanic alphabets, were used in Northern Europe from the beginning of the Common Era until the adoption of the Latin alphabet at the end of the Viking Age. Researchers are still piecing together their mysteries to this day — but they may have come a little closer after the discovery of what might be the oldest runestone in the world.

Dig deeper in this report.

Archaeologists In Egypt Just Discovered The Ancient Remains Of A Young Child Buried With Scores Of Dead Dogs

The sands of Egypt are rich with historical discoveries, but archaeologists working near Cairo recently came across a puzzling find while excavating a necropolis. There, they unearthed the ancient remains of an eight-year-old child laid carefully across the bodies of 142 dogs.

Archaeologists with the Centre for Egyptological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CEI RAS) made the strange discovery while excavating a necropolis at the Faiyum Oasis, west of the Nile River and approximately 60 miles south of Cairo. The burial appears to date from between the first century B.C.E. and the first century C.E.

See more here.

When ancient winemakers were ready to age their vino, they brought out the amphorae—multipurpose, narrow-necked clay containers with handles. The Phoenicians, one of the great trading powers 3000 years ago, stored wine as well as honey, milk, and olive oil in them, and amphorae containing wine residue were found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Traders in the Roman Empire used them to transport goods around the Mediterranean, and thanks to the clay containers’ popularity and broad circulation, plenty of them can be uncovered around the globe today.

Now, some modern winemakers have begun experimenting with these ancient storage methods. They say that aging in amphorae can even elevate the terroir—the characteristics imparted to wine by the environment in which the grapes are grown. In the evolving world of wine, the use of amphorae is a callback to the past, anchoring modern wine drinkers to history.

Recently, French and Italian researchers discovered new clues to how ancient Romans made and stored wine in amphorae, and how the vessels may have altered the drink’s flavor. The scientists examined the coatings of three amphorae dating from the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, which had been recovered from the seabed about 50 miles southeast of Rome. Chemical analyses found that both red and white wines were stored in them and that they had been waterproofed with pine tar. Ancient winemakers used such resins to seal their vessels as well as to control bacteria—and the substance likely would have added an aromatic and herbal note to their wines.

The downsides of these ubiquitous containers were that they were heavy and breakable. Eventually, the Romans began using other storage methods, such as barrels, a technology they picked up from their settlements in Gaul (present-day France). The Gallic method of storing wine in barrels didn’t just make the vino easier to take back to Rome—it also gave the wine itself a different taste. The wood adds flavor compounds to wine, imparting notes that present as clove, vanilla, or chocolate aromas. So, while oak allows wine to age slowly and steadily and develop complex flavors, it also leaves its own mark.

Some winemakers today are developing wines without those extra notes, while still using the ancient amphorae as their containers of choice. Vineyard manager and winemaker Gelert Hart, of AmByth Estate in Paso Robles, California, says amphorae are the perfect vessels to use if vintners want to allow the wine to breathe without manipulating flavor.

“For wine to correctly go through all the processes, it needs to have interaction with oxygen,” Hart tells Mental Floss. The large pores in the thick terracotta clay of the amphorae often allow more oxygen transfer than wooden barrels do, so “the wine condenses and vinifies over time to express the little nuances of terroir that would be covered and hidden with [a] vessel like oak, or not expressed enough in concrete or steel,” he says.

The amphorae’s clay structure thus exposes wine to oxygen to bring out flavors, but without imparting powerful tannins from the wood. Plus, as the clay interacts with enzymes in the wine, the wine’s pH is raised, elevating its bright acidity.

Amphorae have proven popular with biodynamic growers like Hart, as well as some organic winegrowers, because it gives their carefully cultivated grapes a chance to shine.

Would the wines of the ancients have been anything like today’s amphora-aged wines? It seems unlikely, since today’s amphorae are missing a key ingredient: They aren’t sealed with pine resin during the fermentation process. Leaving amphorae unsealed allows that tiny amount of oxygen in to the aging wine, bringing out its optimum flavor and character. “I have heard of amphorae lined with beeswax, but that completely defeats the purpose of [aging it this way],” Hart says. Without the resin, you won’t get those piney tones.

Curious oenophiles looking for a hint of the ancient flavor profile could seek out retsina. This Greek wine was originally stored in amphorae sealed with pine resin, which gave it a spicy note; today’s retsina is still flavored with the resin of Aleppo pine trees. The blend could provide a better idea of how wines aged in the ancient way may have tasted.

But in some cases, older winemaking routines might be best left in the past. In the 1990s, a historian recreated wine as it was made long ago, using a recipe from a 1st-century BCE text by Cato. It called for seawater to be placed in earthenware jugs prior to the fruit being added. This salinity helped to preserve wine, but made it undrinkably salty.

Even if today’s amphora-aged wines don’t taste quite like the wines of antiquity, experimental winemakers are blending history and modern knowledge to carry on the tradition.

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — It’s interesting to imagine the look on the Cape Coral police officer’s face in the aftermath of what they just saw.

It was closing in on 2:00 p.m. when Christopher Jesus Nogueras was sitting in his white BMW. He was pulled over for a minor traffic violation. He patiently waited as the responding officer did their due diligence and ran a report to ensure everything was Okie Dokie.

As in most traffic stops, the officer found nothing, returned Nogueras his documents, and allowed him to carry on with his day.
Apparently, Nogueras was eager to restart his errands.

With the officer steps away, Nogueras slammed his foot on the gas, revving his engine. Christopher kicked it into gear and burned rubber. Peeling out in front of the officer who just let him drive off without so much as a warning.

Dumbstruck, with red and blue lights still flashing from their patrol car, the Cape Coral officer reentered their vehicle to inform dispatch they were pursuing the same white BMW they had just released.

Nogueras was followed cruising through a residential area twenty miles over the speed limit. Then, turning onto SE 22nd Ln, the white beamer disregarded multiple stop signs in an effort to elude the authorities that he had already previously eluded.

The same police officer kept pushing their patrol vehicle to the limit to keep pace, but German engineering made it nearly impossible to gain ground. Finally, as the pursuit approached Veterans Memorial Parkway, the officer discontinued the chase and switched to tracking mode.

Nogueras got too cocky. Approaching the parkway, he lost control of the BMW and removed a significant chuck of cement along the curb. With his getaway ride paralyzed, Christopher did the only thing he could. He took off on foot.

Still on the tail, the officer arrived at an empty car. The driver’s airbag was left hanging and deflated. Skid marks, ten to twenty feet, rested from street to sidewalk. Finally, it was a witness who gave the officer their heading. North.

However, before the officer switched from car to foot, Nogueras decided he had had enough. Without 400 horsepower to back his escape, Nogueras was already retreating towards the ensuing officer, finally responding to their commands.

The officer was able to secure the handcuffs and place Nogueras under arrest. He faces charges of reckless driving and leaving the scene of a crash.

He was also cited for running two stop signs and one red light for good measure.

If you drive to work, the road conditions you encounter during your commute might often seem out of your control. Traffic, potholes, and careless drivers can turn an otherwise pleasant trip into a headache-inducing nightmare. These factors may seem random, but they’re not the same throughout the country. To see if your state ranks among the best (or worst) places to drive in the U.S., check out the lists below.

WalletHub looked at 31 key metrics across all 50 states to determine the results. Some factors come into play before you put your keys into the ignition, including access to cars and the cost of ownership and maintenance. Rush-hour traffic congestion, road conditions, and average gas prices were also taken into account.

Based on this analysis, Iowa is the best state to own and drive a car. Though it ranks in the bottom half of the list for safety, its high marks in traffic and cost of vehicle ownership and maintenance bump it to the No.1 slot. It’s followed by Georgia, which performs better in terms of average car costs and overall vehicle access than it does in traffic and safety. Ohio, Oklahoma, and North Carolina round out the top five.

On the other side of the spectrum, Hawaii is considered the worst U.S. state for drivers, according to the findings. It comes in sixth in safety, but that score doesn’t make up for its poor showings in traffic and infrastructure, car access, and cost of ownership and overall upkeep. Washington, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Maryland also appear near the bottom.

Driving is the most convenient way to get around in many parts of the U.S., but it’s not the only way. After checking out the best and worst states for driving, learn more about the best American cities for public transit here.

1. Iowa
2. Georgia
3. Ohio
4. Oklahoma
5. North Carolina
6. Idaho
7. Texas
8. Tennessee
9. Kansas
10. Indiana

1. Hawaii
2. Washington
3. Delaware
4. Rhode Island
5. Maryland
6. Missouri
7. Nevada
8. New Hampshire
9. Michigan
10. California

Believe it or not, there are over 1,800 types of cheese in the world. Cheese.com actually has a catalog of 1,830 cheeses you can search!

How can there be so many cheeses in the world?

There are so many types of cheese in the world because cheese-making is an ancient craft. Humans have been making cheese for thousands of years in many different cultures and regions. The process of making cheese is relatively simple. It only requires milk, cultures, rennet, and salt. But there are many variations on this basic recipe.

Different types of milk, cultures, rennet, aging, and processing methods result in a wide variety of textures and flavors.

Additionally, different regions have developed their own unique cheeses based on the availability of milk and the local culture and traditions. The use of different herbs, spices, and other ingredients also contributes to the diversity of cheese.

Additionally, the development of new technology and techniques in cheesemaking also allows cheese makers to experiment and create new types of cheese.

What are the different types of cheese?

We can make cheese from the milk of various animals, including cows, goats, sheep, and buffalo, and it comes in a wide variety of textures and flavors.

Some types of cheese, such as cheddar and gouda, can be aged for several years, which gives them a sharper flavor and a harder texture. Other types, such as feta and brie, are typically aged for a shorter period of time and have a softer texture and a milder flavor.

According to Wisconsin Cheese (cited below): “Many different types of cheese are named after or associated with the place they were first made. Parmesan cheese, for example, originates from the area around Parma, Italy. Gouda was first traded in the Dutch town of Gouda. And cheddar cheese originated in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset.”

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Different types of cheese” — Wisconsin Cheese

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Having a cat or dog in your home can be one of the best things in life: Pets may help reduce stress, promote better health and wellness, and offer fun insights into your overall personality. While these cuddly companions are loving and fun, they can also leave a big mess behind them. The furrier they are, the more likely they are to shed on your furniture, bed, and clothes.

However, there’s an easy way to rid your home of unwanted pet hair. Enter the ChomChom pet hair remover, which is a big hit with Amazon shoppers, boasting more than 98,000 five-star reviews and a 4.6-star rating overall on the site. Not only that, but it has also become a viral sensation on TikTok, with users describing it as “so satisfying” to use, even if the hair it pulls up is a bit gross to see once you’re done cleaning.

Originally $32, this roller for cat and dog hair is on sale now for $30. But if you use the on-page coupon, you can save an additional $5, bringing the price down to just $25. Unlike other pet hair removers that use sticky tape (which needs to be thrown out and replaced after every use), this gadget has nylon rollers that go to work once the tool is manually rolled back and forth over furniture and clothes. Another thing that sets the ChomChom apart is that it has a built-in bin for collecting pet hair. After you use it, just pop the bin open open and empty those stray strands right in the trash. 

Pet owners on Amazon seem to just love using it too. “I am totally impressed with this ChomChom pet hair remover,” raved one five-star reviewer. “For the last several years I have used a masking tape roller, which you have to replace when gone. This works ten times better and faster!” A shopper with three dogs—and who has previously used the FURminator and a Dyson to vacuum up pet hair—described it as a fun alternative to use, while another user really enjoyed how easy it is to operate.

At $25 on sale (was $32), the ChomChom pet hair remover is an affordable must-have for pet owners who are fed up with traditional lint brushes—especially because this “Amazon’s Choice” item is effective, reusable, and more convenient than pulling out a vacuum. And as this satisfied customer puts it, “This is amazing for cat hair. It’s like magic, better or just as good as any vacuum attachment at getting cat hair off my couch.”

CNN — Spike, a 23-year-old chihuahua mix from Ohio, has been named the world’s oldest living dog by Guinness World Records (GWR).

Born in November 1999, Spike achieved canine bragging rights on December 7, 2022, with a certificate proving he was “at least 23 years and 7 days old” at the date of verification in the village of Camden.

Spike’s owner, Rita Kimball, has had him for almost 14 years after finding him abandoned in the parking lot of a grocery store in 2009, GWR explained in a statement sent to CNN on Friday.

“He had been shaved up his back, had blood stains around his neck from a chain or rope, and looked pretty rough,” Kimball said.

After a grocery store clerk told her the dog had been there for three days, Kimball took the then 10-year-old pooch home to her farm.

“Spike jumped right in and sat on the seat as if he knew where we were going. It was meant to be,” Kimball said in the release.

Inspired by the big, aggressive dog from the “Tom and Jerry” cartoons, Kimball named her small and friendly new friend Spike, GWR said.

“Spike was a name for a large dog. My guy was small, but he had the attitude of a big dog,” she added.

The GWR statement said Spike, who weighs just 12.9 pounds, had “survived multiple attacks” from other animals and “come back stronger each time.”

Kimball first realized Spike had a shot at becoming the top dog when she heard “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon talking about a former record holder, toy fox terrier Pebbles, who died in October 2022.

Spike usurped Gino Wolf, who was verified in Los Angeles on November 15, 2022, as the then-oldest at 22 years and 52 days, the release added.

Now, Spike is regarded in their family as a bit of a celebrity, Kimball said, adding that the elderly dog, who is nearly blind and hard of hearing, prefers spending time with people he knows and visiting the animals on her farm.

According to GWR, the longest-lived dog reliably recorded was an Australian cattle dog called Bluey, who died in 1939 aged 29 years and five days.

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Passengers have travelled on a full-size self-driving bus for the first time in the UK, with one of them describing the experience as “brilliant”.

A group of 22 volunteers, part of a co-design panel, took a test journey on the autonomous single-decker over the Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh on Thursday, operator Stagecoach said.

Fleur Dijkman was one of the local bus users recruited to provide ideas on how an autonomous service should work.

She said: “I wasn’t worried at all about it. You wouldn’t know the difference between this and a normal bus from the driving.”

Ms Dijkman, who joined the panel through a forum for young people, said: “It’s brilliant to see it come through and become this actual thing from a few drawings. It was quite exciting, the thought of getting on for the first time.”

The vehicle has sensors enabling it to run on pre-selected roads without a driver having to take control.

An experienced driver will be on board when the buses are fully operational, but to monitor the system, rather than to drive it.

A bus captain will help passengers with boarding, buying tickets and any queries.

The plan is to have five self-driving buses operating on the 14-mile journey between Ferrytoll park-and-ride in Fife and the Edinburgh Park train and tram interchange via the bridge from the spring.

It is part of the CAVForth project which is expected to have five self-driving buses run timetabled services between Ferrytoll park-and-ride in Fife and the Edinburgh Park train and tram interchange via the bridge from the spring.

The buses will travel in mixed traffic at speeds of up to 50mph, with capacity for around 10,000 journeys per week, as part of the CAVForth project.

The on-road testing follows successful depot-based trials, track testing and virtual simulation which Stagecoach said put the autonomous buses through their paces to fine-tune the drive systems.

Ivan McKee, the Scottish government’s business minister, called it a “hugely significant step”.

“It has been really encouraging to watch the project develop through the various steps, from early testing and demonstrations through to carrying of passengers along the route for the first time,” he said.

Louise Simpson, operations director and CAVForth lead project manager for Stagecoach, said: “Until today, only project team members had been able to trial the autonomous service so it’s great that our co-design panel have had this opportunity, and we welcome any views they have.”

The oldest printed book in the world is the Buddhist text the “Diamond Sutra.” The Sutra dates to 868 AD and uses the world’s oldest known method of printing, woodblock printing.

The British Library in London currently houses the “Diamond Sutra.” The book is over 1,300 years old.

The Diamond Sutra, the oldest printed book in the world?

Scholars believe the “Diamond Sutra” is the oldest surviving printed book in the world. However, that does not mean it is the oldest book in the world.

The oldest known surviving book is the Etruscan Gold Book of Zagreb. This book makes use of gold leaf and dates back to around 600-700 BC.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead also predates the Diamond Sutra. We know that this book dates back to around 1500 BC. It contains funerary texts to assist the deceased in the afterlife.

What is the Diamond Sutra?

The Diamond Sutra is one of the most important texts in Mahayana Buddhism. The full title of the text is “The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion.”

The book emphasizes the practice of non-attachment and the concept of “emptiness.” These are central tenets of Mahayana Buddhism.

Scholars believe a monk wrote the text in India in the 4th century AD. A 5th-century AD monk named Kumarajiva translated the book into Chinese.

According to the British Library (cited below): “Thanks to the colophon – the short dedication note written at the end, after the sacred Buddhist text – we have quite a lot of information about the context surrounding the commissioning of this particular copy.” A few characters translate as follows:

“On the 15th day of the 4th month of the 9th year of the Xiantong reign period, Wang Jie had this made for universal distribution on behalf of his two parents.”

As a result, the book reveals who made the scroll and when (11 May 868) as well as “who financed it, on behalf of whom and for what purpose.”

How did the Diamond Sutra end up in the British Library?

According to the British Library’s website:

“[The book] was found in a holy site called the Mogao (or ‘Peerless’) Caves or the ‘Caves of a Thousand Buddhas,’ which was a major Buddhist centre from the 4th to 14th centuries. This long cliff wall, carved with 492 caves, is located near Dunhuang, an oasis-town at the junction of the northern and southern Silk Roads, in the present-day province of Gansu (Northwest China). In 1900, a monk named Wang Yuanlu discovered the sealed entrance to a hidden cave, where tens of thousands of manuscripts, paintings and other artefacts had been deposited and sealed up sometime around the beginning of the 11th century. This copy of the Diamond Sūtra was one of such items and was brought to England by the explorer Sir Aurel Stein in 1907.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “Printed copy of the Diamond Sutra” — The British Library

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Getting paid to eat and sleep is a dream come true for some people. That’s the description of a new job listing from SleepJunkie—though the actual work may involve just as many nightmares as dreams.

As Food & Wine reports, the sleep tip and mattress review guide is looking for people to join a study examining the impact of cheese consumption on sleep quality. For three months, subjects must agree to eat cheese before going to bed. The following day they will record their experiences, noting changes in sleep quality, energy levels, and any unusual dreams. Participants will receive $1000 at the end of the trial, plus compensation for their late-night dairy diet.

SleepJunkie aims to answer a question many fromage fiends have asked: Will working on my night cheese really give me nightmares? This idea has been around for a while—it’s even alluded to in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol—but its accuracy is debatable. What little research has been done on the matter suggests that cheese is no more likely to cause bad dreams than other late-night snacks. A 2005 study by the British Cheese Board found that, of the participants who remembered their dreams, none reported nightmares after eating cheese before bed. The study came with a few caveats, however—the main one being its biased source.

Unlike the British Cheese Board, SleepJunkie has no reason to encourage your late-night cheese habit—but they do have a vested interest in telling you how to get a good night’s sleep. If cheese before bed is already part of your schedule—or if you want it to be—you can apply for the gig on their website. To qualify, you have to commit to sleeping alone and on a consistent schedule for three months, you must be at least 21 years old, and you can’t be lactose intolerant. You will also be required to own a smartwatch that can track your sleep and health data throughout the study. Applications close on February 10, with the three-month cheese binge beginning in March.

[h/t Food & Wine]

CNN — A man who spent 24 days adrift in the Caribbean Sea says he survived by eating little more than ketchup.

Elvis Francois, 47, was found 120 nautical miles northwest of Colombia’s Puerto Bolívar after a plane saw the word “help” engraved on the hull of his sailboat, the Colombian navy said in a statement Thursday.

“I had no food. It was just a bottle of ketchup that was on the boat, garlic powder, and Maggi (stock cubes), so I mixed it up with some water,” Francois said in a video provided by the Colombian army.

Francois, from the island nation of Dominica, said he had been making repairs to his boat near the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin in December when adverse weather conditions pulled his boat out to sea.

He said he lacked navigational knowledge and was unable to maneuver his boat back to shore — spending weeks lost at sea.

“Twenty-four days — no land, nobody to talk to. Don’t know what to do, don’t know where you are. It was rough,” he said. “At a certain time, I lose hope. I think about my family.”

After being rescued, he was transferred to the port city of Cartagena, where he received medical care and was later handed over to immigration authorities for his return home, Colombian officials said.

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A giant cane toad dubbed “Toadzilla” has been discovered in Australia.

The amphibian, which weighs 2.7kg, shocked rangers who stumbled across it at the Conway National Park in North Queensland.

Queensland Department of Environment and Science said rangers were clearing a trail when they spotted the toad.

Ranger Kylee Gray said her team were “blown away” by the “monster” cane toad which weighed 2.7kg and is believed to be female.

She told the Australian Broadcasting Corp it was by far the largest toad she had encountered and said it looked “almost like a football with legs”.

“We weighed it when we got back to base late that afternoon and we got her at 2.7 kilos which just shocked us, absolutely blew us away,” she said.

“We measured her, we got I think 255mm, but I believe the Queensland Museum will be doing their measurements when they receive her.”

The Guinness World Record for the largest toad in history is 2.65kg – set by a pet toad in Sweden in 1991.

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Ms Gray said rangers had dubbed the toad “Toadzilla”, adding that the museum would be checking if it might be the largest toad found.

Cane toads are native to South America and Central America and were introduced to Australia in 1935, according to the WWF.

The toads mainly eat living insects, but will consume anything they swallow including pet food and household scraps.

Toads are one of Australia’s most damaging pests and are now estimated to number over two billion.

In NBC’s new revival of its popular 1984-1992 sitcom Night Court, Judge Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch) presides over a cavalcade of irreverent defendants during the night shift at Manhattan Criminal Court. While it may seem like a distorted reality for the sake of comedy, night court actually exists. And it’s somewhat of a tourist attraction.

According to The New York Post, the real New York City Criminal Court maintains evening hours of 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. to handle the prompt arraignment and other preliminary hearings of more than 100,000 arrestees each year, some of whom may not be able to make appearances during normal business hours. The offenses range from shoplifting to drug charges to refusing to pay cab fare, creating a constant churn of casework.

According to onetime assistant prosecutor Allison Mahoney, the late hours help facilitate a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. “Arraignments at night are the same as arraignments during the day,” Mahoney told A&E. “A defendant is brought in and advised of the charges against them. Then an application is made for bail or remand or [they are] released on their own recognizance. The judge decides what to do.”

Perhaps owing in some small measure to the show, the proceedings are often host to tourists hoping to get a glimpse of the justice system as well as law students. Writing for Thrillist in 2015, Laura Reilly described an irreverent scene in which people were brought before a judge for wildly eclectic reasons. One defendant accused of MetroCard impropriety asserted he had once defended himself before the Supreme Court; another was accused of attacking someone with a cleaver.

In a high point, the judge read from a statement in which the defendant was quoted as saying: “My cousin and his two brothers jumped me. That’s why I sh*t myself.”

Original Night Court creator Reinhold Weege was influenced by the court, though he was more intrigued by the judges on the bench than the characters brought before them. “I was moved by the craziness of New York Manhattan night court,” he said in 2002. “There were stories in the newspaper at the time of judges with serious emotional problems who the state had a hard time getting rid of. I thought, gosh, it would be terrific if we could get a judge through the system who was a little off center, a little wacky.”

That fictional judge became Harry Stone, played by the late Harry Anderson; Rauch portrays his daughter in the new iteration.

Courts in Bronx County, Kings County, and New York County are active until 1 a.m.; Queens County handles cases until 11 p.m. Night courts can also be found in Illinois, California, and other states. NBC’s Night Court airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m.