Quirky World...Her Highness has magic mushrooms in her garden
The Amanita muscaria, commonly known as fly agaric or fly mushroom, was found during a walkabout of the private gardens for a television show to be screened on Christmas Day.
Television presenter Alan Titchmarsh told The Sun he was surprised to happen upon the red and white-headed toadstool, which has hallucinogenic properties.
“That was a surprise but it shows just how varied the species are,” said Titchmarsh, presenter of The Queen’s Garden.
Fly agaric are common and are understood to have grown naturally in the palace grounds rather than having been planted there.
The hallucinogenic properties of the mushroom have been well-known for centuries and have a long history of use in religious and shamanistic rituals, according to the Kew Gardens website.
The fungi is also important to the growth and development of many types of tree, and provides food for flies, and a breeding site for beetles.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman told the tabloid: “For the avoidance of doubt, fungi from the garden are not used in the palace kitchens.”
The drug contains poison which, although rare, can cause death if consumed.
Thousands of crows roosting at night in a US city centre have prompted residents to compare the landscape to Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds as they work to drive away the flocks.
The crows troubling Springfield, Ohio, are not aggressive like the killer birds in the 1963 thriller.
However, with up to 50,000 of them, their overwhelming presence on trees, buildings, and other perches is causing concern about damage to buildings and potential health hazards from the birds’ waste.
Businesses and city workers are using noise devices and laser pointers among other deterrents in an attempt to scare off the birds. Clark County Historical Society said removing the droppings left at the county’s Heritage Centre and other buildings was also costly for property owners.
Wielding toy guns, a 12-year-old boy and his 13-year-old accomplice tried to rob a bank in Israel but fled without any cash after apparently losing their nerve, police said.
Security footage showed the boys, wearing hooded sweatshirts, entering the bank in Rishon Lezion, a Tel Aviv suburb. One had a schoolbag on his back and what seemed to be a rifle in his hand. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said both were carrying fake M-16 assault rifles and that they shouted: “This is a holdup.”
“They were toy guns but they looked real,” said Rosenfeld. “The people in the bank were scared, but then the suspects ran out without taking any money.”
Police were able to identify the pair from security footage and later arrested them.
A US brewery has constructed a Christmas tree out of hundreds of beer kegs. All that is missing is the beer.
The Genesee Brewing Co built the 7m Christmas tree out of 300 stainless steel kegs outsides its Brew House in downtown Rochester, western New York.
The keg tree is trimmed with 183m of green lights and topped by a rotating Genesee sign.
More than 20 of Genesee’s elves — also known as employees — got to work designing and building the keg tree. Alas, beer lovers, the kegs are empty. But the company says that when the tree is dismantled the kegs will return to the production line and be refilled.
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