It's a shark.

US chess master denies using wireless 'anal beads' to win game.

For all of the scandals that have rocked the world of elite chess in recent years, rumors that a 19-year-old grandmaster used anal beads and artificial intelligence to beat the world's top player might be the most bizarre.

Speculation has grown online that San Francisco-born Hans Niemann, a relative newcomer to the sport, inserted wireless vibrating anal beads into his body before his victorious match against World No. 1 grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, 31, last week.

Chess fans have speculated that an accomplice watching the match at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis used a chess program to determine the perfect move, and then sent encoded instructions via the vibrating sex toy.

Niemann has vehemently denied cheating on this occasion, but critics note that his Elo rating, which gauges the strength of chess players, shot to 2701 after his victory over Carlsen, up from just 2484 in January 2021.

Cheating in chess is rare, but can be achieved by hiding computers in shoes or jackets that signal outcomes predicting the game and giving the player an advantage over their adversary.

With the explosion of chess computer programs and devices like cell phones and Bluetooth, tournament officials have had to navigate a minefield of challenges in detecting cheaters in recent years.

At the top levels of competition, players are now routinely scanned with metal detectors before playing in tournaments.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11211325/Did-chess-grandmaster-use-anal-beads-beat-world-No-1-Magnus-Carlsen-Bizarre-rumour-sweeps-sport.html

Let the jokes commence.

Unmanned Blue Origin launch just encountered an 'anomaly'

FF to 1:20:30 for the launch, 1 minute later it hits maxQ and then…boom. Lucky no one was aboard though the capsule escape system seemed to work.

Russian oil chief Maganov dies in 'fall from hospital window'

The chairman of Russia's Lukoil oil giant, Ravil Maganov, has died after falling from a hospital window in Moscow, reports say.

Maganov, 67, was being treated at the city's Central Clinical Hospital and died from his injuries, sources told Russian media.

He is the latest of a number of high-profile business executives to die in mysterious circumstances.
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Lukoil called for the war to end.

Early in March, the Lukoil board called for the conflict in Ukraine to end as soon as possible, expressing its sympathy to victims of "this tragedy".

Ravil Maganov took over as chairman of Lukoil's board two years ago. He began working for the private oil company in 1993.

In May a former senior manager at Lukoil, Alexander Subbotin, reportedly died also under unusual circumstances.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62750584

Putin doing what Donald dreams of doing.

Breaking: 2 convicted of Whitmer kidnapping plot.

A federal jury on Tuesday found two men guilty of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft face a maximum sentence of life in prison for the kidnapping conspiracy conviction. They were also convicted of one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

Their first trial ended in a mistrial.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/politics/michigan-whitmer-verdict/index.html

Yeah!!

Director Wolfgang Petersen 'Das Boot' 'Air Force One' has died.

Wolfgang Petersen, the Oscar-nominated director of films like "Das Boot" and "Air Force One," died on August 12, his spokesperson, Michelle Bega from Rogers & Cowan/PMK, told CNN. He was 81.

Petersen, a German filmmaker, earned the most awards acclaim in his career for his 1981 World War II epic "Das Boot," but his career is populated by a number of films that hold special places in the hearts of cult action film lovers.

After writing and directing 1984's children's fantasy film "The NeverEnding Story," he went on to make a string of action films with some of the biggest stars of their eras, like "In the Line of Fire" (starring Clint Eastwood and Rene Russo), "Outbreak" (with Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman and Russo) and "Air Force One" (with Harrison Ford and Glenn Close).

In the aughts, he continued the trend, helming "The Perfect Storm" with George Clooney and "Troy" with Brad Pitt and "Poseidon."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/16/entertainment/wolfgang-petersen/index.html

I can believe this.

Should have expected this from Trump

August 8, 1974

Ringcam video of Anne Heche speeding down a side street

WTF?? The only time I drive that fast is on the freeway.

https://twitter.com/DowntownLAScan/status/1555717506957881346