Will Eating Charred Oranges Restore Sense of Smell After COVID-19?

“Anosmia” refers to the complete loss of the sense of smell.

The claim was featured in a video shared on TikTok on Dec. 15, 2020, in which two women describe the “TikTok trick” as a “Christmas miracle.” The two roommates claimed they had COVID-19 at the time of filming and both lost their sense of smell. In the clip, the duo is seen blackening an unpeeled orange on the stovetop, peeling it, mushing it in a cup, adding brown sugar, and eating it.

At the time of writing, the video had nearly 800,000 views. But despite its popularity, there is no evidence to suggest that eating any style of orange will restore a person’s loss of smell or taste due to COVID-19. In fact, science is only just beginning to understand the mechanisms behind why people lose their sense of smell from SARS-CoV-2 in the first place, much less how to restore it.

How Does the Nose Smell?

Highly specialized sensory cells known as olfactory sensory neurons make up a small patch of tissues inside of the human nose, according to the National Institutes of Health. Each olfactory neuron has one odor receptor in the brain. As substances around the nose release microscopic molecules, the neurons stimulate receptors in the brain and send messages to identify the smell.

To reach the olfactory sensory neurons, smells take one of two paths: either through the nostrils or via a channel that connects the roof of the throat to the nose. This is why scent plays such a large role in our sense of taste — chewing food releases molecules that the olfactory sensory neurons in the back of the throat can pick up on. But when this channel is blocked by an infection, the scent of food can be lost on the brain, a condition known as anosmia.

Why Does COVID-19 Infection Create a Loss of Smell?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) listed a “new loss of taste or smell” as a symptom of COVID-19 and it is thought that COVID-19 infection creates an inflammation reaction inside the nose that leads to the loss of the olfactory neurons. And anosmia has been shown to be an indicator of viral spread at the community level, making it an important characteristic to track when tracing COVID-19 infection.

Source: Will Eating Charred Oranges Restore Sense of Smell After COVID-19?

70 years later, mystery of Glenn Miller’s disappearance may be solved | Colorado Public Radio

A researcher claims he can put to rest decades of conjecture surrounding the mysterious disappearance of big band leader Glenn Miller during World War II.

Long overlooked military documents indicate the small plane in which Miller was likely traveling when he disappeared in 1944 probably crashed in the English Channel after fuel intakes froze, according to Dennis Spragg, a senior consultant to the Glenn Miller Archive at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“The icing took three forms: engine icing, carburetor icing and induction ice,” Spragg says. “And that’s the kind of ice that forms on the fuel tanks and fuel lines, feeding fuel to the engine.”

Miller was born in Iowa and spent the latter part of his boyhood in Fort Morgan on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. There, he played high school football and honed his skills on the trombone. He attended the University of Colorado Boulder briefly before dropping out to pursue his music career.

On the day he went missing, Dec. 15, 1944, Miller, an Army major, is believed to have boarded a UC-64A Norseman in Bedfordshire, England, as a passenger. The plane was bound for France, where Miller was planning a performance for Allied troops.

Spragg has penned a book on the subject of Miller’s disappearance, called “Resolved.”

Spragg says the plane was flying low because of poor visibility. When fuel lines froze the engine stopped, giving the plane’s pilot about eight seconds to react before it plunged into the water. Because the plane was constructed of mostly lightweight materials, it probably disintegrated on impact, killing those aboard instantly, Spragg says.

Photo: Glenn Miller in Bedford, England(Photo: Courtesy University of Colorado Boulder Glenn Miller Archive)Spragg cites military documents to back his claims, some of which have been in the public realm for decades, but were previously uninspected by Glenn Miller researchers, he says.

In the late 1930s, Miller experienced widespread fame with hits like “Tuxedo Junction” and “Chatanooga Choo-Choo.” Even though Miller was in his late 30s and it was unlikely he would have been drafted for World War II, the band leader joined the Army. Spragg says Miller signed up partly out of patriotism and partly for practical reasons, including that Miller may have had a hard time keeping young musicians in the band because of the draft.

As a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces Band, Miller led musical shows broadcast from England and meant to boost troop morale.

He also participated in counter-propaganda campaigns against the Nazis. In some recordings Miller speaks German, phonetically pronouncing words for a German audience. Such broadcasts, combined with Miller’s work alongside British actor David Niven, Spragg says, emboldened theorists to assert that Miller had been a spy for the Allies and perhaps assassinated.

Some other entertainers, including dancer Josephine Baker, did covert work.

Yet there’s no substantial proof that Niven, who served for a short time in an elite British military unit, worked as a spy with Miller, Spragg says.

“There is a difference between broadcasting music or information to the enemy from England as opposed to being clandestine agents in the field running around the continent putting yourself at risk,” Spragg says.

Another theory — one that’s more widely accepted — is that the plane Miller was flying in was destroyed by friendly fire. That theory was first proposed in the 1980s as intriguing evidence about the Norseman plane came to light. It was discovered that 138 planes returning from an aborted Allies bombing raid disposed of their bombs over the English Channel, and the theory is that one hit Miller’s plane, causing it to crash.

Citing U.S. Army Air Force records, Spragg says the timing of when the planes were over the channel rules out that theory.

More likely, he says, is that another plane was journeying across the channel at the time the bombers were returning. It appears to be a “case of mistaken identity” that the Norseman was in the area at the time.

Source: 70 years later, mystery of Glenn Miller’s disappearance may be solved | Colorado Public Radio

Monolith: Another monolith found in the Netherlands | MARCA in English

A fifth monolith has been found in the Netherlands after previous sculptures were spotted in Utah, California, Romania and Russia.

The monolith seems to have been discovered by trippers, who found it in the middle of a nature reserve in the northern region of Frisia.

According to Omrop Fryslan and NOS, there was no trace of how the monolith got into its position and no evidence of footprints near the site.

Unlike the other four monoliths, the Dutch one is made with a matte finish, rather than a metallic one. Some believe it to be a promotion for the New Year.

All five monoliths have been compared to the ones seen in Stanley Kubrick’s film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.

Source: Monolith: Another monolith found in the Netherlands | MARCA in English

A fourth monolith has been found on the Isle of Wight

There’s nothing “mono” about these anymore, that’s for sure.

A fourth monolith — similar to ones found in the US and Romania — was discovered Sunday on the Isle of Wight.

The mysterious metal object was spotted by a local on the island off the south coast of England, Sky News reported.

“I knew about all the monolith stories recently, so I recognized it straight away,” witness Tom Dunford told the outlet.

The 29-year-old said he was walking his dog with his fiancée and sister at around 7:30 a.m. on the island’s Compton Beach when he came upon the silver structure.

It was about 10-feet tall and “really reflective,” Dunford said.

The three-sided object caused a stir after it was discovered, with several locals flocking to the site.

“The person who put it there knows what they’re doing,” said Dunford, adding that he believed the sculpture was placed there by “someone playing a practical joke.”Pic: Tom Dunford

The mystifying monoliths have stirred worldwide speculation since they began cropping up, first in a Utah dessert, then a hill in Romania and finally last week atop a mountain in Atascadero, California.

Theories about their origins have ranged from a marketing ploy to extraterrestrials — though a small community of “stunt artists” has since claimed credit for the US sculptures.

Source: A fourth monolith has been found on the Isle of Wight

Leaked reports from Pentagon UFO task force discuss ‘non-human technology,’ mysterious objects | Fox News

Two classified reports from the Pentagon’s task force used to “detect, analyze and catalog” UFOs have been leaked, both of which include photos of unidentified objects.

Defense news website TheDebrief.org has published the reports, including an Oct. 16, 2019, email exchange between former Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Robert Burke and current Vice Chief of Staff for the Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson. This exchange was obtained by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from The Debrief.

“Recommend you take the brief I just received from our Director of Naval Intelligence VADM Matt Kohler, on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP),” Burke told Wilson in the email. Burke added that “SECNAV will get the same brief tomorrow at 1000,” likely referring to then-Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer.

Source: Leaked reports from Pentagon UFO task force discuss ‘non-human technology,’ mysterious objects | Fox News

Waitress gets $2K tip but restaurant refuses to give her a cent

A Texas waitress says she was thrilled to receive a $2,000 tip on a bill — only to find out from the restaurant that she won’t take home a single cent.

Emily Bauer had only been a server for about two weeks when she was scheduled for a busy Sunday shift at Red Hook Seafood and Bar in San Antonio, news station KVUE reported.

While working all the tables, she kept apologizing to a man seated in her section for “being slow.”

“He was just like, ‘I understand.’ He also mentioned he owned restaurants, so he knew how hard it was to be a server,” Bauer said.

“He was like, ‘Just cancel everything. Cancel everything and give me the ticket.’ So, I said okay. I gave him the ticket.”

Bauer said she didn’t notice until he left that he had given her a $2,000 tip and wrote a note that said, “Merry Christmas! Keep working hard!”

“I was like, wait. I just opened it and started crying. I was like, ‘Oh my God! My kids! I’m going to spend it all on my kids,’” said Bauer, who has two sons, a 2-year-old and a 5-month-old.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God. I’ve never had a Christmas where I’ve been able to like splurge on them.’”

But she said her excitement was quickly dashed when the restaurant told her it can’t process a tip larger than $500.

Other servers suggested that the restaurant give her four separate tips of $500, but the seafood joint refused, KVUE reported.

It is unclear why the restaurant couldn’t process $500 of the $2,000 tip to give to Bauer, in line with its limits.

Source: Waitress gets $2K tip but restaurant refuses to give her a cent

Mysterious Arthur C. Clark monolith appears in ROMANIA after Utah one vanishes | Daily Mail Online

A mysterious metal monolith has appeared in Romania this week after another similar structure found in the remote Utah desert was removed by an ‘unknown party’. The shiny triangular pillar was found on Batca Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt in northern Romania last Thursday.It was spotted a few metres away from the well-known archaeological landmark the Petrodava Dacian Fortress, an fort built by the ancient Dacian people between 82 BC and AD 106

  • Mysterious metal monolith has appeared in northern Romania after another vanished from the desert in Utah
  • The shiny triangular pillar was found on Batcas Doamnei Hill in the city of Piatra Neamt last Thursday
  • One side of the structure, which is 13 feet tall, faces Mount Ceahlau, known locally as the Holy Mountain

Source: Mysterious monolith appears in ROMANIA after Utah one vanishes | Daily Mail Online

Tourists flock to visit mysterious 12-foot monolith in Utah desert | Daily Mail Online

Curious tourists have tracked down a mysterious metal monolith that was discovered in a remote area of the Utah desert on November 18. A similar structure appeared in Seattle in 2001.

Curious tourists have tracked down a mysterious metal monolith that was discovered in a remote area of the Utah desert earlier this month, as it’s revealed a similar version appeared nearly 20 years ago on New Years Day in Seattle.

Across the globe UFO spotters and conspiracy theorists have become obsessed with the shiny, triangular pillar that was discovered by baffled local officials counting bighorn sheep from the air last Wednesday in southeastern Utah.

Several adventurous hikers successfully located the monolith on Tuesday and gleefully climbed the mystifying object and snapped photos with it, even though officials didn’t disclose its exact location for fear people would get lost searching for it.

Source: Tourists flock to visit mysterious 12-foot monolith in Utah desert | Daily Mail Online

JFK-Oswald Conspiracy Theory Debunked in Mexico?

Just over a month before Kennedy’s killing, Oswald took a bus from Texas to Mexico City. He arrived Friday morning, Sept. 27, 1963 and left very early on Wednesday, Oct. 2, according to American and Mexican intelligence.Was Oswald a kind of rogue James Bond who went south of the border to consort with communists, Cuban revolutionaries and spies – or just a deranged killer?I dug into that question while researching my book on conspiracy narratives in Mexico, and I think I found something everybody else missed: a hole in the story of the very man who started a tenacious conspiracy theory about Oswald’s Mexico trip.

According to witnesses from the Cuban and Soviet diplomatic missions, Oswald visited their embassies repeatedly on Friday and Saturday. He was desperately seeking visas to those countries, which Americans were then prohibited from visiting.

Told such documents would take months to process, Oswald got in a heated argument with the Cuban consul, Emilio Azcué. Oswald also forced a KGB volleyball match on Saturday morning to be canceled when he brandished a weapon at the Soviet consulate, before bursting into tears and leaving.

Those events are well documented by the CIA, which in the 1960s had ramped up its Mexico operations to monitor communist activity, even hiring 200 Mexican agents to help. The Mexican Secret Service, whose 1960s-era files Mexico has recently begun to declassify, also tracked Oswald on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28, 1963.

Source: JFK-Oswald Conspiracy Theory Debunked in Mexico?

Green glowing ‘flying saucer’ spotted in skies over Liverpool | Fox News

This summer, the English city was invaded by giant rats and now possibly UFOs

Pictures of a green glowing unidentified object in the sky appeared in the Liverpool Echo this week – and the man who took the photos was stunned.

‘UFO’ SPOTTED IN NJ WAS APPARENTLY JUST A GOODYEAR BLIMP

A man, who requested anonymity, had been hanging with a friend when they spotted the glowing green object on August 7 at around 2:45 a.m.

Source: Green glowing ‘flying saucer’ spotted in skies over Liverpool | Fox News

Expert reveals why the idea of alien life no longer seems like science fiction | Daily Mail Online

According to a researcher from the University of Melbourne, the idea of alien life is not as far-fetched as it used to seem, thanks to remarkable discoveries over the past two decades.

While life is a special kind of complex chemistry, the elements involved are nothing special: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and so on are among the most abundant elements in the universe. Complex organic chemistry is surprisingly common.

Amino acids, just like those that make up every protein in our bodies, have been found in the tails of comets. There are other organic compounds in Martian soil.

And 6,500 light years away a giant cloud of space alcohol floats among the stars.

Habitable planets seem to be common too. The first planet beyond our Solar System was discovered in 1995. Since then astronomers have catalogued thousands.

Based on this catalogue, astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley worked out there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized exoplanets in the so-called ‘habitable zone’ around their star, where temperatures are mild enough for liquid water to exist on the surface.

Source: Expert reveals why the idea of alien life no longer seems like science fiction | Daily Mail Online

‘I saw a UFO’ Buzz Aldrin PASSES lie detector test revealing truth about aliens

The Institute of BioAcoustic Biology in Albany, Ohio, carried out complex computer analyses of the astronauts’ voice patterns as they told of their close encounters.

Although the technology is still top-secret, these studies are claimed to be more reliable than current lie detector tests and could soon replace those used by the FBI and police.

One of the first tested was Apollo 11 pilot Buzz Aldrin, now 88 – the second human to set foot on the lunar surface in 1969.

Aldrin has always maintained he spotted a UFO on the way to the moon, saying: “There was something out there that was close enough to be observed, sort of L-shaped.”

Source: ‘I saw a UFO’ Buzz Aldrin PASSES lie detector test revealing truth about aliens

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