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Morbid reason why cruise ships throw "free ice cream parties" on board

Dara Starr Tucker, a former cruise ship employee has shared the morbid reason why they throw “free ice cream parties” on board. Tucker, a singer who spent six months living on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean 10 years ago, shared what life was like at sea. In one of her latest videos, she answered one of her follower's question asking whether it was true that if cruise staff started giving away ice cream, it meant that they needed more freezer space for a body. “This is unfortunately often true,” she said. “If the crew suddenly makes a bunch of ice cream available to passengers, ‘Free ice cream party’, it is often because more people have died on the ship than they have room for in the morgue.” She said that most large ships are legally required to maintain a morgue and carry body bags in the event a passenger dies mid-journey and added that she “thankfully” didn't have to deal with the "morbid stuff". “But we were friends with some crew members who did deal with it and they said maybe four to 10 people die every cruise,” she claimed. “There are a lot of older people on ships, and often (out of) a ship that carried maybe 2500 to 3000 passengers on a typical cruise, four to 10 people would die. “So the morgue, I believe they said held about seven people, and if more than seven people died on that particular ship, they would have to start moving bodies to the freezer.” She claimed that if employees would have to "make room for the extra bodies" in the freezer, they would have to take out everything including ice cream. Her video has been viewed over 2.3 million times, with many other cruise ship employees confirming her claims. “Cruise ship medic here. Can confirm the morgue and ice cream correlation,” one said. “Former sailor here — yes, it is accurate. Sometimes space needs to be made in the freezer," another added. Image: TikTok

Travel Trouble

Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2030s, say scientists – this would have global, damaging and dangerous consequences

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-bamber-102567">Jonathan Bamber</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-bristol-1211">University of Bristol</a> The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38511-8">Nature Communications</a>. Predictions of an ice-free Arctic Ocean have a long and complicated history, and the 2030s is sooner than most scientists had thought possible (though it is later than some had wrongly forecast). What we know for sure is the disappearance of sea ice at the top of the world would not only be an emblematic sign of climate breakdown, but it would have global, damaging and dangerous consequences. The Arctic has been experiencing climate heating <a href="https://theconversation.com/arctic-is-warming-nearly-four-times-faster-than-the-rest-of-the-world-new-research-188474">faster than any other part of the planet</a>. As it is at the frontline of climate change, the eyes of many scientists and local indigenous people have been on the sea ice that covers much of the Arctic Ocean in winter. This thin film of frozen seawater expands and contracts with the seasons, reaching a minimum area in September each year. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=184&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530136/original/file-20230605-19-mdh85y.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Animation of Arctic sea ice from space" /></a><figcaption>Arctic sea ice grows until March and then shrinks until September. <a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2022/nasa-finds-2022-arctic-winter-sea-ice-10th-lowest-on-record">NASA</a></figcaption></figure> The ice which remains at the end of summer is called multiyear sea ice and is considerably thicker than its seasonal counterpart. It acts as barrier to the transfer of both moisture and heat between the ocean and atmosphere. Over the past 40 years this multiyear sea ice has shrunk from around <a href="http://polarportal.dk/en/sea-ice-and-icebergs/sea-ice-extent0/">7 million sq km to 4 million</a>. That is a loss equivalent to roughly the size of India or 12 UKs. In other words, it’s a big signal, one of the most stark and dramatic signs of fundamental change to the climate system anywhere in the world. As a consequence, there has been considerable effort invested in determining when the Arctic Ocean might first become ice-free in summer, sometimes called a “blue ocean event” and defined as when the sea ice area drops below 1 million sq kms. This threshold is used mainly because older, thicker ice along parts of Canada and northern Greenland is expected to remain long after the rest of the Arctic Ocean is ice-free. We can’t put an exact date on the last blue ocean event, but one in the near future would likely mean open water at the North Pole for the first time in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10581">thousands of years</a>. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530138/original/file-20230605-29-9uuhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Annotated map of Arctic" /></a><figcaption>The thickest ice (highlighted in pink) is likely to remain even if the North Pole is ice-free. <a class="source" href="https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2015/05/new-tools-for-sea-ice-thickness/">NERC Center for Polar Observation and Modelling</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></figcaption></figure> One problem with predicting when this might occur is that sea ice is notoriously difficult to model because it is influenced by both atmospheric and oceanic circulation as well as the flow of heat between these two parts of the climate system. That means that the climate models – powerful computer programs used to simulate the environment – need to get all of these components right to be able to accurately predict changes in sea ice extent. <h2>Melting faster than models predicted</h2> Back in the 2000s, an assessment of early generations of climate models found they generally <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2007GL029703">underpredicted the loss of sea ice</a> when compared to satellite data showing what actually happened. The models predicted a loss of about 2.5% per decade, while the observations were closer to 8%. The next generation of models did better but were <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2012GL052676">still not matching observations</a> which, at that time were suggesting a blue ocean event would happen by mid-century. Indeed, the latest <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/">IPCC climate science report</a>, published in 2021, reaches a similar conclusion about the timing of an ice-free Arctic Ocean. As a consequence of the problems with the climate models, some scientists have attempted to extrapolate the observational record resulting in the controversial and, ultimately, incorrect assertion that this would happen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/21/arctic-will-be-ice-free-in-summer-next-year">during the mid 2010s</a>. This did not help the credibility of the scientific community and its ability to make reliable projections. <h2>Ice-free by 2030?</h2> The scientists behind the latest study have taken a different approach by, in effect, calibrating the models with the observations and then using this calibrated solution to project sea ice decline. This makes a lot of sense, because it reduces the effect of small biases in the climate models that can in turn bias the sea ice projections. They call these “observationally constrained” projections and find that the Arctic could become ice-free in summer as early as 2030, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530365/original/file-20230606-21-usmovg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Walruses on ice floe" /></a><figcaption>Walruses depend on sea ice. As it melts, they’re being forced onto land. outdoorsman / shutterstock</figcaption></figure> There is still plenty of uncertainty around the exact date – about <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016GL070067">20 years or so</a> – because of natural chaotic fluctuations in the climate system. But compared to previous research, the new study still brings forward the most likely timing of a blue ocean event by about a decade. <h2>Why this matters</h2> You might be asking the question: so what? Other than some polar bears not being able to hunt in the same way, why does it matter? Perhaps there are even benefits as the previous US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/06/politics/pompeo-sea-ice-arctic-council/index.html">once declared</a> – it means ships from Asia can potentially save around 3,000 miles of journey to European ports in summer at least. But Arctic sea ice is an important component of the climate system. As it dramatically reduces the amount of sunlight absorbed by the ocean, removing this ice is predicted to further accelerate warming, through a process known as a positive feedback. This, in turn, will make the Greenland ice sheet <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2014GL059770">melt faster</a>, which is already a major contributor to <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2021RG000757">sea level rise</a>. The loss of sea ice in summer would also mean changes in <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/ccp6/">atmospheric circulation and storm tracks</a>, and fundamental shifts in ocean biological activity. These are just some of the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021RG000757">highly undesirable consequences</a> and it is fair to say that the disadvantages will far outweigh the slender benefits. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-bamber-102567">Jonathan Bamber</a>, Professor of Physical Geography, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-bristol-1211">University of Bristol</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/arctic-ocean-could-be-ice-free-in-summer-by-2030s-say-scientists-this-would-have-global-damaging-and-dangerous-consequences-206974">original article</a>. Images: Getty

Travel Trouble

More than 100,000 tourists will head to Antarctica this summer. Should we worry about damage to the ice and its ecosystems?

As the summer sun finally arrives for people in the Southern Hemisphere, more than 100,000 tourists will head for the ice. Travelling on one of more than 50 cruise ships, they will brave the two-day trip across the notoriously rough Drake Passage below Patagonia, destined for the polar continent of Antarctica. During the COVID summer of 2020-21, just 15 tourists on two yachts visited Antarctica. But now, tourism is back – and bigger than ever. This season’s <a href="https://iaato.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ATCM44-IAATO-Overview.pdf">visitor numbers</a> are up more than 40% over the largest <a href="https://iaato.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IAATO-on-Antarctic-visitor-figures-2019-20-FINAL.pdf">pre-pandemic year</a>. So are all those tourists going to damage what is often considered the last untouched wilderness on the planet? Yes and no. The industry is well run. Tourists often return with a new appreciation for wild places. They spend a surprisingly short amount of time actually on the continent or its islands. But as tourism grows, so will environmental impacts such as black carbon from cruise ship funnels. Tourists can carry in microbes, seed and other invasive species on their boots and clothes – a problem that will only worsen as ice melt creates new patches of bare earth. And cruise ships are hardly emissions misers. <h2>How did Antarctic tourism go mainstream?</h2> In the 1950s, the first tourists hitched rides on Chilean and Argentinian naval vessels heading south to resupply research bases on the South Shetland Islands. From the late 1960s, dedicated icebreaker expedition ships were venturing even further south. In the early 1990s, as ex-Soviet icebreakers became available, the industry began to expand – about a dozen companies offered trips at that time. By the turn of this century, the ice continent was receiving more than 10,000 annual visitors: Antarctic tourism had gone mainstream. What does it look like today? Most Antarctic tourists travel on small “expedition-style” vessels, usually heading for the relatively accessible Antarctic Peninsula. Once there, they can take a zodiac boat ride for a closer look at wildlife and icebergs or shore excursions to visit penguin or seal colonies. Visitors can kayak, paddle-board and take the polar plunge – a necessarily brief dip into subzero waters. For most tourists, accommodation, food and other services are provided aboard ship. Over a third of all visitors never stand on the continent. Those who do set foot on Antarctica normally make brief visits, rather than taking overnight stays. For more intrepid tourists, a few operators offer overland journeys into the continent’s interior, making use of temporary seasonal camp sites. There are no permanent hotels, and Antarctic Treaty nations recently <a href="https://documents.ats.aq/ATCM44/fr/ATCM44_fr001_e.pdf">adopted a resolution</a>against permanent tourist facilities. As tourists come in increasing numbers, some operators have moved to offer ever more adventurous options such as mountaineering, heli-skiing, underwater trips in submersibles and scuba diving. <h2>Is Antarctic tourism sustainable?</h2> As Antarctic tourism booms, some advocacy organisations have warned the impact may be unsustainable. For instance, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition <a href="https://www.asoc.org/campaign/responsible-tourism-and-shipping/">argues</a> cruise tourism could put increased pressure on an environment already under significant strain from climate change. In areas visited most by tourists, the snow has a <a href="https://theconversation.com/each-antarctic-tourist-effectively-melts-83-tonnes-of-snow-new-research-177597">higher concentration</a> of black carbon from ship exhaust, which soaks up more heat and leads to snow melt. Ship traffic also risks carrying <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2110303118">hitchhiking invasive species</a> into the Southern Ocean’s vulnerable marine ecosystems. That’s to say nothing of greenhouse gas emissions. Because of the continent’s remoteness, tourists visiting Antarctica have a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669581003653534">higher per capita carbon footprint</a>than other cruise-ship travellers. Of course, these impacts aren’t limited to tourism. Scientific expeditions come with similar environmental costs – and while there are far fewer of them, scientists and support personnel spend far more time on the continent. <h2>Antarctic tourism isn’t going away – so we have to plan for the future</h2> Are sustainable cruises an oxymoron? Many <a href="https://www.popsci.com/environment/why-cruise-ships-are-bad-for-the-environment/#:%7E:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20one%20cruise,in%20unhealthy%20levels%20of%20pollution.">believe so</a>. Through its sheer size, the cruise industry has created <a href="https://theconversation.com/time-to-rock-the-boat-cruise-ships-can-destroy-the-very-destinations-they-sell-to-us-55245">mass tourism</a> in new places and <a href="https://theconversation.com/overtourism-a-growing-global-problem-100029">overtourism</a> in others, generating unacceptable levels of crowding, disrupting the lives of residents, repurposing local cultures for “exotic” performances, damaging the environment and adding to emissions from fossil fuels. In Antarctica, crowding, environmental impact and emissions are the most pressing issues. While 100,000 tourists a year is tiny by global tourism standards – Paris had almost 20 million in 2019 – visits are concentrated in highly sensitive ecological areas for only a few months per year. There are no residents to disturb (other than local wildlife), but by the same token, there’s no host community to protest if visitor numbers get too high. Even so, strong protections are in place. In accordance with the Antarctic Treaty System – the set of international agreements signed by countries with an Antarctic presence or an interest – tourism operators based in those nations have to apply for permits and follow <a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/protocol.html">stringent environmental regulations</a>. To avoid introducing new species, tourists have to follow rules such as disinfecting their boots and vacuuming their pockets before setting foot on the ice, and keeping a set distance from wildlife. Almost all Antarctic cruise owners belong to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, the peak body that manages Antarctic tourism. For the first time this year, operators have to report their <a href="https://iaato.org/antarctic-tour-operators-fuel-consumption-to-be-analysed-as-they-embark-on-climate-strategy/">overall fuel consumption</a> as part of IAATO’s efforts to make the industry more climate-friendly. Some operators are now using hybrid vessels that can run partly on electric propulsion for short periods, reducing carbon dioxide emissions. <h2>Returning from the ice: the ambassador effect</h2> Famed travel writer Pico Iyer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/17/t-magazine/travel-destinations-experiences.html?te=1&nl=from-the-times&emc=edit_ufn_20221127">recently wrote</a> of his experience in the deep south of the world. The visit, he said, “awakens you to the environmental concerns of the world … you go home with important questions for your conscience as well as radiant memories”. Iyer isn’t alone. This response is widespread, known in the industry as <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article/what-and-who-is-an-antarctic-ambassador/4943D999A9D58BC00D1705C110075163">Antarctic ambassadorship</a>. As you’d expect, this is <a href="https://iaato.org/antarctic-ambassadors/antarctic-ambassadors/">strongly promoted</a> by tourism operators as a positive. Is it real? That’s contentious. Studies on links between polar travel and pro-environmental behaviour have yielded <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247408007456">mixed results</a>. We are working with two operators to examine the Antarctic tourist experience and consider what factors might feed into a long-lasting ambassador effect. If you’re one of the tourists going to Antarctica this summer, enjoy the experience – but go with care. Be aware that no trip south comes without environmental cost and use this knowledge to make clear-eyed decisions about your activities both in Antarctica and once you’re safely back home. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-100-000-tourists-will-head-to-antarctica-this-summer-should-we-worry-about-damage-to-the-ice-and-its-ecosystems-192843" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

International Travel

We studied how the Antarctic ice sheet advanced and retreated over 10,000 years. It holds warnings for the future

Alarming stories from Antarctica are now more frequent than ever; the ice surface is <a href="https://theconversation.com/warmer-summers-threaten-antarcticas-giant-ice-shelves-because-of-the-lakes-they-create-180989" target="_blank" rel="noopener">melting</a>, floating ice shelves are <a href="https://theconversation.com/conger-ice-shelf-has-collapsed-what-you-need-to-know-according-to-experts-180077" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collapsing</a> and glaciers are <a href="https://theconversation.com/ice-world-antarcticas-riskiest-glacier-is-under-assault-from-below-and-losing-its-grip-178828" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flowing faster</a> into the ocean. Antarctica will be the largest source of future sea-level rise. Yet scientists <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-still-dont-know-how-far-melting-in-antarctica-will-go-or-the-sea-level-rise-it-will-unleash-166677" target="_blank" rel="noopener">don’t know</a> exactly how this melting will unfold as the climate warms. Our <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00309-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest research</a> looks at how the Antarctic ice sheet advanced and retreated over the past 10,000 years. It holds stark warnings, and possibly some hope, for the future. <h2>The current imbalance</h2> Future sea-level rise presents one of the most significant challenges of climate change, with economic, environmental and societal impacts expected for coastal communities around the globe. While it seems like a distant issue, the changes in Antarctica may soon be felt on our doorsteps, in the form of rising sea levels. Antarctica is home to the world’s largest single mass of ice: the Antarctic ice sheet. This body of glacier ice is several kilometres thick, nestled on top of solid land. It covers entire mountain ranges beneath it. The ice sheet “<a href="https://vimeo.com/133626869" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flows</a>” over the land from the Antarctic interior and towards the surrounding ocean. As a whole it remains a solid mass, but its shape slowly deforms as the ice crystals move around. While the ice sheet flows outward, snowfall from above replenishes it. This cycle is supposed to keep the system in balance, wherein balance is achieved when the ice sheet is gaining the same amount of ice as it’s losing to the ocean each year. However, <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/ice-sheets/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">satellites</a> keeping watch from above show the ice sheet is currently not in balance. Over the past 40 years, it has lost more ice than it has gained. The result has been global rising sea levels. But these historical observations span only four decades, limiting our understanding of how the ice sheet responds to climate change over much longer periods. We wanted to look further back in time – before satellites – and even before the first polar explorers. For this, we needed natural archives. <h2>Digging up Antarctica’s past</h2> We brought together various natural archives to unearth how the Antarctic ice sheet changed over the past 10,000 years or so. These included: <ul> <li>ice cores collected from Antarctica’s remote interior, which can show us how snow accumulated in the past</li> <li>rocks collected from exposed mountain peaks, which reveal how the ice sheet has thickened or thinned with time</li> <li>sediment cores collected from the seafloor, which reveal how the ice sheet margin – where the edge of the land ice meets the ocean – advanced or retreated</li> <li>lake mud and old beaches, which reveal how the coastline changed in response to the ice sheet growing or shrinking.</li> </ul> When we started our research, I wasn’t sure what to expect. After all, this period of time was long considered fairly dull, with only small changes to the ice margin. Nevertheless, we studied the many different natural archives one by one. The work felt like a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, full of irregular-shaped pieces and seemingly no straight edge. But once we put them together, the pieces lined up and the picture was clear. Most striking was a period of ice loss that took place in all regions of Antarctica about 10,000 to 5,000 years ago. It resulted in many metres of sea-level rise globally. In some regions of Antarctica, however, this ice loss was then followed by ice gain during the past 5,000 years – and a corresponding global sea-level fall – as the ice sheet margin advanced to where it is today. <h2>A warning</h2> Understanding how and why the Antarctic ice sheet changed in this fashion offers lessons for the future. The first lesson is more of a warning. The period of ice loss from 10,000 to 5,000 years ago was rapid, occurring at a similar rate to the most dramatically changing parts of the Antarctic ice sheet today. We think it was likely the result of warm ocean water melting the underside of floating ice shelves – something that has also happened in recent decades. These ice shelves hold back the ice on land, so once they’re removed the ice on the land flows faster into the ocean. In the future, it’s predicted ice loss will <a href="https://youtu.be/XRUxTFWWWdY?t=149" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accelerate</a> as the ice sheet retreats into basins below sea level. This may already be under way in some regions of Antarctica. And based on what happened in the past, the resulting ice loss could persist for centuries. <h2>Bouncing back</h2> The second lesson from our work may bring some hope. Some 5,000 years ago the ice sheet margin stopped retreating in most locations, and in some regions actually started to advance. One explanation for this relates to the previous period of ice loss. Before the ice began melting away, the Antarctic ice sheet was much heavier, and its weight pushed down into the Earth’s crust (which sits atop a molten interior). As the ice sheet melted and became lighter, the land beneath it would have lifted up – effectively hauling the ice out of the ocean. Another possible explanation is climate change. At Antarctica’s coastal fringe, the ocean may have temporarily switched from warmer to cooler waters around the time the ice sheet began advancing again. At the same time, more snowfall took place at the top of the ice sheet. Our research supports the idea that the Antarctic ice sheet is poised to lose more ice and raise sea levels – particularly if the ocean continues to warm. It also suggests uplift of the land and increased snowfall have the potential to slow or offset ice loss. However, this effect is not certain. The past can never be a perfect test for the future. And considering the planet is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warming faster</a> now than it was back then, we must err on the side of caution. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-studied-how-the-antarctic-ice-sheet-advanced-and-retreated-over-10-000-years-it-holds-warnings-for-the-future-185505" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Travel Trouble

I scream, you scream we all scream for ice-cream

Peters Ice Cream has been slapped with a massive $12 million fine after it was caught preventing competitors from selling their products at petrol stations and convenience stores. The Federal Court found that Peters, from November 2014 to December 2019, made a sketchy deal with their transport partner PFD Food Services to not sell competitor’s ice cream without prior consent. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), who prosecuted Peters in court, said the deal very clearly reduced competition and reduced options for consumers. “This is an important competition law case involving products enjoyed by many Australians,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said. “We took this action because we were concerned that Peters Ice Cream’s conduct could reduce competition in this market and impact on the choice of single-serve ice-creams available to consumers.” Other ice cream manufacturers who make Bulla, Gelativo and Pure Pops had approached PFD asking them to distribute their product. However, PFD said they were unable to distribute the ice creams due to its exclusive deal with Peters. "Peters Ice Cream admitted that if PFD had not been restricted from distributing other manufacturers' ice cream products, it was likely that one or more potential competitors would have entered or expanded in this market,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb continued. “This case is a reminder to all businesses of the serious and costly consequences of engaging in anti-competitive conduct. “The ACCC is targeting exclusive arrangements by firms with market power that impact competition as one of our compliance and enforcement priorities for 2022/23.” Peters Ice Cream was ordered to establish a compliance program for three years and pay a contribution to the ACCC’s legal costs. Image: Instagram

Money & Banking

Coriander and ice-cream: the cross over nobody asked for

McDonald’s in China has launched a very unusual dessert. It is safe to say fast-food fans are not convinced. The “Cilantro Sundae” is a limited-edition twist on McDonald’s popular ice cream dessert that is topped with a bright green coriander sauce and fresh “crumbs” of the distinctive herb. While it may seem like an early April fools prank, the menu item is actually very real, reportedly launching on February the 21st for a limited time until February the 25th. Coriander widely acknowledged as being super divisive with some loving it and most hating it, so it comes as no surprise social media has erupted like this. Twitter user @ZhugeEX appears to have started the debate around the unique combination after sharing a promotional photo of the McDonald’s item. “McDonald’s China launched a Cilantro Sundae special menu item today, which is interesting...” the video games expert told his 161,000 followers. Reaction came in thick and fast, with some declaring they were “desperate to try this terrible thing”. Customers have also been sharing snaps of the 6.6 Chinese Yuan dessert which is roughly $1.45 and has been grossed out in the process. “Cilantro is one of my favourite things so I would try it lol,” one stated. “Dear @Mcdonalds, when is coriander sundae ice cream coming to Singapore? Pretty pls...” one coriander fan pleaded. Others mocked the unusual colour, one even comparing it to the green of Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day. “I’m reporting this for violent and graphic content,” one user joked. Image: Instagram

Food & Wine

Blueberry yoghurt ice-creams

We can’t think of anything nicer than blueberry ice cream pops on a hot summer’s day. Become the most popular grandparent this summer with this recipe. Ingredients:<ul><li>2 cups of blueberries</li><li>2 tablespoons of honey</li><li>2 cups of vanilla Greek yogurt</li></ul>Method:<ol><li>Blend your blueberries in a food processer until they are in a smoothie-like consistency.</li><li>Pour the thick blueberry liquid into a large bowl and stir in the honey.</li><li>Add yogurt and gently mix together.</li><li>If you would like the recipe to be sweeter, add more honey.</li><li>Pour mixture evening into your ice-cream moulds.</li><li>Freeze for two hours, then put a wooden popsicle stick in the middle.</li><li>Freeze for an additional four to six hours.</li><li>Run the popsicle moulds underneath warm water for easy removal. </li></ol>

Food & Wine

The internet reacts to Steve Waugh's ice cream blunder

At Thursday night's Australian Open match, Ash Barty bulldozed her way into the finals in a historic win against American Madison Keys. However, Barty had the limelight stolen by an unsuspecting sporting legend in the crowd: former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh. TV cameras panned to Waugh and showed him tucking into an ice cream cone, licking his lips and giving a nod of approval. The rough and tough sporting champ, who became known as the Ice Man in his playing days after coining the term "mental disintegration" to sledge opponents, let his guard down for a brief moment and the internet was flooded with hilarious reactions. Sports reporter Steve Smith tweeted, “Steve Waugh spent several minutes mentally disintegrating that ice-cream before devouring it.” AFL personality Titus O'Reilly chimed in saying, “Even eating an ice-cream, Steve Waugh looks intense.” Many also made the connection to the famous Seinfeld episode that shows George Costanza devouring a messy ice cream sundae at the 1993 US Open, and TV cameras catching the whole feast. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Steve Waugh given the George Constanza treatment… spotted eating an ice cream at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AusOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AusOpen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/wwos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wwos</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AusOpen2022?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AusOpen2022</a> <a href="https://t.co/8hD86klzZh">pic.twitter.com/8hD86klzZh</a> — Anthony Clark (@AnthonyClarkAU) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyClarkAU/status/1486633812872204291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> How good Steve Waugh pulling a Costanza at the tennis <a href="https://t.co/6vAcb3ue3z">pic.twitter.com/6vAcb3ue3z</a> — James Lamb (@James_M_Lamb) <a href="https://twitter.com/James_M_Lamb/status/1486630468732686339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2022</a></blockquote> Today host Karl Stefanovic was left in stitches after seeing Waugh's sweet treat, breaking out in laughter on the morning show. Karl said in empathy, "Having been at an NRL match and had 400 shots of me on the coverage eating pies, I kind of get it." Image credits: Channel Nine - Australian Open

Food & Wine

5 ways climate change boosts tsunami threat, from collapsing ice shelves to sea level rise

The enormous eruption of the underwater volcano in Tonga, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, triggered a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/tonga-volcano-generates-tsunami-us-tsunami-monitor-said-2022-01-15/">tsunami</a> that reached countries all around the Pacific rim, even causing a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-spills-business-tonga-peru-trending-news-3a92a17e2101945afcb22f5eb5bfb2ad?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP">disastrous oil spill</a> along 21 beaches in Peru. In Tonga, waves about 2 metres high were recorded before the sea level gauge failed, <a href="https://twitter.com/ConsulateKoT/status/1483384039826464768/photo/1">and waves of up to 15m</a> hit the west coasts of Tongatapu Islands, ‘Eua, and Ha’apai Islands. Volcanic activity could continue for weeks or months, but it’s hard to predict if or when there’ll be another such powerful eruption. Most tsunamis are caused by earthquakes, but a <a href="http://tsunami.org/what-causes-a-tsunami/">significant percentage</a> (about 15%) are caused by landslides or volcanoes. Some of these may be interlinked – for example, landslide tsunamis are often triggered by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. But does <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change">climate change</a> also play a role? As the planet warms, we’re seeing more <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-can-climate-change-affect-natural-disasters">frequent and intense</a> storms and cyclones, the melting of glaciers and ice caps, and sea levels rising. Climate change, however, doesn’t just affect the atmosphere and oceans, it affects the Earth’s crust as well. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-geology-idUSTRE58F62I20090916">Climate-linked</a> geological changes can increase the incidence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions which, in turn, can exacerbate the threat of tsunamis. Here are five ways this can happen. <h2>1. Sea level rise</h2> If greenhouse gas emissions remain at high rates, the average global sea level is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-4-sea-level-rise-and-implications-for-low-lying-islands-coasts-and-communities">projected to rise</a> between 60 centimetres and 1.1m. <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ocean-fact-sheet-package.pdf">Almost two thirds</a> of the world’s cities with populations over five million are at risk. Rising sea levels not only make coastal communities more vulnerable to flooding from storms, but also tsunamis. Even modest rises in sea level will dramatically increase the frequency and intensity of flooding when a tsunami occurs, as the tsunami can travel further inland. For example, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aat1180">a 2018 study</a> showed only a 50 centimetre rise would double the frequency of tsunami-induced flooding in Macau, China. This means in future, smaller tsunamis could have the same impact as larger tsunamis would today. <h2>2. Landslides</h2> A warming climate can increase the risk of both submarine (underwater) and aerial (above ground) landslides, thereby increasing the risk of local tsunamis. The <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/permafrost-everything-you-need-know">melting of permafrost</a> (frozen soil) at high latitudes decreases soil stability, making it more susceptible to erosion and landslides. More <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2951/climate-change-could-trigger-more-landslides-in-high-mountain-asia/">intense rainfall</a> can trigger landslides, too, as storms become more frequent under climate change. <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-do-landslides-cause-tsunamis#:%7E:text=Tsunamis%20are%20large%2C%20potentially%20deadly,a%20result%20of%20submarine%20earthquakes.&text=Tsunamis%20can%20be%20generated%20on,a%20rapidly%20moving%20underwater%20landslide.">Tsunamis can be generated</a> on impact as a landslide enters the water, or as water is moved by a rapid underwater landslide. In general, tsunami waves generated from landslides or rock falls dissipate quickly and don’t travel as far as tsunamis generated from earthquakes, but they can still lead to huge waves locally. In Alaska, US, glacial retreat and melting permafrost has exposed unstable slopes. In 2015, this melting caused a landslide that sent 180 million tonnes of rock into a narrow fjord, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30475-w">generating a tsunami reaching 193m high</a> – one of the highest ever recorded worldwide. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441884/original/file-20220121-8856-1regaso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441884/original/file-20220121-8856-1regaso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Scientists survey damage from a megatsunami in Taan Fiord that had occurred in October, 2015 after a massive landslide. Peter Haeussler, United States Geological Survey Alaska Science Center/Wikimedia Other areas at risk include <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818121000849">northwest British Columbia</a> in Canada, and the Barry Arm in Alaska, where an <a href="https://dggs.alaska.gov/hazards/barry-arm-landslide.html">unstable mountain slope</a> at the toe of the Barry Glacier has the potential to fail and <a href="https://www.woodwellclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Letter-to-Stakeholders_-Barry-Arm-Landslide-Final.pdf">generate a severe tsunami</a> in the next 20 years. <h2>3. Iceberg calving and collapsing ice shelves</h2> Global warming is accelerating the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/chasing-ice-glacier-calving-climate-change-2014-10?r=US&IR=T">rate of iceberg calving</a> – when chunks of ice fall into the ocean. Studies predict large ice shelves, such as the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, will <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/12/17/crucial-antarctic-glacier-likely-to-collapse-much-earlier-than-expected/">likely collapse</a> in the next five to ten years. Likewise, the Greenland ice sheet is <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3062/warming-seas-are-accelerating-greenlands-glacier-retreat/">thinning and retreating</a> at an alarming rate. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441878/original/file-20220121-8497-jjkh3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441878/original/file-20220121-8497-jjkh3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Iceberg near ship" /></a> Icebergs colliding with the seafloor can trigger underwater landslides. Shutterstock While much of the current research focus is on the sea level risk associated with melting and collapse of glaciers and ice sheets, there’s also a <a href="https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/12/415/2012/">tsunami risk</a> from the calving and breakup process. Wandering icebergs can trigger <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00767-4">submarine landslides and tsunamis</a> thousands of kilometres from the iceberg’s original source, as they hit unstable sediments on the seafloor. <h2>4. Volcanic activity from ice melting</h2> About 12,000 years ago, the last glacial period (“ice age”) ended and the melting ice triggered a dramatic <a href="https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/32995/2/Tuffen_PTRSL.pdf">increase in volcanic activity</a>. The correlation between climate warming and more volcanic eruptions isn’t yet well constrained or understood. But it may be related to <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70182772">changes in</a> stress to the Earth’s crust as the weight of ice is removed, and a phenomenon called “<a href="http://people.rses.anu.edu.au/lambeck_k/pdf/152.pdf">isostatic rebound</a>” – the long-term uplift of land in response to the removal of ice sheets. If this correlation holds for the current period of climate warming and melting of ice in high latitudes, there’ll be an increased risk of volcanic eruptions and associated hazards, including tsunamis. <h2>5. Increased earthquakes</h2> There are a number ways climate change can increase the frequency of earthquakes, and so increase tsunami risk. First, the weight of ice sheets may be <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2010.0031">suppressing fault movement and earthquakes</a>. When the ice melts, the isostatic rebound (land uplift) is accompanied by an increase in earthquakes and fault movement as the crust adjusts to the loss of weight. We may have seen this already in <a href="http://www.geotimes.org/oct04/NN_glacier.html">Alaska</a>, where melting glaciers reduced the stability of faults, inducing many small earthquakes and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818104000487?casa_token=BGo_KzIOuJkAAAAA:UHyQvV-tvVulwAfvOFPJILcG2206iyZhOM9TCVS_VAh0UdLimWrfu_NJRTHJVtwlKBL0cfA">possibly the magnitude 7.2 St Elias earthquake</a> in 1979. Another factor is low air pressure associated with storms and typhoons, which studies have also shown can trigger earthquakes in areas where the Earth’s crust is already under stress. Even relatively small changes in air pressure can trigger fault movements, as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08042">an analysis</a> of earthquakes between 2002 and 2007 in eastern Taiwan identified. <h2>So how can we prepare?</h2> Many mitigation strategies for climate change should also include elements to improve tsunami preparedness. This could include incorporating projected sea level rise into tsunami prediction models, and in building codes for infrastructure along vulnerable coastlines. Researchers can also ensure scientific models of climate impacts include the projected increase in earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity, and the increased tsunami risk this will bring.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175247/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jane-cunneen-290217">Jane Cunneen</a>, Adjunct Research Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/curtin-university-873">Curtin University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-climate-change-increases-the-threat-of-tsunamis-from-collapsing-ice-shelves-to-sea-level-rise-175247">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Domestic Travel

"Poise under pressure": Woman snaps selfie as car sinks in ice

Image: Twitter A woman In Canada has been criticised for appearing to take a selfie from the roof of her submerged car as it sunk in a frozen lake. The woman’s car became submerged after breaking through ice on the Rideau River in Ottawa on Sunday afternoon, requiring her to be rescued. Ottawa Police tweeted that local residents had come to her aid using “a kayak and quick thinking”. Video obtained by 580 CFRA shows people rushing towards the woman with a kayak as she stands on top of her yellow car. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> NEW: Neighbours use kayaks to rescue driver after car crashes through ice in Manotick <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ottnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ottnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/dhANorovWK">https://t.co/dhANorovWK</a> — CTV Ottawa (@ctvottawa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ctvottawa/status/1482873513782525952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2022</a></blockquote> Resident Zachary King told CTV News Ottawa he and his neighbour Rob Crober were the ones who rescued the woman. "It’s like everything worked out perfectly,” he told the station. “Got her on the kayak, pulled her in. And as soon as we pulled her in, the car went under. Fully." Video shot by resident Sacha Gera appears to show the woman driving on the ice at speed ahead of the rescue. It was reported that nobody was injured. Police said it served as an example that people should not drive across ice even when it looks safe. It seems the woman spent her time waiting to be rescued snapping a selfie while on the roof of her car. “She captured the moment with a selfie while people hurried and worried to help her,” Lynda Douglas tweeted, along with a photo. “Any time you are in a dangerous situation, you should not be taking selfies or doing anything distracting. You should be 100 per cent focused on being safe,” another man tweeted. However, others were far less critical. “She's waiting to be rescued. What the hell else is she supposed to do?” one man tweeted. “I appreciate her poise under pressure.” Regardless, the drive on the ice has proven costly for the woman, with her car being written off. Police have also charged her with an offence.

Travel Trouble

Sweet gesture as funeral for "King of the Ice Cream" melts hearts around the world

Image: Twitter A very sweet ice cream man's unique funeral procession has melted hearts all over the internet. The clip, filmed in the London area of Camberwell, shows a procession of ice cream vans following a hearse, all while playing the classic ice cream van jingle to farewell their fellow comrade. As the hearse drove down the road, around seven colourful ice cream vans slowly followed behind while the sweet music blared through the streets. Twitter user Louisa Davies posted the footage online after the sounds of the procession woke her up, admitting the heart-warming gesture left her "sobbing". "Just witnessed an ice cream man's funeral and all the ice cream vans came and followed in solidarity I AM SOBBING," Louisa wrote. The video quickly went viral, with Louisa's clip alone attracting a staggering 11 million views. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> just witnessed an ice cream man’s funeral and all the ice cream vans came and followed in solidarity I AM SOBBING <a href="https://t.co/bJhyJj4JoK">pic.twitter.com/bJhyJj4JoK</a> — Louisa Davies (@LouisaD__) <a href="https://twitter.com/LouisaD__/status/1471779181667225603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2021</a></blockquote> As per the Daily Mail, the funeral was held for 62-year-old Hasan Dervish, a man who was described as the "King of the ice cream" by his brother, Savash. Savash wrote: "Rest in eternal peace my brother. King of the ice cream." Louisa told the publication she didn't know the driver but was moved by the sweet send-off. "I'd never seen anything like this before so was quite shocked at first but then thought it was just the nicest most heart-warming send0-off," she said. "I'd like to send my respects to the family and let them know this procession brought joy to a lot of people today."

Caring

A child ordered $1200 of ice cream while playing on his dad’s phone

A 5-year-old Sydney boy is presumably in hot water after ordering $1200 worth of ice cream on his dad’s credit card while playing on his phone. Gelato Messina posted about the massive order on their Instagram on Tuesday, and according to their posts, the child was using their dad’s phone to play games, and somehow found himself on the Uber Eats app. Naturally, his next step was to order $1200 worth of gelato and other products from Gelato Messina. His dad didn’t realise anything was amiss until he received a call from the Uber Eats delivery driver, who was outside his workplace (a fire station in Newtown) with the massive haul, which included seven ice cream cakes, jars of dulce de leche, Messina brand candles, and five bottles of Messina Jersey milk. <img style="width: 272.5290697674419px; height: 500px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846372/screen-shot-2021-12-15-at-20204-pm.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/ccc6da68dc4041ebb80c24254ccdb996" /> In addition to photos of the order, Messina also posted a text exchange where someone was sharing the story, writing, “So [blank] called me and told me her mate has a five year old kid. And the little dude was playing with the dads phone. And ended up ordering $1200 of messina to the dads workplace.” The recipient replies, “hahah holy f*** on uber eats? Did the order actually go through?” to which the answers were yes and yes. He continued, “They didn’t know until the drive called him trying to drop it off. So the dad had to go to his work in Newtown to pick it up.” The photo of the haul is quite something - bags of milk, ice cream containers, at least a dozen jars of dulce de leche, and several boxes of Messina cakes. Hopefully the man’s colleagues, hardworking firefighters, all enjoy a sweet treat after a long shift. Otherwise, everyone’s getting dulce de leche in their Christmas stockings! Image: Sally Anscombe

Food & Wine

Aldi customer shocked by "babushka" ice cream

A stunned Aldi customer has revealed the strange thing that happened when she was unwrapping one of the store’s ice cream cones. Sharing her unusual find on Facebook, the woman from Victoria said she had settled down for some “me time” when she opened the Chocolate Crowns ice cream box which she purchased from Aldi. But what she unwrapped in the four-pack box from ice cream company Monarc was far from normal. Surprisingly, the ice cream was seemingly double wrapped with a wrapped cone inside another fully wrapped ice cream. “Dear Aldi, what the…. Is that?” she she wrote alongside a picture of her weirdly wrapped ice cream. “I don’t know if the whole box is like that.” Her bonus cone find delighted and perplexed fellow shoppers who were seriously stunned by the unusually wrapped cone. “I don’t understand what I’m looking at?” one baffled person said. “It’s an ice cream babushka?” another asked. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844307/new-project-3.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/58f5e70d144142be8eae847ca6ab108c" /> Image: Facebook “A cone…. In a cone, what’s inside the wrapper,” questioned a third person. Simply put, one Aldi fan called the mishap “Cone-ception” while others thought the strange “bonus cone” find was extremely lucky. “Buy a lotto ticket….that’s some luck!!” one person said. “Probably the best thing I have ever seen,” added another. This isn’t the first time a shopper has spotted a packaging mishap in a supermarket product. Surprising find in tin of tomatoes This isn’t the first time a shopper has spotted a packaging mishap in the supermarket. Melbourne shopper Shell McKenzie told Yahoo News Australia she was shocked when she opened a tin of tomatoes that contained no tomatoes at all. Instead, the sealed tin was full of water. Shell said she had purchased the Woolworths Essentials brand diced Italian tomatoes as part of her online order. “It was delivered to my workplace,” she explained. “My cook opened it and was shocked it was filled with water….we bought others that were fine.” A Woolworths representative quickly responded to Shell’s odd fine on Facebook. “We’re sorry to see you’ve received a can of diced tomatoes filled with water. We can imagine the surprise this would’ve caused when you opened it,” the spokesperson says. “I spoke with them on the phone and they were shocked and offered a refund and a $10 goodwill credit,” she said. “They have no idea how it happened.”

Food & Wine

“Vile monster” found eating ice-cream after killing his wife

Disturbing bodycam footage has shown the moment a man who shot his ex-wife through the window of his car enjoying a Magnum treat. The bodycam footage released by Northamptonshire Police was taken hours after murderer Michael Reader shot Marion Price. Reader carried out the killing after a "controlling and abusive campaign" during the pair's marriage. Reader's best friend Stephen Welch was also a "willing and knowing accomplice" and helped dispose of Reader's clothes after the murder. Reader made the decision to murder his ex-wife after he was ordered to pay her £10,000 as a final divorce settlement. The footage is shocking, as Reader feigns ignorance after being informed he's being arrested for the murder of Price. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7840361/man-ice-cream.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/7c6c87a1d0464f5ea540d339aaa7b452" /> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> "Can you fill me in? What has happened?" Reader can be heard asking as handcuffs are put on him. "When did this happen?" he asks the arresting officer. Reader had controlled and manipulated Price throughout their marriage, which was made clear at sentencing in a victim personal statement from Price's son Gary. He referred to Reader as a "vile monster", who "preyed on [Ms Price's] good nature" He said: "We would find out he was obsessed with money, manipulating, controlling, disgusting and very sad." Mr Price said his mother was "the most amazing, kind, bubbly, excitable, beautiful human being". "I really hope that people will read or hear about my mum's story and help at least one other person to spot the signs they are in an abusive relationship," he added. Reader was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 31 years and his accomplice was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 27 years. Photo credits: Northamptonshire Police </div>

Legal

Recall issued for ice cream contaminated with COVID-19

Coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in Eastern China, prompting an urgent recall of cartons from the same batch. According to the Chinese government, the Daqiaodao Food Co, Ltd in Tianjin was sealed and 1,662 employees are being tested for the coronavirus and placed in quarantine. There was no indication that anyone had contracted the ice cream, but a recall has been issued regardless. A total of 935 boxes of ice cream were in Tianjin, with only 65 being sold to markets. This is out of 2,747 boxes that entered the market, with authorities notifying others of sales to their areas. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Authorities in the northern Chinese municipality of Tianjin are tracing ice cream contaminated with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> after three samples produced by Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Co., Ltd. tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. <a href="https://t.co/7oTLu2e1Us">pic.twitter.com/7oTLu2e1Us</a> — Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) <a href="https://twitter.com/SixthTone/status/1349944516938231808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2021</a></blockquote> The ingredients of the ice cream included New Zealand milk powder and whey powder from Ukraine. The Chinese government has suggested that the coronavirus came from abroad and has highlighted what it says are discoveries of the coronavirus on imported fish and other food. Foreign scientists are sceptical of these claims, with a virologist claiming it's "probably a one-off". “It’s likely this has come from a person, and without knowing the details, I think this is probably a one-off,” Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist based at the University of Leeds, told Sky News. “Of course, any level of contamination is not acceptable and always a cause for concern, but the chances are that this is the result of an issue with the production plant and potentially down to hygiene at the factory.” Griffin also stressed that there is no reason to panic. “We probably don’t need to panic that every bit of ice cream is suddenly going to be contaminated with coronavirus,” he added.

Travel Trouble

Cherry choc chip ice-cream sandwiches

These are the heavenly ice-cream sandwiches of your childhood. Even better – the ice-cream recipe doesn’t begin with a custard, and so avoids the ‘will it or won’t it?’ curdling fear. Ingredients: <ul> <li>2 cups (500 ml) thickened cream</li> <li>1 cup (250 ml) full-cream milk</li> <li>¾ cup (165 g) caster sugar, plus 1 teaspoon extra</li> <li>1½ cups (225 g) frozen cherries, partially thawed</li> <li>85 g dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa), roughly chopped</li> <li>36 plain chocolate biscuits (Choc Ripple biscuits or similar)</li> </ul> Directions: 1. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, milk and sugar, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Churn in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 2. Toss the cherries with the extra teaspoon of sugar. Add the cherries, along with any juice, and the chocolate to the ice-cream mixture. Transfer to a container with a lid and freeze until firm enough to scoop. 3. To assemble the sandwiches, spread 1/3 cup (80g) of ice-cream over a biscuit and top with another biscuit. Repeat with the remaining biscuits and ice-cream. Wrap tightly in baking paper and freeze until ready to serve. Tip: The sandwiches will keep for 24 hours in the freezer. <a rel="noopener" href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/185116/71095/1880?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fthe-edible-city-indira-naidoo%2Fprod9781921383816.html" target="_blank">Recipe from The Edible City by Indira Naidoo, published by Penguin Books.</a> Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.wyza.com.au/recipes/cherry-choc-chip-ice-cream-sandwiches.aspx" target="_blank">Wyza.com.au</a>.

Food & Wine

Relax with a calypso mango curd ice cream sundae

Perfect for a cheat weekend, this ice cream sundae pairs perfectly with the tropical taste of mango! Ingredients <ul> <li>3 Calypso mangoes</li> <li>1 litre good-quality vanilla ice-cream</li> <li>½ x 250g packet butternut snap biscuits</li> <li>½ cup pistachios</li> <li>½ cup shredded coconut, toasted</li> </ul> Calypso mango curd <ul> <li>1 Calypso mango</li> <li>6 egg yolks</li> <li>¾ cup caster sugar</li> <li>3 lemons, juiced</li> <li>125g butter, chilled, chopped</li> </ul> Directions 1. To make the curd, cut the cheeks from the mango. Using a large spoon remove the mango fruit from the cheeks. Puree mango until smooth. You need ¾ cup. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a 6-cup capacity heatproof, microwave-safe bowl until combined. Whisk in ½ cup lemon juice. Add the butter. Microwave, uncovered, for 6-7 minutes on Medium/50%, whisking every minute, until the curd thickens and just comes to the boil. Stir in mango puree. Cover surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours. 2. Spoon the ice-cream into a large bowl. Stand at room temperature for 10 minutes, or until softened slightly. Fold in 1 cup of mango curd. Spoon into a 12cm x 22cm (base) loaf pan. Cover and freeze overnight. 3. Process biscuits and pistachios until finely chopped. Stir in coconut. Cut the cheeks from the mangoes. Using a large spoon remove the mango fruit from the cheeks and cut into 2cm cubes. 4. To serve, spoon half the biscuit mixture into the base of six serving glasses. Top with scoops of ice-cream and half the mango. Repeat layers. Serve. Tips Mango curd makes 2 cups; store the remaining mango curd in a jar in the fridge for up to one month. Try folding it through whipped cream and serving on top of pavlova or serve over scones, toasted waffles or toasted crumpets. Recipe courtesy of <a rel="noopener" href="http://calypsomango.com.au/" target="_blank">Calypso Mangoes</a>. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/recipes/calypso-mango-curd-ice-cream-sundae.aspx">Wyza.com.au</a>.

Food & Wine

Papaya and coconut milk ice pops

Aside from helping to improve digestion, papaya is also bursting with vitamin C which supports the immune system and vitamin A which is essential for healthy eyes. Rich in antioxidants as well, it’s no wonder that adding some papaya to your diet can have a positive inside-out effect on your skin. If you’re not into frozen treats, simply skip the freezing step and enjoy the blended papaya with coconut milk as a smoothie. You can skip the natvia, erythritol or sugar as this is only used in the recipe to help the treat taste sweeter once frozen. Ingredients: <ul> <li>1 Ruby Rise Red Papaya</li> <li>1 (270ml) can coconut milk</li> <li>1/3 cup natvia, xylitol or unrefined sugar</li> <li>1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste</li> </ul> Method: <ol> <li>Cut the papaya in half lengthways. Using a spoon, remove and discard the seeds. Peel the papaya using a vegetable peeler, cut into chunks and place in a blender.</li> <li>Blend the papaya on medium speed until liquid. Pour into 6-12 ice cream moulds, depending on size, filling them only halfway.</li> <li>Rinse the blender jug and pour in the coconut milk, add sweetener of your choice and vanilla. Blend for 30 seconds on low speed.</li> <li>Top each filled mould with the coconut milk blend. Pop in an ice pop stick and freeze for 8-12 hours or overnight.</li> </ol> Tip Store ice pops in the moulds to prevent freezer burn. Alternatively, remove from moulds and wrap tightly with baking paper and store in a zip lock bag in the freezer. Recipe by Martyna Angell, The Wholesome Cook.

Food & Wine

Nutritious and tasty: Avocado and coconut ice cream

Avocados are bursting with nutrients needed for a healthy body. It’s little wonder there are so many health benefits when a single serve of avocado (1/4 or 50g) boasts healthy fats, fibre, folate, niacin, vitamins C, B5, E & K, potassium and antioxidants! Serves 6 Ingredients: • 3 avocados • 1 can (400ml) coconut cream • 2 tablespoons honey • ½ cup fresh berries, cherries and edible flowers Directions: 1. Cut the avocados in half and discard the pit. Scoop the avocado out, adding the flesh to a food processor. 2. Add the coconut cream and honey. 3. Season with a pinch of salt and puree until nice and smooth. 4. Pour into a paper-lined loaf tin, cover with cling wrap and freeze for at least 3 hours or until set. 5. Serve on a long, rectangular platter garnished with fresh cherries, berries and edible flowers.

Food & Wine

Banana, date and walnut cake with cream cheese icing

This scrumptious banana, date and walnut cake has kindly been shared by community member, Anne Taylor. It’s easy to make and tastes too good. Ingredients: <ul> <li>2 cups self-raising flour</li> <li>1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda</li> <li>½ teaspoon ground nutmeg</li> <li>2 cups pitted dates, chopped</li> <li>⅔ cup brown sugar, firmly packed</li> <li>2 cups walnuts</li> <li>¾ cup orange juice</li> <li>60g butter, melted</li> <li>2 eggs, lightly beaten</li> <li>1 cup ripe mashed bananas</li> </ul> Cream cheese icing <ul> <li>½ cup of butter, slightly softened</li> <li>8 oz. cream cheese, softened</li> <li>4 cups of icing sugar</li> <li>1 tablespoon milk</li> </ul> Method: 1. Grease a 14cm x 21cm loaf pan; line base and two long opposite sides with baking paper, extending paper five-cm above edge of pan. 2. Combine sifted flour, soda and nutmeg in a large bowl; stir in dates, walnuts and brown sugar. Make a well in the centre, add juice, butter, eggs and bananas; mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Pour mixture into prepared pan. 3. Cook the loaf in a moderate oven, 180º C, for about one hour, or until cooked when tested. Place a sheet of foil over the cake half way through the cooking process. This will keep the loaf from burning. Stand cake in pan for five minutes; turn out onto awire rack to cool. 4. To make icing, use an electric mixer to cream butter and cream cheese on medium speed till smooth. Add milk then icing sugar one cup at a time. One all of the icing sugar is added, mix on high speed for 30 seconds to one minute. Once cake has cooled down, you are set to ice and then serve.

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Cherry choc chip ice-cream sandwiches

Relax with a calypso mango curd ice cream sundae

Papaya and coconut milk ice pops

Nutritious and tasty: Avocado and coconut ice cream

Banana, date and walnut cake with cream cheese icing