Stolen Darwin Journals Returned To Cambridge University Library (theguardian.com) 29
The plot was worthy of a Dan Brown thriller -- two Charles Darwin manuscripts worth millions of pounds reported as stolen from Cambridge University library after being missing for two decades. From a report: The disappearance prompted a worldwide appeal with the help of the local police force and Interpol. Now, in a peculiar twist, the notebooks -- one of which contains Darwin's seminal 1837 Tree of Life Sketch -- have been anonymously returned in a pink gift bag, with a typed note on an envelope wishing a happy Easter to the librarian. The bag was left on the floor of a public area of the library outside the librarian's office on the fourth floor of the 17-storey building on 9 March, in an area not covered by CCTV. Who left them and where they had been remains a mystery. Dr Jessica Gardner, who became director of library services in 2017 and who reported the notebooks as stolen to police, described her joy at their return as "immense."
"My sense of relief at the notebooks' safe return is profound and almost impossible to adequately express," she said. "I, along with so many others, all across the world, was heartbroken to learn of their loss. The notebooks can now retake their rightful place alongside the rest of the Darwin archive at Cambridge, at the heart of the nation's cultural and scientific heritage, alongside the archives of Sir Isaac Newton and Prof Stephen Hawking."
"My sense of relief at the notebooks' safe return is profound and almost impossible to adequately express," she said. "I, along with so many others, all across the world, was heartbroken to learn of their loss. The notebooks can now retake their rightful place alongside the rest of the Darwin archive at Cambridge, at the heart of the nation's cultural and scientific heritage, alongside the archives of Sir Isaac Newton and Prof Stephen Hawking."
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Group I was in went on a trip to grand canyon, and we had one of those idiotic annoying type liberals (the California type), that happened to be in the group. It just so happened they had an unfortunate accident when it was reported in the local news that during the early morning they had went off alone and had fallen off down a cliff side while the group was still at their camp sleeping... That's how it was reported anyway. ;-)
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Nice, but maybe not "News for Nerds" (Score:1)
The lameness filter requires that I put something here
Re:Nice, but maybe not "News for Nerds" (Score:5, Informative)
Name something more nerdy than the history of science.
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Challenge accepted. The history of the history of science.
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Re:Nice, but maybe not "News for Nerds" (Score:5, Funny)
Alternate version (Score:5, Interesting)
For a moment I just pictured an alternate version of this story where the bomb squad is called for a bag left unattended and detonates it in a flurry of scraps of two-century old paper.
Re: Alternate version (Score:2)
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It is certain there are those in the religious community who love to do just this to anything Darwin did. Or anyone involved with the scientific endeavor of Evolution.
Re:Alternate version (Score:5, Interesting)
But more likely it was "Who's left this bag outside my office?" ; picks it up, takes it to desk, opens it ; "?? OMFG, is that the missing notebooks?" [Phone Boss].
The radio news coverage of this story makes some mention (as the pictures show) that the notebooks were wrapped in several layers of cling-film, and they were returned in the storage box they'd originally been stored (and taken) in. So the finder would have had quite a few hints that there was something odd going on before getting to the actual notebook itself. "Is this some sort of anonymous bequest?" That happens all the time. Dad has found several on the doorstep of the Natural History Society rooms over the years - including a couple of bird egg collections, of which possession is a crime.
It's a bloody weird story. As weird as life. My beer-worth of money would be on someone browsing the store rooms for something else, seeing the notebooks (in their storage box), and having a moment of stupidly succumbing to temptation ... then nearly 20 years of trying to figure out how to "make it good". Good odds of the person making the return being the executor of the thief's will.
In trying to trace the returner (or thief, but I suspect they're different people), the absence of CCTV may be just luck, or it may indicate somebody with close familiarity of the office areas of the library. But that clingfilm is going to be great for holding fingerprints, as well as shed hair, skin flakes, etc during the wrapping process. Not very forensically aware - which is another datum towards identification.
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At least in this country (the relevant country), being an executor and being an inheritor are not exclusive states. At least, I bloody well hope they aren't, since I'm named as an executor for my parents' wills.
The thief evolved (Score:3)
into a decent citizen.
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into a decent citizen.
Yes he did...
[From the story] Cambridgeshire Police said its investigation was continuing, "and we are following up some lines of inquiry."
"We also renew our appeal for anyone with information about the case to contact us," the force said.
...so let's find him and make sure no good deed goes unpunished.
saw it (Score:2)
I think I saw this one. Nick Cage, John Travolta, and Amandla Stenberg were in it. Turned out the manuscripts had been stolen by some followers of Xenu, but a female Pope from the future time-travels back to help Cage recover and return them to the Cambridge University Library. SPOILER: that "X" is actually "Chi". In the future, the Catholic Church also embraces evolution.
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In the future, the Catholic Church also embraces evolution.
To be fair to the Catholics, they embrace evolution in the present.
Worry about the possible facts of dark minds (Score:1)