Latest news with #Schnapps
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
I posted my holiday shots on Instagram and no one believes they're real
Not too long ago, I found myself in Switzerland. I had just celebrated a milestone birthday and decided that a suitable way to mark reaching a mildly terrifying age was to view some very impressive mountains up close. And when I say up close, I mean from the safety and comfort of an air-conditioned train carriage. Most of the two-hour journey was frankly breathtaking: perfectly hydrated green valleys, sugar-dusted mountains and small herds of cows that looked as though they had been grazing on Valium-infused grass. I hadn't intended to pull out my phone and start filming videos like a basic tourist, but that is what I did. And then, in an even more basic tourist move, I uploaded those videos to my Instagram stories. My partner, a truly empathic and thoughtful person, has a policy of not posting photographic evidence of holidays on social media because he doesn't want to make other people feel bad about not being on holiday. (Yes, I know – he is too pure for this world.) I, on the other hand, am a few rungs down on the evolutionary ladder, and have been known to post a small selection of holiday highlights on Instagram. I do set myself some guidelines, though: I don't post every day (I don't want to be unfollowed, or worse, hate-followed), and I try not to clog people's feeds with generic, postcard-style photos. But something about the way the sun hit those Alps on that day, coupled with access to a miniature bottle of Schnapps, made me hurl my self-imposed rulebook over a metaphorical rainbow. Thus began my posting spree. I wasn't expecting much of a reaction to my videos, maybe a few little red hearts fizzing upwards in that cute way of theirs, or some vague exclamations of delight from people who still tolerated me even though I was rudely posting my holiday on Instagram. Instead, I received a handful of friendly but incredulous direct messages, wanting to know if the videos were real. To be fair, the scenery did look as though it had been subjected to digital interference. Had I not sat on that train recording mountains with one hand while thrusting chocolate into my face with the other, I, too, would have assumed that the videos were AI-generated. I reassured everyone that not only were the images very real, they didn't even require a filter. I ended my message to each of my benign inquisitors with my customary sign-off: #blessed. (Just kidding – only a Millennial would do that.) Being duped by an AI-generated image reminds me of the time a student offered me what I thought was a Lindt ball but actually turned out to be a perfectly spherical glob of Blu Tack in a Lindt ball wrapper. That's what AI images feel like to me – a gross, old piece of Blu Tack in a shiny wrapper handed to me by a budding psychopath. Lately, whenever I'm confronted with a display of stupendous beauty on social media, my first instinct is to suspect AI and to curse the grubby little way it messes with my head. I worry that, sooner or later, we'll all stop asking 'Is this even real?' because we'll just assume that it isn't. And we won't even care any more. There was a time, not so long ago, when I still believed everything I saw on my feed. In the murky depths of lockdown, I fell in love with a photo of a Gaudi-inspired pink house and promptly added it to my mental bucket list. But a few months later, when I tried to locate the house online, it turned out to be nothing but a big glob of Blu Tack sculpted by a digital psychopath that had never had its heart broken by anyone or anything. Loading AI does not care about you, your heart, or the planet: ChatGPT chews up 10 times more electricity than a ye olde Google search, burning fossil fuels in the process. Moreover, the infrastructure required to run AI data centres consumes ungodly amounts of water, which is a problem in a world where a quarter of the population suffers from insufficient access to it. Maybe we should keep this in mind the next time we feel the urge to see a dog in human form, or a human in dog form, or to be reassured by an AI therapist that we are not narcissists but the people who mistreat us definitely are.
The Age
3 days ago
- The Age
I posted my holiday shots on Instagram and no one believes they're real
Not too long ago, I found myself in Switzerland. I had just celebrated a milestone birthday and decided that a suitable way to mark reaching a mildly terrifying age was to view some very impressive mountains up close. And when I say up close, I mean from the safety and comfort of an air-conditioned train carriage. Most of the two-hour journey was frankly breathtaking: perfectly hydrated green valleys, sugar-dusted mountains and small herds of cows that looked as though they had been grazing on Valium-infused grass. I hadn't intended to pull out my phone and start filming videos like a basic tourist, but that is what I did. And then, in an even more basic tourist move, I uploaded those videos to my Instagram stories. My partner, a truly empathic and thoughtful person, has a policy of not posting photographic evidence of holidays on social media because he doesn't want to make other people feel bad about not being on holiday. (Yes, I know – he is too pure for this world.) I, on the other hand, am a few rungs down on the evolutionary ladder, and have been known to post a small selection of holiday highlights on Instagram. I do set myself some guidelines, though: I don't post every day (I don't want to be unfollowed, or worse, hate-followed), and I try not to clog people's feeds with generic, postcard-style photos. But something about the way the sun hit those Alps on that day, coupled with access to a miniature bottle of Schnapps, made me hurl my self-imposed rulebook over a metaphorical rainbow. Thus began my posting spree. I wasn't expecting much of a reaction to my videos, maybe a few little red hearts fizzing upwards in that cute way of theirs, or some vague exclamations of delight from people who still tolerated me even though I was rudely posting my holiday on Instagram. Instead, I received a handful of friendly but incredulous direct messages, wanting to know if the videos were real. To be fair, the scenery did look as though it had been subjected to digital interference. Had I not sat on that train recording mountains with one hand while thrusting chocolate into my face with the other, I, too, would have assumed that the videos were AI-generated. I reassured everyone that not only were the images very real, they didn't even require a filter. I ended my message to each of my benign inquisitors with my customary sign-off: #blessed. (Just kidding – only a Millennial would do that.) Being duped by an AI-generated image reminds me of the time a student offered me what I thought was a Lindt ball but actually turned out to be a perfectly spherical glob of Blu Tack in a Lindt ball wrapper. That's what AI images feel like to me – a gross, old piece of Blu Tack in a shiny wrapper handed to me by a budding psychopath. Lately, whenever I'm confronted with a display of stupendous beauty on social media, my first instinct is to suspect AI and to curse the grubby little way it messes with my head. I worry that, sooner or later, we'll all stop asking 'Is this even real?' because we'll just assume that it isn't. And we won't even care any more. There was a time, not so long ago, when I still believed everything I saw on my feed. In the murky depths of lockdown, I fell in love with a photo of a Gaudi-inspired pink house and promptly added it to my mental bucket list. But a few months later, when I tried to locate the house online, it turned out to be nothing but a big glob of Blu Tack sculpted by a digital psychopath that had never had its heart broken by anyone or anything. Loading AI does not care about you, your heart, or the planet: ChatGPT chews up 10 times more electricity than a ye olde Google search, burning fossil fuels in the process. Moreover, the infrastructure required to run AI data centres consumes ungodly amounts of water, which is a problem in a world where a quarter of the population suffers from insufficient access to it. Maybe we should keep this in mind the next time we feel the urge to see a dog in human form, or a human in dog form, or to be reassured by an AI therapist that we are not narcissists but the people who mistreat us definitely are.
Daily Mirror
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Man dismembered alive and eaten over 10 months by lover in sick cannibal pact
Armin Meiwes kept portions of Bernd Brandes' flesh in a freezer after they made a fatal agreement. The cannibal consumed his victim over a lengthy period and was later jailed for his murder Armin Meiwes spent 10 months dining on his voluntary victim after he ate him alive following a sick pact. With cannibalism highly illegal, depraved Meiwes was later jailed for life for murdering Bernd Brandes. The fetishistic killer had posted an advert called 'Dinner - or your dinner' more than 60 times on a German forum when his offer was taken up by Bernd, a 43-year-old engineer in 2001. Meiwes, then 42, invited his victim into his home in Rotenburg, southern Germany, feeding him sleeping pills and Schnapps before cutting off his penis and feeding it to both of them. The next gruesome course was Bernd's back, telling a documentary called Docs: Interview With A Cannibal: "I took out my best dinner service, and fried a piece of rump steak – a piece from his back – made what I call princess potatoes, and sprouts." "The first bite was, of course, very strange. It was a feeling I can't really describe. I'd spent over 40 years longing for it, dreaming about it. "And now I was getting the feeling that I was actually achieving this perfect inner connection through his flesh. The flesh tastes like pork but stronger." Meiwes prepared his dinner table with candles and cooked and consumed the illegal feast he had been "longing" for. Bernd then took a bath as Meiwes read a Star Trek novel to him before he stabbed him in the neck, killing him. He cut him into pieces and buried him in his garden, saving some of his flesh in the freezer which he ate over the next 10 months. After the deed was done, Meiwes was arrested in December 2002 and lied to the police, telling them the meat in his freezer was wild pig. The former computer technician had developed a sick obsession with eating someone alive when he was a teenager, inviting his victim to his home in Rotenburg, in southern Germany. He told a subsequent criminal trial that the engineer "came to me of his own free will to end his life. For him, it was a nice death." The dead man was later reported to have a fetish to be castrated and had agreed to accommodate Meiwes' cannibal wish in return, and said to have feared he would be committed if he lived. The pair spent a month communicating daily by email discussing their plans, and the day before Bernd left, he sold his car, wiped his computer and wrote a note leaving his possessions to his boyfriend. In January 2004, the cannibal was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison. In a subsequent retrial in May 2006, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, where he remains behind bars at the age of 63. In April 2023, Meiwes' former home and the scene of the murder was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
Daily Mirror
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Cannibal cut off lover's penis, fried it with garlic and served it for dinner
The sick fetishist placed an advert entitled 'Dinner - or your dinner' (Image: AFP) Cannibal Armin Meiwes dined on his lover's flesh after he agreed to be eaten alive. Sick Meiwes carried out his highly illegal fantasy in 2001, when he killed Bernd Brandes and cooked his penis for dinner. The cannibal had posted an advert called 'Dinner - or your dinner' more than 60 times on a German forum when Bernd, 43, took him up on his offer. Meiwes then decorated his table, adding candles for ambience, before he carried out his gruesome act. The former computer technician had developed a sick obsession with eating someone alive when he was a teenager, inviting his victim to his home in Rotenburg, in southern Germany. He told a subsequent criminal trial that the engineer "came to me of his own free will to end his life. For him, it was a nice death." READ MORE: Britain's longest serving prisoner kept in glass box is 'slowly dying' The engineer was 43 when he was eaten alive after responding to an advert Bernd first took sleeping pills and drank Schnapps before Meiwes cut his penis off and they both ate it. He then ate part of his voluntary victim's back, describing how he had been "longing" for it. The cannibal told a documentary called Docs: Interview With A Cannibal: "I took out my best dinner service, and fried a piece of rump steak – a piece from his back – made what I call princess potatoes, and sprouts. After I prepared my meal, I ate it. "The first bite was, of course, very strange. It was a feeling I can't really describe. I'd spent over 40 years longing for it, dreaming about it. "And now I was getting the feeling that I was actually achieving this perfect inner connection through his flesh. The flesh tastes like pork but stronger." Meiwes first developed his sick fantasy when he was a teenager After the sick feast, Bernd took a bath as Meiwes read a Star Trek novel to him before he stabbed him in the neck, killing him. He cut him into pieces and buried him in his garden, saving some of his flesh in the freezer which he ate over the next 10 months. The dead man was later reported to have a fetish to be castrated and had agreed to accommodate Meiwes' cannibal wish in return, and said to have feared he would be committed if he lived. The pair spent a month communicating daily by email discussing their plans, and the day before Bernd left, he sold his car, wiped his computer and wrote a note leaving his possessions to his boyfriend. After the deed was done, Meiwes was arrested in December 2002 and lied to the police, telling them the meat in his freezer was wild pig. He was 42 when he had videotaped the killing, dissection and consumption of Bernd. In January 2004, the cannibal was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison. In a subsequent retrial in May 2006, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, where he remains behind bars at the age of 63. In April 2023, Meiwes' former home and the scene of the murder was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
