Tall Tales
And other stories from the stranger side of life
New research has found that nurture is more important than nature when it comes to a person’s height. The Telegraph said the “landmark” study of more than 5.4m people found that more than 12,000 genes are responsible for determining how tall a person becomes, but this hereditary aspect is just 40% of the cause, with other 60% determined by “nurture-based traits” like environment, upbringing and quality of life.
Husband and wife told the other is deadA husband and wife were taken by surprise when both were contacted by their bank and told their partner had died. Ben Gibson, 63, of Stratford-upon-Avon, was told his wife, Gill, 65, was dead when he called her bank about a card problem. Then, within weeks, Gill received letters of condolence for Ben’s death. “I’m furious about it,” Ben told The Mirror. A spokesperson for Lloyds Banking Group said: “We’re really sorry for the upsetting experience Mr and Mrs Gibson had and we are urgently investigating how this happened.”
Vintage jeans sell for $87,000A pair of 19th-century jeans discovered by a “denim archaeologist” in an abandoned mine shaft in the US have sold at auction in New Mexico for $87,000. The Levi’s jeans are covered with traces of the wax used in candles by miners to light tunnels, said The Wall Street Journal. They are thought to be one of the most costly pairs of vintage jeans ever sold. “I’m still kind of bewildered, just surprised in myself for even purchasing them,” said Kyle Haupert, a California vintage clothes dealer who bought the jeans.
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