Hi there, you're listening to an all-new episode of News Bites.

I'm Jacob Ingram.

And I'm Brody Halverson.

In today's news, Taipei Police capture a fugitive teacher and a fanfiction writer files a lawsuit.

And in today's tasty tidbit: Diamonds in pencils.

Stay tuned for those stories, coming up next.

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台北警方逮捕逃犯教師

Taipei Police Capture Fugitive Teacher

In December 1999, something really bad happened in a karaoke bar in Taipei.

A person was shot and killed.

One of the suspects (嫌犯) was a guy.

His nickname … Teacher Chen (陳老師).

The police tried to catch Chen, but he managed to stay hidden for a very, very long time.

Chen avoided being caught by not having any ID, not staying in one place and moving mostly at night.

He walked or biked to not attract attention, like a shadow moving in the dark.

他步行或騎?踏車，以免引起注意，就像黑暗中移動的影子一般。

For many years, "Teacher Chen" was like a tricky puzzle for the police.

Chen knew how the police worked.

So he cleverly moved around different places without them finding him.

In the last two years, he returned to a neighborhood in Taipei.

Maybe he thought the police wouldn't be looking for him anymore?

But guess what?

The police got a secret tip about where he was.

警方收到了一個有關他的住處的秘密線報。

They then formed a special team to catch him.

Even though Police didn't have a photo of him, they identified him using his fingerprints.

儘管警方沒有他的照片，他們用了他的指紋來辨認他。

Police took him to the Shilin Prosecutor's Office (士林地方檢察署).

They suspect he was involved in the murder.

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《魔戒》同人小說作者提出訴訟

Lord of the Rings Fanfiction Writer Files a Lawsuit

Have you heard of Demetrious Polychron?

I'm sorry, who?

Didn't think so.

But maybe you've heard of Lord of the Rings?

Yes, I have.

Lord of the Rings one of the most famous and best-selling fantasy books of all time.

It's a story about a hobbit called Frodo Baggins, who goes on a journey to destroy a powerful ring.

Along the way, he is joined by humans, elves, dwarves, and wizards.

Together, they face various challenges and battles against the dark forces led by the evil Sauron.

The story explores themes of friendship, courage, and the struggle between good and evil in the fantasy world of Middle-earth.

That's right!

It has sold over 150 million copies.

它賣出一千五百萬本。

Now, imagine writing your very own sequel (續集) to this story.

Meet Demetrious Polychron…

He wrote a book called "The Fellowship of the King".

Oh, come on!

見鬼了！

He just took the title from the first volume of Lord of the Rings.

他只是用了《魔戒》一部曲的標題，做了一點改變。

That might be the case.

有可能。

The first volume of Lord of the Rings is called "The Fellowship of the Ring".

《魔戒》系列的第一部曲名為《魔戒現身》。

In any case, he thought it was the perfect sequel.

But guess what?

He got into some serious trouble.

他陷入了麻煩之中。

Oh, did he now?

Yes! Back in 2017, Polychron tried to team up with the Tolkien Estate to publish his book.

在2017年，Polychron曾試圖與托爾金遺產委員會合作來出版他的書。

They said, "No."

他們直接拒絕他了。

But he went ahead and published it on his own anyway in 2022.

他在２０２２年偏偏自己出版。

Fast forward to 2023, he actually sued (提出訴訟) the Tolkien Estate and Amazon.

What? How come?

Polychron claimed they stole ideas from his book for their TV series, "The Rings of Power".

Polychron聲稱他們偷了他書裏的?容，用於他們的電視系列《力量之戒》。

And get this, he wanted a whopping 250 million US dollars!

That. Is. Insane.

As you can expect, things didn't quite go his way.

正如你所預料的，事情並未那?順利。

The judge ruled that Polychron's book was actually copying stuff from Amazon's show, not the other way around.

法官裁定Polychron的書實際上是在抄襲亞馬遜的電視系列，而不是亞馬遜偷他的。

The court ordered Polychron to destroy all physical and digital copies of his book.

法院命令Polychron下架所有實體書和數位拷貝。

They also ordered him to pay $134-thousand US dollars in legal fees to the Tolkien Estate and Amazon.

他們還命令他支付十三萬四千美元的法律費用給托爾金遺產委員會與亞馬遜公司。

Ouch!

Talk about a tough day for poor old Polychron!

Lesson learned, folks: Don't mess with the magic of Middle-earth!

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So, in today's news…

A fugitive teacher was arrested by

Police suspected he was involved in the murder inside a Karaoke Bar in 1999.

"Teacher Chen" evaded the police for over 20 years.

But eventually they found him!

And,

A Lord of the Rings fanfiction writer sued the Tolkien Estate and Amazon.

Demetrious Polychron accused them of stealing ideas from his novel, the Fellowship of the King.

Polychron wanted a whopping 250 million US dollars!

But his lawsuit backfired.

The judge ordered Polychron to destroy all copies of his book.

He also had to pay 134-thousand US dollars in legal fees.

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趣味小點

Tasty Tidbit

And in today's tasty tidbit…

Did you know Diamonds are made from the same chemical as the lead in pencils?

Pencil lead is not actually made of lead (Pb/鉛), but rather graphite, which is a form of carbon (C/碳).

Diamonds are also made of carbon.

The difference between Diamond and Graphite is the arrangement of the carbon atoms.

And that's it for today's episode of News Bites!

If you have a fun fact, a joke or interesting news story you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty tidbit to [email protected], and you might hear it at the end of an episode.

We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!