Quote of the Day: “Where hast thou wandered, gentle gale, to find the perfumes thou dost bring?” – William Cullen Bryant
Photo by: k8_iv
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A surprise discovery from the University of Birmingham shows that we may be significantly underestimating the potential of trees to regulate the variables of climate change.
That’s because they found microbes living inside trees’ bark absorb the greenhouse gas methane about as significantly as microbes living in the soil.
It’s long been thought that soil is the only effective terrestrial methane sink, as certain microorganisms use methane as a food source, but similar creatures live under a tree’s layer of bark, meaning that not only do our woody cousins withdraw CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their roots, but also remove methane as well, about as effectively or perhaps more so than soil.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas for the few short years it exists in the atmosphere before degrading.
Professor Vincent Gauci of U. Birmingham led the study, published in the journal Nature.
In the study, the researchers investigated upland tropical, temperate, and boreal forest trees. Specifically, they took measurements spanning tropical forests in the Amazon and Panama; temperate broadleaf trees in the UK; and boreal coniferous forests in Sweden.
The methane absorption was strongest in the tropical forests, probably because microbes thrive in the warm wet conditions found there. On average the newly discovered methane absorption adds around 10% to the climate benefit that temperate and tropical trees provide.
By studying methane exchange between the atmosphere and the tree bark at multiple heights, the researchers were able to show that while at soil level the trees were likely to emit a small amount of methane, from a couple of meters up the direction of exchange switches and methane from the atmosphere is consumed.
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In addition, the team used laser scanning methods to quantify the overall global forest tree bark surface area, with preliminary calculations indicating that the total global contribution of trees is between 24.6-49.9 Tg (millions of tonnes) of methane. This fills a big gap in understanding the global sources and sinks of methane.
“Tree woody surfaces add a third dimension to the way life on Earth interacts with the atmosphere, and this third dimension is teeming with life, and with surprises,” said co-author Yadvinder Malhi of the University of Oxford.
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It’s not the first time scientists have made estimations regarding climate change and come up incorrect in the wrong way. Climate scientists in the Netherlands recently found that previous estimates about how much plastic entered the oceans over the last 20 years are probably exaggerated by three thousand percent.
Trees Had An Ace Up Their Bark This Whole Time, SHARE The Story With Your Friends…
Fleeing to the basement shelter of a hotel during a tornado isn’t exactly a mood-setter for a romantic dance, but that’s exactly the bizarre situation that 25-year-old newlyweds Alex and Sarah Schilke found themselves in back in June.
Hosting their wedding at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa Hotel in Wisconsin, the reception was already underway when a tornado warning was issued for the area.
The wedding party and the rest of the hotel’s guests took shelter in the venue’s basement.
A group of strangers heard that the newlyweds hadn’t had their first dance and offered to sing and play the guitar.
A heartwarming mobile phone video shows Alex and Sarah swaying to their first dance with strangers staying at the hotel shining their phone flashlights upon them to drive away the darkness.
“That moment of having our loved ones and strangers come together to create this beautiful moment and share it with us was so important,” said Sarah to the news outlet SWNS. “It restored my faith in humanity.”
We could feel the care and compassion from all the people in the room,” Alex comments. “After the dance I remember walking out into the crowd and I saw one of my groomsmen. We just fell into a hug and both started weeping. It was all very emotional.”
Alex and Sarah met four and half years ago when they were studying computer science at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.
Alex proposed to Sarah and the couple tied the knot after 15 months of planning. It could have been 15 years and they probably still wouldn’t have had contingency plans for tornado alerts.
“When we were first told everyone was moving to the shelter, I was so shocked that I didn’t even process what was happening around me,” Sarah said. “And of course, there was a moment of grieving the wedding reception that we had spent 15 months planning.”
As the 181-strong wedding party moved to the basement shelter, they were joined by members of every other ongoing party at the resort.
Things went from bad to worse for the couple when the basement was plunged into darkness when power went out, which Sarah described as a chaotic scene.
“A few people from our party braved the storm and went upstairs to grab some drinks so we had some comfort.”
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As Sarah was losing hope, a group from a family reunion in a neighboring room offered one of their own to sing and play the guitar for them.
The couple agreed and professional singer Jack Jones sang a rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” as wedding guests shone phone flashlights at the couple in the darkness.
Recalling the unlikely setting for such a key moment, Sarah remembered a bunch of strangers coming up to ask if they’d had a first dance yet.
“They said a member of their family attending the reunion is a professional singer and offered for him to sing us our first dance.”
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“I was going around yelling ‘Anyone from the Schilke wedding, we’re doing a first dance!'” Alex recounted. “Sarah was doing the same in the other direction so we could cover the most ground.”
“I walked into a sea of flashlights and it almost felt like walking through stars. I saw Sarah standing in the middle of a circle of people looking quite anxious.”
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An hour and a half later, all guests were permitted to leave the tornado shelter.
“We were really surprised that about 75% of our guests wanted to continue the party after all that,” said Alex. “We ended up continuing on the reception, finally began the speeches, and enjoyed a few more dances throughout the night.”
WATCH the makeshift wedding dance below…
KNOW ANYONE WHO HAD WEDDING TROUBLES? Share This Crazy Story With Them…
In a major win for the traditional owners of Australia, the federal government has ordered the end of the land leasing program for the Jabiluka uranium deposit, ensuring that mining will never occur on the land owned by the Mirarr people.
At the same time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his coalition added it to the nearby Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site twice the size of Yellowstone.
Various parties to the disagreement over the destiny of Jabiluka described the decision as “a great day for the Mirarr people, for Kakadu, the Northern Territory, and for Australia,” “a genuine and welcome surprise,” and “a reminder of the extraordinary privilege all of us have, to share this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture.”
The dispute over Jabiluka dates back to 1991, when traditional owners, environmental groups, peace activists, and others protested the granting of a lease for Jabiluka to Energy Resources Australia (ERA) majority-owned by the Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Group.
Located in the Northern Territories, activism by Indigenous owners like the Mirarr and Djot has forced successive administrations to defer or avoid the actual development of the potential mine. This included a road blockade in 1998 during which 500 people were arrested.
The Jabiluka Long-Term Care and Maintenance Agreement signed in February 2005 gave the traditional owners veto rights over the future development of Jabiluka.
Key details about the history of Jabiluka to understand are that the land has been under mining leases for over 30 years, but they’ve never been developed. ERA was not seeking to renew the 10-year lease to try and push forward with uranium mining, as they acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land have the ultimate say as per the 2005 agreement.
ERA stated they sought renewal of the lease in order to secure the asset should the traditional owners ever change their minds. Jabiluka is one of the world’s richest and most extensive uranium deposits ever located.
In 1991, PM Bob Hawke declined to exploit the mine’s riches, as did the Gillard Administration in 2013, but with Rio Tinto and ERA never forsaking the mine as a lost cause, and the Albanese government planning to move forward with nuclear power expansion, the Mirarr and others felt that another, hopefully final push was necessary.
As a result, the federal government provided recommendations to the state government of NT that the will of the people should be respected, and that the lease should not be renewed.
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“[It]means there will never be mining at Jabiluka,” Mr. Albanese was quoted as saying last Saturday. “This beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world, a reminder of the extraordinary privilege all of us have, to share this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture.”
A Rio Tinto spokesperson acknowledged the announcement, and told ABC News Down Under that the company “is pleased that the wishes of the Mirarr People … have been respected.”
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Officials from the NT government said the decision was made based on the recommendations from the Coalition government in Sydney, saying that Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King advised that the most important position to respect was that of the Mirarr.
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A horse that bolted from the trail in a remote countryside area of Alberta has been found after a “crazy journey” that saw professional trackers, planes, and emotional support from strangers as far away as Germany, all lend a hand in looking for him.
Flex is a championship endurance horse, and an inseparable companion to Houston Peschl, resident of the small hamlet of Bragg Creek in Station Flats, but no matter how close a bond one has with a horse, when they spook, they spook.
In this case, Flex bolted after suffering a bee sting whilst Houston was saddling him. He ran so fast and so far that Houston lost all sight and sound of his horse’s whereabouts, and a frantic search that stretched across days began.
Houston initially went out with his bike to comb the trails around the West Bragg Creek Day Use trail area, but when no sign of Flex was found, he and his wife enlisted social media to lobby for assistance, with many of their friends coming from the horse community and feeling their distress keenly.
“There’s a saying that ‘a stranger is a friend you just haven’t met yet,’ and I felt that that was just so incredibly true,” said Houston’s wife, Rosalynn Peschl.
“These are friends I haven’t met, even though they’ve been so tremendous and pivotal in this whole crazy journey.”
On Wednesday, the search continued, and by Thursday, professional tracker Terry Grant, who starred in 6 seasons of the Canadian reality television series Mantracker, came into town to help. A cowboy at heart, Grant was also able to sympathize with the Peschl’s plight, and took the day off work to come to Bragg Creek and help.
Grant told CBC News that basically looking for a horse involves looking for the things they need—water, good forage, and shade.
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By Friday morning, the search gained the addition of a small airplane which proved the ultimate difference in locating Flex. The neighbor and pilot spotted a horse with a saddle sitting in a clearing, yawning and chewing, a sign of releasing stress.
“By the time I had the halter on him and knew that he was secure, we both just started crying with relief and joy and all of the emotions that have been bubbling under the surface for the last couple of days,” Mrs. Peschl told CBC about the ordeal.
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Houston had bought Flex 10 years ago after a failed career as a racing horse. He was timid and nervous around people, but Houston forged a bond with the beast that allowed them to win several endurance championships. He describes the horse as his best friend, and one can assume the horse would say the same.
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Quote of the Day: “Time spent with cats is never wasted.” – Sigmund Freud
Photo by: Anton Lochov
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Inspired by an innovative Chilean forest restoration effort, the English town of Lewes is enlisting the help of dog walkers to rewild a local nature reserve.
Heavily degraded by foot traffic, the project co-ops dogs’ tendency to run about in the woods to spread wildflower seed from saddlebags strapped to a harness around the dog’s abdomen.
The idea mimics the function that wolves once played in that part of England, roaming over vast distances getting grass and flower seeds stuck in their coat, only to fall off and germinate somewhere else.
This helter-skelter seed-spreading is actually how many plants evolved to reproduce, and it’s key to maintaining a biodiverse and native ecosystem.
“We’re really interested in rewilding processes, but they often involve reintroducing big herbivores like bison or wild horses,” said manager Dylan Walker from the Railway Land Wildlife Trust who organized the project back in 2019.
“In a smaller urban nature reserve it’s really hard to do those things. So, to replicate the effect that those animals have on the ecosystem we aimed to utilize the vast number of dog walkers that are visiting the nature reserve daily.”
The saddlebags are filled with a variety of perennial plant seeds mixed together with sand. This allows the seed to be spread for longer across larger distances, while also providing a helpful tracking sign to inform the Trust’s employees where dogs are walking.
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“I signed up because it sounded like such a good fit. I was asked to place a harness on my chocolate cocker spaniel called Bertie and he ran around spreading seeds like wolves used to do many years ago,” Cressida Murray, a dog walker who regularly uses the nature reserve, told The Guardian.
Wolves were persecuted to extinction in England as early as the reign of Henry VII, who reigned during the latter third of the 15th century.
“A community-based project like this not only helps engage and teach people about the ecological impacts of wildlife but also allows us to make our wildlife and environments richer in the process,” said Walker.
SHARE This Adorable And Intelligent Way to Rewild Britain’s Forests…
The Los Angeles Zoo is capping off its 2024 California condor breeding season with a record-breaking 17 chicks hatched all of which will be candidates for release into the wild as part of the California Condor Recovery Program (CCRP).
The 17th and final chick of the season hatched in June and is thriving. The previous record of 15 California condor chicks hatched at the LA Zoo was set in 1997.
Photographers were at pains to capture this famously ugly bird during the miracle of birth, and the photos were announced in the LA Times as “Ugly-cute baby photos.”
“Our condor team has raised the bar once again in the collaborative effort to save America’s largest flying bird from extinction,” said Rose Legato, Curator of Birds at the Los Angeles Zoo.
“What we are seeing now are the benefits of new breeding and rearing techniques developed and implemented by our team which put two or three condor chicks together with adult surrogate condors to be raised. The result is more condor chicks in the program and ultimately more condors in the wild.”
In 2017, the LA Zoo pioneered a new breeding technique where animal care staff placed two condor chicks with a surrogate condor to raise them. Until that time, no other zoo or CCRP partner had attempted this process. This year, the zoo’s condor team implemented a technique allowing three chicks to be raised at the same time by a female—another first for the program.
This triple brooding process maximizes the zoo’s ability to raise condors without human interaction which helps the birds easily adjust when released to the wild. It also enables breeding pairs to produce more than one viable egg in a season.
For the record-breaking 2024 breeding season, LA Zoo animal care staff successfully reared three single chicks, eight chicks in double brood situations, and six chicks in triple broods with adult mentors.
The condor breeding program at the zoo started all the way back in 1967 when a single individual named Topa Topa came to the zoo as a malnourished fledgling rescued in the wild. In 1983 there were only 22 California condors remaining on the planet, so the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Fish and Game Commission agreed to create a captive breeding program for the species, which the LA Zoo entered as a founding partner.
As of December 2023, there are 561 California condors in the world, of which 344 are living in the wild. The number fluctuates daily due to many outside influences.
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The California condor is the largest land bird in North America with wings spanning almost 10 feet. Adult condors stand at around three feet tall and weigh 17 to 25 pounds. The species can soar to heights of 15,000 feet and may travel up to 150 miles a day. Condors find their food mostly by their keen eyesight.
Like vultures and other scavengers, condors are part of nature’s cleaning crew, feeding on the carcasses of large mammals including deer, cattle, and marine mammals such as whales and seals.
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The LA Times reports that the chicks will remain in the zoo’s care for the next year and a half. After, as has been done before with 250 chicks born at the zoo over the years, they will be evaluated for their potential to be released back into the wild.
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A team from MIT has discovered a fascinating chemical reaction that could allow ships or submarines to power themselves with zero-emissions hydrogen via a combination of aluminum pellets and the seawater through which they sail.
Several clever tweaks allowed for this process to generate a not-insubstantial amount of hydrogen gas—the kind being used as an alternative to fossil fuels in heavy machinery like construction equipment, trains, and planes.
The tweak was, if one can believe it, a dash of coffee grounds, making the whole process tantalizingly sustainable as the aluminum came from old soda cans.
Hydrogen is being tested in all kinds of applications, and is extremely exciting as a potential replacement for diesel because it has completely zero carbon emissions—the only output is hydrogen dioxide—also known as water.
However, hang-ups exist as to the safety of carrying large tanks of hydrogen gas aboard vehicles due to its volatile nature. Aly Kombargi, a Ph.D. student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and his colleagues on the project envisioned using seawater as the hydrogen source, and aluminum pellets as the on-board fuel, a little like how coal was shoveled into steamships once upon a time.
“This is very interesting for maritime applications like boats or underwater vehicles because you wouldn’t have to carry around seawater—it’s readily available,” says Kombargi, lead author on the paper published with the experiment’s results.
The reaction works like this: pure aluminum, when dropped into water, causes a straightforward reaction that generates hydrogen gas. To reduce costs, aluminum soda cans can be used, but only if pretreated with a rare and expensive alloy called gallium indium because the non-pure aluminum in soda cans develops a protective oxide barrier upon exposure to oxygen in the air that prevents the reaction from taking place.
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To reduce costs, it would be ideal if the alloy could be recovered—which it can if protected by a barrier of ions. Fortunately, seawater is a highly ionic solution, which allowed Kombargi to scoop out the gallium indium post-reaction.
But the process is long, taking about 2 hours to fully finish. The team started tossing ingredients from their kitchen in to see what if anything might speed the process up. To their delight and surprise, coffee, specifically imidazole, an active ingredient in caffeine, reduced the time from 2 hours down to 5 minutes.
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Using these ingredients, the team estimates that just 1 gram of pre-treated aluminum pellets would generate 1.3 liters of hydrogen in just 5 minutes.
MIT press reports that the researchers plan to test it first in marine and underwater vehicles. They’ve calculated that such a reactor, holding about 40 pounds of aluminum pellets, could power a small underwater glider for about 30 days by pumping in surrounding seawater and generating hydrogen to power a motor.
SHARE This Amazing Discovery In Sustainable Chemical Engineering…
In central India, a hardworking family man who found himself atop a mountain of debt also managed to find himself a 19.22-carat diamond worth almost $100,000.
“Our lives have changed forever” he joyously told CNN, having just opened his first-ever bank account in anticipation of the money forthcoming from the sale of the diamond at auction.
40-year-old Raju Gond and his younger brother Rakesh Gond from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh take home around $4 per day from digging for gold on government-leased land. When they don’t find much, they work in farmers’ fields driving tractors instead.
This uncertain work landed the older Gond in a sizable amount of debt putting food on the table for his family while renewing his prospecting lease. His luck turned down in a makeshift mineshaft, where he made a fortuitous find. With every grain of dirt removed, Gond felt an uneasy certainty grow in his throat—it must be a diamond—just look how it shines!
Raju and Rakesh jumped around and hugged in excitement before hurtling down the road across the 7 miles back home on their bike.
Next, the pair took their mother with them to the Panna Diamond Office to have the stone evaluated.
CNN spoke with the office and the Gond family about the discovery, and the way small-scale mining such as this works is that the government will allow individuals to pay around $9.50 for the rights to prospect for gemstones. Whatever is found is then evaluated and held in trust by a government office until the total value of all gemstones turned over arrives at a certain number—in the case of diamonds it’s $360,000 in estimated value.
At this point, an official auction is held. The gems are sold, the government department takes an 11.5% royalty, and the rest is given to the founder.
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As it happened, the monsoon rains washed away a lot of work opportunities, so Raju and Rakesh decided to switch from gold panning to diamond prospecting. It’s not a daily bread sort of employment, and with a large family of inlaws and 7 children to support, Raju needed a big score.
“The first thing I’ll do is pay back debt of ($6,000). Then we will invest in all children getting educated, building homes, buy some land and maybe a tractor too,” he said.
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Morning light saw the two men already on their way to the mine to look for more diamonds.
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Quote of the Day: “Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.” – Anne Frank
Photo by: Štefan Štefančík
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
It was an emotional reunion when old sorority sisters Megan and Jess met at the former’s house in their late 30s.
That’s because, Megan is scheduled to donate a kidney to Jess, whom she hadn’t seen in over 10 years.
After receiving a diagnosis of chronic kidney failure in September 2023, Jess Hause was stunned at the number of people offering to test themselves for a potential donation.
Her former sorority sister, Megan Schultz eventually FaceTimed Hause a few weeks later to tell her she was a match.
“I thought she was calling to say ‘I’m sorry, but I’m not a match,'” admitted Hause. The Cincinnatian said she was shocked and speechless, with the “super special” gesture taking her breath away.
Doctors first noticed Jess’ kidney function was low when she was in hospital being treated for shingles. But after losing her job and her medical insurance in April 2023 she stopped seeing the doctor regularly.
“I noticed from my knees down I started getting numb and tingling,” she explained to the British news media outlet SWNS.
Jess went to the emergency room and, after tests, she was diagnosed with total kidney failure.
“It was absolutely terrifying. I didn’t even know what kidney failure was.”
She started on dialysis last year which she now has for three days a week for three-and-a-half hours.
“I started making reels [on Instagram] of my day-to-day life,” said Hause. “It just so happened my sorority sister Megan saw it. God puts people in our lives for a reason.”
After getting tested, the hospital called Schultz and she “just started crying.”
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“It was immediate excitement,” she said.
Megan called Jess on June 13th, 2024, to tell her the news and the pair were then able to reunite over the weekend.
“It was wonderful. It’s one of those friendships where you haven’t seen each other for so long but it feels like no time at all,” said Hause.
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Jess and Megan are set for surgery on November 12th, 2024.
Even with one kidney, human beings are capable of living long, athletic, capable lives with certain small adjustments.
SHARE This Story Of Sisters From Other Mothers And Decades On Social Media…
When a driver for Uber Eats humbly asked for a little generosity in order to give his wife-to-be the wedding of her dreams, the world responded.
TikToker Paul Slobodzian has been driving Uber Eats as a side hustle for over a year to save for his wedding.
One evening, Erica Hernandez ordered dinner from Chipotle, and it was Slobodzian who picked it up and brought it over. Concealed inside the bag was a handwritten note.
“Thank you for your order! I’m delivering for <3 on the side to give my fiancée the wedding she deserves. Any additional tip through the app or Venmo is greatly appreciated,” the note read.
Hernandez was touched by his honesty and dedication, so she shared it on her own TikTok account, which while not being very big, was still the least she could do, she thought.
“I don’t have a lot of followers, but hopefully this reaches the right people,” Erica wrote in her TikTok video, which quickly went viral on the app.
With his Venmo ID on the note, his account was hit with a torrent of generous contributions, including a $500 gift from Chipotle itself.
“I, and Aly, my fiancée have been overwhelmed in the best way possible trying to figure out how to respond to people and show how much this means to us,” Paul said in a video on his TikTok account as messages came raining in asking for updates. “To start I just want to say thank you so so much.”
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He details that both he and Aly, who was also driving with Uber Eats, were able to put their side hustle down, focus on planning, rather than paying for the wedding, and most important of all, spend more quality time together rather than working 7 days a week.
The couple, who had first met as sophomores in college, paid forward the remarkable generosity by setting aside $1,000 for Erica, who was invited as a guest of honor to the wedding, and whose idea to put it on TikTok was the genesis for so much kindness.
The pair had made more than enough to cover the event through the Venmo donations.
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A stunning underwater mosaic dating to the late Roman Empire has been discovered under the sea in the Bay of Naples.
Deposited there via seismic activity, it was found near the resort town of Baiae, where it would have lined the floors of a patio in a seaside villa owned by the Roman patrician class.
Mad Emperor Nero and Julius Caeser both had villas in this area, but over the years, a seismic phenomenon called bradyseism caused the luxury house and the land around it to sink into the sea.
The marble mosaic is made up of many tiles that the archaeologists at the Parco Archeologico Campi Flegrei have identified as coming from “other floors and other walls”.
“In addition to the excavation and the underwater restoration, we also are working on land,” the park authorities wrote in a Facebook post. “The recovered tiles…were placed in large tubs of fresh water to eliminate the marine salt. We’re studying them tile by tile, to see about putting together a whole section.”
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Local mayor Josi Gerardo Della Ragione called the find “stupendous” in a post on Facebook.
The floor would have been laid toward the end of the Roman Empire, “shortly before bradyseism brought these wonders to the bottom of the sea,” he said.
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Campi Flegri is 125 miles of submerged land in the Bay of Naples stretching between the islands of Capri and Ischia, which forms the caldera of a volcano that last erupted in 1538. It’s a popular diving site, with many underwater ruins surrounded by sea life to explore.
SHARE This Underwater Wonder With Your Friends Who Love Roman History…
When Kenyan runner Hellen Obiri takes to the track in Paris this summer to equal or better her previous silver medal, she will be sporting a pair of “spray-on” running shoes.
With the support needed to aid in the acceleration and speed of Obiri’s dashing, the shoes are the lightest running shoes ever, perhaps shaving those few milliseconds off a running time that would turn a silver into a gold.
Zurich-based firm, On, which invented the Cloudboom Strike LS running shoe, says its most important gauge of success or failure is whether the athletes wearing their shoes win.
Inventor Johannes Voelchert came up with the idea during Halloween, when he watched a child spray spider webs all over a bush with a hot glue gun-like toy.
Composed of a carbon fiber sole without a heel cap or toe spring, the Cloudboom’s upper is made of a thermoplastic that sets and binds in just 3 minutes.
The material, which it dubs LightSpray, has “the potential… to move us towards a more sustainable, circular future,” said Marc Maurer, On’s co-CEO, in a press release.
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Australian middle-distance runner Olli Hoare and Irish 1,500-meter runner Luke McCann have both previously used the Cloudboom Strike, and On hopes the pair will choose them again when they run in the Olympics this year.
The shoes aren’t for Olympians alone, however, and anyone with $300 in their pocket can get a pair sprayed to measure.
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With spray-on dresses already being sported by supermodels on Milan runways, and spray-on sneakers sending runners flying down the track, it’s an interesting exercise to contemplate what other things the future will reduce into a spray format—spray-on furniture anyone?
SHARE This Ridiculous Idea That Might Prove A Golden One…
Quote of the Day: “I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man.” – Dwight L. Moody
Photo by: d26b73 (CC license on Flickr)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A British senior who pre-planned his funeral and rehearsed it on TV in 2013, had his final wishes come true after peacefully passing away in June.
Malcolm Brocklehurst, who is a renowned aircraft expert, commissioned an orange airplane-shaped coffin ten years ago from Crazy Coffins, an offshoot of a Nottingham-based traditional coffin and urn maker in England that helps people customize their funeral.
The grandfather-of-nine was filmed sitting in the coffin on Channel 5’s Bizarre Burials, which also featured a rehearsal of the ceremony that the former aerospace engineer coordinated to the last detail.
The plane was aptly called Tango One and numbered with MB 1934—his initials and year of his birth.
He also announced that he wanted the funeral procession to leave from the stadium pitch where his favorite football team, Blackpool FC, plays.
Malcom decided to pre-plan his funeral to save his wife, Mary, from having to organize the day herself. It turned out that she passed away before him.
But speaking about the rehearsal in 2013, he said it was all “light-hearted fun”.
“It felt like—and indeed was—a dress rehearsal for my command performance—with the great author in the sky.
“It was a day like no other.
“It felt weird being laid to rest in my airplane coffin, although I insisted that they not put the lid fully on—in spite of protestations from pals who said, ‘We’ve got him at last, nail it down fast’.”
On a Monday two weeks ago, there was a Blackpool Football Club flag flying high on the pole in his front yard, as the airplane coffin was lifted onto a flat top vehicle for its final flight.
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The service was conducted by Humanist Lancashire celebrant Richard Spedding, 57, who says the day was “quirky” but an “absolute privilege to do”.
“I’ve done a few interesting funerals but I’ve never, ever done one with a coffin like that.
“A lot of hard work goes into the final product, but it was well worth it, and the family were extremely grateful for the job that I’ve done.”
He does a lot of pre-planned funerals where he actually meets the person, but by that point they are usually receiving end-of-life care.
And, he had never done a memorial service that featured an original song played live that the person had written.
The cheeky song that Malcolm Brocklehurst wrote for his last party was called, Fry me, Toast me.
And Malcolm’s final request was for everyone to come give the propeller a spin on his coffin.
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A recent poll of 2,000 American sports fans revealed just how emotionally invested they are—and how much of a return they get for those investments.
More than 22% of all respondents have a pre-game ritual they do each time their favorite team or player competes—but for self-described hard core fans, 32% participate in various pre-game traditions.
While over one-third admitted their required pre-game rituals simply make them feel like a part of the team, 31% staunchly feel their pre-game ritual increases their team or player’s chances of winning.
When asked about their habits before games, most cited traditions like flaunting team merch, having cookouts and tailgating. Others perform chants, dances, or saying a prayer.
A few noteworthy respondents take it a bit further and reported lighting candles for their team, obsessively washing their hands, and painting their bodies to ensure that their team wins.
The double opt-in survey was conducted by Talker Research on behalf of SquadLocker, whose CEO, Fletcher Jones, believes such activities create community among fans.
“Many people follow along with pro athletes and partake in traditions because it’s a bonding experience and brings people together. Sports are rooted in community.”
The survey split sports fans into different categories depending on their level of commitment to their team or player. It also revealed that not only is there an emotional commitment to their sports fandom, there’s a financial commitment, as well.
A third of respondents (32%) said they’re moderate fans who watch a few sports games here and there. Around half labeled themselves as big fans who watch most games (48%). But, 20% said they were all-in and self-identified as raging fans who watch every game they can—and who spend, on average, over $800 on their professional sports passions every year.
Even moderate sports fans reported spending over $300 annually.
“It is clear just how much sports mean to people, by the emotional high they feel after a win and the emotional low after a loss,” said Jones.
39% reported that if their team or player loses a match, they feel more sensitive than usual. A loss also effects 14% of those polled by reducing their overall life enjoyment for a while.
When it comes to watching in-person on the sidelines, fans estimated they usually show their support by attend on average five events per year–witnessing about three wins and two losses.
And it turns out—whether attending in person or turning on the TV—these events have a lasting impact on fans.
On average, fans recalled seeing five ‘one-of-a-kind’ miracle sports wins, with 74% citing a win by their favorite team during a live event as ‘one of their favorite memories’.
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“I think one of the most important results from this survey is how much passion sports fans have for their teams at every level,” said Kaycie Brown, an athlete at 575 Volleyball, a youth sports organization. “The support they give enhances their lives, as well as the lives of the athletes.”
“Fan support builds confidence and plants seeds for success.”
In January, during a Democratic primary, thousands of voters received a robocall that used artificial intelligence to impersonate President Biden discouraging them from voting.
The political consultant responsible is now facing millions in fines and jail time for the 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 counts of impersonating a candidate, a misdemeanor.
To combat this new threat of AI deep fakes and misinformation in US elections, a new Artificial Intelligence Task Force is bringing together state and local elected officials to focus on ways to combat malicious AI-generated activity that threaten the democratic process.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes doesn’t speak German, but he created a deepfake that makes it nearly impossible to tell that it isn’t actually Fontes speaking—all to demonstrate just how alarmingly lifelike and manipulative AI-generated content can be.
Fontes—along with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon—are leading the fight to prepare election workers and voters in their states to be vigilante and savvy against the AI threats.
They are part of a coalition of secretaries of state working with the task force, created by the NewDEAL Forum, to develop tools and best practices to combat AI disinformation this election season.
“In Michigan, we’ve enacted legislation to make it a crime for someone to knowingly distribute materially-deceptive deep fakes that are generated by AI when there is an intent behind it of harming the reputation of or the electoral prospects of a candidate,” Secretary of State Benson told Democracy Docket, a digital news platform founded by attorney Marc Elias dedicated to voting rights and elections in the courts.
The new law, passed in November, makes that crime a felony.
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“In addition to that, we require any political advertisements that are generated in whole or substantially with the use of AI to include a statement that that ad was generated by artificial intelligence. That disclaimer requirement helps equip citizens with the knowledge of how to be critical consumers.”
Both the important swing states of Arizona and Michigan have developed tabletop exercises to train election clerks to identify AI, and to practice linking them with law enforcement and first Responders, both for security and to rapidly respond to issues that may occur around voting, on or before election day—and also to be prepared to stop the negative impact of AI from spreading. (See their interviews in the video below…)
A NewDEAL Forum poll conducted in Arizona in April found that only 41% of respondents knew anything about AI and elections.
“Generative AI presents both tremendous opportunities and significant challenges,” said New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores, Co-Chair of the NewDEAL Forum AI Task Force, and one of the few state legislators with a computer science background. “Our goal is to craft policies to harness AI’s potential to improve public services while proactively preparing for the threats and unforeseen challenges it poses to our democratic institutions.”
In March, they published a report that outlines best practices for election officials—from secretaries of state to county election workers—to mitigate the negative impacts of AI in elections. The advice includes more short-term practices, like public information campaigns about the threats, and protocols for a rapid response when they do arise.
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The document also suggests legislation that state politicians can pass to help protect democracy from AI threats.
According to Democracy Docket, at least 40 states are introducing legislation to regulate the use of AI, but only 18 have laws that specifically address election-related AI—and thankfully, now Michigan is one of them.
WATCH a discussion with Fontes and Benson on Democracy Docket… (Subscribe to stay up to date with court cases around the US involving elections.)
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An elementary school teacher crocheted a miniature version of all the pupils in her class to honor each individually with a personalized gift as the year ended.
Sara Shabir started the project in May and presented the tiny lookalikes to her third graders this month when classes ended at Tyndale Community School, in Oxford, England.
Each of the 30 keepsake dolls took her around eight hours to create—a total of 240 hours.
The 32-year-old took up the hobby during COVID-19 lockdowns—and when the end of term was approaching this year, she had so much love for the kids in her class, she wanted to give them something special to remember their time together.
“I feel a massive sense of accomplishment in completing this project—and the joy the children showed when they saw them was worth everything,” she said on Instagram.
A parent of one of the students, Joanna Borysiak, shared the photo on Twitter-X, which went viral, calling her daughter’s teacher ‘the absolute GOAT’.
“She single-handedly crocheted a mini-me of each kid in her class… Even the hairstyles and clothes are spot on. What a legend.”
Sara told GNN, “It was difficult to get the right skin tones and hair colors and styles!”
“I pondered over each one carefully, and even created a spreadsheet so I would remember which colors I’d decided on for each—and I ticked them off as I completed them!
“It was all worth it.”
Sara completed her final doll and secretly brought them into class last week. First, though, she showed the photograph to them—and they had to guess which child was which doll.
When she actually unveiled the dolls, they were “shocked and amazed”.
“They started brushing their hair and playing with them which was lovely to see.
“They were very grateful.”
Undoubtedly, Sara is a teacher that students—and fellow-teachers— will fondly remember for a long time.
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