Quote of the Day: “Laughter is carbonated holiness.” – Anne Lamott
Photo: by sean hall
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Jane Goodall Enlists Fans to Help Plant a Trillion Trees Around the World by 2030
World Renown primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall launched a grassroots movement this week, during the United Nations Climate Week to support their ecosystem restoration project the Trillion Tree campaign.
Trees for Jane, organized by the inspiring founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, aims to stop deforestation and help replenish the world’s dwindling stock of trees and forests through community-based protection and reforestation programs.
She narrated a film called A Trillion Trees, in which calls on every person and every business to plant and care for a tree in their backyards, on rooftops or communities.
Their website aims to inspire, educate, and engage a global audience to act now, “as the world nears a tipping point in the fight against climate change”.
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They hope that Trees For Jane will galvanize a global audience—from students and teachers, to activists, to corporations and governments—to support the UN’s goal to plant one trillion trees by 2030.
While Goodall encourages all viewers to plant a tree, the film also reinforces the importance of protecting and restoring trees. Anyone can join the cause by planting a tree or donating at TreesforJane.org.
WATCH her talk about it in a new interview…
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Millennials Are Eating More Adventurously, Trying More Foreign Food—And Even Catching Their Own Dinner
Millennials are more adventurous with food than Baby Boomers—eating more foreign fare, experimenting with unusual ingredients, and even catching their own dinner—according to a new survey.
The study of 2,000 British adults found that during an average week just 36 percent of food eaten by 25-40-year-olds is traditional to their own culture.
Seven in 10 of these Millennials say they cook with rare or unknown ingredients, compared to just 7% of those aged 57-75.
One-third of younger adults said they’d been fishing and served up their catch that same evening, compared to only about one-quarter of older generations who had the same experience.
It also emerged that as many as 6 in 10 Millennials love cooking and use it as a great way to escape.
The survey was commissioned by National Geographic to launch the third season of Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, which aired the first episode on September 15th at 9pm.
It features Gordon Ramsay foraging for food, traveling the globe in pursuit of culinary excellence.
A spokesperson for National Geographic said, “The research has been interesting to see the varying levels of adventure when it comes to food across the generations.”
“And it’s been intriguing to see the numbers of people that would love to push to the next level and travel somewhere more remote for experiences of taste.”
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The study also found that despite those aged 25-40 being more daring in the kitchen at home, they’re not quite as adventurous when abroad.
Although millennials are more likely to deliberately travel to a country where food is exciting and new, when they get there, they’re also likely to eat in a well-known fast-food restaurant – with 37 percent saying it’s nice to have something comforting and familiar.
At home, the average respondent estimated 38 percent of the dishes they eat each week are British, with boomers consuming the most (42 percent).
Gen Zs are most likely to share their love of food with those around them, with three quarters saying they’ve been known to introduce new dishes to family members.
In fact, across all respondents polled via OnePoll, 36 percent have a recipe or way of cooking that has been passed down the generations to them—with an average of two secret ingredients.
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When asked what is considered ‘adventurous’ when it comes to food, eating local cuisine abroad, ordering something unusual off the menu they’ve never tried before, and adding something new to a dish were all mentioned. One-third believed trying a new store-bought sauce counts as being daring.
If you’re not quite as daring as others, you can get inspiration from the professionals on cooking shows such as Gordon Ramsay’s or Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy.
In this upcoming season, Ramsay hits the road and feasts his way through Portugal, Croatia, Mexico, Texas, Maine, Puerto Rico, Iceland and America’s Smoky Mountains, looking for global cuisines and unique culinary customs.
Tucci is traveling through the 20 regions of Italy exploring their local traditions and ingredients, with season two coming soon on CNN, after six shows from Naples, Bologna, Sicily, Tuscany, and elsewhere.
TOP 10 COUNTRIES BRITS THINK OFFER THE BEST FOOD
1. Italy
2. Britain
3. India
4. Greece
5. France
6. America
7. Spain
8. Mexico
9. Thailand
10. China
SHARE the Adventurous Food Shows on Social Media…
Saved From Bulldozers, Baby Bird Steals Hearts
[By USACE]– Temperatures were pushing 100 degrees in East Sacramento on July 9. Still, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District’s contractors and construction workers made steady progress on the Sacramento River East Levee project, until a contractor noticed something out of place.
Among the bustle of activity, contract worker Roberto Navarez spotted two gray, baby birds sitting on the levee, right in the path of a massive bulldozer shoving along a mound of dirt. He noticed several long branches from a huge oak tree stretched over the levee, but he couldn’t see a nest anywhere in the tree.
Assuming the chicks had fallen or jumped out of their nest, Navarez continued to watch the pair, hoping they would soon be rounded up by their parents. Unfortunately, neither the mother nor father bird appeared.
With construction equipment rumbling past and the mid-day heat now topping 104 degrees, Navarez knew the chicks needed to be moved out of harm’s way, and fast. Feeling apprehensive about moving them himself, he reached out to wildlife biologist Pete Morris of Nordic, the SREL Contract 2 project contractor.
Arriving on scene, Morris observed the birds and decided the pair of chicks must be taken out of the withering heat if they were to have a chance of survival. He then retrieved a small cardboard box, and the two rogue chicks were gently scooped up and taken back to the Army Corps of Engineering (USACE) trailer.
Once inside the air-conditioned building, the larger of the two chicks immediately managed to get out of the box and began hopping around, interacting with rescuers and “chirping its lungs out.” The smaller sibling, however, seemed to be struggling. It remained quiet and listless, hunkered down in the makeshift nest.
Unsure of what to do next, someone brought up the name of Lee Roork. Working on the levee as a Quality Assurance Representative for USACE, Roork was known to be an avid birder. He could often be seen on his breaks or at lunchtime checking out birds and nests with his binoculars. Roork had also been known to take injured owls or hawks to various wildlife sanctuaries around Sacramento in the past, so he seemed the right person to contact.
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Roork knew the ideal fix was to return the wayward chicks back to the tree they had fallen from in hopes that one of the parent birds would return to collect them. He mashed up some blackberries and seeds, providing some nourishment for obviously ravenous babies, then returned to place the box and birds back in the tree. But as soon as the cardboard “nest” was attached to a branch, the larger of the two chicks leapt from the box. An adult scrub jay immediately swooped down and started interacting with the chick as both hastily scampered into nearby brush.
As Roork returned to work, the smaller, weaker bird remained in the nest, but Roork wanted to give the parent birds time to return and take care of their baby. He said he made intermittent checks throughout the rest of the day, but found that neither parent would go near the “nest” containing the abandoned baby Jay.
By the end of the business day, it was looking pretty grim for the lone nestling, said Roork.
“I was certain the little bird wouldn’t survive another 24 hours unless someone helped it. It was in pretty bad shape, so I decided to try to help it, rather than leave it to die,” said Roork.
He then sent a one-sentence text to his wife, Susan Roork (also a USACE employee, who was teleworking from home not far from the SREL site). “Want to raise a baby scrub jay?” the text read.
Susan, an animal enthusiast who also has plenty of experience with rescues, sent back a one-word response … “Definitely!”
Susan went into research mode, scouring bird rescue sites for pertinent information and discovered that scrub jays eat everything from soft cat food and meal worms to local berries, fruits, and seeds. What they never did discover was whether “Blu Blu” (the name that stuck) was a male or female.
“Their coloring and markings look extraordinarily similar,” said Susan.” So, we just went with ‘her’ most of the time.”
A bigger question remained, however: would Blu even pull through? For the first 24 hours, Blu barely moved. She sat limply, hunkered down in her newly created home-nest. But by the second day, Susan was able to get some food and water into her.
The transformation was incredible.
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“She started wholeheartedly interacting with us, eagerly taking water through a little hypodermic dispenser, gobbling down healthy portions of food, acting alert, responsive and curious – she was making her way,” said Susan.
From that point on, Blu’s future never seemed in doubt. She continued to grow stronger, increase in appetite and grow faster than Susan and Lee thought possible.
“We were absolutely amazed by how quickly she grew,” said Susan. “We would go to bed and when we’d check on her the next day it was like looking at a new bird – feathers appearing where there were none before, her tail feathers would be an inch longer, her feet and little talons growing fast.”
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From the very beginning, Susan, Lee and their teenaged daughter, Jillian, approached taking care of Blu with an end goal in mind – releasing her back to the wild. To do so, they tried to nudge Blu into doing things it would have to do in the wild, such as finding its food, cracking nuts, capturing flies, and building her flying prowess. But they also found that Blu had many of these traits ingrained in her DNA, and she quickly began taking food and hiding it in various locations inside the house for eating later.
“Our biggest concern was whether Blu would be able to learn all the things she would need to survive out in the real world,” said Susan. “We felt that it was important to make sure she had challenges and tasks to figure out, as she would when we released her, so we regularly came up with problems for her to work out. We were always amazed at how quickly she figured out each one and mastered the skills involved.
In the first weeks, little Blue was literally Susan’s pet project. As Lee worked on the levee, and Jillian attended school, Blu was teleworking with Susan, pecking at the keyboard to help her type, hopping about and creating mischief – along with the occasional typo – tugging on her earrings, flitting about, stealing sticky-notes … only to suddenly snuggle into a ball of fluff, falling asleep on her wrist, or snuggling warmly against her neck.
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“Blu had become a great companion, and I knew I would miss her dearly when we released her,” said Susan. “But even though we had all become very attached to Blu and loved the experience of raising her, the ultimate plan to release her was not in question.”
With two months of the Roork’s care, Blu’s transition was stunning. As of late August, she had made the full transition from a chick on the edge of death to a strong and smart scrub jay ready for the great outdoors. Blu had attained expert aerial acrobat status, regularly zooming throughout the house, finding stashed peanuts, catching flies in mid-air, messily bathing in a blue frisbee, and generally acting like an adult bird. And she was spending more and more time staring out the window …
Recognizing Blu’s progress, Susan and Lee decided that Blu’s launch-to-nature date would be over the Labor Day holiday. And even knowing from the start that they would give Blu her freedom to fly, both admitted that they were entirely smitten by the feisty, feathered creature.
“For a brief moment, we considered turning our large chicken coup into a bird sanctuary for her … but we knew it wouldn’t be fair,” said Susan. Lee quickly agreed.
They planned to take Blu’s dog crate-sized sanctuary into the backyard, sit with her for a while, let her acclimate to being outside, and, when they could finally swallow their doubts (and their hearts), they would open the door and see if Blu was ready for the big blue sky.
Then, just as unexpectedly as the little bird had come into their lives, Blu was gone. During a visit from a neighbor, Blu made the decision for all involved, and darted through the slightly opened front door and into nearby trees. She squawked and fussed at Susan for a few moments, but continued to move from tree to tree, getting further and further from the house. Finally, Susan saw Blu join some other scrub jays and begin flying along with them.
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“Even though the plan was always to release her, we were both heartbroken. But only because we were disappointed we didn’t get to make it an official goodbye,” said Susan.
Still, despite the way it ended, both Susan and Lee said it was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“This has been a unique experience to say the least,” said Lee. “I would never have brought this baby bird home unless I truly believed it was not going to make it. I had no idea how demanding these little guys could be and how much care they need. But I do believe we have done what we could to help her survive in the wild.”
Offering a bit of closure, Blu returned to some trees alongside the Roork’s home shortly after her departure. Susan said they had a final “conversation,” as Blu jumped from branch to branch, excitedly chittering and shadowing them as they walked down the street.
– By J. Paul Bruton, US Army Corps of Engineers – SACRAMENTO DISTRICT
Couple Gives $100 Million to Conservation of 57,000 Square Miles of African Protected Areas
A South Africa-based nonprofit conservation group that manages 19 protected areas on the continent has secured a donation of $100,000,000.
The grant from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation was pledged to African Parks, which manages parks in eleven African countries
One of the largest contributions ever made to conservation in Africa, this commitment will help to expand African Parks’ reach, preserving a significant portion of Africa’s biodiversity for the long-term benefit of local people and the animals.
Founded in 2000, African Parks takes on the long-term management of protected areas in partnership with governments to protect wildlife, restore landscapes, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for surrounding communities. Currently managing 19 parks measuring almost 57,000 square-miles (14.7m hectares), they take on the complete responsibility and are accountable for all aspects of protected area management, including law enforcement, community development, sustainable financing, infrastructure, and overall governance.
With more than 3,200 full-time staff, 98% of whom are from local communities, and thousands of part-time staff, African Parks has become the largest employer in many regions in which they work. Poaching has been curtailed and practically eliminated in most of the parks under their management, where more than 80% of key wildlife populations are on the rise.
In the last year alone, 110,000 people received healthcare from the hospitals and mobile clinics they support, and over 100,000 children had access to education provided by the schools they support around the parks. Their goal is to directly manage 30 parks measuring over 30 million hectares by 2030. This would bolster African governments’ efforts to help reach the global target of protecting 30% of the planet for nature.
Rob and Melani Walton are longtime supporters of sustainability and conservation efforts around the globe and have been invaluable partners to African Parks since its inception. “As global citizens, we have a responsibility to protect our planet and the people and species that create our dynamic, fragile ecosystems. We are honored to continue to work alongside African Parks, governments across the continent, and community leaders in support of their sustainability goals,” said Melani Walton of the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation, an African Parks Board Member.
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The $100M commitment will be allocated over the next five years, with $75M going to the creation of an endowment, which ensures long-term funding. The remaining $25M will go to sustaining parks under African Parks’ management that need it the most. A portion of these funds will be used for five-year matching grants in conjunction with the Legacy Landscapes Fund—to both Iona National Park in Angola and to Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, with an additional $10M for each park over the subsequent 10 years.
“This could not come at a more important time… providing a source of stable long-term funding that will contribute enduring protection for some of the most biodiverse, threatened landscapes on the planet,” said African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead.
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“This extraordinary gift will help to realize our vision of protecting vast ecosystems and their ecological functions for humanity in perpetuity.”
Fearnhead said the gift was the largest-ever to its endowment, following a 2017 donation of $65 million from the Wyss Foundation to support several parks.
With the new funding, African Parks will be able to continue to increase their impact by bringing more parks under management, continue to reduce poaching, increase wildlife populations, and improve livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people across Africa.
SWING From the Trees With This Good News—and Share With Your Friends…
“Grace is the face that love wears when it meets imperfection.” – Joseph R. Cooke
Quote of the Day: “Grace is the face that love wears when it meets imperfection.” – Joseph R. Cooke
Photo: by Photoholgic
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A Family Treasure Scattered in the Street and the Good Samaritan Who Cared
Javier Folgar was brainstorming ways to celebrate the first anniversary of his business, and decided to create a blog post highlighting all the wonderful events that happened this past year—and he knew just where to get the photos.
His mother Carmen had given him a special gift at Christmas last year. She created a scrapbook for the company that captured all his trials and triumphs—the special milestones that brought TOA Waters to where it is today.
“Let me tell you, this scrapbook meant the world to me! Not only was it magnificently laid out, but it was also designed by my mother,” Javier told GNN. “It’s something that she spent hours of her time piecing together.”
The business, which makes invigorating bubble bath products that “nourish the body, and smell amazing,” was only a few months old at Christmas. Carmen’s plan was to hold on to the scrapbook adding additional memories throughout the year and return it to Javier at the end of September 2021 when the company hits its one-year anniversary.
A few weeks ago, he drove to her home in Wayne, New Jersey, to fetch the book.
“I packed up my car and prepared to make the drive back home to Frederick, Maryland,” recalled Javier. “I carefully placed the scrapbook on the top of my vehicle. I didn’t want my luggage to damage the book in any way.”
He intended to put the scrapbook back into the car once everything was packed.
Well, that didn’t happen—and without even realizing, he drove off with the scrapbook on top of his car.
While stopping to fuel up his tank at a gas station, he checked his phone for any new emails.
“I received one new message from a woman I didn’t know. She said she found a scrapbook scattered across Valley Road. She wasn’t sure if it was mine, but she decided to reach out and give it a shot in case she could find the owner. That’s when I realized the terrible mistake that I made.”
The kind Samaritan tried her best to salvage the pages and offered to bring them back to his parent’s house.
“Within the next few minutes, my mother received a knock on the door. Alyssa Fiorellini was standing in front of her with the torn-up pages.”
Most of them were recovered, except for five, so Carmen and her husband proceeded out to search for the missing pages, and found three more.
“We were still missing my mother’s favorite page. It was a photo of her with a white bow on it. At that point, we thought it was lost forever.”
“About an hour later, my parents received another knock on the door. This time it was Alyssa’s mother. Apparently, she heard the story of how her daughter recovered a scrapbook from their busy road. She looked around and also found a page, and decided to bring it back to my parents.”
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It was the page Javier’s mother was searching for.
“I am still in awe of the kindness shown by these two ladies. I can’t believe a mother and daughter would go out of their way to return these precious memories to us—people they have never met before.”
“On top of that, I was blown away by the love of my parents. Even though I accidentally destroyed my mother’s work, my dad and mom took the time to retrieve the missing pieces.”
“When I think about it, it was very symbolic of how my parents have always looked after me, even as an adult. My mother, without hesitation, even offered to remake that scrapbook for me because she knew how much it meant to me.”
“There truly is kindness around every corner,” Javier concluded.
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Mesmerizing Aerial Photos Are Amazing Winners in the Drone Photo Awards (LOOK)
A flock of thousands of Pink-footed geese taking flight at their breeding grounds in Norway captured by local photographer Terje Kolaas won the top prize of the 2021 Drone Photo Awards.
The popular international contest of aerial photography last year received nearly 14,000 images for their 2020 edition from amateur and professional photographers from 104 countries. The Siena Awards also curate some amazing winners every year in still photography.
First prizes in the Drone Awards are presented in the eight categories—Nature, Wildlife, Urban, People, Sport, Abstract, Storyboard, and Wedding. Here are some of our favorites:
First place in the Urban category was won by the photo titled “Metaphorical Statement About City and Winter,” by Russian photographer Sergei Poletaev. The image portrays an old monastery near Moscow with a large power plant in the background.
Oman photographer Qasim Al Farsi won the Wildlife category with “Back to Adventure,” an aerial shot that immortalizes a green turtle ready to return to the water after laying its eggs on the coast of Oman.
“Gold at the End of the Rainbow” by Australian photographer Phil De Glanville, which captures a striking rainbow above surfer Ollie Henry taming a frightening wave, is the winning image in the Sport category.
Pierluigi Orler of Italy was runner up in the Sport category with this image of a snowmobile in Bernau, Germany.
“Fishing in Mangrove Forest,” taken by Vietnamese photographer Trung Pham Huy, won in the People category. It portrays a fisherman who begins his working day in the mangrove forest of the Tam Giang lagoon, in a white winter atmosphere.
A runner up in the People category was taken by Alexandr Vlassyuk in Kazakhstan, a shot of people lying on the ice in the Kapchagai reservoir.
This shot by Chinese photographer Wujiang Zhu captured in a flower garden in Dafeng Jiangsu was a runner-up in the Wedding category
The image that portrays many small tributaries, shot by the Romanian photographer Gheorghe Popa won first place in the Abstract category. The photo documents water channels in the mountains of Transylvania.
See all the winners and runners-up in the gallery of Drone Awards 202 on their website.
The images will be featured in an exhibition which will run in the Italian city of Siena from October 23 to December 5 as part of the Siena Awards festival dedicated to the visual arts.
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This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’
Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week beginning September 24, 2021
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Happy Birthday sometime soon, Libra! As gifts, I have collected six useful mini-oracles for you to meditate on during the rest of 2021. They’re all authored by Libran aphorist Yahia Lababidi. 1. Hope is more patient than despair and so outlasts it. 2. Miracles are proud creatures; they will not reveal themselves to those who do not believe. 3. A good listener is one who helps us overhear ourselves. 4. One definition of success might be refining our appetites, while deepening our hunger. 5. With enigmatic clarity, life gives us a different answer each time we ask her the same question. 6. Temptation: seeds we are forbidden to water, that are showered with rain.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Pioneering psychologist Carl Jung wrote, “I must also have a dark side if I am to be whole.” But it’s important to add that some dark sides tend to be destructive and demoralizing, while other dark sides are fertile and interesting. Most of us have a share of each. My reading of the planetary omens suggests that you Scorpios now have extra power to upgrade your relationship with the fertile and interesting aspects of your dark side. I hope you will take advantage! You have a ripe opportunity to deepen and expand your wholeness.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarian poet Rainer Maria Rilke was a complicated person with many mysterious emotions and convoluted thoughts. And yet, he once wrote that life occasionally brought him “boundless simplicity and joy.” I find it amazing he could ever welcome such a state. Kudos to him! How about you, dear Sagittarius? Are you capable of recognizing when boundless simplicity and joy are hovering in your vicinity, ready for you to seize them? If so, be extra alert in the next two weeks. I expect there’ll be a visitation or two. Maybe even three or four.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Baltasar Gracián was not a 21st-century New Age self-help teacher. He was a 17th-century Jesuit philosopher born under the sign of serious, diligent Capricorn. I hope you will be extra receptive to his advice in the coming weeks. He wrote, “Know your key qualities, your outstanding gifts. Cultivate them. Redouble their use.” Among the key qualities he gave as examples were disciplined discernment and resilient courage. I bring his thoughts to your attention because the coming weeks will be a rousing time to heed his counsel. It’s time for you to identify and celebrate and give abundant expression to your key qualities.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
After studying the genes that create feathers in birds, scientists found that humans have all the necessary genes to grow feathers. (I read about it in National Geographic magazine.) So why don’t we grow feathers, then? Well, it’s complicated. Basically, the feather-making genes are not fully activated. Who knows? Maybe someday, there’ll be technology that enables us to switch on those genes and sprout plumage. In the coming weeks, it might be fun for you to imagine having bird-like qualities. You’re entering a high-flying phase—a time for ascension, expansion, soaring, and seeing the big picture from lofty vantage points.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Are there experimental approaches on the frontier of your desires that would be intriguing to consider? Might there be lusty experiences you’ve barely imagined or don’t know about—but that could be fun to play with? According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to explore such possibilities. Be safe and prudent, of course. Don’t be irresponsible or careless. But also be willing to expand your notions of sensuality.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Aries author Steve Maraboli says, “The best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.” If that strategy appeals to you, the next eight weeks will be an excellent time to put it to maximum use. You’re entering a phase when you can have an especially beneficial effect on people you care for. You’ll be at peak power to help them unleash dormant potentials and access untapped resources.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
It’s a good time to ruminate about things you wish could be part of your life but aren’t. You will be wise to develop a more conscious relationship with wistful fantasies about impossible dreams. Here’s one reason why this is true: You might realize that some seemingly impossible dreams aren’t so impossible. To get in the mood for this fun exercise, meditate on a sample reverie: “I wish I could spend a whole day discovering new music to love. I wish I owned a horse and a boat and a vintage brown and orange striped bohemian cardigan sweater from the 1970s. I wish I knew the names of all the flowers. I wish I felt more at ease about revealing my hidden beauty. I wish I could figure out how to eliminate unnecessary stress from my life.”
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Poet, essayist, and translator Anne Carson calls her husband Robert Currie the “Randomizer.” His role in her life as a creative artist is to make quirky recommendations that help her avoid being too predictable. He sends her off in directions she wouldn’t have imagined by herself. Here’s an example: At one point in her career, Carson confessed she was bored with her writing. The Randomizer suggested, “Let’s put dancers into it.” In response, she repurposed the sonnets she had been working on into a live theatrical performance featuring many dancers. I think you would benefit from having a Randomizer in your life during the coming weeks. Know anyone who could serve? If not, look for one. Or be your own Randomizer.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
If you so desired, you could travel to Munich, Germany and eat beer-flavored ice cream. Or you could go to Rehoboth, Delaware and get bacon-flavored ice cream. If you were in Taiwan, you could enjoy pineapple shrimp ice cream, and if you were in London, you could sample haggis-flavored ice cream, made from sheep innards. But my advice right now is to stick with old reliables like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream—which are still delicious even if they’re not exotic. What’s my reasoning? In general, the astrological aspects suggest that during the coming weeks, you’re most likely to thrive on trustworthy standbys and experiences you know and trust.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Celebrated novelist Jane Austen (1775–1817) wrote, “Sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in.” People who aren’t as articulate as Austen experience that problem even more often than she did. But the good news, Leo, is that in the coming weeks, you’ll be extra skillful at expressing your feelings and thoughts—even those that in the past have been difficult to put into words. I invite you to take maximum advantage of this grace period. Communicate with hearty poise and gleeful abandon.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
“When you know what’s important, it’s a lot easier to ignore what’s not,” writes author and life coach Marie Forleo. Let’s make her thought the basis of your work and play in the coming weeks. Get vibrantly clear on what is of supreme value to you, which influences bring out the best in you, and which people make it easy for you to be yourself. Then compose a second list of trivial situations that are of minor interest, influences that make you feel numb, and people who don’t fully appreciate you. Next, Virgo, formulate long-term plans to phase out the things in the second list as you increasingly emphasize your involvement in the pleasures named in the first list.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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Conservation Groups Celebrate Dam Removal on Green River – Restoring Health of Fish and Humans After 70 Years
Five environmental partners celebrated the largest dam removal in Kentucky’s history last week, which will not only restore biodiversity and improve ecosystems but also prevent deadly accidents in the future.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnered with The Nature Conservancy, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, and Kentucky Waterways Alliance to push for the removal of lock and dam No. 5 from the Green River near Roundhill.
The Green River is one of the most biodiverse rivers in the country. It is home to more than 150 fish species, more than 70 mussel species and 43 endemic species that exist nowhere else in the world. Aquatic species include nine endangered mussel species, one endangered fish, and one endangered freshwater shrimp—the Kentucky cave shrimp.
Officials at a ceremony September 20 extolled the benefits of the dam removal that will make the river safer for people, healthier for fish and mussels, and an economic boon to local communities.
“We are excited to partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy on the removal of Green River Lock and Dam 5,” said Louisville District Commander Col. Eric Crispino during the ceremony. “This project will restore the natural flow to this portion of the Green River, the most environmentally diverse river in the inland navigation system, as well as support our ecosystem restoration mission.”
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to lead the $4.6 million project where crews have been deconstructing the structures on site since June 2021. Work is expected to be completed in October, and The Nature Conservancy will take ownership of the site.
“Removing Lock and Dam number five on the Green River is a really big deal,” said David Phemister, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Kentucky. “This is not just an ecological victory, but this is really a victory for river access and the local economies. We’re committed to working with the local community, Butler County and others to make sure this is a public park accessible to all.”
Green River Lock and Dam No. 5 was built in 1933-34 for commercial use, but the Army Corps ceased operation of the structure in 1951 due to it no longer being needed. The structure has stood unused for 70 years, creating a pooled condition in the river with lower oxygen levels, more sediment and higher temperatures—all issues for aquatic life and the overall health of the river. The dam also presents a barrier to boat traffic and recreation, with no portage or bypass options.
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Once the dam is removed, it will restore free-flowing conditions to 73 miles of the Green River.
There are many Green River species that thrive in moving water. These include many aquatic insects that serve as food for foraging bats, including three bat species that are endangered.
It will also improve safety and access for recreational canoeists and kayakers and overall fishery including highly sought-after gamefish such as smallmouth bass, rock bass, and muskellunge.
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“This project illustrates the concepts of partnerships and revolutionizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, two priorities of the Chief of Engineers,” Crispino said. “The Louisville District is proud to be part of the partnership and we look forward to seeing the Green River free flowing again soon.”
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“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.” – John Keats
Quote of the Day: “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.” – John Keats
Photo: by Anastasia Zhenina
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Alabama Begins Removing Racist Language From Its Constitution
The state government of Alabama is drafting amendments to its 1901 State Constitution that would remove, among other things, discriminatory language.
The changes would mark the end of the last remaining legal remnants of what are generally referred to as Jim Crow laws, which created a state-sponsored education system separated by race, and in which the Constitution allowed state authorities to forcibly place children in the educational institution of the state’s choosing.
Having failed to pass referendums on the motion in 2004 and 2014, a 2020 third-time’s-the-charm vote got the job done; it established the Committee on the Recompilation of the Constitution, who will proceed to remove the Jim Crow passages, as well as others like poll taxes, duplicate language, and more.
“It sends a message out about who we are,” said Rep. Merika Coleman, a Democrat from Pleasant Grove, who chairs the committee and sponsored the amendment.
“It is important for us to let folks know we are a 21st century Alabama, that we’re not the same Alabama of 1901 that didn’t want Black and white folks to get married, that didn’t think that Black and white children should go to school together,” she said, according to AP.
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“The Legislature, upon the recommendation of the Director of the Legislative Services
Agency through a proposed draft, may arrange this constitution, as amended, in proper
articles, parts, and sections removing all racist language, delete duplicative and repealed
provisions, consolidate provisions regarding economic development, arrange all local
amendments by county of application during the 2022 Regular Session of the Legislature,
and make no other changes,” a memo regarding to the recompilation writes.
The most egregious piece of writing within the constitution is probably familiar to some, and states: “Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race,” but another passage that declares the state shall be able to confiscate children and place them in whichever institution they want, regardless of their parents’ will, is also set to be removed.
Another passage about poll taxes is being scrapped, as there’s no such thing as a poll tax anymore anyway.
Lastly, a passage regarding involuntary servitude being unlawful in the land, except in the case of prisoners, is being changed to a very similar passage from the Federal Constitution. This particular article led, according to AP, to generations of Black men spending their prison sentences in backbreaking labor.
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Share a Moment of Awe With This Jewel of Australian Animals: the Leafy Seadragon
As an example of the majesty of life, the art of camouflage, and the extremes of evolution—one need look no further than the leafy seadragon of South Australia.
Fondly called “Leafies” by the Aussies of Melbourne and Adelaide, it is a member of the genus that includes pipefishes, seadragons, and seahorses, and takes its name from the myriad of leaf-like protrusions along its body which serve only to camouflage it among seaweed stalks and kelp.
Feeding on plankton and small crustaceans, they can grow to almost one foot in length.
For propulsion they have dorsal and tail fins which are actually transparent compared to the leaf-like body parts that do nothing—they gently move the animal back and forth as it swims, mimicking the dancing seaweed around it, much like a chameleon camouflages its movements on land.
The dedication to camouflage and defense is impressive.
In the wild, some individuals were observed remaining still for 68 hours straight. Furthermore, their body is coated in hard bony plates and spikes, ruining the day of a fish tempted to take a bite out of it.
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However, in a bizarre riddle, according to National Geographic there’s no sure evidence that any other animal preys on them.
Maybe they “beat the game” or maybe, as has been hypothesized with the American pronghorn antelope, they evolved their exquisite protection against a species which no longer exists.
Living solitary lives around 160 feet underwater, the males and females will come together to breed—it’s the male’s responsibility to carry eggs and raise young. The female will lay 250 eggs and deposit them in a kangaroo-like pouch on the male’s tail.
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Unsurprisingly, such a charismatic animal is prized as an aquarium species by collectors, and alongside pollution these are the animals biggest threats. Thankfully, the animal is not endangered, and is currented listed by the IUCN as a species of Least Concern.
(WATCH the video about the species below.)
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Autism Therapy For Infants May Reduce Likelihood of Later Diagnosis
An Australian team has developed the world’s first behavior therapy shown to reduce autism spectrum disorder-like behavior enough in infants to avoid, through improvement, a clinical ASD diagnosis.
The therapy reduced the likelihood of ASD-diagnoses at the three follow-up dates of 18, 24, and 36 months of age by two-thirds in 105 Australian children, and shows that early intervention—when autism is only suspected—can jumpstart the child’s social skills and produce positive knock-on effects later in life.
The therapy is known as the VIPPP method, because that’s how important our children are. In reality it stands for Video Interaction for Promoting Positive Parenting, and acts as a sort of translation app and play-by-play review, whereby following a period of interaction with a child displaying one of the four signs of early ASD, a doctor and parent can review footage of the interaction to help the them understand exactly how the child is trying to communicate.
Instances of avoiding eye-contact or not responding to their name can be signs a child might go on to develop ASD, and working around those barriers to help the child develop social skills when they’re so young was the key to the success of the trial.
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“This is the first worldwide evidence that a pre-emptive intervention can reduce autism behaviours and the likelihood of a later diagnosis,” said Professor Andrew Green at the University of Manchester, according to the Guardian.
“We think this is a landmark finding because it suggests intervention at this early time can have this substantial effect. It may well change the way services provide support to a large number of children worldwide.”
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While the statistical effect of the therapy wasn’t immense, there were other positives, for example the improvements made at baseline were sustained by 24 months.
Furthermore while around 20% of the children who went without the therapy received an ASD diagnosis at age three, just 6.7% of the those who had the therapy did.
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900-Year-old Mystery That Puzzled Stargazers is Now Solved – It’s A ‘Zombie’ Star
The Chinese have a long, ancient history of recording “guest stars”—suddenly bright stars that appear in the sky for a while but then dim and disappear.
Today we know these are rare, incredibly energetic supernova explosions from either massive stars or special, interacting binary systems that seed the Galaxy with heavy elements like iron and leaving behind neutron stars, pulsars, black holes and a gaseous remnant like the Crab nebula.
Now, a 900-year-old mystery on the true origins of the Chinese guest star of AD 1181 has finally been solved by an international team of astronomers.
The Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) and Department of Physics of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) joined hands with collaborators from the UK, Spain, Hungary and France, pursued an investigation to unravel this mystery via newly uncovered clues of their own discovery.
Remarkably, the guest star of AD 1181, reported at the time to be as bright as the planet Saturn, was the only historical supernova (SN) of the last thousand years that has been without identification with a real object.
Published recently in the prestigious Astrophysical Journal letters, this team reports the identification of SN of AD 1181 with their previous co-discovery in 2017 of “Parker’s star”, the hottest known Wolf-Rayet star (itself a truly unique object) with a temperature of more than 200,000 degrees Celsius.
This star also has a surrounding nebula Pa30, discovered by their amateur colleague Dana PATCHICK in 2013.
Corresponding author Professor Quentin PARKER, also the Director of LSR said, “Our data showed the expanding gas cloud from this star has extreme velocities of around 1,100km/s from an explosion about 1,000 years ago. This matches the AD 1181 event.
“Not only that but Pa30/Parker’s stars position in the sky fits the historical Chinese and Japanese reports on the guest star to within 3.5 degrees—well within the errors.”
Pa30 and Parker’s star have previously been proposed as the result of a merger of two White Dwarfs—dense, dead stars, leading to a rare Type Iax supernova.
The reported historical brightness and modern distance determined for their system suggests the event was dimmer than typical supernovae. This also agrees with the rare Type Iax designation, only the second of its kind known in the entire Galaxy.
Dr Andreas RITTER, the paper’s first author and HKU Postdoctoral Fellow within the LSR said, “Taken together, the age, location, reported “Guest star” brightness and recorded visibility for 6 months, shows that Parker’s star and its surrounding gas shroud Pa30 are indeed the counterparts of supernova SN of AD 1181.”
The SN of AD 1181 event is also the only Type Iax supernova where detailed studies of the remnant star and surrounding nebula are possible. Combined with the extreme and remarkable nature of Parker’s star itself and their linking of it to the AD 1181 supernova, this source becomes of considerable scientific and historical interest.
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Finally, Parker’s star is the only Wolf Rayet star known that is neither from a massive progenitor star nor the central star of a planetary nebula.
Instead, it is the result of two white dwarf stars merging together and accompanied by a Type Iax supernova explosion that now has a firm historical basis. So there you go.
Source: The University of Hong Kong
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Fossil Found by Kids in New Zealand Turns Out to Be 27 Million-Year-old Giant Penguin
The remains of a giant prehistoric penguin were discovered fossilized on a beach on New Zealand, delighting a group of young students, and filling in gaps in the fossil record at the same time.
The penguin would have stood 1.4 meters tall, while underwater it could stretch out to 1.6 meters, making it far larger than any diving bird alive today.
While originally looking for small crustacean fossils in Waikato, New Zealand in 2006, the Hamilton junior naturalist club were returning to their kayaks when they crossed a beach at extreme-low tide and found something that clearly wasn’t a crustacean. Fortunately for them they were accompanied by a seasoned paleontologist,
Embedded in sandstone, the specimen needed extraction with petrol-powered cement saws and jackhammers, after which it was donated to a local Maori museum.
A study describing the new penguin species, Kairuku waewaeroa, borrowing the Māori word for long-legged, explains that penguins have arguably the most complete fossil record of any avian genus, and K. waewaeroa was able to unite a group of existing giant penguins from New Zealand.
Diving for fish at a time when the North Island’s Waikato was largely underwater, the giant penguin lived between 34 and 27 million years ago.
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Among the inquiries generated by a complete giant penguin fossil lineage of three different giant penguin species is the question of why were there so many giant birds in New Zealand?
The Haast’s eagle, though driven extinct by humans, was the largest eagle to ever live, weighing up to 33 pounds with a ten-foot wingspan.
There were nine species of the large flightless Moa bird, which could stand 12 feet tall and weigh 500 pounds or more.
The world’s largest parrot—weighing twice as much as the heaviest living cockatoo, and which could stand up to reach the height of an adult male’s waist, also lived in New Zealand.
“Giant penguins like Kairuku waewaeroa are much larger than any diving seabird today, and we know that body size can be an important factor when thinking about ecology,” said Mike Safey, president of the Hamilton junior naturalist club, to Euronews. “How and why did penguins become giant, and why aren’t there any giants left? Well-preserved fossils like this can help us address these questions.”
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Safey was actually one of those kids who discovered the fossil 15 years ago, and said that seeing it make major contributions to academia today was “surreal.”
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“Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.” – Paulo Coelho
Quote of the Day: “Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.” – Paulo Coelho
Photo: by Jan Tinneberg
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Squirrels Have Very Different Personality Traits – Just Like Humans
A study from the University of California, Davis is the first to document personality in golden-mantled ground squirrels, which are common across the western U.S. and parts of Canada.
The study found the squirrels show personality for four main traits: boldness, aggressiveness, activity level, and sociability.
The findings suggest that understanding how an animal’s personality influences use of space is important for wildlife conservation.
‘Individuals matter’
To see them chitter and skitter, stop and then scurry, the fact that ground squirrels have personalities may not seem surprising.
But the scientific field of animal personality is relatively young, as is the recognition that there are ecological consequences of animal personality.
For instance, bolder, more aggressive squirrels may find more food or defend a larger territory, but their risky behavior may also make them vulnerable to predation or accidents.
“This adds to the small but growing number of studies showing that individuals matter,” said lead author Jaclyn Aliperti, who conducted the study while earning her Ph.D. in ecology at UC Davis.
“Accounting for personality in wildlife management may be especially important when predicting wildlife responses to new conditions, such as changes or destruction of habitat due to human activity.”
Personality tests
Scientists have been studying golden-mantled ground squirrels at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado for decades. It was established as a long-term study site more than 30 years ago by Aliperti’s advisor, Dirk Van Vuren.
Aliperti drew from this powerful data set for her study, while also initiating a series of experiments there over the course of three summers to observe and quantify the squirrels’ personalities.
She notes that while there are no Meyers-Briggs tests for animals, there are standardized approaches to quantifying animal personalities. She observed and recorded squirrel responses to four tests:
- Novel environment: Squirrels were placed in an enclosed box with gridded lines and holes.
- Mirror: Squirrels are presented with their mirror image, which they do not recognize as their own.
- Flight initiative: Squirrels were approached slowly in the wild to see how long they wait before running away.
- Behavior-in-trap: Squirrels were caught, unharmed, in a simple trap and their behavior briefly observed.
The social squirrel’s advantage
Overall, the study, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, found that bolder squirrels had larger core areas where they concentrated their activity. Bold, active squirrels moved faster. Also, squirrels that were bolder, more aggressive and more active had greater access to perches, such as rocks. Perch access is important because it can provide a better vantage point for seeing and evading predators. Interestingly, perch access was also associated with sociability.
Golden-mantled ground squirrels are considered an asocial species. They are relatively small, giving them little opportunity to form the tighter social bonds common in larger ground squirrels, which typically spend more time in family units while reaching maturity. However, the study said that “within this asocial species, individuals that tend to be relatively more social seem to have an advantage.”
In such cases, being more social could save an individual’s life. Such personality differences can influence a squirrel’s ability to survive and reproduce, which could scale up to the population or community level.
Squirrels of Davis
UC Davis is home to many squirrels, which have become an honorary mascot of sorts on campus.
“The squirrels of UC Davis are something else,” said Aliperti.
She means it literally. They are tree squirrels and very different from the ground squirrels Aliperti studied. Yet she says her work has changed how she views the squirrels of Davis.
“I view them more as individuals,” Aliperti said. “I view them as, ‘Who are you? Where are you going? What are up to?’ versus on a species level.”
Noticing such individuality brings a more personal angle to viewing wildlife.
“Animal personality is a hard science, but if it makes you relate to animals more, maybe people will be more interested in conserving them,” said Aliperti.
(WATCH the video for this story below.)
Source: University of California-Davis
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Study Finds Small Acts of Kindness Can Bolster Students’ Health and Wellness
A small act of kindness can go a long way, say researchers, towards bolstering student health and wellness.
Dr. John-Tyler Binfet and Dr. Sally Stewart at the University of British Columbia recently published a study that explores how the inclusion of a kindness assignment in an undergraduate course impacted student perceptions of themselves, their peers, and their campus.
While there have been several studies that have assessed the effects of kindness on wellbeing, there has been limited research into how university-aged students understand and enact kindness, says Dr. Binfet.
Thousands of university students returned to class across Canada in September, and Dr. Binfet notes that while living in the times of COVID-19 every act of kindness goes a long way.
“We know being kind yields a number of wellbeing benefits, such as stress reduction, happiness and peer acceptance, and we know mental health impacts learning,” says Dr. Binfet.
“The post-secondary environment is often the last training ground to prepare students for life so we want to understand how we can prepare students for optimal mental health as adults.”
For the study, volunteer students provided self-reports to determine the extent they see themselves as kind in online and face-to-face interactions, and how connected they felt to their peers and the campus. The students were then asked to plan and complete five kind acts for one week.
The participants completed 353 kind acts with the main themes of helping others, giving, demonstrating appreciation and communicating. Students that completed at least three of the five planned acts of kindness self-reported significantly higher scores of in-person kindness and peer connectedness.
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“This research can help students realize that there is evidence behind how and why people are kind, and that kindness does impact health and wellbeing,” says Dr. Stewart. “It also has an incredible impact for teaching in higher education as it provides insight into where students are at with their practice and understanding of kindness in order to build the groundwork for inclusion of this topic within educational practices and course content areas.”
While there are on-campus wellbeing resources available to students at most post-secondary schools, this research demonstrates that by including wellbeing initiatives into coursework, it’s easier for more students to engage in those activities and receive benefits without added effort. The study also demonstrated that a curriculum-based kindness intervention would be well received by students.
“We found that the students loved the assignment,” says Dr. Stewart of the study, published in Journal of Further and Higher Education. “For some, it helped them realize that kindness is a skill that they can learn to do better and that there are many ways to be kind. For others, it helped them realize that they already do kind things. It reinforced their desire and intention of doing more kind acts.”
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For years, Dr. Binfet’s research has focused on elevating the discussion of kindness, and he has previously completed studies on how children and adolescents perceive and enact kindness.
“With this research, we now see alignment in how university students and school-age participants define kindness—to them it means actions that can improve the lives of others. Often, it’s simple things such as being polite and helping others,” says Dr. Binfet.
Source: University of British Columbia
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Groom’s Autistic Brother Has Wedding Crowd in ‘Happy Tears’ with Emotional Speech That Went Viral (WATCH)
This is the ‘best man speech ever’—given by the brother-of-the-groom who struggles socially but had everyone in tears and stitches.
23-year-old Sam Waldron announced to a room of people how his big brother Jonah Waldron 27, is his “hero” and “never looked down on me.”
Sam talks about how he has autism ,which can make him scared to interact with people, but his brother reminds him “that being different is a real strength, not a weakness”.
He says Jonah’s new wife, 25-year-old Madison Waldron, has “all the makings of a great sister”, and jokes she’s married the “second most handsome Waldron.”
Sam says, “I was really nervous before the speech. Before I stood up, I wasn’t sure if everyone would like my speech, but I got more comfortable as I started reading.
“I felt like I was speaking out to whoever has autism and that I was speaking for the autism community.”
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As for groom Jonah, on watching his little brother do such a brilliant job, he couldn’t hold back his tears of happiness.
Brothers Sam and Jonah grew up together and, being only four years apart in age, went to the same school.
Sam was diagnosed with autism when he was seven years old, and didn’t find intense social settings easy.
Jonah said, “He would come to see me during the school day, he would come for help with a subject or as a break.
“Myself and my parents were the ones he felt the most comfortable talking to about any struggles that he had socially.
“I also became his Respite Care worker, helping him practice social situations in public settings.”
Caring big brother Jonah was even inspired to train as a Special Education Teacher to help other children with special needs.
Jonah and teacher Madison met at Wartburg College, and when Jonah introduced his new girlfriend to younger brother Sam, the two were immediate best friends.
Jonah said, “Once he met Maddy, he felt completely comfortable right away.”
The couple got engaged on July 23 while on a trip to Colorado. Of course, Jonah asked Sam to be his best man as soon as they got home.
“I’ve always known that I wanted Sam as my best man,” said Jonah.
“He was very happy, but also you could see that he was nervous too.”
For Sam, “I felt like my dream came true… I got to be around my best brother.”
Sam spent two whole days perfecting his speech before the big day arrived on July 3 this year.
“I would just sit there and just read it aloud,” he said. “I read it to my Aunt Colleen, Andrew Hoyt and my Dad many times.”
Sam stood up in front of the 170 wedding guests to deliver his speech.
Jonah said, “My favorite part was when he was explaining to Maddy that she gave him peace, because that is exactly how I would explain the way she is with Sam.
After he finished, Sam was given a standing ovation and the newly-weds rushed over to tell him how much of a great job he did.
The entire speech was recorded and uploaded to Jonah’s TikTok account, and went viral, with over 6.2 million views and 760,000 likes. Thank you, Sam, for inspiring so many with your emotional speech.
(WATCH the video below.)
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