[Fatima99]

English Woman Shocked to Find Monkey in Her Greenhouse–Now He’s in a Sanctuary with a Girlfriend



A woman in the city of Wolverhampton, England, suddenly discovered a South American monkey in her greenhouse, and scrambled to figure out who to call.

The animal charity Wings and Paws said they were contacted by a distressed woman who reported a “strange wild animal with a bushy tail” leaping about her property.

Volunteers who arrived on the scene expected to find a squirrel or a fox but were left shocked to see a monkey casually sitting on the kitchen countertop.

“We’re more used to dealing with domestic pets and farmyard animals like dogs, cats and horses so it was certainly a shock to discover a monkey,” said volunteer Gemma Warner.

It turned out to be a marmoset—5,400 miles away from his native South America—most likely an unwanted pet left to fend for himself in the West Midlands of Great Britain.

“Its lucky we found him because the cold would have killed him if he’d been left on the streets of Wolverhampton.”

They were able to entice ‘Marcel’ into a cage to take back to their rescue centre—and things only got better from there.



Volunteers spent several weeks nursing him back to full health—and now they’ve found him a suitable home, which had the added bonus of a potential new girlfriend.

He was offered a place at Monkey World 200 miles away in Wareham, Dorset, and made the journey there on Wednesday.

Once he has settled into his new enclosure, Marcel will be introduced to a female in residence, and it’s hoped the pair will hit it off.

“It was mixed emotions seeing him go because he was such a sweetheart who we had grown really fond of,” said Gemma.
“But we are obviously ecstatic for him as it’s undoubtedly the best place for him. We were really happy to find him somewhere suitable.”

It wasn’t an easy task though, Monkey World—like Wings and Paws, and other rescue facilities—was full.

“The owner jiggled some things around and he now has a lovely big enclosure to explore.

“Our volunteers worked relentlessly to make this happen and Monkey World could see he deserved a new start. We’re really grateful.”

“We are sad to see him go but over the moon for him.

Marmosets are mainly found in the tropical rainforests of South America, with a few populations in Central America.

It is currently legal in the UK to keep them as pets, but new rules adopted earlier this year by the government will make it illegal to keep monkeys, lemurs, and other primates without a license beginning in 2026.

Sharing the news on social media, Wings and Paws added: “What a fabulous end to our rescue mission – this is what it’s all about! Rescues helping rescues and saving lives!”

[PennySerenade]

Could resetting the body's clock help cure jet lag?



In a repurposed aircraft hangar at Downsview Airport in Toronto, Kritika Vashishtha pursues her cure for jet lag.

She shines specially created lights onto study participants as they sit inside a grounded former jet, now converted into a science laboratory.

Participants must remain seated in the plane for four hours. They may not consume caffeine, watch a movie, or even close their eyes. Trips to the bathroom are discouraged, but if they absolutely must go, they must wear sunglasses that block out blue colours of light.

Vashishtha, who completed her PhD in Aerospace Engineering this spring at Toronto Metropolitan University, has created a trick of light that fools human bodies into switching time zones while aboard an aircraft.

"It's a fundamental framework that I've created," explained Vashishtha. "It could be used in medical fields where you would create a personalized light schedule to treat circadian rhythm disruption."

The trick requires real-time measurements, artificial intelligence, and a window that regulates how much sunlight passes through. There is also a set of LEDs bathing the the eyes of the passengers in a colour of light that delivers the maximum stimulus to the pineal gland without causing discomfort.



Each of us has a pineal gland inside our heads. One of its most important jobs is to react to the light hitting our eyeballs, and accordingly convert the brain chemical serotonin into melatonin, the so-called 'sleep hormone.'

"If you're flying from L.A. to London, depending on when you fly, when you [arrive], you will have a jet lag of approximately eight hours," Vashishtha told CBC's IDEAS.

"Your internal body clock cannot really shift with the speed we are flying, so our body clocks remain still in the local time zone, whereas we are physically in our destination time zone. Essentially, you're going to have those two circadian rhythm curves."

Vashishtha's research has proven that if an airplane can alter the type and quantity of light reaching a particular person, on a schedule adapted to that person's idiosyncratic internal clock, it can minimize the gap between those two circadian rhythms.

"The beauty of Kritika's research is that she proved that this system works," said Bruce Malek, an industrial designer at Bombardier Aerospace, which contributed to the direction and funding of the project.

"On a four-hour flight, she can modify your circadian rhythm by two hours. It's like your body has adjusted to the light at the destination by two hours," Malek added.

The newly graduated Vashishtha has joined a research laboratory at Harvard Medical School, where she plans to direct her discoveries towards making space travel easier on astronauts.

For instance, a future human settlement on Mars would need to reckon with the problem that our bodies expect a 24-hour day, while a day on Mars is closer to 25 hours long.

A lighting system geared towards helping the body reset its internal clock more easily could make this experience less disturbing to digestion, sleep, and other cyclical functions.

[DaveLDaveL]

Tower Bridge: Red Bull skydivers complete wingsuit flight


Marco Waltenspiel (left) and Marco Fürst leapt from a helicopter hovering at 3,000ft above London

Two professional skydivers have completed the first wingsuit flight through Tower Bridge, saying it was a "dream come true".

Red Bull skydivers Marco Fürst, 33, and Marco Waltenspiel, 39, leapt from a helicopter hovering at 3,000ft (914m) above London on Sunday morning.

During the flight the pair went through Tower Bridge, reaching speeds of up to 153mph (246km/h), and completed a complex manoeuvre known as a "flare".

The bridge was closed for the jump.

Wingsuit flying allows jumpers to glide horizontally at high speeds before landing on the ground using a parachute.

The Austrian skydivers' flight lasted 45 seconds, with them diving down to 115ft (35m) above the River Thames, before soaring up through the air and releasing their parachutes.



The pair said they completed more than 200 practice jumps, and trained using cranes the same height as the bridge

Mr Fürst said the journey was "intense from the beginning", adding the experience was "incredible, a dream come true for sure".

Mr Waltenspiel added when they flew into London, "the sunrise was amazing, the city looked so good".

The pair, who are members of the Red Bull Skydive Team, have completed more than 22,000 jumps between them, including in Croatia's heart-shaped island of Galesnjak and at a downhill ski run in Kitzbuhel, Austria. known as The Streif.

To prepare for their challenge, they completed more than 200 practice jumps and trained at a ground in Oxfordshire, which featured two cranes to simulate the dimensions of Tower Bridge.

The day before the jump, Mr Fürst said he felt nervous excitement and found it hard to sleep, getting just "four to five hours", but added: "Once we were in the helicopter, we prepared everything and we both knew, 'OK, now it's time to shine, right', and everything was calm."



Mr Fürst says the "pure freedom" of skydiving is what appeals to him, because you can "do what you want"

"I just feel amazing. The jump was beautiful and everything worked out really good," he said.
"I really enjoyed the journey."


Mr Waltenspiel added: "We are super happy, super stoked, everything went well and everyone is happy."

Mr Fürst explained the "pure freedom" of skydiving is what appeals to him, "because if you jump out of a helicopter, you can basically do what you want - you can fly to the left, to the right, up, down".

A spokesperson for Red Bull said Tower Bridge was closed specifically for the jump, adding: "Red Bull worked closely with all the relevant authorities, had all authorisations in place for this world first and ensured that the jump was carried out to the highest safety standards."

[HogwartsExpress]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Trailer Set for Tomorrow

Amazon will show off The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 for the first time tomorrow, it’s said.

The teaser trailer world premiere for the hotly anticipated Prime Video TV series comes out May 14, Amazon said in a tweet, below.

The Rings of Power is set during the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history, and thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It revolves around the forging of the Rings of Power, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, and the fall of the island kingdom of Númenor.

In February, Patrick McKay and JD Payne, showrunners of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, extended their partnership with Amazon by signing a new three-year deal with the company and kicking off early work on Season 3.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 came out in 2022 on Prime Video three years after Amazon announced the show would be renewed for a second season. Amazon is yet to announce a Season 2 release date, but we know it will be out at some point this year.

In our review of the first season of The Rings of Power, IGN said: "Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power captures the epic scope and beauty of Tolkien's work."

It’s a busy time for The Lord of the Rings. Last week Warner Bros. announced that the new Lord of the Rings movie is titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and that it will be directed by and star Andy Serkis in his iconic titular role for release in 2026. Peter Jackson, famed director of the much-loved The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, as well as the Hobbit movies, returns alongside co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens to produce the untitled film.

Warner Bros. said Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is the first of two new Lord of the Rings feature films from Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens based on J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, and arrives two decades after the nearly $6 billion film franchise was first introduced to audiences.

In February 2023, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said she was confident the market was big enough for both The Rings of Power and the newly-announced Lord of the Rings movies.

src: https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/t ... NewsSearch

[rflash8]

Wales becomes first UK nation to join metaverse

Tourism body Visit Wales hopes the new initiative will attract those visiting the "virtual Wales" to also visit the country in the real world in future.



Wales has become the first UK nation to join the metaverse.

The launch of Wales in the metaverse hopes to give virtual visitors from all over the world the chance to see what the country has to offer.

Tourism body Visit Wales has created the immersive experience with the aim of platforming some of Wales's experiences and attractions.

Around 600 million people visit the metaverse each year, across a number of platforms.

The Welsh metaverse is being hosted on platform Spatial.

Organisers say they believe Wales is also the first European nation to use this approach to market itself as a tourism destination.

The announcement comes after a report by a committee of MPs published last July found Wales "lacked a coherent brand" to attract overseas visitors.



Presenter of Doctor Who Unleashed and former gaming journalist Steffan Powell attended the launch.

He said the metaverse experience would give potential visitors to Wales "a flavour of all the exciting things you can see and do on a holiday in Wales".

The Welsh government's tourism minister, Hannah Blythyn, said the metaverse had been created "to reach new audiences".

"By showcasing some of the best Wales has to offer visitors in this incredibly innovative way, we're putting Wales in an online sphere where millions of people already meet every day," she added.

Visitors to the virtual Wales can take on quests including building an interactive itinerary which includes real-life Wales-based activities.

It's a world created in partnership with a firm based in Swansea - iCreate.

"Wales punches above its weight when it comes to innovation and technology," said iCreate founder Dawn Lyle.

"We're excited to be a part of this initiative, with the virtual space opening up new worlds of possibility to reach new audiences."

The Wales metaverse has now opened to the public and can be entered on smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers and via Meta Quest headsets.

[Alessa9]

Two lifeforms merge into one organism for first time in a billion years

‘The first time it happened, it gave rise to all complex life,’ scientists say


An image showing how the algae looked at different stages using X-ray tomography.

For the first time in at least a billion years, two lifeforms have merged into a single organism.

The process, called primary endosymbiosis, has only happened twice in the history of the Earth, with the first time giving rise to all complex life as we know it through mitochondria. The second time that it happened saw the emergence of plants.

Now, an international team of scientists have observed the evolutionary event happening between a species of algae commonly found in the ocean and a bacterium.

“The first time we think it happened, it gave rise to all complex life,” said Tyler Coale, a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Santa Cruz, who led the research on one of two recent studies that uncovered the phenomenon.

“Everything more complicated than a bacterial cell owes its existence to that event. A billion years ago or so, it happened again with the chloroplast, and that gave us plants.”

The process involves the algae engulfing the bacterium and providing it with nutrients, energy and protection in return for functions that it could not previously perform – in this instance, the ability to “fix” nitrogen from the air.

The algae then incorporates the bacterium as an internal organ called an organelle, which becomes vital to the host’s ability to function.

The researchers from the US and Japan who made the discovery said it will offer new insights into the process of evolution, while also holding the potential to fundamentally change agriculture.

“This system is a new perspective on nitrogen fixation, and it might provide clues into how such an organelle could be engineered into crop plants,” said Dr Coale.

The papers detailing the research were published in the scientific journals Science and Cell.

The scientists involved came from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Rhode Island, the University of California, San Francisco, UC Santa Cruz, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona, National Taiwan Ocean University, and Kochi University in Japan.

‘Wind Repowering’ Has Rejuvenated Turbines to Boost Gigawatts and Power Millions More Homes


The new wind farm will likely use this Goldwind wind turbine, the largest in the world – released.

Reprinted via EarthTalk®, From the Editors of E – The Environmental Magazine

What is wind repowering and why are environmentalists so bullish on it?
While wind power has been a staple in renewable energy from the beginning, many of the original and old wind turbines have begun to show signs of aging.

Wind repowering is fixing this, by revamping old turbines with more efficient components, or putting in new, state-of-the-art turbines as a whole.

These new components can more efficiently power a turbine, reduce noise, and a deliver a higher overall energy output.

For example, Denmark became an early adopter of wind repowering, with a 1.3 GW gain in capacity and a reduction of 109 wind turbines, enabling substantially increased wind energy production with fewer turbines.

This promising data prompted a surge in wind repowering projects there—and already four years ago, 86 percent of wind energy projects there were classified as “repowered.”

Their signs of success and scalability showed other countries the benefits of wind repowering.

Now, the U.S. has more than 40 active wind repowering sites, with over 2,500 turbines having some type of renovation at any given moment.

This gale force of advancement, with help from large energy corporations like General Electric, is responsible for four gigawatts of energy, enough to power more than 30 million homes.

Why do eco-advocates support wind repowering so strongly?

Wind repowering has energy, financial, aesthetic and technological benefits. Not only does it make units more efficient, it also removes units that might be aesthetically unpleasing, or in less efficient spots than they could be.

Wind repowering also increases the lifespan of turbines by as much as 20 years, and reduces the need for maintenance. Repowered turbines are also quieter, sleeker, and produce considerably more energy.

So, while there are many types of repowering efforts for other renewable energy sources, none are as comprehensive or successful as wind repowering. Not only is it a comprehensive option for revamping clean energy, but it doesn’t require the entry costs of building new wind farms.

We invite readers to call local officials or urge any nearby wind farms to look into wind repowering—and build on all the success.

[goldie0608]

Horses Trapped in 'Waist-Deep' Connecticut Mud Saved by Nearly 40 First Responders After 5-Hour Rescue Mission

The horses were stuck in a "swampy area" of woodland on Sunday, May 12, according to authorities



Nearly 40 first responders rescued two horses stuck in deep mud in Connecticut after a grueling five-hour rescue mission.

According to the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department, the horses got stuck in a "swampy area" of woodland on Sunday, May 12.

“They had wandered into the area and became stuck up to their undersides,” a Facebook post from the LVFD read in part. “LVFD personnel responded to the scene to assess the situation and quickly determined that this was going to require a Fire Dept response.”

“The access road was complete mud and there was a river to cross ½ way in,” the post continued, adding that “close to 40 personnel and the necessary ropes, wood, saws, plywood, rescue equipment, vet supplies, food and water” were shuttled in by the responding units to help with the situation.

While the LVFD cleared a roadway and constructed a makeshift bridge out of wooden cribbing, plywood and signs to allow personnel to cross the river, the Durham Animal Response Team arrived on the scene and set up their sled equipment.



“The goal was to roll the horses out of the mud, which was waist deep for rescuers, onto their sled device,” the LVFD added. “Once on the sled all personnel would work together to pull them over the make shift bridge and up onto flat ground approx. 30 yards from the swamp.”

In photos shared by the LVFD, one of the horses could be seen wrapped in ropes and lying on what appeared to be a sled.

The first horse took nearly half an hour to be freed from the mud, while the second horse, which was “considerably more stuck,” took over half an hour. In total, the rescue mission took five hours to complete, according to the LVFD.

Following their extrication, a vet assessed both horses on the scene. “Both were in mild distress and one had been stuck in the mud and water for over 7 hours,” the LVFD’s Facebook post continued, before adding that an hour after their rescue “both horses had been warmed up enough to stand and we are happy to report both got up without issue and were happily eating some fresh hay.”

Further photos showed the horses wearing turnout rugs as they were tended to after the operation.

No responders were injured in the rescue mission, according to the LVFD.

At 83, a woman becomes Howard University's oldest doctoral graduate
Source: 7News



For Marie Fowler, 83, the journey toward earning her doctoral degree in divinity was about much more than an education.

She believes her decision to spend the last three years learning and growing through the Howard University (HU) School of Divinity was a calling from God.

Before becoming HU's most senior student to earn a degree this year, Fowler previously earned a bachelor's degree and two master's degrees from the Maple Springs Baptist Bible College and Seminary.

This time around, she said she had to have a talk with God before making the choice to go back to school.

"It was never my thought that I would go beyond maybe one semester because, after all, I had been out of school since 1959," Fowler said. "I didn't even know if I could retain information."


At 83, Marie Fowler becomes Howard University's oldest doctoral graduate
Image: 7News

However, after initially doubting her ability and finances at this stage of her life, Fowler said it was her parents' experiences and her father's words, still ringing in her ear, that pushed her forward.

"My mom and dad were born in an era when it was illegal for them to learn to read and write," she said. "We taught my dad how to read and write and how to sign his name so he wouldn't have to put that X."

She said her father would repeat the motto "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," and she took that to heart and thrived throughout her school years, including at Howard.

"She was the life of the party," said Dr. Alice Ogden Bellis, Professor of Hebrew Bible. "She knew what she wanted and she came here and she did that."

Not only did she learn, she is now in a better position to teach and share her knowledge and message.

"I want to say is that it is never too late," she said. "I want everyone to realize that I am 83, which means if I can do it, why not you?"

[Misstee]

Man ordered to hide his boat has vessel painted on new fence
By Ben Hooper










May 13 (UPI) -- A California man ordered by his city to conceal the boat parked in his driveway with a fence hired his artist neighbor to paint a photo-realistic image of the vessel in an act of rebellious compliance.

Etienne Constable said the boat he uses for fishing was regularly parked in his Seaside driveway for about four years before he received a letter from the city informing him of a municipal code requiring boats and trailers to be "screened on the side and front by a six-foot-high fence."

Constable said his initial reaction to the letter was anger, but he then spoke to his neighbor, mural artist Hanif Panni, and arrived at a creative solution.

Constable had a fence installed to block his driveway, and Panni, who creates art under the name Hanif Wondir, painted a photo-realistic image of the boat and the rest of the driveway on the road-facing side of the fence.

"We kind of hit the sweet spot between following the rules and making an elegant statement to the contrary," Constable told The Washington Post.

Panni, who described the project as an attempt to create "an illusion," posted photos of the finished work to social media, where they quickly went viral.

"I'm all in favor of generating a discussion and making people smile," Constable told KSBW-TV. "The reaction is extremely more than we ever expected and we're both just tickled about it."

The project earned fans including Nick Borges, Seaside's acting city manager, who called Constable to compliment him on the creative solution. Borges said he had seen the photos on social media before he realized they were from a local home.

"I thought, 'Wow, that's pretty creative.' I laughed at it, and then I started getting calls from local media," Borges said.

He said the letter received by Constable was the result of actions taken last year. Borges said the city had received numerous complaints about lax code enforcement, so someone was hired to investigate and contact violators.

Borges said Constable's case was closed out when the fence was installed and no further actions will be taken.

"The only action I'm going to take is a high five, and that's it," Borges said.

[midgemental]

The crazy ways humans are trying to control the weather

The world was shocked by the record-breaking rainfall in Dubai last month.

The desert city was inundated with more rain in a few days than typically falls in an entire year, killing at least 20 people across the United Arab Emirates and neighboring Oman.

It was also surprising that many blamed the downpour on something other than Mother Nature.

“The cause is actually from the use of weather modification,” filmmaker Robby Starbuck tweeted. “Play God, find out,” another person echoed.

Johan Jaques, a meteorologist for environmental tech firm Kisters, claimed the storm was brought on by cloud seeding, a method long used by the UAE for inducing rain by injecting clouds with silver iodide.

But the growing consensus is that cloud seeding had little or nothing to do with it.

“Highly, highly, highly improbable,” said Steven Siems, co-chair of an expert team on weather modification at the World Meteorological Organization. The UAE has “been cloud seeding for more than 10 years and never encountered such a storm,” he told the Post, adding that UAE’s meteorology agency revealed that no seeding missions had been conducted prior to the storm.

Even if cloud seeding hadn’t caused flooding in the desert, it brought to light just how invested the Middle Eastern nation is in weather manipulation.

The UAE has spent millions over the last few decades in “rain enhancement” projects, with 300 seeding missions planned this year alone.

They don’t use traditional cloud seeding, in which planes fly into clouds to release the chemicals.

Instead, they employ drones to shoot clouds with electrical charges.

Scientists in the UAE reveal that seeding clouds can boost rainfall by up to 25%.

Playing God with the weather is not just happening in the Middle East.

More than 15 years ago, for instance, China spent billions to keep the 2008 Beijing Olympics rain free, while more recently Beijing — which has also toyed with cloud-seeding rockets — announced plans to develop a weather modification system by 2025 that could provide rain (or lack of it) on command.

Drought-prone Iran, meanwhile, has long dabbled in cloud seeding, and Bangkok has used it to combat smog.

In 2021, the U.K. launched the Advanced Research & Invention Agency (with a $997 million investment from taxpayers) to conduct research on weather control.

Eleven US states — California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, Utah, and Idaho — have cloud-seeding programs, which everyone from farmers to politicians fiercely defend.

In Wyoming, former state Rep. Evan Simpson insisted that the state’s $1.1 million investment in the practice is “not voodoo.”

And the science backs him up, with research indicating that cloud-seeding can produce up to 10% more precipitation than would have occurred naturally.

“It’s easy to see the impact cloud seeding can have, and the trust and faith local farmers and ranchers have in the program,” said Jonathan Jennings, project meteorologist for the West Texas Weather Modification Association.

And cloud seeding is just the beginning.

If researchers are to be believed, we’ll soon be able to control our weather in ways that once seemed like science fiction.

A Norwegian startup called OceanTherm is developing perforated pipes called “bubble curtains” that can cool the ocean and slow down hurricanes.

Paris researchers reported last year that they’d successfully used lasers to control lightning strikes.

And in Japan, the Moonshot Research and Development Program, launched in 2019 (at a cost of about $1.3 billion in seed money), is developing giant wind turbines designed to “suppress heavy rainfall by about 20%,” said Kosei Yamaguchi, a professor at Kyoto University’s Disaster Prevention Research Institute involved in the research.

Just how realistic is any of it?

Jeroen Oomen, a Utrecht University professor and author of “Imagining Climate Engineering” (Routledge, 2021), calls full weather control “a pipe dream” and “nearly impossible.”

At least not in any great measure at this current moment.

Laser Lightning Rod laser facilities help reduce lightning strikes in Switzerland.

But Karen Bradshaw, an environmental law professor at Arizona State University, claimed “there’s no doubt (weather manipulation) exists. Normal people are just unaware.

It sounds like something from a James Bond movie, but it’s very real.”

The timeline is also open to debate.

Siems thinks we’re still “decades away” from meaningful weather manipulation, while Yamaguchi expects that their typhoon-squashing wind turbines will be ready for indoor model testing “within the year, and then outdoor testing in the next five years.”

In addition to turbines — each about 720 feet high, roughly the size of Times Square Tower — Yamaguchi and his team are also working on a “giant curtain,” pulled by a kite attached to a boat, that would “directly suppress wind velocity, which in turn reduces water vapor flux, thereby suppressing heavy rainfall,” he said. “We are also considering using the curtain to…create rain at sea and preventing heavy rain on land.”

Florida International University professor Hugh Willoughby doesn’t buy it — “My Japanese colleagues are usually much better than that,” he told The Post — and his cynicism is earned.

During the 1960s, he was a head scientist on Project Stormfury, the U.S. government’s failed attempt to weaken tropical cyclones with silver iodide.

Today’s weather manipulation scientists are just “dressing up and recycling discredited mid-20th-century ideas with 21st-century gizmos,” Willoughby said.

To his point, there are more examples of weather manipulation failing than succeeding. Israel ended their cloud seeding experiments last year after decades of disappointing results.

There have been a myriad of weather manipulation ideas that never quite worked, from “Dyn-O-Gel,” a powder peddled by a Jupiter Beach, Fla.-company in the early 2000s that allegedly stopped hurricanes by turning moisture into a gooey gel, to an anti-hail cannon that fired shock waves into thunderclouds.

https://nypost.com/2024/05/11/lifestyle ... e-weather/

Camel Riding Popularity Inspires Special Camel Traffic Lights in the Middle of the Desert

During the month of May, camel riding is such a popular pastime at the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic spots in China’s Kumtag Desert that local authorities use camel traffic lights to avoid traffic jams.

One of the last things you would expect to find in the middle of a desert is a functional traffic light, but you can find several of them in the sand dunes of the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Lake Nature Park, in northwestern China’s Gansu Province. During the annual holiday at the beginning of May, thousands of people flock to these natural tourist spots and engage in a variety of activities, the most popular of which is undoubtedly camel riding. In 2023, there were around 2,400 camels available for riding, as well as tens of thousands of tourists per day at the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic spots alone, which resulted in serious traffic congestion problems. Luckily, local authorities came up with an ingenious solution – camel traffic lights.



As bizarre as using traffic lights in the middle of a desert might seem, it does make some sense. In 2023, on the first day of May, Mingsha Mountain received over 10,000 visitors, and their number grew to 20,000 in the following days of the Spring holiday. Many of them walked along the ancient Silk Road, but a few thousand opted to take in the scenery on camelback, and this created traffic jams along the popular route.



By installing traffic lights that signaled when camels had to stop to allow pedestrians to cross, the problem was partially solved. When the green camel light is on, camels can pass; when the red camel light is on, camels stop to let pedestrians pass first.



Luckily, in Gansu Province’s Kumtag Desert, ‘camel jams’ will no longer be a problem thanks to these ingenious camel traffic lights. The problem is that they’ve now become somewhat of a tourist attraction in what is an already overcrowded tourist spot.

It is expected that more than 240 million Chinese people will travel nationwide during the May Day holiday this year, many of them flocking to popular scenic spots. Some of these get so crowded during this period that they have to issue public announcements urging tourists not to come because there simply isn’t any more room for them.

[Zbignieww]

A 100-Pound River Monster That Feeds At Night Is Eating Way Too Much
"If they can fit it in their mouth, they're going to eat it."



An invasive river monster has become a big problem for native wildlife in parts of the US and Canda. The flathead catfish is set to become an apex predator as it eats its way through America, having been detected as far as Canada.

The flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) really is a river monster, with the heaviest on record clocking 55.79 kilograms (123 pounds) at over 1.55 meters (5 feet) long. As mostly nocturnal hunters, they feed at night and go in search of live prey – but as they travel further from their native waters, they’re munching on all kinds of living things that conservations would rather they didn’t.

The Mississippi and Gulf drainages are their native waters, but since the 1950s, they’ve been introduced by anglers across the western US, making their way into systems that drain along the Atlantic Coast. In 2023, The Office of Governor Wes Moore (Maryland) announced that Moore was calling on the federal government to declare the expanding population of invasive fish species — including flathead catfish —to be “an ongoing commercial fishery disaster in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay”.

Why? Because they just eat so damn much.

“They are going to be one of the apex predators around every system once they establish those populations,” The Telegraph of Macon reports Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division biologist Joel Fleming told McClatchy News. “If they can fit it in their mouth, they’re going to eat it.”

One of the drivers for their ongoing spread is the fecundity of some of the females who – depending on their size – can on average lay 100,000 eggs at a time. Those eggs will be protected by the male until they hatch just over a week later, and the offspring will begin eating their first live fish once they reach around 10 centimeters (4 inches) in length.

As the catfish grows so too does its appetite, and they can go on munching their way through native wildlife for around 30 years. Their potential to cause harm to native ecosystems has meant that wildlife officials now encourage anglers to report any flathead catfish they catch, and – crucially – not release them back into the wild.

As for what to do with the invasive river monsters caught? Provided the water is clean, they are an excellent food source, and the invasivore diet is a delicious way out of a crisis.

https://www.iflscience.com/a-100-pound- ... much-74197

[lush]

Skilled Chinese Makeup Artist Renders People Unrecognizable
030124*

A Chinese makeup artist known as Tuzi (Rabbit) has been getting a lot of attention on social media for her ability to completely transform her clients to the point where they are impossible to recognize.

Tuzi runs the Starlight Rabbit Portrait Studio in Yunan Province, but she gets most of her clientele from social media, particularly Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) where she regularly posts clips of impressive makeup transformations, where she either makes her subjects look decades younger than they actually are, turns them into heroes of Wuxia tales, or simply makes them unrecognizable. Over the years, she has had collaborations with fellow influencers and celebrities, including celebrities, actors, and singers.



One of the reasons Tuzi’s makeup style is so popular – she has over 5.5 million followers on Douyin alone – is because it embodies classic elements of Chinese esthetics, including a flawless complexion, shimmering eyelids, and vibrant pink or mauve blush. This is where some of the criticism against her stems from, as many people believe all of her subjects end up with very similar looks.

One of Tuzi’s most popular videos – one which is unfortunately not on any Western video platforms – has her turning a 72-year-old influencer named Grandma Tran into a young princess. If she really didn’t use any filters or digital enhancement, the end result is indeed very impressive.

Tuzi’s popularity has reached incredible levels in China, and she now has a staff of trained makeup artists holding down the fort at Starlight Rabbit Portrait Studio, while she takes care of the marketing, through her Douyin videos. According to the South China Morning Post, people travel from across the country just to have their makeup done at the studio.

For more impressive makeup styles, check out the work of Randresson Vieira, and the hilariously bad makeup of Mexico’s Ohio Esthetic.

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
TUESDAY MAY 14
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to find weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

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IN OTHER NEWS