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His hotel didn't understand what 'wheelchair accessible' meant. So he built an app.

There’s a new app on the horizon that will open doors to accessibility for people with disabilities when they travel.

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Microsoft Philanthropies

People who have disabilities often come up against unavoidable obstacles when they travel.

Image via Access Earth/Facebook, used with permission.

When Ireland native Matt McCann was planning a trip to London back in 2012, he made sure the hotel fit all his requirements — most importantly, wheelchair accessibility. Since Matt has cerebral palsy, he has to be more discerning about the places where he chooses to stay. After some research, the hotel he chose appeared to check out ... that is, until he got there.

The hotel was not nearly as accessible as it claimed to be online.

There were steps leading up to the reception area that were difficult for him to climb. When he finally made it to his room, he couldn’t fit his rolling walker through the door.

Needless to say, this was a problem. Matt, together with his friend KC Grant, asked for a refund and left the hotel for one that was truly wheelchair accessible.

Matt's experience was eye-opening, and it sparked an idea to improve this lack of accessibility information.

According to Matt, the problem really lies in how hotels currently define "wheelchair accessible."

“Typically, when a hotel advertises itself as wheelchair accessible, they are looking specifically at the hotel rooms themselves," he says. "Rarely can you find specific accessibility information about the exterior of the hotel itself or access to the other amenities in the hotel such as the breakfast room, restaurant, or bar."


Image via iStock.

Despite what hotel owners and managers might think, access to these areas is just as important, and it often makes or breaks a travel experience for people with disabilities.

Matthew, KC, and their friend Jack Gallagher put on their software-engineer caps and came up with an ingenious program: Access Earth.

Access Earth is a platform to search, find, and add accessible locations. The data is compounded through crowdsourcing and can easily be updated by answering “yes” or “no” questions. It also includes virtual tours of hotel properties and local attractions including restaurants and shopping centers.

Image via Access Earth, used with permission.

“The key thing is that everyone’s definition of accessibility is different, and that is what Access Earth aims to address,” Matt told Upworthy.

They were able to complete the app in time to enter it into Imagine Cup in 2014 — "Microsoft’s premier technology competition that tasks students with creating apps that will change the world." Not surprisingly, they made it through the semifinals and ended up landing in third place in the World Citizenship category.

Since then, Matt, his business partner Ryan O’Neill, and their team have been working on expanding their data reach and getting the app mobile-ready.

Image via msuwelfare/Instagram, used with permission.

They’ve started an ambassador program, which encourages volunteers to rate more buildings and add more information to the site. Currently, you can only access Access Earth through its website and via Windows Phone, but iPhone and Android apps shouldn’t be too far behind.

“Everyone’s definition of accessibility is different, and that is what Access Earth aims to address."

The company plans to take Access Earth to the United States within the next 12 months. Right now, it's in beta testing but open to anyone to use.


Image via Access Earth, used with permission.

The future looks bright for this determined little start-up.

While expansion will be a challenge because it comes with accessibility guideline discrepancies, they remain optimistic. Until then, it’s all about continuing to cultivate their user base and develop their online presence so people with disabilities can find them.

Their goal is to make businesses prioritize universal accessibility in their building plans rather than add in accessible additions as an afterthought.

However, the only way for them to really succeed is with your help. If you’ve recently been to a hotel that had particularly good accessibility for individuals with disabilities, go to their website and add it to the list.

Animals & Wildlife

6th grader's science experiment answers, 'Do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on?'

A question no one knew they needed answered.

Photo courtesy of Kerry Hyde

Do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on? Science answers.

Cat owners sometimes have unique questions that even Google doesn't always have the answer to. This is probably the sole reason cat forums exist, but one kid who needed a 6th grade science project decided to skip the cat forums for answers and instead use the scientific method. Kaeden Henry, a sixth grader living in Florida, bravely pondered a question few (if any one) has been brave enough to ask: do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on?

Since cats do whatever the heck they want, training them not to jump on kitchen counters is a feat even Hercules struggles to complete. These fierce felines don't care if you're cooking dinner or trying to get comfy in bed. If they want to sit somewhere, they're going to do it. The thought of cat butts on that expensive Serta pillow designed to feel like you're sleeping on a cloud can gross people out, but thanks to Kaeden, you no longer have to wonder if the butthole itself is also making contact.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

The curious sixth grader is homeschooled and well-versed in the scientific method thanks to her mother's PhD in animal behavior with a concentration in feline behavior. And, since they own cats, the science experiment was pretty straightforward (and directly impactful).

To complete the experiment, Henry and his mom, Kerry Hyde, bought non-toxic lipstick and applied it to each of their cat's anuses. Then, the cats were given commands.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

"Non-toxic lipstick was applied to their bum-bums, they were then given a series of commands (sit, wait, lie down, and jump up. Side note: Both cats have been trained since kittenhood with a variety of commands, they also know how to high-five, spin around, and speak.), they were compensated with lots of praise, pets, and their favorite treats, and the lipstick was removed with a baby wipe once we collected our data in just under 10 minutes," Hyde wrote in a Facebook post.

The results? Turns out that, no, cat buttholes do not touch every surface cats sit on. Now, let's all take a collective sigh of relief while we go over the details. Kaeden's experiment covered long-haired, short-haired, and medium-haired cats (if your cat is hairless, you better stock up on Clorox wipes just in case).

"His results and general findings: Long and medium haired cat’s buttholes made NO contact with soft or hard surfaces at all. Short haired cats made NO contact on hard surfaces. But we did see evidence of a slight smear on the soft bedding surface. Conclusion, if you have a short haired cat and they may be lying on a pile of laundry, an unmade bed, or other soft uneven surface, then their butthole MAY touch those surfaces!" Hyde shares.

Now every curious cat owner can rest easy knowing that as long as their cat has hair, their bare bottom balloon knot is not touching the majority of surfaces in their home.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

The amusing experiment caught the Internet's attention. People laughed and commented, with one person writing, "This is probably the most useful information I’ve learned from a science fair project."

"Good to know!...I can now eat my sandwich left on the counter with confidence!" another writes.

Courtesy of Kerry Hyde

"A+++!!! Whew!! I am very grateful for your sciencing on this subject. My fears from walking in on my cat sitting on my laptop keyboard and subsequently being grossed out and cleaning furiously in a hyper-ocd manner have been somewhat allayed and now maybe I won’t have to use QUIIITE so many wipes." someone chimes in.

"Finally.. Someone answers the important questions!!"

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Kids

A mom was told her daughter was too girly to play sports so she planned epic photoshoot

Girls don't have to choose between sparkly or sporty.

HMP Couture Imagery

Some of the HMP Couture sports models showing off their girly and athletic sides

We're lucky to live in a time where women's sports are getting serious attention. Thanks to breakout stars like Serena Williams, Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles, and more, women's athletics is actually starting to get the respect it deserves. More and more young girls are now able to see themselves competing at the highest levels, and they have the role models to follow in order to get there.

But, frustratingly, girls in sports are subject to double standards that men don't have to give a second though. One major issue is that girls who are too "pretty" have trouble being taken seriously as athletes, and they're constantly criticized and underestimated. (All the while, being too muscular or "manly" opens up athletes to a whole different kind of scrutiny.)

So this one's for the girls who know you don't have to chose between sparkles and sports. For too long, girls have been sent the message that they have to be either/or. You're either a girly-girl or a tomboy. You're either into sparkly princesses or sports practices. From the early days of childhood, we're told in bold and subtle ways to squeeze ourselves into separate boxes. But those boxes are bullspit, and most of us know it. Girls don't have to choose between feeling beautiful and being badass. We can be both at the same time.

Perhaps that's why a portrait shoot shared by HMP Couture Imagery showing girls dressed up in fancy dresses andsports equipment has gone insanely viral.

The shoot is called "Because you can do it all," and since its posting it has been shared over 200,000 times.

The woman who photographed the shoot says a comment from a fellow mom sparked the idea.

Heather Mitchell, the photographer from Alabama who runs HMP Couture Imagery, told Upworthy how the portrait shoot came about.

"My youngest daughter is 8 and she is trying softball this year for the first time," said Mitchell. "We were at practice a few weeks ago and I was talking with the other moms. I was saying that I hoped Paislee learned to love the game because she was athletic. One of the moms told me that she was not athletic, that she was a girly-girl."

"I couldn't sleep that night," Mitchell continued. "All I could think was, 'Why does she have to choose?' I played every sport my school offered and wore lipstick to every game. So the next day we went to the studio and created her shot."

Mitchell says she only spent about three minutes shooting because she knew exactly what she wanted to create. After she posted the photos of Paislee to her personal Facebook page, she got a ton of requests from other parents for the same kind of shoot. After adding two days to the schedule, they sold out in an hour—and the requests just keep on coming.

The sparkly-sporty shoots continue to be one of Mitchells most popular bookings.

Mitchell hopes that girls see these photos and realize that they don't have to choose one identity.

The idea that crinoline and cleats can't exist in the same mental space is silly, but common. Girls (and boys for that matter) can love pretty things and kick butt at sports. They don't have to be one thing or the other.

"My parent taught me that I could be anything I wanted growing up," Mitchell told Upworthy. "I didn't realize till I was much older that everyone is not that blessed."

The photos going so viral has not only been good for the photography business, its helped spread the message far and wide.

These photos are an excellent reminder to questions our assumptions and not place unnecessary limits on anyone—and an empowering example for girls who don't fit neatly into a socially constructed box.

After all, even someone like Caitlin Clark likes to wear a fancy dress every now and then. And her athleticism and impact on the sport is not up for debate because of it.

"I hope that every little girl that sees this series can see that there is no box," says Mitchell. "Whatever their dreams are they can achieve."

This article originally appeared six years ago. It had been updated.

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Science

Innovative farm in Virginia can grow 4 million pounds of strawberries on less than one acre

This method uses 97 percent less land and up to 90 percent less water than conventional farming.

Photo credit: Canva

A new way to grow strawberries with less land, less water, and more berries.

Strawberry farm harvests aren't something most of us calculate on a regular basis (or ever at all), but the numbers from a strawberry farm in Richmond, Virginia, are staggering enough to make it worth an old-school word problem. If the average American eats 8 pounds of strawberries a year, and an average strawberry farm yields approximately 20,000 pounds of berries per acre, how many people could a 200-acre strawberry field feed?

I won't make you do the math. The answer is 500,000 people. But what if a crop that size, providing enough strawberries for half a million people, could be grown on just one acre instead of 200? It's possible. You just have to go—or rather grow—up, up, up.

Indoor vertical farm company Plenty Unlimited knows a lot about growing up. In fact, it's their entire business model. Instead of the sprawling fields that traditional farming methods require, vertical farms have a much smaller land footprint, utilizing proprietary towers for growing. Plenty has used vertical farming methods to grow greens such as lettuce, kale, spinach and more for years, but now it boasts a vertical berry farm that can yield a whopping 4 million pounds of strawberries on a little less than an acre.

Growing indoors means not being at the mercy of weather or climate inpredictability (barring a storm taking out your building), which is wise in the era of climate change. Unlike a traditional greenhouse which still uses the sun for light, Plenty's indoor vertical farms make use of the latest technology and research on light, pinpointing the wavelengths plants need from the sun to thrive and recreating them with LED lights. Plenty farms also don't use soil, as what plants really need is water and nutrients, which can be provided without soil (and with a lot less water than soil requires). Being able to carefully control water and nutrients means you can more easily control the size, taste and uniformity of the berries you’re growing.

If that sounds like a lot of control, it is. And that idea might freak people out. But when a highly controlled environment means not having to use pesticides and using up to 90% less water than traditional farming, it starts to sound like a solid, sustainable farming innovation.

Plenty even uses AI in its strawberry farm, according to its website:

“Every element of the Plenty Richmond Farm–including temperature, light and humidity–is precisely controlled through proprietary software to create the perfect environment for the strawberry plants to thrive. The farm uses AI to analyze more than 10 million data points each day across its 12 grow rooms, adapting each grow room’s environment to the evolving needs of the plants – creating the perfect environment for Driscoll’s proprietary plants to thrive and optimizing the strawberries’ flavor, texture and size.”

Plenty even has its own patent-pending method of pollinating the strawberry flowers that doesn’t require bees. Even just the fact that this enormous crop of strawberries will be coming from Virginia is notable, since the vast majority of strawberries in the U.S. are grown in California.

strawberry fieldTraditional strawberry farming takes up a lot of land.Photo credit: Canva

Plenty's Richmond farm is currently growing strawberries exclusively for Driscoll’s.

“Partnering with Plenty for the launch of the Richmond Farm allows us to bring our premium strawberries closer to consumers in the Northeast, the largest berry consumption region in the U.S.,” Driscoll’s CEO Soren Bjorn said in a press release. “By combining our 100 years of farming expertise and proprietary varieties along with Plenty’s cutting-edge technology, we can deliver the same consistent flavor and quality our customers love — now grown locally. This new innovative farm is a powerful step forward in continuing to drive category growth in new ways for our customers and consumers.”

Is Plenty’s model the farm of the future? Perhaps it’s one option, at least. The more we grapple with the impact of climate change and outdated, unsustainable farming practices, the more innovative ideas we’ll need to feed the masses. If they can get 4 million pounds of strawberries out of an acre of land, what else is possible?

This article originally appeared in February

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Pets

Kitten named Duck learns to run on two legs and she looks like an adorable velociraptor

It hasn't slowed her down one bit.

Purrasic Duck|Instagram

Cat learns to run on two feet after front leg amputations.

Babies are really adaptable, and the same can be said for baby animals. It's likely because they just don't know any other way of life, so they just go with it what they're given and, miraculously, make it work. Even knowing that, however, it's still hard to imagine a kitten getting around without their front legs.

Cats essentially use everything from their whiskers to their tails to balance, so how would one walk without two of it's four legs? The answer is, carefully at first. Duck is a rescued kitten who, unfortunately, had to have both of her front legs completely amputated. While she was wobbly at first, she quickly adapted.

Duck's human, Cody, shares her daily shenanigans on his Instagram page aptly named Purrasic Duck. In 2020, he told Duck's story to The Dodo, revealing how she was rescued and how, against all odds, she developed her agile moves. If you're having a hard time picturing a two-legged cat on the run, it looks a lot like a furry velociraptor chasing a laser pointer.

"I ended up naming her Duck because she kinda waddled. She'd kinda take it slow, she waddled trying to figure out her balance," Cody told The Dodo.

Before long, Duck was off to play with her much larger dog brothers. Her pug brother even offers her a little assistance in the face cleaning area since Duck doesn't have paws to do it herself. She returns the favor by cleaning his face too. It's an adorable relationship, but if you want to see a furry velociraptor chase after cat toys, you'll need to watch the video below.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Cody met Duck when she was found and brought into his sister's animal clinic. "She was probably chilling in a car engine and her legs got caught up, and she survived that!" Cody can be heard saying as a voice over in the video. At first, Cody's sister brought her over as a potential foster, but after just one day, Cody decided to keep her for his own. "When I met her, I just fell in love immediately," he said.

Duck has no shortage of friends to play with at home, either. In addition to her dog brothers, Cody rescues and either keeps or fosters plenty of baby animals, from chickens, turtles, and opossums to a raccoon, a squirrel, and of course, more dogs and cats. Duck also has a sister named Goose, who's an adorable gray kitty with just one eye. Here they are hanging out together:

@purrasicduck

A great surprise #animals #foryou #mememaker #fitness #girls

Today, Duck is no longer a baby and has gotten this two-legged life down pat. She's living happily with dad Cody and her many, many, many animal siblings and friends. On her social media pages, Cody includes a useful link for other pet parents, rescuers, and fosterers with recommended products to help make the rescue and rehoming process easy for everyone. Check it out here.

@purrasicduck

Alllllll the animals #CapCut #pets #rescue #foryou #foryoupage

Cody has got quite the rescue menagerie going and and it's so inspiring.


This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

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Joy

Inconsiderate coworker unknowingly eats THC-infused pie from the office fridge

An unforgettable lesson in why you shouldn't take someone's food without permission.

Photo credit: Canva

A coworker ate someone else's pie and quickly learned a lesson.

There's nothing more annoying in an office setting than a coworker constantly eating food out of the break room fridge that isn't theirs. They know it's not theirs so they wait until no one is around to swipe whatever looks most appetizing. Sometimes it's even a case of secretly bullying someone else by specifically eating one person's food or snacks left in the community space.

This sort of behavior can make anyone frustrated, especially if the victim of the food snatcher was looking forward to their packed lunch. Anyone who has experienced having their food taken has likely thought about how satisfactory it would feel to somehow get revenge on the culprit. One person didn't have to plot retaliatory strike, seems karma entered the room on this worker's day off.

Fola, who owns Sades Dulces where she sells baked goods, uploaded a video detailing a phone call she received from a local business about a pie consumed by their employees.

Fola revealed that outside of her Sades Dulces, she sells THC infused pies, which is the same type of pie she recently delivered to a customer's employer. The state in which this occurred has legalized the selling and consumption of marijuana, including any products derived by the THC oils so someone ordering an infused pie wasn't out of the norm for this small business.

TikTok · Folawww.tiktok.com

In this case, she was directed to drop the pie off so the customer could take the pie home for the weekend. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the customer forgot the pie in the employee refrigerator.

That's when a sneaky office snacker, who works weekends, took it upon themselves to break open the brand new uneaten pie. They not only began to eat the pie, they shared the pie with eight other people, none of which knew the pie was infused with THC including the original pie thief.

"My customer doesn't work on the weekend so what ended up happening is that my customer put their pie into the 'frigerator at the job. We already know where I'm going with this, right," Fola said before continuing with the story.

Finally Yeah Boy GIFfrom Finally GIFs

She explained that the business called her asking a lot of questions about the pie because the people that ate it started to get sick causing the employer to need to call an ambulance. Fola told the employer that the pie is infused with THC and everyone should be fine once it wears off but the woman refused to give her customer's name fearing that they may get into trouble for the mishap.

Eventually Fola called the customer to inform her about her nine coworkers eating her infused pie, which caused them to be sent home from work. According to Fola, the customer did not feel badly for her fellow coworkers, saying, "So, she's like 'oh my God.' And then she was like 'you know what, that's what they get because they keep eating people's food.'"

That's one way to learn a lesson about eating other people's food without permission. Of course if you're knowingly ingesting an edible containing THC, you expect to feel a little weird. These coworkers thought they were getting a regular piece of sweet potato pie and there was nothing to tip them off before consuming the product so they were likely caught off guard by their body's reaction. There's also the likelihood that the people who at the infused pie had never eaten infused foods previously, making the reaction even more concerning.

"If you've never had an edible before you are going to freak out because you don't know what's going on with your body," she quipped. "Half of them probably thought they were going to meet their maker so I can understand everybody freaking out."

@folathemasterpiece Infused pie gets people fired
♬ original sound - Fola

People in the comments found humor in the unauthorized pie eaters' misfortune while other's pointed out that the story makes a great marketing opportunity for the small business.

"Having a potluck on a pie you didn't purchase is WILDDDD," one person wrote.

"I'm crackin upppp. Chile this is why you cannot eat everybody food. Cause why the people at the office eating a pie that wasn't offered to them anyway lmao" another person asked.

Pie Pie Day GIFfrom Pie GIFs

"Why do people think it's ok to help themselves to other people's food or eat their lunch when not offered to them. It could have been something that they are allergic to. I'm sharing this video," someone else said.

One person recalled a similar situation that happened when they took too much of an edible by mistake, "My friend gave me a 50g edible, and mind you I like both flowers and edibles...I'm use to about 20-50g. I look at the package after I consumed and it was 500g. Thought was going to legit be the first one in history to die from canna...Almost drove to the hospital and snitched on myself."

Thankfully everyone who ate the pie is just fine, though they continued to be a little buzzed the day after the incident according to Fola's follow up video. But it's surely an unforgettable lesson on why you don't eat food out of a community refrigerator that doesn't belong to you.

This article originally appeared last year.

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