+
“A balm for the soul”
  review on Goodreads
GOOD PEOPLE Book
upworthy
Joy

Weatherman rescues a chicken in a blizzard and now they're an unlikely best friend duo

"Now that she's a part of the family, she's a total diva!"

blizzard; pet chicken; the dodo; weatherman and chicken; David Neal;

Weatherman rescues a chicken in a blizzard and now they're friends.

There's a little-known saying that every weatherman needs a chicken. OK, it's little known because I totally just made it up, but you have to admit, it's just random enough to make you wonder if you missed out on a weird colloquialism. But in this case, it may be a new saying because weatherman David Neal found a stray chicken while reporting on a blizzard, and they've somehow become best friends.

The chicken, now named Penelope, was running around in the snowstorm while Neal was filming, so he tried to catch her so he could make sure she was warm. Penelope had other plans and gave Neal a literal run for his money. Eventually, with the help of a bystander who was likely as confused as the chicken, Neal was able to get Penny in his arms.

Of course, he had some explaining to do once the cameras were rolling again, and he handled it like the pro he is, holding a live chicken.


"During my live shot, a chicken walked up to me in about seven inches of snow. So I picked the chicken up and we're really good friends now. So if you lost a chicken maybe you can give me a call," Neal reported during his segment.

No one called reporting a lost chicken, but Neal and his roommate, Sharon, were happy to add Penelope to their household. Neal said the chicken was skinny and obviously cold when he found her, but it didn't take long for the chicken to bond with the weatherman.

The duo does everything together, including fishing on a boat and a podcast where Neal talks about the weather, except now, he has a chicken on his shoulder giving him notes. Their relationship is so cute, you have to see it for yourself.

Watch the weatherman and his chicken below:

via Edith Lemay/NatGeo

Mia, Leo, Colin, and Laurent Pelletier pose on top of their camper van in front of adouble rainbow while in Mongolia.

True

“Blink,” a new film by National Geographic Documentary Films shows how a family with four children, three of whom are going blind, embraces life in the face of an uncertain future. It’s a testament to the resilience of the Lemay-Pelletier family but also a reminder for all of us to seize the day because all our futures are uncertain.

Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier are the parents of Mia, a 13-year-old girl, and three boys: Léo, 11, Colin, 9, and Laurent, 7. Over the last six years, they’ve learned that Mia and the two youngest boys have retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease in which the cells of the retina slowly die. As the disease progresses, the person develops “tunnel vision” that shrinks until very little vision remains.

The diagnosis devastated the parents. "The hardest part with the diagnosis was inaction. There's nothing they can do about it. There's no treatment,” Edith says in the film.


However, even though the parents couldn’t affect the progress of the disease, they could give their children’s senses an epic experience that would benefit them for a lifetime.

“We don’t know how fast it’s going to go, but we expect them to be completely blind by mid-life,” said the parents. Mia’s impairment advisor suggested they fill her visual memory with pictures from books. “I thought, I’m not going to show her an elephant in a book; I’m going to take her to see a real elephant,” Edith explains in the film. “And I’m going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images I can.”

The Pelletier family (from left): Mia, Sebastien, Colin, Edith Lemay, Laurent and Leo inKuujjuaq, Canada.via National Geographic/Katie Orlinsky

This realization led to an inspiring year-long journey across 24 countries, during which every family member experienced something on their bucket list. Mia swam with dolphins, Edith rode a hot-air balloon in Cappadocia, and Léo saw elephants on safari.

Colin realized his dream of sleeping on a moving train while Sébastien saw the historic site of Angkor Wat.

“We were focusing on sights,” explains Pelletier. “We were also focusing a lot on fauna and flora. We’ve seen incredible animals in Africa but also elsewhere. So we were really trying to make them see things that they wouldn’t have seen at home and have the most incredible experiences.”

Cameras followed the family for 76 days as they traveled to far-flung locales, including Namibia, Mongolia, Egypt, Laos, Nepal and Turkey. Along the way, the family made friends with local people and wildlife. In a heartbreaking scene, the boys wept as the family had to leave behind a dog named Bella he befriended in the mountains of Nepal.

But the film isn't just about the wonders of nature and family camaraderie. The family's trip becomes a “nightmare” when they are trapped in a cable car suspended hundreds of feet above the Ecuadorian forest for over 10 hours.

annapurna range, blink, nat geoLeo, Laurent, Edith, Colin, Mia, and Sebastien look out at the mountains in the Annapurna range.via MRC/Jean-Sébastien Francoeur

As expected, NatGeo’s cinematographers beautifully capture the family's journey, and in the case of “Blink,” this majestic vision is of even greater importance. In some of the film's quietest moments, we see the children taking in the world's wonders, from the vast White Desert in Egypt to a fearless butterfly in Nepal, with the full knowledge that their sight will fail one day.

Along the way, the family took as many pictures as possible to reinforce the memories they made on their adventure. “Maybe they’ll be able to look at the photographs and the pictures and they will bring back those stories, those memories, of the family together,” Edith says.

But the film is about more than travel adventures and the pain of grief; ultimately, it’s about family.

“By balancing [the parents’ grief] with a more innocent and joyous tale of childlike wonder and discovery, we felt we could go beyond a mere catalog of locations and capture something universal,” the directors Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, said in a statement. “Keeping our camera at kid-height and intimately close to the family, we aimed to immerse the audience in the observational realities of their daily life, as well as the subtle relationships between each of them. This is a film built on looks, gestures and tiny details—the very fabric of our relationships with one another.”

Ultimately, “Blink” is a great film to see with your loved ones because it’s a beautiful reminder to appreciate the wonders of our world, the gift of our senses and the beauty of family.

The film will open in over 150 theaters in the U.S. and Canada beginning Oct. 4 and will debut on National Geographic Channel and stream on Disney+ and Hulu later this year. Visit the “Blink” website for more information.

via TheEllenShow / YouTube

Mark Wahlberg on "The Ellen Show."

Actor Mark Wahlberg recently attended a daddy-daughter dance with his 10-year-old, Grace. Sadly, Grace had no interest in seeing her father strutting his stuff on the dance floor.

"I didn't get one dance," Wahlberg told Ellen DeGeneres. "And I told her we were going to do the whole big circle and I was going to go off. And she said, 'Dad, if you embarrass me, I will never talk to you again.' But what she did do is she hung out with me."

No matter who your dad is, especially if you're a 10-year-old-girl, you have zero desire to see him dance in front of your friends.

But the parents at the dance probably would have had a blast seeing Wahlberg bust out some of his old-school '90s Marky Mark moves.

However, Wahlberg couldn't help but leave his mark on the music being played at the dance.


Let's not forget, he didn't get famous for his acting but for showing off his abs in the "Good Vibrations" video.

Being that Wahlberg's time as a pop star was three decades ago, he couldn't believe it when he heard the music being played at the dance.

"[Grace] sat there on the edge of the stage, by the DJ. And then I'm sitting there with one other dad and I'm like, 'This is not an edited version of this song. There are explicit lyrics being played at a school dance for girls and I'm like no good,'" he said.

"I told the DJ and he's like, 'Oh, I thought it was.' I said, 'What are you doing?' I'm hearing F-bombs and this and that's not okay," Wahlberg said.

He's right. There's no place for music with explicit lyrics at a dance for 10-year-old children.

Wahlberg says the DJ didn't know he wasn't playing the edited version, but it's probably more likely that he didn't even realize the song was a problem. Pop music these days is filled with a numbing amount of violent and misogynistic lyrics.

A recent study from the University of Missouri found that nearly one-third of pop songs contain lyrics that degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified.

Currently, three of the top five songs on the Billboard Top 40 contain the word "bitch." One of them is sung in Korean.

It's odd that Americans have become more sensitive to misogyny in pop culture in films, television, and comedy, but still have a huge cultural blind-spot when it comes to music.

That's not a good thing, especially when pop music is marketed to teenagers.

"We know that music has a strong impact on young people and how they view their role in society," said Cynthia Frisby, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism.

"Unlike rap or hip-hop, pop music tends to have a bubbly, uplifting sound that is meant to draw listeners in," Frisby continued. "But that can be problematic if the lyrics beneath the sound are promoting violence and misogynistic behavior."

Let's face it, pop stars are role models. Their examples show young people what to wear and how to behave. That's not to say that kids will blindly follow someone just because they like their music. But it has an undeniable effect.

Wahlberg, and any parent who monitors what their kids are listening to, deserve credit for protecting the minds and hearts of their kids.

Frisby has some great advice for parents concerned about negative imagery in pop music.

"Ask your daughters and sons what songs they like to listen to and have conversations about how the songs might impact their identity," Frisby said.

"For example, many songs might make young girls feel like they have to look and act provocative in order to get a boy to like them, when that isn't necessarily the case. If children and teens understand that what they are hearing isn't healthy behavior, then they might be more likely to challenge what they hear on the radio."

He's right. There's no place for music with explicit lyrics at a dance for 10-year-old children.

Wahlberg says the DJ didn't know he wasn't playing the edited version, but it's probably more likely that he didn't even realize the song was a problem. Pop music these days is filled with a numbing amount of violent and misogynistic lyrics.

A recent study from the University of Missouri found that nearly one-third of pop songs contain lyrics that degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified.

Currently, three of the top five songs on the Billboard Top 40 contain the word "bitch." One of them is sung in Korean.

It's odd that Americans have become more sensitive to misogyny in pop culture in films, television, and comedy, but still have a huge cultural blind-spot when it comes to music.

That's not a good thing, especially when pop music is marketed to teenagers.

"We know that music has a strong impact on young people and how they view their role in society," said Cynthia Frisby, a professor in the Missouri School of Journalism.

"Unlike rap or hip-hop, pop music tends to have a bubbly, uplifting sound that is meant to draw listeners in," Frisby continued. "But that can be problematic if the lyrics beneath the sound are promoting violence and misogynistic behavior."

Let's face it, pop stars are role models. Their examples show young people what to wear and how to behave. That's not to say that kids will blindly follow someone just because they like their music. But it has an undeniable effect.

Wahlberg, and any parent who monitors what their kids are listening to, deserve credit for protecting the minds and hearts of their kids.

Frisby has some great advice for parents concerned about negative imagery in pop music.

"Ask your daughters and sons what songs they like to listen to and have conversations about how the songs might impact their identity," Frisby said.

"For example, many songs might make young girls feel like they have to look and act provocative in order to get a boy to like them, when that isn't necessarily the case. If children and teens understand that what they are hearing isn't healthy behavior, then they might be more likely to challenge what they hear on the radio."


This article originally appeared on 03.03.20

Images from findgrave.com and Simon Watson

The soil in an Irish churchyard has proven healing properties

We’ve all heard an old wives tale—a superstition or belief that seems ridiculous but just might have a kernel of truth to it. For instance: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Probably not literally true, but there’s no question that good nutrition helps keep you from getting sick. Counting sheep will help you fall asleep?

Well, it might, for some people. In other words, old wives tales might not be true for everyone all the time, but there’s often a little bit of truth in there somewhere. For centuries, the people of northern Ireland had an old wives tale of their own: A small churchyard in a hamlet called Boho has soil that is rumored to have magical healing powers.


A picture of the Boho Church of Ireland Churchyard in County Fermanagh. Found on the Church’s facebook page.





















According to legend, in 1815, a local folk healer named Reverend James McGirr supposedly said on his death bed that “the clay that covers me will be able to cure anything that I was able to cure when I was with you when I was still alive.” After the reverend died and was buried, parishioners started traveling to his gravesite in the churchyard to sample the “clay” (aka, the soil) from his grave.



A picture of Father McGirr’s grave, from findagrave.com.

The local custom went like this: A person would kneel beside McGirr’s grave and collect a “thumbnail size patch of dirt,” likely no more than a teaspoon or two, and put it into a small cotton pouch. After that, the person would take the soil home (being careful not to speak to anyone on the way home, since it would interfere somehow with the healing) and place it under the pillow of the person who was sick. After placing the pouch under the pillow, that person was required to say prayers for the person who was sick, as well as for the soul of Father McGirr and all of his deceased relatives and friends, along with a few other Catholic prayers for good measure.


A letter from the parish priest instructing people on how to use the clay and when to return it. Photo credit Simon Watson.



Within a few days, the sick person would supposedly be cured, and the dirt would be returned to the churchyard and placed back on McGirr’s grave. (Failure to return the soil within four days meant bad luck and that your healing wouldn’t be granted.) For centuries, the soil was used to heal flesh wounds, toothaches, sore throats, and more—and according to legend, it actually worked.

Microbiologist Gerry Quinn, who grew up near Boho, had heard the old wives tale throughout his childhood. As a researcher at Swansea University Medical School in 2018, he decided to dig into the old wives tale and find out the truth about the soil once and for all. Was it purely superstition, or could the soil somehow really be healing people?

“There seemed to be a lot of superstition around [this folk remedy], but in the back of my head I realized that there's always something behind these traditions or they wouldn't be going on so long,” Quinn said in an interview.

Quinn and his colleagues collected soil samples from McGirr’s grave and the surrounding churchyard and found something surprising: The soil contained Streptomyces, a bacteria that’s found in highly alkaline environments and is responsible for producing about two-thirds of all the antibiotics we currently use. Streptomycin, for instance, which is derived from Streptomyces, is one of the few antibiotics that can treat tuberculosis.

In just a small sample of the churchyard soil, the researchers were able to isolate eight different strains of Streptomyces, which could potentially produce hundreds of different antibiotics. But wait—there’s more. One of the strains, the researchers discovered, had never been previously identified, and that’s great news for scientists (and, frankly, for the rest of the world).



Streptomyces sp. myrophorea under a microscope, courtesy of G. Quinn, Swansea University.


Antibiotics have revolutionized medicine, saving millions of lives every year and preventing an untold number of infections. Unfortunately, antibiotics have also been overused, which leads to something called antimicrobial resistance. This is when bacteria mutate and become harder to kill, eventually becoming “superbugs” that are resistant to antibiotics altogether. The more resistant the bacteria, the more infections become impossible to treat—and this leads to more disease, disability, and death. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s leading health problems, according to the World Health Organization.

And this is exactly what makes the discovery in Boho so important. When the Swansea researchers tested the never-before-seen strain of Streptomyces, they discovered it was able to kill four of the top six multi-resistant bacteria that are responsible for most healthcare-related infections, such as MRSA.

“Our discovery is an important step forward in the fight against antibiotic resistance,” wrote Quinn and Swansea microbiologist Paul Dyson in an article in Newsweek. “The discovery of antimicrobial substances … will help in our search for new drugs to treat multi-resistant bacteria, the cause of many dangerous and lethal infections.” The Swansea team is currently identifying strains of bacteria from the soil and testing them against other multi-resistant pathogens.

Lesson learned: Sometimes old wives tales aren’t “tales” at all—they can actually save lives.





Science

Ecologist 'burst into tears' seeing endangered gliders using boxes designed to save them

A third of the greater gliders' remaining habitat was destroyed in the Australian wildfires, and researchers didn't know if their high-tech box idea would work.

Greater gliders are endangered in Australia and rely on old-growth tree hollows to make their nests.

When a team of Australian researchers started checking the high-tech boxes they'd installed to help save endangered greater gliders, they weren't sure what they were going to find. The hope was that the tree-dwelling marsupials would use them for nesting—a replacement for the tree hollows they normally nest in—but no one knew whether or not the creatures would take to them.

So when Dr. Kita Ashman, Threatened Species and Climate Adaptation Ecologist at WWF-Australia, found a glider in the second box she checked, she was thrilled.

"I just burst into tears, I was so surprised and so happy," she told ABC News Australia.


Greater gliders are nocturnal marsupials that live in old-growth forests of eastern Australia. They have large ears, fluffy fur, long tails, and they can glide up to 100 meters at a time. The species is only found in Australia.

"I grew up looking at greater gliders all throughout the Dandenong Ranges. So they have a really special place in my heart," said Dr. Ashman told ANU.

The special nesting boxes were designed and created through a partnership between Australian National University (ANU), Greening Australia and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia after bushfires destroyed a third of the greater gliders' remaining habitat. The tree hollows that greater gliders rely on to nest can take over 100 years to form, according to ANU, so it's not like they can just find some new trees to live in when their homes are destroyed.

Nesting boxes that are commonly used for wildlife aren't a good fit for greater gliders, as the thin walls and lack of thermal protection can result in gliders overheating. (Heat-stressed gliders will slow their eating, which can be life-threatening, according to ANU.) The high-tech boxes in this project are insulated and include a non-toxic, heat-reflective, fire-resistant coating to keep gliders safe.

"I've affectionately been calling this design the Goldilocks box because we hope it will keep greater gliders not too hot and not too cold and will help to increase the species' resilience in a changing climate," Ashman said in July 2022.

"Producing and installing high-quality nest boxes is costly," added ANU research fellow Dr. Kara Youngentob, "so this project is very important because it will help us understand if expensive interventions like nest boxes are the best use of funding in our urgent mission to save greater gliders."

It appears that their efforts are paying off.

"What we didn't know was whether these boxes worked and whether they have an impact on the glider population," Dr. Youngentob told ABC News Australia. "Much to our delight, within a few months of them going up they are already being used by gliders, so we know the individuals themselves like them and use them."

According to Youngentob, greater gliders are the largest gliding marsupial at risk of extinction. More than 200 nesting boxes have been installed in Victoria's East Gippsland and in Tallaganda National Park in New South Wales. Youngentob told ABC News Australia that this project will help researchers learn more about how many of the species are left in the wild.

The quiet, nocturnal marsupial faces threats from climate change and deforestation in addition to the wildfires that ravaged Australia in 2020. Their population has fallen by 80% in the past 20 years and the species reached endangered status in July of 2022.

"They're a treasure for this country." Dr. Youngentob told ANU. "And I think the more people know about them, the more that they will fall in love with them and want to protect them too."


This article originally appeared on 1.20.23

Photo by Pedro Durigan on Unsplash
1869 Heinz tomato ketchup bottle close-up photography

Burger and french fry connoisseurs know: There is only one true tomato ketchup. (Fun fact: Heinz is called "tomato ketchup" because the word ketchup actually refers to a paste with a certain consistency. Ketchup can be made from lots of things, including fruits like bananas, blueberries, and cherries!)

But that doesn't stop many restaurants looking to save a buck from trying to pull the old switcharoo: filling up empty Heinz bottles with cheap off-brand ketchup.Spoiler alert: Diners HATE this. People who like ketchup tend to be extremely passionate about it, and don't take kindly to being duped. So Heinz decided to do something about it with a brilliant and barely noticeable tweak to their label design.

A new Heinz label being tested in Turkey includes a red border that exactly matches the color of Heinz ketchup — easily exposing impostors

VML Turkey

VML, a global marketing agency, came up with the award-winning design. The end result was deliciously simple and brilliant.

In the old design, the Heinz label had a simple white border. Heinz and VML simply "identified the exact red color of Heinz Tomato Ketchup using the world's universal Pantone color scale and simply added this Pantone Red stripe to the Heinz Tomato Ketchup label," according to the agency's official case study.

Additional text at the bottom of the label reads "Is that Heinz? Check with the color of the label."

For foodies outside of Turkey, Heinz also launched an Instagram filter that allows you to easily compare the ketchup on your table to the true red to check for authenticity.

Ketchup enthusiasts are big fans of the change.

Though the campaign initially launched in 2023, the new label continues to get buzz.

Facebook user Man Behaving Dadly shared the photos with his audience, to the tune of over 3,000 comments and 14,000 shares.

For the most part, people are pumped.

YogaDiva MT wrote: I eat HEINZ ketchup only and I can tell the difference when I taste some off brand version.

Cheryl Jenkins joked: Don’t need a sticker we know when we taste it

Kate Mays said: I too, hate when they do that. Heinz forever

Thom Cousens brought up an important point: I've eaten in cafes and seen the staff "top up" Heinz bottles with value stuff. Dangerous game to play if there's allergens in one but not the other.

To be fair, plenty of users chimed in to add that they couldn't care less about ketchup brands — and some even claimed to dislike Heinz.

But the point isn't necessarily that Heinz is objectively the best ketchup on the planet. It's that diners shouldn't be deceived so restaurants can save a buck.

It's an annoying time to be a consumer of, well, anything. But especially at restaurants.

While the Heinz label campaign was concepted and rolled out in Turkey, initially, we sure could use it here in the US..

Because the numbers don't lie. People are eating out less and less.

The price of a meal out has skyrocketed and, at least anecdotally, quality has gone way down to boot. It's hard to measure for sure whether restaurants (especially corporate chains) are using lower quality ingredients, but it sure feels like it.

Service has also become a problem. Despite prices going up, servers and kitchen staff are still way underpaid, which makes it hard for establishments to attract good people.

In short, going out to eat just kind of... sucks. More and more people aren't finding the experience to be worth it, and when we do decide to open up our wallets and get served some cheapo replacement ketchup, it can feel like the last straw!

Running a restaurant is tough sledding, especially for small businesses. It can be challenging to keep the lights on in this economy.

But, please, we're begging you. At least give us good food, a fun experience, and real ketchup.

Parents are debating over whether to give children "adult" or "baby" names.

The names we choose to give our children can significantly impact their lives. Multiple studies from across the globe have found that a person’s name can influence their employment, social and economic outcomes.

Unfortunately, humans make snap judgments about one another, and having an unusual name can lead people to make unflattering assumptions. “We’re hardwired to try to figure out in a heartbeat whether or not we want to trust somebody, whether we want to run from somebody,” Northwestern University researcher David Figlio said, according to Live Science.

However, an increasing number of parents are giving their children non-traditional names to help them stand out. “Parents are trying to be original, almost branding their kids in an era where names are viewed on the same level as Twitter handles or a website URL,” writer Sabrina Rogers-Anderson said.

Ruby, a mother on TikTok, took a hard stance on parents giving their children names that sound childish in a post that’s received over 11 million views. Ruby says she named her kids as “adults, not babies” hoping they would never “outgrow” their names.

@rubyyvillarreal

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

“The whole concept when I was trying to look for a name and choose a name for her is I did not want her to outgrow her name,” she said in the viral video. “I wanted the name to fit her as a baby, as a toddler, as a child, and into adulthood. So, it's like I really am happy with what I ended up with naming her and it just fits her so well.”

She captioned the video, “love having nicknames as they are younger and it doesn’t mean they will prefer it over their name as they get older. Just gives them options.”

People in the comments responded with modern names they think that kids will outgrow.

"My name is Koazy and I’m here for a job interview," Stalker joked. "Hello sir, I am Bluey Mason Garrison! I was called in for a job interview last Tuesday," Pastel Purr added.

"I can’t imagine knowing [a] 30-year-old named Emma or Posie," Mikey wrote.

However, a lot of people commented that names that seem like they’ll be outgrown will sound fine in the future when those names are popular with the new generation. “Kids grow up with their generation having their own names on trend. They will be normal adult names when they are grown,” Kerry wrote.

“Names grow with the generation,” Lauren added. “The name Dennis sounded like a baby name once too. Names grow up just like generations.”

@rubyyvillarreal

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

In a follow-up video, Ruby shared the names she gave her children. Her girl is named Karla Esmerelda and her boy is called Deluca.

“I just really liked how simple, how bold, and strong that the name by itself just really kind of is. Doing some research names with the letter K tend to be like very bold and powerful names, so I really wanted it with a K and not with a C,” she said.

She named her son Deluca, after a doctor on “Grey’s Anatomy.” She said she chose the name because there was nothing to connect it to, and it sounded “nice.”


This article originally appeared on 4.26.23