Month: November 2019

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Tom Hanks Discovered That Mister Rogers Is His Cousin

Call it a twist of fate or destiny, but actor Tom Hanks recently found out that and Fred Rogers (aka the beloved Mister Rogers who spent decades entertaining children on public television) are sixth cousins.

Ancestry.com revealed the information, to which Hanks said, “It all just comes together, you see.”

The news is particularly interesting because Hanks plays Fred Rogers in the recently-released film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which details the friendship that developed between Rogers and a journalist named Tom Junod who wrote an article about the television host for Esquire magazine in 1998.

An Ancestry.com spokesperson said, “Fred Rogers and Tom Hanks are sixth cousins sharing the same 5x great-grandfather … who immigrated from Germany to America in the 18th century.”

Hanks’ wife, Rita Wilson, said, “No, impossible! You’re pulling our leg.”

Posted by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on Sunday, May 1, 2016

It only makes sense that one of America’s favorite actors would play one of the country’s most-beloved public figures…and be related to him. What are the chances?

Fred Rogers hosted Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood from 1968 until 2001, focusing on themes of kindness, charity, and being a good friend and neighbor to everyone. Rogers died in 2003 at the age of 74, but his legacy and continues to inspire people all over the world.

Rogers is so well-regarded that there is now a holiday honoring him in his native Pennsylvania every May 23.

Watch the trailer for the new film below.

Have you seen A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood yet?

If so, give us your review in the comments!

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Disney+ Has Content Warnings About ‘Outdated Cultural Depictions,’ but Is It Enough?

Disney+ is all the rage at the moment, as the iconic entertainment company is now in the streaming game in a major way, releasing their archived films, old and new, for all to enjoy.

With the release of many of these older films comes a problem, though. Included in the description of some Disney+ films come warnings about possible “outdated cultural depictions” that some people may find offensive.

“Outdated cultural depictions” is kind of code for offensive, racist, misogynistic portrayals of minorities, women, etc.

Warner Bros. has done similar warnings before some of their cartoons. And if you’ve ever watched any of these old cartoons (or you grew up on them), you know that a lot of them contain imagery, themes, and scenes that definitely wouldn’t be acceptable in today’s environment.

And, as you can see, the warning on some Warner Bros. content is a little more forthcoming and honest as compared to just saying there might be some “outdated cultural depictions” in Disney classics such as Peter Pan, Pocahontas, The Jungle Book, and Lady and the Tramp.

Some minority advocacy groups have spoken out about the Disney+ disclaimer. Azita Ghanizada, founder of MENA (Middle Eastern North African) Arts Advocacy Coalition, said, “I would hope that Disney would do it for all the films that might include some things that are a little outdated. Especially with Aladdin, with those orientalized tropes that we’re kind of pushing back against.”

But there are more recent concerns as well.

What about the depictions of Native Americans? And specifically, the decision to cast Johnny Depp as Tonto in The Lone Ranger?

Sonny Skyhawk, founder of American Indians in Film and Television, said, “We talked to people at Disney about that depiction … I said there are probably a hundred [Native] people of that caliber that can do that and yet you’re going to try and force Johnny Depp down our throat. That’s basically what they did and it’s the arrogance of Hollywood and the arrogance of Disney to say it’s our idea, it’s our money and we’re going to do it, whether you like it or not.”

What do you think about this? Is Disney going far enough with their warnings? Should these movies even be streaming for people to see?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Is Ear Candling Better Than Using Q-Tips?

This is quite the debate.

Q-tip detractors point to ear candling as a better alternative for cleaning out nasty earwax. This popular spa service may sound like a good idea, but, really, your money is going up in flames.

Is Ear Candling Effective? 

While many people use Q-tips or tissues to try to dig out ear wax, ear candling is supposed to do pretty much the same thing. On the surface, it does make some sense. Inserting the tube-shaped candle into the ear could, theoretically, create a vacuum and suction out wax.

However, a 1996 study disproved the vacuum effect theory. Moreover, the study determined that the buildup produced at the base of the candle was in fact…candle wax. Ultimately, those subjected to ear candling had the same amount of earwax after the treatment.

Sound convincing?

Ear Candling Risks

Not only is ear candling not effective, but it also carries several risks.

Of course, you are lighting a fire right next to your head, so that is an inherent risk that does not exist with a trusty Q-tip or tissue. And for those with long hair, it can be quite easy for the flame to come in contact and ruin your luscious locks.

But, weirdly, ear candling can actually increase the amount of wax in your ears. Because there isn’t really a vacuum effect, existing ear wax can get pushed further down, and candle wax can even build up on top.

Even the FDA has issued its own warnings about the spa treatment, stating that there have been many cases of burns, blockages and punctured ear drums that have required surgical intervention.

Punctured eardrums! Sounds terrible.

Verdict

So while it sounds good in theory, hear me out and steer clear of ear candling the next time you need to clean out your ear wax. In fact, don’t clean your earwax at all – your ears self-clean well enough that you really don’t need to do anything. If there’s a blockage, go to a doctor and they’ll clean it out for you.

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Dunkin’ Donuts Is Ditching Its Iconic (But Environmentally Unfriendly) Styrofoam Cups

A lot of people are probably excited that Dunkin’ Donuts is getting rid of styrofoam cups at its locations.

The successful chain announced the move in 2018, and it is getting moving. The implementation of these changes will be 100% complete by April 2020.

This is a step in the right direction. The chain’s new vessels of choice will be double-walled paper cups that have a plastic lining to keep hot drinks warm. Dunkin’ Donuts is even going to make sure local governments have a say in how these cups will be recycled.

Customers have shared mixed opinions because the chain’s old cups really were iconic. But the environment is a good reason to give up something you don’t really need, even though you may have an emotional attachment to it.

The famed donut company worked hard for 10 years to come up with a way to solve its styrofoam problem. Dunkin’ has reported using more than a billion styrofoam cups annually.

That’s really too many.

In addition to the revamped cups, the company has ended “double-cupping.” This is when customers are given a styrofoam cup they can wrap around their cold drinks, so they won’t get warm.

Dunkin’ even coordinated a campaign that tried to make this transition fun. Needless to say, many New England customers aren’t happy about these changes, but the company knows and has anticipated people’s reactions for some time now. Kelly Katapodis, a spokeswoman for the company says,

“Our goal was to satisfy all our customers with a cup that is more environmentally friendly, has the insulation properties of foam and has the lid that our customers know and love. It took us a while to find the answer, but we believe the double-walled paper cup will please all our guests.”

Dunkin’ Donuts joins a slew of other companies that are changing their practices to preserve the environment.

And it’s about time!

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12 Cuddly Facts About Koalas

Awwwwwwwww.

Koalas are adorable marsupials native to Australia. You very likely won’t see them ever unless you visit a zoo or visit the country.

So what are they really like? Here are 12 facts to help you get to know the cuddly critter a little better.

12. Their Name Means “No Water”

The word koala comes from aboriginal Australian words for “no water” because the adorable animals don’t actually drink water – they get all the liquid they need from their diet of leaves.

11. They Eat a Lot of Eucalyptus Leaves

Their little bodies have adapted to handle eucalyptus, even though it’s toxic to a lot of other species. In fact, they eat very little aside from eucalyptus leaves.

10. Koalas Sleep a Lot – for a Good Reason

Eucalyptus leaves have little to no nutritional value, so they sleep 18-20 hours per day to save their energy.

9. Not All Koala Fur Is Made Equal

Australia is home to three different types of koalas. Southern koalas have the thickest fur because of the harsher winters have to endure.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

8. Koala Babies Are About the Size of a Gummy Bear

They measure roughly 1 centimeter right after birth and spend the next few months growing inside their mother’s pouch.

7. They Have a Very Strong Liver

This helps help withstand the toxin inside eucalyptus leaves much better.

6. Their Nose Knows if Eucalyptus Is Extra-Toxic

Koalas can smell eucalyptus from really far away, and they know if leaves are fresh or old just by smelling them. They also know when their food is more toxic than usual.

5. Koalas Have Distinctive Fingerprints

Humans don’t have a monopoly on fingerprints. Koalas are unique mammals in that they too have the distinguishing marks.

4. Their Butts Have Extra Padding

This helps them get sleep wherever they want.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

3. Koalas Are Protected from Humans

Australia has anti-cuddling regulations to protect koalas from exploitation.

2. Some Moths Only Eat Koala Poo

The scat moth only eats koala poo until it becomes an adult.

1. The Koala Population Is Considered Vulnerable

Though koalas aren’t listed as endangered (they’re considered vulnerable), various factors including human activity, fires, and deforestation, are decimating their population. Particularly after the most recent Australian fire season, koalas may even be functionally extinct in some areas, meaning there are too few of them for the population to successfully find each other and breed new generations.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

What were you surprised to learn about koalas? Leave a comment below.

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The Curiosity Rover Found Oxygen Behavior on Mars That Is Baffling Scientists

The Curiosity rover has been in Mars’ Gale Crater in 2012, and since then, has been studying all things Martian, so we can know more about the planet’s past.

Well, what we now know, more than anything, is how much we don’t understand about what’s happening out there.

Case in point: the rover’s tunable laser spectrometer (or Sample Analysis at Mars, SAM) recently found a huge amount of methane–the largest since landing there.

Photo Credit: NASA

Followed closely by the discovery that oxygen is behaving in a way scientists don’t quite understand.

In the past six years, SAM has determined the following about the atmosphere of Mars: 95 percent is carbon dioxide, 2.6 percent molecular nitrogen, 1.9 percent argon, 0.16 percent oxygen and 0.06 percent carbon monoxide.

Mars has seasons sort of like Earth, but they happen because the air pressure changes when carbon dioxide gas freezes at the poles during winter. This event causes the air pressure to lower. When the carbon dioxide eventually evaporates and is redistributed into the atmosphere, the air pressure rises for a Mars spring and summer.

Photo Credit: NASA

Nitrogen and argon followed a similar pattern.

Oxygen, however, didn’t.

It actually rose and peaked at 30 percent during spring and summer, then lowered to normal levels in fall.

Photo Credit: NASA

This pattern has repeated itself since Curiosity started monitoring. The only difference was that the levels of oxygen rising and falling varied.

Is the oxygen being created by something? What’s causing it to fall?

According to CNN, one of the authors of a new paper covering the seasonal variations, Sushil Atreya, said the data was “mind boggling.”

Photo Credit: NASA

The scientists involved in the study were so puzzled they even had the rover checked out for operational issues. But Curiosity was working as usual.

Melissa Trainer, study author and planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said:

We’re struggling to explain this. The fact that the oxygen behavior isn’t perfectly repeatable every season makes us think that it’s not an issue that has to do with atmospheric dynamics. It has to be some chemical source and sink (of elements into the soil) that we can’t yet account for.

So, what about the huge amount of methane?

The Tunable Laser Spectrometer on NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover
Photo Credit: NASA

On Earth, most of our methane is created by living things, but also by rocks and water. Mars has plenty of rocks and water.

Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, noted that current measurement systems cannot determine the exact source of methane. What they do know, however, is that the methane fluctuates with the seasons as widely as oxygen.

Could the strange behavior of the two gases be related somehow?

Atreya believes so, although no one can figure out how.

In the meantime, the team invites any and all Martian experts to chime in.

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More Than 100,00 Ribbons Were Hung Above the Berlin Wall to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Its Fall

It’s been 30 years since the first bricks of the Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989.

East German officials had just announced that all German Democratic Republic citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin, and that was only the beginning.

The process of German reunification would take another year, but November 9 is the day the country remember remembers this most Peaceful Revolution that happened only 30 years ago.

To celebrate one of the most important events in world history, artist Patrick Shearn and his team at Poetic Kinetics installed a huge art piece as a symbol of the unification effort.

The a massive kinetic installation was called Visions in Motion and went on display from November 4-10, 2019. The 20,000-square-foot work measured 450 feet in length at the Brandenburg Gate, the site of the former wall.

Shaped like the wall, the piece actually flew above the site and contained around 120,000 colorful streamers – 30,000 of which had handwritten messages from people in Germany and around the world.

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Thank you @designboom for posting this amazing photo of Visions in Motion! ……………………………………………………………………………….. ………Repost: @designboom ‘visions in motion’ is an art installation by patrick shearn of @poetickinetics in #berlin celebrating 30 years of the fall of the berlin wall. installed at the brandenburg gate, it features 30,000 ribbons representing the wishes, hopes and memories of 30,000 people today. image by @mischaheuer #installationart #designboom …………………………………………………………………………………………. “Visions in Motion” by Patrick Shearn of @PoeticKinetics, curated by @kulturprojekteberlin as part of @mauerfall30. ………..………………………………………………………………………………… #PatrickShearn #PoeticKinetics #SkynetArt #VisionsInMotion #kulturprojekteberlin #mauerfall30 ooo

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The artwork was inspired by the words of Germans, how they did not have weight by themselves, but still wielded power.

In a statement, Shearn said:

In light of the state of affairs in the world today, I feel it is a time to be bold, gather together with a unified voice, and throw our shared colors and our dreams skyward for the world to see.

It was just 30 years ago that communism was cutting Germany and its people in two. And though walls may be built to keep people out, but those same walls keep people in.

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15 Strange Moments People Witnessed on Public Transportation

You truly never know what you’re gonna get when you ride the subway, the train, the bus, or any other type of public transit.

This isn’t exactly breaking news, but there are a lot of weirdos out there. A ton of them, actually!

And we’re lucky enough that people were able to capture these…interesting moments. All of these photos come from the Instagram account humansoftrulai.

Enjoy!

1. Sir, are you okay?

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kai užtrauki psichologinį ručnyką

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2. Elsa wants a cold one.

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kai snd suleje tik pasaulio pazinimas

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3. Are you comfortable?

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"Autobuso vairuotojos sūnus"

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4. A faithful companion.

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“Time spent with cats is never wasted.”

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5. Eyebrowz for dayz.

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Maybe it's Maybeline?

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6. He was in a rush.

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"Shukos happens"

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7. That’s odd…

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"kai užmiršti į t(r)ūliką pasiimti išmanųjį"

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8. We’ve entered another dimension.

9. Grandma likes the weed.

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"Žolinės"

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10. Awwwww. Poor guy.

11. I don’t know if I’d get on that bus.

12. Another glitch in the matrix.

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"Aš – ne tokia kaip visos"

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13. Another cat friend along for the ride.

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"How do you see yourself in 20 years?"

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14. Blending in seamlessly.

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"Tas momentas, kai apsirengi kaip trūlo sedynė"

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15. Better hang on tight.

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trečiadienio klasika #1

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What’s the weirdest or most unusual thing you’ve ever seen on any mode of public transportation?

Tell us about it in the comments!

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If You’re Clumsy, These Tweets Might Look Very Familiar

Watch your step…

Are you clumsy? One of those people who can “trip over air” and humiliate yourself in public?

Don’t feel too bad about it! It happens to a lot of us. And I mean A LOT.

Just yesterday I was walking in a store, wasn’t paying attention and bumped into someone and dropped all the stuff I was holding. Boy, was I red in the face!

Be careful out there!

1. What’s this from?

2. That’s what I’m talking about.

3. Usually something very colorful.

4. You’re very skilled.

5. No need to remind me.

6. Soulmates.

7. You’re in big trouble.

8. This guy doesn’t need to worry about it.

9. No point, really.

10. Stick to the loving.

11. In your sleep.

12. Beware of the stairs.

13. You could do it…maybe…

14. Quite a sight.

15. Time to come clean.

 

Sound off with your own personal tales of humiliation as a result of being clumsy. Let’s keep the laughs rolling!

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These Good Dogs All Use Wheelchairs to Run and Play!

Maybe you’d be tempted to feel bad for these exceptional pooches, but don’t worry about them. Yes, they have to use wheelchairs for one reason or another, but they’re living their best lives, and they’re clearly very happy to have a new lease on life.

Enjoy these beautiful pics and videos of these pups zipping around.

1. I’m a huge fan of Moby!

2. Look at them go!

3. All those fall colors.

4. Awwwww. My heart is melting.

5. Atlas is doing great!

6. Let’s go for a stroll.

7. He even has a cool license plate.

8. A dynamic duo!

9. Don’t slow me down!

10. Gone, but not forgotten.

Wonderful, aren’t they? I think so.

If you have any pets that use devices like these, share some photos and stories with us in the comments!

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