Author: Matt Gilligan

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A Tiny Fish That Weighs Less Than 1 Gram Became UK’s Smallest-Ever Surgery Patient

Every being on Earth deserves a second chance at life — even a teeny-tiny fish.

This tiny molly fish weighs less than one gram. After its owners noticed a large lump on its belly, they rushed it to the veterinarian. Highscoft Vets in Bristol, U.K. diagnosed the lump as a tumor right away, and soon after, the fish became the UK’s smallest-ever surgery patient.

In the emergency procedure, vets catheterized the fish’s mouth, anesthetized it, and removed the mass. The surgery took about 40 minutes, and it cost the owners less than £100 (or about $123).

So unbelievably small

Posted by Highcroft Rabbit, Small Mammal & Exotic Vets on Friday, August 30, 2019

The vets say that the fish is the smallest patient they’ve ever worked on, as they usually operate on animals like snakes, rabbits and iguanas.

“It’s not common across the UK to bring your fish to the vets but it is here. We are seeing more and more fish which is great,” exotic species vet Sonya Miles told The Daily Mail. “It was definitely the smallest animal we’ve seen here. It barely registered on our scales.”

She added that the operation required “steady hands and good eyesight.”

The mass being removed.

Posted by Highcroft Rabbit, Small Mammal & Exotic Vets on Friday, August 30, 2019

Luckily, the surgery was a success. The tiny fish made a full recovery and went home the same day, with no clue that it had just made national history.

Since it’s a fish.

“The little one is now back to normal and eating well,” Highcroft Vets wrote on Facebook.

Once the mass was removed the deficit if coated in waterproof gel to protect the area.

Posted by Highcroft Rabbit, Small Mammal & Exotic Vets on Friday, August 30, 2019

“We’re glad to have been able to help the fish before the tumor started to upset its balance.”

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Meet 5 Teenagers Who Have Changed the World

Some people believe that you have to have a lifetime of knowledge and experience to change the world, or even to try – but these 5 teenagers don’t have any time to listen to that kind of crap because they’re too busy actually changing the world.

From gun rights to climate change to terrorism, there’s no problem too daunting…and honestly maybe their lack of experience gives them just the right amount of idealism needed to actually get sh*t done.

I just wish – I truly wish – that their passion and activism hadn’t so often been sparked by personal trauma.

But if you have to go through something terrible, using your experience and pain to stop other people from going through the same thing seems like the healthiest way to deal.

5. Emma Gonzalez

It was February, 2018 when a gunman entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and gunned down 17 people in cold blood.

Many of the teens who survived that day have gone on to support a campaign against gun violence, but 18-year-old Emma Gonzalez emerged a leader from the beginning. She co-founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD and, shortly after her classmates were buried, gave a powerful speech at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington D.C.

Since then, her work and others’ have encouraged lawmakers in Florida to pass a Public Safety Act, which raised the age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21 and instituted a three-day waiting period for most weapons. She is still working to prevent gun violence, and Never Again is going strong.

4. Jack Andraka

When he was only 15, Jack Andraka invented what appeared to be a new, cheap way to detect pancreatic cancer. He won $75k at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for the test, which he created after reading free science papers on the internet.

The test is still undergoing official studies, but if it works like he imagines, it could save lives and millions of dollars.

3. Malala Yousafzai

At the tender age of 11, Malala Yousafzai wrote and published a diary about her life under Taliban rule in Pakistan. Though the diary was anonymous, she began to speak publicly at home about her passion for girls’ education.

Three years later, when she was 14, a Taliban gunman shot her in the face on a bus to put a stop to her activism.

Amazingly, Malala survived the attack, and though she can never return home, she works tirelessly on behalf of underprivileged girls around the world.

In 2014, she became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and her passionate acceptance speech is one for the ages.

“This award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change. I am here to stand up for their rights, to raise their voice. It is not time to pity them.”

2. Amika George

Amika read an article about girls in the U.K. who couldn’t afford menstrual products and was astounded that there were so many in her home country living in such poverty.

When she was 17 she founded #FreePeriods, organized a protest of over 2,000, and demanded the government take appropriate action.

In response, the U.K. government announced in March of 2019 they would be funding free sanitary products in all English schools and universities.

1. Greta Thunberg

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Here we go again… As you may have noticed, the haters are as active as ever – going after me, my looks, my clothes, my behaviour and my differences. They come up with every thinkable lie and conspiracy theory. It seems they will cross every possible line to avert the focus, since they are so desperate not to talk about the climate and ecological crisis. Being different is not an illness and the current, best available science is not opinions – it’s facts. I honestly don’t understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and children for promoting science, when they could do something good instead. I guess they must simply feel so threatened by us. But the world is waking up. See you in the streets this Friday! #fridaysforfuture #schoolstrike4climate #climatestrike #aspiepower

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This 16-year-old Swedish girl has dedicated her young life to being an activist for climate change activism across the world.

In 2018 she began striking – alone – on the steps of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm in an attempt to get them to take meaningful, immediate action.

Since her solitary striking began, more than 1 million teens have joined her by walking out of their classrooms around the world.

“Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago. We have to understand what the older generation has dealt to us, what mess they have created that we have to clean up and live with. We have to make our voices heard.”

She recently spoke at the UN, and it’s really worth watching:

 

These teens are an inspiration, for sure – they make 18-year-old me look like a lazy loafing loser.

Do you believe young people can make a real difference? How can you not?!

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Celebrity Chef José Andrés Has Served More Than 500,000 Meals for Free in the Storm-Ravaged Bahamas

José Andrés runs a humanitarian relief nonprofit called World Central Kitchen and has dished up over 500,000 meals on three islands in the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Chef Andrés started the organization to help Haiti after their devastating earthquake in 2010. Since then, they’ve donated meals in other areas hit hard by natural disasters.

Andrés and his team began setting up before Dorian made landfall at the Abaco Islands on September 1 as a category 5 hurricane. The hurricane had incredible maximum sustained winds of 185 mph.

They waited out the massive storm so they could immediately serve in the aftermath.

Grand Bahama Island saw the hurricane, still a category 5, the next day, where it stalled over the island before heading to Florida on September 3. Dorian is the strongest hurricane on record to hit the Bahamas—the damage is caused was estimated at over $7 billion and at least 50 people died, with an additional 1,300 still missing.

Andrés tweeted about their efforts there and kept followers informed of the situation with videos. He met with Bahamian officials, aid groups, other chefs and tourism companies with yachts, cruise ships and helicopters—anyone else who could help—all while he coordinated three kitchens, each on different islands, to keep the food moving.

Tens of thousands of hot meals, fruit and sandwiches were served daily. There were even vegan and gluten free options. Every day of the effort, boats and helicopters arrived with hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh supplies. He was determined that not a single person there would go hungry or thirsty.

It’s important to remember that there was no electricity, so they also handed out solar lamps that could charge cell phones—many to families who were living in cars.

There didn’t seem to be a problem he and his team wouldn’t tackle.

 

Then, there were also Florida and the Carolinas to look after.

Anywhere there is a humanitarian crisis, World Central Kitchens is there, building kitchens, serving meals, talking to locals and always helping. From Puerto Rico to Guatemala, Tijuana to the Bahamas, you’ll find Andrés on the ground, surveying the situation and setting up his kitchens.

He has multitudes to feed.

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Authorities in Scotland Are Searching for the Remains of a 300-Year-Old Accused Witch

This story is perfect for the Halloween season.

In the 18th century, a woman was accused of witchcraft. She died in prison while awaiting her trial, and since everyone in town was convinced of her guilt and feared her unnatural return from the dead, she was buried beneath a large, stone slab.

It happened in 1704, in a town called Torryburn on Scotland’s southwest coast. Her name was Lilias Adie, and she was accused by her neighbor of summoning Satan and casting spells.

This is a facial reconstruction, done by historians and scientists at the University of Dundee.

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There are many who are calling for the pages of history and the stories that are told to acknowledge the cruel and unnecessary deaths of thousands of women who were healers, counsellors, herbalists, midwives and active community members: 'the witches'. Most don't have graves, but Lilias Adie did. "A woman felt delirious after an evening of drinking one night in 1704 — and so she concluded that her neighbor, Lilias Adie, must have summoned Satan to cast a spell on her…. It’s part of a broader campaign they unveiled Saturday to memorialize the thousands of people who were wrongfully persecuted, tortured or executed on suspicion of being witches. Of the more than 3,500 people accused of practicing witchcraft through the early 18th century, the vast majority were women, hundreds who were burned to ashes, leaving no artifacts or remains behind… “It’s important to recognise that Lilias Adie and the thousands of other men and women accused of witchcraft in early modern Scotland were not the evil people history has portrayed them to be,” said Fife’s Deputy Provost Councilor Julie Ford. “They were the innocent victims of unenlightened times.”… “There was nothing in Lilias’ story that suggested to me that nowadays she would be considered as anything other than a victim of horrible circumstances,” forensic artist Christopher Rynn said in a 2017 statement. “So I saw no reason to pull the face into an unpleasant or mean expression and she ended up having quite a kind face, quite naturally.”… “We are wanting a memorial not just for her but for everybody who perished after being accused of being a witch,” Stewart told the National. “There is no recognition that these people were killed for nothing.” " (image University of Dundee) https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/03/lilias-adie-th-century-witch-remains/

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Lilias, a woman in her 60s, was tortured and interrogated in prison until she broke down and publicly confessed to her crimes, which included having sex with the devil himself.

The purpose of her treatment, aside from earning her confession (true or not) was to get the names of more “witches,” who would then be subjected to the same treatment.

Lilias, though, spent her time inventing elaborate ceremonies that involved only masked women – women she couldn’t identify, of course, so no glory for the investigators.

“I think she was a very clever and inventive person,” commented historian Louise Yeoman.

“The point of the interrogation and its cruelties was to get names. Lilias said that she couldn’t give the names of other women at the witches’ gatherings as they were masked like gentlewomen. She only gave names which were already known and kept coming up with good reasons for not identifying other women for this horrendous treatment – despite the fact it would probably mean there was no let-up for her.”

Around 1500 women were strangled and burned at the stake in Scotland between 1590 and 1706, all suspected “witches,” but Lilias Adie wasn’t one of them. She’s suspected to have committed suicide in prison, and she was subsequently buried between the high and low tide mark under a heavy, flat stone.

The fact that she killed herself, coupled with their belief in her supernatural powers, would have led people to believe she could and would return to haunt the living.

Her head and bones were dug up by locals around 100 years later, and her skull was sold to St. Andrew’s University Museum in the early 20th century – before the whole lot went missing again.

 

The town government is now searching for her remains so that she can finally be respectfully and peacefully laid to rest, says Kate Stewart, a councilor from WestFife and Coastal Villages.

“Lilias is not forgotten, she has never been forgotten. We need to get her back. This has been a great injustice and we need to reverse that.”

The modern people of Scotland, like many cultures around the world, now recognize the historical periods of hunting and burning “witches” as a shameful time in our collective histories.

“It’s important to recognize that Lilias Adie and the thousands of other men and women accused of witchcraft in early modern Scotland were not the evil people history has portrayed them to be, but were the innocent victims of unenlightened times. It’s time we recognized the injustice served upon them.”

So say we all.

At least, we should be, and it’s only fair that these people get the endings they always deserved – even if they’re coming a few centuries late.

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Get a Black Icee at AMC Theaters in Honor of the New ‘Addams Family’ Movie

I’ve been praying for a black Icee to come along for almost my entire life, and now here it is!

I guess you could say this is my personal peak. Is that sad? I’ll let you be the judge.

But I digress: in honor of the new animated version of The Addams Family that hits theaters on October 11, AMC will sell a black cherry Icee that is totally jet black. Boom!

It's creepy, cooky, altogether ooky, just like Addams Family Movie. Try the Spooky Black Cherry Icee at participating…

Posted by AMC Theatres on Sunday, September 29, 2019

The Spooky Black Cherry Icee will be available at the concession stand at AMC Theaters, and you know what the really good news is? It’s gonna turn your tongue black when you drink it so you can run around the lobby after the movie is over and creep out people waiting in line!

Going to the movies has never been so much fun.

If you’re a youngin’, let me fill you in with a brief history of The Addams Family. The characters are based on a comic strip by artist Charles Addams that ran in The New Yorker from 1938-1988. There was a live-action version of The Addams Family on TV in the 1960s (in glorious black and white) and then the early 1990s saw a revival of the characters with two feature films.

Posted by Ashley Slone on Saturday, September 7, 2019

AMC released a similar black Icee drink this summer for the release of Men in Black: International, and I’m sure there were a whole lot of black tongues at those showings as well.

Here’s the trailer for the new film that comes out on October 11.

See you at the theater with my black Icee in hand!

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The Loch Ness Monster Might Just Be a Giant Eel

Nessie fans, pay attention.

The first sighting of the rumored monster swimming in Loch Ness dates back to the 6th century; since then, scientists and regular people alike have been searching for answers.

Sturgeons, trees, elephant trunks, dinosaurs and just about everything else you can think of has been blamed at one point or another, but one New Zealand scientist is claiming he’s come up with the most plausible answer – an oversized eel.

Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago made the assertion after a recent environmental DNA project analyzed the genetic material of everything living in the loch. Gemmell and his team collected 250 water samples from various spots in the lake – no small feat given that the lake is 23 miles long and 788 feet deep – and came up with 500 million gene sequences.

They then compared the sequenced DNA with global databases of known organism, and found nothing to suggest there’s anything new or unknown in the lake. Their findings also ruled out some previous guesses, like Greenland sharks, catfish, and sturgeon.

What they did find, however, were unusually high amounts of eel DNA.

“The remaining theory that we cannot refute based on the environmental DNA data obtained is that what people are seeing is a very large eel,” the project’s website reads. “Eels are very plentiful in Loch Ness, with eel DNA found at pretty much every location sampled – there are a lot of them.”

We also know that the British Isles are home to some pretty large eels. Conger eels can grow up to 10 feet or longer in length, and in 2001, two 7-foot eels were discovered on the loch’s shores. Gemmell and others maintain that an eel near the surface could be easily mistaken for the back of a larger, bulkier “monster.”

The evidence, while compelling, doesn’t prove anything conclusively, which means believers are still likely to traipse out to the lake in search of the elusive and enduring mystery of Nessie.

That said, the eel theory is pretty interesting…

Just not as exciting as a mythical monster emerging from the depths and stunning tourists year after year.

Sometimes the mystery is better than the truth.

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These Viral Backflipping Kids Are Headed to Gymnastics School, Thanks to the Influence of Social Media

Jashika Khan and Mohammad Azajuddin are two children in Kolkata, India. The pair went viral for their impressive cartwheeling, and now they’re going to school to be full-time gymnasts.

A teacher took a video of Jashika, 11, and Mohammad, 12, doing their tumbling on the street on the way to school. Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci retweeted the video, calling it “awesome.”

And Jashika and Mohammad blew up.

Their gymnastics journey could have ended with the tweet, but fortunately, the video caught the attention of India’s Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. Jashika and Mohammad were soon called for trials at the Sports Authority of India, and the trainer, Manmeet Singh Goindi, said that he was impressed by what he saw.

“They are certainly talented and have the desire to achieve much,” he told The Telegraph.

Both children are going to be enrolled as full-time trainees. Manmeet explained:

“At SAI, not only will the children get food, lodging and proper education, they will also be trained under qualified gymnastics coaches. Plus, the right equipments will be made available to them. They will practice in proper indoor halls. No more will they have to jump around on the road and somersault on concrete, risking injuries.”

Both Jashika and Mohammad are thrilled about the new opportunity. Jashika even says she wants to become a gymnast like Nadia in the future — and with talent like hers, it’s totally possible.

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Muslims Share How 9/11 Changed Their Lives in the United States

Every September 11, America takes a time-out from whatever else is going on to come together and remember the events of that tragic day.

We talk about the people in the buildings, the people on the planes, the first responders, the bystanders, the dogs who bravely searched in vain for survivors in the rubble.

We say never again, and we mean it.

But after September 11, the world had changed for another group of people – Muslims living in the United States.

So, as the day of remembrance passed, Muslims logged onto Twitter to claim their own narrative, using #AfterSeptember11 and #After911 to share how their lives have never been the same.

17. All were meant to pay for the actions of a few.

16. Communities should band together, not pull apart, in times of stress.

15. Most people are good people if you give them a chance.

14. Good people shouldn’t have to answer for evil.

13. Four. Years. Old.

12. You never know what path strangers are walking.

11. Violence is never the answer.

10. This makes me sick to my stomach.

9. We lost so much more than lives that day.

8. Imagine having to question your entire worldview as a child.

7. Be the Alex in your world.

6. Put a face to the religion and it makes it easier to treat people like humans.

5. I wonder where kids are hearing crap like that, hmm?

4. Those teachers should be ashamed of themselves.

3. No one should have to “get” it. No one.

2. Friendship means through thick and thin.

1. I hope he sued them.

 

One thing that shouldn’t have changed after that day was how we treat our fellow Americans – all of them, regardless of race, religion, sex, whatever – so I hope hashtags like this can remind us of what makes us the greatest nation on earth.

Do you have a story to add? We’re all ears in the comments.

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This Is Why Airplane Engines Are Never Painted on the Front Edges

Look closely at the engines on the planes at the gates next time you’re at the airport. All of them will have an unpainted band near the front edge. As sleek as this kind of paint job may look, the reasons behind the styling goes beyond just looking trendy.

Photo Credit: Needpix

YouTuber Mentour Pilot, who runs a channel about everything to do with being an airline pilot, created a video explaining why the front edge of the engine is never painted when the rest of the aircraft is.

It’s something I’d never have thought about in a million years, but someone clearly did.

The first explanation is because of the heat the engines generate. Ice can form quickly on engines and wings when flying through clouds, creating a real safety hazard. Planes use the heat already coming from their engines to keep dangerous ice from accumulating.

Small holes in the unpainted ring of the engine, as well as on the wings, help the ice melt. If this part of the engine is left naked, then the metal heats best for minimized ice formation. Paint would only protect the ice from heat by creating an intermediate layer.

Not safe.

Another reason is that eventually the paint on the intake would begin to degrade, and chips of paint could get sucked into the engine. As this happened, the uneven coats of paint would affect how air flows into the engine, creating mini vortices and disrupting overall efficiency.

Photo Credit: YouTube

He also touches on why most planes are painted white or predominantly white. This one’s a little easier to guess: white paint reflects heat. If a plane is painted white, the air-conditioning system doesn’t have to work as hard to keep the interior cooled – thus better engine efficiency.

Painting an aircraft white is also faster and cheaper, and airlines can place and replace branding as needed without repainting.

If this is interesting, deifnitely check out more of Mentour Pilot’s channel – aside from his cool airplane knowledge, he wears his uniform, has a great accent and an adorable apricot poodle-ish dog, and generally makes you feel good about who is at the controls of these high flying tubes.

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Millennials Have Some Pretty Dark Jokes About Their So-Called “Retirement Plans”

Oh boy, here we go…

Millennials have been trying for years to get older generations to listen to the truth about how hard life can be for them: jobs are scarce, they don’t pay nearly enough to cover average student loan payments, and living at home with their parents is just sad after a while.

Luckily, millennials are also pretty good at a self-effacing and sarcastic brand of humor that plays really well on Twitter, so please enjoy these 12 “jokes” that won’t leave you feeling at all warm and fuzzy about the future plans of a generation.

12. There’s a progression there.

11. You just have to wait out, well…you know.

10. It might be our only hope.

9. Shoot for the moon, I guess.

8. This seems like a legit plan.

7. Even the people in the mountains could bet on that.

6. I hope she stored those things in plastic bags.

5. Your resume is gonna look soooo good.

4. Oooh what river? Is there a view?

3. There’s going to be even more ocean to explore.

2. Eh, why bother? I feel that.

1. Time for the Baby Boomers to prove they’re as great as they say.

I fall right on the cusp of this generation and I’ve gotta say…I feel this. Who can worry about the future when I’m wasting time worrying about living until my next paycheck now?

Not millennials.

How about you? Can you relate? Are you good at saving? Tell us your secrets below!

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