Category: World Culture

Posted on

Your Kids Can Text Santa Claus This Christmas. Give It a Shot!

Do you have a kid who’s too shy to sit on Santa’s lap? There are other more convenient ways to contact Santa now — he’s even available by text message.

Santa has an official phone number: 951-262-3062. Don’t worry, it goes directly to voicemail (can you imagine if Santa had to pick up the phone for every kid that wanted to talk to him?).

However, if you (or your child) get onto Santa’s contact list, you can receive regular texts from him throughout the month of December.

Photo Credit: iStock

The service is called The Santa Texting Project. It’s provided by SlickText, a marketing platform that allows businesses to communicate through mass text messages.

Children who sign up for texts from Santa can expect to receive messages such as jokes, sayings, recipes and fun facts. He sends regular texts without being prompted — he’ll text approximately once every five days throughout the month; then, in the week before Christmas, he’ll text daily.

To sign up, just go to SlickText’s website and enter your name and phone number. You must also choose whether you’re signing up as a child, adult, or senior (hey, everybody needs a little Christmas cheer!). Then, reply “Yes” to the first text to opt in to the service.

Photo Credit: iStock

This festive service is completely free, and the company says the phone numbers won’t be shared with any outside entities. They’ll also be deleted on December 26, so no annoying follow-up texts.

Happy texting!

The post Your Kids Can Text Santa Claus This Christmas. Give It a Shot! appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A Company Will Pay You $3,000 a Month to Smoke and Review Marijuana. Really.

Are you on the lookout for a new gig? Does the new job you’re looking for ideally involve smoking a lot of weed and getting paid a decent amount of cash to do it?

Well, you’re in luck, my friend!

American Marijuana is an online company packed with information about medical marijuana, and they’re looking for product reviewers to test out marijuana products for their “cannabis product reviewer” position. I know many people who I think might be interested in this as a career move.

Here’s what the job entails. First of all, you have to live in a state where medical marijuana is legal. You’ll receive a monthly package on your doorstep filled with cannabis products that you’ll have to honestly review in blog posts and in short videos that you’ll film…so you do have to be kind of technically savvy and not high as a kite when you do the actual reviews.

Presumably.

To get the job, you also have to be physically fit and healthy. Most importantly, you have to know your shit. You need to have a lot of knowledge about marijuana and different strains. If you get the job, you’ll be paid up to $3,000 a month, and you’ll receive a whole lot of weed products. We’re talking weed, edibles, CBD, vapes, oils, etc.

Posted by AmMa.org on Wednesday, September 4, 2019

The company says, “This may not be for everybody but I bet you’re interested in this type of work. I mean, come on, who doesn’t want to get paid by doing what you love?”

What do you think? Are you gonna give it a shot?!?!

The post A Company Will Pay You $3,000 a Month to Smoke and Review Marijuana. Really. appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

The FDA Is Fast-Tracking a Second Psilocybin (Aka Shrooms) Drug to Treat Depression

If you’ve ever struggled with depression, then you know how difficult it is to find the right medication and the right dosage. People often spend months trying to find the right combination that works for them because no two people are the same, and doctors need to adjust.

Well, there might be some pretty good news on that front coming soon in the form of an unexpected source.

The FDA has given the hallucinogenic compound psilocybin a “Breakthrough Therapy” designation for the second time in just over a year. Psilocybin is the compound that gives “magic mushrooms” their hallucinogenic powers.

Magic mushrooms

The Breakthrough Therapy designation is meant to expedite drugs for development and review by the FDA. Furthermore, the designation is only given to drugs and therapies that have been shown to be effective in treating medical conditions in the preliminary phases.

Last year the FDA granted a Breakthrough Therapy designation to a company called Compass Pathways for using psilocybin to help with treatment-resistant depression. This type of depression has been shown to not improve with two or more traditional therapies. Also, earlier this year, the FDA approved a nasal spray for treatment-resistant depression that is intended to mimic the positive effects of the hallucinogenic drug ketamine. Remarkably, his was the first new antidepressant approved by the FDA in decades.

Depression

The difference with the new Breakthrough Therapy designated drug is that this time it is focused on major depressive disorder, which affects at least 17 million adults in America. The new research will go through the Usona Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, where trials will study how depressed patients do after being treated with one dose of psilocybin.

Most likely, it will be several years before any products related to this study would potentially hit the market.

Depressed

Still, this is good news for the millions of people out there struggling with depression.

Are hallucinogens the wave of the future? Seems like the 60s all over again…

What do you think about potentially using hallucinogenic drugs to treat cases of depression? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The post The FDA Is Fast-Tracking a Second Psilocybin (Aka Shrooms) Drug to Treat Depression appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Cows in Russia Are Wearing Virtual Reality Headsets Showing ‘Summer Fields’ to Combat Their Winter Depression

In Russia, cows are getting a new tool to help fight the winter blues that a lot of us deal with. A dairy farm in that country is outfitting its cows with virtual reality headsets to help the animals tone down their anxiety and to fight their winter depression. The moooooove (see what I did there?) is also intended to boost milk production from the farm animals.

The headsets display green fields and pastures to the cows in order to make them feel more relaxed. The project is taking place at RusMoloko farm, outside of Moscow.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Moscow Region said that the virtual reality headsets have achieved “a decrease in anxiety and an increase in the overall emotional mood of the herd.”

The plan is to monitor the cows wearing the headsets to see if their milk production increases throughout the winter. The ministry said that “technology improvements should impact the industry as a whole.”

In addition to the look of green fields and pastures, the developers of the virtual reality headsets gave the design a predominantly red color scheme because studies have shown that cows see red better than other colors of the spectrum.

Is this the wave of the future in farming? Will the results show that the impact of these VR headsets is positive among the cattle and this technology become commonplace for animals?

Time will tell…

But I think I might need to get my hands on one of these for myself this winter.

The post Cows in Russia Are Wearing Virtual Reality Headsets Showing ‘Summer Fields’ to Combat Their Winter Depression appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Plastic Straws Aren’t the Biggest Offenders When It Comes to Oceanic Plastic Pollution

Well, this is interesting…

Plastic straws have been in the news lately, and not for anything good. People want to get rid of them, and consumers have been encouraging businesses and consumers alike to get on board in order to start trying to mitigate single-use plastics’ devastating effect on the world’s marine ecosystems.

But plastic straws only make up about .02% of ocean waste – not that much, in the scheme of things.

It turns out, that there’s a much bigger enemy to ocean life: cigarette butts.

 

According to an NBC News report, cigarette butts are the number one human contaminant in the ocean, but they have not, thus far, been significantly regulated.

The filters on cigarettes are made of cellulose acetate, which takes more than a decade to decompose. 60 million cigarette butts have been collected on the world’s beaches since 1986.

Cigarette makers invented the filters to alleviate health concerns (lol), but they created a concurrent pollution problem because smokers “flick” their butts – a habit no anti-littering campaign has been able to curb.

The Cigarette Butt Pollution Project hopes they can finally change attitudes with their new campaign.

“Cigarette butt waste has polluted our beaches, parks, and communities long enough – it’s time to take action!”

The U.S. government has attempted to curb the problem here and there, but legislation proposing to ban filters or raise the costs of cigarettes to cover the clean-up have sputtered and died.

A theme park in France has trained ravens to pick up cigarette butts in exchange for treats, but, though awesome, that’s not exactly a global solution.

View this post on Instagram

For those who think cigarette smoking is cool please think again. It doesn't only pollute you but also the environment immensely. Trillions of cigarette butts are thrown into the environment every year, where they leach nicotine and heavy metals before turning into microplastic pollution. Smokers around the world buy roughly 6.5 trillion cigarettes each year. That’s 18 billion every day. While most of a cigarette’s innards and paper wrapping disintegrate when smoked, not everything gets burned. Trillions of cigarette filters—also known as butts or ends—are left over, only an estimated third of which make it into the trash. The rest are casually flung into the street or out a window. Cigarette filters are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate. When tossed into the environment, they dump not only that plastic, but also the nicotine, heavy metals, and many other chemicals they’ve absorbed into the surrounding environment. . . Follow @anonymous_earth_person Follow #anonymous_earth_person For more information 🌍 . #cigarettebutts #cigarette #pollution #airpollution #savetheearth #saveenvironment #saveanimals #ecofriendly #ecosystem #biodiversity #smokingkills #smoking #dontsmoke #microplastics #plastic #plasticpollution #plasticfreeliving

A post shared by ANONYMOUS EARTH PERSON | BLOG (@anonymous_earth_person) on

As with the campaigns against plastic straws, it’s going to take a concentrated, sustained, and – most important – publicly supported effort to reduce the number of cigarette filters that end up in the oceans.

Do your part, and also…maybe don’t smoke in the first place? Because cigarettes kill more than marine life.

Just sayin’.

The post Plastic Straws Aren’t the Biggest Offenders When It Comes to Oceanic Plastic Pollution appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Artist Turns Trash into Animals to Bring Awareness to the Environment

Artur Bordalo is an artist from Portugal who makes incredibly unique pieces…out of garbage. Bordalo has a series of pieces called “Big Trash Animals” that is meant to call attention to pollution and the dangers of harming the environment.

He hunts down materials that are dumped on the street, and I think it’s safe to say he puts them to excellent use.

Let’s take a look at Bordalo’s work.

1. Hedgehog in Italy.

2. Raccoon in Portugal.

3. Coyote in San Francisco.

4. Muskox in Sweden.

5. Baby raccoon in Pittsburgh.

6. Orangutan in London.

7. Rabbit in Portugal.

8. Sea turtle in Tahiti.

9. Hammerhead shark in Tahiti.

10. And finally, a squid in Portugal.

His work is truly amazing.

Be sure to check out Bordalo’s website as well as his Instagram and Facebook pages!

The post Artist Turns Trash into Animals to Bring Awareness to the Environment appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A Muslim Woman Stepped in to Stop the Harassment of a Jewish Family on the Subway

If there’s one thing people love to see on social media, it’s human beings sticking their necks out for each other – perhaps especially when the people involved are perfect strangers.

The phrase “if you see something, say something” has become a little passé, but the truth is that sometimes it’s exactly the thing to do.

And one heroic woman took that to heart when she witnessed a man harassing a Jewish family minding their own business on a London subway.

Oh, last thing – she’s Muslim, and the harasser is Christian.

She wasn’t alone in speaking out, though. One witness – Chris Atkins – posted a video to Twitter.

The man reportedly rushed up to a man and his young son, both wearing yarmulkes, and began to read from a Bible, loudly screaming and cursing at the pair of them.

The woman, Asma Shuweikh, didn’t hesitate to speak up, fearing that he would become violent (as he threatened to) if no one stepped in between him and the family.

“I thought, if I reason with him and talk to him and pretend that I’m sympathetic with what he’s saying, maybe I can diffuse the problem because he was actually talking to a little boy.”

Others followed her lead, and they were able to distract the man for long enough for the Jewish family to quietly escape the train.

“If it had been me,” Shuweikh said, “I would have liked someone to stand up for me.”

It’s all anyone wants in a time of fear and need, I think. Just something to keep in mind the next time you find yourself faced with the choice to speak up or look the other way.

The British Transport Police arrested a suspect on charges of committing a racially aggravated public order and is still in jail.

The post A Muslim Woman Stepped in to Stop the Harassment of a Jewish Family on the Subway appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Kenya Installed First Solar Power Plant That Transforms Ocean Water into Drinking Water

A lot of us, as Americans, take clean water for granted. It’s just something that’s part of our everyday routine, whether we need to grab a drink from the faucet, to wash the dishes, or to take a shower – water is always (mostly) there for us.

But that’s not the case in certain parts of the world.

Roughly 2.2 billion people around the globe don’t have access to clean drinking water, but an organization called GivePower is looking to change that. The nonprofit recently installed a solar-powered plant in Kenya that turns salty ocean water into fresh drinking water, benefiting 25,000 people per day.

View this post on Instagram

After being constructed in 1 week, the 6kW solar microgrid began serving power to 40 homes and businesses 💡 #GivePowerInNepal⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #GivePower⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #JoinTheCharge ⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ #actnow #takeaction #active #building #buildingthefuture #buildingabetterfuture #workforchange #agentsofchange #bethechange #bigsteps #solarpanel #solarmicrogrids #solarenergy #solaristheanswer #solaristhefuture #future #futuregenerations ⠀

A post shared by GivePower (@givepowerfoundation) on

The plant was built in the small town Kiunga, Kenya because of the lack of clean drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa. Turning saltwater into drinking water is both expensive and energy-intensive, which is why GivePower decided to build the plant using solar panels that harvest energy. The two water pumps at the solar-powered plant provide clean drinking water to residents 24 hours a day.

Before the plant was built, people in Kiunga had to travel more than an hour to get clean drinking water. And bathing and washing clothing in saltwater is harsh on skin and fabrics, so access to clean water helps the people in that way, too.

Because of the success of the plant in Kenya, GivePower wants to use this technology to help out people around the world. The organization is already planning projects in Colombia and Haiti. If you want to help out this great cause and donate, you can do that HERE.

Great work!

The post Kenya Installed First Solar Power Plant That Transforms Ocean Water into Drinking Water appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

This Dog Is in Charge of Finding Koalas That Have Survived Australia’s Bushfires

It’s devastating to watch scenes of scorched, singed, and confused koala bears as the bushfires continue to rage throughout Australia. The fires have destroyed land and homes in New South Wales and Queensland but have also tragically taken a huge toll on the koala population in the country.

Because koala habitat is being destroyed in such huge acreage in the blazes, teams are venturing into the burned areas to try to find and rescue koala bears.

One of the most important team members in these searches is a dog – who we can genuinely call a hero – named Bear.

Posted by Queensland Koala Crusaders on Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Bear is a koala detection dog who has been dispatched to Queensland to help find unfortunate little creatures that have been affected by the fires.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare said on its Facebook page,

“Our koala detection dog Bear is bringing a glimmer of hope for koalas suffering from Australia’s deadly bushfires—but these animals need more heroes to save them from this ongoing disaster. Our koala detection dog Bear is an integral part of these rescue efforts. He was recently deployed to southeast Queensland and one of the hardest-hit areas of New South Wales where the bushfires decimated local koala populations. Bear is one of the few detection dogs who can locate live koalas through the scent of their fur.”

Bear is now 6 years old, and he’s obviously found his calling in life.

You can help out by donating to this nonprofit fundraiser HERE.

Sadly, it seems that, in New South Wales at least, some koala populations are being pushed to the brink of extinction due to the fires.

The post This Dog Is in Charge of Finding Koalas That Have Survived Australia’s Bushfires appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A CEO Gives His Employees $2,000 to Go on Vacation and Says They’re More Productive Than Ever

This is pretty great.

Mark Douglas is the CEO of a marketing and advertising company called SteelHouse who has very specific rules when it comes to vacation time for his employees. No, he’s not cutting down on time off – he requires that his workers take vacation time, and he gives each employee a $2,000 bonus each year that they have to spend on their vacations.

How amazing is that?

Beautiful Beach

Douglas said, “It’s one thing to say ‘You have three weeks’ vacation,’ as most companies do. It’s another thing to say ‘You have cash, and if you don’t go on vacation and spend this money, the money literally goes to waste.’ It’s another level of saying this is real.”

Douglas also said that the bonus pays off. He says his workers are more productive than ever and that they “have virtually zero turnovers.” Douglas said that between 2013 and 2016, only 3 employees left out of a workforce of 250 people.

Speicher Durlaßboden - Austria

Douglas said there are five main reasons why he enacted the vacation policy:

1. It gives employees a chance to recharge.

2. It encourages team-building among staff members.

3. A give-and-take mindset gets the best out of people.

4. A good life-work balance attracts great employees.

5. Customers view the company’s dedication to its employees in a positive light.

Douglas added, “I think it’s important that everyone be able to essentially really, truly leave work.”

In addition to that nice perk, the entire SteelHouse company takes a 3-day weekend once a month.

Not too shabby, huh?

The post A CEO Gives His Employees $2,000 to Go on Vacation and Says They’re More Productive Than Ever appeared first on UberFacts.