Category: World Culture

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The Taj Mahal Installed Air Purifiers to Defend Against Choking Smog

Unhealthy air pollution in India has hit record levels, and India’s most iconic and most visited attraction is attempting something to make tourists more comfortable.

One of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal sits in Agra in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state, around 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of New Delhi. Approximately eight million people tour this UNESCO World Heritage site every year.

 

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According to authorities in Uttar Pradesh, a “private firm” has provided several air purification vans for the city to use wherever and however they want. Officials chose to place two of these vans at the Taj Mahal. Few details on how the vans work or how long they would be there were given.

Bhuvan Prakash Yadav, a representative from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) told CNN, “This is on a trial basis for 10 days, but we are trying to get [the private firm] to continue it for some more time.”

Although the identity of the private firm was never confirmed, ads for telecom giant, Vodafone, are featured on the side of a few of the vans.

According to CNN, Yadav also said that each van is able to purify 1.5 million cubic meters (53 million cubic feet) of air in eight hours. Yet, the vans don’t have sensors, so verification of these numbers isn’t possible.

It may be the vans are more for public relations purposes than actually cleaning air.

India’s high court challenged the government to take better care of the site in 2018. Much recent damage to the Taj Mahal has come from pollution in the air and contamination in the nearby Yamuna River. Since then, crowd control in the form of a visitor time limit and hiked ticket prices have been implemented.

Air pollution has been an ongoing and serious problem in India, home to 22 of the 30 most polluted cities on the planet. New Delhi, India’s capital city is the number one most polluted city in the world. Lately, pollution levels reached a record high of approximately 9x more than the World Health Organization’s recommended “safe” level – the problem is rated “severe.”

Fossil fuel usage, crop burning and vehicle exhaust have all contributed to the problem.

Planes are even getting diverted from landing at New Delhi’s airport. Authorities say control measures are in place, but they will not be enough to stop the damage to Indian property and lives – the damage is already being done.

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Offices Are Using Greta Thunberg’s Disapproving Face to Get Workers to Use Less Plastic

She sure doesn’t look happy.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has found herself in the world’s spotlight over the past several months as her previously solitary climate strikes caught on across the globe.

The teenager is encouraging others in her generation (and beyond) to treat climate change like the crisis that it is – and some companies in Israel are hoping she can do the same for their employees.

We all need to do our part, after all, and cutting down on our individual plastic use is one good way everyone can contribute.

So, while these companies still offer plastic options, they hope seeing the angry teenager’s face will encourage people to choose the recyclable options, instead.

Her face has popped up in some surprising places.

And it seems like it might be working, since people are trying to hide her judgmental stare as they go about their day.

The truth is, even if we could hide from Greta (or her image, in this case) we can’t hide from the truth that our collective choices are putting the planet on a path we soon won’t be able to correct.

If this is what it takes to make people think twice, I say it’s worth a try!

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Do Toilets Flush in Other Directions in Opposite Hemispheres?

A lot of people believe that toilets swirl in the opposite direction in opposite hemispheres. But is it actually true?

The story holds that, in the Northern Hemisphere, toilets spin counterclockwise. In the Southern Hemisphere, they spin clockwise. This is supposedly due to something called the Coriolis effect, an acceleration caused by the rotation of the Earth of the axis.

But if you’ve ever actually used a toilet on the opposite side of the planet, you’d know that these “facts” aren’t actually true at all. Toilets flush in the same direction regardless of where they are located. The only factor that affects the direction of the water’s flow is the way that the toilet is manufactured (i.e., the shape of the bowl, and whether the flush jets point to the left or the right).

Photo Credit: Pixabay

However, that doesn’t mean that the Coriolis effect isn’t real. It does exist, and it affects the spin direction of every body of water, including the water in the toilet. But it’s only observable on very large scales. The amount of water in the toilet is so small that the impact of the Coriolis effect isn’t major enough to be visible.

Hurricanes, on the other hand? Their diameters are a hundred miles wide, and the Coriolis effect makes a noticeable impact on them. Hurricanes absolutely do spin in opposite directions on opposite sides of the Earth. They spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Toilets, on the other hand? That’s just a myth.

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A Baby Abandoned in a Dumpster Grew up to Be the Founder of a Multi-Million Dollar Company

This is an amazing success story! “Rags to Riches,” “the American Dream,” “self-made man.” Every single cliché you’ve heard about that classic story, Freddie Figgers is living proof that it is actually possible.

Figgers is only 30 years old, but he’s already a huge success as the CEO and President of Figgers Communication, a telecommunications company that is now valued at a whopping $62 million.

Them: I don’t think it will happen ?Me: There are three kinds of people in this world: people who make it happen,…

Posted by Freddie Figgers on Friday, July 5, 2019

But life didn’t start out very well for Figgers. He was abandoned in a dumpster by his mother shortly after she gave birth to him in Quincy, Florida, though luckily he was adopted when he was two days old by a couple named Nathan and Betty Figgers. The Figgers’ gave young Freddie all the love and support he needed, and he grew up to be a curious boy who loved to tinker around with computers.

Figgers got his first job as a computer technician at the age of 12, and at age 15 he started his own cloud computing service. His first job in this field came after he helped a car dealership back up their information on a remote server after they had previously lost all their files in a tornado. Figgers set up the server in his own backyard.

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Posted by Freddie Figgers on Wednesday, June 26, 2019

The young entrepreneur invented his own creations as well, including a GPS tracking device that goes in someone’s shoe to help keep track of them. Figgers created this device specifically for his father, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. He sold that idea to a company for $2.2 million and started Figgers Communications, the extremely profitable company that he now runs, with his earnings.

His business is also the only African-American owned company of its kind in the United States.

Bravo, Mr. Figgers!

Let Freddie Figgers’ story remind you that no matter where you come from or where you are at the moment, you can always achieve your dreams if you work hard and aim high.

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A Kid in the U.S. Got a Response to a Message in a Bottle from Someone in France 9 Years Later

I’ve never thrown a message in a bottle into a body of water, but if I ever did, I would hope the story would end like this one did.

When Max Vredenburgh was 10 years old, he threw a bottle with a message in it into the ocean by Rockport, Massachusetts. This was back in August 2010. The letter read, “Hello my name is Max, whoever is reading this letter, please write back… I”ll tell you a little bit about myself. I’m 1o years old, I like apples, I like the beach, my favorite colors blue, I like animals, I like cars, and I like outer space. Please write back. Sincerely, Max Vredenburgh.”

Fast forward nine years later and the letter was found on a beach in France in October 2019.

The return letter from France reads as follows: “Hello. I found your message in your bottle on October 10, 2019 on a beach in France, between Contis and Mimizan. According to your date, August 21, 2009, It will have taken 9 years to cover the 6000kms that separates us. You had grown a lot during that time: 10 to 19 years old. I put you some maps below to locate you. Respectfully, G. Dubois.”

Vredenburgh shared the story on Twitter and it went viral in a huge way.

As of today, the post has 140,000 retweets and 535,000 likes. Amazingly, Vredenburgh and his pen pal have now connected on Instagram. Vredenburgh said of G. Dubois, “I want to know about him. I want to know if he likes, what his favorite food is, what his favorite color is. Does he like space?”

What a great story! I wish all social media was this positive and wholesome!

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This Organization Turns Empty Parking Lots into Safe Places Where the Homeless Can Sleep at Night

Homelessness is a problem across the entire world. Walk or drive through any city across the globe, and you’ll see down-on-their-luck men and women sleeping in doorways, on park benches, or anywhere else they can try to find some momentary peace.

An Australian charity organization called Beddown is looking to give that country’s homeless population safe places to sleep by providing pop-up accommodations in parking lots that are vacant overnight.

Posted by Beddown on Monday, September 30, 2019

Beddown partnered with Secure Parking, one of Australia’s largest parking lot operators, to do a two-week trial run for the program in the city of Brisbane.

Norman McGillivray founded Beddown after he got the idea while walking through an empty parking lot one night. He thought that the space could be better used as a makeshift homeless shelter than by just sitting empty night after night.

On their Instagram page, the founders of Beddown said,

“We will look to get as close as we can to a proper comfortable bed to provide the homeless with a great night’s sleep is our ultimate goal. Sleep deprivation is a massive issue for our homeless, so being in a place that offers shelter and is safe, secure and comfortable we believe will have a big impact on those who use Beddown.”

Posted by Beddown on Monday, September 30, 2019

Beddown also provides other services in the overnight parking lots, including access to doctors, dentists, and hairdressers. Because the two-week trial in Brisbane was a success, Beddown is now looking to expand to other cities in Australia.

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Here are some initial Statistics and Outcomes from the Pilot: 41 guests used Beddown over the duration of the Pilot. 77% male 23% female guests Sleep rated on average – 4.5 out of 5 Beds rated on average – 4.5 out of 5 100% of guests said they felt safe during their stay. Multiple services accessed by guests – Dr & Nurse, Dentist, Hairdresser, New clothing and Social Services. The most guests turned away in one night due to capacity was 9. The youngest person who tried to access Beddown was just 15 years old. Positive outcomes: “After spending the week here, having a good sleep at night and a routine, it reminded me of life and I booked myself into Rehab for 6 months”. “Being able to sleep all night and away from drugs I’m clearer in the day and have not used drugs for 8 days”. “It’s the first time I have had a dream in years” “I don’t have to watch my back here” A Female guest found employment due to being able to sleep safely at night and able to work during the day. More data being accessed and will be shared soon. This is just the beginning! We now need support from Corporate, Government and the Public to make Beddown a sustainable operation and allow us to roll out across Australia to really help change and save lives. #homelessness #homeless #streetlife #storyofthestreet #beds #globalshift #queensland #brisbane #nsw #sydney #victoria #melbourne #southaustralia #adelaide #westernaustralia #perth #northernterritory #darwin #tasmania #australia #nonprofit #selfesteem #community #usa #uk #quality #endhomelessness #lifechanger

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Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this program succeeds in Australia and then spreads to other parts of the globe. It’s a great idea that could definitely help out a lot of people who are struggling.

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You Can Buy a Baby Mop Onesie and Put Your Kids to Work

Parents with little kiddos, listen up! You might want to pay attention to this article because this product could potentially save you a bunch of time and hard work.

It’s called the Baby Mop, and it might just change your life for the better.

Posted by Baby Mop on Friday, November 13, 2015

It’s exactly what it sounds like. A onesie designed like a mop that cleans the floor while your kids do what they do best: crawl around on the floor and get into things.

Posted by Baby Mop on Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The website describes the product like this (in very tongue-in-cheek fashion):

“Make your children work for their keep

After the birth of a child there’s always the temptation to say ‘Yes, it’s cute, but what can it do?’ Until recently the answer was simply ‘lie there and cry’, but now babies can be put on the payroll, so to speak, almost as soon as they’re born.

Just dress your young one in Baby Mops and set him or her down on any hard wood or tile floor that needs cleaning. You may at first need to get things started by calling to the infant from across the room, but pretty soon they’ll be doing it all by themselves.

There’s no child exploitation involved. The kid is doing what he does best anyway: crawling. But with Baby Mops he’s also learning responsibility and a healthy work ethic.”

… at work ….

Posted by Baby Mop on Friday, November 13, 2015

You can buy the baby mop onesies HERE and another company is selling a similar product on Amazon.

What do you think? Would you buy one of these for your kiddo? Let us know in the comments.

Put them to work, right? Sounds like a plan to me!

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Enjoy ‘Turducken-Flavored’ Pringles as Part of Your Thanksgiving Feast

Are you too busy to cook for Thanksgiving this year? You can just eat a bunch of Pringles instead. Not just any Pringles, either—Turducken-flavored Pringles, which are officially a thing now.

Pringles released the new limited-edition Turducken Friendsgiving Feast on November 7. And if you’re not familiar with the turducken, prepare to have your mind blown: a turducken is a chicken stuffed inside of a duck stuffed inside of a turkey.

It’s certainly less conventional than a simple stuffed turkey, but it’s (somehow) becoming more and more popular in the U.S. In some other countries, it’s called a three bird roast.

Back to the Pringles. Their turducken “feast” includes three meat-flavored Pringles: chicken, duck, and turkey. Pringles are easily stackable, of course, so the intention is for you to stack the three flavors on top of one another, achieving the full turducken experience in chip form.

In previous years, Pringles has released other limited-edition Thanksgiving kits. Last year, it included pumpkin pie, turkey, and stuffing flavored chips.

This year’s kit is available for $15.99. You can buy it exclusively from the Kelloggs website, but supplies are very limited, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get your hands on one.

There’s always next year—and at this rate, God only knows what flavor of Pringles they’ll come up with next. Cranberry? Ham? Crhamberry?!

If you don’t feel like scrambling to order Pringles from the internet but are still tempted to eat chips for Thanksgiving dinner, there are also Roasted Turkey-flavored Pringles available at regular grocery stores.

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Pabst Blue Ribbon Is Selling a 99-Can Case

Booooooyah! I’m not gonna lie, I like the sound of this!

Pabst Blue Ribbon, or PBR as it is usually called, is selling a limited-edition 99-pack containing three different kinds of beer. Is this great news, or what?!?!

Just keep in mind that when you do track this bad boy down, bring a friend or two to help you carry it home, okay?

The 99-pack of PBR is now in select stores in select states, and I think it’s going to make the holidays a lot more tolerable for many people out there. This monster features three beers from the PBR collection: original PBR, the light PBR Easy, and higher-strength PBR Extra (I’ve never even heard of PBR Extra before).

Here are the states where this glorious feat of ingenuity is available as of now.

Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Florida, New York, South Carolina, Montana, Vermont, California, Wisconsin, Iowa, Arkansas, and Colorado.

If you live in a state that is NOT on this list, you might want to call your local distributors…or maybe try your Senator?

It looks like these might be hard to track down even if they are in your state, too. A store in Mankato, Minnesota, put up a post showcasing their 99 packs (which they were selling for $59.99 – ¢60.6 per beer, for anyone counting), and they sold out in less than 24 hours. Also, people were driving almost 100 miles to buy up these bad boys.

Listen, the people want what the people want, okay?

I might be taking a quick drive to South Carolina this weekend…

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Australians Have Been Eating a Fish Previously Unknown to Science

Australians already confront crazy-looking (and deadly) animals on a daily basis, so it probably never occurred to them to question a fish that tasted pretty okay and didn’t kill anyone once ingested.

They probably didn’t expect to find out, though, that literally no one had ever heard of or seen the fish before, anywhere in the world.

Well, at least not before 2000, when a fisherman sent pictures of a mystery grouper to fish expert and Queensland Museum curator Jeff Johnson. But even though he saw images of the strange fish a few more times over the years, it wasn’t until 2017 that he got his hands on a physical specimen.

He nabbed 5 of them, actually, at a Brisbane fish market, and set to work identifying the apparently yummy swimmer.

“As soon as I saw them, I thought they were probably a new species, so I purchased all five and began the hard work of formally proving they were a new species,” he said in a statement. “I’ve been told they are quite tasty.”

He and museum geneticist Dr. Jessica Worthington Wilmer worked together to confirm his suspicions, and the new species was named Epinephelus fuscomarginatus.

The new subspecies of grouper isn’t so distinctive looking that people with untrained eyes would notice it straight away, and given that most groupers are fairly generic-looking fish, it’s understandable – if slightly worrying – that no one consuming it gave it a second thought.

The Epinephelus fuscomarginatus is about 27 inches long and lives about 750 feet down along the center of the Great Barrier Reef.

This grouper, interestingly, is not the only species to recently be discovered on its way to someone’s plate. In 2011, a new species of shark was discovered in a Taiwanese fish market, and in 2018, a different shark, thought to be extinct, showed up in a market in Mumbai.

In 2010, researchers discovered a species of monkey that sneezes when it rains, but lost their specimen when the locals in Myanmar ate it.

Oops. Dinner takes precedence over science, you know. I’m not even mad.

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