This French Theme Park Trained Some Crows to Keep the Place Clean

Theme parks all tend to have a few elements in common – plenty of rides, souvenir shops, food stalls, and, of course, an abundance of birds hopping around trying to pick up any food that falls to the ground.

Now, Puy du Fou, a theme park in Les Epesses, France, has decided that if birds are going to be hanging around begging for leftover popcorn and discarded funnel cakes, they might as well earn their keep. To that end, they’ve trained a small contingent of rooks as staff – they get paid in treats to clean up garbage and cigarette butts from the grounds.

Image Credit: Puy du Fou

Rooks are in the same family of birds as ravens and crows, highly intelligent and trainable animals. The ones at Puy du Fou pick up litter and place it in a bin in exchange for a treat – the team of 6 birds have been working hard since August 13.

Image Credit: Pixabay

It sounds a bit out there, but the amusement park is far from the first company to give it a go. Dutch startup Crowded Cities started training crows to gather cigarette butts using a vending machine-like device that offers peanuts in exchange for trash, and the experiment is going well.

Image Credit: Pixabay

If it continues to work with no detrimental effects to the crows (from handling tobacco), we could see a broader implementation of the idea worldwide – maybe nature can help us clean up nature, even though we’re the ones who soiled it in the first place.

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Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dogs Have Start Working Together, and I’m VERY Concerned

We previously brought you an article about ONE robot dog from Boston Dynamics that appeared so lifelike it gave all of us the heebie-jeebies.

Well apparently that was just a warm-up.

Because Boston Dynamics recently released a video of 10 of the company’s robot dogs pulling a truck, so you can view at a slightly unsettling vision of what the future might look like.

Not only is the visual pretty frightening, but the thud-thud-thud of the 40 robotic dog legs pounding the pavement adds to the creepiness.

Photo Credit: YouTube

Boston Dynamics said, “These Spot robots are coming off the production line now and will be available for a range of applications soon.” Uh oh, now I’m really scared.

Watch the video below and FEAR FOR THE FUTURE.

Life is turning more into a sci-fi movie by the day…

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Survey Reveals “Most Relaxing Color in the World”

What’s your favorite color, and why? Is it because you look good in clothes of that color, or because you just love the shade, or because the mere sight of it makes you feel calm and relaxed.

I never gave it much thought, but the people running this survey (out of the University of Sussex) have – and now they’re telling us what color is the best one when you want to relax to the max.

Here it is: Navy blue, followed closely by teal (or turquoise), and then pastel pink.

Image Credit: Pixabay

The World’s Favourite Colour Project surveyed 26,586 people from over 100 different countries and aimed to find out about people’s favorite color, along with what sort of associations people have with different colors and why.

Professor Anna Franklin, a leading expert in color psychology, wrote a blog post about their project.

“Many studies have investigated the link between color and emotion. Although not all of these studies agree, some consistent results can be extracted from the literature. First, the more saturated the color is, the more it is associated with excitement and stimulation. Second, the lighter the color, the more it is associated with calmness and relaxation. Many studies have found that blue and green are also associated with calmness and relaxation (fewer studies find no association).”

Orange is most often associated with happiness, pink is sexy, and people associate white, purple, and orange with luxury.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Most people’s favorite colors are shades of green and blue, and the ecological valence theory purports that humans seem to be more fond of those hues because they’re associated with beneficial environmental features like clear skies, clean water, and plants.

Likewise, we dislike brown because it’s associated with feces, dirty water, and disease.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Even though there are broad cross-cultural similarities,  the study’s authors are quick to remind us that there also remain differences among cultures.

“Several studies suggest that color associations, particularly abstract concepts, can vary across cultures. For example, whereas white is associated with peace in some cultures, in others it is associated with death.”

As an avid fan of Say Yes to the Dress, I also know that while Western cultures wear white for weddings, Indian cultures prefer bright colors on a bride.

Look at The Learning Channel, living up to its name!

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20 Gorgeous Artist Tributes to the Iconic Notre Dame Cathedral

On April 15, 2019, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which dates back to the 12th century and holds a trove of priceless artifacts, caught on fire and was heavily damaged.

Within days, over $1 billion was pledged to rebuild the famous structure, but some artists felt it would be more meaningful to pitch in their own way.

Below are 20 moving tributes to the iconic cathedral.

1. Neighbors

2. Quasimodo is crying

3. Thank you, firefighters

4. That’s a good one

5. The world on his back

6. Away to safety

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#notredame #paris 😢

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7. Hope

8. Prayers

9. A sad moment

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The tower #notredame

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10. His home

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#notredame ❤

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11. They will rebuild

12. Gargoyles

13. Crying…

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💔 . . #notredame

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14. Paris je t’aime

15. Rise again from the ashes

16. “Vivre”

17. Spirit of the Seine

18. Heartbroken

19. Beautiful painting

20. Awwww

Beautiful tributes…

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When His Wife Refused to Vaccinate Their Child, This Desperate Dad Turned to the Internet for Advice

The list of things to go over with any potential spouse before tying the knot seems to be getting longer and longer these days. For some inexplicable reason, there’s a new one to add to the list: if you’re looking to procreate someday, you might want to find out what your potential spouse’s views are on vaccinating your future children.

According to the CDC, rates of vaccine refusals for non-medical reasons are on the rise, and we’re seeing outbreaks of previously all-but-eradicated diseases because of it.

The issue is more and more relevant, and, as this new dad found out, you’d better not assume the person you walked down the aisle with shares your views on the subject.

Photo Credit: Reddit

Title says it all. We’ve been married for 3 years now. She’s always been one for quirky, “against-the-grain” thinking and interests. However, it’s not just harmless things like believing there’s no gold in Ft.Knox, taking pictures of trash in “aesthetic poses”, or doodling interesting little paintings of naked women laying with trees, anymore… No, it was little things like that which made me fall in love with her. But now there’s this anti-vax bullshit.

She got sucked into one of those anti-vax Facebook indoctrination camps by one of her brain dead friends who takes pride in the fact she’s worked at a fucking Wawa for 10 years. She messaged my wife shortly after she posted pics of our newborn on Facebook.

I love my wife but she somehow manages to be the most stubborn individual on the planet while simultaneously being the most gullible and malleable. Shortly after birth (because this was pre-brainwashing) our child received her Vitamin K shot, and the Hep-B vaccine. However, now She’s refusing to give our child any of the other vaccines.

I know that in her mind, she’s coming from a place of love for our child but as you can imagine, this has caused a considerable amount of strain and we’ve had a number of arguments already. All her arguments/counter-arguments follow the same general outline.

“Oh well if you look this graph you’ll see that the numbers of cases for <X disease> have risen alongside the increased use of <Y vaccine>”

“I’m the mother here, this is a mothers instinct, I know I’m right, a mother knows best, etc etc etc…”

I’ve tried explaining to her the basic idea of “correlation doesn’t equal causation.” By showing her that as ice cream sales increase, so too do the murder rates. She followed that one up with “We aren’t talking about ice cream and murder, we’re talking about vaccines and debilitating diseases! They’re completely different!”

I’ve tried showing her the statistics detailing the infant mortality rates in lesser developed countries where vaccination isn’t as pertinent and that vaccines are effective. She follows that up with “Those statistics are created by think tanks funded by the government and “big-pharma”

She won’t budge and hasn’t budged for weeks now. Our arguments are devolving into the same tired routine over and over again and I’m worried that the only thing which will wake her up is our child being afflicted by some horrible disease like measles which could’ve been easily avoided.

I am in Florida. Is there anyway I can sneakily just bring my child to the doctor and have her vaccinated without my wife’s knowledge? What are my options here? Legally speaking, what kind of leeway do I have? I don’t want this to lead to divorce but I just feel quite lost at the moment.

He’s tried convincing his wife that vaccines are the way to go but she refuses to listen to logic and/or science, and he was looking for advice on whether he could get his child vaccinated on his own and, maybe, how to avoid getting a divorce in the process.

r/legaladvice had plenty to say on the first point – in sum, yes – and not much to say on the second.

Photo Credit: Reddit

I mean, he asked the legal advice subreddit for help – not r/relationships – and I think they handled it nicely.

And if he takes off the Band-aids after it’s all said and done, she’ll probably never know the difference, and the kid won’t become another unfortunate statistic.

What do you think?

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Famous Russian Photographer Abandons Her Career to Live in the Forest with 100 Sick Dogs

Daria Pushkareva was one of the most sought-after wedding photographers in Moscow, regularly shooting the nuptials of Russia’s elite businesspeople and politicians, but her workaholic lifestyle left her exhausted. She had previously worked in the film industry. She said,

 “I became a photographer because I wanted to reduce the intensity of my life. I invested all of my money into photo equipment and master classes to perfect my skills. But ended up in the same place. No vacations, simply not giving myself neither the rest nor the holidays I so desperately needed. I shut myself away at work and the only joy I had came from producing impressive photos. I realized that I was a workaholic, always preferring doing or creating something to any form of relaxation.”

Photo Credit: Instagram

She continued,

“I then remembered my childhood when I and my classmates were talking about future professions and I said that I wanted to run a dog shelter. One day, I saw a piece about a shelter puppy without an eye. It needed 10K rubles ($150) to book a visit to the ophthalmologist. I met a volunteer to give her the money for the dog’s treatment in person and she told me, “Thank you, but we can’t take her to the vet. There’s no one to do it right now.”

“I was there with my husband. We exchanged a few glances and I said ‘We might as well do it ourselves.’ At that point, everything became clear and simple. The owner of the shelter came and placed the flea-bitten furball onto my lap while I was sitting in the car. I looked at her asking, ‘Is this a puppy?’”

Photo Credit: Instagram

Pushkareva and her husband started rescuing one dog after another, some in terrible condition. After a while, they took out two loans, bought a house in the country, 100 miles from Moscow, and built enclosures for their rescue dogs. Pushkareva and her husband had a new life and a new purpose.

She said,

“I wouldn’t consider our household a shelter. In fact, I even feel offended if someone calls it like that. A shelter is a place where new volunteers and other people contribute to the wellbeing of the animals that are constantly moving in and out. We, on the other hand, have our own dogs, we love them and devote our lives to them. To us, they are family members. They’ll remain with us forever and we do not want to give them away to anyone.”

Photo Credit: Instagram

In addition to the rescue dogs, the couple also takes care of foxes and raccoons.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Photo Credit: Instagram

Take a look at some more photos of daily life on their property.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Photo Credit: Instagram

Photo Credit: Instagram

Photo Credit: Instagram

Photo Credit: Instagram

Photo Credit: Instagram

If you want to donate some money to help their cause, you can do it on Paypal at sobakalarax@mail.ru.

The couple now feeds and takes care of an incredible 200 animals.

Bravo!

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Muslim Man Tweets About His Jewish Co-worker – But It’s Not What You Think

Getting along with your co-workers can often prove to be a challenge, and that goes double when we work with people who are very different from ourselves – different experiences, different upbringings, different backgrounds, different faiths, different whatever. But given that none of us want to end up on the street without a paycheck, getting along is the best (and only) option.

That said, when Muslim man Umar started a Twitter thread about how his Jewish co-worker treats him on the job, people everywhere were holding their breath.

Spoiler alert: It turned out to be for naught.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Umar told Bored Panda that not only was his co-worker, Elliot, super knowledgable about Islam and its rules, but that he genuinely cared about others and looked out for their best interests.

Photo Credit: Twitter

We should all aim to be a bit more like these two, who quietly respect their’ differences and work to ensure everyone can live the life they choose without interfering with other people’s right to do the same.

Photo Credit: Twitter

In the meantime, everyone is reveling in the good and light cast from Umar and his friend.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Be kind, y’all. It’s worth it.

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Extremely Rare “Blonde” Zebra Photographed in the African Wild

“Blonde” zebras, or zebras that are striped white and a sort of golden-yellow color, are extremely rare. But sightings of a rare “blonde” zebra in the Serengeti National Park seem to confirm that, if accepted by their herd, the lighter-colored version can survive in the wild without issue.

The photographs were taken by National Geographic photographer Sergio Pitamitz, who was out to capture images of migrating zebras when he saw what looked like an all-white member of the striped crowd.

At closer glance, he saw a white-and-gold striped animal drinking from a watering hole. He told National Geographic about the experience.

“At first I thought it was a zebra that had rolled in the dust.”

When it didn’t wash off in the water, though, he realized he was looking at something special.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Scientists think the zebra has partial albinism, a genetic condition that leads to a lack of melanin. It’s been recorded in a number of animals, from orangutans to penguins. The opposite condition, melanism, has also been seen in the animal world – it turns normally lighter colored animals so dark as to nearly be black.

Albinism is rare to see it in the wild, though, since albino animals are much easier to spot than their camouflaged relatives. Until now, no one was sure whether an albino zebra could survive outside captivity. Zebra stripes actually aren’t for camouflage or climate control, so not having black stripes hypothetically shouldn’t affect a zebra’s ability to survive – scientists just weren’t sure whether an albino zebra would be accepted by the herd.

The pictures prove that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Fun fact: Each zebra’s pattern is unique, like a fingerprint, so maybe they don’t notice how different this one is – melanistic and even spotted zebras have been previously seen in the wild.

Another fun fact: there are three species of zebra – plains zebras, mountain zebras, and Grevy’s zebra – and all have slightly different markings.

Nice to think that animal species aren’t bothered by their differences, instead accepting the fact that none of them look the same. Humans could learn a thing or two!

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10 Incredible Facts That Might Just Blow Your Mind

We live in a pretty strange world, full of so many unbelievable things that, if we showed them all to you at once, you’d go insane. Your mind would boggle at levels that are simply too much for the human body to take.

So, to preserve your health and sanity, we’re doling them out a little at time.

1. Try it out

Photo Credit: did you know?

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2. Mr. Video?

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3. They’re in charge

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4. Big fan

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5. Brace face

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6. They don’t mean it

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7. You’re late

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8. Eternal light

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9. Hmmmm

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10. Let them sleep!

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One question: are you able to speak?

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Study Confirms That Bad Diets Are Now Killing More People Than Smoking

Did you know that poor diet is responsible for killing roughly 11 million people worldwide? That number sounds staggering, but it’s true. We as a society are eating wayyy too much salt, meat, and sugar, and it’s collectively killing us.

Well, now we have even more proof. In a new study, researchers looked at the diets of people in 195 countries and estimated the impact of poor diet on the risk of death from such ailments as diabetes, heart disease, and specific kinds of cancers. The study also looked at the number of deaths from smoking and drug use.

Photo Credit: pxhere

The lead author of the study, Ashkan Afshin of the University of Washington, said, “This study shows that poor diet is the leading risk factor for deaths in the majority of the countries of the world.” Afshin added that poor diets are “a larger determinant of ill health than either tobacco or high blood pressure.”

Photo Credit: Max Pixel

The research showed that the countries with the best diets and with the lowest rates of diet-related diseases are Spain, Israel, France, and Japan. In the study, the United States ranked 43rd.

Afshin said that countries where people eat a diet that resembles the Mediterranean diet see the lowest rates of diet-related deaths. This diet sees a high intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and healthy oils.

There is a huge disparity around the world in food consumption, as 800 million people don’t have enough to eat, while on the other hand, 1.9 billion people are overweight.

Photo Credit: pxhere

It’s a complicated issue that gets even more difficult when you consider that if everyone on Earth decided to eat a healthy, balanced diet all the time, there wouldn’t be enough fruits and vegetables to go around, and they would eventually run out.

The authors of the study admit that coordinated, global efforts are needed to address these pressing problems.

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