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Jun 13th, 2021, 5:48 pm
Burglar Breaks Into Couple's Home And Helps Himself To A Shower

A man came face-to-face with an intruder in his home wrapped in a towel after taking a shower.

Steve Baker, from Meadow Vista in California, said his wife woke him up at around 11pm last Thursday (11pm) after she heard the sound of running water.

The homeowner grabbed his gun and decided to go and check out what was going on, but he was left more than a little surprised when he ended up running into the house-breaker on his stairs - wearing nothing but a towel, having just had a shower.

Speaking CNN, Steve said the man had managed to break into their home by using a garden ornament - a ceramic bunny rabbit - to smash through a glass panel in the door, before reaching inside and letting himself in.

Steve's wife was watching TV at the time and heard the sound of water.

He explained: "She woke me up and in a panicked way said, 'Get the gun, there's somebody upstairs.'

"I grabbed the gun. I don't keep it loaded, but I can do it pretty darn quickly and that's what I did, and to be quite honest, walked out first, forgot my shorts, so my wife helped me with that."

Well, that could have been awkward because the intruder was also in a state of undress.

"I got to the bottom of the stairs, and as I start to turn around the stairs, he was coming down the stairs wrapped in a towel - about as surreal as it could get," he said.

"I said, 'What on earth are you thinking?'

"Because it's a 24-year-old kid, and he responded saying, 'I had to.'"

While Steve tried to wrap his head around the bizarre situation, his wife called the police.

Steve then held the man at gunpoint to ensure he didn't try and do a runner, while they waited for cops to arrive.
Twenty-five-year-old Carrola Tiago-Freitas was arrested at the scene and has since been charged with burglary.

Steve reckons the man was lucky it was his home the young man broke into, as things could have been a lot worse for the suspect.

He added: "Police were looking for evidence. They went to the dining room table and there's the bunny with a piece of glass right next to it.

"He's lucky, because someone else could've shot him."

https://www.ladbible.com/news/weird-bur ... r-20210613
Jun 13th, 2021, 5:48 pm
Jun 13th, 2021, 6:27 pm
Firefighters Get Creative to Help Baby Raccoon With its Head Stuck in a Sewer Cover

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Firefighters near Detroit came to the rescue of a small raccoon struggling with quite the predicament.

Macomb County Animal Control called the Harrison Township Fire Department and when they arrived they were perplexed to see the raccoon with its head stuck in a sewer cover.

Veteran firefighter Lt. Brian Lorkowski took a photo while they figured out what do do.

First, they tried putting soap around the animal’s neck, but that didn’t work. They considered cutting into the cast iron cover, but it would be too risky.

“We were trying all different kinds of options to not try and hurt it, but it was stuck in there really good,” Lorkowski told MLive.

Finally, they asked a homeowner bring some cooking oil. They were able to pull out the body, and free the animal at last, without any injury.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/firefig ... wer-cover/
Jun 13th, 2021, 6:27 pm
Jun 13th, 2021, 10:22 pm
FDA: Don’t Eat Cicadas If You’re Allergic to Seafood

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Fancy yourself as a real foodie? In that case, dare to take a bite out of the cicada pie?
A while back we featured a story about the Brood X cicadas that are emerging in the eastern U.S. More specifically, it was about the psychedelic fungus that makes their butts fall off.

But the fungus isn’t the only threat the cicadas face as they crawl out of the ground for the first time in 17 years. Apparently, they also have to watch out for hungry people. We know that because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) felt it necessary to issue an allergy warning about the cicadas.

“Yep! We have to say it!” the FDA tweeted on June 2. “Don’t eat cicadas if you’re allergic to seafood as these insects share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters.”

Welp, the more you know. If shrimp make your throat swell up, you better steer clear of these yummy, yummy bugs.


Disgusting but Nutritious
But hold on just a hot minute here. Let’s unpack this tweet, shall we?

First of all, people actually eat cicadas? And its so prevalent that the FDA has to issue a warning? Apparently so. You can even get a whole recipe book dedicated to the bugs. Among the recipes are dishes such as soft-shelled cicadas, cicada dumpling, cicada stir-fry, chocolate-covered cicadas… The list goes on.

Strange as it sounds by today’s standards, cicadas are actually pretty good eating. Gene Kritsky, the Dean of Behavioral and Natural Sciences Mount St. Joseph University who has studied the bugs for years, says they have a pretty good nutritional profile.

“They’re high in protein and they’re low in fat. They’re herbivores. You have a declining amount of energy used to go up the food web,” Kritsky explains.

He adds that female cicadas are better eating than the males since they carry eggs. The male cicadas’ abdomen is mostly hollow, so there’s not much to eat there.

Historical Precedent
What’s more, munching on cicadas actually has a long history in the U.S. According to Kritsky, they were fairly common fare for Native Americans. The Cherokee of North Carolina, for example, used to eat cicadas fried in hot fat. They also stockpiled them for leaner times by preserving them in brine.

“Apparently the Iroquois would harvest cicada nymphs. The Indigenous populations were consuming them,” confirms Kritsky.

But it wasn’t just the Native Americans who enjoyed a good cicada. When Europeans came along, they also started using the bugs in cooking.

Kritsky says that cicadas were such a big part of the Colonial diet that they wrote recipes for them. The older surviving cicada recipes are from the 1700s.

“The oldest record of Brood X actually includes the English settlers in Philadelphia eating them, way back in 1715,” says Kritsky.

On June 6, 1902, the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper published a recipe for a cicada pie. The instructions go as follows: “Take 50 newly emerged white female cicadas, legs and head chopped, place in a bowl with stale bread soaked in milk. Add sugar, rhubarb flavor and cream to soften the ingredients.

“Put the mixture into a pie crust and place a crisscross pattern similar to that of an apple pie. Bake at 400 degrees until the crust is done; people who’ve enjoyed this pie claim it tasted like partridge.”

An Endangered Treat
Kritsky actually tried this recipe back in 1987 when his colleague decided to make the pie. He says that he doesn’t know if it tasted like partridge, but it wasn’t all that bad.

“They are very soft, and there’s no sticky bits or sharp bits that will get you. You can digest it all pretty easily,” he says.

“It had to me a very green flavor, which I felt was surprising because they’re sucking on the xylem tissue of roots that spring water and minerals from the roots up to the leaves. The flavor I’ve likened it to was whole canned asparagus — very green.”

So, what should people do if they want to try whipping up their own cicada pie? According to Kritsky, it’s important to harvest the cicadas just when they’ve climbed up from the ground.

“They climb up a vertical surface and skin cracks open at the back, and they start to pull out as an all-white cicada – all white and free from the brown skin. That’s what you want to collect,” Kritsky explains.

After collecting them, Kritsky instructs curious cooks to rinse the bugs very well with running water. Coming from the ground, they could be covered in bacteria and fungi – including the one that makes their butts fall off.

However, you shouldn’t go nuts on filling buckets upon buckets with cicadas. The bugs are threatened, and that’s why Kritsky says that he personally doesn’t eat them anymore.

“In the 1890s, the USDA suggested they may be in danger of going extinct over time,” he says.

“My research … shows they are really in decline, so I can’t eat them. I like them too much.”
Jun 13th, 2021, 10:22 pm

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Jun 14th, 2021, 6:41 am
Golden retriever gives woodchuck a ride to shore in Massachusetts lake
June 10, 2021 / 1:12 PM *

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June 10 (UPI) -- A woman visiting a Massachusetts lake with her dog captured video when the canine picked up an unexpected passenger in the water -- a hitchhiking woodchuck.

Lauren Russell said her 2-year-old golden retriever, Wally, was swimming in Lunenburg's Hickory Hills Lake when he encountered a woodchuck in the water.

"He was about 100 meters out and a woodchuck I think just crawled right up on his back and he swam back to shore with him," Russell told WCVB-TV. "We were flabbergasted. It was unbelievable. We couldn't believe what we were seeing."

Russell captured video of Wally swimming back to shore with the woodchuck on his back. She said the canine did not seem to mind having a passenger.

"He didn't even care," Russell said. "He like took a peek back on his back and then just kept swimming."

She said Wally gave his new friend a ride all the way back to shore, where the two said their goodbyes.

"It came back to the island, hopped off his back, and then scurried away and they gave each other a little kiss goodbye. They like touched snouts and then he ran away," Russell said.
Jun 14th, 2021, 6:41 am

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Jun 14th, 2021, 11:51 am
A Lobster Diver In Cape Cod Says A Humpback Whale Scooped Him Up And Spat Him Out

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A humpback whale jumps in the surface of the Pacific Ocean at the Uramba Bahia Malaga National Natural Park in Colombia in 2018. Michael Packard says he was nearly swallowed by one such whale on Friday as he dove for lobsters off the coast of Provincetown (Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images)

A commercial lobster diver says he escaped relatively unscathed after nearly being swallowed by a humpback whale, in a biblical-sounding encounter that whale experts describe as rare but plausible.

Michael Packard, 56, said in local interviews and on social media that he was diving off the coast of Provincetown, Mass., on Friday morning when the whale suddenly scooped him up.

"I was in his closed mouth for about 30 to 40 seconds before he rose to the surface and spit me out," Packard later wrote on Facebook. "I am very bruised up but have no broken bones."

The Cape Cod Times reports that Packard was pulled out of the water by his crewman and rushed back to shore, where he was transported to Cape Cod Hospital. He walked — albeit with a limp — out of the hospital that afternoon.

While he's still recovering from soft tissue damage, Packard told the newspaper he'll be back in the water as soon as he heals.

What Packard says

Packard told WBZ-TV that he was about 45 feet down in the water when he suddenly felt "this huge bump and everything went dark." He initially feared he had been attacked by a shark.

"Then I felt around, and I realized there was no teeth and I had felt, really, no great pain," he said. "And then I realized, 'Oh my God, I'm in a whale's mouth. I'm in a whale's mouth, and he's trying to swallow me.' "

Packard was still wearing his scuba gear and breathing apparatus inside the whale's mouth, which he said was completely dark. Fearing he wouldn't make it out alive, he thought about his wife and sons.

After about half a minute, the whale rose to the water's surface and began shaking its head from side to side.

"I just got thrown in the air and landed in the water," Packard recalled. "And I was free, and I just floated there ... I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I got out of that."

What witnesses say

Crewman Josiah Mayo said he saw the whale burst to the surface and toss Packard back into the sea, according to the Cape Cod Times.

Lobster divers typically go out in pairs, with the crewman tracking the diver's movements underwater by following their air bubbles.

Packard told Boston's WCVB-TV that his mate "came right over to me and got another guy to help pull me aboard."

That other man was Joe Francis, a charter boat captain who happened to be nearby.

"I saw Mike come flying out of the water, feet first with his flippers on, and land back in the water," Francis told WBZ-TV. "I jumped aboard the boat. We got him up, got his tank off. Got him on the deck and calmed him down and he goes, 'Joe, I was in the mouth of a whale.' "

While the two men witnessed Packard's escape, Packard noted that they didn't see the whale scoop him up in the first place because "he ate me when I was down on the bottom."

What whale experts say

Two researchers told NPR that interactions between humpback whales and humans are rare, and said the whale most likely engulfed Packard by accident as it was opening its mouth to feed on small fish.

Iain Kerr, the chief executive officer of the Massachusetts-based conservation nonprofit Ocean Alliance, explained that humpback whales are known for lunge feeding, in which they open their mouths, accelerate and "take in 10 SUVs worth of water and fish and then everything else."

Whales are typically very aware of their surroundings, Kerr said. But in this particular case, he said it's entirely possible that as the whale lunged toward a school of fish, "it's a one-in-a-million shot that [Packard] just got rolled into the mouth."

Because humpback whales have a small esophagus, Kerr doubts that Packard could have actually fit in the whale's throat. Still, he said, he's lucky to be alive.

"With the type of forces that are involved here with animals this large, it could have gone 20 different ways that could have killed him," he said.

For example, had the whale closed its mouth out of fear, it could have broken Packard's neck or back.

"To be clear, the whale did not want him in its mouth," Kerr added, comparing the situation to an open-mouthed biker accidentally inhaling a fly.

Dr. Jooke Robbins, the director of Humpback Whale Studies at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, wrote in an email that the whale would have had to open its mouth and potentially use its tongue to push Packard out.

Such events are extremely rare, both experts stressed.

Kerr recalls hearing about one incident in which a person survived being caught in a humpback's mouth off the coast of South Africa in 2019, and Robbins said she is not aware of any comparable stories.

She added that she doesn't expect to hear about any more encounters anytime soon, but advises swimmers and boaters to pay attention to their surroundings and keep a safe distance from any wild animals.

Plus, Kerr said, whales don't generally want to interact with people either.

If you ever did happen to fall into the water near one, he said, "I would just stop moving and enjoy the experience, because what an opportunity."

"As humanity looks ever more to the oceans for resources, recreation, agriculture, whatever, I think we're going to have more and more interactions with these animals," he added. "But generally speaking whales are gentle giants, and I think all they ask from us is a little bit of respect of their time and space."
Jun 14th, 2021, 11:51 am
Jun 14th, 2021, 12:07 pm
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IN OTHER NEWS...
CURRENTLY OFFLINE


Hold off posting your news stories
The editors and accountant department are reviewing last weeks reports to insure that all our reporters get their proper paycheck
Jun 14th, 2021, 12:07 pm

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Jun 14th, 2021, 12:17 pm
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FOR STORIES POSTED THE W/O JUNE 7

Our news editors at IN OTHER NEWS have carefully reviewed all the stories submitted by our reporters
Following is last weeks Reporter Log

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LEGEND:
X = Acceptable Story
X = PULITZER PRIZE
NA = Not Acceptable Story
DS = Duplicate Story
NOTE: If you feel the editors made a mistake, please feel free to PM me so that we can review your claim


A SPECIAL THANKS TO 11 ACE REPORTERS WHO FILED A NEWS STORY EVERY DAY
BigGlen
Fatima99
goldie0608
hija
lush
mrvictor
ozswede
PennySerenade
ppp143212
prokroustis
Zbignieww


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Every week the editors will review all the stories and pick the one story that we feels deserves a
MOBI PULITZER PRIZE

There are many different categories for submissions. The previous week, the category was "SURPRISE"
But this week, the category was "NEW INFORMATION"

W/O JUNE 7TH CATEGORY = NEW INFORMATION
prokroustis
DAY = SUNDAY JUNE 13

STORY = "Your dog is as good at maths as a two-year-old child, say top boffins."
The picture alone is worth it, but the closing line clinches it... "Studies testing the ability of felines to do simple maths are hampered by the cats getting bored and walking away." :lol: :lol: :lol:

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS WEEKS MOBI PULITZER PRIZE WINNER = 100 WRZ

THE NEXT NEWS CYCLE WILL BEGIN SHORTLY
Jun 14th, 2021, 12:17 pm

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Jun 14th, 2021, 12:19 pm
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I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
MONDAY JUNE 14

What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

EXAMPLE POST
Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag
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A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -5)
2:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)

on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life :lol:
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories :lol: :lol: :lol:

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS


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Jun 14th, 2021, 12:19 pm

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Jun 14th, 2021, 12:20 pm
Strangers team up to carry rottweiler named Odin down Mount Washington

She bought the dog harness two years ago, unsure if she’d ever use it.

But Jeannine Robbins, of Thornton, N.H., knew that it was a good idea, that someday she might need one for her golden retriever, Appa.

She never figured, however, that the harness would be a key piece to a six-person civilian rescue this month.

A man and his injured dog, trapped 3 miles up on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, on Mount Washington, were stuck. Dry, rough rock had cut the dog’s paws, leaving him immobile. Other rocks were slick and treacherous, the incline was steep, and the dog, a rottweiler named Odin, weighed at least 90 pounds. The distressed pooch needed to be carried down.

Sometimes, it’s nice to have a strong dog harness handy.

“I hadn’t even taken the harness out of the package,” Robbins said this week. “I bought it, God forbid, to have in case we needed one.”

By the time the ordeal was finished, with everyone returning to the parking lot safely, the hiker and his dog had spent 24 hours in a grassy, wooded area. Robbins and her five teammates, all recent strangers to one another, spent about 12 hours on the job.

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Robbins was first on the scene. Christina Cozzens of Jackson was No. 3. They said the man’s name was Winston, from western Massachusetts.

He was young and slender and did not appear to have overnight gear, or extra food and water, they said. Odin, however, was big and mad, and his paws were badly cut and bleeding.

Both these women are experienced hikers. Cozzens has hiked all 48 of the state’s 4,000-foot mountains. She hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Robbins hikes, skis, snowshoes and mountain bikes. She’s also a group leader for the Appalachian Mountain Club.

They know tough hikes, and both said this one was tough, featuring wet, jagged rocks and slabs — especially above treeline — and a nasty incline.

“Not an easy trail,” Robbins said.

They wondered why someone ill-prepared would bring a dog and attempt to tackle something so difficult and dangerous.

In addition, help was not on the way. Not officially.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department does not rescue dogs injured during a hike, said Lt. Robert Mancini of Fish and Game.

“We do not have the resources to climb a mountain to rescue a dog,” Mancini said. “We have to direct search and rescue to people.”

Each year, Fish and Game and other agencies warn hikers and campers not to be stupid. But, inevitably, some are.

“It’s important to know your limitations and the limitations of who you are hiking with, person as well as animal,” Mancini said. “If the dog is used to walking around in the backyard, it’s not a good idea to take the dog up a mountain with rugged terrain.

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Hikers bandaged this dog's paws and used tape to keep him mouth closed so he couldn't snap at the people trying to help him.

“It’s a nice story that someone came and helped,” he said.

There were six volunteers, united in a common goal. They climbed there to help.

Robbins and Cozzens saw the alert on Facebook from hikers who had passed Winston and Odin. The message said it was urgent. It asked if anyone had a dog harness.

The hike was nearly 3 miles. The two women, at separate places on the trail, gathered information from hikers on their way down. The dog couldn’t move. They’d been given food and water. And a sleeping bag.

“My mind started to think, ‘How are we going to get the dog out,’ ” Cozzens said. “This was super-technical. Very wet rocks. Very slippery.”

They arrived at the spot in late morning. They bandaged Odin’s paws with gauze. Then, a plan. There wasn’t time to hike up to the Cog Railway for its final ride.

Enter the dog harness.

They took it out of its package, finally. They read the instructions. Then they secured the dog in the harness and began to climb down.

Two men shared the burden, passing the harness back and forth after 15-minute shifts, relying on Cozzens to make sure their feet landed on the flattest, driest spots she could find.

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Strapped into a harness and carried back-pack-style, Odin the dog is assisted down the mountain by a group of hikers.

“We talked the whole way down,” Cozzens said. “We had nine hours together, and we had to put a lot of trust in each other.”

Soon, hikers were heading toward them, with food and water, around every turn. Then those people would join the caravan down, until two or three dozen were walking with the original six, triumphantly back to civilization.

In the parking lot, they discovered watermelon and cold drinks on a picnic table. They learned that the New Hampshire Animal Rescue Team and Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue, both nonprofits, lent a hand.

“Exhausted, hungry but elated,” was how Robbins described it.

She drove home to Thornton. And to Appa, her golden retriever.

“I looked at my dog,” Robbins said, holding her dog harness. “I told him, ‘Appa, you’re lucky you’ve never had to use one of these.’ ”

Source
Jun 14th, 2021, 12:20 pm

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Jun 14th, 2021, 12:28 pm
Utah math students create mosaics using Rubik's Cubes
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Seventh and eight grade math students at Elk Ridge Middle School in South Jordan spent their last day of school making mosaics with Rubik's Cubes.

Watch the video above to see how their math skills combined with teamwork turned into something "Positively Utah."
https://www.fox13now.com/news/positivel ... biks-cubes
Jun 14th, 2021, 12:28 pm
Jun 14th, 2021, 1:17 pm
Colorful 'Candy Land House' for sale in Chicago

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A pastel-colored Chicago home popularly known as the "Candy Land House" is up for sale, with the real estate agent comparing it to a life-sized "Barbie's dream home."

The house in the Roger's Park neighborhood was built in 1891 and was remodeled into a pastel work of art by current owner Jackie Seiden and her husband, Don, who has since died. The couple lived in the house for 47 years.

"The whole house is pastel-colored and glitter from head to toe," Kathy Schrage, the Redfin real estate agent listing the home, told Block Club Chicago. "It's like a Barbie's dream home."

"It's the most eclectic house I've seen in 20 years as a Realtor," she said.

Jackie Seiden previously said the home was an olive green color when she and her husband moved in, and the pastel colors she started using inside the house soon spread to the exterior. The pastel theme even extends to the blinds, radiators and a piano.

Schrage said Seiden would prefer to sell the home to someone who would keep the house's unique elements, but the market will ultimately decide.

The current asking price for the house is $600,000.
Jun 14th, 2021, 1:17 pm
Jun 14th, 2021, 1:24 pm
This Native American Tribe Just Bought Back An Island — 160 Years After Maine Stole It From Them
By Kaleena Fraga Published June 11, 2021

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The Passamaquoddy people were granted ownership of Pine Island after they supported colonists during the Revolutionary War, but later generations reneged on the promise.

Native people in the United States have lost 1.5 billion acres of land since 1776. But one tribe just got some of their lands back. The Passamaquoddy purchased Pine Island in Maine, where, once, their people lived for 10,000 years.

“The land was stolen from us and it’s been every chief’s goal ever since to return it,” said chief William Nicholas.

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Chief Neptune of the Passamaquoddy tribe in 1921.

The island, called White’s Island by European settlers, and Kuwesuwi Monihq, or Pine Island, by the Passamaquoddy, sits in Big Lake, a body of water near the Passamaquoddy reservation. Tribal members have long tried to reclaim the land. But it wasn’t until Nicholas saw that the island was for sale that they were able to act.

An online post on privateislandsonline.com described Pine Island in glowing terms. “[It’s] a unique property … steeped in history … with only two owners in the last 95 years,” purred the site.

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A mannequin showing how the Passamaquoddy lived in the 1500s. They inhabited Pine Island for 10,000 years.

In fact, the island had had a previous owner — the Passamaquoddy, who lived on Pine Island for at least 10,000 years, until the 1860s.

Determined to buy the island, Nicholas reached out to First Light, a group of land trusts, timber companies, philanthropies, and conservation groups that works with Maine tribes to help them recoup lost land.

With their help, the tribe raised $355,000 and bought back the island.

“This is like finding a lost relative,” said Donald Soctomah, the tribe’s historic preservation officer.

But, as First Light member Peter Forbes noted: “If the land hadn’t been stolen, they wouldn’t need to buy it back in the first place.”

Indeed, the saga of Pine Island’s theft dates back to 1794. Then, after the Passamaquoddy supported American colonists during the Revolutionary War, the colonists officially designated the island as tribal territory.

“The role of the Passamaquoddy in securing victory in the Revolutionary War was recognized by George Washington who wrote a letter to Chief Neptune in 1776 thanking the Passamaquoddy and proclaimed a ‘pledge of friendship,” states the Passamaquoddy tribal history.

But in 1820, Maine became a state. And Americans promptly voided the previous treaty and took the island for themselves.

Although the tribe tried to maintain a presence on the island, settlers made it difficult. One man set fire to the island after the Passamaquoddy refused to give him cranberries they’d harvested. And the tribe lived under the constant fear of diseases like smallpox.

The state of Maine even illegally sold the island — although the details of the transaction remain hazy. Officials changed the island’s name to “White’s Island” in the 1850s, possibly to get around any lingering legal obligations to the Passamaquoddy.

“I think it could then be sold because it was no longer listed by name on the treaty documents,” Soctomah said.

By 1860, just 20 Passamaquoddy lived on Pine Island. Ten years later, none of them did. And until the 2021 purchase of the island, no member of the Passamaquoddy had set foot on Pine Island for 130 years.

Now, Pine Island is theirs once more — something that Soctomah calls “an important step for the tribe.”

And organizations like First Light hope that it’s an important first step for other tribes, too.

“We have a role in the systemic injustice that was inflicted on indigenous people and therefore a responsibility addressing that,” said Mark Berry, a forest director for the Nature Conservancy, which is a member of First Light.

Forbes agrees. “This is about keeping our heads down and centering tribal voices,” he said. He added that the purchase of Pine Island was “just the beginning.”

The Passamaquoddy purchase of Pine Island seems to be part of a larger reckoning. In recent years, other tribes have succeeded in recouping lost land. The Esselen tribe in California — formerly landless — bought 1,200 acres with the help of a $4.5 million dollar donation by conservationists. And in 2019, the California city of Eureka returned Duluwat Island to the Wiyot tribe.

But for the Passamaquoddy, the return of Pine Island goes deeper than a financial transaction.

“Our concept of land ownership is that nobody ‘owns’ land,” noted Soctomah. “Instead, we have a sacred duty to protect it.”
Jun 14th, 2021, 1:24 pm

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Jun 14th, 2021, 2:57 pm
$100-Per-Hour Professional Cuddler Explains Why She Loves Getting Strange Requests

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A professional cuddler who earns $100 per hour for an individual session has explained why she really loves performing some of the stranger requests that her clients give her - provided they fall within the code of conduct that she works within, and everyone feels comfortable with it.

Professional cuddling hasn't quite broken into the mainstream over in the UK just yet, but with the coronavirus pandemic leaving many people isolated and starved of basic human contact, it's easy to see why the services of a professional cuddler might be popular.

Keeley Shoup is one such cuddler working out of Chicago over in the United States. She has been working in that capacity - and helping those who have suffered from trauma and abuse - for around seven years.

Of course, there is a strict set of rules in place to protect her from anything that crosses the line beyond her services. However, Keeley says the sense that her clients can trust her enough to make special requests is one of her favourite things about the job.

She explains: "I kind of love strange requests, because what that means is that that person trusted me enough to tell me a thing that they wanted.

"That is atypical in society, that means they have to trust me a lot.

"That means that I have created a space safe enough where they don't feel like I'm going to judge them.

"I love that. I want them to have places in their life where they don't feel judged.

"One of the rules that I have is that they can ask me for anything that falls within the code of conduct, and they won't be judged.

"I'm not going to say yes to everything, I'm still going to check in with myself and see whether this is something I can actually do wholehearted - I'm not going to do anything that I will resent them for.

"I will hold my own boundaries, and I will never put myself in a position where I'm uncomfortable.

"That gives them the freedom to ask for anything."

So, what does that entail? Obviously nothing sexual or provocative, as that would be in violation of the strict rules that Keeley sets for herself and her clients. But there are some things that she will gladly do.

She says: "I've had tickle fights with clients before. That's something that's kinda atypical or out of the norm.

"I've read books - like children's stories - because they wanted to feel taken care of in that way, and that was a thing they remembered from childhood that was really reassuring and nurturing.

"I've wrestled around like a puppy with someone before, just to get that sense of play.

"I say 'weird' in the most loving way possible. One that I think most people resonate with but don't think of it was... when you were a kid, you'd draw on someone's back and they had to guess what shapes [you were drawing].

"That, I love doing, but it's not something that adults typically do."

Of course, the cynic in many would assume that there could be another type of overtone to this, but Keeley believes that - so long as everyone is aware of the boundaries - there's no reason for that to be the case.

She says: "As adults, we do ourselves a disservice to ourselves and our community by limiting what access we have to platonic touch.

"Because of fear or lack of clarity, or for shame around what is and isn't sexual.

"Whereas someone can absolutely do those things in a sexual context, and that is a subjective experience, I think a lot of people limit what they allow themselves to want, despite what they actually may want.

"They're so afraid of being judged or ostracised or shunned because other people wouldn't believe them when they said it wasn't sexual."

Keeley reckons that only a very small amount of the people she has encountered over the course of her career are after something sexual, and even expressed a wish that sex work was legal so that she could refer those who need that form of intimacy to them.

However, despite some - admittedly very rare - bad experiences, she loves her work and loves her clients.

After all, she's proving basic intimacy to people who otherwise wouldn't experience human contact or intimacy in that form.

She explains: "This feels like my life's purpose. When I get up in the morning, if I don't think 'I just wanna go and do this', it's just because I have not given myself enough rest.

"I do so much of it because I love it so much.

"I burn out a little bit and don't monitor my sleep or eating.

"There's nothing else I would rather do. I want to cuddle people all the time, always. I have an infinite capacity for this stuff."

https://www.ladbible.com/news/interesti ... s-20210613
Jun 14th, 2021, 2:57 pm
Jun 14th, 2021, 3:17 pm
Innovative Plant Will Recycle Polystyrene Foam and Recover Valuable Resources Using All-Wind Power

Even though styrene occurs naturally in foods such as strawberries, cinnamon, and coffee, when it is strung together with other chemicals to create foam insulation or packaging to protect sensitive electronics, it becomes almost impossible-to-recycle. A second new plant is set to change that in Europe.

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Being 98% air, polystyrene foam is not cost-effective to store or ship, but a huge new recycling plant in the Netherlands has overcome this issue in order to recycle expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste.

The PolyStyreneLoop plant in Terneuzen, Netherlands, scheduled to open this week, was built to prove the technical and economic feasibility of a large-scale, closed-loop solution for the recycling of EPS waste.

The PSLoop facility will start by recycling EPS foam insulation using a process based on a technology that turns it into a new high quality raw material. All kinds of impurities, such as cement or glue residues, as well as the additive HBCD, will be safely removed while the valuable bromine is recovered.

“This plant showcases how the EPS industry is always looking for ways to boost its recycling capabilities,” said Lein Tange, Co-Director of PolyStyreneLoop. “The purpose of this plant is to pave the way for the construction of similar EPS recycling plants in the rest of Europe.”

Benefitting from a European Union grant, it has been built by a Dutch nonprofit organization whose members comprise more than 70 industry representatives from the whole polystyrene foam value chain.

The Terneuzen plant will have the capacity to recycle 3,300 metric tons of polystyrene foam demolition waste coming from Netherlands, Germany, and other countries, proving the technical, and economic viability of a new recycling process in which polystyrene foams containing HBCD can be fully integrated in the circular economy rather than filling up landfills.

“It’s a real plus that we can do this with about the same energy input as mechanical recycling and the energy we use comes solely from windmills,” said Jan Noordegraaf, co-director of the plant.

Though the PSLoop plant will recycle EPS building and construction waste, later, it will also recycle extruded polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam, used to make cups, plates, and packaging.

The Netherlands isn’t the only place EPS is being recycled, in the UK, Molygran has been recycling that nation’s polystyrene, accepting any grade of white expanded polystyrene, “undecorated, clean and dry”. They reported in January 2020 that enthusiastic recyclers were mailing EPS from around the UK, contributing to their staggering total of 37 tons removed from landfills the previous year.

And, because EPS is 98% air, 37 tons is a lot to celebrate…
Jun 14th, 2021, 3:17 pm

Twitter: Fatima99@fatima99_mobi
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Jun 14th, 2021, 5:10 pm
Beached stingray rescued on Georgia beach

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June 11 (UPI) -- A Georgia police department shared video from the unusual rescue of a stranded stingray found washed ashore on a beach.

The Tybee Island Police Department said an officer responded to the beach near Lighthouse Point on a report of a large stingray stranded on the sand.

The officer arrived to find bystanders had pulled the stingray from the sand to the surf, where a family with young children poured buckets over the animal to keep it wet while waiting for help to arrive.

The officer checked the stingray for signs of injury and determined it would likely be able to swim if transported to deeper waters.

A bystander offered to help carry the fish and worked together with the officer to transport it to deeper water, where it was seen swimming back out to sea.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/06/11 ... 623443259/
Jun 14th, 2021, 5:10 pm

Exodus A.D.: A Warning to Civilians by Paul Troubetzkoy [10000 WRZ$] Reward!
https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=5556807
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