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Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:05 am
Ancient Elephants Quickly Shrank Into Dwarfs on the Island of Sicily, DNA Suggests

The shrinking process would be like if humans became as small as rhesus monkeys.

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Tens of thousands of years ago, so-called dwarf elephants inhabited the island of Sicily off the coast of Italy. Apparently, it didn’t take long for these elephants to shrink after their arrival on the island. New research suggests that the 10-ton behemoths that originally came to Sicily slimmed down quickly, losing as much as 400 pounds on average with each generation.

Islands are known for giving rise to isolated populations that look and behave very differently from their non-island cousins. As a result, studying islands has long given scientists, including Charles Darwin, key insights into how evolution works (this phenomenon also gave the creators of Pokemon a nifty concept for a pair of games).

One example of this divergence is in the Mediterranean islands nestled between Europe, Asia, and Africa, where dwarf elephants once roamed in the prehistoric era. Many distinct species of these tiny titans have existed throughout time, and some may have only gone extinct about 10,000 years ago. As for how small these guys got, they’re thought to have been around 3 to 6 foot tall and between 400 pounds to over a ton. For comparison, today’s elephants in Asia and Africa range from 6 to 13 feet tall and 2 to 7 tons, depending on the species and gender.

According to research published last week in Current Biology, though, it’s likely that at least one species of dwarf elephant from Sicily quickly lost its hefty frame soon after their ancestors started living there, probably because of limited food on the island.

The team of researchers, based in the UK, Germany, Iceland, and Italy, studied 11 samples of ancient elephants collected from the island. Thanks to one sample collected from Sicily’s Puntali Cave, they were able to reconstruct the mitochondrial DNA—the bit of DNA that’s only passed down by the mother—of one dwarf elephant. This reconstruction, all the more remarkable because warm weather tends to degrade ancient DNA, and other lines of evidence allowed them to roughly estimate how long it took for the elephants to shrink.

According to the authors, the elephant was part of an extinct genus called Palaeoloxodon and existed somewhere between 175,500 and 50,000 years ago. Its likely direct ancestors were the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), which towered 12 feet high and weighed around 10 tons as adults. Sometime around 200,000 years ago, the team theorizes, the lineage split off and rapidly (in evolutionary time) lost its tonnage. In their maximum estimate, the ancient elephants dropped 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and about 4 centimeters per generation, to the point of becoming nearly one-tenth their ancestor’s size, at around 6 feet tall and 1.7 tons. To put it in more familiar terms, the authors say, that would be like modern day humans becoming the size of rhesus monkeys, which are 25 inches tall and just 26 pounds.

“The magnitude of dwarfing resulting from this rapid evolutionary process is truly striking, resulting in a loss of body mass of almost 85% in one of the largest ever terrestrial mammals,” said study author Axel Barlow, an expert in paleogenomics and molecular bioscience at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, in a statement from the university. “As the descendants of giants, the extinct dwarf elephants are among the most intriguing examples of evolution on islands.”

Other research has suggested that island dwarfism can often be traced back to the relative scarcity of food, which the researchers agree is probably responsible for what happened here. And they hope their techniques used to reconstruct the ancient DNA in this study could help others delve into the evolutionary journey of these small elephants and other ancient animals that lived in warm climates. As for the dwarf elephants included in this study, their remains are now stored at the Gemmellaro Museum at the University of Palermo in Italy.

Seriously, this explains so much about my father's side of the family. - Gov

https://gizmodo.com/ancient-elephants-q ... 1847152284
Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:05 am

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Jun 23rd, 2021, 2:21 am
How One Company is Unlocking the Power and Potential of Global Sourcing
Posted on June 18, 2021 *

Over the last few decades, manufacturing has seen a truly global expansion. While China is still an undisputed leader, countries such as India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam are rapidly catching up. Yet one simple problem remains: Many of these “upstart” manufacturers have no easy way of selling their products to merchants around the globe. One company is seeking to change that.

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Why Integrating Global Supply Chains so Hard

Over the last decades many countries such as India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam have invested in manufacturing with the hopes of taking a piece of the pie in the global ecommerce and retail boom.

However, most of these countries are still struggling to sell globally, especially to smaller merchants, who are increasingly entering the global procurement ecosystem. Numerous language barriers, time zone differences, problems in sending money internationally, and issues with international shipping exacerbate the situation.

There’s also a growing belief that China no longer wants to be the world’s factory.

“With education and wages on the rise, shrinking its cost advantage, China now wants to focus on higher-end manufacturing, lean on domestic consumption to fuel its economy, and leave the work of cranking out cheap, labor-intensive goods to others,” QZ.com explains.

In other words, a perfect storm is brewing – and innovation is happening at a rapid rate. Listing Bird is one of the names leading the charge.

Listing Bird: Redefining a Stagnant Industry

Listing Bird is an emerging online platform that automates end-to-end sourcing using artificial intelligence (AI). The company is building a chatbot that will not only take on the negotiation process and prevent buyers from having to manage dozens of conversations at once, but will be the first in the industry to offer seamless translation in the manufacturer’s native language. This can make it easy for even the smallest factories in the most remote parts of the world to gain access to buyers in the competitive marketplace.

The AI system also streamlines shipping coordination on behalf of the client (the merchant). This saves dozens of hours of time, which merchants can reallocate to working on their businesses.

Listing bird’s business model hinges 100% on the merchant’s satisfaction. The customer is king, and suppliers compete to provide the best deal to the merchant. There are no monthly contracts or hidden fees. Listing Bird only makes money on the back end, which motivates them to only work with the best possible suppliers that offer maximum value.

The Future of Global Sourcing

It’s unclear what the future of global sourcing has in store. However, this much we do know: Things are changing. And if you want a peek into where things are heading, look no further than Listing Bird. Big things are happening and they seem to be leading the way.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 2:21 am

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Jun 23rd, 2021, 7:08 am
Lab analysis of Subway tuna sandwiches fails to identify tuna DNA

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A lab test commissioned by the New York Times failed to identify any tuna DNA in a series of Subway tuna sandwiches.


A reporter acquired “more than 60in worth of Subway tuna sandwiches” from three Los Angeles storefronts, then engaged a specialized fish-testing lab. Researchers were unable to pinpoint a species.

“There’s two conclusions,” a lab spokesperson told the Times. “One, it’s so heavily processed that whatever we could pull out, we couldn’t make an identification.

“Or we got some and there’s just nothing there that’s tuna.”

In February, when Inside Edition ran a similar test based on samples from New York, a Florida-based lab, Applied Food Technologies, did confirm the presence of tuna.

In January, when two California customers filed a lawsuit claiming the products “are made from anything but tuna”.

Instead, the plaintiffs alleged, the controversial comestibles are “made from a mixture of various concoctions”, ingredients “blended together … to imitate the appearance of tuna”.

Subway, which has more than 22,000 storefronts across the US, has has been dogged by legal action, including a class-action complaint that said its $5 foot-long sandwiches were in fact only 11 to 11.5in long.

It has fiercely defended the integrity of its tuna supply, calling the recent lawsuit “baseless”. Earlier this year, it touted its “100% real wild-caught tuna” on its website and offered a 15% discount on foot-long tuna subs under the promo code “ITSREAL”.

Earlier this month, the California customers who sued Subway walked back some of their more incendiary claims. But they still claimed “labeling, marketing and advertising” for Subway’s tuna products was “false and misleading”.

The headline-making case has sparked concern among consumers and responses from competitors. Other sandwich makers have pointed out that tuna is a relatively inexpensive meat, so Subway has little incentive to substitute a cheaper version.

Seafood experts have suggested Subway may not be to blame if its tuna is in fact not tuna.

“I don’t think a sandwich place would intentionally mislabel,” Dave Rudie, president of Catalina Offshore Products, told the Times. “They’re buying a can of tuna that says ‘tuna’. If there’s any fraud in this case, it happened at the cannery.”

source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/22/subway-sandwiches-tuna-lab-test
Jun 23rd, 2021, 7:08 am

Twitter @HgwrtzExprss
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Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:00 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
WEDNESDAY JUNE 23

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 23rd, 2021, 12:00 pm

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Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:10 pm
Elephant in the room: visitor crashes through kitchen wall in Thailand
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Ratchadawan Puengprasoppon was awoken in the early hours of Saturday morning by crashing and banging. When she went to find out what had happened, she discovered an elephant’s head poking through her kitchen wall beside the drying rack.

The male elephant, named Boonchuay, appeared to be looking for something to eat. His trunk rummaged through the kitchen drawers, knocking pans and cooking paraphernalia to the floor. He chewed on a plastic bag as Ratchadawan, unsure what to do, filmed the episode on her phone.

It’s not the first time Boonchuay, who lives in Thailand’s Kaeng Krachan national park, has visited Chalermkiatpattana village. “They come to visit quite often. They always come when there is the local market because they can smell food,” said Itthipon Thaimonkol, the park’s superintendent.

Thai media reported that the same elephant had even paid a visit to Ratchadawan’s kitchen on one of those occasions, causing damage worth almost 50,000 baht (£1,140).

Most villagers were respectful of and sympathetic toward the elephants, Plotnik said. “They are frustrated that this is happening, and really want to find solutions to stop it, but they don’t usually blame the elephants.”

Itthipon said volunteers from the local community and an officer of the national park work together to monitor the elephants, and use loud noise and other deterrents to try to push them back towards the forest.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:10 pm
Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:27 pm
Greek Baker Gives Would-be Thief a Job — Changing His Life Forever

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A Greek baker gave a boy a second chance at life and the boy returned to thank him 25 years later

A Greek baker, Giannis Vitsaras, once offered a twelve-year-old boy who tried to steal from him a job rather than calling the police on him. Twenty-five years later, the boy, now a successful college graduate and father of two, returned to thank his mentor and former boss.

Vitsaras was invited to speak to interviewers on MEGA TV on Tuesday to tell his story involving the then 12-year-old boy which occurred 25 years ago in Heraklion, on the island of Crete.

The Greek baker caught the boy trying to steal from his store, but decided, rather than chastising him, to have an honest conversation with him. Vitsaras did not call the police or even lecture him; instead, he chose to tell him calmly that stealing would likely impact him in a negative way and that it was not the right path for a young boy to go down.

He told the young lad to come and work for him at the bakery instead, whenever he had free time — and so he did: according to Vitsaras’ memory, the boy came to work for three entire summers. This allowed him to learn the self-respect that comes of making an honest living — and very likely changed the trajectory of his life.

Twenty-five years later, 37-year-old is grateful

“At one point his family moved and I lost him for years. Yesterday, the child, now a 37-year-old man, came and found me,” Vitsaras told the interviewers with emotion.

“He thanked me and told me that in that moment, in the way I dealt with it, I showed him the right way of life. He graduated from university and he started a family,” Vitsaras told the audience with satisfaction.

“After 25 years, he came to find me and to thank me for the path he set and the stimuli I gave him. He is 37 years old today, he has graduated from a computer science university and has two children,” he related with a bit of the natural pride of a father.

The Greek baker remained humble, however, insisting that he was the one who owed the twelve-year-old boy a thank you. He stated that he wanted to thank him for actually taking the opportunity he was given, listening to his elders — and changing his own life.

“This is what we have to do when we see a child with difficulties: we must protect him,” Vitsaras stated, insisting that he believes anyone could have done what he did to set the boy on the right path in life.

“He came to give me a big thank you, but it’s actually I who owes him one,” concluded Vitsaras.

Uplifting stories like these never fail to remind people what one good deed can mean to someone and how these small acts of kindness can multiply over time.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:27 pm
Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:36 pm
Missing pet dog turns up more than a DECADE later: Crumpet the Jack Russell is found just few miles her family home after she vanished from their garden 11 years ago

* Crumpet the three-month-old Jack Russell vanished from home in Dorset 2010
* 11 years later owner Sarah Covell, 57, was astonished to hear she had been found
* Pooch was in poor health with infected ears when found on a nearby golf course


A Jack Russell puppy who vanished from a family's garden more than a decade ago has been reunited with her owners after 'miraculously' reappearing on a nearby golf course. Sarah Covell, 57, was devastated when her family's three-month-old puppy, named Crumpet, disappeared from the garden of their home in Sherborne, Dorset, whilst playing with their 13-year-old dog Totty in October 2010. The stay-at-home mother left the playful dogs together in the secure garden while tending to horses in an adjoining yard, but when she returned Crumpet was nowhere to be seen.

Despite a wide-scale search and a £300 reward for Crumpet's return, the family - including husband Mike, 66, and their devastated daughters Tallulah, then aged eight, and Elektra, then seven - gave up all hope of ever seeing her again.

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Tallulah Covell, then aged eight, with Crumpet in 2010 (left) and now (right)

But earlier this month on June 12, after almost 11 years, Mrs Covell was left stunned when an emergency vet rang to say Crumpet had been found on a golf course - just a few miles from her home almost 11 years after she disappeared. The poorly pooch was found with severely infected ears, meaning she is completely deaf. Mrs Covell said: 'My reaction to getting the call [to say she had been found] was slight disbelief to be honest.

'It is a bit miraculous that she's come back in to our lives and every morning we're like wow, she's still here. So it is a bit weird, but it's lovely.

'Every day we're thinking it's lovely that she's here, it's lovely that we've got her. We didn't even know if we would recognise her, knowing that 11 years had gone by.


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Elektra Covell ,18, Tallulah Covell, 19, Holding Crumpet and Sarah Covell, 57 (left to right)

'Obviously as soon as we saw her when she came out to us, there she was wiggling around and wagging her tail.

'We were like 'Ooh yeah! That's definitely her!' but obviously she looks very different from when she was a puppy.'


The owner, who looked for the pup for a year before losing hope, said she believes Crumpet had been bred for puppies before being dumped when she could no longer reproduce.

Mrs Covell added: 'We thought if someone had taken her, we thought that hopefully they would look after her, but that's the saddest thing - they just haven't looked after her.

'I feel she was dumped, she's 11 now, she's past her breeding days.

'She's obviously had puppies and she needs quite a lot of medical work now, it doesn't look like she's ever seen a vet.

'Her ears were very infected, really inflamed with massive growths in them.

'She had an operation on Monday and they said she is completely deaf, poor little thing. If she was taken to the vets earlier, she definitely wouldn't be deaf now.

'I think she's been neglected, it's criminal they've left her ears like that because that is easily solved. She's going to have to be on steroids now for the rest of her life.'

Crumpet went missing just three months after they brought her home, and the frantic family plastered the area with 'missing' posters in the hope that someone would spot her.

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Vets told the family that if Crumpet had been taken to the vets when growths (pictured) first appeared on her ears she would not be deaf now

Mrs Covell said: 'It would have been very unusual for Crumpet to slip out, she had never done it before and she got very attached to my older dog, who was sort of mothering her and they just went around together. 'They were like a little twosome. So it was very unlike her to have wandered off, but she was very friendly and I probably wouldn't have heard if anyone came up my drive. 'It's really, really weird. We went everywhere, I mean literally everywhere. 'We started driving around, we went to the village, we went down the valleys, that week we made flyers, put them up and I got hold of the Dogs Lost lady. 'Then I got on to my microchip company and the vets and everybody. And nothing, absolutely nothing, she just vanished. 'The girls were really upset because we went to choose her and two weeks later we went to pick her up. I felt really guilty she wasn't with me.'

Despite not knowing what Crumpet's been through, Mrs Covell says she's kept her sweet nature and was very friendly with the vets and the family. Delighted Mrs Covell said the experience shows the importance of having pets microchipped. Mrs Covell said: 'It's a very good lesson for anybody - to get your dog microchipped and keep the details up to date. 'It's one of those crazy things, you never know.'

Source
Jun 23rd, 2021, 12:36 pm

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Jun 23rd, 2021, 2:00 pm
Woman convinced groomer gave her wrong cat after returning home with "drowned rat"

Mum Sarah Jade was left in stitches after she picked up her moggie from the groomers, only for it to look 'drastically' different following a full-body shave.

Many of us have faced a dodgy haircut at one point in our lives - especially when we were young.

At the time, your mum probably insisted it was a lovely cut, but it really wasn't.

Years later, you could argue it was a character-building experience.

But when it comes to our pets, it's not always clear what they think of their dramatic haircuts.

For one moggie, it's been a non-stop struggle since a visit to the groomers left them with a rather unusual haircut.

There's a lot to like about cats -from their dramatic nature to their love for independence which means they can go out and about by themselves.

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But an unfortunate haircut can really undermine them - and make it seem unlikely that they were ever worshipped as holy deities.

One owner was left in stitches after she went to pick up her cat from the groomers.

And we can see why.

The poor cat ended up looking VERY different after her cut -and it sparked thousands of jokes.

Mum Sarah Jade shared a video of the cat's new look on TikTok, where it racked up nearly 11 million views.

In it, she joked: "I think the groomers gave me back the wrong cat."

The now-viral clip racked up more than 2.1m likes and 37,000 comments.

One horrified person commented: "You got robbed sis," while another joked: "Looks like a grey Q-tip."

People were left in stitches by the post, as one person commented: "I've literally been laughing at this for an hour."

Another joked: "I think they gave you the wrong car too."

A third said: "He looks like a drowned rat, I am so sorry."

A few viewers defended the groomer's work, and the owner confirmed that the cat was much happier, thanks to the summer temperatures making the moggie overheat.

One woman replied: "It's not abuse, it's because summer is happening so the cat won't [suffer from] heatstroke”
Jun 23rd, 2021, 2:00 pm

Twitter: Fatima99@fatima99_mobi
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Jun 23rd, 2021, 4:59 pm
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Icebergs have been spotted floating near the Toronto waterfront even though it's the beginning of summer.

It's actually an art installation, and what appear to be icebergs are actually small buildings, houses and vehicles.

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The piece is called Over Floe, and it was created by Toronto artist John Notten as part of ArtworxTO. That's the same initiative that saw a nine-foot-tall fortune telling booth pop-up on Ossington.

Notten is actually the same artist behind bright yellow wheelbarrow seating along King Street.

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The idea is that the five floating sculptures in Ontario Place lagoon are hybrids between the natural and constructed worlds, and change completely when viewed from different perspectives.

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The installation can be viewed publicly for free from June to November 2021. Notten is known for large-scale public installations and transforming materials to create surprising configurations. Common themes in his work are environmental issues, power and consumerism.

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The pieces are made from styrofoam rescued from burial in a landfill.

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The installation can be viewed publicly for free from June to November 2021.

Notten is known for large-scale public installations and transforming materials to create surprising configurations. Common themes in his work are environmental issues, power and consumerism.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 4:59 pm

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Buzz is the best doggo ever.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 5:02 pm
Romantic Jet Ski Trip for two

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An energetic young couple was recently spotted enjoying a romantic jet ski trip during the G7 summit in Cornwall, UK. The soaring heat led one of them to make a quick stop at the local ice cream parlor to pick up what appeared to be at least one vanilla and one 'mystery' cone. We approached the ice cream shop in question to find out exactly what was ordered but they refused to comment, simply stating that 'ice cream preferences are highly sensitive issues and we fully respect our customers privacy'. We think it looks like rum and raisin, what do you think? Answers will be printed in a special issue next week!
Jun 23rd, 2021, 5:02 pm
Jun 23rd, 2021, 6:24 pm
Hospital Co-Workers Donate Their Kidneys to Save Each Other’s Husbands

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The COVID-19 pandemic has put life as we knew it on hold for more than a year, but as things finally settle back into a new normal, people are returning to the workplace. For two co-workers catching up during a chance encounter, swapping news serendipitously turned into a life-saving exchange.

Susan Ellis and Tia Wimbush both work at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Ironically, both of Tia’s husband, Rodney, and Susan’s husband, Lance, were on a waiting list for kidney transplants.

As the two compared notes talking over the ups and downs of their husbands’ conditions, the subject of blood types came up. Thanks to a piece of random information, the women suddenly realized they might be potential donor matches for the other’s husband.

“My thought immediately was that we could help each other and stop the suffering of two families,” Tia told Good Morning America. “I called Rodney immediately and he and I were both just committed to moving forward and trying to help two families.”

When the tests were run, it turned out Tia and Susan were indeed matches made in heaven for one another’s husbands. Both wives were granted donor approval last October, but before the December surgeries could be performed, Lance suffered a setback and had to be hospitalized.

Once his condition was stable, the procedures were rescheduled for January. Then Susan tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced into a mandatory quarantine. The procedures were postponed again.

After Susan got the all-clear, the operations were rescheduled, this time for March 19th.

As the old saying goes, the third time was the charm, and both transplants were successful. The couples convalesced in close proximity on the same hospital floor, visiting each other as soon as they were able.

While Tia and Susan’s downtime was a little more protracted than they’d originally envisioned, Lance and Rodney’s marked postoperative improvement more than made up for any short-term discomfort they might have felt.

The two thankful husbands, freed from hours of crippling dialysis, are looking forward to spending many happy years of quality times with their loved ones—which now includes their extended “kidney families.”

“Our story is a story of kindness. It ended up in a kidney exchange, that was the result of it, but it started with human beings just human beings and checking on each other,” Susan told GMA. “We’re so busy with social media and texting and thinking, that’s not my business that we can self-isolate and we don’t check in on our neighbors.”

In addition to reminding folks to reach out to one another on a human level, both families hope their story will inspire others to think about being living transplant donors. You can learn more about the process at organdonor.gov.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/co-work ... -husbands/
Jun 23rd, 2021, 6:24 pm
Jun 23rd, 2021, 6:58 pm
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What could go wrong? Chinese builders construct ten-storey apartment block in 29 HOURS

Time-lapse footage of the build shows construction workers completing the high-rise building in Changsha in less than a day
The build has been hailed 'world's shortest construction period' by Broad Group
But the new residents of the apartments might be a little wary of the quick build

By Rachael Bunyan For Mailonline

Published: 06:36 EDT, 23 June 2021 | Updated: 06:47 EDT, 23 June 2021

In a feat you wouldn't think - or hope - was possible, Chinese builders have constructed a ten-storey apartment block in just 29 hours.

While the erection of the building in the central city of Changsha has been hailed by the developers as the 'world's shortest construction period', the new residents of the apartments might be a little wary of the quick build.

Broad Group, a Chinese construction company, decided that taking the usual year or so to build a ten-storey apartment block just wasn't going to fit their time-frame, so they went for the much quicker option and built it in just over a day.

Time-lapse footage of the build shows a large group of construction workers and three cranes completing the high-rise building, which has been named the Living Building, in just 28 hours and 45 minutes.
In a feat you wouldn't think - or hope - was possible, Chinese builders have constructed a ten-storey apartment block in just 29 hours
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Time-lapse footage of the build shows a large group of construction workers and three cranes completing the high-rise building, which has been named the Living Building, in just 28 hours and 45 minutes

They managed the seemingly impossible feat by assembling small self-contained modular units that had been built in advance at a factory.

The units, which were the size of shipping containers and made of stainless steel, were then transported to the building site in trucks.

In a scene reminiscent of the game Jenga, cranes were used to lift the units and stack them on top of each other as workers quickly worked to bolt them all into place.

In a clever design, as the units were stacked, one wall of each module was folded down to become a floor - and windows and balconies folded outwards to enclose the spaces.

Once the basic structure was finished, water and electricity were installed.

The video shows the completed apartment block which has been furnished and has simple white walls and wooden floors.
The self-contained modular units had been built in advance at a factory by Broad Group
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The video shows the completed apartment block which has been furnished and has simple white walls and wooden floors
Brave: People stand on the roof of the new apartment block which took less than a day to build
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The apartment block has been furnished and the walls have been painted a simple white

While some residents might fear that the quick build could mean that their upstairs neighbours could drop in on them - literally - Broad Group insist the floors are 100 times stronger than conventional floor plates as they are made from stainless steel plates.

The company also said the construction method could be used for skyscrapers and public buildings.

'It is perfectly suitable for luxury residences, 200-storey skyscrapers, and also idea for public and residential buildings,' said Broad Group.

In 2012, the group unveiled controversial plans to build a 220-storey skyscraper using modular units in just seven months.

But the construction was never completed amid safety concerns and a lack of government approval. The foundations of the building are now reportedly used as a fish farm.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 6:58 pm
Jun 23rd, 2021, 7:14 pm
A Well-Planned Retirement
The London Times


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Outside England 's Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant....The fees for cars ($1.40),for buses (about $7).

Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the zoo management called the city council and asked it to send them another parking agent. The council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the zoo's own responsibility. The zoo advised the council that the attendant was a city employee. The city council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the city payroll.

Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain, or France, or Italy, is a man who'd apparently had a ticket booth installed completely on his own and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day -- for 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million dollars . . . and no one even knows his name.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 7:14 pm

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Jun 23rd, 2021, 7:23 pm
Chunk, dog missing for 2 weeks, retrieved safe from NJ bay

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A golden retriever who had been missing for two weeks was rescued Tuesday from a bay in New Jersey.

Authorities say that New Jersey State Police troopers Ryan Koehler and Vincent Ferdinandi, of Point Pleasant Station, responded to the report of a dog swimming in Barnegat Bay and were able to bring the 3-year-old named Chunk safely ashore.

Two joggers recognized Chunk from posters and reported seeing him jump into the water near Mantoloking Bridge around 7 a.m., WABC-TV reported.

Jim Mathis was fishing nearby and said Chunk kept backing away from his boat when he tried to get close but swam to shore when he backed away.

“We positioned our boat, got (the) line ready, acted as a leash,” Koehler said. “Line around dog and guide him up to the docks.”

Chunk’s owner, Marie Zangara, said that he had some matted fur and was covered in ticks, but was otherwise healthy.
Jun 23rd, 2021, 7:23 pm

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Online
Jun 23rd, 2021, 8:01 pm
Tiny ancient bird from China shares skull features with Tyrannosaurus rex

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Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered a 120-million-year-old partial fossil skeleton of a tiny extinct bird that fits in the palm of the hand and preserves a unique skull with a mix of dinosaurian and bird features.

The two-centimeter-long (0.75 inch) skull of the fossil shares many structural and functional features with the gigantic Tyrannosaurus rex, indicating that early birds kept many features of their dinosaurian ancestors and their skulls functioned much like those of dinosaurs rather than living birds.

Their findings were published in Nature Communications on June 23.

The bird was deposited 120 million years ago in a shallow lake in what is today Liaoning Province in northeastern China.

Through detailed reconstruction of the bird family tree, the researchers demonstrated that the new fossil bird species belongs to an extinct group of birds called enantiornithines, or 'opposite birds.' They are the most diverse group of birds from the time of the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous and have been found all over the world.

In living birds, the quadrate is one of the most movable bones in the skull and allows for the unique feature of living birds known as 'kinetic skull,' which allows the upper jaw to move independently of the brain and the lower jaw.

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In contrast with living birds, however, the skull of this new 'opposite bird', as well as those of dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex and the close dinosaurian relatives of birds (e.g., troodontids and dromaeosaurs), is not kinetic. Instead, its bones are 'locked up' and unable to move.

The temporal regions (sides) of the skull of this bird fossil are very different from living birds. This new species has two bony arches for jaw muscle attachment like those found in reptiles such as lizards, alligators, and dinosaurs, making the rear of the skull rigid and resistant to movement among the bones.

"When reconstructing all parts of the skull three-dimensionally from the high resolution CT scans of the fossil, I had a problem figuring out one bone in particular," said Dr. Wang Min, the lead and corresponding author of the study. He said his colleague Dr. Thomas Stidham proposed that the bone was the pterygoid and looked "exactly like that of the dromaeosaur Linheraptor." The fossil has the first well-preserved pterygoid bone found in an early bird.

The researchers compared CT scans of the bird skull to scans of the skull of the well-known dromaeosaur Linheraptor from Inner Mongolia, China. The results showed that many other features of the rear portion of the skull, including the shape of the basisphenoid bone and its connections with other skull bones, also resemble dromaeosaurs rather than living birds.

"The fossil bird and dinosaurs also lack the discrete contact between the pterygoid and quadrate near the palate that is used in skull kinesis in living birds. In combination with the 'locked up' temporal bones, the difference in the palate structure also points to the absence of kinesis among early birds," said Dr. Stidham, co-author of the study.

Furthermore, the team's discovery and meticulous anatomical research help to reinforce the already well-supported contention, based on many different lines of evidence, that birds are not only living dinosaurs, but evolved from the branch of dinosaurs that includes troodontids and dromaeosaurs like the four-winged Microraptor and swift Velociraptor.

"Having a 'dinosaur' skull on a bird body certainly did not stop the enantiornithines, or other early birds, from being highly successful in places all around the world for tens of millions of years during the Cretaceous," said Dr. Wang.

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-tiny-ancient-bird-china-skull.html
Jun 23rd, 2021, 8:01 pm

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