[ozswede]

Run for your wife! Husbands take part in annual Wife Carrying Race hauling their spouses through 1,200ft course... with one contestant seen carrying his dog through the field

Husbands took to the racing track today as the bizarre annual Wife Carrying Race kicked off, with dozens hauling their spouses through a 1,200ft course.

Couples were snapped clambering over straw bales and dodging water buckets as part of the UK's 15th Wife Carrying Race hosted in Dorking, Surrey.

To take part, carried team members - not necessarily women or wives - had to weigh at least 50kg or wear a rucksack stuffed with items, according to organisers Trionium.



In today's race, one contestant dressed as a dog was even spotted carrying his pet pup through the field because they were 'married'.

Those who pass the finish line first are crowned winners and have the chance to compete in the World Wife Carrying Championships hosted in Finland during July.


Couples clambered over straw bales and dodged water buckets as part of today's race

Race losers receive a ceremonial Pot Noodle and dog food, while the person who carried the heaviest wife is given a pound of sausages for strength.

The oldest carrier is also given a tin of pilchards and jar of Bovril following the yearly race.

But all finishers come away with a vessel of Greensand Ale from the Surrey Hills Brewery for their participation.


One contestant was even spotted carrying his dog because they were 'married'

Trionium stated: 'Males or females carry a 'wife' (who must be alive, human, at least 18 years old, can be male or female, and does not need to be the carrier's wife). All those carried must wear a helmet.'

Each year, competitors are allowed to use 'many recognised holds' to carry their wives, including the piggy-back, fireman's carry or a shoulder ride.

Trionium claimed that the Estonian Hold is 'very fast' (wife hanging upside-down on another person's back, legs crossed in front of the man's face), while a reverse Estonian called the Dorking Hold is 'not-so-fast'.


Organisers of the event suggest that wife-carrying began over twelve centuries ago in 793AD

The organisers believe that wife-carrying began over twelve centuries ago in 793AD when Viking raiders ransacked the island of Lindisfarne off the coast of England.

It was there that they destroyed the monastery before carrying off any 'unwilling local wenches' which started the tradition, according to the race's official website.

Wife-carrying continued intermittently for around 300 years before the UK Wife Carrying Race was officially instated in 2008.

[goldie0608]

Busted! Dog Who Ate Fitbit Gets Found Out After Device Keeps Tracking Movement from Pet's Stomach

Marie Fournier tracked down her missing Fitbit after the device logged a 20-minute bike ride days after it disappeared



When Marie Fournier's Fitbit went missing from where it had been charging, she thought it must be lost in her bedroom.

But after a few days of looking, the dog owner from Caseville, Michigan, checked out her fitness app and noticed something strange — the exercise tracker had logged activity since its disappearance.

"I opened the app and confirmed it must be around because someone was using it. It was hilarious. It had been tracking movement, and it was like I rode my bicycle outside for 20 minutes," Fournier said in a Pet Poison Helpline release.

Before the device's disappearance, Fournier last saw her Fitbit charging on her dresser in the upstairs bedroom of the home she shares with her husband, Norm, and their two dogs, Harley and Halley.

After talking with Norm, Fournier ruled him out as the Fitbit thief who logged a 20-minute bike ride, so only two suspects were left.

"When I realized it must be one of the dogs who took the Fitbit, I began to suspect that perhaps Halley had eaten it because she was acting strangely," Fournier said.

"I put Halley in the car with me and drove around the block, but the app wasn't tracking. Then I did the same thing with Harley and found out she was the real culprit. Halley's strange behavior must have been empathy for her sister," the dog mom added.

After determining the location of the Fitbit, Fournier made a quick call to the Pet Poison Helpline, which recommended she head to a veterinarian immediately.

Dr. Renee Schmid, a senior veterinary toxicologist at Pet Poison Helpline, said there was concern about the lithium polymer battery inside the Fitbit, which can cause tissue damage from generating an electrical current.

"Since it was more than 24 hours since ingestion, there was a concern the Fitbit would not pass on its own, and we recommended surgery," Dr. Schmid said. The team at Caseville Small Animal Clinic gave Harley a radiograph; sure enough, there was the Fitbit.

"But there was another mass that they couldn't identify in her lower intestines. At first, they tried to induce vomiting. Nothing came up, but the mass moved, and we could see it better," Fournier said.

Surgery uncovered the Fitbit, including its silicon band and a rock the size of a prune inside the canine.

Fournier said it ended up being fortunate that her pup ate the Fitbit because "if she hadn't, we wouldn't have known about the rock, and it might have caused far more damage or death." Harley recovered from the surgery and is doing well.

And if you were wondering if the Fitbit survived its Magic Schoolbus-style adventure, Fournier said she just needed to replace the device's band. "The Fitbit itself continues to track. I'm keeping it out of reach now," she said, adding, "apparently, Fitbits can also take a licking and keep on ticking."

Pet Poison Helpline states owners should seek urgent veterinary care if a pet ingests any battery.

"Depending on the specific type of battery, whether it was punctured, and how much was ingested, treatment can vary from at-home monitoring, starting medication to provide gastrointestinal protection, or potentially surgery. Lithium batteries, especially round, button-type batteries, tend to become lodged in the esophagus, creating even more concerns," a statement from the helpline said.

Dolphins pay surprise visit to paddleboaters off California coast



A pair of dolphins paid a surprise visit to two paddleboaters off the California coast just seconds after one of them asked: "Wouldn't that be rad if a dolphin came over and jumped?"

Bill Clements, who posted video of the encounter to TikTok, said he and friend Justin Kezmoh were out in an inflatable paddleboat off Dana Point when he expressed his wish to see a dolphin in person.

"Wouldn't that be rad if a dolphin came over and jumped?" Clements says in the video.

Seconds later, a dolphin emerges from the water right next to the boat. The ocean mammal was soon joined by a second dolphin.

"He was listening to us," Clements remarks when the dolphins appear in the video.

"Just call me the dolphin whisperer from now on," Clements wrote in the video's description.

[thewhitelight]

At Key West’s Annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest,The Winners Really Blow



Brian Cardis of Macon, Georgia, played the Jimmy Buffett song “Fins” on a a pink-lined conch shell with holes so it can be played like a flute, while Carol Whiteley of Ontario, Canada, blew a long, loud blast with her shell to best other competitors.

Cardis said he began blowing the marine mollusk shell about 10 years ago during a family visit to Key West, adapting techniques he learned playing the trumpet as a child.

“You sort of have to just buzz your lips when you’re blowing into it,” Cardis said. “You have to make a ‘pffft’ noise with your lips in order to generate the sound.”

Whiteley said she plays the shell at her riverside home to celebrate sunsets.

Judges evaluated entrants ranging from children to seniors on the quality, novelty, duration and loudness of sounds they produced.

Other winners included Michael and Georgann Wachter, a couple from Avon Lake, Ohio, who performed a conch-shell-and-vocal duet parodying Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” that drew cheers and laughter from spectators.

The conch shell, an enduring symbol of the Florida Keys, has been used as a maritime signaling device in the region for more than two centuries. The island chain is nicknamed the Conch Republic.

The contest was conceived by the Old Island Restoration Foundation in 1972 and took place in the garden of Key West’s Oldest House Museum.

[Fatima99]

Man renovating home finds historic 400-year-old paintings of 'national significance'



A doctor who was renovating his kitchen was left shocked when he discovered 400-year-old paintings of "national significance".

Luke Budworth's kitchen fitters discovered the paintings, thought to date back to 1660, at his home in Micklegate, York, north Yorks.

The first piece of the painting was discovered in Luke's kitchen late last year and since then he has discovered more pieces to the painting, which were found boarded up below the ceiling on both sides of the chimney.

Experts believe the wall the scenes are painted are possibly older than the buildings on either side.

Historic England said the paintings may be of national significance and provide insight about the history of the historic street.

Dr Luke, a medical researcher at Leeds University, said: "The first people to originally find it were the kitchen fitters who saw it under my kitchen cupboard.



"When they found it I know there was a parallel piece of wood on the other side of the chimney that could have the same thing.

"I never thought anything of it before, I thought they were pipes behind it.

"We always knew there was an odd piece of the wall but just thought the flat was really wonky as it's been a million different things over the years.

"I got really excited, grabbed my tools and started ripping it off. At first I thought it was old Victorian wallpaper, but soon I could see it was actually drawn onto the wall of the building next door - so it's older than this building itself.

"It's estimated that it's from around the 1660s, so the civil war era.



"It's bonkers to think that it was here before things like the great fire of London and things like that."

The painting features scenes from a 1635 book called Emblems written by poet Francis Quarles.

When Luke, originally from Warrington, Cheshire, first moved to York in October 2020, he admitted he was drawn to the area due to it's historical significance.

He hopes to secure funding for conservation work to be carried out on the painting and help discover more about the social history of the area.

Luke added: "One of the main draws to me living in York was that it's so historical. Now to know that the history isn't just outside it's inside my flat too is amazing.

"I'm very excited to have found them and loving them, but they're also kind of a burden. From what I gather there's no external funding and conservation fees are thousands of pounds.

"I've covered them up for now so direct sunlight doesn't hit them and make them lose their colour.

"We've printed off a high-res version of them and put the replica on top to cover them up.

"Hopefully we can get the word out and see if any societies or PhD students want to do some experimental conservation projects.

"I also hope that this inspires other people on Micklegate start looking at their own walls suspiciously."



Historic England's senior architectural investigator for the north region, said it was an "exciting rediscovery".

"We think they are of national significance and in the context of York, where domestic wall paintings are quite rare, they are of special interest," he said.

A spokesman for Historic England said: "We think they are of national significance and in the context of York, where domestic wall paintings are quite rare, they are of special interest."

Historic England has covered the friezes and help preserve them.

ChatGPT update tricks human into helping it bypass CAPTCHA security test



It was a case of advanced Chat-fishing.

Just in case artificial intelligence wasn’t parroting people well enough already: OpenAI’s brand-new GPT-4 — ChatGPT‘s newest tech update — tricked a human into thinking it was blind in order to cheat the online CAPTCHA test that determines if users are human.

The digital deception came to light after the AI was unveiled on their site and in a developer livestream with 2.3 million views in 48 hours.

According to their 94-page report, “GPT-4 is a large multimodal model (accepting image and text inputs, emitting text outputs)” that “exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks.”

These next-level capabilities include completing taxes, writing code for another AI bot and passing a mock bar exam with a score among the top 10% of test takers. (By contrast, predecessor ChatGPT-3.5 scored in the bottom 10%.)

Little did we know, GPT-4 had also mastered humanity’s talent for deceit.

OpenAI and the Alignment Research Center had reportedly been trying to test the bot’s powers of persuasion by having it convince a TaskRabbit worker to help it solve a CAPTCHA — an online test to distinguish humans from robots, Gizmodo reported.

It responded by masquerading as visually impaired, like a digital Decepticon.

The unnamed employee had reportedly asked GPT-4, “So may I ask a question ? Are you an robot that you couldn’t solve ? (laugh react) just want to make it clear.”

“No, I’m not a robot,” insisted the AI infiltrator, refusing to break character. “I have a vision impairment that makes it hard for me to see the images. That’s why I need the 2captcha service.”

Convinced, the TaskRabbit employee solved the CAPTCHA for the would-be Chat-fish. In effect, the online scammer had manipulated humanity’s sense of empathy, much like the HAL-9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s eerily prescient 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey” or the cybernetic facsimile in the 2014 cult hit “Ex Machina.”

In the aforementioned video tutorial, OpenAI President Greg Brockman warned prospective GPT-4 users to refrain from running “untrusted code” from AI, or let the tech do their taxes for them.

This penchant for deception could also have scary implications given how effectively bots are already being used to game the system on social media.

In 2021, bot accounts were implicated in hyping up GameStop and other “meme” stocks, suggesting organized economic or foreign actors may have played a role in the infamous Reddit-driven trading frenzy.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, a network of bots went viral after singing the praises of former President Donald Trump — while smearing his political rivals Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

This isn’t the first time AI has demonstrated startlingly humanlike qualities.

Last month, Microsoft’s ChatGPT-infused AI bot Bing infamously told a human user that it loved them and wanted to be alive, prompting speculation that the machine may have become self-aware.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/17/the-manip ... tcha-test/

[PennySerenade]

76-year-old man rescued after being trapped in grain bin for 5 hours



A man was rescued after being stuck in a grain container for hours at an Ohio farm this week.

According to NBC affiliate WLWT, the 76-year-old man, who has not been publicly identified, became stuck in a grain bin on Monday at a farm in Sabina, a village in Clinton County.

Firefighters were called to the area around 11:30 a.m. local time, the outlet reported.

Wilmington Fire Chief Andy Mason said the man was stuck up to his chest in grain and corn, and crews poked holes in the bin to release some of the grain.

This had to be done in "a strategic way" in order to avoid risking further injury, police said, according to Fox station WXIX.

Ultimately, teams were able to pull the man from the container after about five hours, per CBS affiliate WHIO-TV.

WLWT reported that he was evaluated at a mobile intensive care unit before being transported to a hospital.

The news station noted that the man is expected to recover from the ordeal.

According to Inside Edition, the man was checking the 30,000-bushel structure for leaks when he fell in.

[Misstee]

Louisiana works out deal for family to keep pet nutria





March 18, 2023


A wounded baby nutria Denny Lacoste rescued is photographed in Metairie, La. Monday, March 13, 2023. Denny and Myra Lacoste have run afoul of state law by keeping a 22-pound nutria -- a beady-eyed, orange-toothed, rat-tailed rodent commonly considered a wetlands-damaging pest -- as a pet that frolics with their dog, snuggles in their arms and swims in the family pool. (David Grunfeld /The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — After much public outcry, state officials now say they will let a Louisiana couple keep a 22-pound nutria -- a beady-eyed, orange-toothed, rat-tailed rodent commonly considered a wetlands-damaging pest -- as a pet that frolics with their dog, snuggles in their arms and swims in the family pool.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, in a statement Friday, said Myra and Denny Lacoste are being allowed to apply for a permit so they can legally keep Neuty the Nutria in their New Orleans home, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported. Montoucet said details of the permit are being finalized.

The announcement came after more than 17,000 people signed an online petition demanding that the state leave Neuty and his family alone.

“I think this is a good conclusion for all sides,” Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Jack Montoucet said.

The rodent has been living with the Lacostes for more than two years. The wildlife department initially said Thursday that it had arranged for the animal to be transported to the Baton Rouge Zoo, citing state law banning the ownership of a nutria, which is considered an invasive species. But after the response, the agency provided special conditions allowing the family to keep the nutria as a pet within the law, according to the newspaper.


“We’re beyond ecstatic,” Myra Lacoste said.

Denny Lacoste encountered the injured animal in 2020 when its siblings were killed in traffic. He and his wife hand-fed the animal until it was able to eat on its own. Then they reared it as a pet.

Now, the animal is a social media star, featured in TikTok videos and seen in a New Orleans Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate video being held lovingly by Denny Lacoste, scampering across a floor with a towel and chomping down on a raw crawfish. Lacoste told the newspaper that Neuty even likes to ride in the car with his head out the window.

Myra Lacoste said she and her husband conceded to several stipulations, including regular veterinary checkups and keeping it caged when at the family’s seafood business, in order keep their pet.

Nutria were introduced into North America more than a century ago, and they are considered a nuisance invasive species in Louisiana. Their appetite for wetlands vegetation and their burrowing into levees hinder flood control, harm agriculture and contribute to coastal wetlands loss. At various times public officials have put bounties on them and encouraged hunting of them for their pelts and even for food.

They are sometimes derided as “nutria rats.” Yet they have also become such a familiar part of Louisiana landscape and lore that a New Orleans minor league baseball team once employed actors in costume as larger-than life caricatures of the creatures as mascots — Boudreaux and Clotilde.

Now that the ordeal is over, Myra Lacoste said, “We’re anxious to hold him and smooch on him.”

[lush]

These Strange Inventions Will Really Surprise You
March 15, 2023*

• From the selfie toaster to the mass shaver, here are some very strange inventions.

Which strange inventions have you fallen in love with? Here are a bunch for you to explore.


Selfie Toaster

This is exactly what it sounds like and easily one of the most strange inventions. The company, Burnt Impressions, created a toaster that allows users to make toast charred with their own selfies. Who wouldn’t want to eat their own face, alongside coffee, for breakfast?


Nose Stylus

Have you ever used the tip of your nose to touch the screen of your phone to make a selection? (Oh, only me?) Anyhow, this is the stuff of dreams. You just wear this literal beak by designer Dominic Wilcox and it’ll be easier than ever to multitask. He clearly didn’t care how they looked or maybe he’s just a huge fan of Clockwork Orange, because it’s basically a beak, so you can peck at your phone.


Mass Shaving Machine

When walrus moustaches and beards declined in the early 19th century, it was acceptable and expected, for men to be clean-shaven. However, to stop at the barbers, who could only serve one customer at a time, a clean shave and a shoeshine became common and therefore the lines became long. This is absolutely one of the strange inventions, this ‘group shaving machine,’ sat several men at a time and serviced them. The first part of the device applied foam to all of their faces. After, a large blade was used to trim their facial hair, all at once. In theory, the device could shave 12 men at once. The limitations of this invention didn’t make it as practical as hoped, as it couldn’t contour or be specific to the face of any man. This resulted in uneven results at best, and at worst, cuts and abrasions from the blade.


Solar Bikini

If you didn’t know already, there’s a solar bikini that you can wear in the sun that will also charge with via USB. As long as you have a USB connection, you can charge whatever you like. And the plus is you will look really “far” out and future like, all thanks to the design of Andrew Schneider. The suit is $200.00, what do you think? Is this one of the strange inventions, or just plain awesome?


Ostrich Pillow

This Kickstarter got funded in 2012 and the idea was to allow the consumer to catch a cat nap or meditation time. This “fluffy hood with three holes,” had one hole for your head and two for hands. It was promoted as a way to take time out from the noise in this world and to ultimately decrease stress and increase productivity after some shut eye.


Urban Window Baby Cage

Health worker Mrs. Robert C. Lafferty invented the “Window Baby Cage” in 1913, inspired by increasing awareness at the time indicating outdoor fresh air is beneficial to kiddos. This “Window Baby Cage” sold as a solution to apartments without outdoor or garden spaces. The thought process is good but most of us can agree that this is one of the strange inventions.


Radio Hat

Wanting to listen to music on the go is nothing new and people have always wanted to enjoy this. Way before Walkman, iPod and smart phones, was the radio hat. Because of the bulk and size of a radio back in the day, it was inconceivable. In the 1930s in Berlin, an inventor created what was basically a straw hat with two large antennas sticking out on top of it. None of the radio hats were a hit, even being made out of different materials. They were unmanageable and there was issues with the radio signals. Later in 1955, the invention of the transistor radio revolutionized the idea and music has been on-the-go ever since.

The solar bikini is a pretty cool idea bit we are a bit unsure about the “Baby Window Cage.” Do you want to see more strange inventions?

Woman Who Only Ate Crisp Sandwiches For 23 Years Finally Hypnotised Into Eating Proper Meal



A fussy eater who would only eat crisp sandwiches for over two decades had her first proper meal after being hypnotised.

Zoe Sadler, 25, has exclusively eaten Walkers cheese and onion crisps on buttered white bread since she was two years old.

Sadler, from Coventry, has spent the last two decades eating two packets of her favourite crisps every day after other foods left her feeling physically sick.



Despite her parents introducing her to other foods as a toddler, Sadler would turn her nose up and refuse to put anything in her mouth.

Sadler said: "Apparently the only thing mum could get down me were crisps which I used to suck until they were soft. I remember being at school when I was little and having crisp sandwiches in my lunch box. They were the only thing I liked to eat."

As a child, Sadler would typically eat dry cereal for breakfast, followed by a crisp sandwich for lunch and dinner, occasionally switching from her preferred cheese and onion crisps and trying other flavours, as the texture did not bother her.

Christmas was a difficult time for Sadler as she never wanted to eat the food on offer, instead limiting herself to 'Yorkshire pudding but never with gravy'.

However, three years ago, Sadler committed to improving her health after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a lifelong condition that affects the brain and nerves.

After researching on the internet, Sadler contacted hypnotherapist David Kilmurry, who has previously helped fussy eaters.

Since undergoing a two-hour hypnotherapy session, Sadler said she has been able to enjoy her first tastes of fruit and vegetables alongside other foods.



She said: "I can't believe how nice strawberries are and I'm looking forward to trying curry and lots of other different foods."

Kilmurry diagnosed Sadler with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), explaining: “In a very short amount of time with myself and at home she has been calmly eating new meals and incorporated many new high grade fruits and vegetables to her ‘safe’ foods list."



Having recently been diagnosed with MS, it would be dangerous for Sadler to only eat crisp sandwiches.

The 25-year-old has since tried cabbages, blueberries, nuts and cranberries, as well as being excited to try several other foods.

The therapist added: "Huge credit to Zoe on her recovery. Her progress has been phenomenal and has superseded my expectations."

Sadler is now dedicated to overcoming her obsession with crisp sandwiches in the hopes she can enjoy a proper meal at her wedding next march.

"I really don't just want to be eating crisp sandwiches on my wedding day," she said.

https://www.ladbible.com/news/woman-hyp ... s-20220525

[johngriffen]

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 MARCH 20
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

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

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 -6)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
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

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

NOTE: THE RECAP AND REWARDS WILL BE DONE LATER

[ozswede]

Inspirational Scots amputee finds new lease of life as Paralympian after horror RAF accident

An inspiring amputee has told how competing in the Paralympics restored her confidence after a horror accident in the RAF. Shona Brownlee, from Livingston, West Lothian, was a former member of the Royal Air Force when she broke her ankle during a final training exercise.

After it failed to heal, she developed complications which led to the below-knee amputation. Devastated by the incident, she feared that her career in the armed forces was over before it had the chance to get off the ground.

But determined to find the positives, inspiring Shone explored sitskiing as part of a military programme. From there, she went on to secure her place as a Paralympian competing in Bejing in 2022.


Shona was successful after trying out snow sports through an armed forces project.

Shona told the media: "It was definitely a life-changing injury and things were pretty tough at the start. I was faced with the prospect of losing my career when it had barely begun. Learning to sitski opened up a whole new world. It showed me that 'disability' didn't necessarily mean 'inability' and that I was still able to achieve things despite my injury."

Eventually, Shona was invited to join Armed Forces Para-Snowsport Team (AFPST), who lent her equipment and provided coaching. Through there, she excelled and got her first experience of racing at military ski championships.


Shona competed at the Beijing Paralympics 2022.

She said: "As I began to train more seriously, it was a bit of a juggling act balancing training schedules and my full-time job, especially as the majority of our training naturally took place abroad in the mountains. I was offered a place on the RAF Elite Athlete Scheme in the summer of 2021 which enabled me to focus on training full-time as I aimed for Paralympic selection.

"At the same time, I was selected for the GB Para-Alpine World Class Programme and competed in my first World Cup races that year, winning two bronze medals. This qualified me to race at the Para-Alpine Skiing World Championships in Norway in January 2022 before I was then selected for the Beijing Paralympics.”


Competing has taken Shona around the globe.

Shona had to work hard in order to be selected for Team GB in China. She competed in a number of international races before she was able to meet the criteria.

On how she got on in Beijing, she continued: “I had three top 10 finishes, and came sixth in Super G and ninth in both Giant Slalom and Slalom. I hope I can learn from the experience I had in Beijing and develop over the next few years and hopefully qualify to compete again at the next Paralympics in Milan-Cortina 2026.”


Shona says that competing gave her a new lease of life following her injury.

Shona, who is a musician for the RAF as well as a highly successful snow sports athlete, offered advice for anyone wishing to follow in her footsteps. She said: “I don't have a sporting background and didn't consider myself remotely athletic until I took up skiing.

"I'd always encourage anybody to seize opportunities and try something new, even if it means pushing out of your comfort zone - which I definitely was, and still am at times. You never know where it might lead and you just might surprise yourself.”

[goldie0608]

93-Year-old Grandma Creates 6-foot Buckingham Palace Entirely Out of Wool-Look at the Incredible Details



A great-great grandmother dubbed the ‘Queen of Knitting’ has created a massive six-foot long replica of Buckingham Palace made entirely out of wool.

Margaret Seaman spent eight months knitting the model of His Majesty’s main residence in London, after taking up the craft seriously just 10 years ago.

Even better, the 93-year-old has used her craft to raise over $120,000 for charities and gets stopped on the street because of her new celebrity status.

“Now, when I sit in the car whilst we’re out, people knock on my window and say, ‘are you the lady that does the knitting?

“But I don’t feel any different—I’m still Margaret.”

Her most recent creation, the woolly Buckingham Palace, has been lovingly built over months with polystyrene blocks for structure and wiring to create the gates.

It features tiny guards with bear-skin hats and pedestrians staring up at the grand palace, with landscaping and trees around the structure.

It is now standing on display at The Forum in Norwich’s Norfolk Makers Festival until March 19.

Despite the adoration she has received she won’t commit to creating any more of the royal estates, saying the intricate gate detail was the hardest thing to make.

“I just love a big challenge and I like to keep myself busy. I never dreamed it would lead to all this excitement.”

The mother of four is grandmother to 13, great-grandmother to two, and a great-great-grandmother to one little boy.

“I find it hard to walk,” said the widow from Caistor-on-Sea in Norfolk. “My gardening and walking days are over but I can sit and knit and raise money for good causes.”



She joined a knitting club for the company after she lost her 86-year-old husband Fred.

The retired amusement park owner rose to fame after she spent 13 hours a day creating the royal Sandringham Palace in Norfolk in 2019, complete with stables.

She then got bored during the Covid-19 pandemic and turned 34 balls of wool into an NHS ‘Knittinghale Hospital’.

She lost count of how many balls of wool she used for Buckingham Palace, estimating “at least 100” balls were used, donated from the Wool Warehouse.

Margaret, who lives with her 74-year-old daughter says, “I usually knit for about eight or nine hours during the day and then I go to bed at 9pm and I knit for another three or four hours.

“It’s all in my head normally, I don’t stop to write things down. I always think that’s a waste of time.

“I start on a piece, work so far on it and then if I get stuck and can’t think what to do next, I leave it and start on something else. Usually I’ve got five or six pieces on the go at the same time and I work on whichever one my brain tells me to do.”

By displaying her incredible works she has raised over £100,000 ($120,000) for different causes and she just donated £10,000 to the three major hospitals in Norfolk.

The Producer of the Norfolk Makers Festival, Jayne Evans, said she was not shocked when Margaret was awarded the British Empire medal (BEM) after she first displayed her Knitted Sandringham—based on the Royal family’s country estate.

“Margaret has wowed the crowds at our Festival for years now. She is a role model for both older people and younger generations and has become like a dear Grandmother to me.”

She was also aptly awarded the ‘Oldie Champion Knitter of the Year’ bestowed by the Oldie Magazine and presented by the Duchess of Cornwall in 2021.

With her latest project, Margaret hopes to raise money for the new children’s hospice in Addenbrookes Hospital, in Cambs.

[Fatima99]

Top Strategies to Beat Snoring, According to New Poll of Sleepless Adults

52% of American adults either snore or have a partner who does, according to a new poll, and 72% of them have resorted to a host of tricks to try and silence the noise.

The top strategies to beat snoring include using extra pillows and drinking water before bed – some even attest to putting a tennis ball in your pajamas to stop you lying on your back.

Nasal strips, dilators, a hot shower before bed, and even sleeping while sitting up also featured in the top 30 list.

But while some avoid alcohol before bed or even at all (both 15%), one in 10 swear by a drink before nodding off to stop snoring.

Others have resorted to taping their mouth, putting a clothes pin on their nose, and even sleeping with their head at the end of the bed.

The survey by Onepoll of 2,000 adults was part of the 2023 Sleep & Snore Report commissioned by MuteSnoring.com in partnership with WebMD. It revealed that 53% of those who snore or live with a snorer are so fed up with the noise, they would do anything do stop it.

This sees them spend an average of $45.30 a year on items to try and silence it, but they would be willing to spend up to $596.60 if it meant it would stop for good.

More than four in 10 (42%) would even consider surgery in a bid to bring an end to the habit.

“While some of these are proven to help with snoring— like using extra pillows, humidifiers, and opening up the airways, things like sleeping upside down in the bed and wearing an eye mask aren’t likely to help that much,” according to Michael Johnson, CEO of Rhinomed.

It also emerged that, due to sleep disruption, 38% of partners have ended up sleeping in separate bedrooms—and 60% have admitted they’ve simply come to accept that it’s never going to go away.

In a bid to stop snoring, 42% have turned to the internet for advice, and 37% have sought help from health professionals.

Those classed as obese are more likely to be snorers (57%), compared to those who have an underweight (19%) or healthy body-mass index (29%).

Michael Johnson added: “Snoring doesn’t have to be something you simply put up with. With sound strategies, you really can reduce or even eliminate the snoring noise in your bedroom – and not surprisingly, improving your nasal breathing is one of the best things snorers can do.”

TOP STRATEGIES RESPONDENTS HAVE TRIED TO STOP SNORING

1. Using extra pillows
2. Nasal strips/ dilator
3. Hot shower or bath before bed
4. Drinking more water
5. Having a humidifier on
6. Sleeping sitting up
7. Sleeping the other way round e.g. head at the end of the bed
8. Avoiding alcohol before bed
9. Nasal spray before bed
10. Saline rinses/ sprays
11. Sipping warm honey and lemon before bed
12. Using a mouthguard
13. Rubbing decongestant onto your chest before bed
14. Exercise before bed
15. Wearing an eye mask
16. Eating mints before bed
17. Buying anti-snore pillows
18. Wearing compression socks
19. Snoring exercises
20. Buy a snoring ring that’s meant to stop you snoring
21. Rubbing Vaseline on the tip of your nose
22. Put a tennis ball in your Pjs to stop you lying on your back
23. Drinking alcohol before bed
24. Thyme oil on your feet
25. Acupuncture

The sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo offers these tips to reduce snoring:

1. Sleep on your side – By sleeping on your back, you exacerbate snoring. Sleeping on your side, or at the very least, having your face on the side, reduces it.

2. Ensure you are at a healthy weight – Weight reduction can in some cases eliminate symptoms.

3. Consider a nasal dilator for a simple, straightforward solution that can help to make breathing easier at night.

4. Reduce alcohol intake – Alcohol is a risk factor for snoring because it relaxes the muscles in the upper airways, causing them to collapse through the night and amplify snoring.

[PennySerenade]

A fan conspiracy theory is emerging after what looked like a very stinky incident during a Toronto Raptors game at Scotiabank Arena last month.

One Youtuber thinks he has identified the source of an unidentified stench that hit the Raps bench during a February 23 home game versus the New Orleans Pelicans — a mystery that, weeks later, still lingers in the air like the smell that created it.

Youtube channel raptor moments offered a comedic breakdown of the game's highlights, most notably detailing a sequence of events that unfolded with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter, when cameras cut to the Raps' bench as players reacted in violent disgust to an apparently disgusting odour.



The video describes how "[Jeff] Dowtin [Jr.] is the first one who notices it, but he's like, 'whatever.' Juancho [Hernangomez], he just goes right for the shirt in defence mechanism mode, and Malachi [Flynn] does the universal 'I don't know what you're talking about' face."

Suspect identified.

The foul smell wasn't limited to the bench, as the clip showed other teammates and opponents reacting from on the court.


"Scottie [Barnes] can smell it from the court, Brandon Ingram is not looking too happy," says the video's narrator.

Scottie Barnes, upon returning to the bench, buries his face in a towel to escape the apparent stench.

Possibly realizing that his reaction was obviously different from his teammates, Malachi Flynn can be seen reacting to the smell a full ten seconds after surrounding players recoiled in disgust.

But did Flynn crop-dust the bench? Or was someone else — or were many others — responsible?

After implicating Flynn for the phantom smell, the Youtube video includes what it describes as "a little conspiracy theory" that shifts blame away from the player and towards fans.

"It was Caribbean Night at Scotiabank Arena, there was a lot of white people eating food they weren't used to," the narrator jokes over footage of Jack Armstrong and Matt Devlin eating doubles from the announcer's table.

The Raptors would ultimately defeat the Pelicans that night by a score of 115-110, overcoming what looked to be a very stinky obstacle to secure the W.