[Misstee]

Police: Live cluster bomblet, ammunition found with donation at southeastern Wisconsin thrift store





JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) — A live cluster bomblet and ammunition have been found in a donation dropped off at a thrift shop in southeastern Wisconsin.

An employee at the Janesville Goodwill made the discovery while conducting inventory Friday morning, according to the Janesville Police Department.

The store and surrounding area were evacuated as a bomb squad was called in to remove the small bomb and ammunition.

“Employees quickly followed safety protocols by informing store and donation center management and safety teams who then evacuated the building out of precaution for shoppers, donors and employees,” Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin said in a statement to WKOW-TV.

The store and donation center resumed operations shortly after 1:30 p.m. Friday, the statement continued.

Bomblets are part of cluster bombs which contain multiple explosive submunitions. Used during battle, the bombs can be dropped from planes or fired from the ground. Janesville police were trying to determine who left the bomblet and ammunition at the Goodwill store.

Janesville is about 76 miles (122 kilometers) southwest of Milwaukee.

[HogwartsExpress]

Fishermen work with mum dolphin to rescue baby from fishing net


VIDEO IN THE LINK
https://news.yahoo.com/fishermen-mum-dolphin-rescue-baby-091212476.html

This is the moment a pair of fishermen rescued a baby dolphin trapped in a fishing net. Jose Ramón Pérez, 27, and Miguel Rodríguez, 36, were fishing 10km off the coast of Almería, Spain when they found the animal tangled in a net. The two men spotted the young dolphin thanks to its mother, which had been desperately trying to keep her baby afloat. The baby's tail was tangled in a rope and was being pulled underwater - almost drowning it. But its mother would not leave its side and kept trying to lift it and keep its head above water. José Ramon, a warehouse worker, and Miguel, a greenhouse owner, rushed to the baby's help after seeing the mother lift her flank above the waterline. The pair believe she was asking for their help. Jose Ramón, who is from El Ejido, said: "I saw something floating but it wasn't actually floating at the surface. It was underneath. "Miguel said it was a dolphin but I thought it was strange because it hadn't moved at all. "The mother put her side out of the water. She was trying to call us. "When we got there she didn't leave our side for a second. "She was holding its head up the whole time and the rope was even chewed." Jose Ramón and Miguel called local authorities, who put them through to Equinac, a local conservation charity. Equinac concluded that the situation was too dire to wait for their arrival and assisted the fishermen over the phone. The rope was tied to an anchor and the dolphin, but with guidance from the charity the pair was able to cut the rope. Although injured, the baby was able to swim off with its mother. Jose Ramón said: "It was so hard to pull it up. I could feel it chafing our hands as we did it. "I could see blood on the dolphin's tail from where the rope had cut it. "They were panicked. The baby was thrashing around and screaming. "When it did that the mother seemed like she was scolding it and trying to calm it down. "As much as I try I can't express how it felt to be there. I was nervous and I was so sad for the baby. I don't know how long it had been there. "I will remember this for my whole life. it was a truly magical moment." Eva María Morón, a coordinator at Equinac, said: "If those boys hadn't been there, the baby would have died. This animal owes them its life." Equinac also claims that the trap was placed there illegally by a known culprit. She added: "We know who is responsible for the traps and he has been reported to the police. "It's a massive problem that we fight against every day. We find these things every day. "Not all dolphins live to tell the tale."

src: https://news.yahoo.com/fishermen-mum-dolphin-rescue-baby-091212476.html

Ancient pyramids have been discovered in remote part of the Amazon



It’s a big old world that we live in, and there’s still new things being discovered.

Well, very old things actually. Like secret pyramids and little cities dating back to the Middle Ages - sounds like something from a film, right?

But it’s very real, and happened more recently than you might think.

Actual discoveries of these small cities and ancient pyramids were made in one of the densest parts of the Amazon.

Last year, a journal published in Nature, claimed that a new type of advanced laser-mapping technology was used to penetrate the dense Bolivian rainforest of the region.

And thanks to this new research tool, archaeologists were able to make a landmark discovery.

With the history of this dense Amazon area previously relatively unknown, we now have evidence of town-like civilisations in the area.

This is pretty exciting for researchers as it proves Amazonians did actually together in township-like structures before the Spanish set foot on South American soil.

Colorado State University archaeologist Chris Fisher said the new technology will usher in a new age of research in the Amazon, as per The Wall Street Journal.

He said: "This is the first of what I hope will be a huge series of studies that will blow the lid off of preconceptions about what pre-Hispanic polities looked like in the Amazon in terms of their complexity, size and density."

Dr Fisher explained that before Hispanic occupation in the 16th century it was believed Amazonians lived in small groups with limited social development and agricultural systems.

However, this landmark discovery indicates that may not have been the case.

Dr Fisher added: "These sites are pushing the boundaries of what we would call cities."

Scientists from both Germany and the UK searched six regions of the Amazon in Bolivia using a helicopter equipped with light detection and ranging equipment.

The new type of research has paid them back in spades, with 26 settlements revealed to them in unprecedented new detail.



Of the 26 sites, 11 were previously unknown to scientists.

The path to this incredible new technology came nearly 16 years ago when Dr Fisher was in the beginning stages of unearthing an ancient 'megalopolis' in Mexico.

The buried city was not something he could explore with his trusty brush, trowel, and string grids.

The find was huge, covering 26 square kilometres with as many structures as modern-day Manhattan.

Speaking to the Colorado Sun, Fisher said he remembers slumping in the baking heat after he had walked the outlines of the city.

He thought to himself 'there’s gotta be a better way'.

Now there is. And it is already paying off in ways the archaeologist could never have imagined.

He's now dropped his first research paper with the innovative new technology, which is sure to usher in a new age of Amazonian discovery.

https://www.ladbible.com/news/world-new ... 4-20231105

Man solves Rubik's cube in 9.29 seconds while underwater


An expert Rubik's cube solver from Singapore added another world record to his name by solving a puzzle in 9.29 seconds while underwater.

Daryl Tan Hong An, 21, was completely submerged in a pool when he solved a 3-by-3-by-3 Rubik's cube in the record-breaking time.

The speedcuber has numerous Guinness World Records titles to his name, including fastest time to solve a 4-by-4-by-4 rotating puzzle cube upside down, fastest time to solve two rotating puzzle cubes simultaneously whilst suspended upside down, fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube while juggling, fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube on a hoverboard and fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube while controlling a ping pong ball.

His best time for regular speedcubing is 5.88 seconds, short of the world record time of 3.13 seconds set by Max Park of California.

[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 NOVEMBER 6
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]

Poor grammar causes real physical stress, study finds

A new study has shown, for the first time, what many of us have long felt: that observing grammar mistakes can trigger negative physical reactions, including one that stems from the part of our sympathetic nervous system that initiates the fight or flight response. (actually it only triggers my urge to punch them in the face )

Linguistics researchers at the University of Birmingham have found a direct link between poor grammar and heart rate variability (HRV), which measures the variation in time periods (intervals) between heartbeats. This variation is controlled by the primitive autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is hard at work regulating heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and digestion, among other important functions.

The interval length trends toward variable when a person is relaxed, and becomes more regular when subjected to stressful stimuli. In this study, the stressful stimuli included bad tense, poor sentence structure, mixing up singular and plural, double negatives, and errant commas.

“The results of this study bring into focus a new dimension of the intricate relationship between physiology and cognition,” said Dagmar Divjak, Professorial Research Fellow in Cognitive Linguistics and Language Cognition at the University of Birmingham. “This relationship has been studied using techniques ranging from eye-tracking over electro-encephalography to brain imaging. But the relation between language cognition and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has so far received less attention.”


Does the misuse of words and punctuation make you see red? Your not alone

For the study, the researchers recruited 41 healthy British (English-speaking) adults aged 18 to 44 years, with no learning difficulties or heart irregularities. They were exposed to 40 written samples delivered as 160 speech samples by four different speakers. The length of the samples varied, as did the errors contained in them. During this exercise, their cardiovascular activity was tracked continuously, as was their blood volume pulse (BVP) signal. The participants also filled out surveys rating the samples afterwards.

As for an example of some of the error-ridden work? Read on, at your own risk:

“I think that culture is one of the areas most affected by a globalisation and it's hard to say whether it is the positive or negative impact. I think that thanks to a globalisation, people all around the world listen to same music, watch the same movies, and read same books. They can discuss the same issues with each other, and understand each other better, because they know what they are talking about.”

As expected, the results revealed a significant correlation between sentences that contained errors and a reduction in HRV.

“The ANS comprises two parts: the sympathetic (SNS) and the parasympathetic (PNS) nervous system,” said Divjak. “Simply put, the sympathetic nervous system activates the ‘fight or flight’ response during a threat or perceived danger, while the parasympathetic nervous system controls the ‘rest and digest’ or ‘feed and breed’ functions of the body. Our findings show that this system, too, responds to cognitive demands, and this suggests that cognitive effort reverberates through the physiological system in more ways than previously thought.”

The ANS is also observed during lie-detector tests, which measure the physiological responses that can result from being asked about concealed information.

“Departures from linguistic normality trigger a clear cardiovascular reaction, and thereby reveal linguistic knowledge on the part of the individual without the need for explicit articulation,” the researchers noted in the study. “This observation brings into focus a new dimension of the intricate relationship between physiology and cognition, suggesting that cognitive effort reverberates through the physiological system in more ways than previously thought.”

The study was published in the Journal of Neurolinguistics.

(Oh my goodness… I’m a stickler for correct spelling/pronunciation/grammar. Glad to know I’m not unusual.)

[Alessa9]

A Florida boy called 911 without an emergency. Instead, he just wanted to hug an officer

A boy in Florida called 911 but didn't have a real emergency. Instead, he wanted a hug from an officer – and the responding deputy understood.

Footage from a bodycam, worn by Deputy Scott Pracht of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, as well as footage from the home's doorbell camera, shows the officer responding and talking to the boy's mom.

"We had a 911 call," Pracht says in the video.

"We can talk to my son," the mother says. "To be honest, he doesn't even know what 911 is." The boy's mom confirms he has a disconnected cellphone – but even phones that are not connected to service providers can call 911.

Her young son comes to the door with his cellphone and when asked if he called the police he says: "Well, I wanted to give him a hug."

"You called him to give him a hug?" his mom says.







As his mom checks his phone's call log, the boy runs out to hug Pracht, who embraces him back. The phone showed the boy did call 911 at 12:41 that afternoon, his mom says.

"I know what's your phone number — 9-1-1," the boy says to the deputy.

After hugging the boy, Pracht explained that 911 is for those who are in trouble and need help. "It's very important," he tells the boy. "You need to be careful when you call that number, okay?"

"Only in emergencies. And if you're hurt, or someone else is hurt, your mom needs help. You know, someone is doing something they're not supposed to do. Give us a call, okay?"

The boy apologized, and Pracht told him not to worry about it.

The sheriff's office posted the video on Facebook on Thursday, where it was viewed nearly 10,000 times. "Omg, you can't be mad, he called to give you a hug," one commenter wrote.

"He was very sweet and Deputy Pracht is more than happy to give a hug! A valuable lesson learned and a sweet moment shared," the sheriff's office replied.

In a statement, Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister said they "deeply appreciate the genuine kindness shown by this young child."

"Our deputies are more than willing to share a hug and spread love to children in our community. However, it's essential for everyone to remember that 911 is a lifeline for emergencies," he said. "We are here to help, and we encourage parents and educators to teach children about the appropriate use of emergency services."

CBS News has reached out to the boy's mother for further information and is awaiting response.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-bo ... y-sheriff/

Lemon twist



Should you be drinking lemon water every day? Experts weigh in



Lemon water seems to be quite the craze on social media lately — but is the citrus-infused concoction really a boon for your health?

“Drinking lemon water is currently being encouraged by several social media influencers,” April Wiles, a North Carolina-based registered dietitian and owner of thegenxdietitian.com, told Fox News Digital.

“Many are claiming it promotes weight loss, improves skin, helps with digestion and balances the body’s pH levels,” she added.

“Some claims related to lemon water are evidence-based — while others are not.”

Read on for more about what lemon water can do, and what it can’t do.

Lemon water offers vitamin C

“Lemon is an excellent source of vitamin C, which can aid in boosting overall immunity, especially as we go into cold and flu season,” said Emily Tills, a registered dietitian nutritionist with nourishedwithemily.com; she is based in Syracuse, New York.

Lemon can also add microminerals to the water, said Tills. This can enhance our hydration status, which tends to suffer in the colder months.

Still, we should be cautious about drinking too much lemon water, said Tills, as its acidity can wear away at tooth enamel — causing sensitivities.

While drinking lemon water is not bad for your health, drinking too much lemon water can actually worsen gastrointestinal issues or symptoms, experts say

While Wiles, for her part, said lemons contain only small amounts of vitamin C, she noted that “vitamin C has an important role in supporting brain, skin, heart, bone and immune system health.”

Lemon water keeps you hydrated

News flash: You’re probably not drinking enough water.

And as you increase your H2O intake, a splash or two of lemon juice can help in more ways than one, experts say.

“Lemon water is great for promoting adequate hydration,” said Wiles.

“Lemons add flavor to water, which can make it an enjoyable alternative to sugar-sweetened beverages,” she said.

You're most likely not drinking enough water on your own — so by adding a squeeze of lemon, you can make that glass of H2O a little more exciting.

For those who want a sweeter version, Wiles suggested adding a little stevia or monk fruit.

Along with a healthy squeeze of lemon, Rachael Richardson, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of nutrolution.com in Raleigh, North Carolina, advised considering growing and adding fresh basil or mint to water.

Or, she said, brew some ginger, turmeric or green tea to create your own anti-inflammatory electrolyte water.

“Be creative and go with your gut, and don’t forget to choose real mineral water not kept in plastic to start with the healthiest water possible,” she said.

Should you drink lemon water every day?

Too much lemon water can cause damage to your teeth over time, experts say.

Before you start buying multiple pounds of lemons a week, consider this advice.

“It is OK to drink a glass of lemon water once or twice daily,” said Wiles.

“However, if you have gastrointestinal issues like acid reflux, it may worsen or aggravate symptoms,” she said.

Wiles echoed that drinking excessive amounts of lemon water could potentially damage tooth enamel.

Reiterating the advice from Wiles, Richardson said that excessive lemon water drinking could damage the teeth over time, or result in a sensitivity to this common citrus fruit that’s integrated into a wide range of recipes.

“So I recommend switching the fruits, herbs or roots you use to flavor your water — and don’t just program one healthy habit indefinitely,” said Richardson.

She also warned against the trend of blending and drinking pulverized lemon skin by adding it to water, as seen on videos posted on TikTok and Instagram.

“The reason is that the peel contains loads of natural plant pesticides to protect the inside of the fruit, and this can lead to severe inflammation and kidney problems such as joint pain for some people,” said Richardson.

“Instead, peel your lemons and use the skin as an air freshener or cleaner,” she suggested.

Bottom line: “Although lemon water may not live up to all the health claims surrounding it, it can still be a part of a healthy diet,” said Wiles.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZddqzZL5iK/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=acff5a70-7bde-4284-be23-42c795a35f7a

https://nypost.com/2023/11/05/lifestyle ... -weigh-in/

[Fatima99]

New ‘Super Melanin’ Cream Heals Skin From Sun Exposure And Even Chemical Burns



A new ‘super melanin’ skin cream developed by scientists at Northwestern University shows the ability to continuously heal sun damage and chemical burns.

The synthetic, biomimetic melanin cream demonstrated the potential to heal damage occurring throughout the day when skin is exposed to sunlight or environmental toxins.

It mimics the natural melanin in human skin, and can be applied topically to injured skin, where it accelerates wound healing. These effects occur both in the skin itself and systemically in the body.

A study published this week in Nature Regenerative Medicine showed that when applied in a cream, the synthetic melanin can protect skin from sun exposure and heal skin injured by sun damage or chemical burns. The technology works by scavenging free radicals, which are produced by injured skin such as a sunburn. Left unchecked, free radical activity damages cells and ultimately may result in skin aging and skin cancer.

Melanin in humans and animals provides pigmentation to the skin, eyes and hair. The substance protects your cells from sun damage with increased pigmentation whenever the sun is ‘tanning’. That same pigment in your skin also naturally scavenges free radicals in response to damaging environmental pollution from industry smokestacks and car exhaust fumes.

“People don’t think of their everyday life as an injury to their skin,” said co-corresponding author Dr. Kurt Lu, who teaches dermatology and practices at Northwestern University School of Medicine. “If you walk barefaced every day in the sun, you suffer a low-grade, constant bombardment of ultraviolet light. This is worsened during peak mid-day hours and the summer season.”

The skin, which doesn’t age when protected by clothing, always does age due to getting older and external environmental factors, including air pollution.

“All those insults to the skin lead to free radicals which cause inflammation and break down the collagen,” Lu said. “That’s one of the reasons older skin looks very different from younger skin.”

When the scientists created the synthetic melanin engineered nanoparticles, they modified the melanin structure to have higher free-radical scavenging capacity.

“The synthetic melanin is capable of scavenging more radicals per gram compared to human melanin,” said co-corresponding author Nathan Gianneschi, a professor of chemistry and pharmacology at Northwestern. “It’s like super melanin. It’s biocompatible, degradable, nontoxic and clear when rubbed onto the skin. In our studies, it acts as an efficient sponge, removing damaging factors and protecting the skin.”

The sunscreen booster stays on the surface and quiets immune system

Once applied to the skin, the melanin sits on the surface and is not absorbed into the layers below.

“The synthetic melanin stabilizes and sets the skin on a healing pathway, which we see in both the top layers and throughout the body,” Gianneschi said.

The scientists, who have been studying melanin for nearly 10 years, first tested their synthetic melanin as a sunscreen—and it was successful.

“Next, we wondered if the synthetic melanin, which functions primarily to soak up radicals, could be applied topically after a skin injury and have a healing effect on the skin?” Gianneschi said. “It turns out to work exactly that way.”

[rflash8]

We thought starfish didn't have heads - we were wrong

A study involving a British university suggests rather than being headless, starfish have actually shed their bodies over time to eventually become only heads.



Starfish have long been presumed to have no heads - but new research suggests they may in fact be nothing but.

Their distinctive shape has long puzzled scientists, with their bodies incomparable to most animals.

They are from a group called echinoderms, which also includes sea urchins and sand dollars.

Their bodies are divided symmetrically into five sections, and until now it had been "impossible" to see how those chunks related to the bodies of other animals.

Front or back, head or bottom - even experts were stumped.

Dr Jeff Thompson, from the University of Southampton, said the makeup of echinoderms "has been a mystery to scientists for as long as we've been studying them".

In a bid for clarity, an international team led by researchers at Stanford University in the US compared the starfish's molecular markers to other members of a wider animal group called deuterostomes.

This features vertebrates as well as echinoderms, but they all share a common ancestor, allowing the scientists to directly compare their development.

Using advanced molecular and genomic techniques, they created a 3D map showing where specific genes were expressed during a starfish's development.



Big crawling head, it's just a big crawling head

Dr Thompson, co-author of the study, said a "crucial part" of a conventional bilateral body was missing.

"The genes typically involved in the patterning of the trunk of the animal weren't expressed," he said.

"It seems the whole echinoderm body plan is roughly equivalent to the head in other groups of animals."

The findings suggest that rather than being headless, starfish have just shed their ancestor's bodies over time to eventually become only heads.

Lead author Laurent Formery, from Stanford, said it's "best described as a head crawling along the seafloor".

The peer-reviewed study has been published in the journal Nature.

Likely human skull found in Halloween section of Florida thrift store

An anthropologist made a surprising discovery in a Florida thrift shop's Halloween section on Saturday, officials said.

The North Fort Myers shopper spotted a skull and recognized it as a human skull, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office. Responding detectives also determined the skull belonged to a human.

The store owner said the skull had been in a storage unit that was purchased years ago, authorities said.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office is working with the local medical examiner to run further tests on the skull. Officials do not believe the case is suspicious in nature.


A shopper found what's believed to be a real human skull in the Halloween section of a Florida thrift store.
Lee County Sheriff's Office

Under Florida law, "no person shall knowingly offer to purchase or sell ... any human organ or tissue for valuable consideration." Eyes, corneas, kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, pancreases, bones and skin are subject to the rule.

Officials have not said whether anyone will face charges in connection with the discovery of the skull at the thrift shop.

In September, a human skull was reported in a donation box at an Arizona Goodwill store. In that case, the responding police department said the medical examiner's office determined the skull was likely not related to a criminal case.

[PennySerenade]

Bonfire Night could get a little wild back in the day


From 17th-century roots, this tradition had long been designated for making mischief

Whether you call it Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night, it's been celebrated across Newfoundland and Labrador for generations.

The event's origins date exactly to Nov. 5, 1605, when Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the House of Parliament, including the king and other high ranking officials, to protest how Catholics in England were persecuted.

The attack — dubbed the Gunpowder Plot — was meant to invoke a revolution, but Fawkes was caught and executed. Afterwards his death became a celebration, with bonfires lit across England to celebrate the strength of the Protestant majority.

But the event has markedly changed over the years in Newfoundland, the oldest of the English colonies. Over time, the tone of Bonfire Night has evolved to more of a community celebration — but one with a bit of a salty reputation.

Folklorist Dale Jarvis spoke with the St. John's Morning Show's Krissy Holmes, to trace the various ways people in the province have marked the fiery night. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Traditionally, what has Guy Fawkes Night represented to people in N.L.?

A: I think it's interesting that we call it Bonfire Night. The Guy Fawkes bit of it has kind of been forgotten for the most part in Newfoundland. It certainly started off with Guy Fawkes, but we have had Bonfire Night for a very long time.

In England, there was kind of a shift, from it being a big public display, to something that was more kind of on the periphery, that was something that kids would participate in. And I'm sure there are lots of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who have memories of starting to collect anything burnable back in September. Everyone had their favourite spots, like on a beach or sometimes on a high point of land. And they would gather all this stuff together for the big night when it would all go up in flames.



Is there a bit of a dangerous undertone to the night too, especially for firefighters?

It's kind of part of that tradition of Mischief Week. We talk about Devil's Night — the night before Halloween — when people play tricks. But it was really a full week of mischief and mayhem. A time when all kinds of things could happen. It was sort of a time where you could maybe get back at a neighbour who had been annoying you.

You might do something like steal their outhouse, a very popular item to burn on Bonfire Night. You would go and just knock the outhouse over and they'd wake up in the morning ready to have their morning ablutions and the outhouse would be on fire somewhere out in the distance.

What other notable things have come up over the years to burn?

I think the one thing that I kind of associate in some ways with Bonfire Night in Newfoundland is the burning of tires. And I know all the environmental agencies every year are all worried about, 'you know, you shouldn't be burning tires.' And they are correct. But it really was a tradition.

There's a great video that was shot in the 1980s from Brigus. It was done by a folklorist, from the folklore department at Memorial.

And there's a great scene of boys out in Brigus harbour jigging for tires. At that time, if you had an old tire, you'd just throw it in the harbour if you didn't need it anymore. So the boys were jigging up these tires. They'd take them up to the top of the hill for the Bonfire Night, light the tires in the fire, and then roll these burning tires down the hill into the ocean.

There were also cautionary stories, telling people to keep their cats indoors?

I don't know how many cats ever actually perished in a bonfire. But yeah, it was one of those things like, 'Oh, you got to keep your animals in on Bonfire Night, because who knows what might happen.' Anything remotely flammable, I think would have a chance of ending up in a bonfire.

So there's another interesting dynamic because N.L. was an English colony, but there's a lot of Irish Catholics and Bonfire Night isn't a thing in Ireland?

It did have its start as a kind of a semi-religious holiday, in some ways. It was a state holiday as early as 1605, 1606... Over the years it really did acquire an anti-Catholic kind of flavour. And I know some communities in Newfoundland never had bonfires on Bonfire Night. Some Roman Catholic communities would have their own Bonfire Night around St. John's day, so they would have bonfires in the middle of the summer.

But other communities in Newfoundland that were kind of more mixed Protestant and Catholic, they would have bonfires just the same.

This time last year I was out on Fogo Island and we heard great stories in Tilting, which is an Irish Catholic community, of what they called Torch Night.

The boys would get old tar barrels or they would get galvanized buckets and put stuff in the buckets that they could light on fire. And then they would kind of string the handle of the bucket over a pole. And then a boy would carry each end of the pole with this flaming bucket. And then they would swirl the pole around so that these flaming buckets would make big circles and flankers and sparks would go everywhere, which must have been quite the sight to see.

We don't have the giant parades and ceremonies that we see in places like England, where what you're describing was basically playing out: buckets of fire and giant crosses on fire and effigies. What's going on here?

This was something that kind of evolved over time and quite often people would have an effigy of Guy Fawkes and put it on top of the pile and then burn him along with the bonfire.

But then whoever was kind of out of favour in the moment might also find themselves in effigy. So that might be the Pope or a particular king or even a local politician or local leader of some kind who had been unpopular that year.

Texas Mother–Daughter Duo Receive Prestigious Award from 3 Past Presidents for Easing Pain From Rare Disease



Mother and daughter – RebeccasWish.org

A Texas mother-daughter duo was honored by three former presidents this month, becoming 2023 Points of Light Award honorees for their fierce dedication and advocacy for children with pediatric pancreatitis.

The little-known disease struck Rebecca Taylor when she was just 7-years-old, causing excruciating pain. Now 21, Rebecca was chosen for the award because of the work with her mom, Christyn, on their nonprofit Rebecca’s Wish.

When Rebecca was 12, the Make A Wish Foundation granted her selfless wish to form a group to help other children dealing with pediatric pancreatitis.

Their national organization has raised over $3 million to support families whose children have the disease, to advance cutting-edge medical research, and to fund fellowships that train doctors to treat such patients.

“I wanted to start a pancreatic charity for other children so they don’t suffer like I did,” Rebecca said. “Rebecca’s Wish not only gives me a way to help others; it also helps me focus on something greater than myself and that—surprisingly—has helped my own pain.”

And the young woman has defied all the odds since doctors told the family that she wasn’t expected to live past the age of 12. She’s been hospitalized throughout 150 surgeries, including a life-saving experimental pancreas transplant—and nearly died multiple times.

Today, Rebecca is a biomedical engineering student at Texas A&M University working on medical research and treatment options for the disease, which is estimated to affect 3-13 children in every 100,000 kids.

Three former presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama—still serve as co-chairs of the Points of Light Award, created by an even earlier president, George H. W. Bush.

“Great purpose can evolve from great adversity,” said Rebecca’s mom Christyn Taylor, President of Rebecca’s Wish. “As a mom, I would never have chosen this for my daughter but we now get the privilege to help thousands, if not tens of thousands, of children so they don’t have to walk the difficult journey we did.”

“We can do so much good, and help so many because we’ve lived this,” she told GNN.

Christyn also leads Rebecca’s Wish programs that provide medical grants and supportive care to thousands of patients and their families through travel reimbursements to and from hospitals, developing medical equipment that better fits children, and sending kids to a summer camp called Camp Hope.

“We had very little hope for this disease path when Rebecca was diagnosed,” said Christyn. “We went from hospital to hospital and nobody knew how to help a child with long-term pancreatitis. We do not want another child or family to have to go through what we went through in our long journey.”

“I’m really proud of what my mom and I have created—and I’ll work on this until the day I die,” said Rebecca, who invites you to learn more on their website, RebeccasWish.org.

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Shark Surprises Chicago Zoo by Hatching Pup Despite Having No Contact with Males

An epaulette shark pup hatched in August at the Brookfield Zoo, even though its mother lived alone in her habitat with no interaction with potential mates



History has been made at a Chicago zoo after a resident shark reproduced despite being housed in a habitat on her own.

The mom, a female epaulette shark, has lived at the Brookfield Zoo, located outside Chicago, since 2019. In August, one of her eggs hatched into a pup — making history as the second recorded instance of the species reproducing asexually in the U.S., according to a November press release from the zoo sharing the shocking news.

Since 2022, the shark has laid eggs monthly that were thought to be infertile, according to the zoo. However, on Aug. 23, one of the eggs hatched following a five-month incubation period, having been produced through a process called parthenogenesis, which is when an embryo develops from an unfertilized egg cell.

Its mother has not been housed with a male of her species since arriving at the zoo four years ago and has only recently reached sexual maturity, per the release.

Following the pup's birth, the baby shark was closely monitored by zoo staff and is now on display in one of Brookfield Zoo's habitats. It's currently between five to six inches long but will likely reach up to 3 feet when fully grown, per the zoo.

The epaulette shark is "mostly nocturnal" and typically found in warm, shallow waters around New Guinea and Australia.

The release also shared that the first recorded epaulette shark birth via parthenogenesis in the U.S. occurred at the New England Aquarium, where the female shark now housed at the Brookfield Zoo was born.

"We are happy to report that our epaulette pup has been eating well on her diet of finely chopped capelin, minced squid tentacles, and other finely chopped seafood. Our colleagues at New England Aquarium have been a great resource as shark pups produced parthenogenetically can be very delicate," Mike Masellis, one of the zoo's lead animal care specialists, said in the release. "We are looking forward to guests being able to see the pup."

Parthenogenesis — a process by which an animal asexually reproduces — is "less" common of an occurrence in complex vertebrates like sharks, according to the zoo, while it's a "natural occurrence" in some others.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, cites certain species of lizards and crustaceans are more inclined to asexually reproduce through parthenogenesis compared to sharks and other more complex vertebrates.