Boo Who? The World’s Oldest Ghost Drawing May Have Been Found on an Ancient Babylonian Tablet at the British Museum
The object is among many early examples curator Irving Finkel has documented that show humans' eternal fascination with the spiritual realm*


Photo © British Museum, line drawing © James Fraser and Chris Cobb for The First Ghosts

A Babylonian tablet dating back to 1500 B.C.E. inscribed with instructions on how to perform an exorcism may depict one of the oldest images of a ghost in the world, according to a new book by British Museum curator Irving Finkel.

The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies takes a look at the history of our relationship with the spiritual realm, past the more recent image of clanking chains and sheets to early human cultures where, according to Finkel, ghosts were an accepted part of life. The assistant keeper of ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the department of the Middle East at the British Museum was inspired to write the book after reading another history of ghosts that started in the 18th century.

“I suddenly thought, ‘Well, what about our stuff? What about Mesopotamia?'” Finkel recalled to artnet News. It then occurred to the curator that the archives and collections he had access to at the British Museum meant he could conduct research back to the earliest history of ghosts and our relationship with them.

“It twigged with me that actually, Mesopotamia is completely unknown as a resource to people who are interested in how old the story of ghosts is, and how far back we can trace it.” In Mesopotamia, they believed that if someone had died in a horrible way, they might come back and bother the people they knew when they were alive, Finkel said. Ancient people collected sightings of spirits “and documented how to get rid of each one, so we have a whole dossier.”

The fragment of the Babylonian clay tablet in question is inscribed with detailed instructions on how to rid yourself of a specific type of ghost, a bothersome older man. The drawing shows an older thin man tied to another figure, an attractive young woman who was intended to lead him back to the underworld, where they would both remain. The drawing on the tablet is extremely well done, leading Finkel to believe this was the work of a highly accomplished draftsman.

“You had this situation where people tended to be sympathetic towards ghosts unless they’re really foul,” he explained. “When they were, there were specialist magicians or exorcists who knew the right spells and rituals and what you could do to get rid of the ghost, drive it out and send it back to the underworld where it belonged,” Finkel explained.

The First Ghosts includes examples of other objects designed to drive away spirits such as bronze amulets, a ritual involving a human skull, and a chapter titled “The Delicate Art of Necromancy.” Having worked with the ancient world since he was 17, Finkel sees past practices and ideas about the spiritual world echoing through to today, whether it be a psychic offering to speak with dead relatives, or the popularity of supernatural films from Ghostbusters to Paranormal Activity.

“The basic belief system, as far as I can see, is unchanged. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that human beings as a whole species have always believed in ghosts from the very beginning,” Finkel said. “Is it all still going on? Yeah, the funny thing is, it really is.”

[lush]

Couple in flooded India region float to wedding in a cooking pot
Oct. 20, 2021 / 3:15 PM*



Oct. 20 (UPI) -- An Indian couple living in a region that experienced severe flooding took an unusual vehicle to reach their wedding venue -- a cooking pot.

Akash Kunjumon said he and his wife, Aishwarya, were legally married Oct. 6, but their wedding ceremony was planned for Oct. 18.

Kunjumon said the ceremony was originally to have been held at a temple at Thalavady, but recent floods caused the religious building to be filled with water, so the event was moved to a nearby hall with a stage that had not been submerged.

"Although we tried to arrange a small boat to reach the venue, none was available," Kunjumon [urhttps://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/couple-braves-floods-to-get-married/article37050701.ece]told The Hindu[/url].

He said officials at the temple provided an alternative solution.

"People from the temple arranged the pot for us," he told The Washington Post.

The couple climbed into a large cooking pot, and a video shows them being pushed through the floodwaters to reach the event hall.

"We traveled in that pot for at least 20 minutes to get to the venue," Kunjumon said.

He said the volunteers pushing the pot had to fight "a strong undercurrent" to get them to their wedding.

"My father swam to the temple and my mother, grandmother and sisters used another pot," Kunjumon said. "The photographer had to struggle. But he knew the story and was ready to take the risk."

[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
FRIDAY OCTOBER 22
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 -5)
2:00 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

[ozswede]

Indian barber siblings turn heads into canvasses by giving unusual haircuts

In a small salon in a nondescript town in northern India, a haircut is not just a trim or a crew cut but an opportunity to get some art embossed on the back of your head.

Brothers Rajwinder Singh Sidhu and Gurwinder Singh Sidhu in Dabwali town in India's Punjab state are now famous in their small part of the world for giving haircuts shaped in images of the customer's choice.

From the Taj Mahal, complete with its many turrets and towers, to a lifelike portrait of pop star Michael Jackson, the brothers use a range of trimmers, scissors and pencils, among other tools, to get every minute detail of hairdos correct.


Gurwinder Singh Sidhu displays a photo of Michael Jackson next to a customer after he made a hair tattoo of the pop star in the customer's hair

"In the beginning we used to give anyone we could get hold off free haircuts so that we could practice our skills on them. Some days we used to practice till 2.00 a.m., because during the day we used to run the regular salon," Rajwinder, the younger of the two brothers, told Reuters in an interview.

These days the brothers, aged 29 and 31, charge anywhere between $20-$30 for their special hairdos, and say they have plans to take their business outside of India as well.


Gurwinder Singh Sidhu gives the finishing touches to the hair of a customer after making a hair tattoo in the shape of a lion on his head

From requests of images of Bollywood stars to popular sportspersons and even an impression of Mickey Mouse, the brothers' salon is seeing a steady stream of customers who want to draw attention to themselves at social gatherings or events but do not want something lasting, like traditional tattoos.

"Today, I got a tattoo of the Taj Mahal. The monument is very beautiful and with this tattoo, I will stand out in the crowd," said salon customer Darbar Singh, showing off his brand new haircut.

Source

[prokroustis]

Magna Grecia: Amazing 7th Century BC Greek items discovered in Italy (video)

The discovery was dubbed “a great archaeological discovery”

Important new information about the commercial activity of the ancient world in the Mediterranean Sea came to light from an underwater archaeological discovery made in the Otranto Canal, Italy. According to the dating of the numerous ceramic utensils that were retrieved from the wreck of a Corinthian ship, it appears that the trade relations between Greece and Italy in antiquity began earlier than believed.

The wreck was located during the construction of the Adriatic Natural Gas Pipeline (TAP), which began in 1918, in a sea area 22 miles off the Italian coast and at a depth of 780 meters. The work was immediately interrupted in order for the underwater archaeological research to start immediately.

Specifically, in the Corinthian shipwreck, more than 200 ceramic utensils were found, including vases, amphorae, and cups of wine used in their meetings by representatives of high society, as well as some food scraps. For their safe transport, in fact, some of the ceramics were placed in large clay jars.

Of all the utensils inside the wreck, 22 were retrieved and transported, in the first phase, with the help of a special submarine with cable guidance and a suction pump. The experts were surprised to find, from the special examinations in which the findings were submitted, that they date to 7th BC, that is, much earlier than the period indicated by the existing historical data until today. That is exactly why Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, speaking to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, spoke of “a great archaeological discovery”.

https://youtu.be/ROE-8IG7mBE

[goldie0608]

Royal Caribbean is launching what it says is the world's longest cruise. It lasts 274 days, and prices start at $61,000.



Royal Caribbean is launching a 274-night cruise around the world to set sail in 2023.

Prices start at $61,000 per person.

In a press release on Wednesday, the cruise line said it was "the longest and most comprehensive world cruise out there."

The company said the Ultimate World Cruise, set to depart from Miami, would visit more than 150 destinations in 65 countries on all seven continents.

Royal Caribbean said stops would include Casablanca in Morocco; the Great Barrier Reef in Australia; Antarctica; Brazil, where passengers can see the Christ the Redeemer statue on New Year's Eve; and Beijing.

The inaugural cruise is scheduled to depart from Miami on December 10, 2023, and return on September 10, 2024.

Passengers would travel on the Serenade of the Seas, which has 13 decks and a mini-golf course, an arcade, a rock-climbing wall, a pool, a theater, and a spa. The ship can accommodate almost 2,500 passengers and more than 800 crew members, Royal Caribbean said.

Prices start at $61,000 for a person in an interior stateroom, rising to $65,000 for an oceanview stateroom and $79,000 for a balcony stateroom. A stay in a junior suite starts at $112,000 per person.

Royal Caribbean said passengers would get a 10% discount if they pay in full by January 6, 2023.

The pandemic ground world travel to a halt last year, and cruise lines' revenue plummeted. Carnival Cruises said in June 2020 that it would sell six cruise ships after posting a $4.4 billion loss.

With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, the industry has rebounded.

"Now more than ever, people have resolved to travel the world and make up for lost time," Michael Bayley, the president and CEO of Royal Caribbean, said in the press release.

The Ultimate World Cruise is split into four legs: the Americas and Antarctica, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and northern Europe. Passengers can book them individually rather than opting for the full nine-month trip.

Bookings opened on Wednesday for Royal Caribbean's loyalty-program members at the diamond level or above and will open on October 27 for all other passengers, the company said.

Royal Caribbean said it would announce prices for the four individual legs of the trip when bookings for them open in December.

A Harry Potter-themed flat complete with a hidden room has hit the market for £210,000.

The one-bed property, located in the heart of Edinburgh's Grassmarket area, was previously used as a short-term holiday let for the millions of visitors who flock to Victoria Street every year – which is said to have inspired J.K. Rowling’s Diagon Alley.

Located just minutes from Edinburgh’s top attractions, the flat is prime Potter real estate, neighbouring several of the cafés where the author wrote early chapters of the book franchise.

Owners will also have Edinburgh Castle on their doorstep, which is claimed to have served as inspiration for Hogwarts.



The flat’s front door opens into a hallway that contains secret storage space disguised by a long mirror (which looks just like the one in the Room of Requirement).

The impressive sized living space and modern kitchen-diner boast plenty of natural light and some wallpaper that fans of the franchise will recognise is similar to that of the magical photos which hang in the halls of Hogwarts.



A woodland-themed bedroom, hidden behind a fantastically concealed bookcase door, helps give the feel of being in The Forbidden Forest – though thankfully there's no giant spider named Aragog in sight.

A compact bathroom, with a double shower and a rustic copper coin floor, gives the newly-refurbished apartment an eclectic homely feel that any Weasley would be proud of.

Other features of the pad include a wizarding chest, references to Gringott's Bank, antique books and a Diagon Alley sign.

[Fatima99]

Nebraska Teen Runner Helps Competitor Finish Race After He Collapsed, Forfeiting His Own District Medal Hopes

In the sport of track and field, athletes compete not only with one another but against themselves, as with each race, they strive to achieve a new personal best.

For one Nebraska teen running in what would likely be his final cross country outing before graduating high school, that personal best turned out not to be about marking the fastest time but something that held a much deeper meaning.

Although it was a long shot when he came out of the blocks last Thursday, Bellevue East senior Brandon Schutt knew if his time was good enough that day, he still had the potential to qualify for the upcoming state meet.

A mile into the 3.1-mile race, however, Schutt realized he wasn’t going to be able to keep up the necessary momentum.

Rather than risk injury, he slowed to a comfortable pace that would allow him to simply enjoy the moment and the day.

Meanwhile, Omaha Burke High School sophomore Blake Cerveny was running a very different kind of race.

Aiming to beat his own personal record, after a fast start, he continued to push himself hard.

With less than 400 meters to go, Cerveny’s legs cramped up and failed him.



His will did not.

Determined to finish, Cerveny rose from the track and continued on, only to fall again after another 150 meters… and again, he got up and started running. This time he’d made it only 25 meters more before going down. But he wasn’t done yet.

Concerned, his dad and his coach asked Cerveny if he wanted to stop. He didn’t. With Herculean effort, the young runner pulled himself up and with an unsteady gait, moved forward for one final push.

It wasn’t enough. A scant 100 meters from the finish line, he lay curled on the ground. His legs had simply given out.

Before Cerveny’s dad could reach his son, another runner—Brandon Schutt—was at his side to offer a helping hand.



His first attempt to get Cerveny up failed, but like Cerveny, he too refused to quit. With a second tug, Cerveny was on his feet.

At a measured jog, with Cerveny holding Schutt for support and Schutt helping Cerveny maintain balance, the two completed the final 75 meters of the course in tandem.



Schutt even made sure the injured runner crossed the finish line first, securing his opponent a faster time.

(Although Cerveny was automatically disqualified for having received help, Schutt’s record for the race will stand.)

“I saw Blake zig-zagging with 100 meters to go, a classic sign that his legs were about to give. As I kept my camera trained on him, I saw Brandon come into the picture. I began whispering, ‘No, no, no,’ to myself, because at the time, I didn’t know the Good Samaritan rule had been changed,” Jay Slagle, the citizen journalist who first broke the story on his blog, PrepRunningNerd.com told GNN.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen an athlete stop his race and work so hard to help his fellow competitor across the finish line,” he added. “Perhaps more impressively, Brandon had virtually no time to think about whether he should help or not; he reacted so quickly that he did it instinctively.”

Three weeks prior to this meet, Schutt had found himself in the same situation as Cerveny, unable to complete the race. “I felt awful about not finishing,” he told KETV-7. “I felt like I was letting my teammates down and I was letting myself down—so ultimately I just made the call [to help him].”

As Cerveny was taken to the medical tent for care, Schutt rejoined his teammates for a post-race cool-down. (Cerveny, who was only suffering from extreme muscle fatigue with no sustained injuries, was soon up and able to leave on his own steam.)

Ironically, though the pair had competed in five separate races over the course of the season, they were still strangers. At the end of the eventful day, neither Cerveny nor Schutt knew each other’s names.

Thanks to Slagle’s coverage and a whirlwind of social media, however, Schutt’s uncredited act of kindness was quickly anything but anonymous. Soon enough, the local news outlet that picked up the story and ran with it arranged an on-camera reunion in which the boys were given the opportunity to reflect on what the day’s events had meant to them.

In today’s competitive world in which the emphasis in athletics is so often put on breaking records, it was inspiring to see that for an athlete like Brandon Schutt, the value of true sportsmanship still had legs.

“Brandon is an excellent person,” Bellevue East’s head track coach Rachel Carraher told KETV-7. “He is really kind and a great leader on the team.”

And for others, like Blake Cerveny, knowing that finishing the race—no matter the odds or adversity–is the true meaning of a win.

Solar storm confirms Vikings settled in North America exactly 1,000 years ago



Analysis of wood from timber-framed buildings in Newfoundland shows Norse-built settlement 471 years before Columbus

Half a millennium before Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic, the Vikings reached the “New World”, as the remains of timber buildings at L’Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Canada’s Newfoundland testify.

The Icelandic sagas – oral histories written down hundreds of years later – tell of a leader named Leif Erikson and a settlement called “Vinland”, assumed to be coastal North America. But while it is known that the Norse landed in Canada, exactly when they set up camp to become the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic, marking the moment when the globe was first known to have been encircled by humans, has remained imprecise.

Now scientists using a new type of dating technique and taking a long-ago solar storm as their reference point have established that the settlement was occupied in AD1021 – all by examining tree rings.

Three juniper and fir logs that were cut from the Newfoundland settlement date it to exactly a millennium ago, 471 years before Columbus’s first voyage.

It has been thought that the settlement, L’Anse aux Meadows, was thriving somewhere between 990 and 1050. This was based on stylistic analysis of architectural remains and a handful of artefacts examined after the settlement was discovered 60 years ago. The dates also tally with interpretations of the Icelandic sagas, which were written down in the 1200s

This study, published in the journal Nature, made use of the cosmic-ray induced upsurge in atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations during a known solar storm in AD993, which released an enormous pulse of radiation that was absorbed by trees at the time.

The logs, with bark still attached, were from trees alive during that solar storm, and excavated from the site. Such solar storms are reflected in annual tree growth rings. In all three samples, 28 growth rings were formed after the one that bore evidence of the storm, meaning the trees were cut in AD1021.

Ordinary radiocarbon dating – determining the age of organic materials by measuring their content of a particular radioactive isotope of carbon – proved too imprecise to date L’Anse aux Meadows when the site was discovered in 1960, although there was a general belief it was from the 11th century.

Proof that the trees were cut by Vikings was there, too. “They had all been modified by metal tools, evident from their characteristically clean, low-angle cuts. Such implements were not manufactured by the Indigenous inhabitants of the area at the time,” the study by scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands said.

“We provide evidence that the Norse were active on the North American continent in the year AD1021. This date offers a secure juncture for late Viking chronology. More importantly, it acts as a new point of reference for European cognisance of the Americas, and the earliest known year by which human migration had encircled the planet.”

The Vikings possessed extraordinary boat-building and navigation skills, establishing settlements on Iceland and Greenland. “Much kudos should go to these northern Europeans for being the first human society to traverse the Atlantic,” Michael Dee, a geoscientist and co-leader of the study, told Reuters.

The date corroborates two Icelandic sagas – the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red – that recorded attempts to establish a settlement in Vinland by a leader named Leif Erikson.

Also known as Leif the Lucky, he was the son of Erik the Red, who was the founder of the first Norse settlements in Greenland. According to the Saga of the Icelanders, Leif established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which is usually interpreted as being coastal North America, though speculation remains over whether this is the L’Anse aux Meadows settlement.

“I think it is fair to describe the trip as both a voyage of discovery and a search for new sources of raw materials,” Dee said. “Many archaeologists believe the principal motivation for them seeking out these new territories was to uncover new sources of timber, in particular. It is generally believed they left from Greenland, where wood suitable for construction is extremely rare.”

The 1021 date roughly corresponds to the saga accounts, Dee said, adding: “Thus it begs the question, how much of the rest of the saga adventures are true?”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... olar-storm

[PennySerenade]

It's a raccoon world, we're just living in it (literally) — and the majestic nightbois of Toronto will take every chance they can get to prove that this city still belongs to them.

One portly procyon in Midtown Toronto casually demonstrated once again this weekend that not even the most expensive of human engineers can keep them away from the garbage they crave.

A blogTO reader sent in the following security camera footage from Sunday night of a trash panda knocking over his green bin with ease and using its adorably dexterous hands to not only rotate the box, but to grip and turn the handle on top of it, freeing the delicious contents inside.

It takes the wild animal roughly 15 to foil the most recent iteration of Toronto's $31-million raccoon-proof green bin.

Video Here:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1450801719395422212

"Raccoons are getting crazy!" noted the reader of his clever little visitor — but here's the thing: Toronto raccoons done been crazy. Crazy smart, that is, particularly when it comes to procuring food. It's why they're all so fat.

The raccoon seen in the video above is not the first to be captured on camera making light work of a green bin garbage heist. So many people have reported finding their high-tech "raccoon-resistant" bins tossed or filled with furry critters, in fact, that it's become sort of a running joke in the city.

Designed by Rehrig Pacific in California and originally distributed in 2016, Toronto's pricey new green bins were chosen specifically for their gravity locks, which can only be opened by pressing in and turning a circular latch with opposable thumbs.

Despite lacking this distinct primate feature, some raccoons in the city miraculously figured out how to spin the latch around anyway. Others quickly learned that the bins can also be opened by turning them upside down (the gravity lock releases at 110 degrees for ease of emptying into garbage trucks.)



Others still have taken to simply chewing through the plastic, proving that, as NPR wrote in 2018, there really is "no stopping Toronto's uber-raccoon."

[Mintydreams00]

Photo Catches the Moment a Squirrel Strikes ‘Mr Universe’ Pose on Their Windowsill



This funny picture shows a squirrel pulling a ‘Mr Universe’ pose on a windowsill.

65-year-old David Roberts snapped the tough-looking rodent in his garden in Glasgow.

Retired David said of his lucky moment with the critter, ”It was on the window ledge running about and looking in.” Basically, it was just acting like any other normal squirrel that makes its home in the gardens and parks around the Scottish city.

Then David looked again. He noticed the squirrel had stopped moving for a moment. In fact, it appeared to be cracking a pose.

Luckily, David had his camera ready to go—and got the perfect shot.

”I was pretty chuffed with it,” David say. “I am always taking photos of birds at the feeders and try to get good shots with them in flight.”



We’re just happy serendipity lined up to let us see these photos for ourselves.

Pictured all together for the first time, the proud (but exhausted) parents to a world record-breaking miracle NINE babies... as mum reveals the nonuplets are almost ready to fly home to Mali

Halima Cisse gave birth to nine babies at the Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca, Morocco on May 5, breaking the current world record set by Nadya Suleman in 2009, who gave birth to eight babies that survived
Now, five months on Ms Cisse says the babies who were born prematurely are getting bigger and healthier and are almost ready to go home to Mali
Speaking from hospital in Morocco, the 26-year-old said: 'All of them are getting on very well, and are a joy to look after. They are getting stronger every day and it may well be they are allowed to leave medical care soon'
Her husband Kader Arby, 35, a sailor with the Mali navy, had to stay behind at their three-bedroom home in Timbuktu due to Covid restrictions and could only meet the babies for the first time in Morocco on July 9
The four boys are called Mohammed, Bah, El Hadji and Oumar while the five girls are named Hawa, Adama, Fatouma, Oumou and Kadidia

By Nabila Ramdani And Peter Allen For Mailonline
Published: 08:57 EDT, 22 October 2021 | Updated: 09:16 EDT, 22 October 2021

Pictured all together for the first time, this is the world record-breaking NINE miracle babies born to the same mother - as the healthy brood prepare to go home.

Halima Cisse beams proudly with her nonuplets, five months after she made headlines around the globe when she gave birth at the Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca, Morocco, breaking the previous world record set by 'Octomum' Nadya Suleman in 2009, who gave birth to eight babies that survived.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Ms Cisse, 26, said: 'All of them are getting on very well, and are a joy to look after. They are getting stronger every day and it may well be they are allowed to leave full time medical care soon, so that we can take them home.’

Ms Cisse's nine tots, who were conceived naturally, each weighed between 500gm to 1kg when they were born and had to remain in incubators in the clinic's intensive care unit where they were looked after round the clock by a team of doctors and nurses for the first few months of their lives.

But now all nine have gained weight and continued to thrive meaning they can soon go back to their home country, Mali.

As the babies approach six months, Ms Cisse and her partner Kader Arby, 35, celebrated by releasing these touching new photographs showing them together as a group.

The new pictures show the boys – Oumar, Elhadji, Bah and Mohammed VI – in green romper suits bearing the word ‘Brother’ on them.

The girls – Adama, Oumou, Hawa, Kadidia, and Fatouma – meanwhile wear a mixture of pink and baby blue outfits.

All the Arby tots are Malian nationals, and they were last week visited by Djaminatou Sangare, the country’s Health Minister, who worked out how they could be safely flown to Bamako, the Malian capital, which is some two-and-a-half thousand miles from Casablanca.

[Basia1971]

Dr Jim Withers who treats the homeless. *******

Early in his medical career, Dr. Jim Withers got into an argument with a homeless man. There was a snowstorm outside, and Jim wanted him to stay at the hospital.

Jim lost the argument. Later, he found out that the man had frozen to death.

That experience -- and his colleagues’ callous reaction to it - is part of what led Jim to embrace a nearly 30-year mission to provide medical care to the homeless and eventually start the Street Medicine Institute.

The idea mirrors, in most ways that matter, the house calls that his dad used to go out on as country doctor in Pennsylvania. Jim would join him. As he once wrote, the house call “creates trust, and an acknowledgement that any health care plan will be grounded in a shared recognition of real circumstances.” The idea doesn’t require four walls, just a willingness to travel.

To meet someone where they are — in every sense — rather than expecting them to come to you.

The reaction to the homeless man’s death was emblematic of what Jim saw over and over again -- the most vulnerable were being excluded from the healthcare system. “The exclusion to me was a crime against reality,” he told me. “And I like reality. It sucks sometimes, but I really like dealing with it.”

Over time, he realized something about the healthcare system. “You get reduced to a bunch of boxes,” as a patient, he told me. “It’s the opposite of honoring. It dehumanizes the [patients], but it dehumanizes the people doing the work, too. One of the capacities we needed to acquire [in the healthcare field] was to go to someone else’s reality.”

He started dealing with others’ reality in the context of domestic violence, by creating a consultation service by which he could go to a hospital to visit with a suspected victim. “Just gaining trust in that room, making a plan with them, honoring them in a non-judgmental way,” was part of an ethos he was building: a rudimentary roadmap to crossing the divide between doctor and distant, distrustful patients.

Later, he started visiting the homeless under bridges to attend to whomever needed it. Vets with PTSD. Pregnant women. People with untreated illnesses like diabetes.

No judgment. Just a reality momentarily shared and a patient cared for. He didn’t tell his hospital or his malpractice insurer at first… he just did it.

Eventually it led to the creation of the Street Medicine Institute, which now has participants in over 80 countries. Jim has a sort of it’s-not-rocket-science perspective on what he does. Really, he said, it’s about "getting off your high horse and being with people. Seeing their strengths and their own energy, that light that hasn’t gone out yet.”

Jim’s message to the world: “Set aside your own wounds and your anger and your preconceptions as best you can,” he said. “And open yourself to learning about the reality that other people are experiencing. Look for the strengths in others, the good in others, and you’ll find it in yourself… and surprise [yourself].”

[BigGlen]

POOP....This Meteorologist Explained Exactly Why You Shouldn't Eat Icicles
More like poopsicles, amirite.



Let's be real, icicles look delicious. They look so shiny, so crisp, so refreshing. And that cronch, so satisfying.

But this meteorologist has a very good reason why you shouldn't eat them: poop.

It's poop.

Katie Nikolaou is a meteorologist with KMEG in Sioux City, Iowa. She got her college degree a year and a half ago, but she had wanted to be a meteorologist since she was 4 years old.

"I was in a tornado and I really enjoyed it," she told BuzzFeed News. "Instead of being freaked out, I just kind of went with it."

She also recently got started on TikTok, where she said she's been a longtime lurker. She said she kept seeing videos of people eating icicles that had formed on their roofs, and she just knew she had to set the record straight.

"Please don't do that. I'm a meteorologist, I should know," she says in a now-viral TikTok.

"When icicles form it's from water that runs off your roof," she continues. "You know what else is on your roof? Bird poop. A lot of it."

"You're eating poop."

This was apparently big news to people, as the TikTok now has 13 million views and counting.

She said she first realized icicles' poopy nature in college.

"If you hang around weather nerds enough you’re going to find some really weird facts," she said.

The comments, however, seem worryingly undeterred.

Some commenters also pointed out that they may be poopy, but icicles are also perfect murder weapons.

But Nikolaou burst that bubble, too. In another TikTok, she demonstrates that while pointy, icicles are too fragile for stabbing purposes.

She said an icicle can still absolutely break off and hurt you by falling on you, but again, not great for stabbing.

She's also surprised at how many people have watched her explanations.

"Honestly It was mostly to amuse myself, I never thought it would go viral," she said.

"I just think it’s because so many people have eaten icicles. It’s just one of those shocking things."

[lush]

Pablo Escobar's hippos recognized as legal persons in the U.S.
Oct. 22, 2021 / 1:35 PM*


Around 100 hippos descended from hippos previously owned by Pablo Escobar are the first non-human creatures to be legally considered people by a U.S. court. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A group of about 100 hippos, who are descendants of hippos that were owned by late drug lord Pablo Escobar, have been recognized as legal persons in the U.S.

This marks the first time ever that non-human creatures have been legally considered people.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recognized the hippos as legal persons recently, an important step in trying to save the animals as authorities in Colombia have discussed killing them since 2009.

Escobar illegally imported animals at his ranch in Colombia until his death in 1993. The animals were sent to other zoos with the exception of four hippos too difficult to move. The four have now multiplied over the years with authorities referring to them as an invasive species.

Colombian attorney Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado filed a lawsuit on the animals' behalf in July to save them from being killed, stating that sterilization would be a better option.

Non-human animals in Colombia have the right to bring lawsuits to protect their interests. Interested parties in the country are allowed to go to a federal court in the U.S. to obtain documents or testimony.

The Animal Defense League applied on behalf of the hippos and to compel two Ohio wildlife experts who study nonsurgical sterilization to provide testimony.

"Animals have the right to be free from cruelty and exploitation, and the failure of U.S. courts to recognize their rights impedes the ability to enforce existing legislative protections," Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells said in a statement.

"The court's order authorizing the hippos to exercise their legal right to obtain information in the United States is a critical milestone in the broader animal status fight to recognize that animals have enforceable rights," he continued.