[Fatima99]

Amazon van seen driving through cemetery as people joke 'you get Primed to your grave'

An Amazon driver has left viewers stunned when they were spotted driving through a cemetery in a bizarre video.

Maria, who lives in Washington, US, shared the TikTok video of an Amazon Prime delivery van driving in a cemetery.

She joked: "POV: You died and get Amazon Primed to your grave.

"They really said: 'we need that body for our next-day funeral'."

Viewers chimed in to share their thoughts in the comments, with one teasing: "Low chance of getting a bad delivery review."



Another wrote: "You can't tell me Amazon Prime isn't worth it, they are delivering even in the after lift!"

"He’s Pokemoning for sure! Cemetery’s have tons of gyms and Pokestops," a third suggested.

And one believed the driver was just having a break time, adding: "It'd be a very nice place to take a break though."

Maria said the van was spotted at Black Diamonds cemetery and commented: "To be honest I think that's where the guy was going because the car was just parked in the corner for a while."

The Amazon has recently been criticised by privacy campaigners who have called its use of AI cameras in delivery vans "excessive, intrusive and creepy".

The company is said to be using two cameras in its own-brand delivery vehicles, with one keeping an eye on the road and the other watching the driver from inside the vehicle.



An Amazon spokesperson said: “We make no apology for investing in safety technology to keep drivers, customers and communities safer - it’s what any responsible business would do.

"We’ve already seen the technology make a big difference by reducing accidents by 48% after deployment in the US, and campaigners who suggest we’re implementing this technology for any reason other than safety are simply mistaken."

[goldie0608]

Mother-Daughter Duo Pilot First Southwest Flight Together: 'It's Been a Dream Come True'

Captain Holly Petitt and First Officer Keely Petitt made history last month, becoming the first mother-daughter duo to pilot a Southwest flight



A mother and daughter made history when they teamed up to pilot a Southwest flight earlier this month.

Captain Holly Petitt and First Officer Keely Petitt became the first mother-daughter pilot duo in company history when they flew from Denver to St. Louis on July 23, according to a press release from the airline.

"It's been a dream come true," Holly said in a statement. "First, I found this career and fell in love with it, and then that one of my kids fell into this and in love with this career too. It's surreal."

Holly began her aviation career as a flight attendant right after college, but after one fateful flight, she realized she wanted to become a pilot.

As she took flight lessons, Holly "welcomed three beautiful kids," supporting her family as a full-time mom — and with the support of her husband and mom, she was able to make her dream of being a pilot a reality.

"It was the most amazing interview of my life," Holly said of becoming a Southwest pilot in a company blog post. "Eighteen years later and I'm still giddy to do my job."



Keely, who fell in love with flying when she was just 14 years old, followed her mother's footsteps. She eventually earned her pilot's license and scored an internship with Southwest Airlines in 2017 to further her aviation career.

"Southwest was always the end goal for me," Keely shared. "There was really never any other option."

"Not only are Holly and Keely making Southwest history, but also they're breaking barriers and empowering women of all ages to pursue their dreams in aviation, and pun intended, reach for the skies," the company shared in a statement.

According to the Pilot Institute, only 6 percent of pilots are female.

Reflecting on the big day, Holly shared that the morning of July 23 was "very emotional."

"One moment you are holding this tiny little premature baby in your arms and in a blink of an eye she is sitting next to you on the flight deck of a Boeing 737 jet!" the proud mom wrote in a Facebook post. "I love you to the moon and back, Keely Petitt!"

[PennySerenade]

Lifeguard, 18, Helps Deliver 'Beautiful Baby Boy' on YMCA Pool Deck: 'So Glad the Baby Is Okay,' Teen Says



Talk about an eventful shift! A teen lifeguard in Colorado went above and beyond last month when a YMCA member went into labor on the pool deck.

"We knew the baby was coming. We just didn't know if it was going to be a week, two weeks, or today," Tessa Rider, who was nine months pregnant with her third child when she and her husband visited their local YMCA on July 24, told The Washington Post.

Though she was a few days past her due date and had already experienced some mild contractions, she told the newspaper that she didn't feel like there were any "clear cut" signs that her baby would be arriving so soon.



Of course, things ended up changing very quickly that morning — and shortly after getting into the pool, she realized it was time to go to the hospital. Her baby however, had over plans.

"Her labor progressed so quickly that — with support from a Y Lifeguard and Tessa's husband, Matthew — this beautiful baby boy was delivered on the pool deck at the Y before EMS arrived," the YMCA of Northern Colorado wrote in a social media post.

While the teen lifeguard had been trained on how to respond to emergency situations, delivering a baby was something 18-year-old Natalie Lucas "wasn't prepared for."



Fortunately, she was up to the task.

"I stayed calm, and I didn't freak out, because that's what you need to do in this job," Lucas told The Washington Post. "You can't really hesitate or wait for someone else to come. You're the lifeguard; you're the lifesaver."

In addition to congratulating the happy couple "on their gorgeous little one," the YMCA of Northern Colorado shared a special message to Lucas on social media — noting that delivering "a baby during her Sunday shift" was "something surely not covered in the job description."



For her part, Lucas told The Washington Post that she plans to send the newborn annual birthday cards.

"I'm so glad the baby is okay, and they now have a new addition to their beautiful family," she told the newspaper. "I was really happy to help them."

A rep for the YMCA tells PEOPLE that in addition to being recognized in front of staff in the coming weeks, Lucas will "also be getting one heck of a job reference as she heads to college in California this month and starts a new beginning of her own."



"She's an incredible young woman, and we are so lucky to have her as a part of our organization," the rep adds.

And that's not all! The couple's newborn, son Toby, has been gifted a lifetime membership to the Y. Shares the rep, "We now have this profound connection with Tessa, Matthew and Toby, and we want to celebrate it."

[lush]

Court Orders Mistress to Pay $560,000 to Lover’s Wife
August 1st, 2022*

A Chinese court recently issued a controversial ruling, ordering a woman to pay 3.79 million yuan ($560,000) to her lover’s wife, because their relationship wasn’t recognized by law.

Scorned wives suing their husbands’ lovers isn’t unheard of. On the contrary, a quick Google search of the phrase “alienation of affection” reveals that it’s still quite a common practice, although this law tort was abolished in many jurisdictions around the world. But whereas that refers to one spouse suing a third party for damaging their marriage and usually leading to divorce, a recent case in China saw one wife sue her husband’s mistress to return all the material possessions he had given her during their affair. The court sided with the woman and ordered the mistress to pay a whopping 3.79 million yuan to her lover’s wife.


Photo: Eric Prouzet/Unsplash

According to documents released by the People’s Court of Zhuanghe in Liaoning, northeastern China, the plaintiff, a woman surnamed Li, and her husband, Wang, had been married since 1991. In 2008, Wang began an extramarital affair with another woman, identified by the pseudonym Xiaoxia. A couple of years ago, Li learned about her husband’s affair, after discovering that he had been regularly sending her sums of money.

Wang admitted to his affair, telling his wife that he had also fathered a 10-year-old son with Xiaoxia and that he had been supporting them for years. evidence presented in court showed that Wang had transferred 1.47 million yuan ($217,700) to his mistress between 2013 and 2020, had bought her two apartments worth a total of 1.45 million yuan ($214,700) and had also gifted her a car worth 870,000 ($128,800).


Photo: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels

Xiaoxia argued that she never knew Wang was married and that the money she received from Wang over the years went to child support, but the court said that this case was about ownership of assets and not about child support. Chinese law states that neither party of a marriage can spend the couple’s common property without the other’s consent, and since Li never gave her consent for Wang’s “gifts”, Xiaoxia now has to return a total of 3.79 million yuan ($560,000) to her lover’s wife.

The court did tell Xiaoxia that she has the option to file a separate case and sue Wang for child support, but that their relationship up to this point “goes against public customs”.

[Governor3]

Why So Many Cars Have Rats in Them Now
Driving in the city is on the rise, but if New Yorkers think they can avoid rats this way, they are in for quite the surprise.

For eight years, Libby Denault had taken her Prius to the same auto body shop in Brooklyn for tuneups and other repairs, which it always handled expeditiously.

But in January 2021, the mechanics at Urban Classics Auto Repair in Bedford-Stuyvesant were stumped: The “check engine” message kept flashing on the dashboard of Ms. Denault’s car, despite the vehicle’s driving just fine. “They did a bunch of tests and couldn’t figure out what it was,” she said.

Finally, they found the source: a rat. It had chewed through a sensor wire. She ended up with a $700 bill.

Rats bedding down under car hoods is nothing new for New Yorkers, but over the last two years, many of the city’s auto body shops have seen the number of drivers coming in with rodent-related issues climb significantly. Out of 28 mechanics interviewed throughout the city for this article, 20 of them reported an increase of vermin in cars, and of those, 10 said the number of such appearances had doubled during the pandemic.

“I see new cars, old cars, everyone is coming in now with these rat problems,” said Ozzy Dayan, a mechanic at Manhattan Auto Repair in Hell’s Kitchen. “It brings me a lot of business, but it’s disgusting.”

The recent Covid trend of New Yorkers’ buying cars may share some of the blame. Between the summers of 2019 and 2021, new car registrations increased by 19 percent, according to data provided by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.

And more cars means more nesting opportunities for rats.

Jenna Carpenter-Moyes, a design strategist in Brooklyn, bought a used car in May 2020 as a way to navigate the city during the pandemic. That summer, as she was driving to the Hudson Valley, she noticed that her engine was straining as she made her way up a hill.

“The ‘check engine’ light came on, and I brought it to my mechanic, who popped the hood and found chicken bones, some bread and part of a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich sitting there,” Ms. Carpenter-Moyes said. She paid $1,200 to repair and clean the car, but the battle to keep the rats from picnicking under its hood is now constant, she said. “I go through a lot of peppermint oil.”

During the pandemic, rat sightings have also gone up (or at least more New Yorkers have complained about them). Between 2020 and 2021, the number of calls to the 311 hotline increased by well over 8,000, according to NYC Open Data. Michael H. Parsons, a research scholar at Fordham University and an urban rat expert, is the co-author of a 2020 study on increased hotline calls about rodents. “When things started shutting down, the rats lost access to their usual food sources,” he said.

Like other New Yorkers, rats had to improvise and adapt.

But recently, as human behavior has returned to something approaching normalcy, the rats haven’t reverted to their old habits; they’ve simply expanded their tactics. As they continue foraging through garbage and running off with pizza slices, they may also be exhibiting a higher frequency of rare and unusual behaviors, like attacking and feasting on other urban animals like pigeons and even other rats, Dr. Parsons said.

Laura Cali, an archivist in Park Slope, Brooklyn, found evidence of rats in her car this past February. “I was just disgusted, because I didn’t really understand how and why they would do that,” she said. “Then I learned that they look for warmth, and they go under the hood if you’ve just parked. It feels really gross to go back in your car and wonder if there’s just going to be a family of rats under your hood every time you start your car.”

Charlie Salino, a mechanic at Parkside Auto Care in Park Slope, said that his customers often know when a rat has been rooting around the engine because of obvious signs like feces. But figuring out the extent of the damage requires some investigation. “The rats can fit into spaces that we can’t access without taking parts of the engine apart,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a quick fix that I can do in an hour and sometimes it costs $1,000 to repair all the damage. You don’t really know until you get in there.”

Dr. Parsons said the increased rat activity, in cars and everywhere else, is a symptom of wider social issues. “Our habits determine how many rats are in our area.” he said. “All those aromas coming from garbage bags, the litter and crumbs — those are enough to get the ball rolling.”

“It’s about social urban hygiene,” Dr. Parsons continued. “We have to change the way we think about how we take care of our neighborhoods, and we’ll be able to get rid of the rats.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/nyregion/new-york-rats-cars.html
-------------

Bradford man threatened to bite police officers, court hears



A 30-YEAR-old man who threatened to bite two police officers when they tried to arrest him has been dealt with by the courts.

Aaron Chapman, of Barden Avenue, Bradford, was in breach of an existing suspended sentence order, when he resisted officers in May last year, after they were called to a domestic incident.

He was similarly in breach when he was found in possession of a flick knife in June this year.

But Chapman avoided a jail sentence when he appeared before a judge at Bradford Crown Court.


After hearing the evidence, Judge Gibson agreed to allow an existing suspended sentence order, which was imposed last year for drugs offences, to continue, but added a further 20 hours of unpaid work to its terms.

In addition, he sentenced Chapman to six months in prison for possessing the knife, suspended for 18 months, with 60 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation activity days; as well as 12 days imprisonment suspended for 18 months and 20 rehabilitation activity days, for resisting a police officer.

This means he must now complete 80 hours of unpaid work in the community.

[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
THURSDAY AUGUST 4
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

'We're going;' NASA says its ready for Artemis I unmanned trip to moon


[Picture caption: NASA's SLS rocket rolls back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 2, 2022. The booster and the Orion spacecraft were to undergo final preparations for its maiden launch.]

Sounding like an excited new parent, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson declared during a press briefing Wednesday that the agency's Artemis mission is ready to take its first physical steps to return to the moon and sometime later head to Mars.

Laying out an effort that will include international and commercial partners, Nelson said Artemis I will take off for months-long orbiting around the moon to test its hardware and systems in the final preparation for a manned flight.

Nelson, though, was clear that returning to the moon is just a stepping stone to a future trip to Mars, where humans will work and prepare for NASA's bigger human exploration prize down the road.

"We're going to Mars and we're going back to the moon, in order to work, to live and to survive," Nelson said. "[We're going to] learn how to use the resources on the moon in order to be able to build things in the future."

He said Artemis I and II will prepare NASA "not a three-day journey, but millions and millions of miles away on a months and months, if not years, journey. And we're going together. We're going with our commercial partners and we're going with our international partners."

The earliest launch date for the unmanned Artemis I mission will be Aug. 29 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

View: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2022/0 ... 659529962/

[ozswede]

Patrick the pony mayor of Cocklington is now barred from his local pub

The honorary Mayor of a town in Devon has been banned from his local pub.

But Patrick is no ordinary mayor: he is a Shetland Pony with a penchant for Guinness guzzling and his own special bar at the local boozer.

Yet after an unlikely complaint, the animal has found himself barred from The Drum Inn by Torbay Council, sparking fury among residents.

Officials told the pub in Cocklington that they needing planning permission to let Patrick, four, graze in the garden and sip his little beers.

They suggested that the pub garden needs to be categorised as official grazing land.


Patrick has only been mayor for just over a week – and he’s already at the heart of a massive local spat

But far from being seen as a storm in a small cup of beer, the move prompted outrage from locals blasting the council as ‘petty’ and ‘unbelievable’.

Patrick’s owners, meanwhile, claim the move has left them ‘traumatised’.

The therapy pony visits recovery groups, hospitals and mental health wards, and was made Mayor of Cocklington the Saturday before last – only for his reign to quickly descend into acrimony.


The adorable Mayor of Cocklington is a Shetland Pony

Owners Kirk and Hannah Petrakis have already removed the fencing from Patrick’s ‘interaction pen’ at the pub.

Kirk explained that it was a ‘very emotional afternoon’ taking down the pen in the pub garden.

‘The Drum Inn was very upset’, he said.

‘Someone made a complaint to the council.

‘It just feels very unfair.’

Hannah added: ‘It’s been really traumatic. We’re just shocked by it.


Patrick had also been grazing in the garden before an unlikely complaint was made against him

‘We don’t want to go through planning because it costs money and it is likely to be refused.

‘It’s really sad. We’re all very upset about it.’

Torbay MP Kevin Foster blasted the council as a ‘complete joke’.

He said: ‘Like most people living in the area I am surprised by the hard line attitudes councillors have decided to take about a pony.

‘Obviously all the serious issues in Torbay have been resolved so they can focus their time on a pony pen at a pub. It’s just unbelievable!’

The Tory MP continued: ‘For me, Patrick’s title of Mayor of Cocklington was a light hearted move to promote the village.

‘Even I did not realise that it would provoke Torbay Council into making itself a complete joke.’

Foster, who has been MP for the area since 2015, added: ‘Words failed me when I heard.

‘Things like Patrick going in the pub generate interest in Cocklington who are less likely to visit it for a cream tea.

‘It is a beautiful part of our valley for people to visit.’

But there is some hope for Patrick, with namesake Patrick Cain, from nearby Torquay, hoping to create a petition to reinstate him in the pub garden.

[Fatima99]

Rare coloured sea slug spotted in British waters for first time



An extremely rare multi-coloured sea slug has been spotted in British waters for the first time.

The multi-coloured sea slug, Babakina anadoni, measures just 2cm in length and was confirmed as a first sighting by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.

It was spotted off the Isles of Scilly by Allen Murray, a volunteer diver taking part in the Wildlife Trusts Seasearch initiative, where citizen scientists are asked to dive and record the wildlife around the coast.

The snail is usually found in warmer climes. It is very rare and has only been recorded a handful of times along the west coast of Spain and further south in the Atlantic.

Matt Slater, marine conservation officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Coordinator of the Seasearch programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “What an incredible find! We were extremely excited to hear about the sighting of this colourful nudibranch – a species that we believe has never been recorded in the UK before.

“It’s one of the prettiest sea slugs I’ve seen and, given its less than half the size of your little finger, it’s amazing Allen spotted it at all! There’s still so much out there that we don’t know about our marine environment. Records like this from our Seasearch divers are vital in helping us understand and better protect our seas.”

Seaslugs, technically called nudibranchs, are similar to their land-based cousins but are much more colourful and interestingly shaped. They feed on seaweed, anemones and other sea slugs.

Lucy McRobert, communications manager at Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, added: “We never cease to be amazed at the wildlife turning up in Scillonian waters. From rare and beautiful nudibranchs to violet sea snails to great whales like humpbacks and fins, every time we dive beneath the surface we learn and see something new!”

[prokroustis]

Maya crypt contains cremation burials used for making rubber balls in ritual ball games



A team of archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have uncovered a crypt in the Maya city of Toniná, containing cremation burials used for making rubber balls in ritual ball games.
Toniná, meaning “house of stone” in the Tzeltal language was originally called Po’p, Po or Popo in Classic Maya texts. The city is located in the Chiapas highlands of southern Mexico, east of the town of Ocosingo.

The site contains groups of temple-pyramids set on terraces rising some 71 metres above a central plaza, two ballcourts, and over 100 carved monuments that mainly date from the 6th century through to the 9th centuries AD during the Classic period.

The crypt was first identified in 2020 during a study of one of the larger temple-pyramids, revealing a labyrinth containing a series of small vaults and rooms connected by stairways. These lead to an antechamber and the crypt at a depth of 8 metres inside the pyramid and date from the 7th and 8th century AD.

The antechamber and crypt have small niches, where the researchers found more than 400 vessels filled with organic material such as human ashes, charcoal, rubber and roots.

A microscopic analysis of the organic material has revealed that the human ashes (likely the remains of high-ranking people or Maya rulers) was used in the vulcanization process for hardening rubber, used for making balls used in Maya ritual ball games played in the ballcourts at Toniná.

The Maya ball game originated more than 3,000 years ago and was seen not just as an athletic event. It represented the regeneration that was integral to the continued existence of the Maya, by showing their devotion to their gods by playing the game and by ritual killing.

Juan Yadeun Angulo from INAH said: “The discoveries in Toniná provides a more accurate idea of how interesting and complex the Mayan religion was within the Mesoamerican worldview”.

[goldie0608]

Ants infest woman’s Kindle — and start buying books on Amazon



We’ve all heard of bookworms, but book ants?

A Brazilian writer was taken aback after a colony of ants allegedly colonized her Kindle — and started buying books off of it.

“My virtual library had become a nest,” wrote Mariana Vieira, 32, in a blog post detailing the apparently computer-literate insects’ surprise purchases.

The author first noticed something was awry after she couldn’t turn on her Kindle after leaving it untouched for weeks while working on a book, according to the Sun. The digital reading device reportedly refused to switch on even when plugged into the outlet.

Thinking it was a connection issue, Vieira blew into the charging port, after which a horde of tiny white ants scuttled out. The accompanying footage shows the diminutive literati swarming over the screen.

She said she became “desperate” after realizing that the insects could’ve torpedoed her work.

“I have several digital books, many of them are sold-out titles in the physical edition, I thought it was gone,” exclaimed the flustered writer, who put the infested device to the side, according to the Sun.

Vieira would soon find out that the ants had done the exact opposite: A week later, the flabbergasted bookworm received an email congratulating her for purchasing Isaac Asimov’s science-fiction classic “Robots and Empire.”

She subsequently sent Amazon an email explaining that there was a mistake. However, before the e-bazaar could reply, she reportedly received another note congratulating her for buying “O anel de Giges: Uma fantasia etica” (“The Ring of Gyges: An Ethical Fantasy”) by Brazilian author Eduardo Giannetti.

It appeared that the ants had figured out how to Kindle.

Vieira recounted the surreal situation to her friend Fabiane Guimaraes, who detailed the story in a tweet with more than 75,700 likes.

“A friend of mine is going through a most unusual situation: her Kindle has been invaded by ants,” the pal wrote. “They made a nest in the little hole for the charger. But that’s not the worst … the worst thing is that the ants are BUYING books. She doesn’t know what to do.”

Thankfully, one Twitter fan suggested that she put the insect-riddled Kindle in the freezer, which the grateful gal said did the trick.

“So far, no new books have been purchased,” quipped Vieira. “I’ve turned off one-click purchase. Maybe I’ll read the titles chosen by insects.”

While ants purchasing books online is undoubtedly bizarre, some species are known to infest and destroy electronic devices. Tawny crazy ants — a South American species that has invaded the southern US — have a penchant for commandeering electronic devices, ranging from televisions to air conditioning units, often causing them to short-circuit.

In one appalling case, the electronic interlopers hijacked 90 out of 150 air-conditioning units in an apartment building in Waco, Texas. The situation reportedly took two months to resolve.

[PennySerenade]

Devastated Dad Invites Hundreds of People to Play Catch After Losing Baseball-Loving Son: 'It's Healing'



After work on Sept. 16, 2020, Dan Bryan realized he could still catch the tail end of his 16-year-old son's baseball practice at West County High School in Park Hills, Missouri. He arrived in time to see Ethan smash a ball that bounced over the right field fence, driving in two runs to bring the practice to a close.

Circling back to fetch his bat, Ethan, who usually offered little more than a humble nod, looked up to acknowledge his dad with a big wave and a smile. "He'd never done that before," Dan tells PEOPLE. "That showed me he was having an absolute blast. He was just enjoying life."

Less than an hour later Ethan's young life came to an end. Dan's ex-wife called to say their son had been in a car accident. He'd swerved to avoid another vehicle, ran head-on into a pickup truck, and died at the scene. Hundreds attended the funeral four days later on the Bulldogs' baseball field, with Ethan's coffin placed behind home plate.

But Dan's mourning for his son, who started playing baseball at age 5, was only beginning.

Shattered by the loss, the city administrator withdrew into himself. "I was very emotional, dealing with anxiety and depression," he recalls. "I couldn't leave the house. I couldn't get myself to go." A promise to support his son's teammates and attend the games that resumed after a respectful pause was, for Dan, "one of the toughest things I could do."

It also rescued him.



Asked to throw out a first pitch in Ethan's honor, Dan, 46, showed up and was seated in the bleachers when the school principal gave him a book titled A Year of Playing Catch, written by an author named, uncannily, Ethan D. Bryan.

Seeing that name on a book about baseball "floored me," says Dan. "I stared at the cover for over a year." When he finally did read it, he raced through the author's whimsical nonfiction account of tossing a baseball with a different person for 365 days in a row. Soon Dan was on the phone with the author, describing his desire to launch his own yearlong game of catch.

"Tossing this ball," he recalls thinking, "is going to be my vehicle to open up and talk about Ethan. It's going to keep us close. That's what's going to make me heal."

Since Jan. 1, 2022, Dan has used Ethan's ball and glove to play catch with more than 230 people to date, chronicling the journey on his Facebook page. He's had people from as far away as California, Florida, Texas and Israel, and even entire teams, reach out to ask about joining him in a toss.

Although his initial mission was just to honor his son, along the way Dan connected with a community, many of whom he'd found are shouldering similar losses.

"The thing I didn't anticipate was being a part of someone else's healing," he says. "It's become a really beautiful thing."

The Bryan family's bond over baseball began when Dan started coaching his two sons — McKenzy, now 24, and Ethan — as kids. Ethan, seven years younger, "didn't know he wasn't the same age or ability as his older brother," says Dan, who divorced from Ethan's mother in 2019; they shared custody of Ethan, who divided his time between their households.

Throwing right-handed but batting left, Ethan could play any position; off the field, he was elected to the student council and sang in the high school choir. He was "a complete joy, effortless to raise," says his father.

Tributes to his son opened Dan's eyes to things he didn't know. He gratefully discovered Ethan had joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, along with a separate student-led Bible-study group, finding his own way to his faith. Handwritten messages on luminaries at a vigil revealed Ethan also watched out for the needs of others. "He recognized a classmate was having an off day and made sure they were all right," one message said. "Ethan had time for everybody."



Ethan's family members have extended his impact by raising funds — through a golf tournament, trivia nights and a Facebook campaign — to award about $12,000 in scholarships in Ethan's name the last two years to college-bound West County High School students they select.

But it's the year of catch that has been Dan's road to recovery.

To honor his son, Dan began with his own outreach — to Ethan's best friend Tycen Price, who was in the car with Ethan, but survived the crash. "If anyone needed to have that game of catch, it was him," Dan says.

While playing, their talk slowly turned from painful trauma to "good, fun memories," Dan recalls, like the times the two teens drove a golf cart around Dan's lake community and picked a spot to swim based on where the girls gathered. Their game stretched long past sunset. "We threw that ball until we couldn't see it anymore," he says.

As Dan posted open invitations online to join him in the effort he christened Baseball Seams to Heal, they were gobbled up — first a week in advance, then two weeks, then a month. He now sometimes books two or more a day to accommodate requests.

Games of catch in a public park fill his lunch breaks, while inclement weather pushes them into a church hall or gym. But most want to play on the baseball field where Ethan excelled.

Mike Newhouse, 47, lost his daughter Katlynn, a classmate of Ethan's, in a car crash April 2 on the same two-lane highway where Ethan died. Newhouse didn't want to intrude on Dan grief, but was grateful for the chance to unpack his own when Dan invited him to take part.

As the ball passed between them, the tears that first ran down Newhouse's cheek gave way to a smile as the men remembered a photograph of their two teens together at a school dance. Newhouse talked about still watching his daughter, 17, giggle on TikTok, and the time she fell backward in the snow while walking as her phone's camera kept recording. "The more you throw the ball, the more you start thinking of things," he told Dan. "Now I'm thinking about the good things."

Len Pader, 39, visiting his wife's family in Missouri from his home in Israel, had lost his mother unexpectedly around the same time Ethan died. He arranged a catch with Dan after seeing his story online. "To hear from him, and then share my experiences, and see where we're able to overlap in the grief and the process of coming out of that and remember our loved ones is really amazing," Pader says of the experience.

"For me," he adds, "this is a moment of joy, not of sadness. We're here to touch other people's lives. And he's doing that."

Says Dan: "I don't ever come into any of these catches with a script or an outline on what I want to talk about, because everyone's different. What is said, is said because it's meant to be said. I just want it to be whatever's on somebody's heart, whatever's on my heart."

"I've learned that healing can happen in many different forms," he says. "I had not personally ever talked or experienced someone who went through healing the way that I'm trying to heal, going through these grief cycles and finding this healing from within."

"I have comfort in baseball, I have comfort in playing catch, and it does allow me to bring those positive memories back of Ethan," he says. "And it allows me to find this healing."

It has also provided him a guide, turning his effort to honor his son into something even more powerful.

"Now, people come to me and we're able to shoulder some of each other's pain," he says. "Even though I'm hurting, I can help. It's what Ethan would have done."

Cincinnati Zoo's Fiona the hippo gets baby sister



The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden has welcomed the birth of a new baby hippo, making its most famous inhabitant, Fiona, a new big sister.

The Ohio-based zoo said that 23-year-old Bibi the hippo gave birth to a new calf at approximately 10 p.m. Wednesday evening.

"Our bloat got a little bigger last night!" the zoo said on Facebook. "All seems to be going well for Mom and baby so far."

The zoo added that the pair would remain off habitat for the next two weeks in order to bond with each other.

The sex of the unnamed baby has not yet been announced.

"Bibi and the baby, yet to be named, will spend the next two weeks bonding behind the scenes," said Christina Gorsuch, the Cincinnati Zoo's director of animal care. "A female would take her newborn away from the bloat for about that amount of time in the wild, and we try to give Bibi the choice to do what feels natural to her."

Bibi's baby will become the latest in the Cincinnati Zoo's group of hippos, including Tucker, a 19-year-old male that was transferred from the San Fransisco Zoo in California in 2021.

The group's most famous resident, though, is the baby's older sister, Fiona, who became the first hippo born at the zoo in 75 years in 2017.

Fiona's growth and development was documented across social media by the zoo, and she quickly became one of the most famous zoo animals in the U.S.

She has had a number of viral moments, and has even had a children's book written about her.

Fiona has also predicted the winner of the Super Bowl every year since her birth.

Fiona has additionally helped to generate knowledge about hippo conservation, given that the animal is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

This is especially true in Africa, where poaching is common.

Despite habitat loss, the species as a whole has remained relatively stable in recent years, with the World Wildlife Fund estimating a wild population of 115,000 to 130,000.

These low numbers, though, have renewed calls for the hippo to be officially placed on the list of the world's most endangered animals.

[Governor3]

Florida woman arrested for driving golf cart on highway while drunk, police say
Woman faces misdemeanor charges after truck driver used own vehicle to steer golf cart to shoulder


A woman with an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey in a bag was arrested for driving a golf cart on Florida’s busiest interstate while drunk, according to an arrest report.

The 58-year-old woman was arrested on Saturday night on the shoulder of Interstate 95. She is now facing misdemeanor charges of disorderly intoxication in a public place and resisting an officer without violence.

According to a Florida highway patrol report, a semi-truck driver spotted the woman driving in the golf cart in the center lane of Interstate 95 in Brevard county, which is the heart of Florida’s Space Coast.

The truck driver said she “observed the driver of the golf cart passing out while driving”, the report said.

The truck driver used her semi to steer the golf cart to the shoulder of the interstate, troopers said.

Once on the shoulder, the truck driver grabbed the keys to the golf cart as the woman tried to drive away. Once troopers arrived at the scene, the woman started arguing with them and insisted she needed her bag. Inside the bag, troopers found an open bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire Whiskey, authorities said.

Interstate 95, which stretches up and down the east coast, is Florida’s busiest interstate highway, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/03/florida-golf-cart-drunk-driving
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I've checked and I near as I can be certain, my sister is still in NY - Gov