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"She's really left us": Stunning double rainbow graces the skies

As news of Queen Elizabeth's passing broke, people in the UK took to the gates of both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to pay their respects to the monarch. As mourners gathered arm-in-arm to remember their Queen, they were graced with an emotional and magical sight. A spectacular double rainbow appeared over the dreary skies of London, with devastated Brits saying the Queen "sent us a sign" and that she has "really left us". The double rainbow even appeared over the Victoria memorial, prompting some to say it is "Queen Elizabeth with Prince Phillip". One twitter user said, "The rainbow at Windsor Castle made me cry. The rainbow Queen sent us a sign." Another said, "A rainbow breaks out, as the Union Jack is lowered to half-mast at Windsor tonight. A remarkable image. Farewell, Ma'am." The monarch was under medical supervision due to her deteriorating health but unfortunately died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8th at 8:30pm local time (3:30am AEDT). “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” The Royal Family tweeted. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.” The public was notified of her death through the traditional form of a formal message placed on an easel on the railings outside the Palace. Image credits: Getty Images / BBC News

Health

Record-busting droughts are uncovering long-lost relics

As much of the Northern Hemisphere experiences record-breaking droughts, the drying up of lakes, rivers and other bodies of water has exposed more than just dirt and debris. In Spain, a prehistoric circle of stones dubbed “Spanish Stonehenge” has emerged in a drying dam in the central province of Caceres. Since it was first discovered in 1926 and was subsequently covered by floodwaters, the stones have only been visible four times. Elsewhere in Europe, 20 German WWII warships have been exposed, sunken in the Danube River near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/ww2-ships.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Twenty Nazi warships emerged as the Danue River continues to dry up. Image: Reuters (YouTube) The Nazi German ships were among hundreds that sailed up the Danube while retreating from Soviet forces in 1944, and still hamper traffic traversing the river when water levels are low. In late July, a previously submerged WWII bomb weighing a whopping 450kg was discovered in the River Po, as the country declared a state of emergency in areas around the lengthy river as a result of the low water levels. The ageing explosive was defused in a controlled explosion by military experts earlier this month near the village of Bogo Virgilio, but not before about 3,000 people were evacuated from the area, per <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/20/europes-drought-exposes-wwii-ships-bombs-and-prehistoric-stones" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al Jazeera</a>. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/bomb1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Military experts were deployed to detonate a 450kg bomb uncovered in Italy’s Polo River. Image: Global News (YouTube) Meanwhile, droughts in the US have exposed ancient footprints belonging to dinosaurs, as well as victims of suspected mob killings. In early July, the skeletal remains of a man who was shot in the head, stuffed in a barrel and tossed into Lake Mead, located outside the city of Las Vegas, were uncovered, with experts believing he would have died in the 1980s. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dino-tracks.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Dinosaur tracks believed to be 113 million years old were found in a state park in Texas. Image: Texas Park and Wildlife Department The lake, along with the Hudson River, provides most of southern Nevada’s drinking water and has reached its lowest point since it was filled 90 years ago, as reported by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/priyashukla/2022/05/03/drought-reveals-homicide-victim-as-lake-mead-recedes/?sh=6d6c198f3943" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forbes</a>. A discovery of Jurassic proportions was made at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas, after footprints believed to date back 113 million years were found. The tracks belong to the Arocanthosaurus, a bipedal dinosaur with three toes and a claw on each limb, per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/science/dinosaur-tracks-texas-drought.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>. Others that were also uncovered belong to Sauroposeidon proteles, a 15-metre-long dinosaur with a long neck and small head. As the fierce weather continues, experts believe more of these kinds of finds will emerge. Images: Texas Park and Wildlife Department / Reuters (YouTube)

Travel

Iran issues arrest warrant for Donald Trump

Iran has issued an arrest warrant for US President Donald Trump over a drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad. Trump and 35 others whom Iran accuses of being involved in the January 3 strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani face “murder and terrorism charges”, said Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr on Monday. Alqasimehr said Iran would continue to pursue Trump’s prosecution even after he stands down presidency, Reuters reported. Iran said it had also asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice for these 36 people, which would have the international organisation locate and arrest the individuals named. Interpol told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/29/middleeast/iran-arrest-warrant-donald-trump-intl/index.html">CNN</a> it “would not consider requests of this nature” because it was not in accordance with its rules and constitution, which prohibits “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”. US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook called Iran’s move a “political stunt”. “This has nothing to do with national security, international peace or promoting stability, so we see it for what it is – it’s a propaganda stunt that no one takes seriously,” Hook said during a press conference with the Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir on Monday. The US killed Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in January along with five others. The assassination came after months of rising tensions between the US and Iran. Iran retaliated with a ballistic missile strike at two military bases housing US troops in Iraq.

News

Bride demands refund from wedding photographer over Black Lives Matter support

An American wedding photographer said a couple tried to cancel their contract after she expressed her support for Black Lives Matter in a social media post. Shakira Rochelle, a photographer based in Cincinnati, Ohio, shared her support of the movement on her social media pages. The post read: “Shakira Rochelle Photography stands in solidarity with the black community. The black lives matter movement has my endless support.” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBEt3EblKff/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBEt3EblKff/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Shakira Rochelle Photography stands in solidarity with the black community. The black lives matter movement has my endless support ✊🏼.</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/shakirarochellephotographyy/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> Shakira Rochelle🌿</a> (@shakirarochellephotographyy) on Jun 5, 2020 at 5:34pm PDT </div> </blockquote> Rochelle later received a text message from a client requesting her deposit back. “We have done a lot of talking and we cannot bring ourselves to support anyone who is so outspoken on matters that simply do not concern them as well as someone that does not believe that ALL lives matter,” the bride wrote on the text. “We … feel that you aren’t stable enough to complete the job we need from you.” Rochelle told the bride that the deposit was non-refundable, as per their signed contract. “I wish you a lifetime of growth and I would like to thank you for your donation to Black Lives Matter,” the photographer concluded. The bride told Rochelle she would be “hearing from our attorney”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I love it here. <a href="https://t.co/hKH4WFOSk2">pic.twitter.com/hKH4WFOSk2</a> — Q.🍫 (@PINKdot_COM) <a href="https://twitter.com/PINKdot_COM/status/1272880090003771393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2020</a></blockquote> The screenshots of the messages – which Rochelle posted on her personal Facebook account – went on to become viral on social media sites. A Twitter post with pictures of the exchange has received more than 1.1 million likes. On Wednesday, Rochelle released a statement addressing claims that her post was fabricated. “There is a photoshopped screenshot circulating stating that coming forward with this story was a business tactic to make a profit on the BLM movement,” she said. “This is the most incredibly absurd thing I have ever heard. The original post started out private until a friend asked if she could share it. I never had the intentions or the desire to go viral for this or anything else.” Rochelle explained that prior to the incident, she had been booked until winter and was not seeking for more clients. “I have always stood up for human rights and will continue to do so. I have marched with my loved ones as well as alone. My intentions are pure,” she said. “Please know that what you saw from me was the complete story.” Black Lives Matter protests have been initiated across the US and around the world following the killing of George Floyd in police custody on May 25.

Entertainment

Coronavirus survivor hit with $1.1 million hospital bill

A COVID-19 patient who was dubbed “the miracle child” after spending weeks in an induced coma has received a US$1.1 million (SG$1.53 million) bill for his hospital treatment. Michael Flor, 70, spent 62 days in an intensive care unit at Swedish Medical Centre in the city of Issaquah in Washington, United States, where he came so close to death from the coronavirus. But Flor said it was still “heart-stopping” to receive the hospital bill for $1,122,501.04. “I had to look at it a number of times… to see if I was seeing it right,” Flor told <a href="https://time.com/5853392/million-dollars-covid-19-treatment-seattle/">TIME</a>. The 181-page bill included almost 3,000 itemised charges, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/inspiring-story-of-seattle-mans-coronavirus-survival-comes-with-a-1-1-million-dollar-hospital-bill/">The Seattle Times</a> reported. Flor was charged $9,736 for every day he spent in an isolation chamber and an additional $2,835 for each day he was put on a mechanical ventilator. A two-day period when his heart, kidneys and lungs were failing cost close to $100,000. Flor said he will likely foot little of his bill because he is insured by Medicare and Medicare Advantage through Kaiser Permanente. According to the Times, he may not have to pay anything due to the special policies applied to hospitals and insurance companies for COVID-19. However, Flor said he still felt guilt while going through the numbers. “I feel guilty about surviving,” he told the Times. “There’s a sense of ‘why me?’ Why did I deserve all this? Looking at the incredible cost of it all definitely adds to that survivor’s guilt.” Flor is now recovering in his West Seattle home.

Finance

Fast fashion: how retailers can use pandemic to change our terrible relationship with clothes

Even before the pandemic, the UK fashion retail industry <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43240996">was struggling</a>. John Lewis, M&S and Debenhams had all announced losses, job cuts and store closures, while House of Fraser was taken over. Since lockdown, Oasis and Warehouse <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52285231">have entered administration</a>, and John Lewis <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/106801/will-john-lewis-close-some-stores-permanently">has said</a> that not all its stores will reopen. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43240996">One of the challenges</a> for these retailers is cut throat price competition from international rivals like Primark and H&M, and online retailers like Pretty Little Thing and Misguided. <a href="https://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/en/publications/doing-it-for-the-kids-the-role-of-sustainability-in-family-consum">Low-price garments</a> became all the more attractive to consumers after their spending power was weakened by the financial crisis of 2007-09. This brought about the era of fast fashion – low quality clothes needing replaced more quickly, and consumers who see them as disposable. The price of these garments doesn’t reflect their true cost. It ignores both the workers who make them and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/07/fast-fashion-speeding-toward-environmental-disaster-report-warns">carbon footprint</a> from more production, more transportation and more landfill. Rays of hope At the turn of the year, there <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jan/01/fashion-climate-sustainability-greta-thunberg-i-d-gucci-zero-emissions-carbon-neutral">was a feeling</a> that sustainability might be moving back up the agenda. A surge of consumer protests, led by Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg, seemed to herald a public desire for change. To <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fast-fashion-is-the-second-dirtiest-industry-in-the-world-next-to-big--1882083445.html">raise awareness</a> that fashion is the second-worst polluter after oil, Extinction Rebellion <a href="https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/extinction-rebellion-london-fashion-week-climate-change-protests">held a funeral</a> during London Fashion Week 2019. It seemed possible that consumers might be galvanised to shop more sustainably – especially given the extreme weather conditions of 2019, and fears that there are <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-un-report-greenhouse-gases-carbon-dioxide-methane-sea-level-rise-global-warming-a8646426.html">just ten years left</a> to halt the irreversible consequences of climate change. Then came the pandemic. With many high street shops forced to suspend trading, the whole industry has been in flux. Brands like Primark and Matalan have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/mar/27/put-earth-first-can-a-greener-fairer-fashion-industry-emerge-from-crisis">cancelled or suspended</a> orders in places like Bangladesh, causing some factories <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/apr/02/fashion-brands-cancellations-of-24bn-orders-catastrophic-for-bangladesh">to close</a>. There may have been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200422-how-has-coronavirus-helped-the-environment">big environmental benefits</a> from the world at a standstill, but it will be little consolation to garment workers who are furloughed or jobless. Yet amidst <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/beyond-coronavirus-the-path-to-the-next-normal">all this upheaval</a>, there is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/mar/27/put-earth-first-can-a-greener-fairer-fashion-industry-emerge-from-crisis">an opportunity</a> for the fashion industry – both to help these workers and more broadly to put sustainability at the heart of their business. The decisions by fashion retailers like <a href="https://www.theindustry.fashion/burberry-retools-factory-to-make-non-surgical-gowns-and-masks-and-funds-vaccine-research/">Burberry</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/fashion-industry-masks-protective-equipment-covid-19/index.html">Prada</a> to divert into making medical gowns and masks for healthcare workers are a good starting point. If companies can make positive changes to help manage coronavirus, they can also address fast fashion. If, for example, companies paid garment workers the <a href="https://labourbehindthelabel.org/our-work/faqs/#1441884831979-53ad6cf0-86251441886042060">living wage</a> for their part of the world, they could use it in their marketing to garner a competitive advantage. Paying a living wage <a href="https://thefableists.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/tailored-wages-new-report-investigates-clothing-brands-work-on-living-wages/">doesn’t significantly increase</a> the cost of garments. Take the example of a T-shirt with a retail price of £29, for which the worker receives 0.6% or 18p. If that was doubled to 36p, it would not increase the overall price by very much. Paying a living wage <a href="https://labourbehindthelabel.org/our-work/faqs/#1441884831979-53ad6cf0-86251441886042060">should enable workers</a> in developing countries to afford nutritious food, clean water, shelter, clothes, education, healthcare and transport, while leaving some left over. One fashion entrepreneur that has developed a different way of helping garment workers during the pandemic is Edinburgh-based Cally Russell. He set up the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/may/30/lost-stock-its-like-buying-your-future-self-a-present">Lost Stock initiative</a>, which sells the garments from orders cancelled by UK fashion retailers by purchasing garments directly from manufacturers in Bangladesh. <a href="https://loststock.com/pages/costs">A Lost Stock box</a> of clothes costs £39. Almost a third is donated to the Sajida Foundation, which is giving food and hygiene parcels to Bangladeshis struggling during the pandemic. For maximum transparency, Lost Stock also provides a price breakdown that outlines the costs to the manufacturer, the charity and the initiative itself. Cool to care Another tactic that fashion marketers could use is to encourage in consumers a similar cool-to-care ethos to that brought out by the pandemic – as seen with the UK’s weekly clapping for key workers, for example. Business in numerous sectors are already focusing their marketing message on supporting NHS workers to capitalise on this spirit of collective solidarity. Fashion marketers could channel people’s desire for self-gratification towards buying clothes that contribute to the social good. My <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/QMR-09-2019-0113/full/html">research illustrates</a> the discomfort consumers experience when aware of allegations of both garment-worker and environmental exploitation, so it should be possible for marketers to benefit from doing the reverse. <a href="https://www.toms.com/">TOMS (Tomorrow’s Shoes)</a> is an example of a fashion business with giving at the core of its strategy: for every pair of shoes sold, a pair is donated to a child in need. Since 2006, 100 million pairs of shoes have been donated, and TOMS <a href="https://www.toms.com/about-toms">has since branched</a> into areas like eyewear.Another example is <a href="https://snagtights.com/pages/our-philosophy#:%7E:text=Sustainable,first%20fully%20bio%2Ddegradable%20tights.">Snag Tights</a>, which is supporting NHS frontline workers with a free pair of tights for every order placed. The company markets its tights as vegan friendly and free of plastic packaging, and is trying to develop the world’s first fully bio-degradable tights. Swaps and seconds One other trend that should definitely be encouraged is initiatives that expand the lifecycle of fashion and textiles. <a href="https://www.stylus.com/hmzhcg">London Fashion Week hosted</a> a fashion swap shop in February for the first time. Similarly, the flagship Selfridges store on London’s Oxford Street <a href="https://www.retail-week.com/fashion/selfridges-opens-second-hand-clothing-boutique/7033360.article?authent=1">began selling</a> second-hand luxury fashion and high-end brands with resale site Vestiaire Collective in 2019. There has also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/dec/22/fashion-libraries-ethical-clothing-borrowing">been a rise</a> in fashion libraries that rent fashion garments and accessories, allowing consumers affordable access to higher quality and luxury items. Fashion retailers could move in this direction, while also supporting customers by hosting workshops for upcycling garments into something new. In sum, the fashion industry should take advantage of the pandemic pause and the current mood to show constructive leadership to the global economy. It should use its power to help change our relationship with clothing into something more equal and sustainable for the long term. Written by Elaine Ritch. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-fashion-how-retailers-can-use-pandemic-to-change-our-terrible-relationship-with-clothes-140210">The Conversation.</a>

Lifestyle

Are your grandkids using headphones more during the pandemic? Here’s how to protect their ears

During the coronavirus pandemic, have your kids been using headphones more than usual? Maybe for remote schooling, video chats with relatives, or for their favourite music and Netflix shows? We have to be careful about both the volume and duration of headphone use. Listening too loudly or for too long can do permanent damage to hearing. The good news is there are ways to prevent long-term harm relatively easily. Hearing loss in children may be increasing Our hearing needs to be protected throughout life, because damage to hearing cannot be reversed. This is why we have workplace noise exposure <a href="https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/noise-safety-basics">standards and guidelines</a>, which tell workers when to use protection such as earplugs or ear defenders. Unfortunately though, hearing loss in children may be increasing. A <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30872125/?from_single_result=Prevalence+of+Childhood+Hearing+Loss+and+Secular+Trends%3A+A+Systematic+Review+and+Meta-Analysis&expanded_search_query=Prevalence+of+Childhood+Hearing+Loss+and+Secular+Trends%3A+A+Systematic+Review+and+Meta-Analysis">study</a> from last year, in which both of us were involved, reviewed the hearing of more than 3.3 million children from 39 countries across a 20-year period. We found around 13% of children had measurable hearing loss by 18 years of age that may impact their ability to decipher sounds important for understanding speech. The study suggested hearing loss in kids is rising – but we don’t yet know why. Not many studies have examined whether headphone use is directly linked to hearing loss in children. But in one <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/article-abstract/2684510">study of 9-11-year-old Dutch children</a>, where 14% had measurable hearing loss, around 40% reported using portable music devices with headphones. Could headphones be contributing? Possibly, but unfortunately we don’t know for sure, and more studies are needed. How do we know whether our children’s hearing is being affected? Adults typically first notice a hearing problem by struggling to hear higher-pitched sounds clearly. Sounds may seem muffled, or the ears may feel “blocked”, or they may notice a ringing or buzzing sound, called tinnitus. Unlike adults, children won’t necessarily know how to describe these symptoms. Instead they may use terms they do know, like a bee buzzing, a whistle, or the wind blowing. Parents should treat any reported ear symptom as serious and get their child’s hearing tested. It’s best to visit a hearing clinic first, and then a GP if necessary, although this will depend on your location. Excessive noise damages hearing Our inner ear (cochlea) contains tiny hair cells, which change sounds we hear into electrical signals for our brain. These hair cells are finely tuned and are responsible for different pitches of sound, like keys on a piano. Exposure to loud noise can damage these hair cells and perhaps the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812055/">nerve</a> that connects the cochlea to the brain. Repeated excessive noise exposure can lead to permanent hearing loss. Unfortunately, by the time someone experiences hearing problems, some irreversible damage has already happened. What should we do to protect kids’ hearing? The risk of hearing damage depends on both loudness and duration of sound exposure. Limiting both helps to reduce the risk of hearing damage. Limiting loudness We measure the loudness of sound in decibels (dB). But it’s important to note that the dB scale is logarithmic rather than linear. That means a 110dB sound (similar to a chainsaw) is actually much more than 10% louder than a 100dB sound. Parents can download free sound meter apps that help with understanding the volume of different environments and activities. A more difficult task for parents is monitoring the loudness within their children’s headphones. Some headphones leak sounds out, while others insulate the sound into the ear. So a child using “leaky” headphones at a safe volume may appear to be listening to sounds that are too loud, but a child with tightly sealed headphones could be playing sounds at potentially damaging levels without parents noticing. To understand their child’s specific usage, parents can: <ul> <li>listen to their child’s headphones to understand how loud sounds can become</li> <li>check to see if children can hear you talk at a normal volume from an arm’s length away, over the sounds playing on the headphones. If they can, their headphone use is more likely to be at a safe volume.</li> </ul> There are headphones designed for children that limit the maximum loudness – usually to 85dB. While a limit is great, listening to 85dB sounds all day every day is not risk-free. Noise-cancelling headphones are another option, albeit expensive. By reducing the intrusion of outside noise, it should mean children can keep headphone volume lower. Managing duration We should also monitor how long we’re exposed to sound. Everyday conversation is around 60dB, which will not be a problem regardless of the duration of exposure. However, <a href="http://dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines/">guidelines</a> say we can be exposed an 85dB sound (like a rubbish truck) for up to 8 hours at a time. But if the loudness of the sound is increased by just 3 decibels to 88dB, the sound energy is doubled, and safe exposure time would drop to just 4 hours. Operating a chainsaw at 110dB would then be limited to around 1 minute before damage is likely to occur. Exposure to noise is cumulative. Noise can also come from other sources in the child’s environment. Consider a child’s activities throughout a day. Parents should try to avoid consecutive noisy exercises, like headphone use, music practice, then noisy toys or games. Considering the total “doses” of sound in the day means parents should schedule some breaks to allow the ears time to recover. Of course, parents should practise what they preach! Modelling responsible use of headphones and awareness of the enjoyment of being able to hear well into adulthood is key. Written by Pater Carew and Valerie Sung. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-your-kids-using-headphones-more-during-the-pandemic-heres-how-to-protect-their-ears-139392">The Conversation.</a>

Lifestyle

Whoever invents a coronavirus vaccine will control the patent – and who gets to use it

With research laboratories around the world racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine, a unique challenge has emerged: how to balance intellectual property rights with serving the public good. Questions of patent protection and access to those patents has prompted an international group of scientists and lawyers to establish the <a href="https://opencovidpledge.org/">Open COVID Pledge</a>. This movement calls on organisations to freely make available their existing patents and copyrights associated with vaccine research to create an <a href="https://www.taylorwessing.com/en/insights-and-events/insights/2020/04/patent-pools---an-easy-licensing-option-for-covid-19-drugs-and-sars-cov-2-vaccines">open patent pool</a> to solve a global problem. The EU is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-15/coronavirus-vaccine-patent-pooled-guarantee-who/12250186">leading the charge</a> to create such a pool by drafting a resolution at the World Health Organisation. The US, UK and a few others have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/17/us-and-uk-lead-push-against-global-patent-pool-for-covid-19-drugs?CMP=share_btn_tw">opposed to this idea</a>. For now, however, there are very few pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations participating in the pledge, raising questions over whether the initiative will work. Instead, universities, publicly funded research institutes and pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations are working on vaccine research through international consortia or public-private <a href="https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/analysis/covid-19-pharmaceutical-company-partnerships-for-coronavirus-vaccines-development/">partnerships</a>. If one group does develop a viable vaccine, this raises other questions that will soon need to be addressed: <ul> <li>who is funding the research, and who has the rights to any patents coming out of it?</li> <li>can governments compel the owners of those patents to license other manufacturers to make the vaccines or medicines?</li> </ul> What are patent rights and why are they important? Patent rights are a form of intellectual property rights. They provide creators of new inventions, like novel vaccines and medicines, with a limited-term monopoly over those inventions in the marketplace to help recover the costs of research and development. In other words, patents are an incentive to invent or innovate. Patents are granted by individual nations, but don’t apply across borders. To gain global protection, an inventor needs to apply for patents in every country – something that could be critical when it comes to vaccines. The <a href="https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/registration/pct/">Patent Cooperation Treaty</a> helps to streamline the process, but it is still expensive and time-consuming. The limited-term monopoly on the market is balanced by the requirement that patent holders share information about their inventions in a register to make it available for anyone to use after the patent protection expires. The <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1990109/s67.html">term of a standard patent</a> is usually 20 years. During the patent period, patent holders have exclusive rights to manufacture and sell their inventions. Or, they can choose to license the technology to others to manufacture and sell to the public. Such licences include a specified time limit and geographical area to exploit the patent. In return, the patent holder receives royalties or licence fees, or both. So, the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 is not just about saving lives during a pandemic, it’s also about owning the patent rights. This gives the owner control over the manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine in the countries where the patent rights are granted. Who is currently researching a coronavirus vaccine? The race currently includes universities, publicly funded research institutes and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, <a href="https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/analysis/covid-19-pharmaceutical-company-partnerships-for-coronavirus-vaccines-development/">some working in partnership</a> with government institutions. The company that <a href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/coronavirus-vaccine-human-trials-by-moderna-show-promising-results-c-1045340">just announced early positive results</a> on a vaccine is Moderna, a biotech company based in the US, which is working with the National Institutes of Health. A <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-05-24/coronavirus-vaccine-race/12277558">number of other developers</a> are also doing human trials globally, including many in China. When private companies and government institutions partner on developing a vaccine, it may result in joint ownership of a patent. This gives each owner the <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1990109/s16.html">right</a> to manufacture the vaccine, but only together they can license the manufacturing to third parties. What about the rights of nations? Even if patent ownership is in the hands of private companies, the state may still have the right to use them for its <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1990109/s163.html">own purposes</a> or in the case of <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1990109/s163a.html">emergencies</a>. Many countries have specific laws to facilitate these arrangements. In the US, the <a href="https://www.unemed.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/35-U.S.C.-200-212-Bayh-Dole-Act.pdf">Bayh-Dole Act 1980</a> ensures the government retains sufficient rights to use patents resulting from federally supported research. Under these rights, <a href="https://www.unemed.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/35-U.S.C.-200-212-Bayh-Dole-Act.pdf">the government can be granted</a> a free license to use the patent itself or the right to arrange for a third party to use the patent on its behalf. In cases where the patent holder of a publicly funded invention refuses to licence it to third parties, the Bayh-Dole Act gives the government <a href="https://www.unemed.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/35-U.S.C.-200-212-Bayh-Dole-Act.pdf">“march-in” rights</a>. Under specific guidelines, this means a forced licence can be granted to a third party on reasonable terms. This includes in cases when the “action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs” or to ensure the patented invention is actually manufactured within a reasonable time. In the case of COVID-19 research, this means the US government could order a corporation or university that invents a vaccine with federal funding to license the patent to others to make it. In Australia, the government can exploit the patented inventions of others under right of “<a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/genes-and-ingenuity-gene-patenting-and-human-health-alrc-report-99/26-crown-use-and-acquisition/crown-use/">crown use</a>”. In these cases, the patent holder is <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1990109/s165.html">entitled to financial compensation</a> from the government. Like most other members of the World Trade Organisation, Australia also has compulsory licensing rules in its <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/genes-and-ingenuity-gene-patenting-and-human-health-alrc-report-99/27-compulsory-licensing/compulsory-licensing/">patent law</a> that force inventors to license their patents to third parties on reasonable terms in specific circumstances. In reality, though, such compulsory licences are under-utilised in countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Japan, and rarely granted, if at all. Working together for the common good This brings us to the <a href="https://opencovidpledge.org/">Open COVID Pledge</a>, which is designed to make the relevant intellectual property freely available under an <a href="https://opencovidpledge.org/licenses">open licence</a>. Such open-access licensing has been used in the publishing industry for years, for example with <a href="https://creativecommons.org/about/program-areas/open-access/">Creative Commons</a> publications online, and in the technology industry through <a href="https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source">open-source</a> licences. If more of the public-private partnerships working on a coronavirus vaccine do sign up to the pledge, perhaps it will be one of the positives to come out of the pandemic. It could allow open-access licences for lifesaving technologies to become accepted practice. Written by Natalie Stoianoff. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/whoever-invents-a-coronavirus-vaccine-will-control-the-patent-and-importantly-who-gets-to-use-it-138121">The Conversation.</a>

Health

“Sorry, not sorry”: Wedding videographer refuses to issue refund after bride-to-be dies

A man who lost his fiancée in a car crash has been threatened with a lawsuit after he requested a refund from the wedding videography company the couple had hired. Justin Montney, 24, was forced to cancel his May wedding after his 22-year-old bride-to-be Alexis-Athena Wyatt died in February. Montney said the Texas, US-based videography company Copper Stallion Media refused to refund his US$1,800 deposit, saying it was non-refundable. The man told <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/wedding-videographer-refuses-refund-fiance-death">Buzzfeed News</a> he reached out to the company again last week, informing them he planned to share the dispute on social media. The company threatened to sue him and Wyatt’s family in response to a review her mother wrote on wedding website The Knot. “They should have been able to [issue a refund] because they didn’t render any services,” Montney told KRDO-TV. He said the company offered to extend their service to his next wedding, which was “a very a very insensitive thing to tell me”. Montney said other vendors did not hesitate to refund their money after learning about Wyatt’s death. “They obviously felt terrible for what had happened,” he said. After Montney went public with his experience, Copper Stallion Media created a website using Montney’s name – JustinMontney.com – to rebut his claims, accusing him of driving a “smear campaign”. “We understand a death occurred, but it’s not right for people to turn to the internet and sodomize the reputation of a company,” read the text, which has since been removed on the website. “He could have quietly filed a small claim to ‘try’ to recoup the non-refundable deposit. Instead, he chose the internet to shake us down.” <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7836261/jm2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/42c8a0c6a3154718a7ebc539453dc355" /> On May 23, the company posted a photo of the couple with the caption: “Today would have been the day where we would have filmed Justin and Alexis’ wedding in Colorado Springs. “After what Justin pulled with the media stunt to try and shake us down for a refund, we hope you sob and cry all day for what would have been your wedding day. “Sorry, not sorry.” Copper Stallion Media has since shut down their pages on Facebook and The Knot. Videographer Alex Murphy, who used to work for the company, told <a href="https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/contact7/wedding-videographer-refuses-to-provide-refund-after-brides-death-harasses-her-family">The Denver Channel</a> he left because they refused to pay him. He said his final paycheck came from Las Vegas-registered company Organized Weddings LLC, which is associated with a man named Jesse J Clark. Clark was sued by Massachusetts’ attorney general in 2013 for defrauding 90 couples by accepting payments and failing to provide their wedding videos, according to the <a href="https://www.telegram.com/article/20130426/NEWS/104269782">Telegram & Gazette</a>.

News

Man infects at least 32 people with coronavirus in 2.5 hours

A man unknowingly infected at least 32 people with coronavirus at a choir practice, a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm?s_cid=mm6919e6_e&deliveryName=USCDC_921-DM28169">new report by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)</a> found. The choir practice was held in Skagit Valley, Washington, on March 10 – three days before President Donald Trump declared national emergency over the COVID-19 outbreak. Out of the 122 members of the Skagit Valley Chorale, 61 attended the evening practice at the Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church. One of those singers had cold-like symptoms starting on March 7 but only realised it was COVID-19 after a test later confirmed the diagnosis, according to the CDC study. The members avoided direct physical contact such as hugs and handshakes. “It seemed like a normal rehearsal, except that choirs are huggy places,” conductor Adam Burdick told the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-29/coronavirus-choir-outbreak">Los Angeles Times</a>. “We were making music and trying to keep a certain distance between each other.” The practice lasted 2.5 hours. Most members sat in their usual rehearsal seats. Once seated, they practiced singing for 40 minutes before splitting into two smaller groups for a 50-minute block. After a 15-minute break, during which some members shared cookies and oranges, they all reconvened for a final 45-minute practice session. “During the entire rehearsal, no one sneezed, no one coughed, no one there appeared to be sick in any way,” member Carolynn Comstock told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/01/us/washington-choir-practice-coronavirus-deaths/index.html">KIRO</a>. Within days, people began showing COVID-19 symptoms. In less than two weeks, 32 people tested positive for COVID-19 and another 20 were considered to have probable infections. Three were hospitalised, and two of them died. The CDC said people with symptoms should isolate or self-quarantine to prevent further spread of the disease. “The potential for superspreader events underscores the importance of physical distancing, including avoiding gathering in large groups, to control spread of COVID-19,” the agency said in the report.

Health

Strange but true: How llamas could help us defeat COVID-19

The quest for an effective COVID-19 treatment has led some researchers to llamas, as a new study found promising results in the animal’s antibodies. Research published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30494-3.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420304943%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">Cell</a> found that antibodies in llamas’ blood could offer a defence against the coronavirus. Llamas have small antibodies that can sneak into spaces on viral proteins that are too tiny for human antibodies, helping humans to fend off the virus. It is hoped that the llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected. The findings originated in a Belgium-based llama named Winter. The antibodies of the four-year-old animal had been proven able to fight SARS and MERS, and researchers found that they were effective against the virus behind COVID-19 in cell cultures. In an interview with <a href="https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2020/05/16/llama-antibodies-can-neutralize-virus">Vermont Public Radio</a>, the study’s co-author Daniel Wrapp said an approved therapeutic could be available on the market in a year’s time. “We are actively performing pre-clinical trials, testing for protection in hamsters,” Wrapp said. “If that looks good, we’ll move into non-human primates. And if that looks good, we’ll begin phase-one clinical testing in humans.” Llama antibodies have also been investigated for their potency against HIV and other viruses.

Lifestyle

3 baking powder substitutes you can use in recipes

All home cooks know what it’s like to work on a recipe only to find out that an ingredient is out of stock in the kitchen. Baking powder is a common offender in this case, and its absence could not be ignored – as a chemical leavener, it adds lightness and volume to baked goods. However, plenty of other ingredients can act as a substitute. So before you head out to the store, see if you can replace the baking powder with any of the following alternatives. 1. Baking soda and acid Contrary to popular beliefs, baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable. To create a teaspoon of substitute baking powder, mix a quarter teaspoon of baking soda with half a teaspoon of an acidic ingredient such as cream of tartar, vinegar or lemon juice. 2. Self-rising flour Out of both baking powder and baking soda? Self-rising flour is a combination of all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt, and can thus replace all-purpose flour in recipes. 3. Club soda Soda water contains sodium bicarbonate or baking soda. It can be used to replace any liquids in recipes such as milk and water. While it works to add extra lightness, it only has a small amount of the leavening agent, so only use it if the recipe doesn’t call for a lot of added volume.

Lifestyle

Dinner to die for: how fish use their spines to fend off hungry seals

What price are you willing to pay for food? For most of us, that’s a question about money. But what if the cost were actual pain, injury and death? For some seals and dolphins, this a real risk when hunting. We took a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03473">close look</a> at a New Zealand (or long-nosed) fur seal that stranded at Cape Conran in southeastern Australia, and discovered it had numerous severe facial injuries. These wounds were all caused by fish spines, and they show the high price these animals are willing to pay in pursuit of a meal. Victim or perpetrator? When the unfortunate seal was first spotted dead on the beach, it was clear something was amiss: the animal was emaciated, and had a large fish spine stuck in its cheek. A team of scientists from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Museums Victoria and Monash University decided to investigate, and took a CT scan of the seal’s head. The results were striking: fish spines had penetrated not just both cheeks, but also the nose and jaw muscles. On closer examination, we also found ten stab wounds, likely from further fish spines that had been pulled out. The wounds were spread all over the face and throat, and at least some appear to have festered. They may have made feeding difficult, and ultimately may have caused the animal to starve. These wounds were likely not the result of unprovoked attacks. They were probably inflicted by prey that simply did not want to be eaten. How to fight off a hungry seal … or at least teach it a lesson Many fish species have evolved elaborate defence systems against predators, such as venomous spines that can inflict painful wounds. Our seal appears to have been done in by two species of cartilaginous fish. One was the elusive <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_ghostshark">Australian ghostshark</a> (also known as elephant fish), a distant relative of true sharks that has a large serrated spine on its back. The other was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urolophidae">stingaree</a>: a type of small stingray with a venomous tail barb that can be whipped around like a scorpion’s tail. Its sting is normally aimed at would-be predators, but sometimes also catches the feet of unwary humans. How to eat a spiky fish Until recently, most of what we knew about the diet New Zealand fur seals was based on bony remains left in their poo. This technique largely overlooks cartilaginous fish, whose skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bone. As a result, we didn’t realise fur seals target these creatures. New <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12686-016-0560-9">studies of the DNA of devoured prey</a> in the seals’ scats now suggest they commonly feed on ghostsharks. Stingarees and other rays are less common, but evidently still form part of their diet. So how do the seals handle such dangerous prey on a regular basis? It all comes down to table manners. Ghostsharks and rays are too large to be swallowed whole, and hence must be broken into smaller chunks first. Fur seals achieve this by violently shaking their prey at the water’s surface, largely because <a href="https://theconversation.com/sharp-claws-helped-ancient-seals-conquer-the-oceans-92828">their flippers are no longer capable of grasping and tearing</a>. Fur seals can eat small fish whole, but need to tear large prey into edible chunks. Shaking a fish in the right way (for example by gripping it at the soft belly) may allow seals to kill and consume it without getting impaled. Nevertheless, some risk remains, whether because of struggling prey, poor technique, or simply bad luck. The wounds on our seal’s cheeks suggest that it may accidentally have slapped itself with a ghostshark spine while trying to tear it apart. Fish spines – a common problem? One of the challenges we face as scientists is knowing how to interpret isolated observations. Are fish spines a common problem for fur seals, or was our individual just particularly unlucky? We don’t know. New techniques like analysing DNA from scats means that we are only just beginning to get a better idea of the full range of prey marine mammals target. Likewise, medical imaging techniques such as CT scanning are rarely applied to marine mammal strandings, and injuries like the ones in our seal may often go unnoticed. Nevertheless, fish spine injuries have been observed in other ocean predators, including dolphins, killer whales, and rays. One wedgefish described in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.170674">another recent study</a> had as many as 62 spines embedded in its jaw! Now that we know what to look for, we may finally get a better idea of how common such injuries really are. For now, this extraordinary example vividly demonstrates the choices and dangers wild animals face as they try to make a living. For our seal, the seafood ultimately won, but we will never know if the fish that killed it got away, or if the wounds they left are evidence of the seal’s last meal. Written by David Hocking, Felix Georg Marx, Silke Cleuren and William Parker. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/dinner-to-die-for-how-fish-use-their-spines-to-fend-off-hungry-seals-133627">The Conversation.</a>

Travel

Five-year-old boy pulled over on the highway while parents were at work

A five-year-old boy was caught behind the wheel of his parents’ car on a highway. Utah Highway Patrol trooper Rick Morgan pulled over the SUV when he spotted it weaving in and out of lanes on the freeway at 50km/h. Morgan said the car was swerving so badly he thought the driver needed medical attention. The trooper was shocked to find five-year-old Adrian behind the wheel, who was sitting on the edge of his seat to reach the pedals. “Where did you come from? How did you get this car?” Morgan could be heard asking the boy in a dash camera footage. The boy told police he had left home and drove the car about three miles through the city of Ogden after his mother refused to buy him a Lamborghini. He said he was going to his sister’s house in California and wanted to buy the luxury sports vehicle there. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> His story is that he left home after an argument with Mom, in which she told him she would not buy him a Lamborghini. He decided he'd take the car and go to California to buy one himself. He might have been short on the purchase amount, as he only had $3 dollars in his wallet. — Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) <a href="https://twitter.com/UTHighwayPatrol/status/1257388985002930178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2020</a></blockquote> “He might have been short on the purchase amount, as he only had $3 dollars in his wallet,” Utah Highway Patrol said on Twitter. The boy and his family are being interviewed by police, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/05/baby-driver-utah-police-boy-five">The Guardian</a> reported. Both parents were at work and the boy was reportedly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/utah-boy-family-car-buy-lamborghini/">left in the care of his sister</a> when he took the car keys and left.

Travel

Woman celebrates 100th birthday in jail cell

Ruth Bryant celebrated her centennial birthday by crossing off a wish on her bucket list: to be arrested and sent to jail. The US woman was celebrating her 100th birthday on Wednesday at her assisted living community in North Carolina when deputies from the Person County Sheriff’s Office showed up and served her a warrant for “indecent exposure” at a fire department. Friends and family members present at Bryant’s birthday celebrations weren’t aware of the plan, WRAL reported. “I know that she is a hundred years old, but I didn’t know ... they’d be going this far,” the 100-year-old’s daughter Marian Oakley told the outlet. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKATVChannel7%2Fvideos%2F2729937517059685%2F&show_text=1&width=560" width="560" height="445" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> Police handcuffed Bryant to her walker and loaded her into the front seat of the police car before driving her to prison. She spent a few minutes inside a cell and was given a free phone call, a mug shot and an orange jail t-shirt. “I’m in the jailhouse now! I finally got here!” she said. She was released after paying bail in the form of a hug to the chief jailer and returned to her residence for cakes with friends.

Lifestyle

Octomom marks her eight children’s 11th birthday with new snap

“Octomom” Natalie Suleman has marked her youngest eight children’s 11th birthday with a new picture from the family celebrations. Suleman, who made headlines after giving birth to the eight children in January 2009, took to Instagram on Monday to share a snap and a birthday message. “Happy birthday to my beautiful angels. You are some of the kindest, most compassionate, caring human beings I’ve ever known,” she wrote. “Words cannot express how grateful I am to be your mother. You all have blessed my life immensely and I thank God daily for trusting me to care for, shape the lives of, and influence all of you.” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7z0RI8nBE3/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7z0RI8nBE3/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Happy birthday to my beautiful angels. You are some of the kindest, most compassionate, caring human beings I’ve ever known. Words cannot express how grateful I am to be your mother. You all have blessed my life immensely and I thank God daily for trusting me to care for, shape the lives of, and influence all of you. Recent tragic events of loved ones lost are a powerful reminder of how fragile, precarious, yet precious life is, as tomorrow is never promised. We need to hug our loved ones a little longer and a little harder while they are here. You are my miracles, my angels, and I will love you with all my heart, forever. Happy 11th birthday Noah, Maliyah, Nariyah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Josiah, and Makai. #HappyBirthday #Angels #Blessed 🙏🏽</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/nataliesuleman/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> Solomon Family</a> (@nataliesuleman) on Jan 26, 2020 at 8:26pm PST </div> </blockquote> The 44-year-old mother of 14 also referred to basketball great Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter accident on Sunday with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. “Recent tragic events of loved ones lost are a powerful reminder of how fragile, precarious, yet precious life is, as tomorrow is never promised,” Suleman wrote. “We need to hug our loved ones a little longer and a little harder while they are here. You are my miracles, my angels, and I will love you with all my heart, forever. Happy 11th birthday Noah, Maliyah, Nariyah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Josiah, and Makai.” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7CroSKn5ev/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7CroSKn5ev/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Solomon Family (@nataliesuleman)</a> on Jan 7, 2020 at 6:28pm PST </div> </blockquote> The Suleman octuplets, consisting of six sons and two daughters, were conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments. They are the only second full set of octuplets to be born alive in the US and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/us/04octuplets.html">the longest surviving</a>.

Lifestyle

Synonyms to use that will make you a better writer

Put it in writing Good writing is considerate of its audience. You want to think about your reader and consider the best way to get your message across to them. Even in the digital age, the right word elevates your writing and the wrong one drags it down. If you’re writing in a business context, you want to make a good impression and come across as professional. You want to be efficient, but not overly dry. While keeping your writing clear of grammar and spelling errors is a given, you’ll also want to use words that avoid cliché and relay your message with aplomb. You’ll also want to avoid these overused words that make you sound boring. Instead of using “a lot” A lot is a descriptor that skews ultra-casual. If you describe your background by saying, “I have a lot of experience,” or convey your aptitude with “I have a lot of ideas,” you come across as too laid-back and imprecise. Laura Hale Brockway, at Entrepreneur, offers 32 alternative synonyms for “a lot.” She offers descriptors like “a great deal” or “a copious amount” as a stand-in for the informal term. Choose a synonym that elevates your message and offers precision like “myriad” or “several.” Instead of using “fine” “Fine” is a rejoinder to questions about either quality or physical health. However, it’s become so common that it now means “OK” or “average.” If you’re writing in a business setting or descriptively, “fine” seems polite, but there are other options that can get specific about what you’re describing. A simple synonym is “well,” as in “I’m feeling well.” You can also use synonyms like “exceptional” or “skilful” to describe quality. If you do mean “fine” in the sense of passable, use “mediocre” or “average” instead. Instead of using “very” Very is a qualifier that’s often overused. How many times have you peppered emails or business communications with this word? Have you ever written “I’m very excited about the upcoming project” or “Your work is very good?” Eliminate “very” unless it adds necessary and real meaning to the idea you describe. If it’s important then use synonyms for “very” like “remarkably,” “substantially,” “emphatically,” or “profoundly.” Otherwise, using “very” adds sloppy imprecision to your writing. Instead of using “great” Great is a superfluous term that often shows up in place of “yes” or “good” in written writing. It’s a shorthand term that conveys enthusiasm but has become so common that it’s lost its nuance as a descriptor. Consider more precise words like “choice” or “breathtaking” to describe a state of being or an object’s quality. Here are some more options from Daily Writing Tips like “deluxe” and “favourable” that get closer to the idea you’re trying to convey. Looking for more great synonym options for words like great? Instead of using “crazy” Using “crazy” (or “insane”) is common, but it’s an imprecise way to express what you really mean. Katie Dupere at Mashable explains that the term is insensitive and makes light of mental health issues. The term is also far from what you mean to say. Look carefully at what you’re actually trying to convey when you write, “The midterm was crazy” or “The project was insane.” It’s best to stay away from casual idioms in formal writing. You also want to stay mindful about how such terms could affect your reader. Consider words like “busy,” “intense,” “erratic,” and “wacky” as synonyms. Let the idea of what you truly want to convey be your guide. Written by Molly Pennington, PhD. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/12-synonyms-that-will-make-you-a-better-writer?slide=all">Reader’s Digest.</a> For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA87V">here’s our best subscription offer.</a>

Entertainment

World’s first butter bar opens in the US

Butter is a staple of many kitchens and dining tables around the world – but it is mostly seen as a complementary item rather than the main highlight. Bella La Crema is looking to change that view. Located in the Colorado town of Lyons, it is the world’s first butter bar with a menu full of homemade churned-dairy delights. Diners can enjoy savoury options such as the herbs de Provence-infused French Countryside as well as sweet concoctions like the chocolate, coffee and cinnamon-laden Mayan Chocolate Muse. The flights of flavoured butters – which are served with warm baguettes – are made with grass-fed, organic and non-homogenised cream with in-house culturing and churning. The bar also marks each new season or holiday by launching a new butter. Owner and operator Shauna Lee Strecker said she wanted to “make butter beautiful again”. She told <a href="https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/butter-bar-bella-la-crema-colorado">Food&Wine</a>, “Butter had been ruined, in my opinion … People were just using it as a throw-aside condiment, much like ketchup or mustard. Most of the store-bought butter is ridiculous – it’s crap. That’s why I decided to make butter beautiful again.” Looking to eat something heavier? The bistro-bar also offers an assortment of dishes, from salads to burgers and bisques.

Travel

Airline makes female passenger take pregnancy test ahead of flight

A Hong Kong airline has apologised after it demanded a passenger take a pregnancy test before allowing her to board a flight to the US Pacific island of Saipan. 25-year-old Japanese citizen Midori Nishida was checking in for a flight at Hong Kong International Airport when a staff from the low-cost airline Hong Kong Express asked her to take a pregnancy test as part of a “fit-to-fly” assessment. Despite having marked on a check-in questionnaire that she wasn’t pregnant, the staff escorted Nishida to a washroom and handed her a pregnancy test, barring her from boarding until the test came back negative. Nishida told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ticket-passport-pregnancy-test-flying-to-saipan-can-be-complicated-11578664961">Wall Street Journal</a> that the experience was “very humiliating and frustrating”. The airline indicated in the permission form that the test was required for women who are “observed to have a body size or shape resembling a pregnant woman”. It was reportedly part of Hong Kong Express’s response to immigration concerns in Saipan. The island, the largest of the US commonwealth Northern Mariana Islands, is a popular destination for birth tourism, allowing foreign nationals to ensure their babies become American citizens. There is <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/saipan-birth-tourism-airlilne-pregnancy-test-intl-hnk/index.html">no federal law</a> banning pregnant foreign citizens to enter the country or give birth on US soil. “We would like to apologise unreservedly to anyone who has been affected by this,” the airline said in a statement. “In response to concerns raised by authorities in Saipan, we took actions on flights to Saipan from February 2019 to help ensure US immigration laws were not being undermined. “Under our new management, we recognise the significant concerns this practice has caused. We have immediately suspended the practice while we review it.”

Travel

How the use of lasers and small satellites helps information get through space

Satellites are becoming increasingly important in our lives, as they help us meet a demand for more data, exchanged at higher speeds. This is why we are exploring new ways of improving satellite communication. Satellite technology is used to navigate, forecast the weather, monitor Earth from space, receive TV signals from space, and connect to remote places through tools such as satellite phones and <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/network-technology/sky-muster-explained">NBN’s Sky Muster satellites</a>. All these communications use radio waves. These are electromagnetic waves that propagate through space and, to a certain degree, through obstacles such as walls. Each communication system uses a frequency band allocated for it, and each band makes up part of the <a href="https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/emspectrum1.html">electromagnetic spectrum</a> – which is the name given to the range of all types of electromagnetic radiation. But the electromagnetic spectrum we are able to use with current technology is a finite resource, and is now completely occupied. This means old services have to make room for new ones, or higher frequency bands have to be used. While this poses technological challenges, one promising way forward is optical communication. Communication with lasers Instead of using radio waves to carry the information, we can use light from lasers as the carrier. While technically still part of the electromagnetic spectrum, optical frequencies are significantly higher, which means we can use them to transfer data at higher speeds. However, one disadvantage is that a laser cannot propagate through walls, and can even be blocked by clouds. While this is problematic on Earth, and for communication between satellites and Earth, it’s no problem for communication between satellites. On Earth, optical communication via fibre optic cables connects continents and provides enormous data exchanges. This is the technology that allows <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/4/30/11562024/too-embarrassed-to-ask-what-is-the-cloud-and-how-does-it-work">the cloud</a> to exist, and online services to be provided. Optical communication between satellites doesn’t use fibre optic cables, but involves light propagating through space. This is called “free space optical communication”, and can be used to not only deliver data from satellites to the ground, but also to connect satellites in space. In other words, free space optical communication will provide the same massive connectivity in space we already have on Earth. Some systems such as the <a href="https://artes.esa.int/edrs-global">European Data Relay System</a> are already operational, and others like SpaceX’s <a href="https://www.space.com/see-spacex-starlink-satellites-in-night-sky.html">Starlink</a> continue to be developed. But there are still many challenges to overcome, and we’re limited by current technology. My colleagues and I are working on making optical, as well as radio-frequency, data links even faster and more secure. CubeSats So far, a lot of effort has gone into the research and development of radio-frequency technology. This is how we know data rates are at their highest physical limit and can’t be further increased. While a single radio-frequency link can provide data rates of 10Gbps with large antennas, an optical link can achieve rates 10 to 100 times higher, using antennas that are 10 to 100 times smaller. These small antennas are in fact optical lenses, and their compact size allows them to be integrated into small satellites called CubeSats. CubeSats are not larger than a shoebox or toaster, but can employ high speed data links to other satellites or the ground. They are currently used for a wide range of tasks including earth observation, communications and scientific experiments in space. And while they’re not able to provide all services from space, they play an important role in current and future satellite systems. Another advantage of optical communication is increased security. The light from a laser forms a narrow beam, which has to be pointed from a sender to a receiver. Since this beam is very narrow, the communication doesn’t interfere with other receivers and it’s very hard, if not impossible, to eavesdrop on the communication. This makes optical systems more secure than radio electromagnetic systems. Optical communication can also be used for <a href="https://qt.eu/understand/underlying-principles/quantum-key-distribution-qkd/">Quantum Key Distribution</a>. This technology allows the absolute secure exchange of encryption keys for safe communications. What can we expect from this? While it’s exciting to develop systems for space, and to launch satellites, the real benefit of satellite systems is felt on Earth. High speed communication provided by optical data links will improve connectivity for all of us. Notably, remote areas which currently have relatively slow connections will experience better access to remote health and remote learning. Better data links will also let us deliver images and videos from space with less delay and higher resolution. This will improve the way we manage our resources, including <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/community-safety/flood/wofs">water</a>, agriculture and forestry. They will also <a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/earth-obs/case-studies/mapping-bushfires">provide vital real-time information in disaster scenarios such as bushfires</a>. The potential applications of optical communication technology are vast. Banding knowledge together Working in optical satellite communication is challenging, as it combines many different fields and research areas including telecommunication, photonics and manufacturing. Currently, our technology is far from achieving what is theoretically possible, and there’s great room for improvement. This is why there’s a strong focus on collaboration. In Australia, there are two major programs facilitating this - the Australian Space Agency run by the federal government, and the <a href="https://smartsatcrc.com/">SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre</a> (CRC), also supported by the federal government. Through the SmartSat CRC program, my colleagues and I will spend the next seven years tackling a range of applied research problems in this area.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126344/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gottfried-lechner-877898">Gottfried Lechner</a>, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-using-lasers-and-toaster-sized-satellites-to-beam-information-faster-through-space-126344">original article</a>.

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"She's really left us": Stunning double rainbow graces the skies

Record-busting droughts are uncovering long-lost relics

Iran issues arrest warrant for Donald Trump

Bride demands refund from wedding photographer over Black Lives Matter support

Coronavirus survivor hit with $1.1 million hospital bill

Fast fashion: how retailers can use pandemic to change our terrible relationship with clothes

Are your grandkids using headphones more during the pandemic? Here’s how to protect their ears

Whoever invents a coronavirus vaccine will control the patent – and who gets to use it

“Sorry, not sorry”: Wedding videographer refuses to issue refund after bride-to-be dies

Man infects at least 32 people with coronavirus in 2.5 hours

Strange but true: How llamas could help us defeat COVID-19

3 baking powder substitutes you can use in recipes

Dinner to die for: how fish use their spines to fend off hungry seals

Five-year-old boy pulled over on the highway while parents were at work

Woman celebrates 100th birthday in jail cell

Octomom marks her eight children’s 11th birthday with new snap

Synonyms to use that will make you a better writer

World’s first butter bar opens in the US

Airline makes female passenger take pregnancy test ahead of flight

How the use of lasers and small satellites helps information get through space

News

Property

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Entertainment

Information

Keep up to date

Search

"She's really left us": Stunning double rainbow graces the skies

Record-busting droughts are uncovering long-lost relics

Iran issues arrest warrant for Donald Trump

Bride demands refund from wedding photographer over Black Lives Matter support

Coronavirus survivor hit with $1.1 million hospital bill

Fast fashion: how retailers can use pandemic to change our terrible relationship with clothes

Are your grandkids using headphones more during the pandemic? Here’s how to protect their ears

Whoever invents a coronavirus vaccine will control the patent – and who gets to use it

“Sorry, not sorry”: Wedding videographer refuses to issue refund after bride-to-be dies

Man infects at least 32 people with coronavirus in 2.5 hours

Strange but true: How llamas could help us defeat COVID-19

3 baking powder substitutes you can use in recipes

Dinner to die for: how fish use their spines to fend off hungry seals

Five-year-old boy pulled over on the highway while parents were at work

Woman celebrates 100th birthday in jail cell

Octomom marks her eight children’s 11th birthday with new snap

Synonyms to use that will make you a better writer

World’s first butter bar opens in the US

Airline makes female passenger take pregnancy test ahead of flight

How the use of lasers and small satellites helps information get through space

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