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3 Reasons Why Ronald McDonald Isn't Smiling Today
Fast food workers are hitting the streets in record numbers. Why? Here's a little explainer for you. You're welcome!
09.05.14
Image from Wikimedia Commons.
Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
But I found this and I thought, "Oh, what a vaguely interesting thing." And then I got to the part about the Hubble Space Telescope, and, let me tell you: Mind. Blown.
We've got the set up here, but you have to watch the video for the full effect. It's all the way at the bottom.
Get this: Van Gogh was a pretty cool artist (duh), but as it turns out...
What’s the truth behind when you take off an ear?
...he was also A SCIENTIST!*
*Pretty much.
Here's the story.
While Van Gogh was in an asylum in France, after he mutilated his ear during a psychotic episode*...
(*Or, and I'd like to thank the entire Internet for pointing this out, there's a theory that his friend Paul Gauguin actually cut off his ear, in a drunken sword fight, in the dark. The more you know!)
Animated a thinking one-eared Van Gogh.
All Van Gogh GIFs via TED-Ed.
...he was able to capture one of science's most elusive concepts:
~~~TURBULENCE~~~
Turbulence expressed through art.
Although it's hard to understand with math (like, REALLY HARD), it turns out that art makes it easy to depict how it LOOKS.
So what is turbulence?
Turbulence, or turbulent flow, is a concept of fluid dynamics where fluid movements are "self-similar" when there's an energy cascade — so basically, big eddies make smaller eddies, and those make even smaller ones ... and so on and so forth.
It looks like this:
Pictures explain science.
See? It's easier to look at pictures to understand it.
Thing is, scientists are pretty much *just* starting to figure this stuff out.
Animation of referencing art to science.
Then you've got Van Gogh, 100 years earlier, in his asylum, with a mutilated ear, who totally nailed it!
Science studying Van Gogh.
The folks who noticed Van Gogh's ability to capture turbulence checked to see whether other artists did the same. Most impressionists achieved " luminance" with their art (which is the sort-of *pulsing* you see when you look at their paintings that really shows what light looks like).
But did other artists depict turbulence the way Van Gogh did?
NOPE.
Capturing concepts of nature.
Even in his darkest time, Van Gogh was able to capture — eerily accurately — one of nature's most complex and confusing concepts ... 100 years before scientists had the technology to observe actual star turbulence and realize its similarity to fluid turbulence mathematics as well as Van Gogh's swirling sky. Cool, huh?
Watch the video below to learn even more:
This article originally appeared on November 14, 2014
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
"We are always trying to come up with ... creative new ways to get our shelter dogs out in front of potential adopters," says Karen Hirsch, public relations director at LifeLine Animal Project in Georgia.
Animal Profile created by Mark Wales
Photo from Pixabay
And experimenting with online dating for dogs and cats might just be working.
The harsh world of pet adoption is extremely competitive: About 6.5 million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters every year, each seeking a good forever home. It's too big a need for shelter operators to just sit back and hope they all get adopted.
That's why you see adorable dogs on display outside the grocery store, partnerships with Uber that will bring puppies directly to you for playtime, and aww-inspiring social media campaigns like dogs in pajamas.
An estimated 50 million people worldwide use Tinder. So LifeLine and other shelters and rescues figure why not give it a shot?
After all, people using online dating apps are already looking for love and companionship — just maybe a slightly different kind.
Hirsch says they recently created profiles for 22 of their dogs and cats.
Animal profiles are also showing up on Bumble, which is home to another 20 million users or so.
Like sweet Duke here.
Animal Profile created by Mark Wales
Original photo from Pixabay
Each pet is assigned to a volunteer who creates the profile and handles the conversations after a match
"In a crowded shelter, pets often get overlooked, but on a dating app, the animal becomes an individual," Hirsch says. "People learn about them and form a 'virtual' attachment."
Plus the witty banter is oodles of fun.
For LifeLine, the experiment is still new. But Hirsch says people are responding to it incredibly well so far.
At the very least, Tinder and Bumble have proven to be great for word-of-mouth awareness-building on the importance of adopting shelter pets. The animals are getting dozens of matches. Hirsch says there have been more than a few online adoption inquiries, as well as people coming into the shelter to meet their "match" in person.
She also notes that one of the matches even became a regular volunteer at LifeLine.
Photo by Eric Ward on UnsplashThis new animal dating idea has another upside for apps — and the people using them, too.
Dating experts are finding that people are getting burned out by online dating. Between "ghosting," "cushioning," "the slow fade," and a bunch more of those annoying slang terms, humans out there are wondering if dating apps are even worth the effort.
For romantic love, who knows?
But now that you might just meet the dog or cat of your dreams, that's not a bad reason to keep on swiping.
This article originally appeared on 01.10.18
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All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
She wanted to see "my favorite painting one last time."
As Mario's fight against terminal brain cancer came to an end, all he wanted to do was visit the zoo one last time. He wanted to say goodbye to his colleagues — and maybe share a final moment with some of his furry friends.
Thanks to one incredible organization, Mario got his wish.
Kissed by a giraffe.
All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
"To say goodbye to the animals."
The Ambulance Wish Foundation, a Dutch nonprofit, helps people like Mario experience one final request.
It's a lot like Make-A-Wish, only it's not just for kids.
In 2006, Kees Veldboer, who was an ambulance driver at the time, was moving a patient from one hospital to another. The patient was a terminally ill man who had spent three straight months confined to a hospital bed. During the trip from one hospital to the other, the patient told Veldboer that he wanted to see the Vlaardingen canal one last time. He wanted to sit in the sun and wind and smell the water again before going back inside.
Taking in the sunset.
All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
"To see the ocean again."
Veldboer made the patient's last wish happen, and as tears of joy streamed down the man's face, Veldboer knew he had tapped into a powerful way to bring peace to people in their final days.
Soon after, the Ambulance Wish Foundation was born.
Based in the Netherlands, Veldboer's organization scoffs at the logistical hurdles of transporting terminally ill patients who need high levels of care and, often, lots of medical equipment. The Ambulance Wish Foundation employs a fleet of custom-built ambulances and always has highly trained medical staff on hand for emergencies.
Saying goodbye.
All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
"To visit my best friend's grave."
Their message? Positive end-of-life experiences are far too important to pass up.
Today, the AWF has over 230 volunteers and has fulfilled nearly 7,000 wishes.
Even more beautiful than the work this organization does, though, are the things its patients are asking for.
Some tasty treats.
All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
"To enjoy a delicious ice cream cone."
The Make-A-Wish Foundation specializes in granting wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses, many of whom have barely begun to live. The children's wishes run the gamut, from starring in a music video to a day as a hero soldier in the Army.
But what does Veldboer do for older folks who have already experienced so much? What do their wishes look like?
Mostly, it's the little things they cherish, like seeing their home one last time or spending a few hours just looking at something beautiful.
Veldboer, in an interview with the BBC, describes one woman who had not been home for six months. When they brought her into her living room on a stretcher, she hoisted herself up and stayed there for hours, doing nothing but looking around — likely replaying an entire lifetime worth of memories — before quietly asking them to take her away.
Another patient simply wanted to see her favorite Rembrandt painting again.
Taking in some amazing art.
All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
"To see my favorite painting one last time."
And another just wanted to spend an afternoon watching dolphins play.
Hello to the dolphins.
All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
"To watch the dolphins play."
On and on the wishes go — about four of them fulfilled every day. People who just want to see their grandchild for the first time, or stand on the beach again before they can't anymore.
Turns out that life's simplest pleasures just might be its most meaningful.
Sometimes it feels like there's never enough time. Not in a day. Not in a year. Not in a life.
Getting to be at the wedding.
All photos by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, used with permission.
"To attend my granddaughter's wedding."
But maybe it's better to cherish what we have rather than spend so much time thinking about all the things we haven't done yet.
Maybe the things we remember at the end aren't the time we went skydiving or the time we hiked across Europe. When our time is up, maybe what we'll remember most is more mundane — the tacky wallpaper in the house we grew up in, a sunny day spent on the water, or those little everyday moments spent with the people we love the most.
Whatever it is, it's comforting to know there are people out there who want our last memories of this place to be good ones.
I can't think of a more wonderful job.
This article originally appeared on 09.30.15
However, the law didn't just benefit same-sex couples who want to get married, it also had a dramatic affect on LGBT youth. Two years after the legalization of gay marriage, the suicide attempt rate among LGBT youth declined significantly according to the Associated Press.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for U.S. teens. LGBT teens are five times more likely to make an attempt than their straight peers.
The study was conducted with over 26,000 LGBT youth participants in the 32 states where gay marriage was legalized up through the 2015 Supreme Court decision. The study found that suicide attempt rates dropped 7% among all students and 14% among gay kids after same-sex marriage was legalized in each state.
Part of the drop in suicide attempts by kids who didn't publicly identify that they were gay could be because they were closeted or questioning.
There was no change in states where same-sex marriage wasn't legalized.
While the change in suicide attempts doesn't prove there's a direct connection, researchers believe that the law made LGBT kids feel "more hopeful for the future." They also believe the measures increased tolerance among their straight peers while reducing the stigmatization felt by gay kids.
A study out of Denmark and Sweden published in 2019 found similar results among married gay couples.
Same-sex marriage was made legal in 2009 in Sweden and 2012 in Denmark.
The study found that couples in same-sex unions saw a 46% decline in suicide suicide, compared to 28% of those in heterosexual unions.
"Although suicide rates in the general populations of Denmark and Sweden have been decreasing in recent decades, the rate for those living in same-sex marriage declined at a steeper pace, which has not been noted previously," researchers noted.
These studies show the power that societal recognition can have on stigmatized minority groups. When one is protected by the "law of the land" it means a lot more than what happens in a courtroom or at city hall.
It shows that you are accepted by the community and protected by those in power. For to love flourish — whether it's loving oneself or sharing it with a partner — first it must first be protected.
This article originally appeared on 01.24.20
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