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George the 'celebrity' duck renews community support for Vegas sanctuary after wild rescue

George = Big Duck Energy.

George the duck; Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary; duck rescue; duck saves sanctuary; famous Vegas duck

Courtesy of Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary and Jacalyn Wetzel

'Celebrity' duck's wild rescue saves Vegas sanctuary

Note from Upworthy: This story is part of our Impact Series, where we are sharing stories in which readers like you can help raise awareness and make a real world impact. We believe part of sharing the best of humanity means lifting up the things we all care about most. If you'd like to help, click here to learn more.

It's not every day a duck makes the news and changes the trajectory of a struggling animal sanctuary but that's because every duck isn't George. George the duck was a legend among legendary ducks that ever decided to grace the Las Vegas strip. How often do you get to see a duck living its best duck life while you meander the city?

The locals and tourists alike got to know George, often feeding him breads and other scraps of food as he swam in the fountain at The Mirage (future Hard Rock Las Vegas). But recently The Mirage announced it was closing so one had left the building...except George. Apparently ducks can't read or understand much human language so he did not get the memo to vacate the premises.

That's where Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary comes in. Executive Director Jennifer Langford got a phone call while she was vacationing at Disney from a board member asking her to come see a man about a duck. Turns out The Mirage was scheduled to be demolished but George was making things difficult so the president of the casino, Joe Lupo reached out to Gilcrease.

Things did not go as planned as the duck was quite comfortable where he was and it turned out there were questions around the legality of the sanctuary rescuing George. According to Langford people made a bit of noise saying that George was a wild duck. Wild ducks are not allowed to be captured by Gilcrease or any other animal rescue due to strict rules by the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) so the cheeky duck got a stay of eviction while Langford made calls to get George properly identified.

George the duckCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel

When speaking with Upworthy, Langford explains that her phone was "blowing up" while on family vacation. Apparently the rescue of George was top priority and had captured the attention of animal lovers, officials and news stations. After making it home from what was likely a less than relaxing vacation after all the duck calls, Langford and her 20-year-old daughter, Kylee, the Exotic Avian Lead at the sanctuary trekked to The Mirage to have a word with George.

While the identification of George held up the rescue, the community grew impatient leaving Lupo under fire in the news and across social media platforms. Langford paints a different reality, "he could've made an assistant or employee do it but he personally called around himself to find someone to come and get this duck. He told me, 'I had an easier time rehoming of eight dolphins and twelve lions and tigers than this duck.' He was doing everything he could but there are so many rules around wild ducks."

Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary

George suddenly went from the random duck that everyone knew existed to Taylor Swift duck level famous complete with his own "Swifties" or would they be "Georgies?" Either way people were upset and wanted the duck rescued not understanding the red tape Langford and Lupo were having to sift through. Eventually NDOW was able to determine that George was a hybrid duck, meaning he's either part wild and part domesticated or a mix of two different breeds of ducks.

In George's case he's a Mallard mix, which allowed Gilcrease the green light to rescue him from The Mirage. The rescue was a sight to see according to Langford. It involved a frequent George visitor, Annoula Wylderich and Animal Protection Affiliates, that had a bond with the sassy duck, Langford and her daughter wading through an abandoned fountain, climbing up casino fixtures and outsmarting a duck that's likely evaded capture by inebriated guests for years.

George the duckCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel

Due to the expected reaction of a duck that didn't want to be caught, it was decided that filming the comical rescue wasn't a good idea. In the end, George was captured and brought to the sanctuary to glare at all the "Georgies" coming to see him. If he could talk he would likely have a lot to say about the lack of tasty snacks in his diet. But Langford explains to Upworthy, all the treats guests were giving George are likely the reason he can't fly.

Bread, french fries and other things people like to feed ducks aren't good for their nutritional needs and can cause neurological issues that affect their ability to fly. Langford shares that the veterinarian isn't sure if George will ever regain his ability to fly with the proper diet but Gilcrease isn't losing hope.

Gilcrease Executive Director Jennifer Langford feeing Andrew the ostrichCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel

The news around George hasn't died down since his rescue over the summer. There was such interest from the community to get to know the duck that Gilcrease held a gender reveal party where it was revealed that George was indeed a boy. All the attention from George has increased visitors and donations, including a large donation from The Mirage to help care for George.

The sanctuary went from struggling from lack of visitors and a not so great reputation to an influx of visitors thanks to a famous duck. Gilcrease's reputation has also significantly improved after Langford took over last year. She's worked diligently to get animal enclosures up to code, get the animals on proper diet with adequate medical care and has really pushed for positive changes throughout the entire nonprofit.

Courtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel

While George is bringing in donations, Langford tells Upworthy that they're coming in specifically to care for the rescued duck and she can't use those earmarked donations to help with the other animals. "The exotic birds really do need better enclosures," the executive director says some of the birds get depressed during the winter because the enclosures they currently have don't protect them from the elements so they have to be covered with a heater placed inside.

Courtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel

Langford would love to see enclosures that allowed the birds to still be able to see and interact with people during the winter as well as larger enclosures to allow the birds that can fly to fly freely. But most of all, she's hopeful to update the enclosures and find the resources to train the staff to meet the Association of Zoos and Aquarium's (AZA) standards to become accredited. Right now Gilcrease currently holds a USDA license but has big dreams for their nonprofit and community by becoming AZA accredited.

Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary is holding a fundraising festival October 26, with a live band, DJ, food and craft vendors along with a costume contest and games for kids. If you're not local to Vegas but would like to donate to help the birds get new enclosures, you can do that here.

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george the duck

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True

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Vet demonstrates 'squish the cat' method of safe cat handling in delightfully helpful video

There's a reason Dr. Burstyn's "How to pick up a cat" video has been viewed 23 million times.

cats, pets, cat handling, veterinarian, feline behavior

Helpful Vancouver Vet/YouTube

Handling a cat may seem like a delicate matter, but being delicate isn't actually the way to go.

If you've ever tried to make a cat do something it doesn't want to do, you've likely experienced the terror that a cat's wrath can invoke. Our cute, cuddly feline friends may be small, but the razor blades on their feet are no joke when they decide to utilize them. Even cats who love us can get spicy if we try to manhandle them, so we can imagine how things will go with cats who don't know us well. But sometimes it's necessary to handle a cat even if it's resistant to the idea.

This is where Vancouver veterinarian Dr. Uri Burst yn comes in. His "How to pick up a cat like a pro" video, in which he demonstrates a few ways of picking up and handling a cat, has been viewed over 23 million times since he shared it in 2019. Unlike many viral videos, it's not humorous and nothing outrageous happens, but the combo of Burstyn's calm demeanor and his repeated instructions to "squish that cat" has endeared him to the masses.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The video truly is helpful; he shows the ways to pick up a cat that make them feel the most secure using his cats, one-year-old Claudia and 14-year-old Mr. Pirate. He explains that cats spook very easily and it's best to introduce yourself to them gently. Let them sniff your fingers, keeping your fingers curled in, and once they've sniffed you, you can often give them a light rub on the cheek or under the chin.

Picking them up is a different story. The reason many cats will claw or scratch you when you try to pick them up is because they feel unsupported or unsafe, so they'll scramble around trying to get some footing. Burstyn shows how he picks up Claudia with one hand under the chest and one hand under her abdomen. If he needs to carry her around, he squishes her into his body so she feels "nice and supported." He may even put a hand under her front paws.

cats, pets, cat handling, veterinarian, feline behavior Cats can be finicky about how they're held. Photo credit: Canva

Then came the best part of the video: "Squish That Cat"

"Now if we do have a cat who's trying to get away from us?" Burstyn said. "We always squish that cat. If you're trying to hold the cat down, whether it's to trim their nails or to give them a pill, or whether you just want to have a cat not run off for a moment, squish that cat. All you need to know about cat restraint is to squish that cat."

Burstyn explains that cats generally feel very secure being squished, even if they're really scared.

"Sometimes cats come to me in the clinic, and they're quite afraid," he said. "And you just gently squish them, and they'll sit there and kind of not hurt themselves, not hurt us. Just hang out and let us do our thing."

He demonstrated putting a towel over the cat, explaining, "If you have a towel handy, this is one of the best cat restraint tools around. You can just throw a towel on the catty and squish her with the towel, that way they won't get a claw into you if they are scrambling about a bit. Very safe and gentle, and generally cats are very, very happy to be squished like that."

cats, pets, cat handling, veterinarian, feline behavior Squish that cat. Photo credit: Canva

Dr. Burstyn also showed how to do a "football hold," tucking the cat under your arm with them facing backwards. "So this is kind of an emergency way if you really need to carry a cat somewhere in a hurry," he said. Scooping up Claudia, he explained, "Little head's under your arm, butt in your hand, and you squish her tight to your body. And with that little football carry, you can basically hold a cat very securely and very safely, because it's really hard for them to rake you with their hind legs."

If you're worried about over-squishing your cat, Dr. Burnstyn says don't. "You don't have to worry about hurting a cat," he said. "They're very, very tough little beasts. You know, just squishing them against your body's never going to do them any harm. In fact, they tend to feel more safe and secure when they're being held tightly."

Dr. Burnstyn also demonstrated how to pick up and set down a "shoulder cat" who insists on climbing onto people's shoulders and hanging out there, as Mr. Pirate does. It's highly entertaining, as Mr. Pirate is a big ol' chonky kitty.

@yozron
she loves my shoulders i guess #catcore #kittendad #kittensoftiktok #cat #fyp

People in the comments loved Dr. Burnstyn's demonstration, with several dubbing him the Bob Ross of veterinary medicine. Even people who don't have cats said they watched the whole video, and many loved Claudia and Mr. Pirate as well.

"This is just proof that cats are liquid."

"12/10 cat. Excellent squishability."

"So essentially, cats love hugs? That's the most wonderful thing i've heard all day."

"This cat is so well mannered and looks educated."

"Mr Pirate is an absolute unit."

"S q u i s h . T h a t . C a t ."

"I need 'Squish that cat' shirt.

"Dang, that actually helped with my female cat. She has been through at least two owners before me and had some bad expriences which obviously resulted in trust issues. She has now been with me for two years and it had gotten loads better, but she still did not want me to hold her. Normally I simply would have let her be, but for vet visits and such it was not an ideal situation. But then I saw this video and tried to squish the cat. And she loves it! She is turning into quite the snuggly bug. Thank you!"

So there you go. When all else fails, squish that cat and see what happens.

You can follow Dr. Burstyn on YouTube at Helpful Vancouver Vet.

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Neuroscientists say a simple, 10-second trick will help you learn things much faster

Give your brain a moment to encode what you're learning.

guitar, learning, young woman, laptop, acoustic guitar, strumming

via Canva/Photos

A woman learning how to play guitar.

Learning a new skill means studying and then practice, practice, practice. That might mean learning how to read music and then playing “Für Elise” by Beethoven over and over again. Or, if you’re learning to speak French, you have to memorize the words and then hone your pronunciation through repetition. But what would happen if you gave your brain a moment during practice to really soak in what it was doing instead of a nonstop information dump?

How to learn things faster

A 2021 study from the National Institutes of Health found that when you’re studying a new skill and practicing, you can speed up your progress by taking short breaks. Instead of keeping your head in the piano and playing for 45 minutes straight, your brain does a better job at encoding new information if you drop in a series of 10-second breaks.

The strategy makes a lot of sense for this simple reason: your brain has difficulty encoding and learning new information simultaneously. So why not give it a second to catch up?

golf, golf teacher, golf instructor, wedge, golf course A man getting golf lessons.via Canva/Photos

"Our results support the idea that wakeful rest plays just as important a role as practice in learning a new skill. It appears to be the period when our brains compress and consolidate memories of what we just practiced," the senior author of the study said, according to Fox 13 Seattle. "Understanding this role of neural replay may not only help shape how we learn new skills but also how we help patients recover skills lost after neurological injury like stroke."

How to use the 10-second memory technique

There isn’t any official time limit between when you should take a break and let your mind encode the new information. Still, neuroscientist Andrew Huberman suggests that “every few minutes” you stop what you’re doing, clear your mind, and let your brain encode the information for 10 seconds. “Now, you actually have to do the work, and how many of these to insert? It should be random,” Huberman said.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

So, if you were playing “Für Elise” on the piano, set a time for five minutes of intense playing, then when the alarm goes off, sit still for ten seconds and clear your mind of everything, almost like a meditation. Then your brain will kick into action, like a computer booting up, and encode what you just learned. Next, set a timer for three minutes; after the next encode break, set a timer for seven minutes, and so on.

sign language, learning to sign, learning a langiage, classroom, sign language teacher Students learning sigh language.via Canva/Photos

The researchers tested their hypothesis by placing a brain-scanning cap on right-handed participants who were shown a series of numbers on a computer screen and asked to type them as many times as possible with their left hand. The gains were even greater for those who did the 10-second breaks than for those who had just had a great night’s rest.

Ultimately, the 10-second technique makes a lot of sense because it’s a lot harder to concentrate on something when doing two things at the same time. You’ve got to give your brain a moment to jot down notes instead of learning and writing at the same time.

At the end of the day, what’s not to like about the 10-second technique? You get to take a break and improve your skills at the same time.

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Neuroscientists say a simple trick will help you learn any new skill a lot faster

Learning a new skill? Here's how to quickly level-up.

guitar, learning a skill, neuroscience, music, exposure, passive exposure, gardening

via Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

A woman learning how to play guitar.

Learning a new skill, such as playing an instrument, gardening, or picking up a new language, takes a lot of time and practice, whether that means scale training, learning about native plants, or using flashcards to memorize new words. To improve through practice, you have to perform the task repeatedly and receive feedback so you know whether you’re doing it correctly. Is my pitch correct? Did my geraniums bloom? Is my pronunciation understandable?

However, a new study by researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon shows that you can speed up these processes by adding a third element to practice and feedback: passive exposure. The good news is that passive exposure requires minimal effort and is enjoyable.

"Active learning of a... task requires both expending effort to perform the task and having access to feedback about task performance," the study authors explained. "Passive exposure to sensory stimuli, on the other hand, is relatively effortless and does not require feedback about performance."

woman reading, woman book, young woman, studying, new skills A woman reading a book.via Canva/Photos

How to pick up new skills faster?

So, if you’re learning to play the blues on guitar, listen to plenty of Howlin’ Wolf or Robert Johnson throughout the day. If you’re learning to cook, keep the Food Network on TV in the background to absorb some great culinary advice. Learning to garden? Take the time to notice the flora and fauna in your neighborhood or make frequent trips to your local botanical garden.

If you’re learning a new language, watch plenty of TV and films in the language you are learning. The scientists add that auditory learning is especially helpful, so listen to plenty of audiobooks or podcasts on the subject you’re learning about.

But, of course, you also have to be actively learning the skill as well by practicing your guitar for the recommended hours each day or by taking a class in languages. Passive exposure won't do the work for you, but it's a fantastic way to pick up things more quickly. Further, passive exposure keeps the new skill you're learning top-of-mind, so you're probably more likely to actively practice it.

What is passive exposure?

Researchers discovered the tremendous benefits of passive exposure after studying a group of mice. They trained them to find water by using various sounds to give positive or negative feedback, like playing a game of “hot or cold.” Some mice were passively exposed to these sounds when they weren't looking for water. Those who received this additional passive exposure and those who received active training learned to find the water reward more quickly.

gardening, woman gardening, gardening shears, leaning gardening, weeds A woman tending to her garden.via Canva/Photos

“Our results suggest that, in mice and in humans, a given performance threshold can be achieved with relatively less effort by combining low-effort passive exposure with active training,” James Murray, a neuroscientist who led the study, told University of Oregon News. “This insight could be helpful for humans learning an instrument or a second language, though more work will be needed to better understand how this applies to more complex tasks and how to optimize training schedules that combine passive exposure with active training.”

The one drawback to this study was that it was conducted on mice, not humans. However, recent studies on humans have found similar results, such as in sports. If you visualize yourself excelling at the sport or mentally rehearse a practice routine, it can positively affect your actual performance. Showing, once again, that when it comes to picking up a new skill, exposure is key.

The great news about the story is that, in addition to giving people a new way to approach learning, it’s an excuse for us to enjoy the things we love even more. If you enjoy listening to blues music so much that you decided to learn for yourself, it’s another reason to make it an even more significant part of your life.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

This article originally appeared last year.

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Brave 13-year-old swam 2.5 miles to shore, battling 4 hours to save his family swept out to sea

"I don't think I am a hero—I just did what I did."

austin appelbee, hero, heroic, heroic teenager, hero teenager, swept out to sea, ocean rescue

Photo credit: Canva

Rescue team on the shore.

A family in Australia is hailing their 13-year-old son as a hero after he saved their lives following a kayaking and paddleboarding expedition that saw them quickly drift miles off shore. Austin Appelbee bravely left his family (mother Joanne, brother Beau and sister Grace) floating in the waters of Western Australia on Friday, Jan. 30 to seek help in. The nearest land was almost four miles away.

"The wind picked up and it went from there," Joanne Appelbee told BBC News. "We lost oars, and we drifted out further.... It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly."

With every moment dragging the family further into the ocean, Joanne had to make a gut-wrenching decision: to ask Austin to attempt to swim ashore for help, knowing he may not survive.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

A mother's gut-wrenching decision

With conditions worsening and daylight fading, Joanne had to make one of the most difficult choices of her life.

"One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was to say to Austin, 'Try to get to shore and get some help, this could get really serious really quickly,'" she told the ABC News. "I knew he was the strongest and he could do it. I would have never went because I wouldn't have left the kids at sea, so I had to send somebody."

According to a statement from the WA Police Force, Austin "alerted authorities after he decided to return to shore in fading light and rough conditions. He paddled a short distance before his kayak took on water and swam approximately four kilometers (about two nautical miles) before reaching land."

Naturaliste Marine Rescue commander Paul Bresland added that Austin swam for the first two hours with a life jacket on, calling his swimming "superhuman." "And the brave fella thought he's not going to make it with a life jacket on, so he ditched it, and he swam the next two hours without a life jacket," he explained to ABC News.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The family had been stranded at sea for 10 hours when a rescue helicopter spotted Joanne and her two children clinging to a paddle board 8.5 miles offshore. A "volunteer marine rescue vessel was directed to their location and all three were successfully rescued and returned to shore."

Joanne is also being hailed a hero for tethering herself and her kids to the paddleboard as they floated further and further out. "We kept positive, we were singing, and we were joking and … we were treating it as a bit of a game until the sun started to go down, and that's when it was getting very choppy [with] very big waves," she said. "As the sun went down, I thought something's gone terribly wrong here and my fear was that [Austin] didn't make it. Then, as it got darker, yeah, I thought there was no one coming to save us. It was the end, it was definitely the end."

@cnn
A 13-year-boy swam for more than two miles in "rough conditions" to get help for his family who were stranded out at sea. Austin Appelbee told CNN affiliate 9News that he focused on happy things to keep him going. #cnn #australia

Austin Appelbee speaks

Austin shared more about his heroic battle to save his family.

"I started paddling to shore on the kayak … but it kept taking on water and I was fighting rough seas and then I thought I saw something in the water and I was really scared," he shared with ABC News. "I was trying to get the happiest things in my head, and trying to make it through, [and not think of] the bad things that will distract me."

Mentally, he had to keep himself locked in.

"And at this time, you know, the waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on … I just kept thinking 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming," he added. "And then I finally made it to shore, and I hit the bottom of the beach, and I just collapsed."

However, the physical challenge was not over. Once he made it to land, Austin had to run two kilometers (about 1.25 miles) to the family's parked car to call authorities on his mom's cell phone.

"I said, 'I need helicopters, I need planes, I need boats, my family's out at sea.' I was very calm about it," he said, adding that "nice ladies on the beach" were able to offer him food before he "just passed out."

Days later, Austin was using crutches to help him walk on incredibly sore legs. Despite the physical exertion and trauma, he remained humble about the ordeal.

"I don't think I am a hero—I just did what I did," he told BBC News.

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Gen X and Millennials share the slow-dance anthems that make them nostalgic for high school

All my life, I prayed for a song like you.

slow dances, school dances, millennials, gen x, music nostalgia

Photo credit: Canva, annastills (main image) / anlomaja (text box)

A young couple dances.

When you think back to your own school dances—from buttoned-up proms to casual after-the-ballgame romps—you may feel a tinge of wistful sadness, teenage angst, or residual awkwardness. But no matter the emotion, or perhaps because of it, you probably remember exactly which songs were playing. If you happen to hear an R&B slow jam or a classic rock power ballad on the radio, all of those feelings can come flooding back.

While some tracks transcend age, every generation has its definitive slow-dance songs. If you look around online, you'll find numerous threads devoted to the topic, with hundreds of people casting their votes. So let's all shuffle into our collective gymnasium and remember some of these eternal bangers.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"I can almost smell the gym full of kids wearing too much cologne"

Our first stop is the r/GenX subreddit, where users shared some staples from middle school and high school. The OP mentioned a handful of '80s hits from Journey ("Open Arms," "Faithfully," and "Who's Crying Now") as well as favorites from Foreigner ("Waiting for a Girl Like You" and "I Want to Know What Love Is"). They also highlighted the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes duet "Up Where We Belong," which sounds like it was scientifically engineered for slow dancing.

Here are some other popular responses:

Bryan Adams - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You"
Bryan Adams - "Heaven"
Cyndi Lauper - "Time After Time"
The Cars - "Drive"
Nazareth - "Love Hurts"
The Bangles - "Eternal Flame"

"OMG," one person wrote. "[R]eading through this I can almost smell the gym full of kids wearing too much cologne and the popcorn machine run by a lunch lady getting in some overtime."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"Still love that song!"

One song kept popping up in threads for both Xennials and Millennials: K-Ci & JoJo's 1998 R&B anthem "All My Life."

"My senior prom, I remember slow dancing to 'All My Life' by K-Ci & JoJo," one user wrote. "Still love that song!"

Another Redditor added, "STOP IT. I opened the comments to say exactly this."

These other '90s songs also got some votes:

Seal - "Kiss From a Rose"
Boyz II Men - "End of the Road"
Aerosmith - "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Savage Garden - "I Knew I Loved You"
Goo Goo Dolls - "Iris"
Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On"
All-4-One - "I Can Love You Like That"
Edwin McCain - "I'll Be"
Brian McKnight - "Back at One"

But what about the current millennium? Do teenagers even slow-dance these days? In 2023, Billboard's Kyle Denis spoke with a number of DJs to find out whether the ritual has disappeared for Gen Z. It's a fascinating look at shifting cultural norms, including how factors such as the omnipresence of camera phones and the lyrical sentiments of popular songs have helped drive that change.

"I feel like the content directly relates to it—to me, slow [dancing] goes with more romantic music," said DJ R-Tistic. "Whether it's [Jodeci's] 'Forever My Lady,' a Luther [Vandross] song, or even, for the late '90s, a D'Angelo-Lauryn Hill 'Nothing Even Matters.' Those [songs] are more about romance."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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