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Science

90-year-old tortoise is a hero to his species by becoming a first-time dad to 3 hatchlings

Way to go, daddio!

houston zoo, tortoise
Photo by David Cadenas on Unsplash

What we imagine the look on Mr/ Pickles' face to be after becoming a dad.

It’s been an exciting time for a couple of tortoises at the Houston Zoo—and really, for tortoises everywhere.

The zoo announced on its blog that their oldest resident, Mr. Pickles, a 90-year-old radiated tortoise, and his 53-year-old companion Mrs. Pickles (that’s quite an age gap there sir, but no judgment) recently welcomed three new hatchlings.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, here are the new baby names: Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño.

Clearly, Jalepeño is the spicy one of the bunch.

While this news is certainly momentous for Mr. and Mrs. Pickles, it’s also a huge achievement for the entire species, which is currently critically endangered.

Mr. Pickles has been a resident of the Houston Zoo for 36 years, and during that time had never produced offspring. So the staff, understandably, weren’t expecting incoming hatchlings any time soon. But then, just as the herpetology keeper was closing up for the day…surprise!

Apparently it was a very good thing that the keeper noticed the eggs. As the blog explained, the soil in humid Houston “isn’t hospitable” to the drier earth of Madagascar, so without human assistance, the eggs likely wouldn’t have hatched. Talk about divine timing.

Due to overcollection for illegal sales, combined with the fact that radiated tortoises naturally don’t produce much offspring, their numbers in the wild have severely dwindled. So much so that they are expected by some to go extinct in the wild, making captivities all the more important.

First-time father Mr. Pickles has made all the more important of a contribution, since he is considered the most “genetically valuable” radiated tortoise in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan.

Basically, the zoo said it best. “These baby Pickles are a big dill.”

As for Dill, Gherkin and (my favorite) Jalepeño, the trio will live in the zoo’s Reptile & Amphibian House until they grow big enough to reunite with their parents.

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animals & wildlife
Community

Decluttering top of mind for 2024? This Facebook group can help

This online community offers easy-to-implement advice for decluttering, organizing, and cleaning up your home and your life with support from 125,000 members.

With the new year comes plenty of resolutions we all vow to keep up with the best of intentions. But by February 1, our resolve has often waned as life gets in the way and things go back to how they were. What we all need a little more of is motivation.

When we participate in something collectively, it’s easier to meet goals and maintain the enthusiasm to get things done. While the support of a friend or two is great, imagine having the power of an entire online community cheering you on and offering advice along the way.

This is where the Daily Decluttering Challenge Facebook group comes in. This online community offers easy-to-implement advice for decluttering, organizing, and cleaning up your home and your life with support from 125,000 members.

“By building a network of people who can support and encourage you along the way, you can make progress towards your goals faster and more effectively. Remember, no one achieves success alone, and having a strong support system can make the difference in a goal set versus a goal achieved,” says Kristin Burke, a goal achievement coach.

In addition to tips for tidying up around the house, members share advice on how to tackle one thing at a time, where to donate excess items, and what they do to exercise more willpower to avoid buying new things.

For anyone hoping to declutter their lives in the new year, this Facebook group has the perfect challenge to get you started.

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Family

Woman with an unfortunate name is a warning for parents to consider before naming their kids

Evidently, this is a big problem.

via TheSam_SHow/TikTok and Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

Samantha has trouble every time she gets a new work email.

The recent trend of parents going out of their way to give their children unique names has brought up a lot of discussion on social media. Some of these names sound cute when a child is 5 years old. But will Caeleigh, Zoomer or Rhyedyr look like a serious adult on a job application in a few years?

A recent viral video on TikTok is a unique twist on the current discussion surrounding names. Samantha Hart has a name that doesn’t seem like it would draw any negative attention in professional circles. However, her parents didn’t consider email conventions when they named her back in the late ‘90s when email was new.

“My name is Samantha Hart,” the 27-year-old said. “Most companies use the email designation of first initial, last name, meaning my email would be shart.” For the uninitiated, a shart is an unintentional release when one thinks they only have gas.

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funny names
Pop Culture

Female comedian's joke about about a date with 'guy's guy' goes right over the head of Fox News

"I felt the feminism leaving my body."

@madihart_soccer/TikTok

When the joke doesn't land, but that makes it even better.

Back in December of 2023, LA-based, progressive comedian Madi Hart made a joke that went viral in the most unlikely of places: right wing media.

Here’s what happened: Hart had just been on a date with someone she described as a “guy’s guy,” who incidentally paid for everything on said date. In a TikTok clip, Hart joked that because of that, she joked "I felt the feminism leaving my body,” based on a long running conservative meme.

Apparently conservatives on Twitter missed the memo that Hart wasn’t actually serious about abandoning her feminist values. Cue a comedy of errors way more hilarious than the initial joke itself.

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tiktok
Pop Culture

People share the 18 things that are a 'subtle sign' someone is really smart

"They effortlessly communicate complex concepts in a simple way."

via PixaBay

Albert Einstein

One of the strangest things about being human is that people of lesser intelligence tend to overestimate how smart they are and people who are highly intelligent tend to underestimate how smart they are.

This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect and it’s proven every time you log onto Facebook and see someone from high school who thinks they know more about vaccines than a doctor.

The interesting thing is that even though people are poor judges of their own smarts, we’ve evolved to be pretty good at judging the intelligence of others.

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intelligence
Women's Health

A young journalist is using social media to highlight a hidden struggle of war for women

Women and girls are without feminine hygiene products increasing risk of infection.

Bisan Owda|Instagram/Aris Leoven|Canva

Young journalist highlights period poverty during war

Many citizens of western countries have no experience living in a war zone and the toll it takes on a person's overall wellbeing. Usually to protect the civilian population, other countries open their borders to allow those vulnerable inside so their needs can be met without the constant threat of harm. But not every population has the option to leave their war torn country for safety with the comfort of knowing they'll be able to return when it's safe.

For some people, they have to stay where they are and make do with what's available. This means dealing with situations that people who are donating to assist innocent civilians may not realize things that are needed outside of food, water and baby formula.

Bisan Owda, 25, is a journalist in Gaza who has made it her mission to strip the shame away from an issue unique to women trapped in the middle of a war.

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palestine

Comedian cleverly tricks an online troll into coming to his show and exposes him live

It was so good even the troll had to laugh.

via Rhys James/YouTube

Rhys James surprises a troll by outing him in front of an audience.

“Comedians Giving Lectures” is a UK show that features funny people competing against each other to see who can give the best TED-style talk. One of the most memorable was by 32-year-old comedian Rhys James, who lectured about online stalking and his speech ended with a twist. He outed a surprised audience member as one of his online trolls.

The lecture opens with a bit on how just about everyone does a bit of social media stalking, whether it's old-school friends or former love interests. But then he asks the big question: When do we know we’ve gone too far? Is it scrolling through hundreds of posts on someone’s page or accidentally liking a photo someone posted years ago?

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Health

How OLIPOP Became America's Fastest-Growing Functional Beverage

True

Soda is entwined in the American experience. From our sports games to the movie theater, every child’s birthday, and simply in most American refrigerators, soda is ubiquitously tied to our every day. It has become one of the biggest businesses in the world with fierce competition among brands, fighting not only for the American dollar but for a space in our collective consciousness.

But we all now know it’s bad for you, plain and simple.

Enter OLIPOP, the first soda to break the sugary mold and enter Americans’ refrigerators en masse. OLIPOP's humble beginnings start by rewinding the clock almost two decades ago. Co-founder, CEO, and Formulator Ben Goodwin was searching for the most scientifically credible and accessible way to promote microbiome and digestive health to everyone.

Like a mad soda scientist, Ben was on a mission to make a soda that’s both delicious and supports digestive health. To truly grasp Ben's passion for health, let's journey even further back in time to his teenage years. Anxious, overweight, and disenchanted with the low-fiber, high-sugar Standard American Diet (SAD), Ben recognized the need for a transformation. He overhauled his lifestyle and diet and lost 50lbs. As he continued down the path of rigorous nutritional experimentation, Ben discovered that his lifestyle changes not only enhanced his energy levels and physical well-being but also positively impacted his mental health and cognitive functioning.

This health journey eventually led to his discovery of the microbiome—a vast community of trillions of bacteria influencing everything from the immune system to digestive functioning to emotional health. As health experts like to point out, our modern-day microbiomes lack the flourishing diversity of healthy bacteria. This is largely due to our diets, characterized by a scarcity of fiber and an excess of added sugars. The challenge lies in the fact that, in our busy lives, most of us don't have the luxury to wander through forests and woods, picking berries, and searching for fibrous roots. But yet, we desperately need a diet that’s nutritious, diverse, fruit-full, vegetable-stuffed, and fiber-filled.

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