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Incredible video shows man on jet ski rescuing surfer from 100-foot deadly wave

You may catch yourself holding your breath the entire time.

Pedro Miranda YouTube screenshot

Video shows man on jet ski rescuing surfer from 100-foot wave.

Surfing is a skill that not everyone possesses. It takes an incredible amount of core strength, stamina and swimming ability to be able to paddle out into the ocean for a few-minute ride on a wave. But no matter how good someone is at the sport, falling off of the board is just part of the process. The majority of the time, a rescue isn't needed when an experienced surfer takes a tumble, but sometimes surfers need a little help.

Veteran surfer Salvador Villas-Boas was catching waves in Nazaré, Portugal, when he got bumped off of his board and tossed into the water near rocks. Probably not something Villas-Boas is unaccustomed to, but on this day, the waves were huge and he had seconds to get out of the way before a ginormous 100-foot wave came crashing down on top of him.

A wave that large could easily be deadly, but lucky for Villas-Boas, professional jet ski rescuer Ramon Laureano was nearby, ready to swoop in and grab the surfer to pull him to safety. The entire dramatic rescue was caught on video.

In the video, Villas-Boas sort of bobs in the water as the wave begins to swell. Within what feels like a split second, Laureano appears on his jet ski grabbing Villas-Boas' hand to quickly guide him to the back of the watercraft. Tension builds as the wave continues to get bigger behind the two men, but as soon as Villas-Boas is holding on to the jet ski, Laureano takes off. The 100-foot wave is towering over the men who are now in a race against the clock.

The deadly wave crashes down on the men as Villas-Boas flops and tosses, holding on for dear life while the jet ski driver throttles full speed. The intense rescue only lasts a few minutes and ends with the jet ski overturned and the men swimming the rest of the way.

“With more than 20 years of big wave experience, Ramon performed one of the most difficult rescues one can attempt in Nazaré. To pick up someone directly on the first peak’s impact zone between waves is something you don’t see every day here. Ramon was a real hero, no doubt," Pedro Miranda, who recorded the moment, remarked according to Greek Reporter.

Check out the breath-stopping video below:

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surfer rescue

Well Being

New Portuguese law bans employers from contacting their employees after work

via Web Summit/Flickr

Working from home just got more manageable in Portugal.

There are a lot of great advantages that come with working from home. There's no commute. It's easier to care for your kids. And you can do your job while sitting in your comfiest pair of sweats.

However, one of the major drawbacks is that your home starts to become more like your office. It's a lot harder to leave work at the office when you can hop on your computer and start working at any moment. That makes it difficult to completely disconnect from your job when it's time to relax and spend time with the family.

Portugal took dramatic steps to improve work-life balance in the country on Friday when it approved a new set of laws to address the changing workplace. Under the new laws, employers can face penalties for contacting their employees outside of office hours.

That means you don't have to respond to emails while you're making dinner or feel stressed that you'll have to text your boss while relaxing at a weekend barbecue. There's also something wonderful about knowing that you won't be blindsided by a work request while you're getting some quality R and R.

The new laws also mandate that employers help pay for expenses incurred by remote working, such as higher electricity and internet bills.

The new laws forbid employers from monitoring employees when they work from home, while allowing parents of young children to work from home without making arrangements in advance.

The laws are limited to companies with 10 employees or more.

"The pandemic has accelerated the need to regulate what needs to be regulated," Minister of Labour and Social Security Ana Mendes Godinho said, according to Euro News.

Portuguese officials hope the new laws will make the country a more attractive place for remote workers to relocate.

"We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in, we want to attract them to Portugal," she continued.

In a new law, Portugal just made it illegal for your boss to text you after work.\n\nMeanwhile, America is the only country in the developed world without paid family leave. Not only can our bosses text us after work, but they can text us to come in on the same day our kid is born.
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@Fifty Shades of Whey) 1636398156

Portugal's new labor laws make it seem as though the country is far ahead of the labor curve; however, France was focused on work-life balance six years ago. In May 2016, France enacted a new "right to disconnect" rule that says if you're a company of 50 employees or more, you cannot email an employee after typical work hours.

These new laws were designed to allow workers to distance themselves from the office when they're off and to allow them to get the full advantage of their time off.

"All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant," Benoit Hamon of the French National Assembly told the BBC in 2016. "Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash — like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails — they colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down."

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9 delightfully eerie photos from inside a 187-year-old doll hospital.

On the corner of a bustling city square in Lisbon, Portugal, stands an old hospital.

Like most of the buildings on the square, it's quite old — part of Lisbon's Praça da Figuera ("Square of the Fig Tree"), established in the 18th century. Yet hospital still admits new patients, checking their ailments, and, occasionally, wrapping them in bubble wrap.

Yes, bubble wrap. That's because this isn't a hospital for humans. The sign the sign above the door says it all: "Hospital de Bonecas" — The Doll Hospital.

Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

Founded in 1830, this hospital staff spends its days repairing and restoring dolls, stuffed animals, and other toys. Some of those healed may "walk" away with just a couple of stitches or a bit of paint, but other patients require much more serious care.

This doll hospital has no doubt seen a lot of toys come through the door during its 187-year tenure. (There was apparently a somewhat famous Bride of Chucky doll a few years back.) But many of its patients are more than just toys to the families who love them: One may have been the baby Jesus from a family's heirloom nativity scene, or a gift from a lost grandparent, or the last thing a refugee family was able to save from a previous life.

Though the Hospital de Bonecas may be focused on repairing porcelain and plastic, it's essentially treating the toys' human owners for something known as "saudade" — a Portuguese word for the longing, nostalgic feeling that remains after a loved one is gone.

“We work with feelings more than strictly with the objects,” Manuela Cutileiro, who runs the hospital, told Reuters. “It has always been our job to, ultimately, cure the saudades.”

Check out some pictures of the Hospital de Bonecas healing feelings below:

Cutileiro dresses up a doll that's been repaired. Like the dolls, the shop has been handed down in her family for five generations.

Besides being the owner, Cutileiro is also a doll surgeon and former primary school teacher. Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

The dolls arrive in all manner of conditions. This one is badly damaged.

Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

Donated, owner-less toys may serve as erzatz organ donors.

Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

A donor might contribute an arm to an incoming patient.

Or maybe even a head.

Even the oddest expressions can find their match. Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

Here, a variety of Barbies wait on a net while waiting to be prepared. Shot from below, the dolls seem to form a kind of strange circus act.

Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

A woman repairs a doll at the hospital.

Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

Once repaired, the dolls are ready to be played with, posed, and taken home again.

Photo from Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images.

Prices range from about $5 for minor repairs to several hundred dollars for major antique repairs — but if it means being able to reconnect once again with a lost loved one, that's well worth the price.

An athlete with a reputation for 'selfish' play just made a very unselfish move.

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest soccer players in the game's storied history. And that's not really up for dispute.

Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images.

The prolific Real Madrid and Portugal scorer has racked up more than 500 goals throughout his career and holds more records than would comfortably fit in any article about him.

The man is a true talent, known for his powerful leg and outstanding footwork that makes defenders look absolutely silly.

For example:

GIF via JavierNathaniel/YouTube.

The guy's got moves, that's for sure, but he's also got a (sometimes not-so-great) reputation for being pretty "selfish."

"Selfish," "petulant," and "self-absorbed" are all words that have been used to describe the striker's play and attitude.

Who needs passing when you can do this? He's the one taking the shot. GIF via JavierNathaniel/YouTube.

Given his knack for scoring, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that he hit the winning goal in the 2016 Champions League final.

Facing off against rival Atlético Madrid, Ronaldo clinched victory for Real Madrid when his turn came up during the decisive shootout. It's the type of goal you could watch over and over, just admiring its beauty.

GOOOAAL!

And as a Champions League winner, Ronaldo was entitled to a 600,000-euro bonus. What he did with that money might come as a shock, though: He gave it away.

It's not immediately clear where the roughly $675,000 donation went, but he reportedly instructed his agent prior to the game to donate the money on his behalf should they win.

How can someone with a reputation as being "selfish" and "self-absorbed" also be so unbelievably charitable? People are complex! Sometimes it's good not to judge a book by its meticulously coiffed cover.

Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images.

Ronaldo has actually been one of the sports world's top philanthropists during his career, having supported charities such as UNICEF, Save the Children, and World Vision. But people don't talk about that side of him much.

The whole thing might have you as faked out as this defender. GIF via JavierNathaniel/YouTube.

Life is full of so much more than clear-cut, black-and-white situations. Realistically, most of us live in the gray between.

Maybe this is can be a lesson for all of us in not being so quick to make snap judgments.

So congratulations on your win, Ronaldo, and good on you for making such an impressive donation!

He's the one taking the shot. GIF via JavierNathaniel/YouTube.

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Heroes

For 107 hours, Portugal didn't need any fossil fuels. Here's how they did it.

Can you remember where you were from 6:45 a.m. May 7 to 5:45 p.m. May 11?

A lot happened during those 107 hours. The bison became our new national mammal. President Barack Obama announced that he would be the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima. Attorney General Loretta Lynch delivered a soul-stirring condemnation of North Carolina's discriminatory HB2 bill.

U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

Something pretty wild happened in Portugal during that time too. For those 107 hours, Portugal was a completely renewable country.

Photo from Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images.

For just under five days, Portugal generated all of the electricity it needed from completely renewable sources. Fossil fuels still burned for other stuff — cars, for instance — but for those magical 107 hours, 100% of their electricity demand was covered by renewables.

The news comes from a report by the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association and Zero, a renewable energy association. In 2011, the country performed a similar feat but only for a few hours.

Part of what's really cool is that Portugal isn't tied to just one clean energy technology. It's trying a lot of different ones.

A wave power machine in near the Portuguese town of Povoa de Varzim. Photo from Joao Abreu Miranda/AFP/Getty Images.

As of 2015, about 22% of the country's electricity is coming from wind power alone, but Portugal also uses hydroelectric, wave, geothermal, and solar power as well as biofuels (which are the renewable cousins to fossil fuels).

What might be more impressive is how quickly Portugal's renewable energy sector has grown.

In 2013, Portugal got about 26% of its energy from renewables. By 2015, that had grown to more than 50%.

A solar power plant in Serpa, Portugal. Photo from Ceinturion/Wikimedia Commons.

How did they do it so fast? Portugal's government has invested in renewable energy like crazy. Portugal has been giving renewable energy producers guaranteed prices and payments as well as picking up a lot of the new infrastructure check.

Yes, this has left a considerable deficit for the government to deal with, but it says it has plans to eliminate it.

Portugal's not the only country with an impressive record in renewable energy lately. Take Denmark, for example.

Denmark's amazing at wind power. In fact, one particularly windy day last year generated 140% of the country's electricity needs.

Danish Queen Margrethe visits a offshore wind farm in 2013. Photo from Henning Bagger/AFP/Getty Images.

In fact, tons of countries are getting in on this. Germany recently generated so much renewable energy consumers were actually paid to use their electricity. In 2014, Latvia, Austria, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland also generated the majority of their electricity need from renewables.

Renewable energy is happening. Fast. And America can do this too.

The United States still gets the vast majority of its electricity from nonrenewable resources, particularly coal and natural gas, but with the right programs, it's estimated we could provide as much as 80% of our energy needs through renewables by 2050.

Portugal didn't use magic to make its record 107-hour run happen. That success was based on political will, investment, and readily available technologies — stuff we can, and should, start doing today.

portugal

Incredible video shows man on jet ski rescuing surfer from 100-foot deadly wave

You may catch yourself holding your breath the entire time.

New Portuguese law bans employers from contacting their employees after work

9 delightfully eerie photos from inside a 187-year-old doll hospital.

On the corner of a bustling city square in Lisbon, Portugal, stands an old hospital.

Cutileiro dresses up a doll that's been repaired. Like the dolls, the shop has been handed down in her family for five generations.

The dolls arrive in all manner of conditions. This one is badly damaged.

Donated, owner-less toys may serve as erzatz organ donors.

A donor might contribute an arm to an incoming patient.

Or maybe even a head.

Here, a variety of Barbies wait on a net while waiting to be prepared. Shot from below, the dolls seem to form a kind of strange circus act.

A woman repairs a doll at the hospital.

Once repaired, the dolls are ready to be played with, posed, and taken home again.

Cristiano Ronaldo reminds us why we shouldn't be so quick to judge others.

An athlete with a reputation for 'selfish' play just made a very unselfish move.

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest soccer players in the game's storied history. And that's not really up for dispute.

The guy's got moves, that's for sure, but he's also got a (sometimes not-so-great) reputation for being pretty "selfish."

Given his knack for scoring, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that he hit the winning goal in the 2016 Champions League final.

And as a Champions League winner, Ronaldo was entitled to a 600,000-euro bonus. What he did with that money might come as a shock, though: He gave it away.

Life is full of so much more than clear-cut, black-and-white situations. Realistically, most of us live in the gray between.

For 107 hours, Portugal didn't need any fossil fuels. Here's how they did it.

Can you remember where you were from 6:45 a.m. May 7 to 5:45 p.m. May 11?

Something pretty wild happened in Portugal during that time too. For those 107 hours, Portugal was a completely renewable country.

Part of what's really cool is that Portugal isn't tied to just one clean energy technology. It's trying a lot of different ones.

What might be more impressive is how quickly Portugal's renewable energy sector has grown.

Portugal's not the only country with an impressive record in renewable energy lately. Take Denmark, for example.

Renewable energy is happening. Fast. And America can do this too.

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