There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when young Jaxon Carter delivered a speech as he graduated from Kindergarten, dedicating his hard work, good grades, and spelling bee victory to his deceased mother. The 6-year-old lost his “beautiful mommy” Taryn Marie Gainey in an apartment fire in 2022, and was enrolled in a STEM-focused […] The post Kindergarten Student Brings Audience to Tears Remembering Late Mom in Graduation Speech appeared first on Good News Network.

The post Microchip Now: To Prevent Apocalypse Now by Dr. Lauren Demos DVM (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Hi, I’m Dr. Lauren! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my two adventurous cats, Pancake and Tiller. As a veterinarian, I tell people that one of the most important things you can do for a cat, is to ensure that they are microchipped. In fact, one of my cats once escaped while in the wilds of Alaska, and the only way I got her back, months later, was via her microchip. Miles away, cities away- the chip was her saving grace. She’d navigated the rugged Alaskan wilderness on her own, and without the microchip (or chip, as we often refer to it), would have had no way to communicate who she was, or where she belonged. These days, many shelters won’t adopt cats out until they are spayed/neutered and microchipped. But those that come by cats through other means, such as finding a stray or adopting a kitten from a friend, know that chips are a key part of pet ownership. And with modern technology, they can now have multiple uses. Let’s take a look. Microchips: What, How & Why? Microchips are generally placed in the scruff of a cat, under the skin, but not in muscle. Arguably the best time to do this is under sedation or general anesthesia during the time they are being de-sexed, as the needle gauge (size) is rather large, and can be uncomfortable. The microchip itself is about the size and shape of a grain of rice, and often cannot be felt once implanted. Microchips work passively: a handheld, battery-powered reader can scan a chip within a few inches of the chip, and read out a several-digit number. This number is then linked via a database to the cat owner’s information. Microchips help keep cats like Pancake and Tiller safe In clinics, I’ve had many stray cats brought in, with finders desperately wanting to reunite the stray cat with its family. The majority of these cats don’t have microchips, and those that do, often have chips that haven’t been registered, or the contact information is out of date. So, if you do get a cat with a chip, always remember to complete the additional registration steps, to link the microchip number to your contact information. And if you move or change any of your contact information, don’t forget to update the microchip, as well. And, if you ever need to look up a chip, know that there are various databases that the chip can be registered with- it’s not like a car where each car is registered to a single state. Rather, it’s like deciding to order a pizza: multiple different restaurants, each with their own menu. The American Animal Hospital Association is making things easier, as they’ve compiled a database of all the microchip registries, which is a good starting point. Legally, microchips are becoming compulsory, or required, in many places, which is a good turn of law. Recently, all of England now requires cats to be microchipped and gives owners a 30-day window to adhere. For the cats out there that cannot speak for themselves, I think this type of legislation speaks volumes: microchip your cat, so they can find their way home. The post Microchip Now: To Prevent Apocalypse Now by Dr. Lauren Demos DVM (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Books book recommendations Five SFF Works Featuring Nameless Protagonists In each of these stories, we never learn the main character’s name, for any number of intriguing reasons… By James Davis Nicoll | Published on June 26, 2024 Photo by Gahan N Rao [via Unsplash] Comment 0 Share New Share Photo by Gahan N Rao [via Unsplash] All the best protagonists have names, or so one might expect. However, from time to time one encounters protagonists that are never named in the course of their particular story, a choice made for reasons other than “the author forgot1”. Perhaps the protagonist relates the story in first-person mode, and knowing who they are, has no need to name themselves. Perhaps other purposes are served…. Consider these five works with no-name protagonists. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892) Although she herself believes herself to be unwell, the unnamed protagonist’s physician husband John knows better. All that’s wrong is a mild depression, easily cured with involuntary confinement, total isolation in an unfamiliar house, and enforced inactivity. Is this an effective cure for depression? It’s certainly an effective way to get the protagonist to pay close attention to her prison’s yellow wallpaper. The protagonist becomes increasingly convinced that the sickly yellow paper has an eldritch nature. There is, she is sure, a woman somehow creeping beyond the wallpaper. Skeptical John will be of no help in the matter—therefore it falls to the nameless woman to take proper action. John only refers to his wife by endearments, possibly not considering that she has an identity of her own. As for the wallpaper: perhaps it’s just yellow wallpaper, and the narrator has become deranged by isolation. Perhaps the paper really is a supernatural horror2. Perhaps John has inadvertently selected for his wife’s cell a room whose yellow wallpaper is as toxic as arsenical green. Or perhaps the truth incorporates all three possibilities. Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee (1977) The protagonist briefly tasted freedom in a previous book, Don’t Bite the Sun3. This experience brings home to the protagonist the many ways in which life in the supposed utopia of four-BEE fails to please. Luxuries abound, but the quasi-robots who run four-BEE methodically deny their human charges any meaningful activity. Rebellion and escape both appear impossible. There is one transgression for which the quasi-robots are not prepared. When the protagonist duels and (temporarily) kills another human, the baffled quasi-robots exile the protagonist to the desert. This is a misstep. Bored youths flock to join the exile. The quasi-robots have maintained stasis for six thousand years. Alternatives are intolerable. Something…final…will have to be done about the non-conformists. You may wonder how useful pampered youths are to the business of creating a new society in a seemingly barren wasteland. Surprisingly, the answer is “not very.” There was supposed to be a third book in the series, and Lee reportedly had an idea what it would be about: I had wished … to write a third book in which I would try to set out an alternative life-style, adventurous and stretching to mind and heart, but still, and importantly, free of the retributions of unprotected life. I did and do think a world would be feasible which gives pleasure and safety alongside excitement and development. The conclusion does not appear to have been written. If it was, it was certainly not published. Shadow by K. J. Parker (2001) Waking on a battlefield, the battered survivor cannot recall who he is, or for which army he fought. Leaving the field of bodies behind, he encounters old acquaintances. These persons prove of little help, as their first reaction on recognizing the survivor is to try to kill him. The survivor comes to three conclusions. First: he has an astonishing talent for killing would-be killers. Second: the frequency with which people try to kill him suggests he might not have been a nice person. Third, while he cannot change the past, he can try to be a better person in the future. The first two conclusions are correct. The third is, very unfortunately for many people, not. In the survivor’s defense, Shadow is a black comedy by an author who loves to write narratives in which virtues are transformed into vices. Regardless of how noble the intentions, the results generally involve carnage or worse, on a biblical scale. But at least the survivor meant well. A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez (2007) The protagonist is from birth a thing of horror and dread: supernaturally beautiful, Undead, and subject to anthropophagous urges entwined with her libido. Her relatives prudently confine the Undead beauty. Older witch Ghastly Edna frees her and trains her as a fellow witch. An unnaturally beautiful witch compelled to consume those with whom she is smitten is an unlikely savior. Nevertheless, when normally solitary goblings are somehow inspired to form an aggressive horde, the nameless witch and her companions become the world’s bulwark. Saving the world is a tremendous challenge but at the very least, it might distract the nameless witch from how very much she wishes to eat her one true love. As so often happens in books like these (Shadow and To Your Eternity both being examples), other characters eventually provide the nameless witch with a name. But the reader never finds out what that name is. To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Ōima (2016—onward) The entity that falls to earth has no name because it has no identity. Instead, it is endlessly mutable, taking its shape and form from the objects and animals around it. The latter provide the entity with its first sense of self, if not actual intelligence. The boy has no need of a name. Left behind by his migrating tribe, he lives alone in an arctic wilderness. The boy welcomes the entity, which is clad in the borrowed form of a now-dead wolf. Together, perhaps, the pair can follow the boy’s tribe to the paradise that the boy is sure waits for him. At the very least, the boy can inadvertently set the entity on the path towards personhood. The convention in Western fiction is that children, no matter how misguided the child or how dire their circumstances, enjoy plot immunity. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how not true that is for the supporting characters in To Your Eternity. Indeed, the more adorable a child is, the more likely it is that they will suffer a tragic death. There are other examples I could have named. Park Seolyeon’s 2022 A Magical Girl Retires, for example, was omitted because it was mentioned in a recent essay. Feel free to regale us with your favourite nameless protagonists in comments below.[end-mark] The authors might have wanted to vex future reviewers who might start their reviews with the name of the protagonist. But really, how likely is that? ︎It is unlikely that the yellow wallpaper is some supernatural horror, but that slim possibility is enough for me to categorize the story as fantasy horror and thus mention the story here. ︎So, titles. Lee published two books in this series, Don’t Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine. On occasion, they have been offered together in omnibus form. These omnibuses have had at least three titles: Drinking Sapphire Wine (Hamlyn, 1979), Het Jang Fenomeen (Meulenhoff, 1989), and Biting the Sun (Bantam Spectra, 1999). Yes, it is confusing that one omnibus title is identical to the title of one of the component novels and it is also confusing that another omnibus title is a variation on the title of one of the component books. Nevertheless, please do not helpfully offer me a title correction in this matter. ︎The post Five SFF Works Featuring Nameless Protagonists appeared first on Reactor.

Just How Bad Was the Bowman Loss?

Tomorrow, Earth will have a relatively close encounter with one of the largest known space rocks in the potentially hazardous asteroid class. It is known as 2011 UL21 and it is classed as a "planet-killer" in size. With a mass estimated to be about 21 billion tons, like a small mountain, it is speeding through the solar system at 25 kilometers (16 miles) per second.If that were to hit us, it would be really bad – but we do not have to worry about that for a long time. It was discovered in 2011, and at that time it had an estimated one-in-a-million chance of hitting the Earth by 2029. Further observations were able to reduce the uncertainty of its orbit pretty quickly. Just a few weeks after the first detection, the chance of it hitting before the end of this decade was dropped to one in 71 million. Now, the chance of it hitting our planet over the next century is basically nil.Tomorrow’s flyby will bring this space rock about 6.6 million kilometers (4.1 million miles) from our planet. That is 17 times the average Earth-Moon distance. The object is usually described as having a diameter of 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles), but there are uncertainties on its size and it could be as small as 1.7 kilometers and as large as 3.9 kilometers (1.05 to 2.4 miles). This close approach might help astronomers refine the size.“The term ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’ (PHA) is a precise formal definition, referring to minor planets larger than approximately 140 meters [459 feet] that can come within 7.5 million km [4.6 million miles] from the Earth,” Gianluca Masi, astrophysicist and scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project, said in a statement. “In other words, only the largest asteroids capable of approaching close enough to our planet are flagged as PHAs, which does not mean they are going to hit the Earth, but they nonetheless warrant a better monitoring.”Using data from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Masi estimated that 2011 UL21 is going to be in the top 10 largest asteroids to have come within 7.5 million km (4.6 million miles) of our planet since January 1, 1900. The closest approach of a bigger object in the last several decades was asteroid Toutatis in 2004, but still over a million kilometers (0.6 million miles) away.2011 UL21 is actually going to get closer than tomorrow's flyby in 2089, but still far away enough to not give any worry to scientists. Despite the horizon looking relatively safe, NASA and other space agencies remain concerned about space threats. A recent tabletop exercise has shown significant gaps in our preparedness.This Sunday is Asteroid Day, which aims to raise awareness of this risk and the things we can do to be ready in the event of such a threat.

One of the anti-socialist stories that has gone around the internet is that socialism has already been tried in the United States, by the settlers of the Plymouth colony. The post A Socialist Model for Survival? appeared first on Survivopedia.

Has the left forgotten what democracy means? A recent Associated Press story headlined, “Conservative-backed group is creating a list of federal workers it suspects could resist Trump plans,” describes the American Accountability Foundation’s project of identifying and building a list of rotten bureaucrats in the Department of Homeland Security. Of course, the left and public-sector unions don’t like this at all. To accuse those who expose the unelected leftist bureaucrats of working to “undermine our democracy” is a staggering feat of brazen duplicity. “The effort … has stunned democracy experts and shocked the civil service community in what they compare with the red scare of McCarthyism,” reports the AP. Skye Perryman, CEO of the advocacy group Democracy Forward, is quoted as saying, “They’re seeking to undermine our democracy. … They’re seeking to undermine the way that our government works for people.” There is nothing particularly surprising about the left’s over-the-top opposition to our project. We aim to clear the Department of Homeland Security of leftists who will obstruct future presidents’ efforts to secure the southern border, which would be a massive setback for the left’s open-borders agenda. Their actual statements, however, are disturbing indeed, and reveal something truly dark about the modern American left. Abraham Lincoln described government in America as “of the people, by the people, for the people.” America is a representative republic, in which government derives its authority from the people. That is why our laws are written in Congress by representatives whom we elect and executed by a president who is chosen every four years by “we the people.” Now, as we work to expose radical leftist bureaucrats who use their positions to obstruct and undermine the person chosen by the American people, the left has taken to a different, utterly un-American, political philosophy. To them, the American people are too dumb and “unenlightened” to decide who should govern and what they should do. Instead, the left wants these unelected liberal bureaucrats to rule. To then accuse those who expose the unelected leftist bureaucrats of working to “undermine our democracy” is a staggering feat of brazen duplicity. Bureaucrats who sabotage the elected president and act with their own agendas are the ones undermining democracy, not those who hold them accountable! Leftists may like to call this “democracy,” but they’re fooling no one. This is authoritarianism. This is tyranny. And the fact that this vision of government is now the left’s credo is terrifying. The left loves to tell us how “democracy dies in darkness,” and indeed, the darkest place in Washington, D.C., is a bureaucrat's hidden office in the bowels of his agency.

Liberal and moderate Republicans joined forces with former President Donald Trump to oust House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good in last week’s Virginia primary, with the long slog appearing to end Monday with Good still 373 votes behind his challenger, John McGuire. His scalp didn’t come cheap. A conservative stalwart who won his last election by 15 points, Good had the backing of House and Senate conservatives as well as grassroots activists. ‘This was a targeted assassination.’ Republican groups spent $5.9 million to oust the safe incumbent in the lead-up to a 2024 election in which congressional Democrats have outraised Republicans by 25% — and hold a 20% cash-on-hand advantage. Main Street PAC, the political arm of the liberal Republican Main Street Caucus, spent $451,990 on the race — or just over 20% of all the money the PAC has raised for 2024 so far. American Patriots, a super PAC funded by pro-Nikki Haley megadonors Paul Singer and Ken Griffin, spent more than anyone in the race, sending $3.4 million against Good and for his opponent, John McGuire. Major Republican and Trump donor Marjorie Buckley set up Virginians for Freedom PAC to weigh in from out of state, putting another $762,000 toward knocking Good out of Congress. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, meanwhile, remained on the sidelines — a contrast with his support for other embattled incumbents, including liberals like Rep. Tony Gonzales (Texas), conservatives like Rep. William Timmons (S.C.), and scattershot members like Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.). Ron DeSantis also stayed out of the race, even though Trump’s ire at Good was largely due to Good’s endorsement of the Florida governor’s presidential bid. Good wasn’t lacking in Republican allies so much as he was rich in Republican enemies. Conservatives in the House, Senate, and grassroots mustered more than $4.8 million in his defense, keeping the race close despite Trump’s vocal support for McGuire. The reality is that Good’s opponents were determined to make an example of the rabble-rouser. In an environment where voters’ weariness of infighting has created a surprisingly safe year for incumbents, he was both a more prominent and a weaker target than other Republicans who had gone against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), or who sided with DeSantis, or who went against liberal Republicans in their own primaries, or who opposed further spending on the foreign wars in Israel and Ukraine. “You’ve got to fight fire with fire,” Main Street Caucus member Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) told reporters after endorsing McGuire. Good had endorsed Bacon’s opponent in his own primary. “This was a targeted assassination,” one GOP staffer told Blaze News. Sign up for Bedford’s newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter. IN OTHER NEWS The Squad’s Jamaal Bowman goes down in fiery N.Y. primary Squad Democrats tempted to toast Good’s downfall might be mindful for whom the bell tolls: In New York’s 16th Congressional District, it tolls for thee. Left-wing Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost a heated primary Tuesday night to Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Latimer was backed by millions from the powerful American Israel PAC, as well as by former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, former New York Democrat Govs. David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo, and former Rep. Eliot Engel (D), whom Bowman defeated in 2020. The Squad first hit the stage in 2018, backed by a surge of Trump derangement. In the years since, they’ve spent Democrats’ political capital freely on radical experiments like “defund the police” and “abolish ICE,” successfully pressuring the broader party into compliance or at least lip service. These utopian schemes grew unpopular with the voters when the results became clear, however, leaving Democrats holding the bag and Squad members increasingly unpopular with their colleagues. By the time Bowman sided with Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, even his liberal constituents had had enough. Bowman tried to beat back accusations that he was more interested in the cause and the fame than the district by, ironically, holding a cringeworthy, R-rated rally outside his district with Squad leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “We’re going to show f***ing AIPAC the power of the motherf***ing South Bronx," Bowman told the crowd. Trump, for his part, drew nearly 10 times the roughly 1,200 attendees the Squad drew. Also, Bowman does not represent the South Bronx — his district begins nearly 10 miles to the north of where the rally was held. With $25 million spent for and against Bowman, it’s become the most expensive primary in House of Representatives history. No matter. You can start your watches (and start taking bets) for how long it takes New York 16’s outgoing congressman to call his constituents racist. Liberal Republican wins race to succeed Mitt Romney Utah saw its own mini-drama Tuesday night, with Rep. John Curtis besting Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs in the race to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, a liberal Republican and frequent Trump critic. Curtis, a Democrat turned liberal Republican, is best known for founding the House’s Conservative Climate Caucus, which seeks to paint over liberal policies with Republican paint. He heavily outraised Staggs, who was endorsed not only by Trump but by Utah’s senior senator, Mike Lee. The fire rises: The Transom: Democrats Believe Abortion Will Save Them in 2024 — but Will It? Tuesday may have marked the two-year anniversary of the end of Roe v. Wade, but it also marked the beginning of two years of steady Democrat gains. Since the Dobbs ruling, the pro-life movement has proven itself unprepared, Republicans have struggled to unify on a stand, and Democrats have capitalized, turning out voters to defend vulnerable incumbents and take difficult seats. Polling shows the fire in the belly may be cooling, however, as the initial confusion fades and the wildest Democrat rhetoric goes unrealized. Ben Domenech reports: ...There’s no question abortion was central in the 2022 midterms: Gallup found it was the second most important issue for voters the week before the election, with many Republicans caught off guard and incapable of putting out good messaging on the subject. But now, things have changed. In Gallup’s more recent polling, just 3 percent list it as a top issue. It may now have more be shifting to have an impact along the lines of gun politics — a motivator for the Democratic base, but with less appeal to independents and swing voters as a deciding factor. It’s hard to read the numbers above and see any significant portion of lost votes for Republicans at the moment...

WOOF! Gretchen Whitmer Tweets a Dog-Themed Campaign Ad and the Cringe Is Fatal

Mayorkas Says There's No Evidence People ISIS-Affiliated Group Smuggled Into the US Intend Any Harm