A 5-year-old girl was reported missing recently near Tampa‚ after the autistic child wandered off and got lost in a swamp. The haunt of snapping turtles‚ alligators‚ water moccasins‚ and other beasties‚ Florida swamps are no place for an unattended child‚ but fortunately a coordinated rescue operation by the sheriff’s office located her before disaster […] The post Deputies Rescue 5-yo Girl With Autism Wandering in a Florida Swamp: “We Were Looking for You‚ Sweetie’ appeared first on Good News Network.

Book Recommendations SFF Bestiary Tracking the North American Bigfooter: John O’Connor’s The Secret History of Bigfoot Every first-person account is essentially unreliable… By Judith Tarr | Published on March 4‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed John O’Connor’s book on Bigfoot‚ subtitled Field Notes on a North American Monster‚ is exactly what I’d hoped for when I pulled it out of the virtual pile of nonfiction Bigfootiana. It’s brand new‚ with a comprehensive bibliography‚ and it sums up its predecessors in sometimes exhaustive detail. It’s also a personal journey‚ which is often illuminating‚ not only for facts and figures but for insight into the author’s mind and motivations. Every first-person account is essentially unreliable. That’s one of O’Connor’s themes. He’s no more immune to it than any of the Bigfoot hunters he met and interviewed and trekked through the wilderness with‚ and he’s generally honest about it.   Human memory‚ he reminds us‚ is subject to editing from the moment the memory forms. The further back in time it is‚ the more it’s revised‚ its details altered‚ its individual elements transformed by the witness’ expectations and biases. We all do it‚ no matter how hard we try to remain objective. We remember what we want to remember‚ or what others want us to remember‚ and we alter our memory of events to fit the desired pattern. O’Connor’s book is not so much about the cryptid called‚ among many other things‚ Bigfoot‚ as about the humans who dedicate large parts of their lives to proving the creature exists. The world is full of stories of giant hairy apelike creatures‚ but O’Connor maintains that the epicenter of Bigfoot belief is North America‚ and specifically the United States. Although Bigfoot is not exclusively an American phenomenon‚ a certain subset of Americans have gone all-in on the concept. Bigfooters‚ they call themselves. They get together for hunts. They have regional associations. They gather for conferences‚ complete with name badges and merch tables and celebrity guests. They’re numerous enough to support a notable television presence‚ including multiple seasons of Finding Bigfoot‚ from 2011 to 2018‚ and episodes of more general paranormal and monster series. None of them‚ not even the hundred episodes of Finding Bigfoot‚ has ever found conclusive evidence. The videos have been debunked‚ the footprints explained away. There are no bones‚ no bodies. And yet Bigfooters persist in their belief that somewhere out there‚ hidden in the wilderness‚ are viable populations of giant‚ hairy‚ malodorous‚ often noisy apelike creatures. Hundreds of people insist that they have seen Bigfoot—crossing the road‚ running up a mountainside‚ peering out of the deep woods. Killer-monster movies notwithstanding‚ they’re not usually aggressive. Some of the lore associates their presence with feelings of intense fear‚ but they’ve seldom been accused of attacking humans. For the most part‚ they seem to just want to be left alone. O’Connor proposes that Bigfoot doesn’t need to be an actual living creature. Most of the evidence of its existence can be ascribed to everything from bears to moose to raccoons. But that’s not what matters. Bigfoot‚ he says‚ occupies an essential space in the American imagination. It’s an expression of a certain facet of the human psyche‚ the need to believe in something other than mundane reality. People want to believe‚ and what they believe in‚ in this case‚ is the archetypal Wild Man‚ the free spirit of the woods‚ unencumbered by the constrictions of civilization. Cultures all over the world have told stories of a creature like this. What makes the modern American version unique‚ according to O’Connor‚ is the depth of Bigfooters’ belief. There’s an almost religious aspect to it‚ a deliberate choice of faith over facts (or lack thereof). And what they believe in is a certain kind of American ideal: the rugged individualist‚ the dweller in the forest primeval. Bigfooters’ America is a specific cultural entity. It’s almost exclusively white‚ predominantly male‚ and has a distinct tilt toward the right side of the political spectrum. A significant proportion of Bigfooters have military or law-enforcement backgrounds. White male journalist O’Connor‚ based in Boston and distinctly not conservative in his politics‚ manages to get along with the subjects of his study. He doesn’t get into any open conflicts‚ that he will admit to. (I’ll note here that O’Connor did try to investigate Native American traditions‚ without much success. He wasn’t welcomed into those communities.) The Bigfooters he interviews and goes hunting and conferencing with seem to accept him without prejudice. They take him in‚ tell him their stories‚ share their food and camping equipment. Not all of them will let him publish their names‚ but they’re generous with their time and information. They are everywhere in the United States. The Pacific Northwest‚ of course‚ which has one of the last remnants of old-growth forest‚ but California‚ too‚ and Texas‚ and Kentucky‚ and all the way up into New England. O’Connor has some very unflattering things to say about the northern end of the Appalachian Trail‚ and lays curses on the head of the man who designed it. O’Connor likes to complain‚ and professes not to be particularly outdoorsy‚ and yet he’s prone to intervals of solo and communal hiking in serious wilderness. Bigfooting isn’t all that alien a pursuit for him‚ insofar as he’s studying the hunters rather than the quarry. Buy the Book The Secret History of Bigfoot John O'Connor Field Notes on a North American Monster Buy Book icon-close The Secret History of Bigfoot John O'Connor Field Notes on a North American Monster Field Notes on a North American Monster Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget One fairly lengthy section of the book goes off on what appears to be a tangent‚ but it ties in closely with O’Connor’s theme of persistent belief in a nonexistent creature. At one point he travels down to Arkansas in search of another kind of cryptid‚ a creature that actually existed but had been thought to be extinct: the ivory-billed woodpecker. I remember the breathless excitement in the news-sphere when it seemed that scientists had found a surviving population‚ and the controversy that followed. The upshot‚ as O’Connor explains‚ is that the apparent sighting was a misidentification. The bird the first person saw was most likely another‚ still extant species‚ a pileated woodpecker‚ which in certain lights may resemble the ivory-bill. Subsequent sightings seem to have been manifestations of an all too human trait: people see what they expect to see. The ultimate decider‚ for O’Connor‚ was the expert who pointed out that ivory-bills left distinctive signs of their feeding behavior‚ and none of those has been found. The habitat has been destroyed; the bird is extinct. O’Connor extrapolates from the bird to Bigfoot. People want to believe‚ but certain essential kinds of evidence have never been found. Bigfooters maintain that bodies in the deep forest disintegrate rapidly; that hunters can hunt bears or deer or birds and never actually see one; that Bigfoot is just very‚ very good at hiding. And yet‚ again‚ an expert points out that regardless of how fast soft tissue may decay or be consumed by scavengers‚ bones persist for decades. Bones of known animals turn up all the time. The footprints are most likely bear tracks‚ if they’re not outright hoaxes. The videos are probably humans in monkey suits. None of it is real—except Bigfooters’ desire for it to be. The heart of it all is the human need to believe in something beyond themselves. We dream; we fantasize. We make up stories. The Bigfoot story speaks to a certain segment of Americans. It manifests an ideal; it’s something to hold on to in a rapidly changing world. Maybe there is no Bigfoot. And yet—maybe. Maybe there is.[end-mark] The post Tracking the North American Bigfooter: John O’Connor’s <;i>;The Secret History of Bigfoot<;/i>; appeared first on Reactor.

Movies &; TV Extraordinary The Funniest SFF TV Show You’re (Probably) Not Watching Great comedies are easy to miss these days‚ but “Extraordinary” may be the funniest‚ most delightful show since “The Good Place” By Charlie Jane Anders | Published on March 4‚ 2024 Credit: Hulu icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed Credit: Hulu One of the frustrating things about loving television is the extent to which a small number of shows seem to suck up all of the attention—and if you love TV comedies‚ it’s even worse. As many have noted‚ a lot of TV’s most acclaimed comedy series barely even try to be funny of late. You’d never know that we’re living in a golden age of TV comedy right now. We’re utterly blessed with shows like We Are Lady Parts‚ Poker Face‚ Star Trek: Lower Decks‚ Abbott Elementary‚ the recently-ended Letterkenny and Reservation Dogs‚ and the gone-too-soon Minx‚ Mrs. Davis‚ and Rutherford Falls. That list barely scratches the surface of all the good stuff coming out right now‚ and a lot of those shows have barely gotten any of the fanfare they deserve. There’s one TV comedy that I love wholeheartedly and wish everybody was watching and talking about right now—and unlike most of the shows listed above‚ it’s still coming out. That show is called Extraordinary‚ and I am obsessed with it—I’ve already seen every episode at least twice. Extraordinary is one of those shows that manages to be sidesplittingly funny‚ and also make you care deeply about its characters. It’s up there with The Good Place in terms of great characters and fascinating worldbuilding—words I do not type lightly. Season two of Extraordinary arrives on Hulu on Wednesday‚ March 6‚ so there’s still time to marathon the first season (it’s only eight episodes) and get caught up. Here is the trailer for season one: Warning: minor spoilers for the first season of Extraordinary ahead… Extraordinary takes place in a world where almost everybody has a superpower. Some people have awesome powers‚ like flight or super strength‚ but many people have powers that are simply weird or annoying. The main character‚ Jen‚ is one of the few people who hasn’t manifested a superpower‚ and this turns her into a second-class citizen‚ stuck in a dead-end job. Jen is on a quest to unlock whatever her power turns out to be‚ helped by her flatmates Carrie and Kash. Carrie has the power to channel any dead person‚ and she mostly uses this in her job as a paralegal to bring back deceased clients so they can settle questions. Kash‚ meanwhile‚ has the ability to rewind time about fifteen minutes‚ and wants to be a superhero despite being utterly rubbish at it. (Because of a thing called “superhero fatigue‚” I must emphasize that this is not a show about superheroes‚ apart from that one extremely silly subplot.) There’s a fourth main character‚ whose nature I can’t spoil‚ since it’s a huge storyline in season one. Suffice to say that he’s my favorite character in the show‚ and you can glimpse him in the above trailer. So…. I compared extraordinary to The Good Place earlier—overweening hubris!—and I stand by it. Jen‚ The main character‚ is very reminiscent of Eleanor Shellstrop: selfish‚ shallow‚ an underachiever who wants awesome things without having to work for them. Jen is on a similar path to Eleanor‚ I think: slowly growing a little bit more of a conscience and an awareness of other people‚ while also learning to live with herself. Most shows about superpowers are inevitably about good versus evil‚ or how to use your powers wisely and responsibly. Extraordinary sidesteps these issues and mostly treats superpowers as an annoyance‚ or as a cheat code to allow people to be a little bit more self-centered and get away with stuff. The characters who are most eager to be defined by their unique abilities tend to be the least interesting otherwise‚ as if having a flashy superpower provides a substitute for a real personality. If anything‚ this show uses the concept of having a special trait to comment on conformity: everybody is expected to have a superpower‚ no matter how pointless or cruddy‚ and society overvalues something that mostly has no real social value. Jen doesn’t want powers because she can do great things with them‚ she just doesn’t want to be left out and looked down upon. And the powers‚ at times‚ are off-the-chain funny—one thing I love about Extraordinary is the way it keeps finding ridiculous new uses for superpowers. The first season finale has one of the cleverest time-loopy storylines I’ve ever seen. When I first started watching Extraordinary‚ I was a tad worried that it was going to be full of cringe humor—the British really love to put self-centered people into humiliating situations. (Case in point: Fawlty Towers‚ a lot of Tom Sharpe’s oeuvre.) And yes‚ there are some very cringey scenes here and there‚ especially when Jen gives in to her worst impulses and winds up in a mess as a result. But this is a show that genuinely seems to like its characters‚ and keeps finding new sides to them rather than playing the same side over and over again. Even just over the course of one season‚ the four leads have evolved a lot‚ and Jen in particular seems to grow up a bit. I quickly found myself super invested in Jen and Carrie‚ in particular—and Kash is utterly lovable despite being‚ at times‚ a bit of a wanker. Extraordinary is funny enough to make up for the total lack of funniness among most of the award-winning‚ celebrated comedy shows on recent TV. It’s also a constantly inventive piece of speculative fiction‚ that bursts with ideas. I cannot wait to see where season two takes its themes of manky empowerment and cruddy chosen family. Please give this show a chance—like I said‚ if you start right now‚ you’ll be caught up in time for season two![end-mark] This article was originally published at Happy Dancing‚ Charlie Jane Anders’ newsletter‚ available on Buttondown. The post The Funniest SFF TV Show You’re (Probably) Not Watching appeared first on Reactor.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is the perfect “just one more run” game that would pair perfectly with the mobility of the Nintendo Switch. Here’s whether you can enjoy Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor on Nintendo Switch. Deep Rock Galactic Survivor Switch: Is it available? Sadly‚ Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is not currently on Nintendo Switch. It’s a huge bummer that Switch owners can’t enjoy my favorite single-stick shooter especially because it’s a game that isn’t too technically demanding. While it’s not available yet‚ there might be good news in store. Related: Best Scout weapons in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor‚ ranked Will Deep Rock Galactic Survivor come to Switch? Just because Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor isn’t currently available on Nintendo Switch doesn’t mean it will never get there. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is currently in Early Access and it’s very rare for games to hit consoles in Early Access....

With the rapidly approaching final seaon of Destiny 2 getting closer every day‚ The Season of the Wish is finally bringing together it’s own story. With the leaks and reveals of the Closer to The Heart quests‚ there are a few things we can glean about the direction Destiny 2 is planning to take. Closer to The Heart Destiny 2 questline leak The most glaring pointer to the ending of The Season of The Wish is the newest Triumph that has appeared. The Triumph titled Closer to The Heart has been released in preparation for the new quests coming up. We can expect the final missions of the Season of The Wish to drop around the end of April or the beginning of May. Image via Reddit The newest Triumph has nothing to do with current missions in the game. So‚ it can only be attributed to the new ones coming up. The name alone tells us a lot about what we can expect‚ knowing where we are in the Destiny 2 story so far. What to expect from Closer to The Heart The Witness has c...

Completing missions for Chadley in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is a great way to earn Materia and other rare rewards‚ but sometimes‚ the enemies he tasks you with defeating are frustrating to fight. One such example is Fiend Intel 6: Voltaic Canine‚ which requires you to Pressure‚ Stagger‚ and defeat a Thunderclaw. The Thunderclaw is one of the hardest enemies to fight in the early game portion of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth since it has a very particular weakness that you might not have access to yet. If you have the right Materia‚ however‚ then taking down the Thunderclaw and compelting all optional objectives for this Fiend Intel mission is a breeze. How to Pressure and Stagger Thunderclaw in FF7 Rebirth To Pressure the Thunderclaw in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‚ you need to inflict it with a detrimental status effect. Any debuff works‚ so you can cast Bio to poison it or Deprotect to lower its physical defense. Red XIII knows Bio by default‚ and you can buy Poison Materia from the sho...

Odin is a challenging summon to defeat in the combat simulator‚ meaning it’s wise to locate its summon crystals before fighting it. This guide will show the location of all Odin summon crystals in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: All Odin Summon Crystal locations Players will have the opportunity to seek out Odin’s Summon Crystals when they reach chapter 11 and enter the Nibel region of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Three Odin summon crystals are in the area‚ and they can be tackled in any order. Check below for the exact locations. Odin Summon Crystal #1 Screenshot: PC Invasion The first Odin Summon Crystal is south of the Nibel Airstrip‚ where players first enter the region. Head to where my marker is in the image attached‚ and you will notice a small opening on the cliffside. Use your Chocobo to enter the opening‚ and then glide upward to reach the Odin summon crystal. Screenshot: PC Invasion Analyze sequence: Square‚ Square‚ Triangle‚ Tr...

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth features a greatly expanded world compared to the original Final Fantasy 7‚ with loads of new side quests. Here is our guide telling you which condor food you should choose to complete the Dreaming of Blue Skies quest in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth – Which condor food should you choose When you reach the Crow’s Nest area‚ sometime after you satisfy the When Words Won’t Do objective‚ make your way to the back of that area to meet a fellow named Colin. You should agree to help him provide an offering to a great condor. This side mission ends with an option about what to feed the giant bird. You should choose the Bovine Meat to feed to the great condor. The actual mission begins with a trip through the hunting grounds. You can choose the Head to the Hunting Spot option from the map. On your way through the area‚ you’ll track down cows while riding on a chocobo. Related: FF7 Rebirth romance guide: How to choos...

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Advocates of command economies argue that government regulation of wages‚ prices‚ and production will lead to a more equitable allocation of income and wealth. But that’s hardly the case under California’s new fast-food command economy. An unusual exemption from California’s new $20 minimum wage requirement for fast food workers appears aimed at propping up at least one billionaire friend and donor of Gov. Gavin Newsom at the expense of the wages of bread bakers. In September 2023‚ California created a Fast Food Council within the Department of Industrial Relations and tasked it with developing minimum standards for fast-food employment related to training‚ working conditions‚ health and safety‚ and wages. The same law that created the council—Assembly Bill 1228—set a $20 per hour minimum wage for fast-food restaurant workers‚ beginning April 1‚ 2024. That’s $4 higher than California’s statewide $16 minimum wage. That minimum wage hike and all other regulations that the Fast Food Council imposes apply to all fast-food and limited-service restaurants that have at least 60 establishments nationwide.   But there’s one unusual exception: “Fast food restaurant” shall not include an establishment that on September 15‚ 2023‚ operates a bakery that produces for sale on the establishment’s premises bread … only where the establishment produces for sale bread as a stand-alone menu item‚ and does not apply if the bread is available for sale solely as part of another menu item. In plain English‚ this means that restaurants that were already in the practice‚ as of Sept. 15‚ 2023‚ of baking their own bread where customers could buy that bread by itself as a stand-alone product are exempted from the higher minimum wage‚ while other restaurants that also baked their own bread but used it in their sandwiches and other menu items and didn’t sell by itself are not exempted. This seems like a very specific and narrowly tailored part of the law. This exception most notably applies to Panera Bread franchises‚ including those owned by billionaire CEO Greg Flynn of the Flynn Restaurant Group that owns two dozen Panera Bread locations in California. Flynn reportedly attended the same high school as Newsom‚ has been involved in business deals with Newsom‚ and has donated at least $164‚800 to Newsom’s campaigns.   Newsom told reporters in January that the exemption was “part of the sausage-making” of writing laws. Now‚ while most national restaurant chains in the state will have to cope with a 25% wage hike‚ Panera Bread owners will be exempt from this and any other commands that the Fast Food Council rains down. From the perspective of command economy advocates who believe that government can effectively redistribute resources with little or no unintended consequences‚ this exemption equals a redistribution from bread bakers’ wages to a billionaire’s profits. In reality‚ there are greater economic forces at play. Bread bakers (and others working in bread-baking restaurants) could actually see benefits of the exemption through fewer lost jobs and lost benefits than they would see at restaurants that don’t get the exemption. For example‚ Pizza Hut‚ which does not have an exemption because its bread is not sold as a stand-alone product‚ already laid off 1‚200 workers in the state. Other companies are undoubtedly turning to automation to replace some workers. The benefits of the exemption could also mean fewer price increases for customers. Chipotle and McDonalds announced they will raise menu prices in California to pay for the wage hike. Whereas command economy mandates and crony exemptions allow politicians to pull the levers of production and wages‚ such manipulation results in a smaller and unlevel playing field. In a market economy‚ workers set the rate at which they are willing to provide their labor‚ employers set the rate they are willing to pay for labor‚ and if the employer’s rate is the same or higher than the worker’s‚ they enter into a mutually beneficial agreement. History demonstrates that people engaged in free exchange of their labor and resources produces greater widespread prosperity than political elites engaged in sausage-making. That’s why the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe produced significantly lower family incomes and less freedom during the Cold War than predominantly market economies. It is also why they eventually collapsed. California’s crony command economy may be currently limited in scope to the fast-food sector‚ but this is presumably not the end of the Golden State’s heedless attempts to supposedly help workers. If politicians in California actually want to improve the wages of all workers—not just those at fast-food restaurants that didn’t serve fresh-baked bread as a stand-alone menu item on Sept. 15‚ 2023—they should focus on the only lasting way for people to earn higher wages‚ which is by them becoming more productive.To that end‚ California and other states could eliminate unnecessary licensing laws that prevent people from using skills they already have—like braiding hair‚ arranging flowers‚ or bartending—to earn a living. Policymakers should also expand educational opportunities by breaking down unnecessary regulations on apprenticeships. And reducing taxes and regulations on businesses would free up resources for employers—who report that labor quality and costs are their greatest struggles—to invest in their workers rather than government revenues and compliance. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Is California’s Crony Command Economy Propping up Billionaires Over Bread Bakers? appeared first on The Daily Signal.