In Other News

[BeBMan]

(...)

On 29 June this year, Earth racked up an unusual record: its shortest day since the 1960s, when scientists began measuring the planet’s rotation with high-precision atomic clocks.

Broadly speaking, Earth completes one full turn on its axis every 24 hours. That single spin marks out a day and drives the cycle of sunrise and sunset that has shaped patterns of life for billions of years. But the curtains fell early on 29 June, with midnight arriving 1.59 milliseconds sooner than expected.

The past few years have seen a flurry of records fall, with shorter days being notched up ever more frequently. In 2020, the Earth turned out 28 of the shortest days in the past 50 years, with the shortest of those, on 19 July, shaving 1.47 milliseconds off the 86,400 seconds that make up 24 hours. The 29 June record came close to being broken again last month, when 26 July came in 1.5 milliseconds short.

(...)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/01/midnight-sooner-earth-spins-faster-shortest-day

Earth is spinning faster and faster. If the trend continues this way there will be a point when the centrifugal force becomes so strong that we'll all fly off the planet!

[N35t0r]

North Korea and Cuba are the only places you can't buy Coca-Cola.

I was in Cuba and could buy coca cola.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

Seriously?

not long ago those would have all been new threads.

[SlowwHand]

Seriously?

[My Wife Hates CIV]

According to a study developed for National Geographic in 2011, the world's "most typical person" is right-handed, makes less than $12,000 per year, has a mobile phone, and doesn't have a bank account.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

North Korea and Cuba are the only places you can't buy Coca-Cola.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

Mount Everest is about 2 feet taller now than it was in 1955

[My Wife Hates CIV]

The best place in the world to see rainbows is in Hawaii.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

CV59??? How old are you?

not as old as USS Forrestal was, but almost.

[BeBMan]

In otter news:

Otters have been taking and killing expensive pet fish from ponds in Wiltshire, police have warned.

Corsham Police said it was "certain" otters were causing the damage after seeking advice from the town's neighbourhood team.

The force suggested people used either welded mesh to cover the pond or erected a wire fence.

"We appreciate this is not a police matter but the fish are worth a lot of money," it said in a statement.

(...)

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-61756567

The MSM never told us about this otter conspiracy before!

[Uncle Sparky]

There has been for 50 years, without the border.

[Dauphin]

Will there be duty free whiskey at the border crossing?

[pchang]

Peace at last. Finally, after over 50 years of conflict, Canada and Denmark reach an accord.

[SlowwHand]

[-Jrabbit]

Very cool story...
--

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/13/us/autism-graduate-nonspeaking-commencement-rollins-college-cec/index.html

--

A nonspeaking valedictorian with autism shares her voice in commencement address


By AJ Willingham, CNN
Published 11:58 AM EDT, Fri May 13, 2022

“Life is for service.” Those are the words Rollins College valedictorian Elizabeth Bonker lives by – words that inspired Rollins’ most famous graduate, Mr. Fred Rogers. Bonker, who is nonspeaking and has autism, gave a remarkable address during her school’s recent commencement ceremony in Winter Park, Florida.

Clad in a cap and gown decorated with flowers, Bonker explained, through a text-to-speech program, how she typed her remarks using a single finger with the help of a communication aide. People with nonspeaking autism have trouble developing speech, and in Bonker’s case, neuromotor issues inhibit her communication and her ability to do some other basic tasks.

Learning to type changed everything.

“That one critical intervention unlocked my mind from its silent cage,” she said during her address.

About 25% to 30% of people with autism are nonspeaking, according to one 2018 study. That definition can range from no speech whatsoever to a small set of sounds or words. By Bonker’s estimate, there are about 31 million people around the world like her.

Her goal is to help them find their voice, as she has.

“I have a dream. Communication for all,” she said. “My life will be dedicated to relieving them from suffering in silence.”

In her address, Bonker said she has often been minimized or cast aside because of her differences, and her high school principal once called her a slur and said she would never be a valedictorian.

However, Bonker encouraged her fellow students to hold fast to their freedom to choose their own outlook and their own way in life, which she called a “fundamental human right.”

In that freedom to choose, Bonker hopes her fellow graduates will choose to live a life like Mister Rogers did, and like she intends to.

“We are all called to serve as an everyday act of humility; as a habit of mind; to see the worth in every person we serve,” she said.

Bonker was one of five graduating students to earn a 4.0 GPA, and Rollins College said her fellow valedictorians unanimously chose her to address their fellow graduates.

“Elizabeth’s message has given hope to millions of people who are nonspeaking autistic, and their families,” Rollins College President Grant Cornwell said in a statement provided to CNN. “We are thrilled for Elizabeth and hope the attention to her story supports her advocacy work going forward.”

During her time at Rollins, Bonker also founded Communication 4 ALL, a nonprofit that supports her dream of ending stigma and silence for other nonspeaking people with autism.