A post on Facebook claims that American soccer star Megan Rapinoe booked tickets to leave the U.S. following Donald Trump’s re-election. Verdict: False There is no proof that she has bought tickets or is planning to in the future. Fact Check: U.S. Women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe retired from professional play in July 2023 after […]

A post shared on social media purportedly shows a video of a liberal activist drinking canola oil in protest of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Liberals are now CHUGGING seed oils to protest RFK Jr… ? pic.twitter.com/hTgHTOWqBs — American AF ?? (@iAnonPatriot) November 18, 2024 Verdict: False The video stems from an account that regularly posts videos similar […]

'Just throw the whole thing away'

'I am writing to formally offer 1,402 acres of land in Starr County'

A post shared on Facebook claims Tesla CEO and owner of X, Elon Musk, has purportedly acquired Ford Motor Company. Verdict: False The claim is false and appears to originally stem from a Sept. 16 YouTube video shared by the channel “Elon Musk Rewind,” according to PolitiFact. Fact Check: Musk has reportedly clashed with Boris […]

A post on X implies that the United States is “building a passenger train” in Peru, and states that it could be giving money to domestic citizens instead. Joe Biden admin a month ago: Sorry, we don’t have enough money to help American hurricane victims. $750 is all she had for North Carolinians that had […]

An 8-year-old girl awaiting a heart transplant had the time of her life when a hospital affiliate came and taught her how to make her favorite food. But that didn’t involve sprinkling cheese over a pizza or smearing icing on cupcakes—it involved dipping vegetables in herbs and brine: pickling. Emerson Bayse, a transplant patient at […] The post 8-Year-old Heart Transplant Patient Craved Pickles so Hospital Chef Taught Her How to Make Them appeared first on Good News Network.

The post Cats Flying in Cargo: A Nightmare For the Cat & Owner by Isabel Ludick 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. Welcome to the Wednesday Cats of Catster! Every week, we share a story from one of our cat-loving Catsters. This week is about Isabel and her sassy rescue, Milly. Flying is fun, exciting, and maybe a little bit nerve-wracking for some people. I mean, you are boarding a 442-ton metal contraption cruising through the sky at 580 mph roughly 40,000 feet off the ground – no biggy. Flying can be really fear-inducing for some. I travel between Johannesburg and Cape Town quite often, so I’ve become used to it by now. Of course, I have my fears about traveling by air, but I wouldn’t say that I’m scared of flying. That was until I had to travel by air with Milly, my sassy rescue cat, while she was in the cargo hold… Why Milly Had to Fly Cargo Nothing quite stresses a cat owner out like discovering that at the time, all domestic airlines in South Africa didn’t allow cats to travel in the cabin of the aircraft, with the exception of service, psychiatric, or emotional support animals. I knew from the start that this would be an intense experience for the both of us, but discovering this information made me fully realize that this was going to be much more intense than I expected initially… If you read last month’s article where I introduced myself and Milly, you’ll remember that I rescued Milly while I was a student in Potch (Potchefstroom) in 2018. This was in the North West Province, about 77 miles (124 km) from Johannesburg. We frequently drove to Joburg from Potch for the weekend to visit my family with Milly in the car. She eventually got used to that after multiple hellish trips, but that’s a story for another time. Anyway, I graduated in 2019 and had to move back to Johannesburg with Milly. My partner (and Milly’s dad) lived in Cape Town, about 868 miles (1,396.7km) from Johannesburg. In 2020 (mid Covid-19 pandemic) I decided to move to Cape Town. I decided to go without Milly first, so I could find us a nice home and scope things out before bringing her over because I knew it wouldn’t be easy. So off I went. Fast forward to 2022, I felt settled in and finally ready to import my little rescue cat from Joburg. I missed her terribly and although I went to visit her a couple of times during these two years in Cape Town, I longed to have her by my side and see her every day. Yes, I am obsessed. I booked one ticket from Cape Town to Johannesburg and two tickets back to Cape Town, one for me and one for Milly. I used PetLounge, a division of BidAir Cargo. Their reviews were better than some of the other pet transport companies I researched and their prices didn’t make me want to cancel the whole mission completely, so I went with them. They were really friendly and caring and even offered me tissues when I cried hysterically throughout almost the whole process. The Flight: A Tale of 10 Panic Modes Our flight was around 8 am and it was recommended to arrive 2 hours prior. Milly, my father, and I arrived at the airport at 6 am. It was still dark and very quiet at Lanseria International Airport (it’s a smaller airport in Joburg). It was spooky being there so early, and we were the only people in front of the Pet Lounge. The consultant arrived a couple of minutes after us. Oh, and Milly almost escaped from her carrier when we climbed out of the car, so we started off great! The crying commenced here. Panic mode activated. Luckily, she had her harness on. So when she succeeded in pushing the roof of the carrier just high enough for the little white door to jump out of its compartment and fling wide open, I could hold her close while I tried to MacGyver the carrier to hold until we got inside of the Pet Lounge. Thankfully, she isn’t a runner. But Milly in an open carrier in the dark, misty airport parking lot is enough to make me nearly pass out. Which thankfully I didn’t. Not even when I saw her get loaded into the cargo hold through the airport windows. We managed to get both of us safely inside the Pet Lounge. My dad wasn’t allowed in because it was still Covid-19 and he forgot to grab his mask at home. (Do you remember the masks? It actually just feels like a fever dream now…) Waiting in the pet lounge for our flight Panic Mode: 5/10 Anyway, I proceeded to fill out all the forms, and we transferred Milly from her regular carrier into the aircraft-certified pet carrier so we could weigh the whole shebang. She was in mild distress during this whole process, which took about 45 minutes. I was in 5/10 panic mode at this point. The aircraft-certified carrier was nice and big with huge locks and things, so that made me feel a little more at ease. It was fitted with puppy pads and a bowl for water. No food. Normal carrier and airplane carrier Panic Mode: 6/10 After all the formalities, we got to chill in a closed-off, air-conditioned room with a couch and access to an outdoor area with grass. Cats also had a little room with litterboxes, which Milly had zero interest in. One of the consultants gave my dad a disposable mask so he could come inside and be with us. The guy probably saw me slowly moving into 6/10 panic mode and thought I could use the moral support. At this point, Milly was just alternating between nervously pacing around the room, sitting underneath a table, and accompanying me on the couch for brief windows of time before starting to pace again. She also panted occasionally, which meant that she was very stressed. This, of course, made me very stressed, which made her more stressed because she sensed my stress, which then made me more stressed in return. Loads of fun. Sitting on couch waiting for our flight Panic Mode: 7/10 I tried to take her outside to see if she wanted to pee on the grass (she prefers grass over litter) but it was dark and gloomy and I saw some openings in the fence and I just decided it was a hard “NOPE.” Milly hadn’t done her business at this point. She was scared and confused, obviously. So, I was worried about that, too. It preluded panic mode 7/10 beautifully, just in time for the consultant to come into the room and announce that it was time to load Milly and get onboard. Panic Mode: 8/10 Panic mode 8/10 came earlier than anticipated, and let me tell you why! I now had to leave Milly in a container with strangers and go board the flight. All I could think of was how scared, confused, and overwhelmed she must have been, especially when she didn’t see me outside the metal door anymore. Of course, every single worst scenario played out in detail in my head while I walked to my boarding gate, ugly crying all the way. Airports are extremely loud places, and cats have a good sense of hearing. I just know Milly was going through the absolute most. I felt guilty and worried and annoyed at everyone gawking at me carrying an empty carrier (the one she arrived in and almost escaped from) and sobbing like a child. I stood in the queue to board the plane and watched the cargo truck stop and offload a couple of items by the plane. Prams, wheelchairs, and Milly! I recognized the airline-certified carrier, and there weren’t any other pets on this flight. It was her. My pofhoendertjie (one of my many Afrikaans nicknames for her, which loosely translates to fuzzy chicken). Panic Mode: 9/10 You guessed it, panic mode 9/10 activated. I couldn’t hold back my tears. A couple of people actually asked me if I was okay. Bless their hearts. I was, in fact, not okay. The flight wasn’t long, roughly 2 hours, which felt like seven. I just watched a reality show (my guilty pleasure) and tried my best not to make overly loud sobbing sounds while I gently cried throughout the entire flight. Panic Mode: 10/10 Finally, we landed in Cape Town and my heart yearned for Milly. To hold her, comfort her, and see if she was okay. I basically sprinted off the plane and out of the arrival gates and met up with my partner. We now had to locate Milly somewhere in Cape Town International Airport. It was at the cargo department, where regular flyers seldomly go. You wouldn’t believe it, but panic mode 10/10 had actually made its way to the party during this search for Milly. Seeing Milly after the flight You’ll have to tune in next time to hear the rest of this story and how long it took for her to settle into a completely new home and life. If you’ve actually read this far, well done, and thank you! You can catch a new story from me and Milly every month on Catster.com. Cheers vir eers! (cheers for now) This article features Isabel and Milly in our Wednesday Cats of Catster series. Read her previous article: Introducing Milly the Sassy Rescue and Her Owner Isabel (with Video) The post Cats Flying in Cargo: A Nightmare For the Cat & Owner by Isabel Ludick 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 Most Iconic Books Readers Pick the Most Iconic Speculative Fiction Books of the 21st Century We asked, you answered! Here are the most iconic books of the century so far—as chosen by you, the readers! By Christina Orlando | Published on November 20, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share A few weeks ago, we asked dozens of authors about the speculative books they considered The Most Iconic SFF Books of the 21st Century. We loved their responses, from modern classics to translated works to graphic novels to hidden gems. But of course, readers had opinions! What about this book? How could that author not be in the top 10? It’s part of what we love about this community: a group of people who share a love for science fiction, fantasy, and horror from thousands of different angles, and who feel passionate enough about declaring their love for those books to come together to debate them from across the globe. We anticipated that people might want an outlet for these thoughts outside of social media, so we opened a poll asking for your input. And readers, you delivered! We received well over 500 responses in the short time the poll was open. While the selections below are just a slice of that enthusiasm, we hope they show the diversity and fervor of SFF fans. Maybe you spot some favorites here. Maybe you get a new stack of recommendations for your shelves. Maybe you just take a minute to think about what the word “iconic” means to you. Either way… we hope you enjoy. Top 10 Most Iconic Speculative Fiction Books of the 21st Century — Chosen by You! For some books, readers submitted additional commentary or explanations for their choice, which we have included with relevant attribution. Comments may have been edited for clarity. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (164 votes) “The triple Hugo win for the whole series speaks for itself.” —Anonymous “A brilliant work of genre-blending within speculative fiction while providing a commentary on how a horrific global practice harms everyone to the point where the oppressed are willing to destroy the world to end it.” —Anonymous “Obviously. Obviously! A sweeping science fantasy trilogy-opener about a world tearing itself apart with one apocalypse after another and the earthquake-controlling magic users who might be able to fix things… of course it’s iconic. It’s sort of an easy answer, but, like, that’s because it’s true.” —Kerensa “My favorite thing about this book is its narrative trickery. My SECOND favorite thing is how one of its central relationships feels like an iteration of the relationship in Jemisin’s debut novel…It was, for me, a great example of how writers evolve while remaining true to what came before.” —Filip Hajdar Drnovšek “There’s nothing I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said. It is absolutely brilliant, its multiple points of view culminating into something that had me almost stop breathing. It is undoubtedly the most iconic book of the 21st century, no matter which way I look at it.” —Ruardih All Systems Red by Martha Wells (155 votes) “This [is a] brilliant story about a robot who knows its creators and its species are too stupid to protect themselves.” —Anonymous “She’s painted neurodivergency in an honest and compelling way.” —Anonymous Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (118 votes) “Cool worldbuilding, engaging main character, and a stunning debut for a strong new voice.” —Anonymous “Who knew that an AI hivemind on a quest to avenge the human she loved could be one of the most relatable heroines in fiction?” —Mary Kelly “I think of this series as a sort of ‘sci-fi of manners.’ Although it deals with questions of empire, colonization, and assimilation, I feel like the heart of all those is ‘How do we treat others, and what do we owe them? What happens we stop accepting justifications for treating certain people better than others? What happens when we begin holding ourselves to a higher standard?’ In other words, you could say it’s a book about the responsibilities of living in a society. You could say it’s a book about love, and revenge, and drinking tea. Mostly, you could say it’s very good.” —Kerensa Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (118 votes) “This book is everywhere. The vibes are perfect. It’s endlessly quotable.” —Anonymous “Breaking boundaries at blazing speed, this weird (and in later volumes quite complex) series requires and deserves the full attention of the reader. I can’t wait for how Muir will close the series in the upcoming final book, but it is already a very impressive achievement.” —Anonymous “Maybe now is the time to say that I’ve never been OVERLY fond of this book’s most popular tagline, ‘lesbian necromancers in space.’ First of all, Gideon isn’t a necromancer, and second of all, they’re only ‘in space’ for one chapter of shuttle travel. By that logic, any book set on A Planet (which… most of them are) could be books that are in space. But I’ll get off my soapbox now and say that this book is iconic because it has one of the most unique narrative voices I’ve ever read. Tamsyn Muir plays around with the written word and with tone in a way that I’ve barely seen anyone do—although I’d love to see more people try, even if they fail, because it’s so engaging. This book is delicious in its complexity and rereadability, and you have to admire it for how devoted almost every fan of it is.” —Kerensa Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (81 votes) “Worldbuilding at its finest.” —Hezder Komduur “The start of The Expanse is a modern masterpiece of science fiction that will become one of the must-read science fiction novels of the future, if it’s not there already.” —Anonymous This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (79 votes) “The world can burn, but even in the flames, poetry can make our souls sing.” —Anonymous “An epistolary romance that is pure poetry and a heady distillation of lesbian yearning. In the immortal words of Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood: ‘Just read it.'” —Anonymous “Short and absolutely enthralling. I adore epistolary, and this is a story I come back to again and again.” —Specicube.bsky.social The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (77 votes) “Few authors even come close to laying the foundation for a new trend, but Chambers’ empathic science fiction series is quite important for the slow, character-focused cozy books we all enjoy so much.” —Anonymous “Setting the standard for cozy space opera, and becoming one of my few ‘I’ll recommend this book to ANYONE at all interested in SF, maybe even those not.” —Anonymous “A reinvigoration of the space opera genre, with its alien-filled universe still hospitable to up-and-coming species like homo sapients, if we’re willing to make some adjustments. Chambers’ works are often cited as canonical examples of ‘hopepunk’ SF.” —Rob Tomshany A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (62 votes) “Trying to explain my love for this book is tricky because it usually comes down to attempting to neatly explain how I love the way it makes me feel as dumb as rocks. Usually I just say it fits in with my beloved subgenre of SFF lesbians in early career distress. There’s just something about how profoundly human but clinically foreign a position Mahit finds herself in, tangled into an inescapable web of politics as she does her best at her big-girl job.” —Ruaridh “I had trouble not filling this form with just space operas. Martine is doing something by creating an empire that is NOT based on North Atlantic history…political thriller with high tech and galaxy-changing stakes.” —Anonymous The Martian by Andy Weir (61 votes) “A ripping yarn that breached containment and got us all thinking about the stars again.” —Anonymous “Low-key science fiction made into a successful movie? Yeah, that’s iconic.” —Anonymous “Iconic, to be able to research and write a book about going to Mars so well that when the movie got made, NASA came in to consult on it and didn’t really have to change much!” —Specicube.bsky.social Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (60 votes) “An absolutely incredible alternative historical fiction of the history of England where magic used to exist… and now has returned. Susanna Clarke does the incredible by including historical references for this fictional world, including referencing fake books… an incredible piece of literature.” —JP Aguirre “It reminds me a little of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, in that it has inspired many imitators—some of them amazing novels in their own right—but is still one of a kind. And of course John Uskglass is one of the great absent characters of literature.” —Filip Hajdar Drnovšek As with our original list, we want to highlight as many titles as we possibly can! Below are a few niche lists of your favorites, from translated works and graphic storytelling to specific genres and authors that came up over and over again. The lists here are not comprehensive, but each noted entry received multiple votes. Translated Works 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami The Employees by Olga Ravn Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu Short Fiction Collections Exhalation by Ted Chiang Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? By N.K. Jemisin Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu Graphic Novels & Manga Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa Hawkeye by Matt Fraction & David Aja Nimona by N.D. Stevenson Saga by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples Through the Woods by E.M. Carroll The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie Young Adult Binti by Nnedi Okorafor An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir Graceling by Kristin Cashore The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Seraphina by Rachel Hartman Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor Novellas The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh Romantasy A Court of Thrones and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell Weird Fiction 17776 by Jon Bois Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski The Library At Mount Char by Scott Hawkins Vellum by Hal Duncan Small Press & Self-Published Titles Experimental Film by Gemma Files The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline Obsidian by Sienna Frost The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor Your Favorite Authors Many authors received dozens of votes split across several books, meaning that no one book received a large enough majority to rank among the top 10. That being said, these authors were all extremely popular! Joe Abercrombie William Gibson Kameron Hurley R.F. Kuang Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant China Miéville David Mitchell Erin Morgenstern Naomi Novik Terry Pratchett Brandon Sanderson John Scalzi Neal Stephenson Adrian Tchaikovsky Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher The Rules Said to Only Include Books From the 21st Century But You Really Wanted to Say Dune Some rules are made to be broken! Here are some of the 20th-century titles you couldn’t help but vote for: Dune by Frank Herbert Foundation by Isaac Asimov The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Hyperion by Dan Simmons Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein Some Fun Notes Over 850 authors and 1400 books were submitted Science fiction books vastly outweighed fantasy books Shoutout to the one person submitted “Chuck Tingle’s entire oeuvre” nine times and “Twilight by Stephenie Meyer” once The most popular sequel was Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir The first book submitted was North Woods by Daniel Mason The last book submitted was The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune The most recently published book to receive multiple votes was Metal From Heaven by august clarke If your picks didn’t make the top ten, make sure to mention them in the comments below! [end-mark] The post Readers Pick the Most Iconic Speculative Fiction Books of the 21st Century appeared first on Reactor.

Released in 1963, The Great Escape is an epic war film based on Paul Brickhill's 1950 nonfiction novel of the same name. The novel provides a firsthand account of the escape made by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from Stalag Luft III, a German prisoner of war camp. Starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough, the film is based on the true events that occur in the novel... Source