Being a parent can mean moving from one chaotic mom moment to the next in an endless loop. Not all parenting is like that, but it can seem that way with a newborn. One morning, in a minute and a half, new mommy Amy Bui went from “OMG, what is wrong with my kid?” to hysterical laughter. @amyebui Just another morning with a baby. #ftm #ftmdv #firsttimemomdailyvlogs #firsttimemom #momvlog #Dailyvlog #dayinthelife #10weeks #10weekold #postpartum #10weekspostpartum #postpartumjourney momsoftiktok. #newborn #baby #babyboy #sahm #maternityleave #newbornroutine #breastfeeding #breastfeed #breastfeedingmoms #pumping #pumpingmoms #triplefeed #triplefeeding #wonderweeks #thewonderweeks #leap2 #leaptwo #getyourpinkback #spitup #blowout ♬ original sound – Amy Bui Amy Bui is a vlogger who has been recording her life for some time. Her fans watched her marry, get pregnant, and have a child. Now, she is sharing a chaotic mom life with a newborn. Her son, Cameron Khoa Bui, entered the world on September 12, 2024. Since then, Amy has offered a front-row seat to parenting a newborn. This clip begins with Amy singing quietly. She immediately notices a new expression on the baby’s face, saying, “Whoa. You alright?” She sits him upright and gently pats his back as he gets out a few little coughs. He calms, so she leans back again. Image from TikTok. His expression changes again, and he spits up a couple of times. She starts to clean him up just as his expression changes again. As she asks him, “Are you pooping?” there is an audible explosion from his posterior region. Amy doesn’t know what else to do, so she starts laughing. Thinking little Cameron might have answers, she asks him, “What was that sequence of events, sir?” Welcome to parenting 101, where everything can happen to ruin your day in seconds. Like a trooper, Amy sets about reconfiguring her plans. We know she made it past this chaotic mom moment because additional vlog entries follow this one. Every parent can relate to this. We hope it brought you a laugh, too. Please share. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Mom Accidentally Captures “The Most Chaotic Minute And A Half” With Newborn appeared first on InspireMore.

From Chicago comes the story of a sweet reunion between a mother and son, who despite having met many times, never knew of their relationship. At Give Me Some Sugah bakery, recently-hired employee Hunter Varmarr is particularly proud of his pound cake. He had always loved stopping in for a sweet treat or breakfast at […] The post Bakery Owner Discovers Her Longtime Customer Is Her Biological Son appeared first on Good News Network.

The post Ask Dr. Paola – Monday December 9, 2024 by Dr. Paola Cuevas MVZ (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. Welcome to our “Ask Dr. Paola” series, where every Monday we bring expert advice straight from Dr. Paola Cuevas (MVZ) to help our readers better understand their cat’s health and well-being. Whether you’re a new pet parent or a seasoned cat lover, Dr. Paola is here to provide answers to your most pressing questions. From nutrition tips and preventive care to troubleshooting common behavioral issues, Dr. Paola is ready to offer insights that will keep your kitty happy, healthy, and feline fine. Stay tuned for expert guidance on a range of topics that matter most to you and your cat, so you can make informed decisions and provide the best possible care for your furry companion. ‎ Have‎ a ‎question? Send it in here! Help! My Cat Has Excessive Zoomies! “ I know that all cats get the zoomies, but my cat Hera’s zoomies are starting to feel excessive. She is 14 and still has them 4-5 times/day, without catnip! Is there such a thing as too many zoomies? ” – Percy Frenetic random activity periods (FRAP), most commonly known as “the zoomies”, is a natural behavior exhibited by most cats. However, if the behavior is happening too often we do not consider it to be normal. This behavior can signal Hera is feeling stressed or frustrated and chances are she needs more mental and physical stimulation. Indoor cats need to be provided with several opportunities to outlet their energy. This means adding some climbing options and vertical spaces, providing them with puzzle feeders, a variety of toys in a rotation, and even a running wheel. Playing with your cat at least 2 or 3 times a day to ensure they move around and release their energy is important. If you already do this using a laser pointer, this might actually be the reason behind Hera’s frequent FRAPing or zoomies. While laser pointers are great tools to get cats going, they can also cause an incredible amount of frustration in cats as this light appeals to their predatory instincts, however, they never allow them to make a successful catch. In other words, they never win. There are certain laser pointer rules to follow that can help. Toss her a toy so that she can successfully paw and bite something tangible at the same time you turn the pointer off. Follow this with a yummy treat or even dinner, this allows her to complete her “hunting cycle” instead of leaving her hanging up. Providing Hera with a calming environment using synthetic pheromones and several safe hiding opportunities can also help reduce her stress. These are just some options to consider, the general idea is to let her have healthy energy outlets and also provide her with a stress-free environment. Best wishes! Dr. Paola Image Credit: fcatus1, Pixabay Help! I Think My Cat Can See Ghosts! “Can cats see ghosts? My cat stares at the wall all the time as if someone is there but there isn’t. What should I do here?” ” – Daniela There are a few possible reasons why cats might be staring at a wall. Their senses are different from ours, they can hear noises we can’t due to the frequency range and might also be smelling something you can not detect. In many cases, these are small animals hiding behind the walls. A cat would look interested and you might see their ears moving to follow the noise’s origin. You did not mention the age but if your cat is a senior, senile dementia or age-related cognitive dysfunction is a possibility. Other possibilities include neurological problems such as partial or focal seizures. If you think this might be the case, be familiar with other signs and record as much information about it as possible including, when it happens, after what activity, how often, at what time, etc, if possible record a video. The more info you can bring to your vet, the better chances of a successful diagnosis; although a definitive diagnosis would need an electroencephalogram (EEG). These are the medical possibilities, and although many swear that cats have supernatural powers and can see ghosts, we have no reliable evidence to prove that. Sincerely, Dr. Paola Image Credit: Rovsky, Shutterstock Help! We Want to Go On Holiday! “My partner and I are thinking of going on a two-week holiday next year but we’ve never left our 3-year-old cat Jackson for more than 2 days before. We’re thinking of putting him into a cattery, but then also think a house sitter might be a better alternative. How do we decide what’s best for him?” – Gemma Hi Gemma. Cats are creatures of habit, they are solitary and territorial by nature. Their homes are their familiar territory. They spend time every day ensuring every piece of it is marked with their scent from facial pheromones, which give them a sense of familiarity or belonging and make them feel secure. Moving them to a completely different area with many other cats is oftentimes stressful for them. If you have the possibility, I would recommend you opt for the house sitter. Then, not only will Jackson be cared for, but your home will be too. I know that paying for a private sitter can get expensive, but there are some amazing services out there where you buy a yearly membership to the community, and then the house sitting is a free exchange based on trust! Then, you can enjoy your holiday more knowing that Jackson is comfortable. Best of luck, and enjoy your holiday! Dr. Paola This article is a part of our weekly Ask Dr. Paola series Click here to submit a question The post Ask Dr. Paola – Monday December 9, 2024 by Dr. Paola Cuevas MVZ (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.

A recent study showing that test-score-driven school turnaround models fail to yield long-term improvements may be the final nail in the coffin for technocratic education reform strategies. Going forward, education reform will thrive by empowering parents with choices, rather than by ordering them to obey self-appointed experts. Technocratic reform strategies typically rely upon experts using student test scores to identify what schools and practices “work.” The technocrats then attempt to replicate what “works” by steering families into approved schools using favored techniques and to shut down what does not “work” by forbidding families from selecting disfavored schools and practices. According to the technocrats, education can be improved if we just “follow the science.” This all sounds great until you remember how those pushing us to follow the science during the COVID-19 pandemic produced enormous harm. What if short-term changes in test scores are not good proxies for producing desired outcomes for students over the long term? What if the researchers examining those test scores are using flawed analytical methods that are prone to manipulation? What if the policy conclusions researchers draw are not even supported by their flawed methods? As every central planner eventually learns, the world is too varied and complicated for even the best-intentioned researchers armed with the best research methods to know how everything is supposed to be run. The technocrat approach to education reform reached its zenith during the Obama administration and its Race to the Top initiative. Under that program, states and districts were directed to use billions of federal dollars to turn around the lowest-performing schools by adopting proven reform models. The pretentiously titled What Works Clearinghouse of the U.S. Department of Education put together a report that was supposed to identify school turnaround models backed by rigorous evidence. I was on the panel that prepared that report. The problem was that we could not find any school turnaround models supported by rigorous evidence. I suggested that we write a very short report saying that science had nothing to offer about how to turn around failing schools, but I was told that was not our mandate and that we had to recommend turnaround models even if they had little or no evidence demonstrating their effectiveness. So, despite my concerns, that is what we did. Undeterred by the lack of evidence, some states jumped into school turnaround reforms with both feet. Chief among them was Tennessee. Tennessee had been a pioneer in developing “value-added” student testing that focused on the gains students made from year to year. Focusing on gains was supposed to remove the influence of student background on achievement and isolate the quality of schools in improving performance. In fact, focusing on test score gains does not eliminate the influence of student disadvantages, since those disadvantages also influence the rate at which students can make progress. Nonetheless, with this tool, Tennessee officials had confidence they could identify lower-performing schools and evaluate models for turning them around. With a grant from Obama’s Race to the Top, Tennessee fully embraced the technocratic approach, seeking to close some low-performing schools, and to reassign other low-performers to new management equipped with school turnaround models. Using the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System, the state identified more than 200 schools as low-performers between 2012 and 2016 that it said were “priority schools” to be turned around. Some of those schools were removed from the control of their local school district and reassigned to a newly created Achievement School District (ASD) that could provide turnaround models to low-performing schools statewide. Other priority schools were left under the control of their local districts but were designated as iZone schools to receive turnaround models. Still other priority schools did not receive turnaround models. Schools that received turnaround models had their operation transferred to a charter management organization selected by state officials. The turnaround schools were not charters, but the state still contracted with these charter management organizations because they had a track record of running schools that had produced impressive test score gains. While charter schools are chosen by parents, all of the students who attended the ASD and iZone schools were assigned to them based on where they lived and not because their parents chose those schools. The operators of these turnaround schools were chosen by education bureaucrats, not by parents. The new study led by Lam Pham at North Carolina State University compared the long-term outcomes of students who lived in the catchment zones assigned to the ASD or iZone turnaround programs for middle schools relative to those who lived in areas with priority schools that did not receive a turnaround model. Some earlier studies had found that students attending turnaround schools did better while they were in those schools, which those schools might be able to produce by narrowing their instruction to tested subjects and items even if that came at the expense of longer-term outcomes. Pham’s study is exceptional in that it tracks students from turnaround schools for several years after they leave those schools to see if there are any enduring benefits. In addition, by looking at multiple outcomes, including end-of-course exams, college admissions tests, attendance, behavioral infractions, and graduation rates, his study was better able to capture the broad goals of education and avoid the narrow focus on student test scores that might be subject to manipulation. Pham and his colleagues examine test scores for more than 70,000 students with multiple specifications of rigorous research designs and concluded: “We find little evidence to support improved long-run student outcomes—mostly null effects that are nearly zero in magnitude.” In fact, if anything, the estimated effects tend to be negative, but most are not statistically significant. The smartest experts, armed with value-added test scores and turnaround models, were completely unable to improve outcomes for students assigned to low-performing schools in Tennessee. The results from Tennessee also stand in sharp contrast to those produced by schools in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. New Orleans, like Tennessee, had adopted a number of technocratic reforms, including using test scores to try to close lower-performing schools and force students to transfer to schools with higher test scores. But New Orleans also fully embraced school choice, turning virtually every school in the city into a charter school so that every family had to select their school rather than be assigned to one based on where they lived. In a study similar to the one conducted by Pham, Doug Harris at Tulane University found significant long-term benefits to students in New Orleans as a result of these post-Katrina reforms. But whether those gains were produced by the technocratic aspects of New Orleans’ reforms or by its complete adoption of school choice was ambiguous. Harris preferred to attribute the long-term gains made by students in New Orleans to technocratic measures. The new results from Tennessee suggest Harris was mistaken. If technocratic reforms failed to yield long-term benefits in Tennessee, they were unlikely to be the explanation for gains in New Orleans. Broad adoption of school choice likely produced the enduring benefits we saw in New Orleans and that are also becoming evident in Arizona, Florida, and other places that are pursuing school choice at scale. Technocratic education reform has run its course. The evidence does not support it. The public and their elected representatives have grown wary of experts armed with test scores trying to tell us how to educate our children. The future of education reform belongs to school choice and that future looks bright. The post Technocratic Education Reform Is Dead. Long Live School Choice. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Time and time again, dogs prove to us why they are called “Man’s Best Friend”. And in another display of dogs’ unwavering loyalty, a Russian dog was recently found patiently sitting beside a frozen river where her owner tragically met his end, waiting for him to come back. RT on X (previously Twitter) shared a video of the dog, named Belka, and how she refused to leave the site where her owner died. Belka’s owner, a 59-year-old man, was reportedly riding his bicycle in Russia’s frozen Ufa River on November 24 when the tragic incident happened. He fell into the freezing water when the brittle ice beneath him suddenly gave away. The Sun reports that a Good Samaritan tried to save him, but the river’s strong currents were no match for him. The Good Samaritan reportedly nearly lost his own life trying to save Belka’s owner, and was found suffering with severe frostbite. A dog has been waiting for her owner to come back since he fell through Russia’s frozen Ufa River on November 24. Belka refuses to leave the spot where her owner died, sitting on the ice day and nightPeople have tried to take Belka home, but she returns to this spot every time pic.twitter.com/dJXvNaQCtw— RT (@RT_com) November 27, 2024 A multi-day search was launched to find Belka’s owner, and rescue crew were able to locate the man’s bicycle, and later his body, in the Ufa River downstream. Kirill Pervov, head of the rescue service in Bashkiria, told The Sun, “During the search, the rescue team used an air cushion boat with a hooking device to survey the river bottom.” “Search work was complicated by difficult conditions – a strong current and unstable ice crust.” Ever since the incident, Belka has been waiting for her owner to come home. The pooch can be found sitting on the ice, day and night, even while rescue operations were underway. RT reveals that even though the man’s family took Belka to their home, the loyal pooch kept coming back to the same spot where she lost her owner. The Russian dog’s loyalty has been compared to the legendary Japanese Akita dog, Hachiko, who famously waited at the Shibuya Station in Japan for his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, to return for almost 10 years.

The World Sees Trump As America's Real President

An unexpected find reveals the distant past of the Americas.

Achievement hunting is serious business, and if you combine that with the fast-paced action you only find in first-person shooters, you have a match made in heaven.

The King of Comedy Trump Hilariously Trolls Jill Biden With New Fragrance ‘Ad’: 'Enemies Can't Resist’

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria shows how out of touch the Biden administration has been and how much the international community is eagerly awaiting the leadership that President-elect Donald Trump will bring to the world stage, Sen. Bill Hagerty said.