Buzz
If you're feeling a little down, we've got just the thing. This collection highlights only the most uplifting, inspiring, and entertaining stories from recent days to make sure your week ends on a high note. Click here if you're interested in the bizarre events as well.
This week, we have two stories about dogs in the mountains—one features a touching rescue, while the other showcases a dog's unyielding perseverance. We also share some uplifting tales from the world of heavy metal, along with some impressive feats: a world-record row across the Atlantic, the longest calculation of pi, and a viral challenge that’s actually worth joining.
10. A Transatlantic Row
A former Royal Marine with just one leg shattered the record for the fastest unsupported solo row across the Atlantic Ocean while also raising thousands of dollars for veterans' charities.
Lee Spencer lost his leg in an accident, but he was determined to prove that “disability does not define anyone.” The 49-year-old father of two from Horrabridge, Devon, completed the 6,115-kilometer (3,800 mi) journey from Europe to South America in only 60 days. Not only did this make him the first disabled person to row between continents, but he also beat the able-bodied record for that route by 36 days.
During his journey, Spencer managed to sleep only two hours a day. He also faced waves over 12 meters (40 ft) tall and battled a case of gastroenteritis. Starting from Portugal, he reached Cayenne, French Guiana, on Monday. His trip took a slight detour when Spencer had to stop in the Canary Islands to repair his navigation system.
In 2016, Spencer and three other amputees became the first team to cross the Atlantic. On this record-breaking trip, he raised over £55,000 ($72,000) for charities close to his heart, including the Royal Marines Charity and the Endeavour Fund.
9. Billy’s Donuts Becomes a Huge Success
Social media turned a man’s new doughnut shop into a success after a tweet from his son went viral.
The images struck a chord with the online community, and the post quickly amassed over a million likes and shares within days. As a result, customers flocked to Billy’s Donuts, and the shop has sold out on multiple occasions. Needless to say, the store became an instant sensation, and Billy’s dad is no longer feeling down.
8. A Loyal Canine Companion
A stray dog named Mera may have unknowingly set the record for the highest climb by a dog after joining a mountaineering expedition and reaching nearly 7,130 meters (23,390 ft) at the summit of Baruntse in Nepal.
Dogs are commonly seen at Everest Base Camp, situated at 5,360 meters (17,600 ft). Some even make it as high as Camp II, reaching 6,500 meters (21,300 ft). However, Billi Bierling from the Himalayan Database believes this is the highest documented climb of a dog, according to expedition records.
Mera, a 20-kilogram (45 lb) stray, appears to be a mix of a Himalayan sheepdog and a Tibetan mastiff. She joined the expedition when it had already reached nearly 5,200 meters (17,000 ft) and formed a close bond with Don Wargowsky from Seattle, who shared his food and tent with her.
The Sherpas claimed they had never encountered a dog like Mera, with some even believing she was blessed. Clearly, this wasn’t Mera’s first climb. She seemed unperturbed by the high altitudes and sheer drops, still full of energy to play and run after reaching the summit.
7. The Kazoo Celebration
Heavy metal singer Randy Blythe organized a kazoo “counter-party” to overpower a protest by the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC).
The WBC is a controversial group often labeled as a hate organization. They first gained notoriety for protesting military funerals with provocative slogans like “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates f—s.” Since then, they’ve protested nearly anything that would grab public attention.
Recently, the WBC planned a protest against Danica Roem, the first transgender individual elected to the Virginia State Assembly. This plan angered Randy Blythe, a Virginia resident and friend of Roem. Blythe is best known as the frontman of the heavy metal band Lamb of God.
Blythe turned to social media, calling on his followers to join a counter-protest to show the WBC members some “classic Southern hospitality.” He emphasized that the gathering would be full of bright clothing and noisy kazoos, with the goal being to simply drown out the protest. He also advised participants to avoid engaging with the WBC, as they thrive on conflict to gain publicity.
6. Rescue and Reunion of a Family Pet
A helicopter crew from the Inverness Coastguard carried out a bold rescue of a dog that got stranded in Scotland’s Cairngorms.
Ben, a Bichon Frise/Cavalier King Charles mix, was on a trip with his family near Lake Avon. On Monday, he ran off and got lost as snowstorms swept through the area.
On Wednesday, during winter training at Stag Rocks nearby, a Coastguard team spotted Ben stuck on a ridge above a 60-meter (200 ft) vertical drop. In a stroke of luck, the weather cleared just in time for a rescue operation.
One Coastguard member was lowered from the helicopter, retrieved Ben, and safely lifted him to the helicopter. Ben was frightened and cold, his fur covered in snow, but he was unharmed. A quick checkup by a vet ensured he was fine before he was reunited with his family.
5. Happy Birthday, Billboard Dad
A 62-year-old man from New Jersey has been flooded with birthday wishes after his sons put up a billboard asking strangers to send him their greetings.
Michael and Chris Ferry, currently in Florida, couldn’t be with their father, Chris Sr., in Linwood, New Jersey, to celebrate his birthday. But they still wanted to make it unforgettable. They rented a billboard featuring their father’s face and phone number and invited people to wish him a happy birthday.
Chris first got a hint of his sons' surprise when a man named Nick greeted him. When Chris asked how he knew about the birthday, the stranger mentioned he saw it on the billboard. Since then, thousands of people from around the world have called or texted Chris Ferry to wish him a happy birthday. Some shared stories about their own fathers or those who share Chris’s birthday. He even became known as the “billboard dad” after being recognized in public by some of the well-wishers.
The sons were absolutely amazed by the overwhelming response, as they only expected a handful of locals to join in. They revealed that the idea stemmed from a childhood prank where their father would take them out to restaurants after hockey games, and they would pretend it was his birthday to get a free cake from the waiter. They've even joked about renting a bigger billboard next year.
4. The Biggest Slice of Pi
This Thursday marked Pi Day, and in perfect timing, a Japanese employee from Google shattered the world record for the number of digits of Pi, calculating it to 31 trillion digits. This new record exceeds the previous one by a massive nine trillion digits.
Pi is a special number. An irrational number, Pi has been a fundamental part of mathematics for millennia. It continues to have crucial applications in fields such as engineering, physics, and space exploration, to this day.
Pi is widely recognized as 3.14, but in reality, it has an endless series of digits. The challenge in calculating these digits arises from the fact that they follow no predictable pattern. This has intrigued mathematicians, who often take on the task as a challenge. Until recently, the record for the longest calculation of pi stood at 22 trillion digits. However, Emma Haruka Iwao surpassed that by calculating it to 31.4 trillion digits. The length of this number is so immense that it would take 332,064 years to say it out loud.
As a Google employee, Emma had access to the company’s resources. The calculation required 25 machines working for 121 days and processing 170 terabytes of data to reach the latest pi value. Emma is already planning to push the number even further in the future.
3. The #TrashTag Challenge
A new internet challenge is making waves. Unlike most viral trends that are often pointless, dangerous, or just plain silly, the #TrashTag Challenge actually does some good. This movement encourages people to clean up public spaces and natural areas.
The concept is simple: participants clean up the litter and waste in a public area or natural environment. They must share before-and-after photos of their efforts and then nominate others to tackle cleaning another space.
The #trashtag concept originally emerged in 2015 as part of a campaign by outdoor gear company UCO. However, it recently gained worldwide attention when a Reddit thread went viral. Since then, there have been tens of thousands of social media posts using the #trashtag hashtag, showing individuals participating in the challenge by cleaning up public spaces.
2. Greta Garners Nobel Nomination
On Friday, a wave of students in over 100 countries walked out of their schools to protest, demanding that politicians take stronger action on climate change. This youth-led movement was sparked by a single Swedish girl, who has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old from Stockholm, began her solitary protest in August of the previous year. What started as one girl's stand has now blossomed into a global movement. She continued her activism at the UN Climate Change Summit last December and at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos.
Greta's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize was put forward by three Norwegian members of parliament. Normally, the identities of both the nominees and their nominators are kept confidential for 50 years. This year, Greta is among 301 individuals vying for the prestigious award. The recipients will be announced in October, with the ceremony taking place in December.
1. Death Metal Fans Are Nice People
A recent study published in the Royal Society’s Open Science journal suggests that death metal music neither promotes violence nor dulls its listeners' sensitivity to aggression.
Professor Bill Thompson, a researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, has long studied the emotional effects of music. His latest study reveals that death metal enthusiasts are, in fact, “nice people” and are unlikely to engage in violent behavior because of the genre they enjoy.
The experiment involved a psychological concept known as 'binocular rivalry.' Eighty participants—32 death metal fans and 48 non-fans—were asked to view pairs of images, each shown to a different eye, while listening to music. One image was neutral, while the other depicted violence. Typically, the brain focuses on the violent image, perceiving it as a threat.
The second part of the experiment tested whether listening to music could alter participants' subconscious reactions. To start, they listened to 'Eaten' by Bloodbath, a death metal song centered around cannibalism, which represents the genre. Following that, they heard something completely different—'Happy' by Pharrell Williams.
The death metal fans exhibited the same bias towards violence as non-fans. This indicates that their sensitivity to violent imagery is no different from that of the general public.
