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A couple who had saved more than $5,000 for their dream honeymoon in Bali ended up being turned away at the border, all because their dog had chewed a bit of the groom’s passport. Daniel and Tia Farthing flew 16 hours from their home in the UK to Bali on October 16 — their first wedding anniversary — only to be told they couldn’t enter Indonesia. Border officials told the couple that Daniel’s passport wasn’t in acceptable condition and they were forced to take the next flight back to the UK, leaving them devastated and well out of pocket. The couple told The Mirror the passport was bitten by their four-year-old labrador collie cross Milo when he was a puppy. UK Border Force staff told Daniel that the passport would not be an issue for their trip to Indonesia, provided all the necessary details were in it. However, Indonesian officials didn’t agree. On their way home to Suffolk, England, the couple had a layover in Singapore where Daniel said he was detained for seven hours. Meanwhile, a panicked Tia ran up a phone bill of more than $280 trying to contact relatives back home. When the couple eventually landed at London’s Heathrow Airport, they said a flight attendant who had been told of their ordeal looked at Daniel’s passport and said: “Is that what all the fuss was about?” With the couple having lost the $5,000 they spent on the trip, Tia’s sister has started a GoFundMe campaign to help them. “This whole experience has been absolutely traumatic for the both of them and they do not deserve this to happen to either of them,” the sister said. “So what we want to do is show Tia and Dan how much we all love and care for them and how much we all want to help.” “So we have started this page to ask our friends and family to help us raise some funds to try and give them some hope that they can and will get the honeymoon that they have always dreamt of and deserve!” The campaign has already surpassed its $950 goal in less than two weeks, raising over $1,400 for the couple. Meanwhile, Milo, whose nibble on Daniel’s passport caused the whole drama, seemed to be trying to make it up to the couple. “He knows he’s done wrong because he’s been constantly coming to us for cuddles,” Tia said. they'd have been better off spending the $ to fix his teeth...

An irate passenger who missed her bus stop triggered a catastrophe in China when she attacked the driver — who lost control of the vehicle, which plunged into the Yangtze River, killing everyone on board. Thirteen bodies were found after the Sunday night crash, and two people remained missing, Chongqing police told China Daily Friday morning. Approximately 15 people were on board, cops said. Bus surveillance video obtained by Chongqing police, as well as other evidence, shows that a 48-year-old female passenger, identified only by her last name, Liu, missed her stop and asked the driver to stop immediately, the outlet reported. When the 43-year-old driver, also identified by his last name, Ran, refused, Liu hit him over the head with her cellphone. The video shows the pair swinging at each other, with the driver still attempting to steer the bus in between blows. Suddenly, the bus swerved onto the wrong side of the road before striking another car, breaking through a guardrail and plunging into the river in Wanzhou, Chongqing. The bus was airlifted out of the water by around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said. Zhao Hu, a lawyer, told the outlet that the victims’ families have the right to seek compensation from the bus operator as well as Liu’s family.

The husband left the toilet seat up, or the wife used his prized autographed baseball to play fetch with their rottweiler. Too obvious.

On Thursday’s episode of the ABC hit, Dr. Nico Kim (Alex Landi) and “Glasses”/Dr. Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli) shared a kiss — the first kiss between two male doctors on the show. Now Landi, Borelli, and showrunner Krista Vernoff are opening up to EW about how the storyline came to be. Krista Vernoff: Jake [who joined the Grey’s cast last season] is an incredible actor, and the more we wrote for him, the more we wanted to write for him. So the story didn’t begin with, “Hey, we’ve never done a gay male love story.” It began with, “What are we going to do with Jake this year that’s different?” I remembered a friend of mine in college who was sort of a clumsy, fumfering type who would trip over his own feet [like Borelli’s character] and would stutter, and then he came out toward the end of our freshman year and emerged as a completely different human being because he was living in his truth. Living in his truth seemed to set something free in him where he was no longer tripping over his own feet. He emerged with strength and power and sex appeal that had not existed in him publicly prior, and when I remembered my friend, I wanted to tell that story with Jake because it felt like a really beautiful way to evolve his character. Then we realized we’d never done it! It was a hugely exciting thing. We’re always just looking for fresh stories, and to realize that somehow we had never told this story was shocking and exciting. It felt like an avenue unexplored after 15 seasons, and when we began to talk about it in the writers’ room we all got really excited, and then we woke up the next morning to an email from our production assistant Xaiver, who is a gay man and took the brave steps of writing to the whole writing staff saying he couldn’t stop crying reading the writers’ room notes realizing that we were finally going to tell a story that would speak to him in this way. He was just so moved and so excited, and he thought it was going to be moving and exciting to a whole community of people who had not yet felt represented on the show but that were huge fans. I was already excited to do it, but that email made me cry. I called Jake and talked to him about it, and he was really excited and game and wanted to know how we were going to tell the story. When I talked to him about my friend, that felt perfect to him. That’s when we went searching for a love interest and found Alex Landi. Alex Landi: I knew from the beginning that the character was openly gay and felt it was a great opportunity and I couldn’t pass on it. They wanted him to be a masculine, strong, bro type, but at the same time he was openly gay, which definitely defies LGBTQ stereotypes, and I think that’s great. And the fact that he’s Asian as well, that just adds to the mix. Vernoff: I looked at a dozen [audition] tapes, and [Alex] was the only one and I said, “I need to work with him. I want to meet him because this storyline is ultimately going to be a big deal.” He flew in from New York, and in the casting room I said, “So how long are you in town?” And he said, “I only bought a one-way ticket.” And I was like, “That’s my guy.” Just the confidence, it was just great. Landi made his debut on Grey’s when season 15 premiered Sept. 27. Immediately his character took a liking to Borelli’s Levi, making the intern blush with every smoldering glance. Vernoff: You know you’ve got two great actors, but you don’t know if they’ve got chemistry, and that’s where we worked out. These guys are just magic together, I think, and it’s been so exciting to watch it evolve. Landi: I love the flirting between Nico and Levi. I think it’s a push-and-pull type of relationship. Levi being the little, insecure, shy type while Nico is definitely the more dominant, confident character. I think it’s really fun to play with that — its like a tug of war every episode. I know fans have been in pain waiting to see what happens with them. Borelli: I totally ship Levi and Nico. I think their relationship so far has been super-endearing and super-cute and super-honest. Borelli: I think Levi’s speech about being a general surgeon and being focused on general surgery and then finally getting a chance to do ortho — and that he’s really excited about being in ortho — is such a great metaphor for his coming out. I think it’s in his own way, it’s how he feels comfortable saying, “I’m gay.” It’s a really important thing to see, as well, that he is so earnest about sharing these feelings and about coming out to Nico, but he just doesn’t have the ability to articulate it yet. So it comes out in this really beautiful metaphor about general surgery versus a more specialized surgery, which is ortho. I think after this kiss, we see something click in him that all of a sudden this feels right. That he feels empowered by this, that this is something maybe he knew was deep inside of him somewhere, but he didn’t fully understand it. I think he’s changing right before my eyes, and I think he’s changing right before his own eyes. Yes, he slept with Dr. Jo Wilson at the beginning of season 14, and I think he didn’t necessarily know what that meant and didn’t understand. I think at this point in his life, he is coming to terms with his own sexuality. He’s learning about sexuality for the first time. He’s a little bit of a late bloomer. I think it wasn’t until Nico had started to be smitten by him or to start advances by him that he was even consciously aware that this might be something he would be into. Landi: It’s crazy because the scene goes from “Oh my God, it’s happening!” and all of a sudden it’s, “Oh my God, what the hell is happening?!” It goes from 100 to 0 really quick, as opposed to 0 to 100. I’m sure Levi is ecstatic and confused when it first happens, and then all of a sudden Nico has a realization that Levi has never kissed a guy before and it kind of goes from a moment of euphoria for Levi to him being crushed. It’s definitely an unexpected twist that hopefully the audience will appreciate — but at the same time it builds the storyline, which is great. Borelli: I hope that [after this kiss, Levi] is able to come into his own more. I hope that he feels empowered by this. I hope that he’s accepted by everybody at the hospital. I just want the best for him. I have so much love for Levi, I really want it to work out for him. I know he doesn’t have the best track record in terms of having things work perfectly for him, and I really hope that this changes with this. “As a gay guy myself, tonight’s episode was so special to me. This is exactly the kind of story I craved as a young gay kid growing up in Ohio, and it blows my mind that I’m able to bring life to Dr. Levi Schmitt as he begins to grapple with his own sexuality this season on Grey’s Anatomy,” the 27-year-old actor shared on Instagram. Borelli praised Schmitt’s “vulnerability and courage” and told the “little Levis out there” that they are seen.

You mean Beary White. Right? :D:p:D:p:D:cool::):):):)

OH, ScHmITt! THE KISS 15 YEARS IN THE MAKING... So, today Jake Borelli, who plays Levi Schmitt, came out both in an Instagram post and in an interview as a gay man and talked about how important this storyline was to him personally.

SPOILER ALERT I thought Sophia Loren’s daughter-in-law was very good in tonight’s episode. BUT… I think Liv’s been a cop too long. She said she’s never seen anything like this, but she forgot she & Elliot investigated Dylan Walsh for the same thing. And she HAD to see the ending of the episode coming… (follow me on this…) Sharon Lawrence looks so much like Sophia Loren’s daughter-in-law that she has played her mother. Ms. Lawrence ended an episode the same way back when Elliot was Liv’s partner. Like mother, like daughter. Liv has obviously blocked all memories of the Stabler years.

My toaster oven died approximately 4AM EST 11/1/18. In lieu of flowers, please send cash.

Scientists discover pandas sing to each other for sex Scientists from China and the US have released their findings from a study of the mating rituals of giant pandas today and the results are quite extraordinary and very romantic. The study, conducted over the course of two years, found that giant pandas have the best and possibly only, sex of their lives when their partners sing them a love song beforehand. These love songs are even whispered into the panda’s fluffy ears during intercourse. Lurking scientists then recorded these sexy panda vocalizations and analyzed them back in their lab, concluding that the sweet songs are “crucial for achieving behavioral synchrony and signaling intention to mate.” The study examined 23 adult giant pandas during the 2016 and 2018 breeding seasons in Sichuan, China. Their findings were published in Royal Society Open Science. All the subjects were sexually active, responsible adult pandas. The scientists clearly had no time for bedroom rookies. The subjects were kept in a sort of tawdry sex enclosure, where they were introduced to their one night stand and observed by researchers from afar. Each session recorded sounds that were described in the study as “bleats, chirps, moans, barks and roars.” Apparently, some of these sounds indicate that sex is about to get violent and could leave one of the pandas with serious or life-threatening injuries. As a result, the study recommended that animal caretakers should be trained to recognize the different vocal behaviors of their pandas in order to predict “successful copulation versus…likely failure.” “This could also provide a valuable tool for breeding programs,” the study found.

An English artist and classical pianist is comforting blind and elderly elephants by playing the piano for them at a sanctuary in Thailand. Paul Barton, born in Yorkshire and now based in the Asian country, performs at Elephants World, the sanctuary his wife founded just outside of Kanchanaburi for the gentle giants. In videos posted to his Facebook and YouTube pages, Barton plays classical tunes to the elephants, who appear to be captivated by the sounds — and by Barton himself. Barton, according to CBS News, said in a video that he and his wife “liked the sound of the place being a retirement center for old, injured and handicapped former logging and trekking elephants.” “So we paid them a visit. I wondered if these old rescue elephants might like to listen to some slow classical music,” Barton said. The pianist said that the first time he played music for the elephants, one of them, who was eating breakfast, stopped when he heard Beethoven. “[He] was often in pain,” Barton said of the elephant. “I like to think maybe the soothing the music gave him some comfort in the darkness.” And the elephants — of which there are around 30 at the sanctuary, according to its website — aren’t Barton’s only fans. With more than 185,000 subscribers on YouTube and hundreds of “likes” and “shares” on Facebook from his more than 14,000 followers, eager listeners often thank Barton online. “Thank you for bringing these special moments to these precious souls,” one user wrote on Facebook. Another follower commented: “She may not like people, I get that, but she obviously finds the music relaxing. Beautiful!”

Rare Mandarin Duck Makes A Splash In Central Park A rare duck is going viral online after finding a new home in New York City. The Mandarin duck, known for its multicolored feathers and hot pink bill, is native to East Asia. The big question: Why is it here, in the middle of Manhattan? Photographer Dennis Newsham can’t get enough of the duck. “I took a couple hundred [pictures] because it’s a rare bird and I was trying to get some action shots, and I got some of it flying,” Newsham said. The Harlem man isn’t the only one flocking to the park to get a glimpse. The bird was first spotted on Oct. 10th and videotaped in a now viral video. Since then, New Yorkers and tourists are swarming to the pond in the southeast corner of the park near 59th and Fifth. “It’s just an incredible gift to New York,” said bird watcher Yovanna Davinci. “This is a wonderful opportunity to see a beautiful animal,” said Michelle Ashkin, co-director of education at the Wild Bird Fund. The reason why the bird is causing such a buzz? It’s native to East Asia. It shouldn’t be in the middle of Manhattan. “It’s just enjoying some sunlight and taking it easy,” said bird watcher Dave Barrett. Barrett says it’s one of the most colorful ducks you can find. “It’s beautiful. That’s the thing that is getting people’s imaginations fired… It’s the most beautiful duck, probably in the world,” Barrett said. Barrett says he’s checked with every zoo in the city, and none are missing a duck. It leads the bird watching community to believe it was a domestic pet, which is illegal in New York City. “It might have got away or someone might have got tired of it and dumped it,” Barrett said. It also may have flown here from a neighboring town. Whatever the reason, it’s here. And it’s no chicken. This duck isn’t afraid to take on New York. Bird experts say they don’t think the duck will migrate for the winter, but it should survive here in New York. The city doesn’t plan on removing the duck unless it appears to be unhealthy or in danger. Right now, neither seem to be the case.

Antarctica scientist stabbed colleague for spoiling book endings In the first attempted murder ever on the frozen continent of Antarctica, a Russian scientist reportedly snapped and allegedly tried to stab a colleague to death because the victim kept giving away the endings of books. Sergey Savitsky had been trying to use literature to pass the lonesome months at Bellingshausen Station on King George Island, but his colleague Oleg Beloguzov was making it impossible to enjoy his hobby. “[He] kept telling [him] the endings of books before he read them,” The Sun reported, citing an unnamed source. So on Oct. 9, the 55-year-old Savitsky finally had enough and allegedly plunged a kitchen knife into the chest of his 52-year-old tormenter. Part of Beloguzov’s heart was wounded, Russian authorities said. Beloguzov, a welder, was flown to the nearest hospital, in Chile, where he is expected to survive. The men previously had spent four frigid years working together at the facility. Officials said that while the reading dispute was the final straw, the close confinement in the camp on remote Antarctica played a role in fueling the attack. “They are both professional scientists who have been working in our expeditions, spending year-long seasons at the station,” deputy director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Alexander Klepikov told the Russian news outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda. “It is down to investigators to figure out what sparked the conflict, but both men are members of our team,” he said. Savitsky was deported to St. Petersburg, Russia, and charged with attempted murder on Oct. 22, according to Pravda. Savitsky admitted to the stabbing but claimed he didn’t mean to kill him, the Russian news outlet Nevskie Novosti reported, citing law-enforcement sources. The station, which was set up by the Soviets in 1968, is located in one of Antarctica’s few mild regions — where winter temperatures hover around a balmy 15 degrees. Workers can spend time flipping between two Russian TV channels, exercising at a gym — or reading in the research library.

I HOPE IT'S USING A CONDOM!

Only every day of my adult life! :cool:

Pets have ‘inner clock’ just like humans If sometimes you wonder if your dog is angry with you for staying out late, you might be right. New evidence suggests that animals have a clear sense of time, using previously undiscovered neurons that seem to switch on to count off minutes as they wait. The discovery was made by a team fromNorthwestern University while studying the medial entorhinal cortex of mice. Located in the mid-temporal lobe, it’s the part of the brain associated with memory and navigation. And since it encodes spatial information in episodic memories, lead study author Daniel Dombeck theorized that it could function as a sort of “inner clock” as well. “There are many similarities between the brains of mice, cats, dogs and humans,” Dombeck told Fox News. “We all have a medial entorhinal cortex (the region we found that may act as an inner clock), so it’s logical to think that this brain region serves a similar function in all of these different species.” To test his theory, Dombeck and his team put a mouse on a physical treadmill in a virtual reality environment. The mouse would run (on the treadmill) down a hallway to a door. After six seconds, the “door” would open and the mouse would get a (non–virtual reality) treat. They would repeat this a few times before making the door invisible. Dombeck was surprised to find that the mouse would still run and stop at the invisible door, waiting for six seconds for it to “open” so it could eat. Since the mouse didn’t know whether the door was open or closed and waited exactly six seconds, the team concluded that it had to have used its inner clock. The researchers also monitored the mouse’s brain activity, finding that the mouse’s neurons would fire as it ran. When it stopped at the door, those neurons would turn off before a new set began firing. These newly discovered neurons only fired when the mouse stopped, keeping track of the time the mouse was resting. Dombeck believes that dogs and cats more than likely have the same neurons that encode time. “There’s evidence that humans and monkeys can estimate time intervals using some form of an ‘inner clock’ and now with our work we know that mice also can explicitly represent time intervals in their brains and can perform timing tasks,” he explained. “Therefore, it’s logical to think that animals in between mice and humans in the hierarchy chain, like our pets (dogs and cats), can also use their brains to estimate time intervals.” The team’s research could have an impact on humans. The entorhinal cortex is one of the first regions of the brain affected by neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, and researchers could study how these diseases affect the new time–encoding neurons. “When doing basic research like we are, it’s always difficult to know where or how your findings will make an impact, but it’s really results from basic research like ours that eventually lead to better treatments or understanding of diseases, and sometimes even provide insights into how things like designing better computer software (by mimicking brain function),” Dombeck said. “Since the medial temporal lobe (the larger brain region that includes the medial entorhinal cortex) is one of the first regions affected by Alzheimer’s disease, and since the timekeeping properties of this part of the brain were previously unknown, it’s not unreasonable to think that clinicians could soon be asking patients to estimate different amounts of elapsed time as part of the battery of tests to look for early signs of dementia.” The study can be found in the journal Nature Neuroscience.