Category: Bazaar News

During the Igbo Landing of 1803, approximately 75 captives from present-day Nigeria died by mass suicide in Georgia’s Dunbar Creek rather than face a life in chains.

For hundreds of years, enslaved people from Africa were kidnapped, crammed onto slave ships, and whisked to the Americas. But in 1803, 75 Igbo and other West African people from modern-day Nigeria fought back in a remarkable event known as Igbo Landing.

After being sold in Savannah, Georgia and forced onto a ship bound for St. Simons Island, the captives revolted. They overpowered the slavers manning the vessel, commandeered the ship, and docked it at Dunbar Creek.

Then, the captives made a wrenching choice. Instead of surrendering to the slavers waiting on the shore, they marched into the water and drowned themselves. What happened at Igbo Landing has been called a mass suicide, but many see it differently — as an act of mass resistance.

This is the story of the rebellion at Igbo Landing

The Igbo And The American Slave Trade

By the time Igbo Landing took place in 1803, the slave trade in the Americas had existed for almost 200 years. Millions of healthy men and women were abducted from Africa and sent to the New World, where they toiled under harsh conditions on plantations along the southern coast, per History.

As the Library of Congress notes, the voyage from Africa to the New World was a tortuous one. Captives were forced into quarters below deck so cramped that they often couldn’t stand up. Scores died from suffocation, malnutrition, and disease, and others were tortured and killed by the crew.

And many of these captives were Igbo. As historian Douglas B. Chambers noted in his book, Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia, 1.3 million of the 1.7 million people taken from the Bight of Biafra slave hub during the Atlantic slave trade were Igbo. Of the 37,000 Africans who arrived in Virginia from Calabar (in present-day Nigeria) in the 18th century, 30,000 were Igbo.

Hundreds of thousands of Igbo who survived the journey across the Middle Passage over the years were swiftly sold and bought as slaves on American shores. But in 1803, a group of Igbo and other West Africans resisted.

The Rebellion At Igbo Landing

In May 1803, Black Past reports that a slave ship called the Wanderer transported Igbo and other West African captives to Savannah, Georgia. Like generations before them, approximately 75 of them were sold to slavers. John Couper and Thomas Spalding paid about $100 for each person, then forced them onto another vessel, the York, bound for St. Simons Island.

But the captives resisted. The National Museum of African American History and Culture explains that they rose up against their captors, drowned them, and docked the comandeered vessel at Dunbar Creek in St. Simons Island.

There, they faced an impossible choice. With slavers waiting on the shores, according to Georgia Public Radio, many of the Igbo decided to march into the waters of Dunbar Creek instead of surrendering to a life of slavery.

“By the water spirits we came and by the water spirits we will be taken home,” they sang as they walked, still in chains, into the water, according to Mother Jones. “You cannot be an enemy of the land you are a part of.”

As the National Museum of African American History and Culture explains, the bodies of 13 people were later recovered from the water. Some who survived were recaptured and sold into slavery; others remained missing.

But the rebellion at Igbo Landing left an enduring mark.

The Legacy Of Igbo Landing Today

In the years after Igbo Landing, little about American slavery changed. But the story of the Igbo resistance spread among Black slaves.

As the New Georgia Encyclopedia writes, African-American oral tradition kept the story of Igbo Landing alive. It was passed down from generation to generation and often recalled that the Igbo captives had not died at Dunbar Creek. Instead, the story said, they flew home to Africa.

“Ain’t you heard about them?” a Black man named Wallace Quarterman responded after being asked about Igbo Landing by the Federal Writers Project in the 1930s. Quarterman proceeded to recount a version of the Igbo Landing story, in which enslaved people escaped their overseer, Mr. Blue.

“Mr. Blue, he go down one morning with a long whip for to whip them good,” Quarterman said. “Anyway, he whipped them good and they got together and stuck that hoe in the field and then… rose up in the sky and turned themselves into buzzards and flew right back to Africa… Everybody knows about them.”

Though no monument existed at Dunbar Creek until May 2022, various Black artists have commemorated Igbo Landing. Beyoncé paid homage to the legend in her “Love Drought” music video, in which she leads women into the water. And Toni Morrison wrote a version of it in her 1977 book Song of Solomon, which features a Black character taking flight in his final moments.

“The one I had always heard was about Black people, Black slaves who came to the United States, and under certain circumstances they would fly back to Africa,” Morrison said of what inspired the final scenes of her novel, according to Mother Jones.

Not everyone believes that the Igbo flew home, however. In 2016, Georgia Public Radio reports that Nigerian-born Georgia Bobby Aniewku conducted a sacred rite at the site of Igbo Landing, out of a belief that the souls of the captives were trapped in the water.

“They are still there after all these years, but never left because of the violent death,” he told Georgia Public Radio at the time. “And so [the ritual] was our equivalent of telling their soul ‘Now their souls are at peace.’”

Today, the stretch of St. Simons Island is a quiet place. Full of marshlands and beaches, it regularly draws tourists because of its golf courses and rich Southern cuisine. But for those who look closer, it’s also something else — the site of Igbo Landing, the place where dozens of Black captives chose to drown instead of being enslaved.

---

After reading about the rebellion of would-be slaves at Igbo Landing, discover the story of Juneteenth, the national holiday that celebrates the end of American slavery. Or, see how formerly enslaved people and abolitionists alike helped slaves escape from the South to the North on the Underground Railroad before the American Civil War.

The pigeon was discovered perched on the wall of the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia, with a “fairly substantial” amount of crystal meth in its backpack.

Pigeons are everywhere. Pigeons with tiny backpacks, however, are unusual. Recently, correctional officers at the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia were shocked when they spotted a backpack-carrying pigeon — and even more stunned when they discovered that it was carrying crystal meth.

“This is kind of a curveball,” John Randle, the Pacific regional president of the Union for Canadian Correctional Officers, told CBC. To the New York Post, Randle added: “My initial reaction was shock because of all the advancements in technology and the number of drones [smuggling drugs] we’ve seen. The fact that it’s tied to a pigeon is abnormal.”

According to Global News, correctional officers noticed the bird on Dec. 29, 2022 near one of the yards that inmates use for recreation and fresh air. At first glance, it looked like a normal pigeon. Upon second glance, however, the officers noticed it seemed to be carrying something on its back.

“It was spotted by correctional officers… when the officers were doing their standard patrols around and throughout the unit and institution, that’s when they initially spotted the bird with the package on it,” Randle told Global News.

To CBC, Randle added: “From my understanding, [the package] was tied to it in a similar fashion as… a little backpack.”

After a “lengthy period of time” and using some “creative work,” the officers were able to trap the bird. “They had to corner it,” Randle told CBC. “You can imagine how that would look, trying to catch a pigeon.”

More shocking than the backpack-wearing pigeon, however, was what its bag contained. Once the officers caught the bird and opened its satchel, they found 30 grams of crystal meth.

“It’s definitely scary with the fact that it was crystal meth that was found on the bird because that causes a whole lot of problems,” Randle told CBC, remarking that 30 grams was a “fairly substantial” amount of the drug.

Noting that he’d never seen such a thing in his 13-year career, Randle explained that correctional institutions have been focusing lately on preventing drug smuggling by drones. The discovery of the crystal-meth-carrying pigeon, however, suggests that they need to widen their focus.

“We’ve been focusing so much on drone interdiction… now we have to look at, I guess, pigeons again,” Randle told CBC. To the New York Post, he added: “[Drug smugglers] have gone backward in technology. Maybe that’s because of all the work we have done with drone interdiction that they are trying to find new ways to get contraband in without being detected.”

CBC reported that drug smugglers could simply toss pigeons over prison walls — or they could meticulously train the birds to think of the prisons as “home.” Then, someone from outside the facility could tie drugs to them and send them back to fly the contraband inside.

In any case, Randle suggests that the drug smugglers have gone “old school.” And, indeed, there is a long history of using pigeons as messengers.

Homing pigeons were used by both ancient Romans and soldiers fighting in World War I and World War II. The Pigeon Control Resource Center reports that they’re capable of flying as far as 700 miles a day, making these ubiquitous birds a valuable asset during wartime.

Pigeons have even been used by drug smugglers before. VICE reports that a pigeon was caught smuggling marijuana and cocaine into a maximum security prison in Costa Rica in 2015, and another pigeon was intercepted in 2017 while carrying ketamine or ecstasy pills from Iraq into Kuwait.

Drug smugglers even used pigeons as far back as 1930, when a pigeon breeder in Texas told the police that a pigeon he’d sold to a Mexican buyer had flown home with cocaine tied to its legs.

Looking forward, Randle said that correctional officers will keep an eye out for pigeons — but their focus will remain on drug smuggling by drone.

“Especially with drones and throw-overs, the drug problem is growing on a daily basis,” he told Global News. “This pigeon thing adds a new element to that for sure and we’ll be on the lookout for it but definitely drones have been the big thing for us.”

---

After reading about the pigeon caught in Canada carrying crystal meth, discover the surprising story of Cher Ami, the pigeon who saved 200 men during World War I. Or, see why crystal meth has become a surprisingly popular gift among North Koreans.

The BBC has apologised after its live FA Cup broadcast was interrupted by a pornographic prank.

The broadcaster was recording live on Tuesday evening when pornographic sounds broke out in the studio.

Host Gary Lineker, who struggled to keep a straight face as the noises sounded, attempted to switch coverage away from the studio.

He later claimed on Twitter that the noises had come from a hidden mobile phone that had been “taped to the back of the set”.

“As sabotage goes it was quite amusing,” he tweeted.

The BBC has since apologised for the incident and promised an investigation.

“We apologise to any viewers offended during the live coverage of the football this evening. We are investigating how this happened,” a spokesman said.

The incident took place during the BBC’s live coverage at the Molineux stadium before a match between Wolves and Liverpool.

Lineker was previewing the match, alongside pundits Paul Ince and Danny Murphy, when the noises broke out in the background.

He looked momentarily startled and struggled to keep a straight face as he quickly switched the coverage to Alan Shearer outside the studio.

Read more:
Ken Bruce to leave BBC Radio 2 after 31 years
Amazon ‘likely to part ways’ with Jeremy Clarkson

The Match of the Day host attempted to laugh off the incident as the noise continued to blare out and said to Shearer: “Somebody’s sending something on someone’s phone, I think. I don’t know whether you heard it at home.”

Liverpool scored the only goal of the first half, and during the half-time analysis, Lineker said to Ince and Murphy: “Harvey Elliott’s goal was a screamer… which was not the only one we’ve had tonight.”

Self-styled YouTube prankster Daniel Jarvis has since claimed to be behind the incident, which was widely shared across social media.

Jarvis, who uses the nickname Jarvo, was convicted Jonny Bairstow of aggravated trespass last October after he collided with England cricketer Jonny Bairstow during a pitch invasion at the Oval in south London.

He was given an eight-week prison sentence suspended for two years, and was also banned from attending any venue where a sporting fixture is being held in England and Wales for two years and from travelling abroad for 12 months.

Earlier on Tuesday, Jarvis, who has more than 170,000 followers on YouTube, posted a video on Twitter that seemed to show him at Molineux.

Spending more time in nature could yield positive mental health results, but limited access in parts of the world is a significant hurdle.

Frequently spending time in green spaces like parks and gardens could improve mental health — and help reduce the usage of prescription drugs for conditions such as anxiety, insomnia, and depression, new research suggests.

The study, published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, was conducted by a team of researchers in Finland, who wrote, “Exposure to natural environments is thought to be beneficial for human health, but the evidence is inconsistent.”

Hoping to paint a more accurate picture of how green and blue spaces in urban environments correlate with mental health benefits, the team collected data from around 16,000 Finnish citizens and surveyed them about the medications they were taking, how many green and blue spaces they could see from home, and how often they actually spent time in those spaces.

For the purpose of this study, the team constituted areas such as parks, forests, gardens, zoos, cemeteries, and natural grasslands and wetlands as “green spaces,” and oceans, lakes, and rivers as “blue spaces.”

Finland, it should be noted, has an abundance of forest areas and relatively green cities — and over 180,000 lakes (there’s a reason it’s called the “land of a thousand lakes”) — meaning that, for most respondents, it’s relatively easy to access green and blue spaces.

Furthermore, the researchers centered on prescription drugs as an indicator of ill health, specifically those used to treat anxiety, insomnia, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma, all of which are common but potentially serious health issues.

Each participant was a city dweller aged at least 25, and most came from the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa — which make up the largest urban area in Finland, according to The Guardian.

They were asked to answer how often they spent time or exercised in green or blue spaces between May and September, with answers ranging from “never” to “five or more times per week.”

Compared with those who answered with less than one weekly visit, those who visited natural spaces three or four times a week were 33 percent less likely to use mental health medications; 36 percent less likely to take blood pressure medications; and 26 percent less likely to take asthma medications.

Surprisingly, respondents who reported visiting green or blue spaces five times a week or more were only 22 percent less likely to take mental health medications and 24 percent less likely to take asthma medications than those who visit these spaces less than one time a week.

However, higher rates of nature exposure did correlate with lower chances of taking blood pressure medications, as those who visited green or blue spaces five or more times a week had a 41 percent lower probability of taking blood pressure medications than those who visit these spaces less than one time a week

And though the numbers varied slightly when factoring in household income and education (notably, the effects were stronger in participants reporting the lowest income), the associations were still largely intact.

The only factor that weakened these links, particularly regarding asthma medication, was body mass index (BMI), likely because obesity is a known risk factor for asthma, the researchers explained.

The research also emphasized the importance of actually spending time outdoors, rather than simply taking in the view of nature while sitting at home.

“This finding is in line with tentative evidence emphasizing the importance of actual use of green space in relation to mental health, and it suggests that the same holds true for other health conditions, such as asthma and hypertension,” the researchers wrote.

Of course, this research doesn’t represent a direct causal relationship between natural environments and improved mental health, but it does highlight a possible connection that needs further examination.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that in other parts of the world, access to green spaces is much more limited than in Finland. Low-income city dwellers in America, for example, face more obstacles when it comes to accessing green and blue spaces — and medications.

This is why, as the researchers acknowledged, urban planning is so important.

“Mounting scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of nature exposure is likely to increase the supply of high-quality green spaces in urban environments and promote their active use,” they wrote. “This might be one way to improve health and welfare in cities.”

---

After reading about this new study on the effect of green spaces, check out these stunning photos of areas where nature has returned to urban spaces. Or, read about how hallucinogenic mushrooms may offer a cure for depression.

Spotting the most obvious differences between humans and the fictional humanoids of James Cameron’s Avatar universe is a fun little task you might assign to a 5-year-old. The Na’vi have only three fingers (and a thumb) on each hand, a tail, and an average height of about 10 feet. And, of course, they’re blue.

As JoBlo reports, how the director landed on that color pretty much came down to the process of elimination. In an interview for the January 2023 issue of Empire, Cameron explained that, for starters, “… green was taken. There was a long history of green aliens. Plus, the Hulk.” Any pink or brown hue was out by default for seeming too human, and SpongeBob SquarePants (not to mention The Simpsons) took yellow off the board. The remaining contenders were blue and purple; and Cameron, whose personal favorite color is purple, decided to save that to use as “one of our main bioluminescence colors … associating it with Eywa and anything sacred to the Na’vi.”

But blue had been a frontrunner since the start of the franchise’s conceptual phase for another reason, too. As Cameron explained, “ … my mom told me about this dream she had where there was a 10-foot-tall blue woman with six breasts. Cool image. I drew her, but the six breasts thing didn’t come out looking as good as it sounds, plus would mess with the rating. So, anyway … blue.”

Cameron answered a number of other questions for Empire, submitted by a cross-section of past collaborators and various entertainment industry titans—including Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Guillermo del Toro, Pierce Brosnan, Zoe Saldaña, and more. For access to the full Q&A, learn how to subscribe to the magazine here.

[h/t JoBlo]

Garbage collectors in Turkey have curated their own library from books thrown away by residents. The books were destined for landfills, but around 6,000 books now sit on shelves waiting to be re-read by the public.

Reusing books thrown away

The trash collectors kept finding books and eventually found a place to put them. It’s an old brick building outside of Ankara that used to house a factory. Its long shape makes it ideal for the long bookshelves that make libraries so fun to browse.

In the beginning, the trash collectors would stash the books and lend them to friends. But as more people heard about it and the number of books grew, they searched for a more sustainable option. The local municipality, Çankaya, found money in the budget to open a library with these books.

We started to discuss the idea of creating a library from these books. And when everyone supported it, this project happened,” the mayor of Çankaya, Alper Tasdelen, told CNN (cited below).

Turkey doesn’t have a public library system, so it’s up to each region to build, curate, and staff a library themselves.

A new collection and a public good

The library full of books thrown away has a full-time staff member. They’ve even converted a garbage truck into a mobile library/donation truck!

The public has started donating books to the library instead of throwing them away to rot in landfills. You’ll also find magazines and other types of reading materials in the library.

There are some other items found in the trash that have made their way to the library, such as furniture and even games. Some of the space acts as a social center for people in the town.

Talk about turning trash into treasure!

Check below for a video about these garbage collectors’ awesome efforts! — WTF fun facts

Source: “Garbage collectors open library with abandoned books” — CNN

Related

High in protein, rich in vitamins, and low in fat, eggs have long been considered the ideal low-cost food and a cornerstone of breakfast tables. As recently as 2021, a dozen of Eggland’s Best could be had for as little as $2; other brands cost even less. Today those same eggs can go for $7 and beyond. Some are even blaming eggs as the exclusive reason your grocery bill is giving you sticker shock. So what happened?

According to The New York Times, the principal driver of egg inflation has been a marked increase in the industry’s infrastructure. The costs of packaging, transportation, and animal feed has exploded, raising expenses for egg suppliers.

The other problem: bird flu. An outbreak has affected tens of millions of hens in multiple states, leading to a 5 percent decrease of avian “workers.” In data supplied to The Times by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, domestic egg supply has been reduced by an average of 7.5 percent for each of the last 10 months.

“The flu is the most important factor affecting egg prices,” Maro Ibarburu, a business analyst at Iowa State University’s Egg Industry Center, told The Washington Post. “This outbreak, in terms of egg-laying hens, we lost 10 million more egg-laying hens than the last outbreak in 2015.”

Is there an end in sight? There are some signs of avian flu abating, but the contagious illness can be hard to predict. And while sick hens can be replaced, it’s time-consuming to sanitize facilities affected by outbreaks; hens may also not reach their peak output (24 eggs per month) for four or five months. For now, it looks like exorbitant eggs prices are here to stay.

[h/t Food & Wine]

CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — A 63-year-old man from Punta Gorda was caught dumping over 500 pounds of septage into vacant lots.

According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to 8382 Sweden Blvd after a witness observed a thin man drive a white Freightliner with a tank on the rear with the words, “Shoreline Sewer and Drain.”

The witness recorded the man dumping what appeared to be a dark liquid with an odor into the property.

The witness recognized the man from the neighborhood and identified him as Mark Daniel Kudlach. When the man saw he was being recorded, he fled the scene. The witness told deputies that the truck is normally parked near Strasse Blvd.

Deputies walked through Kudlach’s property and located large puddles containing a dark liquid with a foul odor.

According to the report, a case was opened, and pictures were collected and added as well as the video taken by the witness.

After further investigation, the report mentions that Kudlach was connected to another similar case.

“Kudlach was suspected of illegally discharging sewage into a restricted Charlotte County Utilities lift station using the same truck captured in the witness’s video,” read the report.

A week later, on January 9th, deputies conducted a traffic stop on Kudlach. He was arrested and is facing charges of Felony Litter Law.

You’ve heard of New England, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. But the United States has several more interesting regions—including some that sound downright delicious. Food has inspired the monikers of many geographic locations in this agriculturally rich country.

Hungry to learn more? We’re ready to dish out some fun facts about these food-inspired names and places. 

Pierogis are dumplings with various fillings tucked into a doughy pocket—and it turns out this Eastern European delicacy has a pocket of its own in the U.S. The Pierogi Pocket includes the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and a sprinkling of some other cities in the Midwest. These regions are responsible for 68 percent of American pierogi consumption.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the unofficial heart of pierogi-land. There, you can enjoy a pierogi festival, a pierogi road trip, and the Great Pittsburg Pierogi Race, which takes place after the fifth inning of every Pirates game. 

If you enjoy your succotash, cornbread, and corn on the cob, you can thank the Corn Belt, which produces 10 billion bushels of corn each year. The region is predominantly in the Midwest—the top-producing states are Iowa and Illinois—though some lump corn growers in Texas into it as well. The area has led corn production in the U.S. since the 1850s.

The fields of the Corn Belt take up land equivalent to more than 69 million football fields. The region is so expansive it even makes its own weather systems, with the crops changing the rainfall levels and temperature trends. 

About three-quarters of U.S. grain products are made from wheat flour—so it’s a good thing Americans have the great Wheat Belt to depend on. This region extends along a north-south axis from central Alberta, Canada, to central Texas, and is split into winter wheat and spring wheat areas. The top wheat-growing states are Kansas (7.3 million acres), North Dakota (6.5 million acres), Montana (5.5 million acres), and Texas (5.5 million acres). 

The state of Kansas alone grows enough wheat to bake 36 billion loaves of bread. That’s enough to feed everyone in the world (more than 6 billion people) for two weeks!

The Borscht Belt refers to the now-obsolete summer resorts of the Catskills Mountains in upstate New York. It was a popular holiday destination from the 1930s to the 1960s for members of the Jewish community, who were at the time unwelcome at many resorts in the U.S. The name is a nod to the Eastern European soup made of beetroot.

At its prime, the region was a thriving destination with more than 500 resorts; one of them actually inspired the hit 1987 film Dirty Dancing. Sadly, most of the resorts of the once-bustling region have since been abandoned.  

The Pretzel Belt is a region in central southeastern Pennsylvania, centered around the town of Hanover, that’s known for a large concentration of pretzel and snack food manufacturers—the area has even been dubbed the “Snack Capital of the World.” It produces 80 percent of the pretzels consumed in the U.S. Some of the companies serving up the salty treats in the Pretzel Belt include the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, which has been in operation since 1861 and was the first pretzel maker in the country; Snyder’s of Hanover; and Martin’s Potato Chips. 

Where do people consume the most Jell-O per capita than any other place in the U.S.? Why, in the Jell-O Belt, obviously! The Jell-O Belt covers Utah and some parts other neighboring states with significant populations of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1999, when Iowa beat out Utah for the most Jell-O consumption, students at Brigham Young University launched a “Take Back the Title” campaign to propel their state back into first place. Government officials were equally on board with Jell-O love, signing a 2001 resolution making the food Utah’s official state snack. 

The sweet treat was even honored with an official pin design for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics; it featured a bowl of green Jell-O, representing Utah’s most beloved dessert, in the most popular flavor—lime.

A banana belt has nothing to do with actual bananas: It refers to segments of a region that enjoy warmer weather conditions than the region as a whole. This geographic phenomenon typically occurs when air rises over the top of a mountain range through orographic lift and warms up as it’s pulled down the other side. 

There are many places in the U.S. where you can find these so-called banana belts. They include much of North Dakota’s southwestern region; the south coast of Oregon; Tobacco Valley, Montana; and Dubois, Wyoming; among others. There is one U.S. banana belt that stands out from the rest: Farmers in the banana belt of Ventura County, California, actually grow bananas.

Most of the world’s maple syrup comes from the Maple Belt, which includes the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as parts of the northern U.S. including New England, Western New York, and parts of the Midwest. The sweet sap was known and valued by theEastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples—who traditionally lived in the areas east of the Mississippi River and south of Canada’s subarctic boreal forests—long before the arrival of European settlers. Today, the province of Quebec is by far the largest producer of maple syrup, but in the U.S., the state of Vermont produces most of the sweet, sticky substance, followed by New York and Maine. 

As the name suggests, fruit belts are regions where significant quantities of fruits grow. In the U.S., some of the main fruit belts are located around the Great Lakes. Fruits thrive in these agricultural regions because of fertile soil, low elevation, and their microclimates. One of the largest fruit belts is in the state of Michigan, which is known for its abundant apple production. 

Another is on the shores of Lake Erie. The area was covered with glaciers during the ice age; when the glaciers receded, they left behind rich soil favorable for growing fruits. The top crop around Lake Erie is grapes, making it a premier wine-producing area. 

Did you know Steven Spielberg was a college dropout? Well, in any case, he returned to his college, Cal State – Long Beach, when he was in his 50s to earn his BA degree. But the story of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic credits is less well-known.

A director drops out of college – and comes back

Speilberg has been given some honorary degrees over the years and spoke at a commencement or two. For example, he spoke at Harvard’s 2016 graduation ceremony. It was there he revealed his own college story.

He told students and their parent’s about his own graduation, just 14 years earlier.

Spielberg began college in his teens but was then offered his dream job at Universal Studios in his sophomore year. He told his parents that if his movie career failed, he would re-enroll.

But it didn’t happen quite like that. It did, however, take him 37 years to finally graduate.

He told the audience:

“…eventually, I returned for one big reason. Most people go to college for an education, and some go for their parents, but I went for my kids. I’m the father of seven, and I kept insisting on the importance of going to college, but I hadn’t walked the walk. So, in my fifties, I re-enrolled at Cal State — Long Beach, and I earned my degree.”

Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic credits

It’s probably a lot easier to master college and its demands when you’re wealthy and have nothing to lose. But that’s not an attempt to diminish his achievement (just a nod to college students out there still grinding away)!

Another thing that helped the Hollywood director? Spielberg told that Harvard grads that he was given three credits in paleontology for making Jurassic Park.

Now, if you’ve seen Jurassic Park, you know there’s some sketchy molecular biology in there, but we’re hoping they got the paleontology right!

Regardless, Spielberg finished up his degree in film production. And we’re guessing he had a pretty high GPA by the end – at least in his major!

Here are some other words of advice he had to offer:

“And the way you create a better future is by studying the past. Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton, who graduated from both this college and this medical school, liked to quote a favorite professor of his who said that if you didn’t know history, you didn’t know anything. You were a leaf that didn’t know it was part of a tree. So history majors: Good choice, you’re in great shape…Not in the job market, but culturally.”

Hey, we know an awful lot of history majors working in museums, journalism, marketing, politics, and law! We even know some who work as consultants on movie sets, Spielberg! — WTF fun facts

Source: “Steven Spielberg to Grads: ‘Earn This’” — TIME

Related

Many people have a fair amount of pride for their home state—boasting about its offbeat attractions, its must-visit diners and drive-ins, and even the quirkiness of its official state symbols. 

When it comes to beloved baby names, however, there’s quite a bit of sameness across the nation. The Social Security Administration meticulously tracks the number of newborns with each name as it processes Social Security Card applications, publishing national rankings as well as state-by-state breakdowns each year.

In 2021, parents from Georgia to Washington simply couldn’t stop naming their baby girls Olivia. It was the most popular female name in a whopping 34 states. The male version of that moniker was quite common, too: Oliver came out on top in 13 states. In eight of them—Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, and Wyoming—Olivia also reigned supreme.

Nationwide, however, Oliver was bested by Liam, which took the blue ribbon in 20 states. Noah amassed the No. 1 spot in a respectable 10, as did Charlotte on the girls’ side. Just three states claimed uniqueness: Mississippi is the only state where Ava topped the list; New Mexico was Mia’s single first-place finish; and Kentucky is the only state where Emma was the favorite. It is a little surprising that Emma wasn’t number one more often, considering it was Olivia’s runner-up in the overall national rankings.

While the lists below are pretty homogeneous, the top five breakdown for each state is slightly less so. The runner-up on the boys’ side in West Virginia, for example, is Waylon; and Nebraska is the only state where Eleanor charted. Feel free to explore the full grids for yourself here.

1. Alabama // Olivia, William
2. Alaska // Amelia, Noah
3. Arizona // Olivia, Liam
4. Arkansas // Olivia, Liam
5. California // Olivia, Noah
6. Colorado // Olivia, Liam
7. Connecticut // Olivia, Noah
8. Delaware // Charlotte, Liam
9. Florida // Olivia, Liam
10. Georgia, Olivia, Noah
11. Hawaii // Olivia, Noah
12. Idaho // Olivia, Oliver
13. Illinois // Olivia, Noah
14. Indiana // Charlotte, Liam
15. Iowa // Charlotte, Oliver
16. Kansas // Olivia, Liam
17. Kentucky // Emma, Liam
18. Louisiana // Olivia, Liam
19. Maine // Charlotte, Oliver
20. Maryland // Olivia, Liam
21. Massachusetts // Olivia, Noah
22. Michigan // Charlotte, Noah
23. Minnesota // Charlotte, Oliver
24. Mississippi // Ava, William
25. Missouri // Olivia, Oliver
26. Montana // Olivia, Oliver
27. Nebraska // Olivia, Henry
28. Nevada // Olivia, Liam
29. New Hampshire // Olivia, Oliver
30. New Jersey // Olivia, Liam
31. New Mexico // Mia, Noah
32. New York // Olivia, Liam
33. North Carolina // Olivia, Liam
34. North Dakota // Olivia, Oliver
35. Ohio // Olivia, Oliver
36. Oklahoma // Olivia, Liam
37. Oregon // Evelyn, Oliver
38. Pennsylvania // Olivia, Noah
39. Rhode Island // Olivia, Liam
40. South Carolina // Olivia, William
41. South Dakota // Evelyn, Henry
42. Tennessee // Olivia, William
43. Texas // Olivia, Liam
44. Utah // Olivia, Oliver
45. Vermont // Charlotte, Henry
46. Virginia // Charlotte, Liam
47. Washington // Olivia, Liam
48. West Virginia // Amelia, Liam
49. Wisconsin // Charlotte, Oliver
50. Wyoming // Olivia, Oliver
51. Washington, D.C. // Charlotte, Henry

If you’re looking to curl up with a classic love story, consider one of these novels whose characters’ romances will make your heart skip a beat. They don’t all have a happy ending—but the passion their pages contain is enough to keep you captivated.

Like many young loves, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza’s secret romance is destined for heartbreak. Fermina later marries and grows old with Dr. Juvenal Urbino, a physician fighting to eradicate cholera. When her husband dies, Florentino—who continued to nurture his feelings for her, despite spending the decades engaging in many romantic affairs—attends the funeral, ready for a second chance with his first love. “This book was a pleasure,” author Gabriel García Márquez—whose parents inspired the main couple’s love story—said in an interview in 1988. “It could have been much longer, but I had to control it. There is so much to say about the life of two people who love each other. It’s infinite.”

Buy it: Amazon

Set in early 20th-century Florida, this Harlem Renaissance staple cemented Zora Neale Hurston’s place in history as a literary great. The story, a celebration of Black love, blossoms into a complex narrative about gender roles and women’s independence. Janie’s love for Tea Cake is intense and imperfect, ending in tragedy, but her quest for romance and partnership rather than ownership and control celebrates a type of love that is joyful and enduring.

Though the novel is a beloved classic now, her peers were less than impressed when the novel came out. “Miss Hurston seems to have no desire whatever to move in the direction of serious fiction … The sensory sweep of her novel carries no theme, no message, no thought,” novelist Richard Wright wrote.

Buy it: Amazon

This tale about the forbidden romance between protagonist Meggie Cleary and an older priest topped The New York Times’s best-seller list for more than a year. When the novel begins, Meggie is just a 4-year-old child living in the harsh Australian Outback. As the decades pass, deception and death continue to dog the Cleary family; family secrets unravel, testing both love and loyalty. The novel was a smashing success, and readers and publishing houses alike were keen to get their hands on the book—paperback rights to The Thorn Birds sold for a record-breaking $1.9 million in 1977.

Buy it: Amazon

This is no lighthearted coming-of-age story. In the novel—which takes its title from a Beatles song—Toru Watanabe reminisces on his years as a student in 1960s Tokyo, a time defined by love, longing, and loss. His attempts to navigate his relationships with two starkly different women, set against the backdrop of the era’s civil unrest and student protests, is poignant and powerful. The book was a departure from Murakami’s usual style: “I could have been a cult writer if I’d kept writing surrealistic novels. But I wanted to break into the mainstream, so I had to prove that I could write a realistic book,” he said in a 2004 interview with The Paris Review.

Buy it: Amazon

It’s safe to say Nicholas Sparks’s entry into the literary world was a smashing one. Elderly Noah Calhoun reads a story to Allie, who is suffering from dementia. It’s soon revealed that the tale he’s telling is their own love story—a husband’s gentle-yet-raw attempt to reignite his wife’s memory of their decades-long romance.

Noah and Allie’s love story was inspired by the author’s then-wife’s grandparents. “The way his eyes shined when he looked at her, the way he held her hand, the way he got her tea and took care of her. I remember watching them together and thinking to myself that after sixty years of marriage, these two people were treating each other exactly the same as my wife and I were treating each other after twelve hours.” the author wrote on his website.

Buy it: Amazon

This time-traveling romance has captivated readers since the early ‘90s. After Claire is transported from 1946 to 18th-century Scotland, she meets Jamie, a Jacobite supporter who’s wanted by the English government. The love that blossoms between them ultimately spans centuries and sparked a multi-book series Gabaldon is still publishing today—which is all the more incredible for the fact that Gabaldon merely intended the novel to be practice.

Buy it: Amazon

Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, are having a tough time on the 1813 marriage market in Regency England; Daphne’s struggling to find a good suitor, and Simon is finding himself all too eligible for his liking. The plan the two concoct to use each other to achieve their romantic goals quickly turns from fake courting to something far more real. In 2020, Netflix debuted a TV show based on the novel; when the second season came out in spring of 2022, it became the most-watched English-language show in the platform’s history.

Buy it: Amazon

Jane Austen is no stranger to penning a great love story—and this yarn about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy is no exception. Pride and Prejudice, which features the classic enemies-to-lovers plot, has remained popular centuries after it was first published anonymously. (Austen did not include her name on her novels; Pride and Prejudice’s title page simply stated it was written “by the author of Sense and Sensibility.”)  

Buy it: Amazon

Jane Eyre’s road to romance with Edward Rochester is long and windy. Jane lives a troubled, and at times tragic, life—but her refusal to stray from her principles allows her to ultimately find the love she has longed for. Several parts of the novel were inspired by Brontë’s own life: Like the main character, she too had once attended a cruel school and worked as a governess; Brontë also once visited an estate that had its own “madwoman” hidden away.

Buy it: Amazon

Like Water for Chocolate is filled with passion, for better and worse. Tita’s abusive mother may have forbidden her from marrying, but that doesn’t stop her from falling in love with her neighbor Pedro. With the help of her cooking and a hefty sprinkling of the supernatural, Tita is finally able to break free from her mother’s bonds and pursue the man she adores. Food is a central part of the narrative. “The same way one tells a recipe, one tells a family history,” the author told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1993. Esquivel grew up helping her mother and grandmother cook—many of the recipes she includes in the book actually came from her own family.

Buy it: Amazon