On Monday, the Portuguese were stunned by a terrifying cloud over the island of Madeira. The bright orange formation looked as if it was a burning clenched fist.
The cloud was spotted by weather blogger Rogerio Pacheco. His photos soon got attention on social media. People had all kinds of speculations, comparing the unusual cloud to anything from a “Hand of God” to a burning fist, or even a comet from the video game Final Fantasy.
“As soon as I saw the sky, I was immediately intrigued and I just had to grab my camera to take photo,” said Pacheco. “For me, the cloud looks like an outstretched hand with a fireball.”
Dying Man Makes Final Request Of Wife: To Have A Baby
When Lucy first met her future husband, Paul, at medical school, she thought he was a bit of nerd who maybe took himself a little too seriously. Then she noticed his ID badge: he was wearing a fake mustache. That’s when Lucy began to fall in love, and later she would marry him. Then the news came, it was bad. Although Paul had never smoked, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He was terminal.
“After he got diagnosed, I asked him, ‘What do you need from me? Do you want to travel with your brothers? Do you want me to help you accomplish something that doesn’t include me?’ For him to essentially say, ‘No, I want to be with you… I want to spend my whole life with you,’ was so romantic,” Lucy told GMA.
Then he told Lucy his dying wish was to have a baby. When she asked him if that would make dying harder, his response was “Yes.” To Paul, if having a baby made dying harder, then knowing that kind of love, feeling that much love before he passed away, was worthwhile. So they had a daughter together.
“There is perhaps only one thing to say to this infant… that message is simple, you filled a dying man’s days with a sated joy, a joy unknown to me in all my prior years. A joy that does not hunger for more and more, but rests satisfied,” those are some of Paul’s final words to his daughter in his New York Times best-selling memoir When Breath Becomes Air.
Please SHARE if you’re glad Paul got to know the love of a child!
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Seemingly random photos are always the most meaningful, and we always value the little moments the most.
We put together 15 impressive photos taken by photographers from all over the globe. Some of these pictures can bring joy, cause a giggle or leave you with a lump in your throat, but none of them will leave you indifferent.
Flat tire in Alaska
Loving your job
Dr. Ted Rummel from the United States became paralyzed from the waist down, but it didn’t stop him from saving people’s lives. He soon returned to work and nowadays performs surgeries in a specialized wheelchair.
When your dad is a magician
A Christmas feast for everyone
Kelly and Zack Furr, a couple from Kentucky, decided to treat their pets to a real Christmas dinner.
When at 32 you still look like you’re 13
This girl is really 32 years old, but she has to flash her ID about 32 times a day to prove that’s her real age.
Waiting for a miracle
A girl with a heart of gold
He has his whole life ahead of him
Mother’s love
The present you’ve been waiting for
A brave little owl
Deputies from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado were on patrol when they came across this brave baby owl. It was sitting right in the middle of the road, so the police officers had to get out of their car to have a little friendly chat with the ’offender.’ A few minutes later they came to an agreement, and the baby owl flew away to safety.
’What will I tell my Mum?’
Sharing is caring
One Saturday morning, this boy went to his father and said that he finally knew how he wanted to spend all the pocket money he’d been saving. The boy asked for help buying some food and making sandwiches. He and his father then handed it all out to homeless people.
A happy client
I should plan something like this for the weekend
Rolling down the hill on an enormous piece of cellophane!
There are beautiful places on Earth that have never been visited by human beings. Few people realize today that these are places that are entirely preserved for the wild animals. Some of these places are so remote and so impossible to access that it would take plenty of efforts, time and skills. Yet, we know about the stunning beauty of these places thanks to the images we have seen from the air.
May be these places are so beautiful and captivating as humans have not set foot there and they remained thus pristine in their beauty.
Check ten of the most stunning and intriguing places on earth. Would you like to spend your holidays there?
The forest lake, Russia
earth-chronicles
The exact location of this mysterious lake is unknown. According to some, it can be found in the Tyumen region of Russia. How did it come to sit deep inside the forest? No one knows…
Tepui, Venezuela
kn3 / blazepress / samsebemagellan
The word ’Tepui’ means ’home of the gods’ in the language of the indigenous people of Gran Sabana where these incredible, ominous natural structures are located.
Honokohau Falls, Maui
media / mirkrasiv / eco
This remote place is drenched in greenery. The mere sight of it gives you a feeling of the exquisite beauty, majesty and mystery of the natural world. Just imagine what it would be like to travel there.
The Amazon rainforest
lejournalinternational / schraubwerk / brasileiro
This incredible, immense forest sprawls across nine different countries in South America: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. It’s so huge that mankind can never hope to explore all of it — or know everything that’s hiding there.
Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan
imgur / amazonaws / lh4
This is the highest mountain in the world which has not been conquered by mankind. It’s located on disputed territory between Bhutan and China and soars 7,570 metres into the sky.
Tsingy de Bemaraha, the ’stone forest’ of Madagascar
eclipses / travelel / mandalay
These rocky projections and canyons formed over a period of a million years, predominantly under the ground in the form of huge caves. Over the years, monsoon rains washed away metre upon metre of limestone and thick layers of chalky sediment, creating this system of unique, mysterious looking natural bridges, spires and gorges which can reach up to 120 metres in depth.
Kerguelen Islands
wikimedia / tomclarkblog
Hidden away in the southern part of the vast Indian Ocean, these islands are extremely far away from their ’home’ country of France. No planes or tourists go there, and the only way to reach them is via boat from the island of Réunion, close to Madagascar. They might as well be part of Atlantis for all humanity knows about these hauntingly beautiful islands.
Rock Islands, Palau
gifsanimes / goodwp / medias
For modern human civilisation, the Rock Islands are a remote area of the world we no virtually nothing about. However, at some point over the past few thousand years, we can be certain that people have set foot on them. We know this because archaeologists have found evidence of so-called ’tiny people’ — an offshoot of humanity which apparently had severely stunted growth — which used to live there.
Dallol, Ethiopia
flickr / wikimedia / turcanin
Today, salt mining takes place in the vicinity of the Dallol Volcano, so strictly speaking this isn’t an untouched area. But the immediate area of the volcano is, of course, uninhabitable. Fascinatingly, scientists believe the alien-like landscape of the volcano bears a striking resemblance to the surface of Io, the violently volcanic moon of the planet Jupiter.
Palmyra Atoll
wikimedia / werc / coastalcare
Located in the Equatorial zone of the Pacific Ocean to the south of the islands of Hawaii, this pristine island is supposedly home to a mysterious, magical force.
Clean clothes are something we all take for granted, but for people living on the streets it’s an unaffordable luxury. But two Australian guys have founded a mobile laundry to wash homeless people’s clothes. With the help of donations, they were able to secure two washing machines and driers, allowing their van to process 20kg of laundry an hour.
Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett, both 21, wanted to improve the hygiene standards of the homeless. “We came up with this crazy idea of building a free mobile laundry,” said Nic.
They took an old van, nicknamed “Sudsy”, and fitted it with a generator, water tanks, two large washing machines, and dryers, before setting off around town offering to wash the clothes of people sleeping rough.
They parked up near food vans and free barbecues around Brisbane to wash homeless people’s clothing while they were waiting for food.
Orange Sky Laundry now has 270 volunteers, with local government and businesses promoting the charity and helping them find sustainable ways to operate.
The bright orange vans are now washing 350 loads a week across Melbourne, Sydney, and the Gold Coast.
And Nic and Lucas were recently named Young Australians of the Year for their work.
“We can restore respect, raise health standards, and be a catalyst for conversation,” said Nic.
“We have found a way to treat others how they want to be treated.”
Their ultimate goal is to raise hygiene health standards and help to restore homeless people’s integrity, something that already appears to be working. “I feel fresh,” a homeless woman told 7 Brisbane News after getting her clothes washed.
If the van is successful, the organization might spread throughout Australia.
You can find out more about Orange Sky Laundry at their website and keep up with their work on Facebook.
Four friends, who hadn’t seen each other in 30 years, reunited at a party. After several drinks, one of the men had to use the rest room. Those who remained began to talk about their kids – more specifically, how proud they were of their sons…
But read until the end to find out a hilarious twist…
The first guy said, ‘My son is my pride and joy. He started working at a successful company at the bottom of the barrel. He studied Economics And Business Administration and soon began to climb the corporate ladder and now he’s the president of the company. He became so rich that he gave his best friend a top of the line Mercedes for his birthday.’
The second guy said, ‘Darn, that’s terrific! My son is also my pride and joy. He started working for a big airline, then went to flight school to become a pilot. Eventually he became a partner in the company, where he owns the majority of its assets. He’s so rich that he gave his best friend a brand new jet for his birthday.’
The third man said: ‘Well, that’s terrific! My son studied in the best universities and became an engineer. Then he started his own construction company and is now a multimillionaire. He also gave away something very nice and expensive to his best friend for his birthday: A 30,000 square foot mansion.’
The three friends congratulated each other just as the fourth returned from the restroom and asked: ‘What are all the congratulations for?’
One of the three said: ‘We were talking about the pride we feel for the successes of our sons. …What about your son?’
The fourth man replied: ‘My son is gay and makes a living dancing as a stripper at a nightclub.’
The three friends said: ‘What a shame… What a disappointment.’
The fourth man replied: ‘No, I’m not ashamed. He’s my son and I love him. And he hasn’t done too bad either. His birthday was two weeks ago, and he received a beautiful 30,000 square foot mansion, a brand new jet and a top of the line Mercedes from his three boyfriends.’
Ingeborg McIntosh’s adoption of her son didn’t come easily.
Jordan was a newborn when he was placed in foster care and Ingeborg struggled for four years to convince his birth mother, who had her heart set on placing the boy in a Black family, to let her adopt him.
But from the very first time Ingeborg and Jordan met it was clear that two shared a special bond. And when no one else showed any interest in the child, Ingeborg was finally allowed to adopt him.
“They placed him in my arms and it was love at first sight,” she says.
But 20 years later, everything takes a dramatic turn…
The McIntosh family had cared for 125 foster kids over the years, but no one stole their heart like Jordan.
Jordan was raised in Ingeborg’s home, but his biological mother didn’t want the family to adopt him. She preferred that her child be adopted by Black parents.
But it was impossible to find a home for Jordan, so when the boy was 4, he was adopted by Ingeborg.
“He was a part of the family, no matter what.”
Two decades later, Ingeborg received difficult news: her doctors informed her that she had polycystic kidney disease and needed a kidney transplantation. Jordan decided he couldn’t stand by and watch his mother suffer. He decided to act, without his mother even being aware of his plans.
He booked an appointment to see if he was a match for transplantation. He was.
“I feel like this was my calling in life, I guess,” Jordan says.
“Hopefully I can do more for her as I get older, but for the moment, it’s the least I could do.”
Ingeborg insisted that he not go through with his plans, but Jordan’s mind was made up.
When Jordan talks about his mother, his love and devotion are clear: He can barely talk about her kindness without crying.
“Everything she’s done for me since I was a kid, I just wanted to give it back to her, and show her how much I appreciate her,” he says.
Despite all the struggles and tough times, this story ends happily. All because of the strong bond between a mother and her son. Please share this with your friends if you agree that Ingeborg did a terrific job of raising her son into a man to be proud of!
This is a very tragic and difficult to take in news story just out of New Jersey.
As they prepared to head out on a cold winter day, a mother and her two young children, aged 1 and 3, remained inside their vehicle as the father cleared up the snow on and around the car.
No one realized that that the car’s tailpipe was clogged.
Within minutes, the mother and their 1-year-old were dead, while their 3-year-old remains in critical condition, with her chance of survival low.
This occurred over the weekend of January 23rd and with winter still around for a while, I think it’s absolutely crucial that everyone share to spread awareness about this “silent killer”.
According to the Washington Post, a mother and their two children, aged one and three, sat in the car when it became too cold to wait outside.
Meanwhile, the father began to shovel around the car, not noticing that the tailpipe was blocked. This pushed deadly carbon monoxide gas into the car, killing the mother and the one-year-old “within minutes”.
Carbon monoxide is often referred to as the “silent killer” as it is colorless, odorless, tasteless — and extremely toxic.
It causes people to lose consciousness in minutes.
“Any snow that covers your tailpipe, you want to shovel the snow from the back of the car and clear the tailpipe before you even start the car,” Battalion Chief Chris DiBella told local news network WABC.
From 1999 through 2010, more than 5,100 people died from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Several municipalities in and around New Jersey as well as local police have since issued this important warning: “Remove snow from car exhaust pipe before sitting in car and letting it warm up. Failure to remove snow can result in carbon monoxide poisoning. Be sure there is ample room for air to circulate in front and behind your car to allow any exhaust to dissipate and not build up around your car.”
This is a very painful story to read, but when I saw it, I also realized it was something many, many of us would never think about. That’s why it’s absolutely crucial that this be shared by everyone so that similar tragedies be avoided at all costs.
Please always make sure your car’s tailpipe isn’t covered with snow or anything else before starting it.
This is a very tragic and difficult to take in news story just out of New Jersey.