Can you spot the snake in the photo? Andrew’s Snake Removal, from Queensland, Australia, posted this photo on Facebook with the caption: 

Ok let's see who's got sharp eyes and who can spot the snake. Bonus bragging rights if you can name the species as well👍🐍fire away.

It took some commenters more than 10 minutes of staring at the photo before giving up, while others were quick to identify the camouflaged, eastern brown snake in the middle-right section. Honestly, the brown twigs lying around just make it all the more perplexing!

Surprise! The original poster uploaded this close-up photo of the snake peeping from the grass. Were you able to spot it in less than 5 minutes? 

Head over to Daily Mail for the full story. 

(Image credit: Andrew's Snake Removal / via Daily Mail)

An "Honest Teaser" means that Screen Junkies couldn't wait for the movie, and decided to go ahead and critique the trailer for The Rise of Skywalker. Since they don't have a lot to go on, this is an excuse to throw out all the Star Wars jokes they can think of.

Polish game developer PlayWay has released a trailer for “I am Jesus Christ”, a game which lets you play as Jesus Christ himself. The trailer indicates that the game “includes miracle-working, crucifixion and resurrection storylines.” As of this writing, the trailer has over 600,000 views.

“‘I am Jesus Christ’ is a realistic simulator game inspired by stories from the New Testament of the Bible,” explains a description on the video game distribution site Steam. “Check if you can perform all famous miracles from the Bible like Jesus Christ. It is a simulation game and you can try to save the world as He did. Are you ready to fight with Satan in the desert, exorcising demons and curing sick people? Or calm the storm in the sea?”

I myself don’t know what to feel about this game. What are your thoughts about this one?

(Video Credit: IGN/ YouTube)

In May 2009, three months after the launch of a website called Texts From Last Night, Google searches for the term “drunk text” spiked up for the first time. The website was founded in February 2009 by friends Lauren Leto and Ben Bator, who were recent college graduates living in Detroit at that time.

The city’s mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, was at the center of one of politics’ first big sexting scandals (unrelated to the corruption charges that later put him in prison), and the pair were inspired. They made a Blogspot site and started posting screenshots of the weirdest texts they got from their friends, anonymized but tagged with one clue: an area code.

“Three months after it launched was finals week everywhere,” Bator says. “I think people were condensed in libraries at different colleges around the country. It was also Cinco de Mayo week. People started reposting the texts with a link to the website, and it blew up. By that point, everybody had something up there from their area code. That made it relatable. You felt like you knew the people who submitted, or you wished you did, or you were glad you didn’t.” At its peak, Texts From Last Night regularly had up to 20 million unique viewers a month, Bator says. But most of the company’s revenue came from selling a 99-cent app—mobile websites were so bad in 2010 that people actually paid for it. It was a million-dollar idea at a time when the country was flailing.

Now, the term “drunk texting” has become a familiar face, which we’ve come to know over the past decade.

Know more about its history over at The Atlantic.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

The early 1990s — Nestled in the heart of Tokyo is an office building, where you would find a handful of developers working tirelessly, year after year. These people were so dedicated to their work that they would sleep under their desks and seasons would change and they would not notice it. After over five years of working, this small team of developers were able to create one of the most successful games in history of Sony’s PlayStation.

The game, Gran Turismo, a realistic racing simulation, would become the single best-selling title for the first PlayStation console with over 10 million units sold. It also birthed a series that has grossed more than $4 billion in revenue. With seven Guinness World Records (including most cars in a racing game, achieved by Gran Turismo 6 with a total of 1,237) and a collective sales total of over 80 million units, Gran Turismo has made a mark in both the automotive industry and games industry, becoming PlayStation’s best-selling exclusive franchise of all time.

It continues to be a labor of love for the team at Polyphony Digital, which expanded from its original five developers to a team of more than 170 today. But it all started with a scrappy, dedicated team making real a boyhood vision of project director Kazunori Yamauchi.

Find out more about Yamauchi’s life, and the desire that drove him to develop Gran Turismo, over at The Washington Post.

(Image Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)

With eight movies down and one to go in the Skywalker saga, Reuters did some serious number crunching to bring us the stats on all the lightsaber duels so far. Keep scrolling down bring up charts on each film, such as who fights who, how many minutes they battled, how many times their lightsabers made contact, and who won. In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker appears as a winner on both the light side and the dark side. There are also charts for each trilogy, and for the series as a whole. Who won the most duels? Who has the highest win percentage? Which is the longest fight? How many duels were a draw? After all that, we get an explanation of how the filmmakers made the lightsabers and gave them their distinctive sounds. -via Digg

A family of five in Savannah, Georgia, USA, were alerted to a fire in their house last Friday by their household pet, Sammy.

A dog named Sammy was being credited with sensing danger and, as a result, helping to save a Georgia family of five from a fire that caused extensive damage to their home.

Savannah firefighters said the household pet's loud barking alerted the five family members to the raging fire in the rear of the home early Friday. They had been sleeping.

“They all escaped unharmed,” Savannah Fire Rescue said.

Good boy, Sammy.

Read the original news article.

(Image credit: Savannah Fire Rescue via Fox News)

We’ve all been there. Some more than others have a tendency to overuse (and even abuse) the word ‘sorry’ in situations where it’s not exactly necessary. So, how can we determine when it’s more appropriate to issue an apology or just take a moment to quietly and honestly self-reflect? Such decisions can be crucial, especially in corporate or organizational settings. 

According to the post,

There’s a time and a place to apologize. But if you’re not at fault, here’s what you should do instead.

Sean O’Meara, coauthor of The Apology Impulse: How Business Ruined Sorry and Why We Can’t Stop Saying It, gives us some suggestions. For the full story, read the original article here.

Photo: Tim Mossholder / Unsplash

Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that affects up to 17% of men and 9% of women aged 50 to 70. It also affects 10 percent of men and 3 percent of women aged 30 to 49. Treating this sleep disorder could make a huge difference in the lives of many people. There is a problem, however: the American health system often makes it hard for people to get care, and the same is true in this case.

Obstructive sleep apnea is when the upper airway collapses during sleep, leading to periods of, well, not breathing. About 24 million Americans have sleep apnea and don’t know it, research suggests, and many who do know don’t get treatment.

The consequences can be severe. It’s a leading cause of vehicle accidents, as apnea-afflicted drivers fall asleep behind the wheel. Snoring and sleep apnea are on the same spectrum and are associated with Type 2 diabetes in adults. Treatment is associated with improvements in insulin resistance. Having sleep apnea, and not treating it, increases the risk of postoperative cardiovascular surgery complications.

Treating sleep apnea improves sleep duration and quality. People who sleep better are much happier and healthier in general. Reducing snoring also helps partners sleep better.

Know more about the treatment for sleep apnea over at The New York Times.

(Image Credit: Reed Saxon/ Associated Press)

This drug is pimavanserin, which is sold as Nuplazid by Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. It can curb delusions in people who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. It also did the same for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in a clinical trial, which was stopped at an early stage as the drug’s benefit seemed clear. Pimavanserin could well become the first drug offered for treating dementia-related psychosis, should regulators agree. It could also be the first new medicine for Alzheimer’s in nearly two decades.

The daily pill targets some of the most troubling symptoms that patients and caregivers face — hallucinations that often lead to anxiety, aggression, and physical and verbal abuse.

“This would be a very important advance,” said one independent expert, Dr. Howard Fillit, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.

More details over at Los Angeles Times.

(Image Credit: Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. via Associated Press)

For nearly three decades, Stella Chan and her husband John have been a team selling sweet treats at Donut City, their shop in Seal Beach, California. A year ago, Stella became seriously ill with a brain aneurysm, which left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak. She also fell into a coma, and there was doubt that she would survive.

With her in a coma last year, her husband John came to work alone each morning at 4 A.M. Then, regulars offered to help.

"We tried to offer him money to help with the medical expenses with Stella, and he just wouldn't accept," said Marc Loopesko.

Because John wouldn’t take a handout, his customers decided to try a buyout. They spread the word on social media, telling people to show up early in the shop and buy up all of the doughnuts, so that John could close up early and can have more time to spend with his wife Stella.

Now, about a year later, Stella is back behind the counter at Donut City.

… "I can hold a tray," she said. "I need to move. I don't want to stay home."

(Image Credit: CBS News)

Rueban Kumar has been wanting to fix his misaligned teeth for years. However, he found metal braces to be too much of a hassle. Clear aligners, on the other hand, which are virtually invisible when worn, cost up to $7,000, and were outside his budget.

So when he came across Zenyum, a Singapore-based start-up promising straighter teeth with clear aligners for just a third of the cost, Kumar decided to give it a try.

“When I signed up, Zenyum was still pretty new and I had my reservations,” said the 27 year-old, who works as an office administrator in Singapore. “But the staff were forthcoming and open … I was very happy with the service.”

Thanks to Zenyum, within just six months, Kumar completed his treatment and now he has the straight teeth that he always wanted.

Kumar is part of the demographic that clear aligner start-ups such as Zenyum are hoping to target – consumers who want to make cosmetic corrections to their teeth, but are unwilling to fork out large sums of money to do so.

Some, however, disapprove of the Singaporean startup company.

Find out more about this over at SCMP.

(Image Credit: Pettycon/ Pixabay)

The ice sheet of Greenland is melting much faster than previously thought, threatening hundreds of millions of people with flooding. This brings some of the irreversible impacts of climate emergency much closer.

Ice is being lost from Greenland seven times faster than it was in the 1990s, and the scale and speed of ice loss is much higher than was predicted in the comprehensive studies of global climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to data.

That means sea level rises are likely to reach 67cm by 2100, about 7cm more than the IPCC’s main prediction. Such a rate of rise will put 400 million people at risk of flooding every year, instead of the 360 million predicted by the IPCC, by the end of the century.

Learn more about this worrisome news over at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Benoit Lecavalier/PA/ The Guardian)

Blood pressure is the “force of blood flowing through your blood vessels,” according to the American Heart Association. It’s best to have your blood pressure checked by a health professional in order to know if you have high blood pressure or hypertension, which may be indicative of a potential health issue. 

And when you do get checked, it’s crucial to have a correct reading to prevent possibly getting misdiagnosed.

It’s probably not your doctor’s fault. Blood pressure is temperamental. Lots of factors can result in an off measurement, meaning you can potentially end up with a misdiagnosis. “People might get overtreated or undertreated if their blood pressure isn’t measured correctly in the office,” says Jordana Cohen, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. In other words, you could be put on meds you don’t need or prescribed a dose higher or lower than necessary. Follow this blood pressure checklist to make sure you walk away with the right reading.

Thankfully, there are tips on how you can ensure your blood pressure reading is as accurate as possible before, during, and after a check-up. Read the original post here.  

Photo by Marcelo Leal / Unsplash

The tech retailer Game developed the original Christmas Tinner back in 2013. It was for gamers in a hurry to eat their Christmas dinner and get back to playing. There was no need to cook. Just open the can and start eating with a spoon. It contained 12 separate courses in layers.

It wasn't an option for vegan gamers, as it contained many animal products. To accommodate their needs, the company has debuted its new vegan option. Metro describes its delicious layered courses:

There’s vegan gravy, mushroom wellington, pigs in aubergine blankets, tofu and stuffing, as well as your go-to winter veggies including squash, sprouts, and parsnips.

Each of those layers sound pretty good, it’s just the aspect of it being crammed into a cylinder that might (definitely) alter the tastes and textures.

There’s also a dessert layer, including vegan custard and choccy cake. Which raises the obvious question, are festive feasters meant to meticulously section off the dessert portion, or simply enjoy a bit of sweetness with every savoury bite?

Yum! Where else could you possibly get red cabbage and chocolate cake in the same mouthful?

-via @ProperOpinion | Photo: Game