In an edition of Buzzfeed News’ Investigations, senior contributor Christine Kenneally describes the traumatic, dark, and tragic history behind St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, Vermont. Ran by nuns, this now shut down orphanage has been home to many  children over the years, most of them now living their own lives- with a dark emotional baggage:.

St. Joseph’s in Burlington, Vermont. It had been a dark and terrifying place run by an order of nuns called the Sisters of Providence. Joseph Barquin recalled a girl who was thrown down stairs, and he remembered the thin lines of blood that trickled out of her nose and ear afterward. He saw a little boy shaken into uncomprehending shock. He saw other children beaten over and over.

Some of the women recognized each other not by name but by number: Thirty-two! Fourteen!

Barquin told everyone about the nun taking him into the closet. Roger Barber spoke next. Sally Dale remembered him saying that a nun told a group of older boys to rape him.

Then one woman spoke about how nuns wiped her face in her own vomit, and Sally started to remember that the same thing had happened to her. She could hear the voice of one sister telling her, after she threw up her food, You will not be this stubborn! You will sit and you will eat it.A woman said she’d watched a nun hold a baby by its ankles and swing its head against a table until it stopped crying.

The orphanage has been long shut down, legal action filed turned into settlements - however, the children that survived still live with their dark past haunting over them. Some of them weren’t able to leave the orphanage alive.

image credit : Ian MacLellan for Buzzfeed News

Looking for  drinks with lower alcohol content? A rosé might be the one for you. Known for its pinkish hue, fruitiness, and low alcohol content- this might be your next summer drink. However, with lots to choose from, how does one choose? Don't worry, because The Huffington Post asked wine experts for recommendations :

1. Château La Mascaronne Quat’ Saisons Côtes de Provence, Wines With Attitude, £17.50
2. Graham Norton Pink By Design Rosé 2018, Tesco, £7.50
3. 2018 Rosamati IGT, Fattoria Le Pupille, Tuscany, Armit Wines, £21.50
4. Domaine Thibert’s Coteaux Bourguignons Rosé, Wines With Attitude, £17
5. Greyfriars Vineyard 2018 Rosé, Greyfriars, £13.50

Enjoy your summer with your glass (or glasses, no one is here to judge) of rosé!

image credit : via The Huffington Post

Vertical city, as the name implies, look vertical. This kind of cities focus mainly on accommodating large populations on a small piece of land. Characterized by high rise structures, a lot of cities in the world today can be classified as a vertical cities.

With the rise of vertical cities all across the globe, our curiosity is piqued: what is the world’s most vertical city? The answer to this, is currently open to debate - with a lot of different standards to consider. The Guardian details some potential candidates for the title of Most Vertical City in the World:

According to building data research company Emporis, Seoul in South Korea has more high-rise buildings, with 16,359. Emporis defines a high-rise as a building at least 35m, or 12 storeys tall. In second place is Moscow, Russia, with 12,317 high-rises, followed by Hong Kong in third place, with 7,913.

When it comes to the world’s tallest buildings, Hong Kong doesn’t even make the top 10. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa takes top spot, at 828m. Dubai has 50 skyscrapers under construction, more than any other city. These include the 1,300m-tall Dubai Creek Tower, expected to be completed in 2020 and will be the tallest structure ever built.

image credit : Sungjin Kim/Getty via The Guardian

Seagulls are boss aren’t they hahahahahaha pic.twitter.com/GsreScfOES

— Plink2 (@plinketyplink2) July 13, 2019

Of course, the seagull seized the food from the man - leaving him shocked and pissed. When animals want something, they find a way to get it after all.

Chance the Snapper has arrived in Chicago waters, and it looks like it’s here to stay. No worries for this scaly creature, as Chicago locals seem to give it a celebrity treatment - not so bad for a warm welcome, right? 

Locals and admirers swarmed for a glimpse, describing the celebrity gator as Chicago’s “Loch Ness monster” and the city’s unifying summer obsession, as The Cut details: 

Since an alligator moved into Humboldt Park, on Chicago’s West Side, earlier this week, the Windy City has been plunged into a thirst fever the likes of which we have not seen since Hot Duck Mania swept New York City last fall.

The gator likely landed in the lagoon after it grew too long (and, you have to guess, too unruly) to live comfortably in a bathtub as an un-permitted pet. Chicago authorities received their first gator report around 7:20 a.m. on Tuesday, and have cordoned off the area with caution tape. A volunteer named Alligator Bob has (seemingly with official permission) been working tirelessly to catch the creature, paddling a canoe into the pond to drop baited traps.

image credit: via Chicago Animal Care and Control

A $3.4 million effort, the on-site restoration for Rembrandt’s The Night Watch has begun in Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam). The museum estimates that the restoration would take a year, but visitors to the museum can still view the painting as it is being restored, as museum director Taco Dibbits reassures Reuters: 

That is due not only to the fame of the painting, which dates from 1642, but also to its size, as the canvas measures 3.63 by 4.37 metres (11.9 feet x 14.3 feet) and weighs 337 kg (742 pounds).

The painting will remain in its usual spot at the end of the Gallery of Honour in the Rijksmuseum and visitors will be able to watch from behind a glass wall as experts restore it.

Restorers will begin by taking thousands of high-resolution photos of the work from every angle and scanning it with lasers.

“Those you have to stitch together so you get one image and then we will be able to see which changes Rembrandt made” as he worked, Dibbits said.

image credit: via Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron announced a creation of a new military space force last July 13. Sounds familiar? It mirrors US President Donald Trumps’ “space force”, except this time it’s the “French Space Force”. This declared interest in military readiness in space follows increased spending and interest in the area by the United States, China and Russia, Rappler reports: 

"To assure the development and the reinforcement of our capacities in space, a high command for space will be created in September," Macron told military brass gathered for a traditional pre-Bastille Day reception.

He called the renewed military focus on space a "true national security issue."

Last year Macron had spoken of the need for a strategy for space defense and this was the result, he said.

"The new spatial and military doctrine that has been proposed to me by the (defense) ministry, which I have approved, will allow us to ensure our defense of space," he added.

image credit: Kamil Zihnioglu/Pool/AFP via Rappler

Tired of robocalls spamming you everyday? Worry not - At &T is here with a “free” robocall blocking service. Well, “free” because the wireless company is actually charging its users $4 monthly, should they opt to send robocalls immediately to voicemail. 

Basically, the only “free” aspect of their service is an alert that an incoming call is a suspected spam call - and from there users can manually accept or send the call to voicemail. There is no such thing as a free lunch, after all. 

(via cbs news) 

image credit: via cbs news

Ai-Da , “the world’s first ultra-realistic AI humanoid robot artist” has opened her first solo exhibition. Composed of eight drawings, 20 paintings, four sculptures and two video works - Ai-Da has certainly opened a new chapter in the art world. Ai-Da’s British inventor and gallery owner Aidan Meller tells Reuters how the robot artist creates, and the impact of her first solo exhibition: 

“The technological voice is the important one to focus on because it affects everybody,” he told Reuters at a preview.

“We’ve got a very clear message we want to explore: the uses and abuses of A.I. today, because this next decade is coming in dramatically and we’re concerned about that and we want to have ethical considerations in all of that.”

Ai-Da can draw from sight thanks to cameras in her eyeballs and AI algorithms created by scientists at the University of Oxford that help produce co-ordinates for her arm to create art.

She uses a pencil or pen for sketches, but the plan is for Ai-Da to paint and create pottery. Her paint works now are printed onto canvas with a human painting over.

image credit: Matthew Stock via Reuters

Meet Snowball, a sulphur-crested cockatoo. Snowball is famed for his ability to dance well to the Backstreet Boys, which made him an instant YouTube star a decade ago. This famed dancer is back with new moves, and his ability to process and creatively respond to music got the scientists’ interests piqued. Rappler has the details: 

His rhythmic body-rolls, headbangs, shimmies, and many variations thereof were documented in a new paper published in Current Biology on Monday, July 8.

"This shows for the first time that another species truly dances to human music, spontaneously and without training, just based on its own development and social interaction with humans," senior author Aniruddh Patel, a psychologist at both Tufts and Harvard universities, told Agence France-Presse.

image credit: Irena Schulz/AFP via Rappler

Believe it or not, there are other ways to clean your teeth besides the regular combination of toothpaste and toothbrush. Indigenous groups use other techniques to clean their teeth. What are those other techniques? Are they effective? CNN answers those questions as they list these alternative methods, and their effectiveness (backed up by science, of course): 

Twigs

Many people in the Middle East, and some parts of South and Southeast Asia, use twigs from the arak tree (known as miswak) to clean their teeth. They fray the end of the twig, dampen the resulting bristles with water or rosewater and then rub the bristles against their teeth

The wood of the arak tree (Salvadora persica) has a high concentration of fluoride and other antimicrobial components that prevent tooth decay. But the sticks can't reach areas between the teeth, and if they aren't used properly, they can damage the gums and abrade the teeth.

Fingers

Some people in rural India, Africa, Southeast Asia and South America use brick powder, mud, salt or ash to clean their teeth. Although these ingredients effectively remove stains and plaque, they don't contain fluoride and are often abrasive, resulting in sensitive teeth and receding gums.

Oil Pulling

A small amount of coconut, sesame, sunflower or olive oil is swirled around the mouth for 15 minutes. This is believed to wash out bacteria and toxins. Oil pulling, when performed along with routine brushing and flossing, can help to reduce gum inflammation, according to recent studies.

image credit: wikimedia commons

We live in an age where everything is available for us - where any information one wishes to seek is easily found through the Internet. There is an abundance of information, in shocking and overwhelming amounts.

Samuel J. Roberts presents the effect of abundance of information in his latest work, Abundant Knowledge. The work dramatizes the current reality’s confusion on how to process information being thrown at you (in varying amounts), making the work seem enigmatic. Paper Magazine details: 

"In this age of Abundant Knowledge, I feel technology isn't being used in the best way," explains artist Samuel J. Roberts. His latest work, Abundant Knowledge, is an abstract meditation on this concept, positing a world where the organic and synthetic degrade into an uncanny singularity. "Like a test of free will, much of it is geared towards narcissism and avaricious pleasures."

Abundant Knowledge doesn't necessarily offer solutions, so much as dramatize our current reality's disconnect. Iridescent organza wrapped around a human body moving through a serene field feels more like a CGI blob rendered against some stock footage than real life.

This warping of the ordinary into the uncanny makes Abundant Knowledge so enigmatic and enticing. You aren't sure how to put together the information that is being thrown at you, but you press on nonetheless.

image credit: Samuel J. Roberts via Paper Magazine

Instagram users are very familiar with one of the app’s most used features - face filters. Paper Magazine sits down with Thomas Jeon, the artist who created a boba-themed face filter. This fun, simple and interactive filter also doubles as a promotion of the queer Asian collective, Bubble_T. 

Thomas Jeon tells Paper Magazine what goes into the making of a hit face filter and how he came to be involved with Bubble_T. 

image credit: screenshot via Paper Magazine

It seems that there is hope for reproduction for the human populace in outer space. A small preliminary study by Spanish scientists have found out that frozen sperm samples are still viable after exposure to simulated space flight. CNN has more details: 

The small preliminary study, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Vienna which began Sunday, exposed human sperm samples to microgravity. 

Dr. Montserrat Boada from Dexeus Women's Health in Barcelona, who presented the results, stressed the study was only preliminary and would require further work.

The team will now move on to larger sperm samples, longer periods of microgravity, and using fresh rather than frozen sperm, she said.

"If the number of space missions increases in the coming years, and are of longer duration, it is important to study the effects of long-term human exposure to space in order to face them," Boada said in a statement.

"It's not unreasonable to start thinking about the possibility of reproduction beyond the Earth."

image credit: via wikimedia commons

A woman who was onboard an American Airlines flight was kicked off because of what she was wearing. 

Dr. Tisha Rowe, a 37-year-old physician from Texas was asked to step off the plane because the flight attendants deemed her outfit “inappropriate”. She had to cover herself with a blanket to get back on the plane. 

Dr. Rowe tweeted this experience to the Internet, and after going viral, the airline has finally issued their apology.  The experience had left her feeling embarrassed and humiliated, The Cut notes.

We are policed for being black. Our bodies are over sexualized as women and we must ADJUST to make everyone around us comfortable. I’ve seen white women with much shorter shorts board a plane without a blink of an eye. I guess if it’s a “nice ass” vs a @Serena Booty it’s okay...

— Tisha Rowe MD, MBA (@tisharowemd) June 30, 2019

KHOU has clarified that her outfit doesn’t violate any of American Airlines attire rules, which simply ban bare feet and offensive clothing.

image credit: Dr. Tisha Rowe on twitter

We are policed for being black. Our bodies are over sexualized as women and we must ADJUST to make everyone around us comfortable. I’ve seen white women with much shorter shorts board a plane without a blink of an eye. I guess if it’s a “nice ass” vs a @Serena Booty it’s okay...

— Tisha Rowe MD, MBA (@tisharowemd) June 30, 2019

KHOU has clarified that her outfit doesn’t violate any of American Airlines attire rules, which simply ban bare feet and offensive clothing.

image credit: Dr. Tisha Rowe on twitter