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May I present the best apple:

The Amur Leopard and Clouded Leopard (which recently celebrated its 50th cub born at the zoo!)

The Sumatran Tiger

The Red Ruffed Lemur and Ring-Tailed Lemur

The Cotton-Top Tamarin and White-Cheeked Gibbon

The Colobus Monkey and De Brazza’s Monkey

And the Mexican Spider Monkey!

They tried to kill us, but they did not succeed. And we owe so much thanks to the other oppressed peoples, in particular the Choctaw Nation and the Masai, who sent money and grain to us.

Let me repeat that. The Choctaw Nation who had just gone through the Trail of Tears sent us money to try save Irish lives. It’s led to an understanding between Irish people and Native American tribes, most recently when we donated to the Navajo and Hopi fundraisers for COVID-19 relief, because while it may be a different tribe, Irish people will never forget those who helped us and we’ll help back.

The entire population of the island is less than seven million people. We’re still a million less on this island than pre famine. And it’s not that long ago. My grandmother’s grandparents lived through it. We’ve told the stories, it literally changed the DNA of the country. We have a national fear of renting, because so many people were evicted. People joke about Irish people always offering loads of food, but it’s because there’s that cultural memory of not being able to.

By the start of the blight tenant and free farmers personal plots had become so small potatoes were the only crop that produced enough calorie-per-acre to feed them.

Ireland experienced a famine because its agricultural system had been so utterly broken in the name of feeding the English and making the landlords and grain merchants wealthy, and then any efforts to combat the famine such as importing grain from the USA were halted because they feared it might harm the merchants profit margins.

John being Jazz’s bio dad makes a lot more sense for the color schemes too - John is blond, so Maddie’s red hair is more likely to be inherited than Jack’s black. She got John’s eyes, body type, and wild luck. (I mean, how else would she survive this long in the Fenton house without some major accident befalling her? Danny sure didn’t come out unscathed. He only lived to 14 because Jazz was watching his back. The second he was unsupervised he got himself killed on a dare.)

Jazz asked about this after the middle school bio class that teaches about dominant and recessive genes through Mendel’s pea flower experiments. Jack and Maddie were open and clear about their relationship with John in college. Said that he was fun and intelligent about ghosts and the occult (they went on a rant about ghosts until Jazz brought the topic back around) and then he left the relationship on good terms, moving back to England to play in some band. Cell phones hadn’t been invented yet so keeping in contact was hard since he moved a lot, but they sent him a letter with Jazz’s baby pictures.

“He’s the one who mailed you that stuffed bear you like so much!” Maddie added before getting distracted again by a tool she’d been tinkering with during the conversation.

“So you’re not my dad?” 12 year old Jazz looked up at Jack with watery eyes.

“Oh course I’m your dad, Jazzy-pants!! Just because we don’t share DNA doesn’t mean I’m not your dad!! I love you more than anything in this world AND the next!! I’d fight every ghost there is for you!!”

Jack fake-punched at the air around Jazz’s head which made her giggle a little, and everything was fine. She loved her parents and her little brother. Even if they were weird.

The big one is, unless magically protected, it allows the Demon to find the host anywhere

If this is a younger john as her father, then it wouldn’t be his current demonic taint

It would be Nergal’s blood. 

Jazz does have Danny’s protection, which is why she was safe going out of town to tour a couple colleges for the weekend - Danny got caught by their parents while she was gone. She comes home to ✨trauma✨ and escapes with her brother while Maddie and Jack are out hunting another ghost sighting. (Box Ghost in the City Hall archives.)

She decides to go back to the dorms at Gotham University. They’re mostly empty right now and can make a good hiding place while she figures out how to track down some crazy British occult musician.

Nergal feels her leave Amity again, but this time he can sense the one who protects her is weak. Maybe weak enough to defeat. He catches up with them just as they enter Gotham.

Supernatural powerhouses are something Batman actively tries to keep out of his town. He shows up just after Nergal gets his ass handed to him by what sounds like a Black Canary scream dialed up to 1000.

“What is going on?!” he growls at a red haired young woman who is standing over an unconscious teenager.

Those nearly-teal blue eyes look unsettlingly familiar as she stands firm, squaring her shoulders, and says,

“Doesn’t matter. It’s taken care of. But maybe you can help us. Everyone says you’re a great detective. I need to find my birth father right away.”

“Hire a P.I.”

“I don’t have that much time or money. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. Please, it’s urgent.”

Batman figures if he plays along and gives the kid something she wants, she’ll be more willing to answer his questions. Finding someone on the Batcomputer is usually simple enough.

“What’s his name?”

“John Constantine.”

Does it take out a wall? Absolutely. But cheap plaster and drywall aren't exactly "demon sturdy". And frankly? Jazz is panicking. The creep stick did diddly. That F*cker ATE her cat-o-nines. She's the only thing between he baby brother and a Second Death. And??

Something in the back of her head, some part of her that's been with her since birth. That's been riding the waves of Fate in its little boat, forever casually observing, sometimes calling out the best odds and favorable paths. That little voice PLUNGES in and grabs her by the neck. Screams to listen and listen well.

USE. THE FUCKIN'. BEAR!

And she's swinging BearBert at the terrible Not-A-Ghost's head with all her liminal enhanced strength.

It hits like a hammer on a gong. A smith, bringing down the fury on glowing steel. Sparks and weight and WHAM(!!!).

Because? Constantine... used to care more. And part of him still does.

He was younger. Less worn down. Less people he cared about and knew, dead at his feet. Less innocent people lost to terrible things he couldn't stop or find in time. Less monster plaguing his dreams. His waking hours. HE was... more back then. Less back then. He was still pretending he could maybe, sorta, someday be a father figure. Be... be SOMEBODY in his kid's life.

But she's safer where she is. And life has shown he's not safe to be around. His kiddo deserves a normal life, yeah?

But! He WORRIED. Still worries. So he sent this ugly little teddy bear he spent AGES tracking down, cause it's apparently her FAVORITE Ever and she wanted one. And her put... f*ck, what DIDN'T he shove inside that thing? He called in FAVORS. Used items he'd saved for most of his life. Hunted down things he wasn't even sure were REAL.

Made it so he could add more, no matter WHERE he was.

And he did. Found a new spell? Add it to the bear. Gotta wait in this sh*t dinner for a few hours for a contact? Meh, layer a few extra spells and send um to the bear. Have a beer. League meeting taking too long? Doodle up some new uses for alien whatever of the month, figure out how to turn it into a protection magic... aaaand send it to the bear.

Man needs a hobby. Sue him. It... it makes him feel better. Like he's THERE for his kid. Looking out for her. Making sure she gets to have a nice, boring life. Study something interesting but average. Hopefully NOT follow her Mum into poking at the dead.

But! As much as we like to rag on John "trainwreck" Constantine? The main is a BEAST when he actually feels he HAS to be? And for all Jazz may have PUNTED Nergal through a wall and down two floors with a teddybear? He would eventually shake that off. Be Not Best Pleased.

Try to come BACK and go for round two.

But WAIT! "What's the POINT, I hear you ask, of a Protective Teddybear, if I? The creator, DON'T KNOW that it's being Put To Use??? An EXCELLENT point! Says John "Hell Hath No Fury" Constantine, as he arrives alright with impossible Smiting Wrath dripping from his form and enough magic on his person to fist fight God. That WOULD be silly. Thank goodness he didn't do anything like THAT!

Now! Grit your teeth if you don't plan to lose um', Nergal. This WILL hurt and he's not even Vaguely sorry about it. Fuck with HIS kid, will you?

It's been years. His daughter is grown, probably going off to college any day now, assuming she didn't die of an untimely illness or something. Even on the off-chance she's SURVIVED this long with a connection to him, the girl might not even HAVE the stupid bear anymore.

And then he's sitting in the House of Mysteries one day, squinting at this stupid book, so bored he can barely manage to see the words, and- well, he checks on the bear.

It's not his kid. He's not keeping tabs on the stupid brat he bleeding well abandoned. It's not because he cares about the kid, it's just... it's just an interesting exercise, seeing how many spells and defenses and warnings he can layer onto this completely mundane children's toy at once. Academic, really. And he's bored.

The bear is fine. As always. Good.

So John drags his attention back to the book and turns to another page, scrawling a barely-legible note onto his pad--

And two decades of paranoid spellwork crash over him all at once.

Someone does something, yada yada evil plan, except hey, they're using some weird mystic item to do it, and oh okay they've disappeared we-know-not-where so let's try to figure this out. JLD gets called in, nobody recognizes the item described, someone suggests checking through texts in the House of Mystery, and then Captain Marvel perks up and is like oh yeah! we should check the Big List of Mystic Weapons! And everyone is like the *w h a t* bc nobody's ever even heard of that but Marvel gets occasional Random Magic Knowledge since he's the Champion.

So after a bit of mucking about, Constantine manages to summon The List, and everyone gathers around to check it over. They're like damn it's just names, but then Flash is like hey uh what the hell is number 7. Entry number 7 on The List is something called "Bearbert the Steadfast". John stops breathing for a moment, because surely not, but nobody notices since Marvel's just poked at The List and hey would you look at that, a little description box.

7. Bearbert the Steadfast

~~ A teddy bear, enchanted to protect its charge from any dangers they may encounter ~~

There's a brief pause before people start talking over each other, loudest of all an incredulous cry of "A teddy bear ?". John is having trouble breathing again, because holy shit he knew he'd put a lot of work into making that thing strong but he didn't realize just how successful he was. And over the commotion he hears a quiet hum from Marvel, who's standing next to him because John's been holding The List this whole time. So Marvel kind of hums, then softly says "The description's incomplete." And carefully doesn't look at John's face as he reaches over and lightly pokes at the description, which flickers and.

7. Bearbert the Steadfast

Jazz- Danny I don't need protection I'm older than you

And it was Bearbert, Jazz had picked up other items over the years and tried to throw them at enemies in vain. Bearbert was special and Jazz was just a -little- smug about it because it was her favorite. But it was a quiet smugness, a smirk to her Kingly brother when he would peek into her room as she was studying and he saw the plush toy sitting in her lap as she read.

"You're taking the thing right?" Danny asked her quietly as he watched her packing her bags into the gently used car she bought.

"Bearbert has a name." Jazz closed the trunk, leaning against it with a frown.

The two of them glanced over at their ever ignorant parents, Jack crying hard enough to imitate a faucet and Maddy doing her stout best to hold it together. When the siblings met one another's eyes again, Danny looked like he wanted to fuss so Jazz yanked him into a hug to stop him from talking.

"I've got him in my backpack in the passenger seat. My cellphone is fully charged and I've got the house on speed dial. I've been taking Krav Magra classes. And there's pepper spray on my keychain. I'm ready for Gotham. Stop worrying or you'll make dad cry harder." Jazz listed off the few things that she thought would calm him down a bit.

She hurried to hug their parents, letting her dad crush her in a hug and promising that she would call at every stop along the way as well as when she reached her new apartment. Once she was in the front seat was when her hind brain kicked in and whispered to her. Taking Bearbert out of the backpack, she put him in the passenger seat properly, buckling him in. Instantly, she saw her parents laugh and smile at her 'qurikiness' but she also saw Danny relaxing a fraction.

And she had to admit that she relaxed just a bit more too. When she paused at the stop lights, she was able to reach over and touch the fluffy paws that should have been worn down to nearly nothing by the years of love it received. Not only could she feel the fluff but she could feel the 'otherness' there as well that she could sometimes feel around Phantom. A sensation that there should be claws there clutching at her fingers in turn.

Then Batman arrives to the location of the commotion as mentioned.

"What is going on?!” he growls at a red haired young woman who is standing over an unconscious teenager.

But then he notices something. In the woman's hand- the one that repelled the demon, is a stuffed bear radiating power. Batman was on that mission where they had to check the list of mystic weapons. This woman is the wielder- no, the charge of Bearbert the Steadfast, the seventh most powerful magic item in existence-

Batman is broken from his thoughts by her request for his help finding her father. That doesn't make sense, Bearbert the Steadfast is crafted by the unyielding love of a father for his child. Surely such a father would be by his daughter's side in such a time of need? Someone who would go to such lengths, pouring so much power into a children's toy for her protection- only for he, himself to be nowhere to be found?

"What's his name?"

"John Constantine."

And Batman only has but a moment for that information to settle into his worldview- Constantine made Bearbert the Steadfast? Constantine is a father?

Before suddenly magic swells around them and in a blaze of protective wrath, John Constantine himself appears, a manic glint in his eyes. Or maybe that's just the power radiating off of him.

Bruce, running out of the shower: What's going on?

Tim, half-dressed in a wizard costume: I don't know!

Dick covered in flour and tomato sauce: I wasn't trying to cook a pizza in my room!

Jason wearing a bear onesie: No one believes your lies, Dick! But it has to be bad if Alfred called all of us and not just one to yell at!

Damain running by in a prince charming outfit: Reinforcements are on the way, Alfred! Hold the line!

Cass sprinting by with snakes wrap around her entire body: HOLD THE LINE!

Steph, in a star suit that lights up to the beat of her favorite rock song: Bruce, do you know what is going on!?

Bruce: Apparently, I don't know what's going on at any given point in this manor. Why are you all....dressed like that?

Dick panicked: Not to make illegal pizzas in our rooms after Alfred banned us from cooking! Ha ha ha!

Bruce: Right. The rest of you?

Tim: Wizards are cool

Jason: I was taking a nap

Steph: I'm going dancing tonight.

Bruce: None of those answers justified your appearances but we don't have time. Alfred needs us!

Everyone in the sitting room: What's the emergency?!

Alfred: That came back to our doorstep.

Baby Danny Fenton in a basket: *Happy Babbling*

Alfred: It speaks evil.

Bruce: What? Alfred not this again. It's not a evil spirit its just a baby!

Cass: What do you mean, Bruce? Alfred wouldn't let Damian or me get close to the baby.

Alfred: That thing has been attempting to enter the Wayne household for twenty years! It always appears in a basket, trying to play with the strings of employees' hearts to bring it in. It's the same face, the same basket, the same intelligent eyes following every sentence! Its not a human baby! Its A thing of evil!

Damian: I forgot you're from the parts of England that fear the Fae

Alfred: Don't call their name, boy! I always leave it outside, but today someone brought it in. It was here in the sitting room! It can't come into the manor without someone helping it!

Bruce: Because its a baby....

Alfred: Who did this!?

Duke walking with a warm bottle of milk: Oh you guys are all here. Perfect! I found this little guy outside-

Alfred pointing at him: TRAITOR!

Bruce: Alfred please....have you taken your medication?

Tim: Bruce wait, the baby, it's eyes are glowing.

Duke: The baby is a boy Tim.

Tim: Right sorry. His eyes are glowing.

Alfred: It's bonded to the land! We're DOOM!

Dick: Alfred, please calm down. How about a snack? Would some pizza make you feel better?

Jason: Um, the baby is floating.

Steph: They do that sometimes.

Damain nodding: Martians' infants levitate out of their cribs. It's possible for infants.

Bruce: Alfred put down that fire poker.

Alfred: I will sent it back to hell!

Duke: Woah woah! Don't you come near my baby!

Tim: Alfred, don't make me tackle you. Please. I know you will hurt me. I want to avoid that.

Alfred: Out of my way lads. I must do this.

Bruce: EVERYONE ATTACK ALFRED

Dick: aghhhhh we're going to die!

Jason: The baby just went through the ceiling. Anyone else keeping a eye on him? Anyone?

The rest of Waynes in a bar brawl with Alfred: Agggggggggghhhhhhhh

Take a moment and ask yourself, a project like this requires a lot of time, money and dedication of resources, why would scientists dedicate that time to something that could just be done by a tree?

The answer is they wouldn't. So that means this claim requires further investigation!

This project is called LIQUID 3, and it's not meant for cities with wide open spaces, it's meant for cities like Belgrade in Serbia. These cities are densely populated and heavily polluted, to the point where pollution actually chokes out current trees and makes creating green spaces difficult.

Liquid 3 was a PhD scientists answer to these problems. The microalgae tank is intended for spaces where you either:

Don't have enough space to plant full trees, or

Don't have enough time to plant trees and wait for them to grow up.

The tank is extremely efficient when you consider the amount of space needed compared to the amount of CO2 turned into oxygen. The tank can operate throughout the winter. And most importantly, it can be quickly set up in areas that desperately need relief from air pollution NOW not in 10 years when trees are done growing. Children currently suffocating on polluted air can't wait for trees to grow, they need to be taken care of now, and Liquid 3 is one of the ways to take care of them. Depending on the species of microalgea used, a number have shown a pretty amazing capacity to pull heavy metals out of the air which is something trees can get choked up by.

The tanks aren't just tanks either! Liquid 3 have solar panels placed on top, they have lighting and mobile phone charging, and they work as public benches. The designers of it want to encourage green spaces where there's room, but where there isn't room or time, Liquid 3 can step in. Realistically, this isn't a replacement for trees. It's replacing boring metal city benches with new, cooler benches that also clean the air (and have at least some heating during the winter).

Not only that, but the microalgea that grows is native to Serbia and all that microalgea has a ton of great uses! It makes for great fertilizer, compost, wastewater treatment, cleaner biofuels and even for helping create new tanks for further air purification. They only require a quick algae divide once a month, and the produced algae can be carted off to where ever it's needed. This makes them effective solutions for areas that can't sustain complex installations.

"OMG SHE ATTACK MINORS???"

[making pickaxe motion] "No, miners."

Dude taught himself to compose and calls it fake

“Just string it together in any order, the more random it is the more complex it’ll sound" improvising music on the fly was one of Mozart’s party tricks

Haven't done a Dc x Dp in awhile so here's this!

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.

A single nasal spray vaccine could protect against all coughs, colds and flus, as well as bacterial lung infections, and may even ease allergies, say US researchers.

The team at Stanford University have tested their "universal vaccine" in animals and still need to do human clinical trials.

Their approach marks a "radical departure" from the way vaccines have been designed for more than 200 years, they say.

Experts in the field said the study was "really exciting" despite being at an early stage and could be a "major step forward".

Current vaccines train the body to fight one single infection. A measles vaccine protects against only measles and a chickenpox vaccine protects against only chickenpox.

This is how immunisation has worked since Edward Jenner pioneered vaccines in the late 18th Century.

The approach described in the journal Science does not train the immune system. Instead it mimics the way immune cells communicate with each other.

It is given as a nasal spray and leaves white blood cells in our lungs – called macrophages – on "amber alert" and ready to jump into action no matter what infection tries to get in.

The effect lasted for around three months in animal experiments.

The researchers showed this heightened state of readiness led to a 100-to-1,000-fold reduction in viruses getting through the lungs and into the body.

And for those that did sneak through, the rest of the immune system was "poised, ready to fend off these in warp speed time" said Prof Bali Pulendran, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford.

The team showed the vaccine also protects against two species of bacteria - Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii.

Pulendran told the BBC: "This vaccine, what we term a universal vaccine, elicits a far broader response that is protective against not just the flu virus, not just the Covid virus, not just the common cold virus, but against virtually all viruses, and as many different bacteria as we've tested, and even allergens.

"The principle by which this vaccine works is a radical departure from the principle by which all vaccines have worked so far."

The way it steers the immune system towards fighting an infection also seemed to reduce the response to house dust mite allergens – which are a trigger of allergic asthma.

"This is a really exciting piece of research," says Prof Daniela Ferreira, a professor of vaccinology at University of Oxford, who was not involved in the study.

She said it could "change how we protect people from common coughs, colds and other respiratory infections" if the results are confirmed in human studies.

"One of the strengths" of the study was a clear explanation of how this new style of vaccine was working, she added.

Ferreira said the research "could mark a major step forward" offering protection against infections that "place such a heavy burden" on us all.

However, there are still many questions to answer.

The vaccine was given as a nasal spray in the experiments, but may need to be breathed in through a nebuliser to reach the depths of human lungs.

It is not known whether the same effect can be achieved in people or how long the immune system would stay in amber alert. There are differences in the immune systems between mice and humans, including our immunity being shaped by decades of infections.

So the researchers are planning trials where one person is vaccinated and then deliberately infected to see how their body copes.

There may also be consequences to dialling up the immune system beyond its normal state – raising questions of immune disorders.

Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said the work was undeniably "exciting" but cautioned "we have to ensure that keeping the body on 'high alert' doesn't lead to friendly fire, where a hyper-ready immune system accidentally triggers unwelcome side effects".

The research team in the US does not think the immune system should be permanently dialled up and think such a vaccine should be used to complement rather than replace current vaccines.

In the first stages of a pandemic, like early 2020 with Covid, a universal vaccine could buy time and save lives while a specialist vaccine was being developed.

"That would reduce mortality, disease severity, and perhaps build up a level of immune resilience that would have a huge impact," says Pulendran.

Younger folk are getting really good at spotting AI slop, to the consternation of marketing execs.