As the April showers are preparing for May flowers, the headlines in the news have been jumping like jelly beans. The mainstream media has picked up on Trump’s recent antics and the Eastern-Asia missiles but it seems to have missed a whole calamity in between. We have found a handful of real, crazy, and interesting headlines you may have missed during this past month, and here they are:
1. Drug-Addicted Python Goes to Prison Rehab: A six foot python found in a crystal meth drug bust appeared to have absorbed fumes and particles of the drugs through its skin over time causing a form of addiction. After 14 prisoners selected to take care of the python’s 7 month rehab in a wildlife care program, the snake has returned to normal behaviour from its very aggressive addicted/withdrawal symptoms of the past. The snake had been used in the meth “lab” to protect the “stash” from raids and robbers in the past.
2. Irish Passport Surge of 2017: According to BBC applications or Irish passports from Northern Ireland and Great Britain have risen by 68% since Spring of 2016. This spike in passports is believed to be sparked by Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom choosing to leave the European Union. Between January and march 2017, 51,079 applications have been received compared to 2016’s record high of 30,303 from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Anyone who has a parent or grandparent born in Ireland can apply for an Irish passport.
3. German Man to the Rescue on Easter: While and Icelandic family was venturing when they had stopped for some snacks at a McDonald’s in Freiburg, Germany only to forget their holiday savings on the pick up counter on their way out. A young German man took the envelope containing thousands of Euros to the local police station who sent a police officer back to the McDonald’s to investigate. That officer ran into a panicked Icelandic family who rewarded the finder of the envelope and went back to their Easter travels ever so grateful for young men like the ones they met that day.
4. Finland is World’s Safest Place to Travel: As Finland celebrates its 100th year of Independence, it was named 5th happiest country and world’s safest nation. Factors such as low crime rates, low living costs, and being considered in the top 5 happiest countries really helped Finland reach the top. Be sure to book your summer trips before it’s too late!
5. Electroconvulsive Therapy on the Rise in UK: It appears that as the number of patients seeking mental health treatment in England continues to increase, so do the numbers of electroshock therapy recipients. 2015 and 2016 show an 11% increase from the combination of 4 years in the past. There has not been a definite reason for the increase yet but a few factors such as patient access increase, lack of credible alternatives for serious mental illness treatments, and the science showing safe treatment paths may be a part of the reasoning.
6. Prince William’s First Air Ambulance Call on a Suicide Sparks Interest in Men’s Mental Health: Prince William’s tipping point came when his first call out was to a male suicide. He recently learned the struggle men under 45 face with their mental health. It’s become an eye opening experience for the Prince. He’s since stepped up in his support in opening communication between males, and the military. Including creating a campaign with his wife, Catherine called “Heads Together.” William said: “There may be a time and a place for the stiff upper lip, but not at the expense of your health.”
7. Jamaican Woman 117 years old is Oldest Person on Earth: After the recent death of Italian woman Emma Morano, Violet Brown now holds the record for the oldest person alive at 117 years old. Violet is a retired seamstress is visited by her grandson often now that her daughter cannot do so.
8. Freezer Failure in Canadian Arctic Base melts away 22000 Years Worth of Samples: Researchers and scientists everywhere are holding heavy hearts after their worst nightmare came to life this past April. The ice cores contained tons of atmospheric data that were going to be transferred and studied further for the hopes of Global Warming research. Shortly after the ice cores were placed in a brand-new custom-built facility one of the freezers alarmed researchers to the site about a high heat warming but it was too late as the researchers only found steaming puddles around the facility.
9. Canada Legalizes Weed: Two new highly anticipated bills plan to legalize marijuana by July 2018. The plans will split the responsibility between the provincial and federal governments. Households who prefer to grow their own will be limited to roughly four plants. Currently no information has been shared about how taxing will work but the details are likely to be released in the coming months.
10. British Columbia Makes it Illegal to Require High Heels: Heels can be a threat to safety, a new act states. British Columbia has recently created headlines in its attempt to rectify this as the government believes in safe footwear for employee’s to complete their work. Andrew Weaver, the BC Green party leader filed a private member’s bill in March to amend workplace legislation that forces women to wear high heels at work. This new regulation is the first step to changing the discriminatory practise women face in the workforce.
11. China Launches Its 1st Unmanned Cargo Spacecraft: China has launched its first ever unmanned cargo spacecraft on its way to the country’s second space station, Tiangong 2. Because of China’s strong military ties to the space industry, they have not agreed upon the UN’s terms for the ISS yet, but that’s okay with their developments with Tiangong 2 and the latest cargo shipment by The Tianzhou 1 and Long March 7 rocket.
While the Fins are celebrating with happy travelers and Icelanders are rewarding their helpful strangers, the violence in the East has not brought April down too hard. Canadians may have lost thousands of years of ice core data, but they have helped those seeking homeopathic relief and comfy shoes for the better of both sides of the workforce. Lastly, it’s enlightening to see China’s space agency in the news, even if they haven’t released their intentions quite yet and even better yet for mental health headlines to be on the rise. It will be quite a trip to see what Prince Harry does when it comes to fighting mental health stigma, maybe it will make it to the mainstream media in time for May.
Collaboration with Cassandra Vella
Featured Image via Pexels.
