Month: June 2025

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Jason Statham

Jason Statham

“Before I was kicking butt on the big screen… I was selling perfume on street corners just to eat.”
I didn’t grow up under bright lights or on red carpets. I was raised in a working-class neighborhood in England — the kind of place where if you didn’t learn to stand your ground, you got trampled. From an early age, I found refuge in sport. I became a professional diver and even competed nationally. But the Olympic dream? It slipped through my fingers. No selection, no second chances. That broke something inside me.
No scholarships. No backing. No future mapped out. So I hit the streets — literally. Selling watches, fake jewelry, perfumes — whatever I could — just to put food in my mouth. I hustled corners, pitched strangers, and got insulted more times than I could count. One guy once shoved me and said, “Get a real job.” That night, I slept on a mate’s floor wondering if anything would ever change.
And then… it did.
While modeling for a sports brand, director Guy Ritchie spotted me. No drama school. No fancy resume. Just raw grit. He offered me a role in Snatch — and from there, the game changed. I trained. I acted. I threw myself into every frame like my life depended on it… because it did. Over 20 films later, I still remember where it started — and what it took to survive.
Never underestimate the guy selling stuff on the corner. He might be built for something more.
“You can be selling what nobody wants today — just don’t sell your hope. Because if you hold on long enough, someone will see what you’re worth.”
— Jason Statham
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A carbon-negative concrete made from seawater and bacteria stronger than cement

Stronger Than Concrete

In a coastal materials lab in Denmark, engineers have created a concrete that doesn’t emit CO2 — it absorbs it. Made with marine bacteria, crushed seashells, and seawater, this living concrete hardens through biological mineralization instead of chemical heating, making it truly carbon-negative.

The process begins by mixing sand, powdered shell calcium, and a strain of calcifying bacteria. Once the mixture is poured, the bacteria activate in seawater-rich conditions, secreting enzymes that trigger calcium carbonate formation. This natural cementation strengthens over time without emitting greenhouse gases.

Unlike Portland cement — which releases over 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually — this formula actually locks carbon into its structure. In strength tests, it exceeded conventional concrete’s load-bearing capacity after 21 days, with better crack resistance and water durability.

The raw materials are abundant and renewable. The system works best in coastal regions, where seawater and marine calcium are easy to source. It’s already being trialed in sea walls, walkways, and low-rise buildings.

With the construction industry responsible for nearly 8% of global emissions, this could be the most sustainable building material ever made.

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Soichiro Honda

Soichiro Honda

“I wasn’t born knowing what to do…
I was born falling down — and learned to build on every fall.”
As a kid, I preferred machines over books.
While others studied, I’d sneak away to watch mechanics fix cars.
My father was a blacksmith — we didn’t have much.
But I was certain of one thing:
One day, I’d build something big.
What I didn’t know back then was how many times I’d have to crash first —
both literally and metaphorically.
I was rejected when I applied to work as an engineer.
“Just a mechanic,” they said.
So, I started a tiny workshop… which collapsed in an earthquake.
I rebuilt it — then a war bomb destroyed it.
When I tried again, I had no money and no materials.
So I melted gasoline cans and made pistons by hand.
Finally, I built my first motorized bicycle.
People laughed.
“Looks like a toy,” they said.
“Who’d want that?”
Years later, those very bikes were selling by the millions.
When I founded Honda, they still doubted me.
But I no longer cared — because I had learned something more powerful than success:
I had learned how to endure.
I went from sleeping on the floor…
to seeing my name on engines around the world.
Not because I was the smartest —
but because I was the most stubborn.
Every time the world knocked me down,
I answered with a new idea, a new invention,
one more try.
And that’s what made all the difference.
“You don’t have to be perfect.
You just need to be stubborn with your dreams.
Because the ones who fall the most…
are often the ones who rise the strongest.”
— Soichiro Honda
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Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

When Mel Brooks was a boy growing up in Brooklyn, he would climb onto the roof of his apartment building with a battered radio and listen to live broadcasts of vaudeville acts from Manhattan, imagining that one day he would stand on a real stage making thousands of people laugh. He later said the distance between that tenement roof and Broadway felt smaller every time he heard the roar of the audience through the crackling speaker.
He was born on June 28, 1926. Today, he is turning 99 years old, and admirers everywhere are celebrating this milestone. Mel Brooks came into the world as Melvin James Kaminsky, the youngest of four brothers in a struggling Jewish family. His father, Max Kaminsky, worked as a process server but died of kidney disease when Mel was only two. His mother, Kate, took a job sewing garments to keep the household together. Even in those hard years, humor was everywhere in the Kaminsky home. Mel loved entertaining his family with impressions, and he quickly learned that laughter could soften any hardship.
He attended Public School 19 in Brooklyn, where he earned a reputation as the class clown. At Eastern District High School, he decided he would someday work in show business. He briefly enrolled at Brooklyn College before World War II changed everything. Mel enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he served as a combat engineer, defusing land mines in Germany. The experience taught him that fear had to be faced directly, a philosophy he would carry into his career.
After returning home, Mel started performing as a drummer and stand-up comedian in the Catskills resorts. His fast-talking style and boundless energy impressed everyone he worked with, and in 1949, he became a writer for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows.” The team included Carl Reiner and Neil Simon, and together they revolutionized television comedy. Mel quickly earned a reputation as a master of the quick punchline and the unexpected twist.
In 1965, he co-created “Get Smart,” a send-up of spy thrillers starring Don Adams. The series won Emmys and became a cultural touchstone, but Mel was eager to bring his voice to movies. His first feature film, “The Producers,” appeared in 1967. It told the story of two Broadway schemers trying to stage the worst musical ever made. The film earned Mel an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and proved he was unafraid to take risks.
He followed with a remarkable run of films. In 1974 alone, Mel released “Blazing Saddles,” a Western parody that tackled racism and hypocrisy head-on, and “Young Frankenstein,” a black-and-white homage to classic horror that starred Gene Wilder. Both films became massive hits and demonstrated that comedy could be subversive and intelligent.
Mel’s personal life included two marriages. In 1953, he married Florence Baum, and together they had three children before divorcing in 1962. Two years later, in 1964, he married Anne Bancroft. She was his greatest supporter, always encouraging him to trust his instincts. They had one son, Max Brooks. Anne’s faith in Mel helped him pursue bolder ideas, including “Silent Movie” in 1976 and “High Anxiety” in 1977, a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s thrillers.
In 1981, Mel made “History of the World, Part I,” a sweeping comedy covering everything from Moses to the French Revolution. In 1987, he directed “Spaceballs,” lampooning science fiction blockbusters like “Star Wars.” He returned in 1993 with “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” poking fun at adventure epics.
In 2001, he adapted “The Producers” for Broadway, where it became a sensation and won 12 Tony Awards. A film version arrived in 2005 with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Even in later years, Mel remained busy, lending his voice to “Hotel Transylvania 2” and appearing in documentaries about the history of comedy.
Today, at 99, Mel Brooks continues to share stories and remind audiences that humor is a way to defy fear. His determination to create joy out of every challenge stands as an example for anyone chasing a dream.
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Scientists have built a silent sound beam that lifts and moves objects—without touching them

Silent Sound

At a precision acoustics lab in Denmark, researchers have engineered an invisible tractor beam made entirely of sound waves. It allows them to levitate, rotate, and steer small solid objects through mid-air—without any wires, magnets, or contact. What’s even more astonishing is that the system works silently, operating below the human hearing threshold.
The beam works by generating complex 3D acoustic fields using phased arrays of ultrasonic speakers. These waves interfere in specific patterns, forming pressure pockets that act like invisible “hands” in space. The object—be it a droplet, a piece of metal, or a micro-sensor—is trapped inside and gently moved by adjusting the wave field.
Traditional acoustic levitation is limited to simple up-and-down hovering. But this new design creates dynamic vortexes and knots in the air, allowing researchers to move objects around corners, rotate them in 3D, and even stack them—all in complete silence. The system is precise down to millimeters and works with solid, liquid, or even some gel-like materials.
This technology could revolutionize sterile environments where touch is dangerous: handling fragile cells in biomedical labs, assembling microchips without contamination, or even manufacturing in space, where gravity complicates handling. Since it’s non-contact and uses no magnetic or optical components, it’s safe for delicate biological systems.
In future versions, multiple beams could work in concert like fingers, allowing true mid-air manipulation of tools or tissues. A no-contact robotic hand—built from sound and physics.
We’ve always touched the world to move it. Now we can do it without a single touch.
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Patrick Swayze

Dirty Dancing Co-Stars

During an early morning rehearsal for the iconic lift scene in “Dirty Dancing” (1987), Jennifer Grey froze. The barn was cold, the pressure was intense, and the entire crew stood waiting. Grey’s anxiety, which had been quietly mounting for days, finally spilled over. With her arms folded tightly across her chest and her eyes brimming with tears, she whispered that she couldn’t do it. Her voice trembled. Her legs felt weak. She turned away, hiding her face, overwhelmed by fear that she wouldn’t be able to live up to the moment.
Patrick Swayze, already in place, stepped out of the spotlight and walked straight to her. He didn’t signal for a break or retreat behind the scenes. Instead, he slowly knelt down beside her, placed a firm but gentle hand on hers, and looked up into her face with the steady calm of someone deeply present. “I’m not leaving you,” he told her, his voice low but sure. “We’re in this together. We’re going to do this one breath at a time.”
For a moment, everything else on set, the camera equipment, the lights, the expectations, faded away. The crew stood still. No one moved. Swayze, still holding her hand, encouraged her to breathe slowly with him. Inhale. Exhale. He matched her rhythm, grounding her, giving her space to fall apart and rebuild in front of him. His patience was quiet and unwavering. There was no rush. No embarrassment. Only presence.
Jennifer Grey had been worried their onscreen chemistry wouldn’t feel real. Off camera, their relationship had been strained. But in that moment, Swayze didn’t let any past tension cloud his compassion. He didn’t try to coach her through it with technical advice. He offered something far more rare in the high-stakes, fast-paced world of movie-making, emotional safety.
A crew member later said it was like watching someone protect a delicate flame from the wind. “He didn’t just calm her down,” they recalled. “He created a space where she could stop doubting herself.” That morning, they didn’t rehearse for hours. They rehearsed for moments. And Patrick stayed with her through each one.
When she finally nodded that she was ready to try again, he didn’t spring into action. He helped her rise to her feet slowly, as if returning her strength in stages. The next attempt wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t need to be. What mattered was that she felt safe enough to try, and that trust changed everything between them. The iconic lift, which later became one of the most celebrated scenes in movie history, was built not just on choreography but on the bond forged in that barn.
Swayze, trained in dance and martial arts, had a reputation for discipline. But that day, what stood out wasn’t his precision, it was his patience. His ability to recognize fear in someone else and respond not with frustration, but with gentleness. He knew what anxiety looked like. He had dealt with his own insecurities in the past, and he understood how isolating those moments could feel on a set filled with pressure and watchful eyes.
Later, Jennifer would speak in interviews about the emotional turbulence during filming, but she always remembered that particular moment. Not for its drama, but for the kindness it revealed in her co-star. Patrick didn’t need to say much. What he did was far louder than any words, he stayed.
That lift became more than a performance. It became a symbol of trust, of vulnerability met with care, and of what can happen when someone chooses to respond to another’s fear with quiet strength.
Patrick Swayze’s humanity lived not in his fame or talent, but in how he held space for someone else to find their courage.
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Fear Of The Landlord

Fear Of The Landlord

Worrying about the rent is not a modern problem—one Roman’s fear of his landlord was found scratched onto a wall nearly 2,000 years ago.
His name was Ancarenus Nothus, and he was an ordinary person living in a crowded Roman apartment building, known as an insula, sometime between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.
Like many people today, he seems to have had anxiety about making ends meet. Historians, like Mary Beard, have highlighted his story from a piece of graffiti he left behind, which expressed his dread of the rent collector coming around.
It’s a powerful reminder that history isn’t just about emperors and great battles. It’s also about the everyday struggles of normal people.
Ancarenus was far from the only one leaving messages on walls. The walls of Roman cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum were covered in thousands of pieces of graffiti.
People wrote everything you could imagine: jokes, love poems, shopping lists, and insults. It was the social media of the ancient world.
These inscriptions weren’t just made by the poor. Archaeologists have found graffiti in the homes of the wealthy as well, showing it was a common practice across all social classes.
These small, personal messages, preserved by chance through the centuries, give us an incredible window into the real, unfiltered lives of people in the ancient world.
Sources: Mary Beard Documentary Meet the Romans, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Antigone Journal
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Hot Air Propaganda – Targeting the Uninformed

Hot Air Propaganda - Targeting the Uninformed

Malcolm Roberts writes:
A lie collapses slowly, then all at once.

Climate Change is a scam, a fundraiser for large corporations using the nobility paradox to get away with increasingly harmful policies that damage our economy and take away abundance and opportunity for all.

24 years ago today, the great Thomas Sowell nailed this one: Global warming propaganda is targeted at the uninformed.

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Quote of the Day

“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”  – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Writer (1749 – 1832)