Leshan, 41 Jackson Road, Somerville, MA (2026)

09/09/2026

A California homeowner is facing major fines for growing a lush 'food forest' in his yard.

Michael Sherman, a 49-year-old landscape contractor in Chino, California, replaced his traditional front lawn in 2019 with a productive garden of sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, and passion fruit.

Prompted by rising grocery costs and concerns over chemical pesticides, Sherman designed the edible oasis to feed his family and share fresh produce with his neighbors.

However, the urban-farming initiative has turned into a legal battleground. Despite Chino’s official city motto being 'Where everything grows,' local code enforcement hit Sherman with a $750 fine in April 2026 for 'overgrown vegetation,' followed by a $500 fine in August, with threats of additional penalties if he does not dismantle the project.

The dispute highlights a growing national clash between traditional suburban aesthetic standards and modern sustainability movements. While some neighbors rallied around Sherman's eco-friendly initiative, others complained to the city, calling the yard an eyesore and raising concerns about potential pests. City officials ordered Sherman to cut back his crops, maintain pedestrian lines of sight, and keep plants at least 15 feet away from neighboring properties. Refusing to easily back down, Sherman has trimmed some of the vegetation to meet safety guidelines but plans to appeal the other citations, expressing frustration over the government's heavy-handed interference. 'I don't trust the system,' Sherman stated, arguing that homeowners should have the right to grow their own food without facing bureaucratic penalties.

source: Edwards, C. (2026). California man slams city after being fined for growing food at home: 'I don't trust the system'. New York Post.

09/09/2026

LOOK! Just one year after finishing breast cancer treatment, Sarah Thomas spent more than 54 hours in the water and became the first person to swim the English Channel four times non-stop.

The American ultra-distance swimmer from Colorado began her record attempt on September 15, 2019, swimming back and forth between England and France.

Normally, the Channel is about 21 miles across. But strong tides kept pushing Thomas off course, so instead of the planned roughly 80 miles, she ended up swimming close to 130 miles.

And for 54 hours and 10 minutes, she never got onto the support boat. Her crew gave her drinks about every 30 minutes while she stayed in the water, because touching the support boat could disqualify the official swim.

Then, during her final crossing, a jellyfish stung her in the face. Still, she kept going.

Finally, at around 6:30 a.m. on September 17, Thomas reached the shore near Dover, England, after swimming through two nights.

What makes it even more remarkable is that she had completed breast cancer treatment only the year before.

She dedicated the historic swim to fellow cancer survivors.

After reaching land, Thomas simply said, “I’m really just pretty numb.”

09/09/2026

🌿 He Spent 41 Years in the Jungle — Almost His Entire Life

Imagine growing up without television, smartphones, schools, cities—or even regular contact with other people.

That was the extraordinary reality of Hồ Văn Lang, a Vietnamese man whose life became known around the world as the story of a “real-life Tarzan.”

In 1972, during the Vietnam War, Lang’s father, Hồ Văn Thanh, fled into the forest with his very young son after their village was devastated by bombing. Members of their family were killed, and the two disappeared deep into the jungle.

For the next 41 years, Lang and his father lived almost completely isolated from modern society. They built shelters, hunted and foraged for food, and relied heavily on what the forest provided. His father reportedly continued to believe the war was still dangerous, which helped keep them away from civilization for decades.

When villagers finally discovered them in 2013, Lang was an adult who had spent virtually his entire life in the wilderness. He had little experience with modern society and had to gradually adapt to things most people encounter from childhood.

The often-repeated claim that Lang “didn’t know women existed” is an oversimplification of the story. What is better documented is that he had spent decades with almost no human contact beyond his father and had very limited knowledge of ordinary social life.

And perhaps the most remarkable part? Even after returning to a village, Lang remained deeply connected to the forest. He continued spending significant time there, growing food and hunting, because the jungle was the only home he had truly known.

His story isn't really about a “Tarzan.”
It's about survival, trauma, isolation—and what happens when someone grows up in a world almost completely separated from civilization. 🌳

What would be the hardest modern thing for you to live without for 41 years? 👇

09/08/2026

What would you do to get into a movie if you only wanted to pay for one ticket?

During the opening weekend of Marvel’s Black Panther in February 2018, two friends came up with a hilarious plan to enter a movie theater together while buying just one ticket.

A video shared on Twitter by Pillsbury () showed one teenager sitting on another’s shoulders, both hidden under a large buttoned trench coat. A fedora completed their unusual disguise, making them look like one very tall person straight out of a cartoon.

The pair confidently shuffled toward the theater box office and asked for a single ticket. But their plan did not fool the theater manager for long.

The manager quickly noticed what was happening and told them, “You gotta get down, man.” The teenager on top jokingly replied, “Get down from what?” while trying to keep his balance.

Their creative movie theater prank did not get them a two-for-one deal. The manager refused to sell them just one ticket, so the friends eventually bought two separate tickets and watched Black Panther normally.

The video soon became a viral sensation, collecting millions of views across social media platforms.

It remains a funny real-life take on the classic two people in a trench coat trick that has appeared in cartoons and comedy for years.

09/08/2026

👑🇳🇴 Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 22, has officially signed her oath to Norway’s Constitution and is now the country’s heir apparent following her father Haakon VIII becoming king. She is the first female heir to the Norwegian throne in more than 600 years.

✨ If she eventually becomes queen, Ingrid Alexandra would be Norway’s first reigning queen since Queen Margaret I, who ruled from 1388 to 1412. Her position became possible after Norway adopted absolute primogeniture in 1990, giving sons and daughters equal succession rights.

09/07/2026

At just 6 years old, Lucas Jemeljanova was diagnosed with one of the most dangerous childhood brain cancers.

Doctors found a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, growing in his brainstem. The cancer was considered effectively incurable.

Because of where it grows, surgery is usually impossible, and most children diagnosed with DIPG survive for less than a year.

Lucas entered an experimental clinical trial in France.

He received radiotherapy alongside a targeted medicine called everolimus.

Then something extraordinary happened.

His tumour started shrinking, and it kept shrinking, and eventually, it disappeared completely from his scans.

By the age of 13, seven years after his diagnosis, doctors described Lucas as the first known child to be cured of DIPG.

A disease that was once expected to take his life had vanished.

Since then, a small number of other children in the same research program have also become exceptional long-term survivors.

But Lucas was the first.

At 6, he was given one of the worst diagnoses imaginable. At 13, he made medical history.

09/07/2026

The idea that Tutankhamun was the child of a brother-sister union comes from genetic studies published in 2010.

DNA evidence strongly suggested that his parents were very closely related, likely siblings, a practice that was not uncommon among Egypt's royal families, who believed divine bloodlines should be preserved through intermarriage.

Modern CT scans and genetic analysis revealed that Tutankhamun suffered from several health problems.

His left foot showed evidence of a clubfoot-like deformity, and examinations of his skeleton indicated he may have had difficulty walking.

More than 130 walking sticks and canes were found in his tomb, many showing signs of actual use rather than serving as ceremonial objects.

Some claims in popular media, however, remain controversial. While artistic depictions from the Amarna period often show elongated faces, wide hips, and prominent chests, many Egyptologists believe these features reflected a distinctive artistic style rather than the pharaoh's true appearance.

Evidence for enlarged breasts or dramatically feminine body proportions is not considered conclusive.

Tutankhamun became king around age nine and ruled until his death at approximately nineteen.

Despite his short reign, the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922 transformed him into the most famous pharaoh in history.

09/07/2026

After her husband died just 15 days into their marriage, Petchiammal was left widowed and pregnant with her only daughter, Shanmugasundari. She began working in construction sites, hotels, tea shops and a charcoal factory to support her child, but she faced harassment and unwanted attention while trying to earn a living as a woman.

One incident eventually changed her life. While walking to work, a truck driver reportedly tried to force her into his vehicle. Frightened by what had happened, Petchiammal decided that she needed another way to protect herself. She travelled to Tiruchendur, shaved her head, put on a shirt and dhoti, and began living under the name Muthu.

She moved to Kattunaickkanpatti in Tamil Nadu, where almost nobody knew her past. She worked as a farm labourer and later became known locally as “Muthu Master.” She adopted many aspects of a male identity, even learning to smoke beedis because she believed it helped others accept her as a man. Only close relatives and her daughter knew the truth.

Her daughter’s childhood was complicated by the secret. Shanmugasundari initially grew up believing her aunt was her mother and only began living with Petchiammal when she was around 10. She eventually learned that the person everyone called Muthu was her biological mother.

Even after her daughter grew up and married, Petchiammal chose to continue living as Muthu. She said the identity had given her courage, protection and the ability to raise her daughter without the harassment she had experienced as a woman. By 2022, after about 36 years living as a man, she was too old for heavy labour and was seeking government assistance. Later accounts described her as continuing to live as Muthu.

Her story is ultimately documented as the life of a widowed mother who changed almost every outward aspect of herself after loss and harassment, believing that living as a man was the safest way to work, survive and raise her daughter.

09/07/2026

What if nature finished a project that humans had spent seven years trying to complete?

A family of eight Eurasian beavers has surprised environmental officials by naturally completing a wetland restoration project that had been delayed for seven years.

Since 2018, authorities had been planning to restore wetlands at a former military training ground in the Brdy Protected Landscape Area. The project was designed to build dams, improve the wetland habitat and help protect the nearby Klabava River and its endangered stone crayfish population from acidic water runoff.

The project had received funding of around 30 million Czech koruna, or about $1.2 million, but construction was delayed because of land ownership discussions and building permit approvals.

Then the beavers arrived.

The family built a network of dams using mud, rocks and fallen trees, flooding the drainage canal and naturally restoring the wetland. Their work achieved the same result that officials had planned to create through a major construction project.

The best part? Conservation officials confirmed that the planned spending on heavy machinery and artificial construction was no longer needed.

One official praised the beavers, saying they often choose the right places for their dams even better than humans can plan on paper.

Sometimes, nature really does have its own way of getting things done.

09/07/2026

Sara Shabir, a teacher in the U.K., found a heartwarming way to make the end of the school year memorable for her 30 students. She decided to crochet a small doll for every child, carefully designing each one to resemble the student it was meant for.

Although Shabir had been crocheting for nearly five years, creating dolls was something she had only recently started learning. She took on the ambitious project in May, spending many of her evenings and weekends working on the tiny figures after finishing her school duties. She hoped to complete all 30 dolls before the students left for their summer break in July.

The project required plenty of patience and attention to detail. Shabir tried to recreate each child’s appearance by matching their skin tone, hair color and hairstyle. She even researched different hair patterns and styles so that students with curly or distinctive hair could be represented accurately.

When the dolls were finally finished, Shabir surprised her class by showing them a photo of the collection. The children were excited to recognize themselves in the tiny handmade figures. She then gave each student their own doll as a keepsake.

Parents were equally touched by the thoughtful gesture, and photos shared online soon attracted widespread attention. For Shabir, the greatest reward was simply seeing her students’ excitement and knowing they had something special to remember their school year by.

Leshan

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