A former BlackRock employee ordered 10,000 pairs of socks for $100,000 to test a business idea; her startup later raised $2 million and reached Shark Tank | World News

A former BlackRock employee took a $100,000 gamble on socks after deciding to test whether consumers would actually buy her idea. Allison Strumeyer, who co-founded sock brand Doublesoul with her husband Ben, ordered 10,000 pairs as an initial test of the business. Rather than immediately leaving her corporate career, she used the experiment to establish…

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A grape variety from Cyprus is helping Australian vineyards survive extreme heat; growers using Xynisteri have cut water consumption by 75%, while the vines have survived temperatures above 45°C

Koutouzis, located in South Australia’s Riverland, surrounded by vineyards, and has around 800 Xynisteri vines. When temperatures climb above 45 degrees Celsius and water is one of the most expensive inputs on a farm, survival may depend on looking backward. According to ABC News Information and Services, in South Australia’s Riverland, growers are looking to…

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US mother sues Portland Public School after being barred from campus following gender policy dispute | World News

Portland mother Allison Roberts sues Public Schools after being barred from campus following a gender curriculum dispute. A US mother has sued Portland Public Schools after she was barred from her children’s elementary school and prevented from attending school events following a dispute over gender-related lessons, according to a lawsuit filed this week, cited by…

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Canadian mom gets a complete keyboard tattooed on her arm so her autistic son can always ‘talk’ to her when his communication device fails | World News

A Canadian mother has found an unusual way to make sure her non-speaking autistic son always has a way to communicate with her, even when technology fails. Jessica Fletcher had a complete keyboard tattooed on her forearm after an incident with her 11-year-old son, Hunter, whose augmentative and alternative communication device ran out of battery…

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Quote of the day by Kate Middleton: “It is lonely at times and you do feel quite isolated. But actually…” – a lesson on motherhood and loneliness | World News

Quote of the day by Kate Middleton (AP photo) Kate Middleton’s words touch on a genuinely difficult side of motherhood that rarely gets talked about openly, feeling genuinely lonely even while surrounded by people who love you. “It is lonely at times, and you do feel quite isolated,” she said. “But actually, so many other…

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Blast near Kabul school injures around 50 children; UN condemns ‘heinous’ act

Hand grenade blast near school in Hazara neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi injures at least 50, local media reports A hand grenade explosion near a school in Kabul’s predominantly Hazara neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi injured several children on Monday afternoon, according to Afghan authorities and local media reports.Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran confirmed that “a number of children”…

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In 1999, a Texas couple bought 828 acres and discovered endangered whooping cranes, then protected 817 acres for the birds | World News

In 1999, Al and Diane Johnson thought they had finally found the place where they could build a home and settle down. They had bought 828 acres on Texas’ Lamar Peninsula, a broad stretch of marsh, grassland and live oak woodland near Rockport. Then they noticed two very large birds walking across their newly acquired…

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In 2017, 75-year-old Jeanne Socrates suffered major injuries after falling from a ladder while preparing to sail around the world; two years later she finished the voyage alone at 77 and set a world record

Jeanne Socrates (Image Credit: Wikipedia) In 2017, British sailor Jeanne Socrates was 75 when a fall from a ladder while working on her yacht left her with serious injuries and forced her to postpone another attempt to sail around the world. Instead of giving up, she returned to the challenge a year later. On October…

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