Volunteers clad as Superman and Spider-Man sprayed disinfectant against the coronavirus on Indonesia's island of Java, flanking a colleague wearing the winged helmet of local superhero Gatotkaca who shouted, "Wear masks, wash hands and stay alert."

One thing you should know about me is that I am from New York and I am half Italian. That means when I like something,…

It's also perfect for last-minute gifting. READ MORE...

Say goodbye to your uncomfortable wooden chair for good. READ MORE...

In this episode Michelle from Iriss interviews Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care.

Donald worked for many years in the health and social care sectors across the United Kingdom specialising in learning disability and older people's work. A particular professional focus has been issues related to bereavement, palliative care and individual rights.

For thirteen years he ran his own equality and human rights consultancy focusing on adult protection, risk and personalisation. From 2012-2015 he managed Scottish Care's self-directed support project, People as Partners, then worked as Scottish Care's Joint National Workforce Lead. From 1st April 2016 he became the CEO of Scottish Care, the representative body for care providers in the independent sector.

We hear about the people, projects, books, music and much more that inspire him.

Freshly Squeezed aims to 'squeeze' information and inspiration from key influencers in social services in Scotland.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

On April 18th of 1961, it was announced that iconic Hollywood star Gary Cooper was dying of cancer after a glittering 36 year career that saw him amass countless fans, plaudits, and awards across the globe. Weeks after that news broke, and just days before he died, Cooper received the following fan letter from Kirk Douglas,

Some better and fantastic balloon news from the USA

Adventurer David Hempleman-Adams has told how he landed a balloon in pitch black darkness to avoid plunging into one of the planet's biggest lakes.

The explorer from Box has just won the world's oldest air race with an 1,100-mile flight across the USA which ended on his 52nd birthday.

He and his co-pilot Jon Mason, 35, had been forced to choose between a complete darkness landing or the risk of ending up in Lake Michigan as they scented success in the prestigious Gordon Bennett gas balloon race.

Father-of-three Mr Hempleman-Adams took the decision to land the balloon in the dark rather than risk flying over the Great Lake without enough ballast.

He said: "I know you should never land a balloon at night but we had to make that decision as we didn't have enough sand to go over the lake and the balloon was going down."


The pair made two attempts to land in the drama on Friday at the end of the race, in which the winner is the crew flying the furthest distance.

"It's hard to judge from the air at night what is on the ground. During our first attempt what we thought were small bushes turned out to be 45 ft trees so we had to try again. We flew over the trees and landed near a maize crop."

The pair had taken off on Monday from Albuquerque in New Mexico and landed north of Chicago at 5am on Friday in their balloon Lady Luck.

They did not discover they had become the first British team ever to win the competition named after the man who gave his name to the famous exclamation until they had had a few hours of sleep.

Mr Hempleman-Adams said: "The sheriff picked us up and took us to the local hotel where we collapsed.

"We'd been flying for 74 hours taking it in turns to sleep at two-hourly intervals curled up on the floor of the basket. When we woke there was a note under the door from our chase team which said, 'Well done boys, you've won!'

"We thought we'd come second so it was a very good birthday present."

There were 12 crews in the contest, the 52nd ever held.

Mr Hempleman-Adams said. "It was a very tactical race with everyone trying to outdo each other like a game of poker."

Co-pilot Mr Mason, a consultant clinical psychologist who works in Canterbury, said: "We are a great duo and a foil for one another. David needs someone to restrain him and I need someone to encourage and push me. We arrive at a middle ground. We also work well together because we have different skills. "David is excellent at looking at the bigger picture and navigating while I am good concentrating on the detail doing what we have to do there and then."

He said he accepted the risky decision his co-pilot had made.

"It's easy to highlight the dangers but people do things all the time that are risky that, in the end, become routine.

"Gas ballooning isn't rocket science. You fill the balloon with gas that's lighter than air and you take sand with you. The risk isn't flying a gas balloon - it is flying a balloon for four days in bad weather when you are tired and in the dark."

One of their scariest moment came when the duo were hit by a snowstorm.

Mr Hempleman-Adams said: "We had some difficult weather. During the day it reached 42 degrees but at night it crashed to about 8 degrees and we would shiver.

"Once, we were up at 13,000 ft and it started to snow. The cooling on the balloon made it come down very quickly and we descended to 5,000 ft."

Another brush with death was when the team spotted two jets flying too close for comfort.

"At one stage we were over Albuquerque at 5,000 ft and two jets came in underneath us with only 500ft clearance and scared the daylights out of us," Mr Hempleman-Adams said.

The pair were due to fly back into Britain this morning.

The competition - founded by newspaper tycoon and adventurer Bennett - is described as the most prestigious event in aviation and the ultimate challenge for the balloon pilots and their equipment.

It was started in 1906, when 16 balloons were launched from Paris, but has never before been won by Britons.

It was put on ice at the outbreak of the Second World War and not revived until 1983.

The victory means the race will start from the UK in 2010.

Mr Hempleman-Adams turned to extreme and endurance ballooning after years of conquering mountains and polar regions.

He has climbed the tallest peaks on all seven continents, travelled to both the North and South Poles, completed the first balloon flight to the North Pole and the first flight across the Northwest Passage. He also completed the first balloon flight across the Atlantic in an open wicker basket in 2003. He holds the world altitude record for Roziere (a combination of gas and hot air) balloons at more than 41,000 ft.

President Trump, pull it together, man. At the very least let's work to keep the condolences about the horrific, painful moments in history that are shootings, ACCURATE. Everything about this is a stomach-turning, comically absurd kind of FAIL. Yes, the President of the United States seemingly tweeted out his condolences about the Texas mass shooting, BUT forgot to change the name of the city to Corning, California where a mass shooting occurred at Rancho Tehama Elementary School. 

This is so much to process. If you need a break, these Trump memes are what you will most likely want for said break.

And this is without even considering the Trump Memes which are even less presidential, but at least those are made by the people, not the Commander-In-Chief himself.

Donald Trump's kept it pretty low key on Twitter in recent days. That didn't stop him from penning a little St. Paddy's Day sentiment though. If only he'd spell checked before sending it off though. Then again, would we expect anything less than this from the guy with a wide-reaching, well-developed reputation already for spelling shit in his own language incorrectly?

Yeah, yeah, we know. Here are some Trump Memes to smooth it over.

Donald Trump's amazingly awkward water swig is apparently the gift that keeps on giving. The Photoshop Battle subreddit tackled a funny snapshot of the moment, incorporating everything from panpipes to Harry Potter. We've included our favorites, but there are loads more on the official thread.

Lots to unpack here, so maybe ease into it by first starting off with some light Trump Memes, and then progressing to this list of "good stuff".

Say what you will about the President, but there's no denying that his Twitter habits have given us hours of entertainment. His latest Twitter escapade was regarding Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' issue. On Saturday  President Trump tweeted "Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named "Man (Person) of the Year," like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!" Parodies from comedians such as Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Billy Eichner began pouring in, along with riffs on New Yorker cartoons. Here are some of our favorites. 

And on a side note, here are some of our favorite tremendous Trump memes that are nearly unbelievable.

Mike Pence has been heavily meme'd and that level of memery is only growing. The most recent addition to the line of Pence memes has been this 'Fake History' take on Jonny Quest, which features Baron Trump and Pence in place of Jonny and his dad, in a fight against the gays and immigrants. 

These are basically an extension of Trump Memes, as Mike Pence is his Vice President and joke that poke fun at one is the same as poking fun at the other.

Just in case you missed it because you were too busy perusing tremendous Trump memes, Donald Trump has a profound fear/hatred of sharks. Naturally, the internet was ready to step up and offer moral support, or just, you know, troll the sh*t out of him. 

Some of these are even more tremendous than Donald Trump Memes. What a time to be alive. Big times up ahead...

Unlike Trump memes, which are self explanatory, some things can never be explained. Like this uncanny resemblance of a dog's ear with president Donald Trump. Via: rearfront

While Trump Memes have been online for a while by now, the internet has come up with a brand new meme in light of footage of Donald Trump craning his neck over the voting booths to check his wife Melania's ballot. Possibly because everyone has a lot of time on their hands while they wait in insanely long voting lines.

Donald Trump Jr. tried to sweet talk Twitter, and NOBODY was having it. Does the guy just want to be mocked by the masses on a continually often basis at this point, or what? 

To #TrumpYourCat, you should brush your pet, then form the hair into a "toupee", and place it on top of their head. Oh, and you can thank Donald Purrump for this genius idea!

And if you need some more Trump memes <-- those are simply tremendous

Trump In Cinema is dedicated to displaying some of movie history's best moments with Donald Trump at the center of them. Some of these photoshops are too perfect. Others as just... troubling.

Has Trump seen people holding signs on the internet before? It never turns out well.

It's been a fun week for political memes. While Donald Trump's friend "Jim" has been the subject of skepticism since as early as 2016, the marvelous mystery has once again been thrust into the spotlight by the Associated Press. Their July 13th piece, "Trump in Paris: The curious case of his friend Jim" was covered by outlets such as HuffPo and the AV Club, and inspired a healthy number of Twitter jokes. We've put together the most noteworthy Jim jokes from the past year, for your convenient viewing pleasure. 

Well...Can't ignore the resemblance

By Leo Babauta This month, I’m issuing a challenge to all of you procrastinators … and no, you can’t make the joke that you’ll do it later! The challenge is called Undone: The Unprocrastination Challenge, and it’s a part of my Sea Change Program. The challenge is to set aside an “unprocrastination session” every day […]

Mail-in voting, as it currently exists, is likely to guarantee Trump's victory in the 2020 election. However, new Democratic mail-in voting proposals can be improved so the will of the people can be fully realized at the ballot box.

The post The Coronavirus is Voting for Donald Trump<div id='sec-title'>Voting by mail is no cure; we're heading for a "pretend election"</div> appeared first on Greg Palast.

"Katie" from the VPs office got a positive test. Presumably THE Katie.

Anonymous studs at the bathhouse carry on with their fun. Bearded stud Logan Stevens stumbles on Donnie Argento, face-down-ass-up in his room wearing nothing but a jock. Enticed by Donnie’s hot hole, Logan steps up and dives straight in to eat his furry ass. After eating out Donnie’s hole, Logan spins his new anon friend... View Article

The post RagingStallion: Logan Stevens and Donnie Argento appeared first on QueerClick.

After it was revealed Friday that Mike Pence's spokesperson, who is Stephen Miller's wife, Katie Miller, tested positive, Trump gave an illogical and moronic response to the media about her and coronavirus testing in general.

Trump said, "She tested very good for a long period of time, and then all of a sudden today, she tested positive."

That's the way any virus spreads, especially one as infectious as COVID-19. One day you don't have it, and the next, if you're not protecting yourself, you've got it.

Trump said he and Pence tested negative after her results came back.

"So she tested positive out of the blue," he said.

A person doesn't test positive out of the freaking blue. They were contaminated by somebody else. It's Basic Science 101.

Trump continued, "This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great."

Trump has admitted how much he hates the idea of testing Americans in general, not because they are unreliable, but because it affects the number of cases that are reported, and makes him look bad.

What a swell guy.

Then he made another baffling statement that makes no sense in any reality. Trump said, "The tests are perfect, but something can happen between a test where it’s good and then something happens and all of a sudden…”

read more

Crafters began making fabric masks when the public learned that COVID-19 was causing a major shortage of personal protective equipment. But since the CDC changed its recommendation on April 3 to urge that everyone wears a mask when leaving the house, sewing machines around the world have been working harder than ever. Here’s what you need to know if you plan to make fabric masks to wear or to donate.[...]

In the Indonesian city of Semarang, international architecture firm SHAU has completed Microlibrary Warak Kayu, an inspiring new public space that raises the bar for community design and sustainable architecture. Prefabricated with only FSC-certified timber, the new neighborhood icon is the fifth built project in the Microlibrary series, an initiative to encourage reading in low-income areas by creating "socially performative multifunctional community spaces with environmentally conscious designs and materials." In addition to the exclusive use of sustainably grown and logged timbers, the project is the first library in Indonesia made entirely of FSC-certified wood. The Microlibrary Warak Kayu is also[...]

In an industry notorious for food waste, award-winning chef Douglas McMaster has achieved the seemingly unattainable — Silo, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant. For Silo’s second outpost in London, local interior design studio Nina+Co teamed up with McMaster to craft an interior that reinforces the restaurant’s sustainable ethos with locally sourced natural materials and innovative design aimed at minimizing environmental impact.[...]

By Isaac Cabe  Published: May 06th, 2020 

I wouldn't lose sleep over it... heyo!!!

If you want to succeed as a freelancer, you can’t compete for scraps. That’s the message that Kaylee White of Kaylee Writes puts forth in her new book, How Not to Be Just Another Freelancer, but how do you find the GOOD clients that will push you and your business into the next level? 

Kaylee talks with Kyle about what it means to step away from the pack and run a successful business for yourself, and the very important steps you need to take to do so! 

Today’s links: 

• https://www.kayleewrites.com/
• Kaylee Writes Youtube channel
• How Not to Be Just Another Freelancer!
• Theme song by topmen.bandcamp.com!

–

Want to support the show?

This episode is brought to you by Easel.ly, an infographic design service that transforms raw data into clear, interesting images. You can see their work on Clients From Hell! 

Think you’d be a great fit for the show? Let me know at twitter.com/KCarCFH

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or recommend us to a friend. It helps immensely.

Download here!

When pitching your work, most creative freelancers sell their skills or their services. However, the key to landing big clients is to show that you’re an indispensable part of their team by selling strategy. 

Anabelle King realized this over years of working at agencies, and now she lands big clients with her boutique branding business I Like Storytelling. She shares her strats for creating a collaborative relationship with her clients in today’s episode! 

Today’s links: 

• https://www.ilikestorytelling.com/
• https://twitter.com/annabelletweet
• https://easel.ly/infographicdesign
• Theme song by topmen.bandcamp.com!

Want to support the show?

Order a custom infographic from Easel.ly! Use this link (https://www.easel.ly/infographicdesign/) for a great price! 

Think you’d be a great fit for the show? Let me know at twitter.com/KCarCFH

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or recommend us to a friend. It helps immensely.

Download here!

Donalyn Miller's #BookADay Challenge is usually in the summer. After talking with people on Twitter and Facebook, Donalyn (happily) decided to hold a Coronavirus social distancing #BookADay challenge, so that readers who miss talking with other readers can gather and share.

You can see the "official" #bookaday guidelines on the Nerdy Book Club blog.