0 Якщо ви ранима людина, яка в глибині душі вважає себе кращою за всіх, навряд чи ваше життя складається легко. Ви відчуваєте розчарування, коли ваші зусилля залишаються непоміченими, і заздрість до тих, хто, на вашу думку, всього домагається легко. Ви переконані, що вас чекають великі звершення, але ресурси, якими ви володієте, мізерно малі в порівнянні […]
WATCH the moment one of Punxsutawney Phil’s Groundhog Day rivals was killed after being dropped by a “Butterfingers” mayor in front of a screaming crowd.
Phil, the prophetic groundhog, made his much-anticipated prediction on Sunday to a raucous, record-sized crown at Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania.
The all-seeing rodent was carefully cradled by his “inner circle” as he used his meteorological powers to reveal “six more weeks of winter” to come.
But not all groundhogs have been treated with such dignity – and there is a dark chapter in the tradition’s past.
Phil’s Staten Island rival died after tumbling from the grip of then-Mayor Bill “Butterfingers” de Blasio in 2014.
Jaw-dropping footage shows the furry forecaster squirm from the gloves of the 6’5″ giant, plummeting head-first towards the ground.
Screams of horror pour from the crowd as back-up handlers scrabble to catch hold of the hog.
With such a long way down, the Staten Island Chuck didn’t stand a chance.
The rodent was found dead in its enclosure just days later, having succumbed to its “acute internal injuries” – and the zoo tried to cover it up.
Keepers found the lifeless chuck on February 9 – just days after the ceremony – but told only a close inner circle about the loss.
Even then, they claimed that natural causes had put the hog in the ground.
The scandal deepened when it emerged the doomed hog had actually been a replacement called Charlotte.
The real Staten Chuck had been secretly swapped out after he famously nibbled on then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hand at the 2009 ceremony.
Staten Island Zoo sources told the New York Post the decoy had been kept under-wraps to preserve the sacred “groundhog brand”.
“Butterfingers” de Blasio claimed ignorance, insisting at the time: “I found out as all of you found out – I had no idea previously.”
The following year Staten Island Zoo adapted its Groundhog Day procedure to rule-out further fatal fumbles.
“Butterfingers” de Blasio was made to observe the ceremony from a safe distance and behind a protective screen.
No Mayor has ever returned to perform the duty on the island.
Staten Island Chuck is the most reliable groundhog in the country, with a staggering 85 percent accuracy rate according to stats from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Phil, on the other hand, languishes at 35 percent – rated third-worst of the 19 animals analysed.
Despite his dubious record, Phil remains the authority on predicting when winter will end.
His prophecy this year, communicated via one of his inner circle, went:
“It’s groundhog day, and maybe life is on a loop. But I miss my burrow and I miss my coop.
“So I’m headed back down, there’s a shadow up here. Get ready for six more weeks of winter this year.”
If Phil hadn’t spotted his shadow, then an early spring would have been forecast.
The woodchuck’s weather forecast is an annual ritual that dates back more than a century in western Pennsylvania, with far older roots in European folklore.
It was Bill Murray’s 1993 Groundhog Day movie that transformed the event into what it is today, with tens of thousands of revellers at the scene and imitators scattered around the US and beyond.
NOT all groundhogs are created equal, and some have more of a penchant for predictions that others.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has collected data on the key forecasting hogs in the country, and ranked them according to their accuracy.
Here is the list:
LOVE Island beauty Gabby Allen has delighted fans with sexy topless snaps showing her posing in denim hotpants.
The All Stars contestant, 32, ditched her bra in her latest set of images, which saw her flashing her cleavage while wrapped in a matching jacket.
Gabby‘s second sizzling image saw her ditch her mid-wash coat completely, instead posing side-profile as she covered her bare chest with her hands.
The ITV2 personality piled her blonde hair into a messy bun and sported a glowing tan.
She kept her make-up bronzed and equally glowing, with orange hued eyeshadow, a caramel lip gloss and black eyeliner.
In her caption – written by her loved ones during her stint in the Love Island All Stars villa – they penned: “Baring it all: always double denim, never double standards.
“Gabby’s making us proud and proving that confidence isn’t just about what you wear; it’s about how you feel.
“From building relationships to building strength, she’s all about pushing limits and owning every moment.
“Who’s setting their sights high and smashing their goals this year?”
One fan was quick to remark: “Stunning xx”
Another posted: “Incredible Beauty as always!”
A third then put: “Ooooo get ‘em,” while one surmised: “Gabbs is too much.”
Gabby first starred on Love Island back in 2017.
After coming face to face with cheating ex Marcel Somerville in the spin-off villa last month, she has been happily coupled up with Casey O’Gorman.
Casey’s best pal Tom Clare told of the real reason his BFF was attracted to the fitness influencer and instructor.
Tom insisted to The Sun Casey wants to find his forever person on All Stars – just like he did with Molly Smith, 30, last year.
Love Island All Stars is back on TV for season 2.
Here we take you through the line-up of all the Islanders who are in the villa so far.
Bombshells
Each series brings with it a string of hot single bombshells making their epic entrance into the villa.
Here’s who has joined the villa so far:
Tom told us: “I want everyone to have the love that me and Molly have – and Casey wants that too,” said Tom, who won All Stars with his girlfriend last year.
“Casey had mixed feelings towards going back in for a third time, but he’s single, and on the outside, he hasn’t met anyone that he’s wanted to settle down with.
“The first two times he was on the show he came in quite late so didn’t really get to show his full potential.
“I think now he’s gone in early doors, then he’s got a really good chance of meeting someone and kind of growing and having that connection with someone.”
Gabby – who’s four years older than Casey – could be the mature woman he needs, says Tom, who is five years younger than Molly.
He added: “Gabby’s a little bit older than him, which I think he probably needs. So yeah, I’m rooting for them.”
Meanwhile, All Stars viewers are convinced Gabby and Casey have already slept together after a steamy night in The Hideaway.
THE parents of a two-year-old girl have been left heartbroken after discovering the truth behind their daughter’s ear infection and now she has just days to live.
Florence Prideaux-Godwin was a seemingly happy and healthy toddler who looked to be suffering from a severe ear infection last May.
Tragically, tests have since confirmed that the tot’s painful earache was caused by an untreatable cancer.
The family from Ilfracombe experienced their child’s shocking diagnosis of stage three rhabdomyosarcoma.
Doctors tried to treat the rare type of soft tissue cancer with chemotherapy and radiotherapy but earlier this month a scan confirmed the worst.
Her parents, Dan Godwin, 40, and Rebecca Prideaux, 32, received the news that a tumour in the two-year-old’s ear had spread to her brain.
They’ve been told to make as many memories as they can together with the cancer believed to be untreatable.
With medical approval, the parents who have a five-year-old daughter and twin three-year-old boys have arranged a trip to Butlins, Minehead.
Dan, a dad-of-five, said: “She is starting to get a bit shaky and lose her balance a little bit now and again, but she is still laughing, smiling and playing. Our plan is to spend as much time as possible with her.”
Florence was born two months premature and spent the first two months of her life in hospital.
However, since then she has enjoyed a healthy and happy life up until developing earache last May.
Dan recalled: “We noticed she had a temperature and she was playing with her ears. We took her to A&E at North Devon District Hospital and it was confirmed she had an ear infection. She was prescribed antibiotics and we came away happy.”
A few days later, the parents noticed Florence playing with her ears again.
She pulled out something that Dan could “only describe as looking like a skin tag” and rushed her straight back to A&E.
After his daughter was prescribed stronger antibiotics, the pair were happy to return home.
But a few days later, Rebecca noticed her child’s face looking “different” as her left side “started drooping” like she had suffered a “stroke.
Returning to A&E, Florence was transferred to an ENT specialist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital where a procedure was carried out to drain most of the fluid.
Polyps found in her ear were sent off for testing.
A week later she returned home but a day later she became unwell again and the decision was made to drain the remaining fluid from her ear. At the beginning of June she was able to go home and seemed fine until the end of the month when her health deteriorated.
Dan said: “We were back at the RD&E and doctors said to us, ‘to be honest, it’s a mystery’, as they weren’t sure what was going on. The next day, on July 1, the results from the polyps in her ear came back as cancerous.
“We were told she had a tumour in her left ear. Initially they thought it had spread to one of her lymph nodes, but then we were told that wasn’t the case. Pretty much straight away she was started on chemotherapy.”
The treatment plan for Florence was nine courses of chemotherapy lasting around three weeks each. She received alternating cycles of standard and then a trial chemotherapy.
Scans in September showed the treatment was working and the tumour was shrinking. In October, she spent eight weeks at the University College Hospital in London for proton beam therapy, a type of radiotherapy.
Florence finished her last course of chemotherapy at the beginning of January and was given another progress scan. However, this time it was not good news.
Dan, who has remained at home with their other children while Rebecca has stayed by Florence’s bedside in hospital, said: “We had been very positive and upbeat as she had done really well and had been brilliant throughout it all.
“Florence had the obvious side effects of chemotherapy such as losing her hair and she was a bit up and down, but on the whole she was amazing and was still playing and laughing.
“To look at her, apart from not having hair, you would not have been able to tell anything was wrong with her. But then we were told the cancer had spread from her left ear to the back of her brain and that her cancer was now incurable.
“Initially we were told there were a couple of options such as chemotherapy to prolong her life a little bit. Then a week later, last Thursday, we had another meeting with doctors and they said they were unable to do anything else for her and that she had days or up to weeks to live. I can’t describe how it felt being told that news. It was probably one of the lowest low points of my life.”
Florence is now back home with her family and is still full of smiles as usual.
Dan said: “We have been told to spend as much time as we can with her making memories. We have been to look at children’s hospice Little Bridge House in Fremington where we will spend a few days the week after our visit to Butlins.
“We usually go there every May for our childrens’ birthdays. Our team of doctors have pre-warned Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton about Florence in case we need to go there while we are away.”
They are being helped to enjoy precious last moments with Florence thanks to an online fundraiser that has been set up by family friend Callie Courtney Baxendale. It has so far raised just over £7,000.
Florence is said to be still happy and enjoying playing, but her little body is now showing signs of the effects of her cancer. The online fundraiser set up for the family is hoped to help them do more fun things with Florence while she is able to.
It is the second fundraiser that has been organised for them. The first, which raised just over £2,000, helped them financially after having to stop work to care for Florence.
Dan said: “When we found out the news that Florence was terminal, another fundraiser was set up to help us make as many memories as possible. The support we have had is unbelievable. We have been blown away by it.
“We would also like to thank the staff at both Barnstaple and Exeter hospitals; they have been fantastic, as have the community nurses.”
Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare form of soft tissue cancer that is most common in children under 10-years-old.
It is more common in boys than girls with more children surviving childhood cancer than ever before.
The type of tumour is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children.
They can develop from muscle or fibrous tissue and can grow in any part of the body.
Symptoms include:
Typically, it is diagnosed by testing the exact size of the tumour and whether it has spread to other parts of the body.
Treatment can vary but could include chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy.
Source: NHS
