Dr. Virginia Apgar - THE APGAR SCORE - SAVING NEWBORNS!

A baby was born, blue, still, and silent. The delivery room froze in fear until one woman uttered five calm, decisive words that would go on to transform medicine: 

“Let’s score the baby.”

It was 1952 in a New York City hospital, and Dr. Virginia Apgar had just introduced an idea that would go on to save more than 50 million newborn lives.

Apgar had once set her sights on becoming a surgeon. She possessed the intelligence, determination, and dexterity to excel. Yet, in the 1940s, medicine remained largely closed to women, and hospitals routinely rejected female surgeons. Faced with that reality, Apgar pivoted. If she could not wield a scalpel, she decided she would still find a way to change the fate of patients.

She turned to anesthesiology, a relatively new field at the time, and in doing so, found her true calling.

While working in the maternity ward at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, she was deeply troubled by what she saw: countless newborns dying moments after birth. Clinicians had no structured method to determine which babies needed immediate intervention. Decisions were based on instinct, not evidence. The result was tragedy after tragedy.

One morning over breakfast, Apgar grabbed a napkin and began sketching an idea, a simple, objective way to assess a newborn’s condition at birth. She identified five key indicators: 

heart rate, respiration, muscle tone, reflex response, and skin color. 

Each would receive a score from 0 to 2, with a maximum total of 10. The process took less than two minutes but could instantly signal whether a baby required urgent care.

This became known as the Apgar Score.

Within ten years, hospitals across the United States had adopted her method. Neonatal mortality rates dropped sharply. Doctors finally had a clear, universal language for assessing newborn health. Babies who might once have been lost were now being revived, thanks to a test born from both necessity and brilliance.

But Dr. Apgar’s influence did not end there. In her 50s, she earned a Master’s in Public Health, joined the March of Dimes, and dedicated the rest of her career to advancing maternal and infant wellbeing around the world. Despite the barriers she faced, she became one of the leading voices in perinatal health advocacy.

When asked how she managed to succeed in a field that once tried to exclude her, Apgar replied with her characteristic wit:

“Women are like tea bags. You never know how strong they are until they’re in hot water.”

Dr. Virginia Apgar passed away in 1974, but her impact endures. Today, every few seconds, somewhere in the world, a clinician announces an Apgar score, a quiet tribute to the woman who turned rejection into innovation and gave generations of newborns a fighting chance to breathe.

Wikipedia

Rick Rescorla - Saving Almost 3000 During the 9/11 Attacks.

Rescorla was the Director of Security for Morgan Stanley in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. A retired U.S. Army officer who had fought in Vietnam, Rescorla was known for his meticulous attention to safety.

In the years prior to 9/11, he had repeatedly warned that the towers were vulnerable to attack, particularly by aircraft. His insistence on preparedness led him to run frequent evacuation drills, sometimes frustrating employees but ensuring they knew exactly what to do in an emergency.

When American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower at 8:46 a.m., Port Authority officials advised workers in the South Tower to remain at their desks. Rescorla ignored those instructions. Grabbing his bullhorn, walkie-talkie, and cell phone, he immediately began leading Morgan Stanley’s 2,700 employees out of the building. Calm and authoritative, he directed people into the stairwells, urging them to stay composed. To keep spirits steady, he sang traditional Cornish songs from his childhood, including “Men of Harlech.” Survivors later recalled that his singing provided a sense of calm in the chaos.

Thanks to his leadership, nearly every Morgan Stanley employee made it out alive. Tragically, Rescorla himself did not survive. After ensuring thousands were safe, he returned to the building to search for stragglers and was last seen heading upward shortly before the tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m.

Rescorla’s actions are credited with saving over 2,700 lives. Today, he is remembered as one of the great civilian heroes of 9/11, embodying courage, preparation, and selflessness.

Wikipedia

Massive Wall of Trees 🌳 From Canada to Texas??!!

 Why did the United States build a 1,000-mile wall from Canada to Texas—not from concrete or steel, but from trees?

In the 1930s, America faced one of the worst environmental disasters in its history: the Dust Bowl. Years of intensive farming had removed the native grasses that protected the Great Plains. When a devastating drought struck, the soil turned to dust and powerful winds created massive black dust storms known as “Black Blizzards.”

Entire towns disappeared under clouds of dust. Crops failed. Livestock died. Thousands of families lost their homes and were forced to migrate.

To stop the disaster, the U.S. government launched an extraordinary project: planting over 220 million trees across the Great Plains. This massive shelterbelt stretched nearly 1,000 miles from Canada to Texas, slowing destructive winds, protecting farmland, and helping save American agriculture.

Discover the incredible true story of how a forest became America's defense against a growing desert, and learn how human actions helped create the Dust Bowl in the first place.

📌 In This Video:

✔ The collapse of the Great Plains

✔ The Dust Bowl disaster explained

✔ Black Blizzard dust storms

✔ Why native grasses were important

✔ The Great Depression connection

✔ The 220 million tree shelterbelt project

✔ How America stopped desertification

Walking Is Good For Your Health - BUT . . .

From THIS Instagram account

 

Confusing Words You sTiLl MiX uP

 

From Instagram  english.grammar.vocab

Funny Gravestones - Including Famous People!

 That’s All Folks!

Perhaps you don’t recognize his name, but you surely would recognize his voice. Or should we say, “his voices”? American actor Mel Blanc (1908-1989) was the voice of Looney Tunes’ cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Pie, Sylvester, as well as Hanna-Barbera’s Barney Rubble on The Flintstones and Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons.

Blanc’s nickname was “The Man of a Thousand Voices”, and he is considered one of the most influential people in the voice acting industry.

When Blanc passed away in 1989, his family ensured he would be remembered for his voice by using his Looney Tunes’ famous sign-off as his epitaph: “The-the-the-that’s all folks.”

Blanc is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

The Last Laugh

Look who got the last laugh! Merv Griffin (1925 – 2007) was a talk show host. He also created several game shows, including Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. After so many years of announcing “I will be right back after this message”, Griffin joked that he wanted his gravestone to say the exact opposite: “I will NOT be right back after this message,” and that is exactly what he got.

Griffin is buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, 

There Goes the Neighborhood

Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known for his part in the film Caddyshack, in which he plays an obnoxious nouveau riche property developer.

Holding Hands

In 19th-century Dutch society, it was taboo for those of differing faiths to be buried together. So a wall was built in Netherland’s Roermond Graveyard to divide those who were Protestant from those who were Catholic.

In defiance of this cultural custom, Colonel J.W.C. van Gorkum, a Protestant man who served with the Dutch Cavalry, and his noblewoman Catholic wife, Lady Josephina Carlina Petronela Hubertina van Aefferden, were buried in their assigned cemetery sections, but the hands on their gravestones reach across the barrier.

The couple had been married for forty years and will now hold hands throughout eternity.

I Told You So

George Jr. says, “I knew this would happen.”

Life is Short

Life is short. Sometimes you’ve just got to giggle a little. Hehe.

I’m Over It

At the age of 81, it seems Lola was just done. “Oh, well. Whatever.”

You Named Him What?!

You can’t be serious. Yup, it’s true. Artemis and Ann Fish had a son in 1775, during the American Revolutionary War, and they named him “Preserved.” I get it. Sort of. They probably felt that their lives had been preserved during this difficult time of war, but unfortunately, he had to live with the name of “Preserved Fish” for the next 47 years.

Golfer’s Revenge

Practice makes perfect. (Gotta love funny gravestones.)

You Go First

"You go first.” Well, Hugo Furst did actually go first, but he did offer.

Sacrifice

Many of you will understand the struggle.

A Pyramid Scheme

Sorry, kid. We only know how to build pyramids up to a point.
Why did the Egyptians build pyramids anyway? To get to the other side.

Expired

In 2005, Barbara Sue Manire’s family honored her wishes by putting a parking meter with a “64-year time limit” next to her grave. Manire had “expired” on her 64th birthday, but her sense of humor lived on.

“I Told You I Was Sick” - Funny family with some funny grave stones!

Some people just have to have the last word in every argument. Know what I mean? B. P. Roberts (1929 – 1979) is buried in Key West City Cemetery in Key West, Florida.

The story goes like this – B. P. (aka “Pearl”) Roberts was a hypochondriac who complained of illness so often that everyone stopped listening. (Or maybe she was just a hoot and a half.) Anywho, she got the last laugh by having the words,
“I told you I was sick,” inscribed on her gravestone.

Apparently, Pearl wasn’t the only one in the family with a funnybone, because if you look at the very top of their family tomb, you’ll see a gravemarker belonging to Gloria M. Russell (1926 – 2000) that says, “I’m just resting my eyes.”

This must be a new spin on “Rest in Peace.”

From THIS website

Magic Coffee Table

 

World's Longest Flying PAPER Airplane & Directions!

 This was maybe a couple years ago . . . Maybe it still stands??

Wait till the end - Directions how to make your own!!

Without Even Knowing It . . . Our World Came Dangerously Close to Destruction

 

On the night of September 26, 1983,

the world came dangerously close

to total destruction

without even knowing it.

In a Soviet early-warning command center, officer Stanislav Petrov was on duty, monitoring the systems that detected potential nuclear attacks from the United States.

Suddenly, alarms blared. The system reported that a nuclear missile had been launched from the US toward the Soviet Union. Moments later, it detected four more missiles following the same path. The catastrophe seemed imminent.

According to strict protocol, Petrov was supposed to immediately inform Soviet command, who would likely order a massive nuclear counterattack, potentially destroying half the planet.

But Petrov stood in front of the flashing screen, frozen for a moment, thinking:

"Why only five missiles? If the Americans were starting a nuclear war, wouldn’t they launch hundreds of missiles at once?"

The system might be wrong — machines don’t understand human intentions, but he, as a human, might.

At that crucial moment, he made his decision: he would not inform the command. He told his colleagues the system was likely mistaken and declared the alarm a false one. Minutes passed — and nothing happened. Indeed, it was a false alarm, caused by a malfunction in the satellite system that misinterpreted sunlight reflections on clouds as missile launches.

Had he followed protocol, Soviet leadership might have launched a massive nuclear retaliation, leading to the worst nuclear nightmare in history.

For years, this incident remained secret, and instead of being celebrated, Petrov was almost punished for disobeying orders.

When asked later why he did what he did, he simply said:

"Because I didn’t want to be the one responsible for starting World War III."

The Incredible George Washington Carver - GREAT STORY!!

I don't know who this fellow is 

but he tells the story of Carver changing the South

Reshaping the Economy with the Peanut!

He tells it so wonderfully!!

Here's the link if you prefer to watch it on Instagram