Amazing
Virtual Music Program Helps Children Discover And Hone Music Skills
Zoom and Skype have brought together 52 children and teenagers of the Gary Sinise Foundation Snowball Express in musical harmony quite literally. These kids from various regions of the world have honing their musical skills this summer with the help of trained musicians, including members of the Lt. Dan Band and Gary Sinise.
Training and lessons on one of many instruments including the trumpet, piano, drums, guitar, violin, and so on, started at the end of July. Some vocal lessons were also thrown into the mix.
The search for instructors to virtually teach musical lessons once a week to kids living across multiple timezones wasn’t as difficult as it sounded. James Stuckmann explained that he only had to reach out to network of musicians, including the Lt. Dan Band.
Stuckmann has been with the band since 2004. He worked with the foundation’s events and Snowball Express teams in organizing the six-week-long program.
The program was a life-changing one for many of the students, but for Vlada Golin, it helped her discover a natural talent in playing the guitar. Her father, Mihail, a Green Beret lost his life in Afghanistan, 2018 when she was only six years of age.
“She’s so focused and so determined on doing it and doing it well,” explained her teacher, Gina Gonzalez, “I told her, ‘If you really stick with it, I think that you could have a nice, long career playing the guitar.’”
Alongside Vlada, Gonzalez taught lessons to seven others in either the guitar or vocals. She’s been singing with the Lt. Dan Band since 2004, and like her fellow band members, has been teaching music to students for many years.
One Wednesday evening session in particular, Vlada was trying to learn how to strum several chords together, but she kept on running into trouble with the C chord and her fingers were hurting.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Gonzalez said to her.
Vlada continued strumming four chords, one after the other, at moderate tempo- and soon enough, she reached harmony.
“I get used to it, and I get the hang of it,” Vlada said about learning tricky chords. At the end of the day, she wishes to attend the School of Rock and start a rock band.
The wave of the pandemic has forced a nationwide shutdown of K-12 schools and the onset of online education, with some taking a hybrid approach involving both virtual and classroom classes on different days of the week.
The global economy has taken a heavy hit due to the pandemic, which has led many administrators to cut costs in order to stay afloat, but at the expense of arts and music education.
New York sixth grader and trumpet player Michael Hansen opted for online classes instead of the hybrid approach offered by the sixth, which means he hasn’t had access to band practice since March.
Michael’s father, Dennis Hansen suffered fatal wounds from an IED explosion during a tour in Afghanistan in 2009. Sadly, Michael has no memory of him since he was young when the tragic incident occurred.
Michael developed some anxiety ahead of his first lesson. He was scared of heavy criticism of his playing abilities from his instructor, as well as, impossible homework activities.
But to his surprise, his instructor, Kirk Garrison wasn’t all that he feared. The jazz musician and composer had an exquisite sense of humor that made it easy for both parties to connect instantly. “When you teach these young people you want to get that bond,” Garrison said. He spent nine years playing in the United States Air Force Band, and has been touring with the Lt. Dan Band since 2005.
According to Garrison, virtual learning with private lessons is just as good as physical lessons for students to become better at their craft, which include reading music and harmonizing rhythms.
“They’re on their own now, and this teaches them to do that and get the answers for themselves by actually reading the music and imagining the sounds and then making the sounds without having someone else spoon feed it to you or teach you by ear.”
“He doesn’t care if I mess up,” Michael explained about Garrison’s teaching style. “He encourages me not to get mad if I make a mistake.”
Some students took the music program as a way to retrace their steps back to a passion that had withered away.
James House was only a few months old when his father, John Daniel House, a Navy corpsman, died in a helicopter crash in Iran back in January, 2005.
Currently a high school sophomore, he began his journey to guitar mastery two years ago, with his grandfather playing musical instructor for the basics. He picked up a few things about playing the guitar, but lost passion along the way due to lack of inspiration.
James possesses a few treasured items from his late father, including homemade videos of John playing impromptu concerts for his family with the same guitar he now uses in his virtual sessions with instructor Gina Gonzalez.
“I don’t have quite a lot of things that I can look at say, ‘this was something that he loved and held and played as well,’” James said of the guitar’s significance. “It’s a really special experience having that guitar that was his and knowing that he played just the same as I am now.”
His grandfather’s birthday is just weeks away, and he has a special surprise in store for him to honors his father and the connection they all share playing the guitar. James is now close to mastering Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising,” the song his grandfather tried teaching him years ago.
“Him seeing me play,” James said of his grandfather, “will really mean something to him.”
Google is making strides in the world of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly with a system that could revolutionize how doctors diagnose diseases. Imagine a world where your cough could be the key to an early diagnosis of illnesses like COVID-19 or tuberculosis. Google’s AI, known as Health Acoustic Representations (HeAR), is a step towards this future.
HeAR has been trained on millions of audio clips that capture a wide range of human sounds, including coughs. This massive collection of sounds is what sets HeAR apart. It allows the AI to learn and identify the unique characteristics of different respiratory diseases.
Traditionally, doctors diagnose diseases based on symptoms, tests, and sometimes, the sounds of a patient’s cough or breathing. However, this method can be subjective and limited by the doctor’s experience. Google’s AI system aims to make this process more objective and accurate by using machine learning. This means that the AI can improve its diagnostic abilities over time, learning from the vast array of sounds it has been trained on.
Dr. Yael Bensoussan, a laryngologist at the University of South Florida, points out that while supervised learning in medicine has its benefits, such as clinical validation, it’s often restricted by the availability of annotated data sets. HeAR’s approach overcomes this by learning from a vast and diverse set of sounds, not limited to annotated or labeled data.
In the near future, this AI could assist physicians in diagnosing diseases more quickly and accurately. It might even help in assessing lung function, providing a valuable tool in managing and treating respiratory illnesses.
The development of HeAR by Google represents an exciting advancement in the use of AI in medicine. It showcases the potential of machine learning to enhance diagnostic processes and improve patient outcomes, making it a fascinating development in the field of medical technology.
In Dallas, there’s a man named Ron Post who made a huge difference in the lives of millions of people needing health care. His journey began 45 years ago when he saw something on the news that changed his life.
Post and his wife were watching a report about Cambodian refugees fleeing to Thailand from the Khmer Rouge’s “Killing Fields,” where about 2 million people died due to starvation, overwork, and execution. One image struck him hard: the frail body of a teenage girl, which reminded him of his own daughter. This moment touched his heart deeply, and he felt a strong call to take action.
“I believe God put it in my heart that I was to raise up a medical team, and I was to help them,” Post said. And that’s exactly what he did. Although he was a Dallas-based business owner with no experience in medicine, Post’s determination was unstoppable. Within just two weeks, he managed to raise $250,000 and gathered a group of 28 volunteers. Together, they traveled to Thailand to offer their assistance at a refugee camp.
That act of kindness and determination was the start of something much bigger. The organization he founded, Medical Teams International, has grown significantly over the years. Today, it helps around 3 million refugees across eight different camps, providing them with the medical care they desperately need.
But Medical Teams International didn’t stop there. They expanded their services and now operate 13 mobile dental clinics, reaching about 25,000 people every year. These clinics travel to different locations, offering dental care to those who otherwise might not have access to it.
Ron Post’s story shows how one person’s compassion and drive can lead to extraordinary achievements. From his initial heartfelt response to a crisis far from home, he built an organization that continues to provide vital health services to millions of people. Medical Teams International stands as a testament to what can be achieved when someone decides to make a positive change in the world.
In Paradise, California, a community came together to find a much-loved cat named Dundee, who had survived the devastating 2018 Camp Fire. Dundee’s adventure began when his owner, Suise Heffernan, took him to the vet. After the appointment, she stopped to get pet food, locking her truck with Dundee inside. But when she returned, the truck and Dundee were gone.
Surveillance footage from a nearby store showed someone breaking into the vehicle and driving off with Dundee still inside. Heffernan was especially worried because Dundee has a thyroid condition and needed his medication.
The whole community of Paradise stepped up to help find Dundee. After four long days, their efforts paid off, and Dundee was found. Heffernan had adopted Dundee in 2018, just before the Camp Fire. She lost her home, a barn, and hundreds of acres of timber in the fire. Despite being displaced, Dundee transformed from a feral cat into a warm and cuddly companion.
One community member pleaded, “Just return the cat! Trucks can be replaced, and anyone living on the ridge has lost so much already.” Heffernan shared her agony over not knowing Dundee’s whereabouts, a feeling she knew all too well from losing another cat in the Camp Fire.
Heffernan and her friends, along with independent volunteers, continued their search. Finally, on Saturday, they received a call from someone who had Dundee. A group drove to Chico that evening, where Heffernan was reunited with Dundee, who started purring immediately.
Heffernan expressed her gratitude for the community’s support: “There’s something about the people – they just come together and they are there for you. I just can’t even imagine the hours that people that I’ll never meet put in on his behalf. It is so appreciated.”
This heartwarming story showcases the power of community and the unbreakable bond between humans and their pets.
In a remarkable display of veterinary ingenuity, a grasshopper at a Texas zoo was fitted with a miniature “neck brace” after experiencing a unique health issue. The grasshopper, a stick-like breed known as a Peruvian jumping stick, recently underwent a common process for insects: molting. At around six months old, these grasshoppers shed their exoskeleton, allowing for growth. However, this particular grasshopper faced a challenge after molting.
According to a recent zoo blog post, the grasshopper had a weakened area around part of its body resembling a “neck” due to a crease in its thoracic region. This crease caused its head to flop backward when climbing upwards, as these grasshoppers spend most of their time in tree branches.
To address this issue, zookeepers developed a miniature neck brace to temporarily support the insect’s neck in a neutral position while its exoskeleton hardened. The brace was created using a sterile Q-tip shaft and microspore tape to secure it. This innovative solution allowed the grasshopper to continue its normal activities without further injury.
The zoo emphasized the importance of providing exceptional care to all its animals, regardless of their size. “Whether it’s a mammal, reptile, bird, or even insect, all of our animals receive extraordinary care from our veterinary team, no matter how big or small it may be,” the zoo stated.
This story highlights the dedication of zookeepers and veterinarians to the well-being of all creatures in their care and showcases the creative approaches they take to ensure the health and safety of even the smallest residents.
In a story that sounds like it’s straight out of a movie, a dog named Ullr, who had been missing for almost a year, was finally spotted alive and well. Ullr, a mix of Border Collie and Rottweiler, had been living in the wild all by himself after surviving an avalanche. For Jacob Dalbey, Ullr’s owner, this news was the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
Jacob Dalbey’s world turned upside down on March 17, when he was caught in an avalanche near Chair Mountain while skiing with friends. The terrifying incident left Jacob seriously injured and hospitalized, and tragically, one of his friends did not survive. Amidst the chaos, Ullr, who was with them, ran away from the avalanche site. Rescue teams later found dog tracks leading away from the debris, sparking hope that Ullr had survived.
For 341 days, Jacob never gave up hope of finding his beloved pet. He set up trail cameras and left food in various locations, hoping to lure Ullr into view. And then, on a day that seemed like any other, the unimaginable happened. Ullr was captured on a trail camera not once, but two days in a row. “After 341 days, 11 months to the day…it has happened,” Jacob shared on his GoFundMe page, a platform where he had been updating supporters and raising funds to aid in the search for Ullr.
The joy and relief in Jacob’s message were palpable as he thanked his friends and supporters for their unwavering belief and support. “Knowing you believe in us really means a lot,” he wrote, acknowledging the tough journey and the difference their support made.
Jacob’s next steps are focused on bringing Ullr safely back home. In the meantime, he has asked for the community’s help in keeping an eye out for any signs of Ullr, including pawprints, barking, or sightings.
Jacob’s harrowing experience during the avalanche, where he was buried under the snow for over three hours with a broken hand and frostbitten fingers, adds a layer of awe to Ullr’s survival story. Jacob’s determination to dig himself out and survive mirrored Ullr’s own fight for survival in the wild.
