British rescuer of animals and humans shot in the head in Ukraine

A BBC2 documentary has been made about Chris Parry and it's called Hell Jumper. That's because what he did was like jumping into hell. And what he did was save the lives of people and their pets in the east of Ukraine where the Russians, as you probably know, have decimated towns and cities and razed them to the ground with incessant bombing and shelling.

Chris Parry. Image: believed Chris Parry's estate via the BBC.

Our rescue worker son always stood up to bullies like Putin. We won't forget his sacrifice. - His parents.

Chris Parry was a British volunteer. He simply was in Ukraine to help. He had a strong sense of injustice. He wanted to do something. He had no military training. He went to Ukraine eight days after the Russians invaded the country in February 2022.

He didn't tell his parents but he told his sister, Katy. She was very frightened for him. She thought that he was dramatizing the rescues that he got involved in but then learned that it was the truth.

Chris begged her not to tell mum and dad. On one occasion Chris Parry texted back that he was buzzing. He said that he had "rescued 11 people, two dogs and a budgerigar". That was in communication with his father Rob.

It's believed that he was executed by a shot to the head by the Russian Mafia group called Wagner Group.

The Sunday Times reports that Chris went missing after he had told Rob that he was buzzing about rescuing dogs and people. He was with another evacuated, Andrew Bagshaw, 48, at the time.

Their car was found abandoned. Katy was contacted, remarkably, by Russians on social media who were rubbing their hands in delight at having killed Chris. Or one of their colleagues had killed Chris.

Katy said "They sent photos of dead bodies saying, We've got your brother, he's got what he deserved."

Two weeks later, Rob received a call from Devon and Cornwall police. Rob said that they 'cried like babies'. Chris's body was returned in a prisoner swap. His clothes had been changed and his body washed. The Russians said that there had been killed in artillery fire but this was untrue. Rob says it was an execution because of the gunshot wound placement.

A coroner ruled that his killing was unlawful. His parents instinctively felt that it wasn't just another random killing. They believe, as mentioned that it was an execution. The family hope that the documentary will help highlight the plight of Ukrainians in this horrible war.

"The world has to wake up and realise that Putin is a bully and if he's not stopped, then it's not going to affect just Ukraine." The words of Christine, Chris's mother.

Rob said that, "We will do whatever we can to keep Chris's name alive and Ukraine in people's minds."

P.S. Chris had fallen love with a Ukrainian lady: Olha Volodymrivna Khomenko. They lived together. They had planned a future together. RIP Chris. A brave guy. He saved more than 400 Ukrainians. And let's remember Andrew Bagshaw too.

Hell Jumper will air on BBC2 this Wednesday at 9 pm.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Halle Berry is a certified cat lady! Catwoman changed her.

The Internet is pleased to announce that Halle Berry is a "certified cat lady". And she became a certified cat lady because of the film Catwoman (2004) saying that the "experience changed me". She added that she "became a cat lover because of it" and she has been described in the past as a "self-proclaimed, lifelong dog person". I think we can describe her as an animal person actually which I love. The more celebrities who are animal people the better animal welfare will be.

And a beautiful aspect of Halle Barry's love of animals is that she rescues cats. She added that she had "just rescued four kitties I found in my yard three weeks ago".

Halle Berry is a certified cat lady by Michael Broad

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"I am a cat woman through and through, because of that experience and those relationships. That experience changed me."

She has an Instagram account and last month she shared a post on that social media platform showing us that she had adopted kittens from a family of stray cats that she discovered in her yard.

She introduced us to a couple of cats named Boots and Coco. She said that: "I found these two little fur babies in my yard along with their two siblings and their mom".

She ensured that the mother was spayed so that she could no longer procreate and create more homeless kittens and released her back into her yard where she is now an outdoor cat. She found forever homes for two of the babies and the remaining two "are our new lovies". She now has a "full house". Meaning of animals and I presume cats.

Halle Berry did exactly the right thing. She is a good woman beyond the world of cat rescue and animals in general. There is on doubt in my mind.

When she prepared for her role as Catwoman she was given a cat early on during the production as she didn't have one. His name was 'Playdough'. She said that she didn't have the responsibility of children and had plenty of time "to focus on this".

During the filming, apparently, she said that she was a "full-on cat, all the time. I'd crawl around my house, trying to jump on my counters, thinking 'If I were a cat, how what I get up there? I was in a 24/7.'"

Catwoman

Halle Berry played Patience Phillips, who becomes Catwoman, in the 2004 film "Catwoman." The movie itself wasn't a commercial success (I believe), but it did mark a milestone for superhero films as one of the first to be led by a woman of colour.

Here's a quick rundown:Movie Title: Catwoman

• Year Released: 2004
• Halle Berry's Character: Patience Phillips / Catwoman
• Genre: Superhero (loosely based on DC Comics character)
• Reception: Negative reviews, but notable for casting

While the film didn't win over critics, Halle Berry's performance was recognized with a few award nominations, including a BET Award for Best Actress.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

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I have taken it that the photos in the montage are in the public domain. Wrong? Please leave a comment and I'll respond promplty.

Hollywood has run out of ideas

I've been saying this for a long time because it has been a long time coming. Hollywood has run out of ideas. We are seeing constant rehashing of old ideas, old genres but the new versions are probably worse because they use an excessive amount of CGI (and AI?) very often and the product can look very plastic and lacking in gravitas and depth. It appears that the modern movies are made for youngsters who like froth and frivolous stuff. Not serious and well made films but just frothy cartoon stuff.

Hollywood has run out of ideas. Image: MikeB

Perhaps I've got that wrong but that's what it looks like to me. However, I am sure that I have got it right when I say that Hollywood has run out of ideas. That's because you might notice that you've seen things before. Or if not you will be seeing things again that you've seen before on the movies. That's because a quick glance at the list of forthcoming Hollywood films provokes a deep feeling of déjà vu.

You will be seeing Channing Tatum, 44, in a remake of Ghost. She plays the role originally played by the late Patrick Swayze in 1990.

And you may remember that great film Officer and a Gentleman in which Richard Gere starred. He is now 74 years of age. Paramount has lined up Miles Teller, 37, to take on the role again.

And you will see Glen Powell, 35, starring in Twisters. A sequel to the 1996 disaster film Twister.

Glen Powell is attached to remakes of The Running Man, originally featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987, as well as Heaven Can Wait, based on the 1978 fantasy starring Warren Beatty.

And The Times says that the list goes on. You will see Sydney Sweeney, 26, one of Hollywood's best-known young female actresses starring in a remake of Barbarella. This is a 1968 space fantasy film that featured Jane Fonda who is now 86 years of age.

And the list goes on! This month, The Times reports that it's emerged that A Fistful of Dollars, a 1964 Western that launched Clint Eastwood's career will also get an updated version.

Hollywood is stuck in an era of reboots, remakes and revivals at a time when it appears the industry is in peril. And my argument is and has been for a long time is that the Hollywood whizzkids and gurus have run out of ideas for movies.

And this thought of mine comes about because there is a limited number of ideas! That might seem implausible to some people but I think it's a reasonable suggestion. There are only so many ideas for films. There are only so many storylines.

It brings to mind the problem of music. Ed Sheeran who was sued for copyright breach said that "There is only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidences bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify".

He saying that there are only so many songs that can be created that are fresh and entirely new. Everything is ultimately rehashed in the music business. It's just repositioning each cord and each note so that the music sounds different.

And the same goes for the film industry. There are only so many ideas and Hollywood has run out of ideas which is why they are rehashing old movies. The other reason why they are rehashing movies is because the cost of production has become very high and they have become very risk averse. They know these movies were successful so they simply remake them in the expectation that they are almost certain to be successful.

Stephen Galloway, Dean of Chapman University's film school in California said that "In entertainment, an idea is worth it's weight in gold".

Ghost with a highly successful film starring Demi Moore. It became the highest grossing film of the year and an Oscar winner. It is considered to be "irresistible to studios" in terms of a remake.

It said that costs have gone through the roof in the film business and marketing is expensive which eats into profit margins. And then you've got streaming demands on Netflix and Amazon Prime et cetera which places greater demand on more and fresh film and series.

The public want fresh, new stuff all the time. But there's a limit to it. Ultimately they are rehashes. Even stuff which looks different is based upon an old idea and rehashed.

There is another threat to Hollywood which is AI. AI can make films or will be able to and it can write scripts and stories. This arguably will undermine the work of writers and animators leaving them jobless. The same fate will befall background actors. Hollywood has reverted to tried and tested film ideas but it seems to me it puts Hollywood in jeopardy of collapsing.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Purebred stray Burmese cat trapped in St Paul's Cathedral

This is a rather strange story because we are told that the Burmese cat that fell 15 feet down a shaft in the basement of St Paul's Cathedral was sold (apparently) by a breeder and she is also micro-chipped.

The RSPCA rescued the cat. They named her Paula after St Paul's Cathedral which I think is a nice idea.

Purebred stray Burmese cat trapped in St Paul's Cathedral. Name Pauls after St Paul's. Image: RSPCA.

A teenager in the Cathedral yard raised the alarm after seeing Paula vanish under a slab. The teenager was playing in the churchyard after school. She saw Paula run off. The teenager became upset but she was able to give the RSPCA a geotrack location which helped the RSPCA officer to pinpoint the cat's position. Well done to this teenager.

The officer spoke to the Cathedral's security about gaining access and discovered that it is an old storage basement that apparently no one had used a key to get down to for 25 years.

She walked down a steep and narrow staircase into complete darkness before discovering a chamber which led to several corridors and found the cat hiding, covered in fleas. Clearly Paula had been a stray for some time.

It is fortunate that she fell onto a bed of leaves which broke her fall and she was pretty well okay except for a slight graze on her chin and in desperate need of flea treatment; indicative of the fact that she had been astray for some time. Although she doesn't look as if she was starving.

The RSPCA contacted Paula's registered owner as per the microchip details and discovered that the cat had been sold four years before. It appears that the microchip relates to a cat breeder and that the purchaser of the cat did not change the microchip details.

Therefore the RSPCA don't know the current owner if one could argue that Paula still has an owner because she's been astray for a long time and it appears lost or abandoned.

The RSPCA have put posters around St Paul's Cathedral in in the hope of finding her owner. Paula was treated at RSPCA Finsbury Park Animal Hospital before being moved to the RSPCA Laybourne Animal Centre near West Malling in Kent.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Mumsnet sues OpenAI and wants the information deleted

Those who have followed the development of ChatGPT know that it is a chatbot using OpenAI software which has hoovered up from the internet billions of words of useful information contained on millions of websites and which it reformats and presents in answers to questions posed to it by internet users who would normally have used Google or Bing search and visited a website for the information such as mumsnet.com which is why mumsnet.com is suing OpenAi for breach of copyright. And they want their data deleted and a cessation to its use. Microsoft has a 49% stake in OpenAI - see more at base of page.

Others are also suing, including The New York Times and the Writers Guild of America.

OpenAI has hoovered up website information by Michael Broad

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Julia Roberts, CEO of mumsnet.com said:

They [OpenAI] are basically hoovering up the whole web. And I think it's an existential threat to lots of small websites. What they are building is things that can answer questions without you having to visit those websites.

Precisely, I have been saying that (as have millions of others) for ages. The current situation is a killer for websites and frankly website owners are too passive. They need to form a 'union' to fight the big, bad corporations.

Mumsnet claim that ChatAI has 'scraped' (like scraping a barrel) six billion words from its website without permission resulting in a genuine threat to the very existence of mumsnet.com.

Think of the tasty food as tasty internet information and the spoon as OpenAI 😎👍

ChatAI claim that they have 'trained' their software using the information and 'training' is not breach of copyright (laugh 😀🤣). Microsoft also argues that their actions were lawful under the US doctrine of 'fair dealing'. 

Mumsnet is also claiming for breach of terms of use and database rights infringement.  They also argue that there is no 'fair dealing' doctrine in the UK where mumsnet is based.

Comment: What about the other AI chatbots? There is Google's Gemini and Poe and Bing's Copilot? Is mumsnet suing them as well because all of them have allegedly 'stolen' billions of lines of data on the internet.

And, yes, mumsnet.com is correct. All independent websites have suffered a double whammy shock both with the aforesaid problem with AI chatbots which means internet users avoid visiting websites and with Google's vicious and catastrophically damaging algorithm change which has crucified millions of smaller websites.

Also Google emphasised the need to fully meet their Search Engine Console Core Vitals metrics in order to achieve good search results but in my first hand experience this is simply not true. Your website can have perfect Core Vitals and great content but still be shunned by Google search. 

Conversely you can have crap Core Vitals and be successful.

It is troubling times for websites and I wonder why Google think that it is a good idea to kill-off websites. Also ChatGPT works against Google Adsense as there are less visits on the face of it.

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More info on OpenAI:

OpenAI is an American research company focused on artificial intelligence (AI). Their goal is to ensure that AI, specifically artificial general intelligence (AGI), is developed in a way that benefits humanity [OpenAI: Artificial intelligence company]. AGI is a hypothetical type of AI that would be as intelligent as a human, able to perform any intellectual task that a human can.

OpenAI conducts research on safe and beneficial AGI, with the aim of making sure this powerful technology is used for good [OpenAI: Artificial intelligence company]. They believe that AI has the potential to be incredibly beneficial to society, but also recognize the potential risks. Their research focuses on developing AI that is aligned with human values and that won't pose a threat.  

Ownership of OpenAI:

OpenAI has a unique ownership structure. Here's the breakdown:

• Microsoft is the biggest stakeholder, owning around **49%** of the company. They've invested heavily in OpenAI, providing both funding (over $13 billion) and computational resources through their Azure cloud platform [Wikipedia: OpenAI].
• The remaining 49% is divided among other investors. Some notable names include venture capital firms like a16z, Sequoia Capital, and Founders Fund [Techopedia: Who Owns OpenAI? Here's All You Need to Know].
• It's important to note that there's also a non-profit arm, OpenAI Inc., which retains some control and aims to preserve the organization's original goals [Wikipedia: OpenAI].
• So, while Microsoft has a significant stake, OpenAI isn't solely owned by a single entity. It's a collaboration between a tech giant, investors, and a non-profit organization. 

The above information comes from Gemini. I can't see how it can benefit humanity when it kills off websites and harms many thousands of small businesses dependent on internet traffic via Google search.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.