samann 💙

[DAERA @daera_ni]

🐣Nesting season is here.
🪺Nesting birds, their active nests, eggs, and dependant young are protected by law. It is a crime to disturb, kill or injure them.

For more information, visit: https://t.co/CUaWLHUZSF

@PoliceServiceNI @DiscoverCAFRE @RSPBNI @NI_LGA @UFUHQ

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

A US national survey found only 3% of adults with Down syndrome had a full-time paid job, not because they can’t work, but because almost nobody will hire them.

This coffee shop is Kopi Kamu in Jakarta. 7 of its 10 employees have Down syndrome, ages 17 to 33. They take orders, brew coffee, serve customers, clean tables. One of them, a 23-year-old named Ikhlas, does latte art. The owner started the program in December 2023 after watching kids with Down syndrome brew coffee at a charity festival and thinking, wait, why don’t they have a real place to do this? Sales grew beyond what he expected.

I looked up what actually happens when companies hire people with disabilities, and the data is hard to argue with. A food company called Carolina Fine Snacks saw turnover collapse from 80% every six months to under 5%. Absenteeism dropped from 20% to under 5%. The non-disabled employees started performing better too. DuPont ran a 30-year study and found disabled employees matched or beat their peers on every metric.

Accenture studied 346 companies in 2023. Businesses leading in disability inclusion had 1.6x more revenue, 2.6x more net income, and double the economic profit of their peers. Every time someone actually runs the numbers on this, the same answer comes back.

In the US, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, founded by two parents of kids with Down syndrome, started in 2016 with 19 workers in a 500-square-foot shop. Within six months they needed a space ten times bigger. They’re now at 18+ locations, 11 states, 450+ employees with intellectual disabilities. Profitable.

80% of people with intellectual disabilities in the US are unemployed. In Europe, only 5 to 13% of adults with Down syndrome hold regular jobs. Indonesia has roughly 300,000 people with Down syndrome. Kopi Kamu employs seven of them.

[AnnieRN @ann_mcnitt]

Meningitis B is AIRBORNE.

Simply breathing spreads it.

If you've been exposed, STAY PUT and call the health department. Don't get on a train, bus, Uber, jet, whatever.

And get an N95 mask on your face, ASAP.

[PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE @Protect_Wldlife]

Well Done Spain 🇪🇸.

A ROOF TILE THAT’S GIVING LITTLE OWLS THEIR HOMES BACK

In rural Spain, a clever design is helping thousands of nocturnal birds reclaim what modern construction quietly took away.

The Little Owl once nested in old stone walls and traditional farmhouses. But as rural architecture modernized, those natural cavities disappeared — leaving these small hunters without shelter.

So conservationists from the Grup de Naturalistes d’Osona and Grup de Natura Sterna designed something brilliant.

They created the Teula Mussolera — a modified clay roof tile that doubles as a high-tech birdhouse.

Here’s why it works:

It looks exactly like traditional Spanish roofing — preserving the beauty of rural homes.

Its internal tunnel is predator-proof and thermally stable, protecting chicks from heat and hunters.

It allows owls to live alongside humans as villages expand.

And here’s the smartest part…

This isn’t charity. It’s partnership.

The Little Owl is an elite natural pest controller — hunting thousands of insects and rodents every year. Farmers who install these tiles aren’t just helping wildlife… they’re recruiting a silent, feathered security team that reduces the need for chemical pesticides.

Sometimes conservation isn’t about separating humans and nature. It’s about designing a way to thrive together.

[Professor Azeem Majeed @Azeem_Majeed]

For private MenB vaccination, I inform patients & parents this is a personal choice. The MenB vaccine is safe and protective but vigilance for symptoms is essential as it is not 100% effective and the immunity starts to wear off after a few years. https://t.co/UdeoIBrCdi

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Luxembourg is the world’s first nation to offer free public transport for all, tackling traffic and climate change in one bold move.

Luxembourg has pioneered a bold new era in urban mobility by becoming the first nation on Earth to eliminate fares across its entire public transport network. This groundbreaking policy covers every bus, tram, and train route nationwide, offering free rides to residents, cross-border commuters, and visitors alike.

Financed through general taxation rather than ticket sales, the initiative was designed to tackle the country's severe traffic congestion—once among the worst in Europe per capita—and to sharply cut carbon emissions from road transport. By removing the cost and hassle of tickets, Luxembourg effectively turned public transit into a basic public service, as essential and accessible as clean water or electricity.

The impact has been profound and measurable. Ridership surged as people left their cars behind, leading to noticeably less road traffic, shorter commute times, and a meaningful drop in urban air pollution. While first-class rail options remain a paid upgrade for those wanting extra comfort, the standard second-class system is now truly seamless: hop on, hop off, no barriers.

Luxembourg's experiment has demonstrated that removing financial obstacles can drive a genuine shift toward sustainable travel habits. It has also served as an inspiring model for other countries and cities grappling with sprawl, gridlock, and climate goals. In an age when radical solutions are needed to address the mobility-climate crisis, Luxembourg proves that treating public transport as a universal right is not only feasible—it can be genuinely transformative.

[Belfast Telegraph @BelTel]

Health officials have issued guidance to parents at a Northern Ireland school after a pupil was admitted to hospital with suspected meningococcal disease.

https://t.co/31ZbjKbeBs

[samann 💙 @samann36]

@A_MacLullich I totally understand that older people are more susceptible to being less resilient though I have found myself in the same position when I’ve been given new or increased dosages of medication for my chronic illness and yet rarely does anyone pick up on the connection but me.

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

Nine-year-old Tiernan McCready was walking home from football in Derry when he saw something that didn’t feel right.

Nearby, three men were trying to force an 18-year-old girl into a van.

Most people would have frozen in fear.

Tiernan didn’t.

Even though he was scared, the young boy started shouting and ran closer to the scene, drawing attention to what was happening. The sudden noise and interruption caused the men to panic and flee.

The girl was able to escape.

Tiernan then helped her get to safety and alerted his mother so the police could be called.

Later, Tiernan admitted he had been frightened the entire time, but said he knew he could not just stand there and do nothing.

Police praised the boy’s quick thinking and courage, saying his actions may have prevented a much more serious outcome.

To recognize what he did, officers presented Tiernan with a badge of bravery.

Despite the attention, the young boy remained humble and said he hopes to become a police officer one day so he can continue helping people.

Sometimes the biggest acts of courage come from the smallest heroes.

[Dr David Wrigley @DavidGWrigley]

Thanks @wesstreeting @DHSCgovuk @NHSEngland -another solid non stop 6 hours today sat in front of a computer screen NOT seeing patients face to face due to the govt idea to allow unlimited access to GP time via a phone app. I did not become a GP to do this. I want to see patients

[CraiginEngland @ghost_wales]

A former sub-postmistress who was wrongly jailed while pregnant during the Post Office's Horizon IT scandal is still awaiting full compensation more than 15 years after her ordeal.

Absolutely disgraceful. https://t.co/Ut0pRJhF2m

[Marie-Louise Connolly @mlchealth]

. ⁦@rcgp_ni⁩ says the impact of this is potentially “colossal” .. https://t.co/SdIfUeucpP

[Marie-Louise Connolly @mlchealth]

Writing to my son who has learning difficulties was “grossly insensitive” says father. https://t.co/Ap38fqiiPa

[Marie-Louise Connolly @mlchealth]

Breaking - Gp’s tell @BBCNewsNI that a service for older people @BelfastTrust has effectively collapsed. It follows the trust apologising to older patients after cancelling appointments, existing, new or follow up referrals to psychiatry of old age service. More on @BBCNewsNI

[Marie-Louise Connolly @mlchealth]

#mesh almost 10 years since these women went public and they continue to wait for financial redress. @SlingtheMeshNI @slingthemesh

[Marie-Louise Connolly @mlchealth]

I5 miles worth of women languishing on gynae hospital waiting lists in NI - that’s according to @RCObsGyn who say if those waiting were to stand shoulder to shoulder the queue would be two miles longer than in Nov 2024 = 15 miles. After my reports yday Caroline Cooper penned:

[samann 💙 @samann36]

@dptfinance @nidirect @BelfastPcsp @belfastcc Not very helpful for anyone who is disabled and housebound

[samann 💙 @samann36]

@AChVoice @SpectraSpray D3 is the Sunshine Vitamin as it is this that we produce when being in the sun ☀️. This is the vitamin that many people on the northern hemisphere lack as we have such little sunlight. Xx

[Dailyscienceinfo @NatureScienceA1]

The owner of this cow heard the dogs barking at night; so he downloaded a camera and discovered this incredible sight. 😳
The leopard comes to meet the cow every night, and the cow licks its head. The man spoke to the cow's previous owner; he then learned that the leopard's mother had died at 20 days old, and the cow had fed the leopard her milk. Since then, the leopard thinks the cow is its mother. And it comes every night to see her. 🐄🐆