Latest news with #Lucian
Newsweek
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Moment Owner's Attempt at Sweet Moment With Dog Hilariously Backfires
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A woman tried to get a sweet moment with her dog under a blossoming tree, only for the pup to ruin the moment in the best way. Mariel Lucian, who posts to TikTok under the username @mariellucian, has gone viral after showcasing a snippet of her day with her young dog, sitting under a beautifully blossoming tree. As Lucian put it in the caption, she was "trying to enjoy cherry blossom season with a puppy." But, as many dog owners will tell you, trying to have any calm and serene moment with a puppy is difficult at the best of times—and how the pup reacted in the clip has left commenters in stitches. In a video posted on May 2, viewed more than 440,000 times, Lucian holds out a pink flower that had fallen from the tree above, and shows it to the camera. But immediately, the dog thinks the flower is something for her: she slaps her paw down on Lucian's arm and eats the blossom directly out of her hand. And within seconds, the dog is reconsidering her actions—she gives the ultimate side eye, twists her face into an expression of utter disgust, and tries to spit it out, as Lucian laughs beside her. TikTok users were in stitches, with one summing it up: "So many things happened to her." Another imitated the dog as they wrote, "Thith tathes dithgusing," as another wrote: "The way she DEMANDS and is DISRESPECTED." And as another user described the scene: "When your pet thinks everything you hold in reverence out like that is for them. The look on the puppy's face, just instant regret." Pictured: The dog tries to eat the blossom and is immediately overcome with regret. Pictured: The dog tries to eat the blossom and is immediately overcome with regret. TikTok @marciellucian Others worried the blossoms could be bad for the dog, with Lucian responding and assuring commenters there would be "no more blossoms for her." She added: "She just had the one and now that I know it's toxic she won't get any more!" Some plants can be toxic if ingested by animals, including aloe, holly, azaleas, daffodils, and different types of lilies for dogs, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). If you believe your dog has ingested a toxic plant and has fallen ill, then owners should contact their local veterinarian or the Animal Poison Control Center 24-hour emergency poison hotline at (888) 426-4435. Newsweek has contacted @mariellucian on TikTok for comment on this story. Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Universal Music Group and Apple Music announce Sound Therapy
The collection leverages cognitive science and UMG's roster of global superstars, adding subtle auditory beats to well-known curated tracks, aiming to help listeners focus, relax, and sleep SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Apple Music is joining forces with Universal Music Group (UMG) to introduce Sound Therapy, an innovative audio wellness collection designed to help listeners attain clearer focus, deeper relaxation, and better sleep.1 "For years, elevating music's role in health and wellbeing has been a strategic priority for UMG, linked to a potentially significant commercial opportunity, as well as something that our Chairman and CEO, Sir Lucian, and the entire management team, are passionate about," said Michael Nash, UMG's EVP & Chief Digital Officer. "Given Apple's leadership at the intersection of health and technology, the launch of Sound Therapy represents an important validation of our innovative, science-led Sollos initiative. We look forward to working closely with the team at Apple to expand the ways that music can be harnessed to improve the wellness benefits for its users." "Every day, people around the world make Apple Music part of their daily routine, and we've seen incredible engagement around our personalized mood playlists and the new Apple Music Chill radio station," said Rachel Newman, Apple Music's co-head. "Now, with Sound Therapy, we're proud to work alongside UMG and Sollos to bring a new listening experience to Apple Music — one that's grounded in artistry, shaped by innovation, and designed to support wellness." Available exclusively on Apple Music, Sound Therapy blends songs subscribers already know and love with special sound waves designed to enhance users' daily routines, while retaining the artist's original vision. Backed by scientific research and powered by UMG's proprietary audio technologies, Sound Therapy harnesses the power of sound waves, psychoacoustics, and cognitive science to help listeners relax or focus the mind. The collection was crafted by a team of producers, scientists, and audio engineers at Sollos, a groundbreaking music-wellness venture incubated within UMG. Sound Therapy features extended, instrumental, and reimagined versions of popular tracks from acclaimed artists such as Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, Ludovico Einaudi, AURORA, Jhené Aiko, Chelsea Cutler, and Jeremy Zucker, providing a premium listening experience. Sound Therapy features three categories — focus, relax, and sleep. Songs have been enhanced with auditory beats or colored noise to help encourage specific brain responses. Gamma waves and white noise — a whoosh-like combination of every sound frequency — may help with focusing; theta waves could aid in relaxation; and delta waves and pink noise — a deeper, gentler variation akin to rain or wind — might assist in achieving better sleep. A dreamy version of Katy Perry's "Double Rainbow," for example, could help listeners drift off to sleep, while an Imagine Dragons track might help them tackle a to-do list. Learn more about Sound Therapy from Apple Music's Zane Lowe. Apple has long been committed to enabling its customers to lead healthier, more active lives through offerings like Apple Watch, HealthKit, and Apple Fitness+. The company will work closely with Sollos and UMG to further establish scientific evidence supporting music and audio for improved wellbeing, and finding inclusive ways to bring these benefits to people around the world. Maintain Focus Link: The Focus category is designed to support improved cognitive performance and concentration, tapping into the power of gamma auditory beats to help listeners get in the mindset to achieve optimum focus. White noise masks distracting sounds to help listeners stay in the moment. Time to Relax Link: Songs in the Relax category are made for letting go, blending and infusing in theta auditory beats to help achieve ultimate relaxation. Made for Sleep Link: The Sleep category is designed to encourage deeper sleep through an infusion of delta auditory beats or pink noise, which works similarly to white noise but uses natural sounds like rainfall and ocean waves. Sound Therapy arrives on the heels of the brand-new Apple Music Chill radio station, created to serve as a sanctuary of sound listeners can turn to throughout their day to seek refuge. The station's programming is a continuous flow of chill highlights across genres, interspersed with mindful moments meant to remind listeners to make the time to find center and calm. Enjoy the velvety tones of discerning tastemakers like Brian Eno, Stephan Moccio, and Zane Lowe, who expertly take listeners through stories of calm and wellbeing in their own hosted shows. Sound Therapy is designed to support a person's overall wellbeing. It is not intended to treat any medical condition. About Apple Music Apple loves music. Apple revolutionized the music experience with iPod and iTunes. Today, the award-winning Apple Music celebrates musicians, songwriters, producers, and fans with a catalog of over 100 million songs, expertly curated playlists, and the best artist interviews, conversations, and global premieres with Apple Music Radio. With original content from the most respected and beloved people in music, autoplay, time-synced lyrics, lossless audio, and immersive sound powered by Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, Apple Music offers the world's best listening experience, helping listeners discover new music and enjoy their favorites while empowering the global artist community. Apple Music is available in over 167 countries and regions on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, CarPlay, Apple Vision Pro, and online at plus popular smart speakers, smart TVs, and Android and Windows devices. Apple Music is ad-free and never shares consumer data with third parties. More information is available at About Universal Music Group At Universal Music Group, we exist to shape culture through the power of artistry. UMG is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audiovisual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation, and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms, and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans. For more information on Universal Music Group, please visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Universal Music Group
The Herald Scotland
08-05-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Protesters face jail for climbing Churchill statue? Starmer loses plot
Clearly, it's not cool to grope inanimate objects without consent, but these offences are nothing new in the great tapestry of human ridiculousness. Next time you're leafing through your copy of Erotes by Lucian of Samosata (my favourite moment is after work on Fridays just before the pub) check his account of the famed Aphrodite of Knidos. This statue was so alluring that it apparently drove onlookers wild with desire. One Ancient Greek got himself in such a marble-induced sex-tizzy that he crept into the temple after dark and carried out all manner of unseemly acts. Legend has it, he left a stain upon Aphrodite. Lucian is unclear if he spilled his carry-out in excitement or whether it was down to other, less speakable, matters. Read more from Neil Mackay Again, not cool. Indeed so uncool, that the temple pervert was overcome with such shame when discovered by priestesses he duly chucked himself off a nearby cliff. That's quite harsh. Sensitivity training would have sufficed. We humans have an odd relationship with statues. We don't necessarily see them as the works of art the makers intend, rather we see in them strange reflections of ourselves. We hate some. I wouldn't be partial, as an Irishman, to statues of Oliver Cromwell, for instance. He did a lot of the old war crimes back where I'm from. Britain, though, puts Ollie Wart-Face outside the Commons. We love others. My wife got so bored with me staring in awe at Shakespeare's statue in Stratford-Upon-Avon that she left, had three cocktails, and was fast asleep by the time my fit of idolatry expired. Today, we're having a moment of donkey-brained virtue-signalling around the statue of Winston Churchill. Keir Starmer, unsurprisingly, is the idiot responsible. He intends to jail anyone who climbs this lump of bronze. Clamber up the leg of Winnie and you'll do three months porridge, with a £1000 fine. Churchill's statue in Parliament Square will be added to the list of wartime monuments, like the Cenotaph, which are illegal to climb. I'm with the law on the Cenotaph. By definition, it's a grave - the word means 'empty tomb'. So laws around the desecration of graves should already suffice to prevent acts of vandalism or disrespect, without additional legislation. Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure from Reform UK (Image: free) Churchill's statue is clearly not a grave. He's buried in Oxfordshire. The thought of even stepping on a grave horrifies me. I like walking in quiet, forgotten churchyards every so often - it's a great way to feel some peace and connection with the world. I'm meticulous in my steps. Should I accidentally stand on some soul's resting-place, if its covered by grass or partially hidden through age, then I'll apologise to the dead out loud. I don't believe in the supernatural or the afterlife, I simply believe in respecting the dead body in the ground. They were alive like me and you once, and we all deserve respect. But statues? Why should anyone respect statues? Are we really going to jail folk for not being suitably obsequious to sculpture? If some Just Stop Oil idiot clambered up Shakespeare's bronzed pantaloons in Stratford I may call them all the effen bee-boys of the day, but I'm not going to demand their imprisonment. There's a spectrum, right? If you chuck paint over a statue - of Shakespeare, Churchill, even Warty-Chops - then you'll get done for criminal damage. Fair enough. But climbing? Wise up. Stop pandering to the lowest common denominator culture war eejits. Starmer is obviously so frightened of Nigel Farage that any moment now he'll suggest we all salute the Union flag and sing Land of Hope and Glory each morning. I've done a wee bit of statue-clambering in my past so I'm maybe somewhat biased. Or maybe somewhat average, as I was a teenager doing what many average teenagers do: protesting. I was in my last year of grammar school when the Tory government announced it was going to introduce student loans. As a working-class kid who had just won a scholarship to university and was also on a full grant, it was logically my first real protest. Read more I recall hauling myself up the skirts of a huge statue of Queen Victoria like a possessed child and waving some daft hand-made sign around. I can't remember what it said, this was more than 35 years ago, after all. Is Vicky any better or worse than Winnie? Should I go to jail for sitting on her head? The crown did hurt, incidentally. Let's be honest, Churchill is hardly an uncontroversial figure. Even someone like me, with distinctly anti-imperial leanings, would acknowledge his status as a great war leader who helped save Britain from Nazi Germany. For that he deserves his place in history's pantheon. But we can't set aside the pop-eyed racism, the affection for poison gas, the Bengal famine, the casual anti-semitism and Islamophobia, the maltreatment of striking workers and his role in yet more atrocities by the British army in Ireland. Evidently, you could say Churchill was simply 'of his time'. Though that line is almost as tired as 'some of my friends are black'. Nor do I believe that most of our great grand-parents exacerbated famine. Notably, previous attempts to jail protestors for climbing Churchill failed miserably - which probably explains why Red Reform is passing specific laws now. Not that it will win any votes. Who cares apart from deranged online werewolves? Unless they cause wilful criminal damage, then we should leave statue-climbing protestors to a moral reckoning, like that horny Greek who defiled Aphrodite. We don't need laws to punish them. If public opinion is offended, then that's enough. Let shame be the sentence. Clearly, though, I would say that as I'm not a gutless Prime Minister so desperate to appease the right that he's willing to silence the left, and so out of control when it comes to domestic policy that all he has left is to fall back on culture war crap. Neil Mackay is the Herald's Writer-at-Large. He's a multi-award winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs and foreign and domestic politics
Barnama
25-04-2025
- Business
- Barnama
Marketing Executive Loses Over RM100,000 In Investment Scam On Dating App
SIBU, April 25 (Bernama) -- What began as a hopeful swipe right on a popular dating app ended in financial heartbreak for a local woman, who fell victim to a sophisticated online scam that drained her of over RM100,000. The sales and marketing executive, whose identity is being withheld for privacy reasons, had allegedly met a man claiming to be 'Lucian Hee Hao Yu', who introduced himself as an engineer, on the dating platform Bumble in early January. Their virtual romance quickly escalated, transitioning from Bumble to WhatsApp, where trust deepened. Soon, Lucian introduced the woman to what he said was a 'lucrative opportunity' - an exclusive investment scheme dubbed 'Private Placement,' promising swift and high returns. Under Lucian's direction, the victim was persuaded to register on a professional-looking website, and instructed to share her personal information. 'The victim subsequently made 12 transactions totalling RM102,992.40 into three local accounts between Feb 6 and March 6. More worryingly, the victim also took out a bank loan to finance the investment,' Sibu District Police Chief, ACP Zulkipli Suhaili said in a statement today. But the promised returns never materialised. After a few weeks, the victim realised she had been duped and decided to lodge a police report yesterday. An investigation has been launched under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. ACP Zulkipli urged the public to exercise extreme caution when approached with investment opportunities, especially from unfamiliar individuals online. He also advised verifying any financial scheme with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) or the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) through their official websites or the Investment Checker app.
The Sun
25-04-2025
- The Sun
Marketing executive loses over RM100,000 in investment scam on dating app
SIBU: What began as a hopeful swipe right on a popular dating app ended in financial heartbreak for a local woman, who fell victim to a sophisticated online scam that drained her of over RM100,000. The sales and marketing executive, whose identity is being withheld for privacy reasons, had allegedly met a man claiming to be 'Lucian Hee Hao Yu', who introduced himself as an engineer, on the dating platform Bumble in early January. Their virtual romance quickly escalated, transitioning from Bumble to WhatsApp, where trust deepened. Soon, Lucian introduced the woman to what he said was a 'lucrative opportunity' - an exclusive investment scheme dubbed 'Private Placement,' promising swift and high returns. Under Lucian's direction, the victim was persuaded to register on a professional-looking website, and instructed to share her personal information. 'The victim subsequently made 12 transactions totalling RM102,992.40 into three local accounts between Feb 6 and March 6. More worryingly, the victim also took out a bank loan to finance the investment,' Sibu District Police Chief, ACP Zulkipli Suhaili said in a statement today. But the promised returns never materialised. After a few weeks, the victim realised she had been duped and decided to lodge a police report yesterday. An investigation has been launched under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. ACP Zulkipli urged the public to exercise extreme caution when approached with investment opportunities, especially from unfamiliar individuals online. He also advised verifying any financial scheme with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) or the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) through their official websites or the Investment Checker app. Additionally, the public can check suspicious bank accounts or phone numbers via the Semak Mule portal at or contact the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at 997 for assistance.
