Make Halloween A Treat - Not A Trick - For The Family Pet

While some pets love to join in the Halloween fun, others may be uneasy with the holidays strange sights and sounds. (PRNewsFoto/Canine Company)

"Keep pets safe and secure from monsters, goblins and other Halloween dangers"

Halloween can be challenging night for families with pets. While some pets enjoy the festivities, the strange sights and sounds may frighten others. Cats usually hide, but dogs may run away in fear – or run after trick-or-treaters in excitement.

"Halloween can be unsettling – and even dangerous -- for family pets. To ensure it is a fun night for everyone, responsible pet parents need to take precautions," says Renee Coughlin of at-home pet care provider Canine Company. 

She offers the following advice to ensure everyone's safety and comfort:

• Choose pet costumes with care, making sure they won't restrict movement or vision and that there are no small pieces your pet can swallow. Introduce the costume a few days in advance so she gets used to it.  Canine Company professional dog trainers recommend offering a treat and praise to help with the process.
• Don't force your pet to wear a costume if he isn't comfortable. Instead, give your pet some Halloween flair with stencils and pet-safe paints or can create a Mohawk or punk hairdo with colored styling gels. A cute seasonal bandana is another option.
• Bring pets indoors before dusk. Pets left alone outside – especially black cats --may fall victim to tricksters. Some pets become anxious at the children's shouts and the constantly ringing doorbell. If your pet seems nervous, confine him to a room away from the activity.
• Keep your dog on leash to prevent him from dashing out an open door. If you have an Invisible Fence system, you won't need a leash, but be sure he is wearing his collar so he stays safely in the yard.  If you take her trick-or-treating, be sure she is wearing identification tags in case she runs off in fear or in pursuit of other children.
• Keep candy out of reach. Chocolate is toxic for dogs: so is xylitol, the artificial sweetener used in many candies and gums. It's best to have pet-safe treats in your pocket or close at hand to distract pets from candy.  

"With a little extra planning, we can make Halloween a fun night for the entire family," says Coughlin. 

For more advice on pet health and safety, visit Speak! Good Blog!

SOURCE: Canine Company

10-Year-Old Illinois Native Elected the First-Ever Toys"R"Us President of Play

10-Year-Old Ariana Gentry from Swansea, IL is named the first-ever Toys"R"Us President of Play (PRNewsFoto/Toys"R"Us, Inc.)

A Presidential Candidate Both Parties Can Support

While Hillary and Donald's colorful campaign battles will continue to unfold over the coming weeks, Toys"R"Us is thrilled to announce the results of its first-ever President of Play national election. 

Ten-year-old Ariana Gentry from Swansea, IL will be sworn into office today, kicking off her inaugural year on the job where she will play with the hottest new toys and games and provide shopping recommendations to parents and gift-givers nationwide.

Image via Toys"R"Us site

CLICK TO TWEET: Ariana Gentry takes office today as the first-ever @ToysRUs #PresidentofPlay! Welcome to the team, Ariana! www.ToysRUs.com/PresidentofPlay

"Ironically enough our election was significantly less childish than the actual presidential race, and we could not be more pleased to welcome Ariana as our first President of Play," said Dave Brandon, Chairman and CEO, Toys"R"Us, Inc. "Ariana had a deep understanding of important issues - like the latest NERF products – and demonstrated a level of respect to her fellow competitors. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, I think we can all agree that she will be an incredible ambassador for Toys"R"Us and children all around the world."

Ariana rose to the top of the ballot in September – standing out from more than 1,000 video submissions thanks to her infectious smile and enthusiasm. She then went on to dominate during in-person interviews as one of 10 semifinalists at the Toys"R"Us headquarters in New Jersey. 

Ultimately, the decision was put into the hands of the public after a live Facebook debate against finalists Jessalyn Phanouvong (9) from Fresno, CA and Nate Shue (10) from Fairfax, VA. Though all three candidates went on major charm offensives, it was Ariana who ultimately won over the (tweeting) electorate and proved she was the best kid for the job.

"I can't believe I'm the first-ever President of Play! This is my dream come true and I'm so excited to play with all the new toys and work for Toys"R"Us – the biggest and best toy company in the world," said Ariana. "I also want to thank everyone that voted for me, especially my family and friends."

In addition to being the company's resident toy-tester, Ariana will also serve as a Toys"R"Us spokesperson at events, on social media and anywhere else the company needs a real kid's input.

For more information about the #PresidentofPlay, stay tuned to @ToysRUsNews, the official Twitter account of the Toys"R"Us, Inc. Corporate Communications department, and the company's newsroom blog.

Toys"R"Us Names its first-ever President of Play - Ariana Gentry (age 10) from Swansea, IL (PRNewsFoto/Toys"R"Us, Inc.)

SOURCE: Toys"R"Us, Inc.

Sorry David Attenborough, We Didn't Evolve From ‘Aquatic Apes’ – Here's Why

Image via Michael Rosskothen / shutterstock

By Alice Roberts, University of Birmingham and Mark Maslin, UCL

Occasionally in science there are theories that refuse to die despite the overwhelming evidence against them. The “aquatic ape hypothesis” is one of these, now championed by Sir David Attenborough in his recent BBC Radio 4 series The Waterside Ape.

The hypothesis suggests that everything from walking upright to our lack of hair, from holding our breath to eating shellfish could be because an aquatic phase in our ancestry. Since the theory was first suggested more than 55 years ago, huge advances have been made in the study of human evolution and our story is much more interesting and complicated than suggested by the catch-all aquatic ape hypothesis.

In 1960, marine biologist Alister Hardy published an article in New Scientist, titled: Was man more aquatic in the past? He re-told the familiar tale of the evolution of land animals from ancient fish, and then considered the return of various groups of reptiles, birds and mammals to an aquatic existence: ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, crocodiles, sea-snakes, penguins, whales, dolphins and porpoises, manatees and dugongs, and seals – as well as polar bears, otters and water voles, who hunt in water. Then he suggested that many of the unique characteristics of humans and their ancestors, marking them out as different from the other apes, could be explained as adaptations to spending time in water.

Hardy put forward all sorts of features which could be explained as “aquatic adaptations”: our swimming ability – and our enjoyment of it; loss of body hair, as well as an arrangement of body hair that he supposed may have reduced resistance in the water; curvy bodies; and the layer of fat under our skin. He even suggested that our ability to walk upright may have developed through wading, with the water helping to support body weight.

For Hardy, this aquatic phase would have occupied the gap in the fossil record that then existed – between around 4m and 7m years ago. He sensibly concluded his paper saying that this was all only speculation – a “hypothesis to be discussed and tested against further lines of evidence”.

A modern day aquatic ape. But there’s no trace of true ‘aquatic apes’ in our ancestry. dotshock/Shutterstock

In the 50-odd years since the presentation of this hypothesis, it has enjoyed a certain fame – or perhaps notoriety. The writer Elaine Morgan championed it in her book The Aquatic Ape, and developed the hypothesis further, marshalling a seemingly impressive range of characteristics to support it, including breath control and diet. It seems such a tantalising and romantic idea – but a closer look at the evidence reveals it to be little more than that.

Pouring cold water on it
All the suggested anatomical and physiological adaptations can be explained by other hypotheses, which fit much better with what we actually know about the ecology of ancient hominins. Hairlessness, for instance, is only a feature of fully aquatic mammals such as whales and dolphins. Semi-aquatic mammals such as otters and water voles are extremely furry. Sexual selection and adaptations to heat loss better explain our pattern of body hair. Sexual selection may also explain our body fat distribution, which differs between the sexes. Voluntary breath control is more likely to be related to speech than to diving.

Otters evolved from land animals but never lost their fur. Gregory , CC BY-SA

The diet of many of our ancestors certainly included marine resources – where people lived on the shores of lakes or the sea. But this was a relatively late development in human evolution, and humans can also survive and thrive on food obtained entirely on land. Compared with other animals, we are not actually that good at swimming, and our skin leaks as well, letting in water so that our fingers become prune-like after a long bath.

What about walking on two legs? That’s something all apes do a bit of – while wading in water, certainly, but also while reaching for fruit, performing aggressive displays or simply moving around in trees. If we evolved from ancestors who already stood up in trees, we don’t need an extraordinary explanation for why we ended up standing on the ground rather than running around on all fours.

Hands up if you can stand on dry land. Sergey Uryadnikov / shutterstock

Since Hardy and Morgan’s hypothesis was advanced, many of the gaps in the human fossil record have been filled, with at least 13 new species found since 1987. We have also made great strides in reconstructing the environment in which our ancestors lived. And we know that species as far as part in time as Sahelanthropus tchadensis 7m years ago and Homo erectus 2m years ago all lived in forested or open woodland environments. While some of these woods included wetland, this was just part of the mosaic of habitats that our ancestors learned to survive in, and there is absolutely no trace of a hominin ancestor as aquatic as that described by Hardy and Morgan.

We also have evidence our ancestors had to survive periods of extremely dry climate with little or no aquatic resources. Coping with these highly variable, patchwork environments required behavioural flexibility and co-operation, and our large brains and ultra-social nature likely emerged as a result. This flexibility ultimately led to the invention of culture and technology.

Recent proponents of the aquatic ape hypothesis have pointed to much later watery adaptations, including early archaeological sites where humans have been shown to be exploiting coastal resources. But these don’t have much to say about the origins of bipedalism, more than 6m years before – they just demonstrate the behavioural flexibility of later hominins.

Too extravagant and too simple
The original idea, and certainly Elaine Morgan’s elaboration of it, became an umbrella hypothesis or a “Theory of Everything”; both far too extravagant and too simple an explanation. It attempts to provide a single rationale for a huge range of adaptations - which we know arose at different times in the course of human evolution. Traits such as habitual bipedalism, big brains and language didn’t all appear at once – instead, their emergence is spread over millions of years. It’s nonsense to lump them all together as if they require a single explanation.

Despite the evidence stacked up against the theory, it is strangely tenacious. It has become very elastic, and its proponents will seize hold of any mentions of water, fish or shellfish in human evolution, and any archaeological sites found near coasts, rivers and lakes as supporting evidence. But we must always build our hypotheses on, and test them against, the hard evidence: the fossils, comparative anatomy and physiology, and genetics. In that test, the aquatic ape has failed – again and again.

It is a great shame the BBC recently indulged this implausible theory as it distracts from the emerging story of human evolution that is both more complex and more interesting. Because at the end of the day science is about evidence, not wishful thinking.


About Today's Contributors:
Alice Roberts, Professor of Public Engagement in Science, University of Birmingham and Mark Maslin, Professor of Palaeolimatology, UCL

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Yandel Wins Latin American Music Award For Album Of The Year With "Dangerous"

Yandel (PRNewsFoto/Roc Nation)

Yandel opens his U.S. tour this week with a bang. The acclaimed urban music singer and producer took home this Thursday his first Latin American Music Award in the "Album of the Year" category for "Dangerous". 

Earlier this week, his latest production on Sony Latin, Dangerous, earned Platinum status and his single "Encantadora" included of the same album, earned him a 5X Multi-Platinum certification by the RIAA. "Encantadora" is also, one of only three songs released and certified by the RIAA Latin Gold & Platinum Program during the past year.

After the successful start in his native Puerto Rico, Yandel continues with his 15- city with a concert on October 9 in Chicago. The tour will also hit cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and Boston. 

The full list of Dangerous Tour dates is listed below. This is the first tour for Yandel as part of his newly signed exclusive touring deal with the world's leading live entertainment company, Live Nation. 

To buy tickets for Yandel's U.S. Dangerous Tour go to www.livenation.com and www.yandel.com/tour.

Grammy® Award-nominated Alexis y Fido, chart-topping duo Plan B and singer songwriter De La Ghetto will join Yandel on select dates. DJ Lobo and Gadiel will rock the house on every tour date.

He recently performed at the world famous Global Citizen Festival at Central Park in New York and introduced a new version of his title "Somos Uno" featuring Becky G as part of a special initiative for Hopeland.

YANDEL - DANGEROUS TOUR DATES

Friday, October 7, 2016	San Juan, PR	Coliseo De Puerto Rico
Sunday, October 9, 2016	Chicago, IL	Aragon Ballroom
Wednesday, October 12, 2016	Los Angeles, CA	Hollywood Palladium
Thursday, October 13, 2016	San Jose, CA	City National Civic
Sunday, October 16, 2016	Las Vegas, NV	The AXIS at Planet Hollywood
Tuesday, October 18, 2016	Phoenix, AZ	Comerica Theatre
Wednesday, October 19, 2016	El Paso, TX	El Paso County Coliseum
Friday, October 21, 2016	Houston, TX	Revention Music Center
Sunday, October 23, 2016	Dallas, TX	South Side Ballroom
Wednesday, October 26, 2016	Indianapolis, IN	Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
Friday, October 28, 2016	Washington, DC	DAR Constitution Hall
Saturday, October 29, 2016	Boston, MA	Orpheum Theatre
Tuesday, November 1, 2016	New York, NY	Hammerstein Ballroom
Friday, November 4, 2016	Allentown, PA	PPL Center
Sunday, November 6, 2016	Orlando, FL	House Of Blues

Itinerary subject to change 

To know more about Yandel:

• facebook.com/YandelelOficial
• twitter.com/yandeloficial
• instagram.com/yandel
• youtube.com/user/YandelVEVO
• snapchat.com/add/yandeloficial

SOURCE: Roc Nation

The Videos:

HauntedHouse.com Releases 2016 Top Ten List of America's Best Haunts

Photo courtesy of 13th Floor Haunted House. (PRNewsFoto/HauntedHouse.com)

The calendar has made its ceremonial flip to October and that means fear seekers are descending upon haunted houses all across America. Each Halloween season, thousands of professional haunted house attractions gear up to deliver the latest and greatest in live horror entertainment. 

But this year, only 10 of them hit all the marks delivering thrilling entertainment worthy of being included on Hauntedhouse.com's list of "America's Best Haunts."

Curious to know where the nation's most feared haunted houses rank? Hauntedhouse.com, the nation's leading authority on haunted attractions, is pleased to unveil its 2016 list of America's Best Haunts. 

Each one of the haunted houses in America's Best Haunts showcases the very best in special effects, the most chilling and hair-raising themes, the most innovative design and the best overall scare factor. Every year haunted houses advance with changes in technology and special effects. America's Best Haunts are at the forefront of these advancements, while at the same time combining them with their advanced understanding of the psychology of fear.

The 2016 Winners of the "America's Best Haunts" title are:

1. 13th Floor Haunted House
Location (multiple): Denver, CO - San Antonio, TX - Phoenix, AZ - Chicago, IL    
Website: www.13thfloorhauntedhouses.com  

2. House of Torment
Location (multiple): Austin, TX - Chicago, IL   
Website: www.houseoftorment.com  

3. Netherworld Haunted House
Location: Atlanta, GA   
Website: www.fearworld.com  

4. The Asylum Haunted House
Location: Denver, CO   
Website: www.asylumdenver.com  

5. Haunted Overload
Location: Lee, NH   
Website: www.hauntedoverload.com  

6. Terror on the Fox
Location: Green Bay, WI  
Website: www.terroronthefox.com  

7. Fear Farm and Phoenix Haunted Hayride
Location: Phoenix, AZ  
Website: www.fearfarm.com  

8. Terror Behind the Walls
Location: Philadelphia, PA   
Website: www.terrorbehindthewalls.com  

9. The Darkness
Location: Saint Louis, MO  
Website: www.scarefest.com  

10. Edge of Hell
Location: Kansas City, MO   
Website: www.edgeofhell.com

ABOUT HAUNTEDHOUSE.COM'S "AMERICA'S BEST HAUNTS" 
Now in its tenth year, Hauntedhouse.com's list of America's Best Haunts was created in 2006 to become the premier source for valuable, credible information and rankings of the haunted house industry.  

The 2016 list was selected by a panel of judges with over 100 years of combined haunted-attractions industry experience.

For complete list of the winners and further information please visit: www.AmericasBestHaunts.com.  

 SOURCE: HauntedHouse.com