Sunday, 9 August 2026
Sunday, 2 August 2026
The Gift of Not Fitting In
Published
Author
Vincent Phan
There is a boy I think about often. He grew up in France, and he does not quite fit. The other children seem to share a script he was never given. So he does what such children have always done: he builds a world of his own. Books, mostly. Fantasy and science fiction, whole galaxies of them, a private universe running quietly behind his eyes while the playground carries on without him.
I can tell you with some authority what became of that boy, because he was me. And I can tell you the strangest part: the thing that made him an outsider is now the engine of his entire life. But we will get to that.
First, a fairy tale.
The Bird in the Wrong Nest
In 1843, a Danish writer published a story about a bird hatched into a family of ducks. The bird is large and grey and wrong, and the farmyard lets him know it. He is pecked, mocked, and driven out. He survives a lonely winter, and in the spring he approaches a flock of beautiful white swans, expecting to be killed. Instead, he sees his reflection. He was never an ugly duck at all. He was a swan, hatched into the wrong nest.
Hans Christian Andersen knew exactly what he was writing. He had been a poor, gangly, odd-looking boy in Odense, mercilessly teased, with a love of theatre and stories that made no sense to anyone around him. Years later, when he was asked whether he would write his autobiography, he replied that he already had. It was called The Ugly Duckling.
“It matters nothing if one is born in a duck-yard, if one has lain in a swan’s egg.” — Hans Christian Andersen
Read it again as an adult, and the story’s real insight emerges. The duckling never becomes beautiful. He does not transform, does not earn acceptance, does not fix himself. He simply finds the right pond. His “ugliness” was never a defect. It was a category error. He was being measured against a standard that was never his.
Not fitting in, in other words, is very often not a verdict on you. It is information about the nest.
The World That Measures Ducklings
If the farmyard has a modern name, Susan Cain gave it to us. In her 2012 book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, she describes the “Extrovert Ideal”: the pervasive belief that the ideal self is gregarious, bold, and comfortable in the spotlight. Schools built around group work, offices built around open plans, cultures built around self-promotion. A world, in short, designed by ducks, for ducks.
The numbers alone should give us pause. Cain reports that between a third and a half of all people are introverts, the ones who prefer listening to speaking, who create but dislike self-promotion, who recharge alone. And yet research shows we consistently rate talkative, fast-speaking people as smarter and more competent, despite there being no correlation between confident chatter and good ideas. Half the room is being marked down against a standard that measures volume rather than depth.
If you spent your childhood being told you were too quiet, too dreamy, too much in your own head, you were not failing. You were a swan being graded on your duck impression.
Science has since gone a step further, and the finding is almost mischievous. In 2012, researchers at Johns Hopkins and Cornell published a study titled Outside Advantage: Can Social Rejection Fuel Creative Thought? Across three experiments, they found that for people with an independent sense of self, being rejected by a group did not diminish their thinking. It improved it.
They performed measurably more creatively after exclusion than after inclusion, because rejection can act, in the researchers’ words, as “a form of validation” for those who already know they are different. The sting of not belonging, for the independent-minded, does not close the mind. It frees it.
The Patron Saints of the Wrong Nest
Literature knew all of this long before the laboratories did. Open the books we press into children’s hands, and you find, over and over, the same figure: the one who does not fit.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda teaches herself to read in a house that worships television, and walks to the library alone because no one will take her; her family treats her mind as a defect right up until it reveals itself as a power. Anne of Green Gables talks too much, imagines too hard, and is entirely wrong for the quiet farm that takes her in, and it is exactly this wrongness that transforms every life around her.
Anne even gives us the vocabulary for the swan’s discovery: she is not looking for popularity, she is looking for kindred spirits, and she knows one on sight. And in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, awkward, stubborn, furious Meg Murry receives the strangest blessing in children’s literature. Setting out to rescue her brother, she is given, as her equipment for the journey, her faults. The very traits her school despises are the ones that save him.
The pattern is everywhere once you see it. The boy in the cupboard under the stairs turns out to belong to a different world entirely. The Hobbit is too odd for the Shire and precisely odd enough for the quest. Jane Eyre is too plain and too fierce for everyone’s comfort, and refuses on principle to be anyone but herself.
This is not a coincidence of plotting. It is a confession. Books about misfits are written by former misfits for current ones, a long chain of Andersens passing the same note down the generations: you are not broken, you are early. And reading itself, the very habit that marked so many of us as strange, is the misfit’s great technology, the means by which the child in the wrong nest discovers that kindred spirits exist, even if the nearest one is a hundred years dead or entirely fictional. We read because we did not fit, and in reading, we fit.
The Unfair Advantages of the Outsider
Here is what nobody tells the child at the edge of the playground: the edge has the best view.
The one who does not fit in is forced to become an observer, and observation is the beginning of every art. The child who reads through lunch is quietly acquiring more lives than one. The daydreamer dismissed as absent is doing what psychologists now recognise as some of the mind’s most creative work; solitude, as Cain argues in one of the most-watched TED talks ever given, is a catalyst for innovation, which is why so many of the people who gave us the things we love, the novels and the symphonies and the personal computer, did their best work alone.
History’s shelves are stacked by people who could not manage small talk.
And there is a subtler gift. The misfit never gets to mistake the local rules for the laws of the universe. When you have stood outside one world, you understand, forever, that every world is optional, that its hierarchies are invented, that there are other ponds. That knowledge is the seed of every original life.
Finding Your Pond
My own winter lasted a long time. I did the sensible thing for years; I wore the corporate costume and performed the script, and, like Cain, who described her time as a Wall Street lawyer as feeling like years in a foreign country, I was competent and quietly elsewhere.
Then I left, and became, of all improbable things, a bookseller. And something happened that I had not planned for: the private universe became the public one. The obsession that made me strange at nine, the books, the imagined worlds, the need to talk about stories, turned out to be the exact thing other people wanted from me.
I found my people, or they found me, and I noticed something my younger self would not have believed. I become most alive when I am talking about books. The weirdness was never the obstacle. The weirdness was the offer.
This, I think, is the fable’s true ending, and it is better than beauty. The swan does not win the farmyard’s approval. He stops needing it. Somewhere out there is a pond full of people who are strange in your exact direction, and every hour spent contorting yourself to fit the wrong nest is an hour not spent swimming toward them.
So if you were the child with a world going on behind your eyes, I hope you will consider the possibility that nothing was ever wrong with you. You were simply early to yourself.
What might happen if you stopped auditioning for the farmyard, and went looking for your pond?
https://magazine.1000libraries.com/the-gift-of-not-fitting-in/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTcXRlwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXJLZlRZUnlTeW1HREFlTk1zcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe_SiVz-W5_LX3IWBaifcrTG8AEY8OBeFDJoiIyOELrwI0ppKvI9M1aTYicQg_aem_zqHV4jNdNg8jDW_F_AuV4w
Friday, 31 July 2026
Cauliflower and chestnut soup
Ingredients
Large onion chopped in olive oil
1 large cauliflower
250 ml Milk
850 ml stock
150 ml double cream
200g vacuum packed chestnuts
25g parmesan
Method
Cook onion add teaspoon of garlic if you want. Add cauliflower, milk and stock and cook until soft (10-15 minutes ). Add cream, seasoning and chestnuts, cook for 5 minutes. Add parmesan and liquidise
Your dog's PERFECT walk lasts exactly 67 minutes – and must include 16 sniffs and a splash in water, study reveals
I'm not saying I agree with this but this is a view on dog walks
A dog's perfect walk should last exactly 67 minutes, include 16 opportunities to sniff and even feature a splash in water, according to a new survey.
As part of a study, 1,800 owners were asked what kind of everyday outing their dog appeared to enjoy the most.
Analysis revealed the majority believed the ideal walk would take place in open fields, woodland or parks, where their pet can explore and run freely.
The ideal stroll lasts just over an hour, they found, and includes plenty of sniff stops, rolling in grass or mud and finding sticks.
It also includes the chance to meet at least three friendly canine companions along the way – with an added bonus if there is some water to splash in.
The poll revealed many believe their pet's enjoyment matters more than their own, with 38 per cent putting their dog's happiness first. However, nearly eight in 10 admitted they feel guilty about sticking to the same walking route every day.
Jen Hipwell, head of veterinary services at Animal Friends Pet Insurance, which commissioned the research, said: ‘Walks are one of the best parts of life with a dog - a chance to spend time together, explore somewhere new and make the most of the summer safely.
‘Every dog is different, so a great day out will look different depending on their age, breed, health, personality and confidence.’
The ideal stroll lasts just over an hour, a poll of 1,800 owners found, and includes plenty of sniff stops (file image)
The findings have prompted pet experts to create a guide to some of Britain's best dog-walking routes to help owners find safe and stimulating places to explore. The Lake District, the New Forest and the South West Coast Path topped the wish list
Overall, owners said safety was the most important factor when choosing a walking route, ahead of quiet surroundings and wide open spaces.
The Lake District, the New Forest and the South West Coast Path topped the wish lists for dream dog-walking destinations.
Weather conditions, how hot the ground was for their dog’s paws and the likelihood of encountering other pooches and livestock are top considerations before taking a pooch out.
However, more than half of owners admitted they wouldn't know how to identify and avoid potential risks to their dog on walks – like steep terrain and coastal hazards.
‘Before heading out, it's always worth checking your route in advance, as well as the weather and any local conditions that could affect your plans, particularly during periods of hot weather,’ Ms Hipwell said.
‘Pack for your dog's needs, whether that's plenty of fresh water, treats, a lead, a favourite toy or somewhere comfortable to rest.’
The findings have prompted pet experts to create a guide to some of Britain's best dog-walking routes to help owners find safe and stimulating places to explore.
Last week, experts claimed you should be walking your dog up to five times a day.
Professor Nicholas Dodman, CEO of the Center for Canine Behavior Studies, told the Daily Mail that owners should be going on 'at least three shortish walks plus two longer walks'.
These daily jaunts should include longer walks for exercise as well as 'short walks for bathroom breaks, and to alleviate boredom'.
Professor Dodman adds: 'An athletic breed of dog needs a longer walk of say three to five miles in the middle of the day and another couple of miles before dinner time.'
However, experts say that this general rule should be adjusted to your dog's specific breed, disposition and habits.
WHAT ARE THE TEN COMMONLY HELD MYTHS ABOUT DOGS?
Thursday, 30 July 2026
Squirrel goes nuts for a quick dip under a sprinkler to cool off
By WILL HALLOWELL, NEWS REPORTER
A squirrel went nuts for a quick dip under a sprinkler to cool off in the warm weather.
After being lured to the scene by hidden snacks, the animal jumped underneath the shower of water.
Photographer Geert Weggen took these photos in his garden in Bispgården, Sweden.
The 57-year-old said: 'Here I have a large animal bath where the animals can drink and bathe, and this week I created a kind of shower.
'Some avoided the shower, but most chose to get wet. The animals were attracted to the area because I hid food there.'
The squirrel was pictured ducking and diving underneath the water from the sprinkler
Here, the animal is seen balancing its back paws on two flower branches
It put its face up against the sprinkler to cool off in the hot weather
Here, the squirrel drinks the water in a bid to beat the heat
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15975199/Squirrel-goes-nuts-quick-dip-sprinkler-cool-off.html
Sunday, 12 July 2026
The most mysterious places on Earth where not a single human has set foot, revealed
By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
From the North Pole to the summit of Mount Everest, it might seem like intrepid explorers have already conquered every remaining frontier.
However, you might be surprised to learn just how many places on Earth have never been visited by a single living human.
From the impenetrable heart of ancient forests to the frozen peaks of sacred mountains, these are the last few truly untouched locations.
And, in the hidden depths of caves, there could be hundreds of miles of pristine territory that are still waiting to be discovered.
Like the terrifying peak of Gangkhar Puensum, the tallest unclimbed mountain in the world, some of these sites have been left untouched for religious or spiritual reasons.
However, areas like the crushing depths of the Arctic Ocean's Gakkel Ridge are simply too hostile and dangerous for humans to reach.
Meanwhile, out in Earth's last true wildernesses of Antarctica and Siberia, vast uncharted regions remain untrodden despite decades of attempted exploration.
Read on to find out where the most mysterious locations on Earth are hidden.
While it might seem like explorers have pushed back every frontier, there are actually many places yet to be visited by a single human. Pictured: Glaciers and rock outcrops in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica
Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica
Located in West Antarctica, Marie Byrd Land is one of the only true examples of Terra Nullius.
Literally meaning no-man's land, that status means these 620,000 square miles (1.61 million square km) of frozen expanse are the legal property of no nation.
Scientists estimate that 99.6 per cent of this area remains pristine wilderness totally untouched by humanity, compared to just 32 per cent of Antarctica as a whole.
Due to its vast size, covering the same area as Alaska, and extreme conditions, most of the region has never been visited by humans despite decades of exploration.
However, the region is also of critical scientific importance.
Andrew Fleming, Head of the Mapping and Geographic Information Centre at the British Antarctic Survey, told the Daily Mail: 'It includes Thwaites Glacier, the focus of the major International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration research programme.
'As one of the largest glaciers draining the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the future behaviour of Thwaites Glacier and the surrounding ice sheet is of global significance, as it could contribute substantially to sea-level rise.;
Located in West Antarctica, Marie Byrd Land is one of the only true examples of Terra Nullius - meaning no-man's land
Northern Forest Complex, Myanmar
Spanning more than 12,000 square miles (30,296 square km), the Northern Forest Complex is one of Earth's last true wildernesses.
This dense jungle spans the mountainous land in the far North of Myanmar, stretching between the borders of India and China.
It is one of the largest tracts of intact forest in Southeast Asia, estimated to contain 6,000 species, of which 1,500 are believed to exist nowhere else.
The area was already extremely remote, and only sparsely inhabited by native groups, but access became even more restricted in the 1960s.
As political conflict swept through Myanmar, the nation closed the Northern Forest Complex to most researchers for the last 70 years.
This means that many of the forest's deepest areas are still yet to be explored.
Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan
The Northern Forest Complex in Myanmar covers more than 12,000 square miles (30,296 square km) of mountainous terrain, most of which remains unexplored
Standing at 24,836 feet (7,550 metres) and looming a full 9,800 feet (3,000 metres) above its neighbours, Bhutan's Gangkhar Puensum is the tallest unclimbed mountain in the world.
Harsh weather, a remote location, and a lack of proper mapping make the climb challenging, but this is not why the peak has been abandoned.
Instead, Ghangar Puensum cannot be climbed because of strongly held religious beliefs.
The Bhutanese people believe that mountains are sacred because deities live at their summits.
Several attempts were made in the 1980s, but climbers always turned back out of respect for local custom.
In 1994, the government banned climbing above 6,000 metres and, in 2003, completely prohibited mountaineering in the country.
So, while taller and more deadly mountains have been conquered, Gangkhar Puensum may remain unclimbed forever.
Machapuchare, Nepal
Bhutan's Gangkhar Puensum is the tallest unclimbed mountain in the world thanks to a strict religious prohibition on mountaineering in the country
This holy mountain, otherwise known as 'Mount Fishtail' after its notched summit, is arguably one of the least visited places on Earth.
The incredible twin peaks tower 22,943 feet (6,993 metres) above the Annapurna Conservation Area, in Northern Nepal.
According to the legends of the local Gurung people, the mountain is the home of Lord Shiva, one of the principal deities in Hinduism.
This means that the mountain has been almost entirely untouched throughout human history.
In 1957, a British expedition obtained permission to climb the peak but turned back within 150 metres of the summit, having promised the King of Nepal they would not touch the peak.
Since then, no new permits have been issued to climb, and the mountain remains untouched.
Summa Ri, Pakistan-China border
But not every unclimbed peak has been left for spiritual reasons.
Machapuchare, otherwise known as 'Mount Fishtail', in Nepal has never been climbed. A British team came within 150 meters of the summit in 1957 but turned back in respect for local religious traditions
Others, like the massive Summa Ri and Summa Ri II, are simply too dangerous and inaccessible for humans to reach - making this the tallest unclimbed mountain where climbing is allowed.
Located in a remote part of the Pakistan-China border, these peaks stand at 23,990 feet (7,312 meters) and 23,956 feet (7,302 meters) respectively, and have never been climbed.
While climbing is not officially banned in the area, attempting to reach the summit is essentially impossible.
Sandwiched in a politically sensitive area, there are no roads, trails or base camp to set out from.
Combined with glaciated terrain, deep crevasses, and avalanche-prone slopes, Summa Ri may remain unclimbed for many years to come.
Nyainqêntanglha East, Tibet
However, if you thought unclimbed peaks were hard to come by, the imposing mountain range of Nyainqêntanglha East will quickly prove that notion wrong.
Stretching some 370 miles (600 km) along and 123 miles (200 km) wide, this impossibly remote mountain range is almost entirely untouched by humanity.
Standing at 23,990 feet (7,312 meters), Suma Ri is the tallest unclimbed mountain that can legally be attempted
In the imposing mountain range of Nyainqêntanglha East, 159 of the 164 peaks above 19,685 feet (6,000 metres) are yet to be climbed
The range is located on the southeastern rim of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and is sometimes known as the 'Alps of Tibet'.
But, unlike the Alps, the vast majority of the peaks in this area remain unclimbed.
Out of the 164 peaks above 19,685 feet (6,000 metres), 159 are yet to be climbed.
A few western expeditions and a growing number of local climbers have now started to set new routes on untouched peaks, but those hunting for somewhere no human has trodden are still spoiled for choice.
Gakkel Ridge, Arctic Ocean
Moving away from the heights of the mountains, the ocean's depths hide even more places yet untouched by humanity.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that just 28.7 per cent of the ocean floor has even been mapped, while only 0.001 per cent has been directly observed by humans.
Yet, of all those uncharted regions, the Gakkel Ridge is possibly the most inaccessible and fascinating.
The Gakkel Ridge is a 1,120-mile-long (1,800 km) underwater volcanic mountain range stretching across the Eurasian Basin in the Arctic Ocean, almost none of which has been explored
This is an 1,120-mile-long (1,800 km) underwater volcanic mountain range stretching across the Eurasian Basin in the Arctic Ocean.
Plunging between 15,090 feet (4,600 metres) and 16,730 feet (5,100 metres) beneath the surface, this trench between the North American and the Eurasian continental plates is one of the deepest points on Earth.
However, unlike the Marina Trench, the Gakkel Ridge is also covered by an almost impenetrable layer of sea ice all year round.
In October last year, a Chinese expedition was able to use icebreakers to launch a manned mission into the trench, but only a tiny fraction of its area has yet been explored.
Yucatan Cenotes, Mexico
Chris Lloyd, a geologist and cave explorer from the Association for Mexican Cave Studies, told the Daily Mail: 'There are not a lot of places on this planet that are truly still unknown; caves are some of those places.'
And no place has more potential for new discoveries than Mexico's Yucatan Cenotes, natural limestone sinkholes and cave systems that were flooded around 10,000 years ago.
There are about 7,000 cenotes in the Yucatan province, and only 142 are available to visit - meaning that 98 per cent are still unexplored.
Experts think the Yucatan Cenotes in Mexico could be hiding around 1,000 km of unexplored passages
Hang Son Doong, Vietnam, is the world's largest cave. While the main passage has been mapped, experts believe that many of its subterranean river systems and side passages remain unmapped and unexplored
Some of these may have once been inhabited by prehistoric groups before the waters rose, but there are many hidden depths that no human has ever visited.
Mr Lloyd says: 'There probably is at least as much more to explore in the cenotes as has already been explored, which means something like another 1,000 km of passages.'
Hang Son Doong, Vietnam
Besides Mexico's Cenotes, the other great uncharted cave is Hang Son Doong in Vietnam.
Believed to be the world's largest cave, the mapped areas alone cover 38.5 million cubic meters and extend over 5.8 miles (9.4 km).
Despite decades of concerted exploration, divers are still finding more tunnels and chambers hidden within.
Even in 2019, a team of explorers discovered chambers that added another 1.6 million cubic meters of volume.
While the main passage has been mapped, experts believe that many of its subterranean river systems and side passages remain unmapped and unexplored.
https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-15962355/places-no-human-visited-revealed.html
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