The Oscars Send Shockwaves Through Hollywood as it Dumps ABC to Air Exclusively on YouTube

YouTube has won the rights to stream the Oscars, after decades of it being broadcast on network TV. The ceremony will be available live and for free on the platform. The move marks the end of ABC’s 50-year run as the Academy Awards’ exclusive broadcaster. The deal also symbolizes streaming’s growing influence within the film industry. The Academy and YouTube say the new partnership will allow them to expand access to the largest worldwide audience possible. Ratings for the Oscars have declined in recent years, with viewership down to less than 20 million, compared to 57 million viewers in 1998. The Academy Awards first aired on NBC in 1953, with ABC taking the reins in the 1960s. Billy Crystal hosted the Oscars nine times throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but after subsequent hosts provided questionable performances, the Academy did away with a host altogether. The platform’s first show will be the 101st Oscar ceremony in 2029.

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Margaret Wise Brown’s Unexpected Life and Death

Margaret Wise Brown was an American writer of children's books, including "Goodnight Moon” and "The Runaway Bunny.” Brown — far from a dowdy, white-haired granny rocking softly in a chair — was a vibrant spirit who died strangely before her 43rd birthday. She defied societal expectations, living in a way that was often deemed strange and with a penchant for extravagance and chasing her eccentricities. She bought a home — without plumbing or electricity — on an island in Maine that could only be reached by rowboat and had chairs with all the legs shortened to make the room feel bigger. She installed a door to nowhere on the second floor of her home and labelled it “Mind the View.” In 1952, Brown was traveling alone in Europe when she had to have an emergency appendectomy. When she was ready to be discharged, she was so excited at the prospect of getting on with her vacation that when a nurse came in to check on her, she high-kicked her legs into the air, can-can style. The flamboyant high kick dislodged a blood clot and Brown blacked out and died. Brown’s fiance attended to her final wishes, including having a headstone engraved with the epitaph she wrote for herself: "Margaret Wise Brown / Writer of Songs and Nonsense." Beneath it, her loved ones added: Dear Margaret, You gave us all so much — a chance to love, a place to rest, a window into living."

 

 

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Man Fined $335 For Littering After Spitting Out a Leaf That Blew Into His Mouth

If fines leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, you’re not alone. Roy Marsh had stopped to rest for a while after walking through a parking lot in the tourist town of Skegness on England’s east coast. All of a sudden, the wind blew a big leaf into his mouth. Doing instinctively what most people would do, Marsh spit the leaf out. As he got up to resume his walk, he was accosted by two police officers, who accused him of littering. The bewildered 86-year-old responded by calling one of them a “silly boy” and that set things in motion. He wound up being fined $335 for littering. City Council member Adrian Findley described the case as one of many examples of officers being heavy-handed with enforcement. He said the officers should be able to determine whether an incident is a genuine violation before issuing steep fines.

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Man Wakes Up in the Morgue

A late-night shift at a Miami hospital morgue took a shocking turn when a worker was startled by unexpected movement from a body she was preparing for storage — all captured on the facility’s security cameras. The footage shows the technician calmly checking inventory and closing one of the cold-storage drawers when the sheet-covered body on the gurney suddenly twitches. A split second later, the left leg visibly shifts, causing the sheet to slide. The worker freezes, then jumps back in fright. “At first I thought I imagined it,” said the technician, who requested not to be named. “But then the leg moved again — I dropped my keys and ran to get help.” Hospital staff rushed in and discovered that the individual, originally pronounced dead after a cardiac arrest, had spontaneously regained signs of life — a rare but documented phenomenon known as Lazarus syndrome or delayed return of circulation. Dr. Elena Rodriguez, head of emergency medicine, explained the occurrence: “Very rarely, after unsuccessful resuscitation efforts, heart activity can resume minutes later. It’s extremely uncommon, but it does happen. And when it does, morgue workers are often the first to notice.” The patient was immediately transferred back to the ICU, where doctors confirmed a faint pulse and shallow breathing. He remains in critical condition but alive — something staff are calling a miracle. Hospital administrators have launched an internal review to determine whether protocol was properly followed before the patient was transported to the morgue. 

 

 

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