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On March 8, 2023, a keeper at World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis County, Missouri, noticed something odd. A male bald eagle named Murphy was guarding what appeared to be a large depression in the ground.

“The spot was sparsely but carefully decorated with leaves and branches, and featured a simple rock right in the center,” the nature preserve shared on its Facebook page.

Murphy began sitting on the rock, nudging it and becoming fiercely protective of it, as it if were an egg. People visiting the sanctuary would inquire about the bald eagle just sitting there, wondering if he was okay. The keepers finally put up a sign that read:

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“If you see an eagle lying down in the back left corner under a perch, that’s Murphy! Murphy is not hurt, sick, or otherwise in distress. He has built a nest on the ground, and is very carefully incubating a rock! We wish him the best of luck!”

In case you’re wondering if this is unusual behavior for a 31-year-old male bald eagle, the answer is “not really, but….” Male bald eagles do share equally in nesting and baby-raising, so the paternal instinct part is normal. Murphy’s channeling of that instinct onto a rock…maybe not so much. And at 31, he’s more like a great-granddad than dad, as bald eagles usually live 20 to 30 years in the wild (though they do live longer in captivity).

Murphy takes fatherhood seriously, though. Soon he began screaming and charging at the four other eagles in the aviary if they came anywhere near RockBaby. (That’s the official name the keepers gave Murphy’s…well, rock baby.) Naturally, the screaming and charging caused a fair amount of stress for all involved, so Murphy and RockBaby were moved to their own enclosure for everyone’s protection.

People who saw this unfold started suggesting sanctuary staff replace Murphy’s rock with a real egg or get him a mate, but 1) Eagle eggs aren’t just lying around waiting to be given to wanna-be dads, 2) hatching a different kind of bird’s egg would be potentially dangerous for it, and 3) Murphy had two females right there in the aviary, and none of them were interested in each other. Alas, the heart cannot be forced.

However, a different opportunity presented itself in late March when an aerie with two chicks in it was blown down by high winds. One chick didn’t survive the fall, but the other was brought to World Bird Sanctuary’s Wildlife Hospital.

A bit bruised, but otherwise healthy, the chick was given a good prognosis. Staff began feeding it while wearing a camouflage suit and holding an eagle stuffy to prevent the eaglet from imprinting on humans. What the baby really needed was a foster parent—an adult eagle who would feed and care for it.

“Murphy’s dad instincts were already in high gear,” the sanctuary wrote on April 11, “but at 31 years old, he had never raised a chick before. It’s definitely a gamble, but also the chick’s best chance.”

Introducing an eaglet to an adult eagle isn’t as simple as dropping it in the enclosure. First, the eaglet is put into what the sanctuary refers to as a “baby jail,” which is a heated, comfy cage made of wood and wire that protects the eaglet but still allows some interaction between the birds so they can get used to one another. Once the desired bonding behavior is observed, then they try out some direct one-on-one interaction without the cage.

On April 12, World Bird Sanctuary announced, “IT’S HAPPENING!!!!”

The eaglet (referred to as Bald Eaglet 23-126—they don’t name foster babies at the sanctuary for superstitious reasons) was released from baby jail, and after an hour or so Murphy approached it with curiosity. Was he wondering if his RockBaby had hatched? Maybe. Would he be the nurturing dad everyone hoped he would be? It appears so.

As the sanctuary shared:

“This morning, Murphy got his chance to be a full parent as 23-126 left the nest to go be closer to Murphy. The food is being dropped through a blind drop tube into the nest and baby appears unable to be able to get over the lip to get back into the nest to get the chopped food. When we checked back, we found that baby was still out of the nest and all the chopped food was still in the nest. However, Murphy’s whole fish had been removed from the nest and baby had a full crop. 23-126 is not yet old enough to tear food which means MURPHY FED THE BABY!!!!”

The comments on the update, of course, are pure gold as people have become fully invested in this story:

“I can’t believe I’m crying over eagles!”

“Murphy’s going to be giving a TedTalk: Manifest The Eaglet You Need In Your Life.”

“So happy for Murphy & eaglet Dwayne (the rock Johnson).”

“‘Rock, I am your Father.'”

“Omg I’m crying! Murphy never gave up on his rock and now has a baby of his very own The wonders of nature never cease. Ty, WBS, for making this possible. These two are saving each other .”

Many people have lamented that there is not a live cam so we can all watch this pair as their relationship develops, but staff reminded everyone that the sanctuary is out in the middle of the woods and they don’t have a strong enough signal for a live stream.

But WBS staff has been posting updates on social media and will share the story as it continues to unfold. Follow World Bird Sanctuary on Facebook here. And if you feel compelled to donate to help feed little Dwayne or 23-126 or whatever you’d like to call Murphy’s new baby—who apparently eats a ridiculous amount—you can donate here or check out their Amazon baby registry (yes, seriously!) here.

Congratulations, Papa Murphy!

This article originally appeared on 4.14.23

As Jay-Z once said, “Believe half of what you hear, even if it’s spat by me.” That principle has once again been proven true thanks to Killer Mike. During a recent interview to promote his new album, Michael, Killer Mike appeared to confirm that his longtime collaborator André 3000 is working on a new album. However, according to HipHop-N-More, he has since backtracked, telling his hometown radio station V-103 it was just a joke that fans took too seriously.

“I was stoned out of my mind playing, teasing with y’all,” he’s reported saying. “Y’all done took the joke too seriously. But you know, [André 3000’s] always making music. He’s never not making music. So I got a chance to hear a lot of cool stuff… If you want to hear Dre though, I know where you can. It’s this album called Michael that’s out right now.” He is referring, of course, to the song “Scientists & Engineers,” on which André appears alongside Future.

Mike said the Outkast member had nearly nixed the collaboration until hearing the completed version with guest vocalist Eryn Allen Kane. He gave the go-ahead on its release, but while promoting the album, Mike revealed the existence of another collaboration — and fans’ eagerness to hear it is likely what prompted the furor over Mike’s album comments.

What started out as a seeming joke between tech billionaires might become the fight of the year. UFC President Dana White is now claiming that both Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are interested in getting in the ring together after their “cage match” exchange across their respective social media platforms. According to White, he’s been texting both men, and they’re game for what could be a massive pay-per-view event.

“Talked with Mark and Elon last night, both guys are absolutely dead serious about this,” White told TMZ Sports before boasting about the money-making opportunities and Musk’s history of getting into childhood fights? Things may have gone off the rails a bit:

As for how big the event could be — Dana believes it would easily be the most-watched fight ever, saying “The biggest fight of all time was Floyd and Conor, I just think it triples that — it triples what that did, there’s no limit on what that thing can make.”

Dana’s confident both men are capable of handling themselves. Zuck has been in jiu-jitsu competitions recently, and Elon has done martial arts and told Dana he was involved in “plenty of fights growing up in South Africa.”

The situation started on Wednesday night when Musk seemingly mocked Zuckerberg’s latest obsession with jiu-jitsu.

“I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Musk tweeted to a user who brought up Zuckerberg’s new skills. After catching wind of the jab, Zuckerberg screenshot Musk’s tweet and posted it on Instagram with the caption, “Send Me Location.”

As for who would win in a fight, the answer is obvious: Anyone who wants to see two billionaires publicly humiliate themselves. Bring it on.

(Via TMZ Sports)

Once upon a time there was an investor who liked a stock. It was a special stock for a company that looked, by all accounts, like it would be headed for the dumpster behind the third abandoned mall in your hometown. In fact, it seemed like some hedge fund types were trying to ensure that it failed so they could make bank off of it.

As you probably know, that’s not what happened.

Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money is the Big Short-ified version of the GameStop stock squeeze wherein Keith Gill (Paul Dano) made millions of dollars assuming that GameStop wouldn’t collapse entirely, and several hedge fund leads with billions under management lost a gobsmacking amount of money betting that a brick and mortar retail antique would shutter.

Based on the book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich, the movie gives us both sides of the chaos — the slobs dropping their jaw when the numbers in their accounts start multiplying, and the snobs who need to get their lawyers on the phone PDQ. The trailer almost exclusively trades in that rushed insanity, and the subject matter is perfect for a filmmaker like Gillespie who thrives on presenting high-pressure absurdity driven by pompous idiots. The only slightly funky thing is how subdued Dano seems in the role in these brief moments given the happy-go-lucky vibe Keith Gill exuded.

Dumb Money, also starring Shailene Woodley, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, and Seth Rogen, hits theaters September 22nd.

Whatever you do, don’t turn off the buy button on this one.

Beyond learning that Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan would rather retire from television than collaborate with other writers, his Hollywood Reporter feature story has revealed that the hit western soap opera about the Dutton family was almost an HBO series. Pitched originally as “The Godfather in Montana,” Sheridan wrote it as a feature before converting it into a pilot script and developing it with HBO under the guidance of then-programming head Michael Lombardo.

Sheridan wanted Kevin Costner (of 2003’s Open Range fame) for the role, but HBO was giving him the runaround until one executive proclaimed that they needed more star power, and offered that if Robert Redford would star, Sheridan would get his greenlight. Naturally, Sheridan visited Redford, wooed him into taking the role, and HBO promptly backpedaled.

“And he says — and you can’t make this shit up — ‘We meant a Robert Redford type,’” Sheridan recalled. Another executive allegedly laid out their reluctance more plainly, saying that the show was too “Middle America” for the cutting edge network in a conversation where it became clear that the development was dead. Normally, it would have stayed dead, but Lombardo got Sheridan the rights back before leaving HBO, which is why he was able to sell it to Paramount and craft a hit show.

This kind of origin myth should be taken with a grain of salt (along with Sheridan’s claim that he writes an episode in 8 hours and gets no notes back from Paramount), but it’s definitely plausible. At any rate, the show that Sheridan ended up making feels more like it should be on Paramount than on HBO, and now we’ve got the vision of Robert Redford playing Vito Corleone with the Big Horn Mountains as a backdrop to fuel our desire for alternate TV history.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

Jordan Poole’s time as a member of the Golden State Warriors has come to an end. According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, the Warriors spent time on Thursday afternoon taking calls on a potential deal for the high-scoring guard. And shortly after that report hit the internet, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Poole is on his way to Washington in a deal that would send Chris Paul to the Warriors.

Charania added some details, as he brought word that the Warriors would send the Wizards a protected first-round pick in the 2030 NBA Draft, along with a second-round selection and Ryan Rollins.

Paul was sent to the Wizards as part of the trade that sent Bradley Beal to the Phoenix Suns, but it was believed that he wouldn’t stick around, as a reunion with the Los Angeles Clippers was reported in the immediate aftermath. While he is going to California, he will instead partner with Steph Curry in Golden State’s backcourt.

Poole is coming off of an up-and-down campaign that was quite hectic before it even started, as he signed a 4-year, $128 million extension that begins this year. He was also punched during a practice by Draymond Green, which led to the Warriors veteran getting suspended. While he wasn’t quite as efficient last year as he was in the past, Poole averaged 20.4 points per game on percent shooting from the field.

As a former reality TV star, Donald Trump seems to have a strange habit of forgetting of getting caught on hot mics. The twice-impeached president has a habit of willfully incriminating himself on the record — see his latest Fox News interview with correspondent Bret Baier — but a recently-revealed batch of old recordings relating to his classified documents conundrum might prove more damning than even that two-part national sit-down. A new filing in the criminal case against Trump — you know, the one where he’s facing 37 counts including Espionage Act charges — seems to suggest the prosecution has even more evidence of Trump knowingly hoarding top secret files … and they’ve got it on tape.

As part of the first round of evidence presented to Trump’s defense attorneys as part of the discovery process, Special Counsel Jack Smith revealed the prosecution has “interviews” (as in, plural) which were “recorded with his consent” and presumably confirm he knew the documents in his possession were classified and that he did not have the power to declassify them. Now, we already know of one such tape that features Trump can be heard saying he can’t show certain documents to other parties in the room because they’re classified, but the interviews are a new, and possibly damning revelation.

“They used the word plural when talking about interviews in recordings that they have of Trump, which they said were made with his consent,” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins said of the filing. “Of course, we know one of those was when he was speaking with people who were ghostwriting that book for Mark Meadows, and that is where he was talking about seemingly having a classified document in front of him. We don’t yet know what these other recordings are. But it is significant that now discovery has started in this documents case.”

And just imagine, Trump could’ve likely gotten away with all of this if he had simply liked hearing himself talk a bit less.

(Via Mediaite)

Last week, Kesha scored a win in Dr. Luke’s (real name Lukasz Gottwald) defamation lawsuit against her: It was ruled that he is a “public figure,” which means that proving that Kesha acted with “actual malice” when she claimed he drugged and raped her in 2005 would be more difficult. Legally speaking, though, that doesn’t really matter anymore: Today (June 22), Kesha and Dr. Luke announced in a joint statement that the defamation lawsuit is officially over.

The statement, as posted on Kesha’s Instagram account this afternoon, begins, “Kesha and Dr. Luke have agreed to a resolution of the lawsuit, and have agreed to issue and post a joint statement regarding that resolution. In resolution of that lawsuit, Kesha and Dr. Luke each state the following.”

After that introduction are individual statements from the two. Kesha’s reads:

“Only God knows what happened that night. As I have always said, I cannot recount everything that happened. I am looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and beginning a new one. I wish nothing but peace to all parties involved.”

Dr. Luke’s says:

“While I appreciate Kesha again acknowledging that she cannot recount what happened that night in 2005, I am absolutely certain that nothing happened. I never drugged or assaulted her and would never do that to anyone. For the sake of my family, I have vigorously fought to clear my name for nearly 10 years. It is time for me to put this difficult matter behind me and move on with my life. I wish Kesha well.”

The lawsuit was initially filed way back in 2014, but after years of litigation and other procedural hold-ups, the trial was finally set to start in a matter of weeks, on July 19.

Find Kesha’s post of the joint statement below.

1500 Or Nothin’s MyGuyMars steps up to the mic with a groovy medley performance of “U Know Wassup/Only You” for UPROXX Sessions. In a departure from many of the one-take performances we’ve hosted, Mars brings a full band, including bass, guitars, and DJ, and plays keys himself as he sings the upbeat West Coast two-stepper “U Know Wassup,” then slows things down for a cover of “Only You” by 112. I dare you not to dance — and I bet you will.

For those unfamiliar, 1500 Or Nothin‘ is a collective of artists, musicians, and producers based in the Los Angeles area who has worked with just about everybody who’s anybody in hip-hop today, from local legends like Kendrick Lamar, Roddy Ricch, Nipsey Hussle, Snoop Dogg, and The Game to pillars of hip-hop like Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, Just Blaze, Rihanna, and Usher.

Mars is one of the core members of the collective alongside Rance, James Fauntleroy, and Brody Brown, and has been performing under the 1500 banner since his high school days. His credits include The Dirty Projectors and T.I., while he has released numerous solo projects, including February’s No Days Off 2, which is where you can find “U Know Wassup.”

Watch MyGuyMars’s UPROXX Sessions performance above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

1500 Or Nothin’s MyGuyMars steps up to the mic with a groovy medley performance of “U Know Wassup/Only You” for UPROXX Sessions. In a departure from many of the one-take performances we’ve hosted, Mars brings a full band, including bass, guitars, and DJ, and plays keys himself as he sings the upbeat West Coast two-stepper “U Know Wassup,” then slows things down for a cover of “Only You” by 112. I dare you not to dance — and I bet you will.

For those unfamiliar, 1500 Or Nothin‘ is a collective of artists, musicians, and producers based in the Los Angeles area who has worked with just about everybody who’s anybody in hip-hop today, from local legends like Kendrick Lamar, Roddy Ricch, Nipsey Hussle, Snoop Dogg, and The Game to pillars of hip-hop like Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, Just Blaze, Rihanna, and Usher.

Mars is one of the core members of the collective alongside Rance, James Fauntleroy, and Brody Brown, and has been performing under the 1500 banner since his high school days. His credits include The Dirty Projectors and T.I., while he has released numerous solo projects, including February’s No Days Off 2, which is where you can find “U Know Wassup.”

Watch MyGuyMars’s UPROXX Sessions performance above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.