Month: February 2024

When Molly Galbraith posted on Facebook a photo of herself on a beach in a bikini, her caption wasn’t your usual “look at me” selfie.

“This not a before picture. This is not an after picture,” she writes.

Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Galbraith is the owner and co-founder of Girls Gone Strong, a company that seeks to provide fitness solutions and community not influenced by the juggernaut, multi-billion dollar weight loss industry, and in her caption for the Facebook post, she creating a litany of what her body has experienced and withstood. “This is a body that loves protein and vegetables and queso and ice cream. This is a body that loves bent presses and pull-ups and deadlifts and sleep. This is a body that has been abused with fast food and late nights and stress. This body has been publicly evaluated, judged, and criticized.”

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Galbraith’s list goes on, and, so far, the image and caption have spread like wildfire across Facebook, inspiring many others.

“This is the first year in as long as I can remember that I have made NO resolutions to change the way my body looks,” writes Galbraith. “Today this is a body that is loved, adored, and cherished by the only person whose opinion matters — ME.”

This article originally appeared on 08.18.19

Photographer James Balog and his crew were hanging out near a glacier when their camera captured something extraordinary.

They were in Greenland, gathering footage from the time-lapse they’d positioned all around the Arctic Circle for the last several years.

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They were also there to shoot scenes for a documentary. And while they were hoping to capture some cool moments on camera, no one expected a huge chunk of a glacier to snap clean off and slide into the ocean right in front of their eyes.

It was the largest such event ever filmed.

For nearly an hour and 15 minutes, Balog and his crew stood by and watched as a piece of ice the size of lower Manhattan — but with ice-equivalent buildings that were two to three times taller than that — simply melted away.

As far as anyone knows, this was an unprecedented geological catastrophe and they caught the entire thing on tape. It won’t be the last time something like this happens either.

But once upon a time, Balog was openly skeptical about that “global warming” thing.

Balog had a reputation since the early 1980s as a conservationist and environmental photographer. And for nearly 20 years, he’d scoffed at the climate change heralds shouting, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

“I didn’t think that humans were capable of changing the basic physics and chemistry of this entire, huge planet. It didn’t seem probable, it didn’t seem possible,” he explained in the 2012 documentary film “Chasing Ice.”

There was too much margin of error in the computer simulations, too many other pressing problems to address about our beautiful planet. As far as he was concerned, these melodramatic doomsayers were distracting from the real issues.

That was then.

In fact, it wasn’t until 2005 that Balog became a believer.

He was sent on a photo expedition of the Arctic by National Geographic, and that first northern trip was more than enough to see the damage for himself.

“It was about actual tangible physical evidence that was preserved in the ice cores of Greenland and Antarctica,” he said in a 2012 interview with ThinkProgress. “That was really the smoking gun showing how far outside normal, natural variation the world has become. And that’s when I started to really get the message that this was something consequential and serious and needed to be dealt with.”

Some of that evidence may have been the fact that more Arctic landmass has melted away in the last 20 years than the previous 10,000 years.

Watch the video of the event of the glacier calving below:

This article originally appeared on 11.04.15

I occasionally get asked by mothers of young children what the secret is to raising great teenagers.

My initial response is that I have absolutely no clue. My kids are who they are IN SPITE of having me as a mother. (The young moms don’t find that answer too helpful.)

Really, the first thing that I will tell you is to disbelieve the myth that teenagers are sullen, angry creatures who slam doors and hate their parents. Some do that, but the overwhelming majority do not. Every one of my kids’ friends are just as happy and fun as my kids are, so I know it’s not just us.

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Teenagers are incredible. They are funny, smart, eager to please, and up for just about anything as long as food is involved. They have the most generous hearts and want desperately to be loved and validated. They are quirky and messy and have the best sense of humor.

So, here is my list of “rules” for raising teens. These are the secrets we have found to be successful.

1. Love them fiercely.

Love everything about them, even the annoying stuff. Love them for their actions AND their intentions. Let them know in word and deed how much you adore them. Daily. Love their wrinkled shirts and Axe-body-spray-covered selves. Love their bad handwriting and pimpled cheeks. Love their scattered brains and long limbs. All these seemingly insignificant details are an amazing, magical process at work. It’s like being witness to the miracle of a diamond mid-formation. All this imperfection is going to one day yield a responsible, serious adult. A loving husband and father. Or a wonderful wife and mother. It’s a privilege to be witness to such glorious growth.

See your teenagers as a privilege, don’t see them as a burden. They’re more perceptive than you can imagine. How you feel about them will be no secret. So just love ‘em.

2. Listen and pay attention.

When they walk in the door after school, you have a precious few minutes when they will divulge the secrets of their day with you. Be excited to see them. Put down the cell phone. Don’t waste this time making dinner or taking a phone call. Look them in the eye and hear what they are saying. Make their victories your victories. Be empathetic. It is really hard to navigate high school and middle school. Don’t offer advice at this time unless they ask for it. Don’t lecture. Just listen. It makes them feel important and valued. We all need to feel that way.

3. Say yes more than you say no.

The world is forever going to tell them no. For the rest of their lives, they will be swimming in a stormy sea with wave after wave of “you’re not good enough” and “you can’t do this” crashing down on their heads. If nothing else, I want to be the opposite voice in their lives for as long as I can. I want to instill in them the belief that they are not limited and they can do anything if they’re willing to work hard enough for it. I want to be the YES, YOU CAN in their lives. I want them to leave my house every day feeling invincible.

4. Say no often.

You need to say no to experiences and situations that will set your child up for harm or unhappiness. Don’t let them go to the parties where they will be forced to make a choice about alcohol at age 16 in front of their peers . Don’t let them stay out until three in the morning with a member of the opposite sex. Be the parent. Set up rules for their safety, both physical and moral. You would think this rule goes without saying, but we have known a shockingly large number of parents who don’t.

5. Feed them. A lot.

And not only them, but their friends too. These bodies are growing and developing at an astonishing rate and need fuel to do so — most of which they prefer to be loaded with processed sugar and hydrogenated-something-or-others. When their friends know your pantry is stocked to the gills with treats, they will beg your kid to hang out at your place. This allows you to not only meet and know their friends, but to keep an eye on your teen as well.

6. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

When living with teenagers, it can be so easy to see the backpack dropped in the middle of the living room as laziness. Or the bedroom scattered with dirty clothes as irresponsible. Instead, and before you open your mouth to yell at them, put yourself in their shoes. Find out about their day first. Maybe they are feeling beaten down, and they just need to unwind for a minute and tell you about it. Ignore the mess for a bit and put your arms around that big, sweaty kid and give him a hug. Talk to him about his world. Find out what he did, wants to do, and dreams of doing. THEN, and only then, ask him to pick it up and put it away.

That being said, do I completely ignore the state of my boys’ bedrooms all the time? No, I do not. But I pick my battles, and I pick the appropriate time to fight them. Once every seven to 10 days or so, I tell them their bedrooms need to be picked up. Which they do happily because it’s not the running loop of a nagging mom. They know when I ask, it needs to be done.

7. Stand back and watch the magic happen.

If you let them, these glorious creatures will open their hearts and love you more fiercely than you could possibly imagine. They are brilliant, capable, strong spirits who bring with them a flurry of happiness. They are hilarious and clever. They are thoughtful and sensitive. They want us to adore them. They need us to adore them. They love deeply and are keenly in touch with the feelings of others.

They are just about the greatest gift God gave to parents.

This article was written by Christie Halversson and originally appeared on 08.20.19

There are creative, romantic proposals, and then there’s this one.

Lee Loechler recently proposed to his girlfriend, Sthuthi David, by taking her to a packed theater to see her favorite Disney movie, Sleeping Beauty. Little did she know that Loechler had spent six months altering the animation of the film’s most iconic scene, changing the characters to look like the couple themselves and altering the storyline to set up his Big Question. And that’s only the beginning.

Watching David’s face during the scene change is sheer delight, as her confused look proves that she has no clue what is about to happen.

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The set-up is great, but the magical moment when Loechler’s illustrated self tosses the engagement ring to his real-life self? That’s when we all toss up our hands and say, “OKAY, man. You win at proposing. Everyone else must bow before you now.”

The whole proposal—the re-illustrations, the heart jokes (David is a cardiologist), and the bride-to-be’s surprise when she finds herself surrounded by friends and family—it’s all perfection. Just watch:

Amazing, right? Lee Loechler set the bar ridiculously high, but even the most cynical among us have to give him props for his creativity.

Reddit users’ responses to the video were hilarious, and reflect what we all feel watching this masterpiece.

“Welp this guy went and did it, theres no point in any of us proposing now he’s out done us all.” – XXLpeanuts

“I was just gonna propose to my girlfriend in the Starbucks parking lot where I first told her I loved her. Welp, that ain’t gonna do anymore…” – mattrva

“I proposed to my wife in front of Disney Castle in Orlando and I’ve never felt less proud about it than after watching this video lol. For real though this is one of the best proposals I’ve ever seen, bravo.” – thenaniwatiger

“I thought I was smooth with my bridge and lilyponds on a blacksand beach in Hawaii….. this guy just went and rewrote theatrical history, broke the forth wall, made a 4th dimensional joke and timed it perfectly, made a highbrow doctors joke, conspired with the internet, and filled a theater with family and friends.” – ooooopium

“Goddamn I am cold, cynical bastard and you just warmed my heart with how hard you just crushed it, my dude. I’ll say it. I am flat out envious.” – Dr_Frasier_Bane

Congratulations and best wishes to the lovely couple. May you truly live happily ever after.

This article originally appeared on 01.09.20

U2 have been around for what feels like forever at this point. Most people know them from somewhere: There’s their post-punk days of the early ’80s, the Joshua Tree era of the late ’80s, their experimental ’90s albums and massive Zoo TV tour, their mainstream comeback of the early 2000s, and the time Bono and company ticked off Apple fans by sticking their 2014 album Songs Of Innocence on people’s iPhones without warning.

More recently, they launched U2:UV Achtung Baby, the inaugural concert residency at the innovative new Las Vegas venue the Sphere. The band offered a taste of what that show was like at this year’s Grammys, where they delivered a special performance from the venue. Notably, U2’s rendition of “Atomic City” was the first time recording cameras were allowed in Sphere.

U2 isn’t nominated for any Grammys this year, but they certainly have a strong history with the awards. All in all, they’ve been nominated an amazing 46 times and converted at a fantastic rate, picking up 22 wins. Their most recent wins came in 2006, when they won five Grammys for 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and its songs.

Check out a clip of U2’s performance above. Find the full list of 2024 Grammy nominees and winners here.

Olivia Rodrigo‘s Guts era has been one for the books. Still raveling in the angst of her youth, Rodrigo continues to showcase her ability to craft hits. Released last September, Guts boasted viral tracks like “Bad Idea, Right” and “Get Him Back.” Tonight (February 4), at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Rodrigo took to the stage in a fierce performance of Guts highlight “Vampire.”

While on stage, Rodrigo wore a flowing red gown, against a mural of red roses. At the climax of the performance, blood flowed from the wall, and appeared smeared on her face. Taylor Swift was clearly into it:

Tonight, Rodrigo is nominated for five awards — Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance for her song “Vampire”; Best Rock Song for “Ballad Of A Homeschool Girl; and Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Guts. Back in 2021, Rodrigo won the coveted Grammy for Best New Artist. It’s safe to say this award manifested her reality as one of this generation’s most prolific new acts.

Later this month, Rodrigo will kick off her Guts World Tour, beginning in Palm Springs. The tour will span 77 dates around the world.

In the meantime, you can get a preview of Rodrigo’s live performing chops by watching the performance of “Vampire” above.

Taylor Swift isn’t performing at the 2024 Grammys, but Swifties might still want to stay up late.

The singer attended the ceremony with a clock around her neck that’s set to midnight. She was also spotted on the red carpet asking her team, “Do you need to set my watch?” She was told that “it’s already perfect. Midnight.”

Will Taylor Swift Announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version) After The Grammys?

Is Swift announcing something at midnight? All indications are pointing to the Taylor’s Version of Reputation, her 2017 album with hit singles “Look What You Made Me Do,” “…Ready for It?” and “Delicate.”

Swift’s entire outfit was Reputation coded. According to People, “Her custom made Lorraine Schwartz vintage watch that was turned into a choker appeared to be set to midnight, which could nod at the release time of the album drop. In fact, Swift piled on 300 carats of Lorraine Schwartz Diamonds. There are six chains on her necklace which lines up with Reputation being her sixth album and the black-and-white of it all nods to the original album’s black-and-white cover.”

Swift is up for six Grammys, including Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year for “Anti-Hero” and Album Of The Year for Midnights. Swift is one of only four artists — along with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon — to win Album Of The Year three times. So, she could set the record tonight.

Miley Cyrus’ decision to no longer tour was a devasting blow to fans dying to enjoy her latest album, Endless Summer Vacation, live.

However, that declaration made the anticipation surrounding her Grammy performance that much greater. So, when Cyrus took to the stage to deliver a rendition of her chart-topping hit single, “Flowers,” the supporters at home were over the moon. As one of 2023’s most streamed songs, the in-person crowd couldn’t help but groove along with her (especially after she called them out for acting like they never heard the song).

On the stage of the 2024 Grammys, Cyrus encapsulated the conquering feeling at the root of the record. The evening was special for Cyrus in many ways, having evolved drastically (in a creative sense) since her 2020 album Plastic Hearts. Also, with Cyrus up for Record Of The Year, the singer is on the path to making history. Mid-performance, she couldn’t contain her excitement in embracing her victory early in the ceremony. Before leaving the stage, Cyrus paid homage to the late Tina Turner.

After winning Record Of The Year for the track, she and her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, became the third parent and child to each win. Past familiar duos to win include Frank and Nancy Sinatra as well as Nat King and Natalie Cole.

Cyrus was nominated for a total of five awards: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Thousand Miles”), Best Pop Solo Performance (“Flowers”), Song Of The Year (“Flowers”), Album Of The Year (Endless Summer Vacation), Record Of The Year (“Flowers”).

View Uproxx’s complete coverage of the 2024 Grammy Awards here. Check out complete list of winners during the evening here.

The things human beings have figured out how to do boggles the mind sometimes, especially in the realm of medicine.

It wasn’t terribly long ago that people with a severe injury had to liquor up, bite a stick, have a body part sewn up or sawed off and hope for the best. (Sorry for the visual, but it’s true.) The discoveries of antibiotics and anesthesia alone have completely revolutionized human existence, but we’ve gone well beyond that with what our best surgeons can accomplish.

Surgeries can range from fairly simple to incredibly complex, but few surgeries are more complicated than separating conjoined twins with combined major organs. That’s why the recent surgical separation of conjoined twin boys with fused brains in Brazil is so incredible.

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The twins, Bernardo and Arthur Lima, are almost 4 years old and have never seen one another’s face. They’ve spent their lives conjoined at the top of their heads, facing opposite directions. Born as craniopagus twins (joined at the cranium), their brains were also fused together, making their separation extremely complex. According to the BBC, they’ve been cared for at the Instituto Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer (Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute) in Rio de Janeiro for the past two and a half years.

Surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani is the founder of medical charity Gemini Untwined, which funded the surgery. He helped lead the team of nearly 100 medical workers who worked for months to prepare for the boys’ separation, which was one of the most complicated of its kind.

Jeelani told the BBC that it was the first time surgeons in separate countries practiced by operating in the same “virtual reality room” together, wearing VR headsets.

“It’s just wonderful,” he said. “It’s really great to see the anatomy and do the surgery before you actually put the children at any risk. You can’t imagine how reassuring this is for the surgeons. To do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff.”

Watch Jeelani explain how they prepared for the procedure:

Prior attempts to separate the twins had been unsuccessful, making the surgery even more challenging due to scar tissue. However, after multiple surgeries that took more than 33 hours collectively, the boys were successfully separated in June.

“It was without a doubt the most complex surgery of my career,” said neurosurgeon Gabriel Mufarrej of the Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute, according to EuroNews. “At the beginning, nobody thought they would survive. It is already historic that both of them could be saved.”

Jeelani told the BBC that the boys’ heart rates and blood pressure were “through the roof” for four days after the surgery—until they were reunited and touched hands.

According to Reuters, Bernardo and Arthur are the oldest twins with fused brains to be successfully separated. They will spend the next six months in rehabilitation.

Congratulations to the Lima family and to the global team that combined dedication, perseverance and the miracle of modern technology to create a brighter future for these young boys.

This article originally appeared on 08.04.22

Billie Eilish isn’t a stranger to the Grammys stage. Neither is her brother and collaborating partner, Finneas.

But, given their Barbie The Album contribution’s sheer impact, it almost feels like a rebirth of sorts. Hell, I mean, even Meryl Streep has sung Eilish’s praises. During the 2024 Grammy ceremony, Eilish and Finneas proved that the influx of award nominations (Golden Globes and Oscars) thrown at “What What I Made For?” was all worth it with a performance.

The record has been a fixture on the streaming charts since its release, but Eilish’s moving rendition, backed by an orchestra, brought new life to the smash hit. Although Eilish didn’t make a cameo in the Barbie film, she transported the audience back to the record-breaking movie with her.

During an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Eilish shared how “What Was I Made For?” brought her out of a dark place. “I thank God for [Barbie director Greta Gerwig], man,” she said. “I honestly was concerned that it was over for me. I’ve got to be honest with you. She saved me, really, honestly. Getting that request, it was like a FaceTime, it brought us both out of it, and immediately we were inspired and wrote so much more after that.”

Eilish earned six nominations at the 2024 Grammys, including Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Music Video, and Best Song Written for Visual Media. At the start of the ceremony, Eilish took home the award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

Check out a clip of the performance above.

View Uproxx’s complete coverage of the 2024 Grammy Awards here. Check out the full list of nominees and winners here.