Month: August 2024

When the USA men’s gymnastics team took home the bronze medal in the team competition, snapping a drought of more than a decade without a team medal, Stephen Nedoroscik became a viral sensation. The team’s pommel horse specialist had to wait until the very end of the competition — literally the last competitor in the last rotation — to do his one routine of the night.

After starting out as a cheerleader on the sidelines, hyping up his teammates, Nedoroscik went into prep mode a couple rotations before and every cut to the bespectacled gymnast meditating or going over his routine over and over again was incredible. He ultimately nailed his routine to cement Team USA’s spot on the podium, and became one of the stars of the Olympics so far.

On Saturday, Nedoroscik was back in action in the individual men’s pommel horse competition, following Simone Biles’ gold medal win on women’s vault (with Jade Carey earning bronze). Nedoroscik was not last this time, but was near the end of the line to get on the horse and put forth another terrific routine, earning a 15.300 that pushed him into third place.

The final few competitors failed to surpass him, and everyone’s friend Steve was once again podium bound with his second bronze of the week. While finished just behind gold medalist Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland and silver medalist Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan, he continued to ensure he was one of the beloved figures to emerge from the Paris Games with his performance.

Ever look at your parents’ high school yearbooks and think people looked so much older back then? All of the teenagers look like they’re in their mid-30s and the teachers who are 50 look like they’re 80.

When we watch older movies, even those from the 1980s, the teenagers appear to be a lot older as well.

Why is it that they looked so much older? Was life harder? Did people act more mature? Did they spend more time outdoors and less time playing video games? Is it their sense of fashion? Were they all smokers?

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Educator Michael Stevens, who runs the super-popular Vsauce YouTube channel, explains the phenomenon in a new video called, “Did people used to look older?” In the video, he explains that people in the past appear a lot older due to a phenomenon known as retrospective aging.

When we see people in the past, they are wearing outdated styles that we associate with older people; therefore, we think they have aged rapidly. For example, a teenager in the 1950s may have been in fashion while wearing thick Buddy Holly-style glasses.

But as people age, they tend to cling to the fashion of their youth. So many people of that generation continued to wear the Buddy Holly-style glasses into their 50s. So when younger people see those glasses they see them as old people’s glasses and not a hip kid from the ’50s.

So in the photo from the ’50s, the teen appears to look a lot older because our perspective has been tainted by time.

But it isn’t all just an illusion. Stevens also points out that people did age faster back in the day due to differences in nutrition, lifestyle and medicine.

This article originally appeared on 07.11.22

An unsupervised toddler with a pair of scissors is nightmare fuel for parents.

Will you find shredded books, a hole in your new couch, or a pile of lopped off hair when you emerge from your quick trip to the potty?

Toddlers may still be very young, but they are fast and have a knack for getting ahold of unapproved things quickly, inflicting maximum destruction. TikTok user, @designerluxury4you, shared a video of their toddler proudly showing off the haircut she had given herself.

Experiencing your child giving themselves or their siblings a haircut seems to be a rite of passage for parents.

But the way this mom handled the discovery is showing how gentle parenting is changing the game. It’s pretty safe to say that most parents would react in a more expressive way and immediately remove the scissors from the child’s hands. This mom responded in the kindest and most respectful way you can imagine and maybe the internet is a little better for having seen it.

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When the mom walks in to see her daughter holding a pair of child’s scissors, she calmly asks, “What’d you do?” to which the now mullet-sporting toddler explains her actions. The little girl, Max, says, “I cutted all of it off and I put it on here.” While the toddler is finishing her story we get a quick glimpse of the pile of blonde hair sitting on the nightstand. This is the point that seems to divide the commenters because the reaction isn’t anger or even a stern tone. Instead, this shocked mom says, “Oh, wow. You did a really good job, Max.”

The mom asked if her daughter felt better since her hair was no longer in her face, to which Max answered, “Yep.” Max was given several options, including going to the hairdresser to fix it. The video cuts off before we find out the toddler’s choice, but the mom’s reaction was the topic of discussion in the comments.

One person wrote, “Seriously, this is impressive parenting. What a gift you are to her.”

Another said, “Wow, you handled that so well lol she’s so adorable.”

Others were confused and more critical of the mom’s calm reaction and lack of consequences. Someone wrote, “I just can’t with gentle parenting. She lost me when she said no but allowed it anyway.”

A different user expressed confusion, writing, “Not knocking gentle parenting but at the end of the day how does she learn this was wrong and not to do it again?”

There were multiple comments reminding people that even though the girl is a toddler, it’s still her hair and she should get to decide what to do with it.

Watch the video below. Do you think this mom handled this situation well?

@designerluxury4u

Talent #gamimy #kidsoftiktok #girlpower #beautician ##parentsoftiktok

This story originally appeared on 1.4.23

It seems that Adele is going viral once again.

Perhaps you’ve seen the image in question previously (it seems to make the rounds every couple of years). But in case you missed it—it’s Adele’s face. Normal, just upside down.

Only it’s not normal. In fact, when you turn Adele’s face right side up, what you notice is that her eyes and mouth were actually right-side up THE ENTIRE TIME, even though the entire head was upside down. So when you turn the head right side up, the eyes and mouth are now UPSIDE-DOWN—and you can’t unsee it. Do you feel like you’re Alice in Wonderland yet?

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Just wait. Things get even more fascinating. Especially because this optical illusion is over 40 years in the making.

Below you’ll find the Adele photo in question. Go ahead. Take a look at it. Then turn the image upside down.

Crazy right? And just a little terrifying?

As the Facebook post explains, this mind-boggling image highlights a phenomenon known as the Thatcher effect. Our brains, so much more used to recognizing faces that are right-side up, have difficulty detecting specific changes once a face is upside down.

Seeing that everything is more or less where it should be, our brains don’t notice anything out of the ordinary in Adele’s face until we turn her face back to a normal position.

The Thatcher effect got its name from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, on whose photograph it was first demonstrated back in 1980 by Peter Thompson, Professor of Psychology at York University.

This demonstration was one of the first to explore just how facial recognition works, and certainly the first to suggest that humans (and monkeys, it turns out) process faces on a more holistic level, rather than by individual components like lips and eyes. Since its publication, there has been a wealth of research exploring how our brain takes in both subtle and striking facial configurations.

Funny enough, it was once believed that this illusion only worked on the Prime Minister’s face. But as Adele has proven, anyone can be Thatcherized.

This article originally appeared on 8.31.23

According to her daughter, Lucille Ball never considered herself a feminist, but there’s no question she blazed many a trail for women. A working mother in real life, she depicted issues facing housewives with her brilliant television comedy and became the first female studio head in Hollywood. She broke glass ceilings but wasn’t particularly outspoken about women’s rights. In fact, in a 1980 interview with “People,” she said, “They can use my name for equal rights, but I don’t get out there and raise hell because I’ve been so liberated, I have nothing to squawk about.”

Ball empowered women by example—and by speaking her mind. Carol Burnett shared a story on PBS about how Ball was unhappy with a script for her new show, but women at that time didn’t raise concerns about such things. Men could express criticism and demand changes, but women simply didn’t. Ball did—and firmly—despite being non-confrontational by nature. Later she told Burnett, “Kid, that’s when they put the ‘s’ at the end of my name.”

A video has been circulating on social media showing Ball’s no-nonsense way of speaking up when she felt the need to, and people are gushing over it.

In 1978, Ball participated in a Q & A session with UCLA theater arts students on the television program “America Alive!” The viral clip shows Ball repeatedly telling one of the hosts, David Sheehan, to take his hands off of female audience members when they were asking a question.

Watch:

@femalequotient

We love Lucy ❤️

People laughed every time, but Ball didn’t so much as crack a smile during her clear, simple, repeated “hands off” admonitions. For 1978 especially, her advocacy for the women in the audience was extraordinary. Sheehan wasn’t touching these women in a lewd or sexual manner, but he was touching them in a way that he wouldn’t have touched a man who was asking a question. Most people wouldn’t have thought much of it at the time, but Lucille Ball immediately noted it and didn’t let it stand.

“I love that she didn’t even laugh when the room was,” shared one commenter. “She was not joking.”

“‘Take your hands off her, David,’ should be a sound AND a t-shirt,” wrote another.

“He kept trying. She kept telling him. Love her,” shared another.

“Lucille Ball always reminds me of my grandma,” offered another. “She hated to be seen as delicate, and she hated men that would touch her even more. She would say, stone-faced, ‘Get your paws off.'”

Even if Sheehan was casually touching those women out of habit and not ill intent, it’s laudable that Ball made a point of making him aware of it. Unfortunately, women are still having to deal with men touching them without being invited to, but seeing Lucille Ball’s serious face while calling it out is a good reminder that women have been fighting this battle for a long time. Good for her for using her microphone and the respect afforded her to speak up for the young women in her audience.

This article originally appeared on 5.15.24

Every generation is different from the one that came before. It makes sense. Every group grows up in different economic, cultural, and technological circumstances, so of course they’re going to have different tastes and values.

It’s also natural for younger generations to rebel against their parents and create their own unique identities.

However, these days, with the rapid changes in technology and culture spurned on by the internet, for some older people (Baby Boomers, Gen X), the younger generations (Millenials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha) are downright confusing.

Further, Gen Z and Gen Alpha were raised during the pandemic, the #MeToo movement, and the murder of George Floyd, which have had an enormous impact on how they see the world.

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To help the older folks who may be confused by “kids these days” feel less alone, a Redditor named 5h0gKur4C4ndl posed a question to the AskReddit subforum, “What is something about the newer generations that you can’t seem to understand?” A lot of the responses were centered around the younger generations’ relationship to technology.

The older generations also seem concerned that younger kids are a lot more prudish than their parents and should learn how to lighten up and have some fun — a big role reversal from previous generational wars.

Here are 15 things about the younger generations that older people don’t understand.

​1. Recording yourself crying

“THIS IS THE ONE. I do not know how intense your desire for external validation has to be for you to be in the midst of crying and think ‘Lights, camera, action baby let’s make sure as many people see this as possible.'” — Thrillmouse

“People who record themselves crying are already weird but posting it on the internet is weirder. imagine clicking ‘post’ to every social media they have. do they seriously not look at what they’re posting online?” — TryContent4093

2. Poor grammar

“The emails I get from my students aged 18-25 are such a mess of incoherent garbage, I can’t tell if they are lazy or if it’s an actual literacy issue. And I’m barely older than they are so if this is a generational gap, it happened quickly!” — NefariousSalmander

“It’s a block of text with no capitalization or punctuation. Imagine receiving 6 consecutive one-line texts at once. If you can figure out where the periods should go then you can make sense of it, but it’s all texting abbreviations and slang. Something like, ‘yo mr y u slow fixin my grade I trned in the lab last class my dad gonna take my phone lmk.'” — Ceesa

3. Learned helplessness

“I’m a middle school teacher. My kids will routinely claim they can’t do anything and then shut down and do nothing. And then… It’s easy and they do it. So basically it’s the degree of learned helplessness. They know to ask when I go over, but if there are twenty kids and I get to them last, they will do nothing (no phones, nothing!) for twenty minutes and act surprised I’m irritated they didn’t grab a damn pencil from the freeeee pencils on my desk. And then act surprised they’re behind on the assignment!” — Scarletuba

4. The internet is forever

“The lack of understanding that things put on the internet are public forever.” — Leading_Screen_4216

5. No self-confidence

“37-year-old attending college for the first time here. They have negative confidence. They barely speak above a mumble, especially when answering a question from the teacher. Most of them would rather die than talk to someone they’re interested in. It’s like 90% of them are cripplingly introverted.” — Intelligent-Mud1437

6. They need attention

“We were saying what we would do if we won the big lottery jackpot. The new 22-year-old hire said he’d become an influencer. Can you imagine winning a billion at 22 and that’s what you would do? Not start a business, travel the world, charity, sports, property… Learn something… but become an influencer… with a billion dollars. I mean, like, he’s gonna hire a marketing company to fabricate interest in his social media? He’s gonna spend money on stupid things to make people cringe or rage comment? With a billion dollars.” — Covercall

7. Put your phone down

“Why do you want to watch 100% of a concert, that you paid good money for, through your phone lens?” — LeluWater

“I was yesterday in a Linkin Park cover band concert, a fuckin blast. There was that one guy, that spent every song recording HIS FACE ‘singing’ along. Not the band, his face. Please wake me up in 1995.” — pls_tell_me

8. Phone at the movies

“Why do they go to the movies only to scroll through their phone the entire time?” — IAmASurgeonDoctorHan

“My wife does this. Not at the theater, but we’ll be watching a movie or TV show, and she’ll be glued to her phone. Then when she looks up she doesn’t get what’s going on and we have to pause while I explain what just happened and why.” — Project2R

9. Paranoia

“I’m in my forties and I manage a small group of people who are in their 20s to early thirties. What I notice most is how anxious and fearful they seem to be. Everyone is out to get them. I often get approached by subordinates who want me to do something about a colleague who is doing them wrong in some way. After I gather more information, it almost always is a case of poor assumption about someone else’s intentions, coupled with a desire to jump to the worst-case scenario. If I ask them a series of probing questions about other possible interpretations they often admit they didn’t consider those possibilities.” — Reasonable_Human55

10. Putting on heirs

“I don’t understand why most of them want to look rich with expensive s**t and most of them act like they run businesses or something.They take pictures with cars that are not theirs for example. Dude chill, you’re 16.” — Honest_Math7760

“Because they are indoctrinated by social media that tells them they are a failed human if they don’t become a multi-millionaire entrepreneur.” — Outrageous_Glove_467

11. The new Puritans

“This weird new Puritan wave they are riding on. We struggled for generations to free ourselves from oppressive dogmas, and now they are all-in on the whole: ‘if you like anything even remotely non-wholesome, you should be arrested and burn in hell.’ … Constantly calling for bans on anything that upsets them, instead of learning how to avoid the things that upset them.” — SleepyCera

“The prudishness is so weird to me. Hearing young people talk about body counts’ and how you should be married with kids by the age of 25, or you’re past your prime is absolutely insane. Even my Christian grandparents weren’t as sexually conservative as this generation. The complete demonization of partying, drinking, and going out is weird too—like I can see being traumatized by fentanyl and the general lack of safety around drugs, but I did most of my socializing as a young person by going to concerts and nightlife events and meeting people, and they seem to just…not do anything social?” — Counterboudd

12. Can’t handle stress

“The absolute lack of capacity to deal with any emotional stress or upheaval without turning into a gibbering mess. …I had someone messing around in a lecture, playing with their phone and being disruptive. I stopped the lecture and told them to put it away and pay attention or leave. They looked SHOCKED to have been called out and sat there quietly for the next 10-15 minutes until suddenly going all ‘deer in the headlights’ when asked a question in relation to the topic and then running the full length of the lecture hall and out the room. I was informed the following day that the student had went to counseling services to complain that I had ‘put unreasonable pressure on him by asking him questions in class, and set off his anxiety.'” — Indiana_Harris

13. White socks with sneakers

“How pulling up white socks with sneakers was the most unfashionable middle-aged American dad clothing in the entire world. To being fashionable.” — Awkward_Moments

“Socks with sandals too. And mustaches. Kids today think dressing like a dorky dad thirty years ago is cool. I laugh at them all the time.” — IDigRollingRockBeer

14. Watching video games

“Why they’d rather watch someone else play a video game than play it themselves. That was a punishment when I was a kid, not entertainment.” — DeadDevilMonkey

15. External stimulation

“Will never understand the constant need for external stimulation. I’m quite happy just to ponder my own thoughts. I love flying, because it gives me several hours to think on shit without distraction. Ask young people to put down their phone? It’s as if you asked them to chop off their left hand.” — Midnight_Poet

This article originally appeared on 4.9.24

With the United States having one of the best education systems in the world (yes, really), one might assume that American teachers get everything they need to do their jobs well. But that’s simply not the case.

While teacher pay varies a lot by state, teaching is a famously underpaid profession when you calculate everything that goes into it. But on top of that, most teachers end up spending their own hard-earned money on their classrooms to make sure their students get a quality educational experience.

How much are teachers spending on classroom supplies and what are they buying? Here’s how it breaks down.

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A CouponBird survey of 2,500 teachers across the U.S. found that 93% of respondents spend their own money on their classrooms with average yearly spend of $915. (The teachers were split between the age groups they teach: 41% elementary school, 23% middle school and 36% high school.)

Where to teachers spend the most and the least? The highest spending states were Texas ($1,396), Pennsylvania ($1,387) and Arizona ($1,375) and the lowest spending states were Idaho ($490), Louisiana ($456) and Oklahoma ($447).

What’s extra interesting is what these teachers say they spend their money on. Here’s how those numbers broke down:

– Consumable School Supplies: 97%
– Classroom Decor: 76%
– Educational Aids (Books, Games, etc.): 67%
– Snacks: 44%
– Cleaning Supplies: 36%
– First Aid Supplies: 31%

If teachers want to spend their own money on extras, that’s one thing, but none of those categories seem “extra,” do they? School supplies shouldn’t have to be purchased and paid for by individual teachers, but even cleaning supplies? Yikes.

Elementary school teacher Natalie Ringold asked her fellow teachers to share how much money they spend on their classrooms on average each year, and the responses were telling.

See on Instagram

“Let’s just say I work another job in the weekends to pay for what I need for my students. The smiles on their faces and the full bellies in the classroom make it all worth it.”

“😂😂 I dont keep track bc I don’t wanna know.”

“😝🤣 We do not speak of that number.”

“I’m mortified to say… but probably around $1500. Not defending myself, but still in the new teacher era… trying to set up my classroom so it’s functional and comfortable lol.”

“First year teacher… definitely past the 3k mark.”

“$2000 as a 3rd grade teacher after it’s all said and done.”

“Over $1,000 per year as an elementary music teacher.”

“From the summer to the end of the year probably around $1,500 as a 1st grade teacher.”

“This will be my first year teaching ! I’ve spent almost $1000 already on furniture/rug , classroom supplies etc. and I still need more ! But..hopefully it will be less next year as it will just need to be maintained. 🙌🏼”

“Probably around $500 these days. This is year 20 for me.”

Some people might argue that there are other jobs where workers are expected to pay for some things out of their own pockets, but this is public education we’re talking about. Something every society needs to function and advance. Something we’ve deemed important enough for the government to provide (though some disagree). It hardly seems logical that teachers should pay for any of their classroom supplies out of their own pocket.

To add insult to injury, teacher’s aren’t even able to write most of their out-of-pocket expenditures off on their taxes. In 2022, the IRS raised the limit of what teachers could deduct from $250 to $300. Seriously? We have teachers spending upwards of $1,000 a year of their own money on supplies for their job and they can’t even write them all off?

To help bridge the gap, some teachers are making use of crowdfunding platforms to help spread out the burden a bit, offering people who value education and have the means to pitch in a chance to donate to their classrooms. If that’s you, check out DonorsChoose and filter by location to find a teacher or classroom near you. Lots of people each giving a little goes a long way, so let’s do what we can to help teachers get what they need for their students.

While the world was catching up on its beauty rest, Kanye West (Ye) and Ty Dolla Sign were plotting. The duo decided to give their supporters what they’ll been begging for—their Vultures 2 album.

Now that the anticipated album is officially available across streaming platforms, listeners are picking through it to unveil the special features. To save you some time, we’ve done it for you. Continue below for more information about Vultures 2, including the tracklist, features, artwork, and more.

Tracklist

1. “Slide”
2. “Time Moving Slow”
3. “Field Trip” Feat. Playboi Carti, Don Toliver & Kodak Black
4. “Fried”
5. “Isabella”
6. “Promotion” Feat. Future
7. “Husband”
8. “Lifestyle” Feat. Lil Wayne
9. “Maybe”
10. “Bomb”
11. “River”
12. “530”
13. “Dead”
14. “Forever Rolling”
15. “Sky City”
16. “My Soul”

Features

In total, Vultures 2 seems to have five guest appearances. Across the body of work, fans can look forward to guest verses from Playboi Carti, Don Toliver, Kodak Black, Future, and Lil Wayne.

Artwork

View the official cover below.

Tour

In this stage of his creative venture, Ye has opted out of touring in favor of unique listening experiences with fans. Over on Instagram, the duo announced their next two listening experiences will be held on August 23 in Korea and August 25 in Taiwan.

Vultures 2 is out now via YZY. Find more information here.

PartyNextDoor’s Sorry, I’m Outside tour stopped in his native Toronto this evening, and was joined onstage by a fellow Torontonian, Drake, who popped out to perform “Finesse” alongside his OVO artist and deliver a second surprise to fans, just in case his presence wasn’t all that surprising. In a video shared by fans in attendance, Drake announced a joint album from himself and Party is coming this fall.

“I know you girls are outside,” he smarmed. “When it gets a little chilly, PartyNextDoor and Drake album will be right there for you.”

This joint album would be Drake’s second collaborative album, following 2022’s Her Loss with 21 Savage (2015’s What A Time To Be Alive with Future is officially listed as a mixtape in his discography, but you can count it if you want). It’ll be his first collab project with any member of his label, OVO Sound, as well.

Fans at the show sound fairly excited about the news in the video, but you can be sure skepticism for the project will be at all time highs on social media. The timing is certainly notable; Drake needs a win after being drubbed by Kendrick Lamar this summer, and it’s clearly good PR for him and promotion for his artist. In either case, both could certainly use the jolt of creative energy that comes from collaborating with a longtime friend — and project where neither has to carry the whole thing.

I guess we’ll find out this autumn — and what are the odds it actually comes out in October?

The Olympics can foster great rivalries between athletes and nations in certain sports. From an American perspective, the 2024 Olympics feature the rivalry with Australia in the swimming pool, Jamaica on the track, and, potentially, Canada and France on the basketball court, among others.

It’s part of competition at the highest level, but the Olympians aren’t the only ones settling some scores in Paris this summer. As part of NBC’s comprehensive coverage of the Games, the Today show is on site and had a special guest stop by on Friday, as Elmo from Sesame Street donned a Team USA beret to talk about his excitement to see all the big names in Paris, before reigniting his long-standing beef with Rocco the Rock.

For years, Elmo has been embroiled in a feud with Rocco, who is his friend Zoe’s pet rock — a concept Elmo just can’t understand. Even The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) has gotten involved, and while they’d apparently settled things in the past, some old frustrations are coming back for Elmo now that Rocco is in Paris.

I do appreciate the commitment to the bit here, and I have to say, Elmo makes a strong point that Rocco cannot win a medal, being just a rock. I’m sure Elmo will manage to still have a good time in Paris despite Rocco’s appearance, provided he does not run into Larry David again.