Year: 2024

I recently spent some time with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. He’s known not only for breaking down stereotypes about what kinds of people go into science, but he has actively stood up and spoken against those who would close its doors, especially to young women.

So when Neil was asked this question by a little girl during a public speech, he gave one of the best answers I’ve ever heard. It may drive some parents crazy, but it also might just help change the world.

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This article originally appeared on 01.14.15

Van Gogh never got to enjoy his own historic success as an artist (even though we’ve been able to imagine what that moment might have looked like). But it turns out that those of us who have appreciated his work have been missing out on some critical details for more than 100 years.

I’m not easily impressed, OK?

I know Van Gogh was a genius. If the point of this were “Van Gogh was a mad genius,” I would not be sharing this with you.

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But I found this and I thought, “Oh, what a vaguely interesting thing.” And then I got to the part about the Hubble Space Telescope, and, let me tell you: Mind. Blown.

We’ve got the set up here, but you have to watch the video for the full effect. It’s all the way at the bottom.

Get this: Van Gogh was a pretty cool artist (duh), but as it turns out…

…he was also A SCIENTIST!*

*Pretty much.

Here’s the story.

While Van Gogh was in an asylum in France, after he mutilated his ear during a psychotic episode*…

(*Or, and I’d like to thank the entire Internet for pointing this out, there’s a theory that his friend Paul Gauguin actually cut off his ear, in a drunken sword fight, in the dark. The more you know!)

…he was able to capture one of science’s most elusive concepts:

~~~TURBULENCE~~~

Although it’s hard to understand with math (like, REALLY HARD), it turns out that art makes it easy to depict how it LOOKS.

So what is turbulence?

Turbulence, or turbulent flow, is a concept of fluid dynamics where fluid movements are “self-similar” when there’s an energy cascade — so basically, big eddies make smaller eddies, and those make even smaller ones … and so on and so forth.

It looks like this:

See? It’s easier to look at pictures to understand it.

Thing is, scientists are pretty much *just* starting to figure this stuff out.

Then you’ve got Van Gogh, 100 years earlier, in his asylum, with a mutilated ear, who totally nailed it!

The folks who noticed Van Gogh’s ability to capture turbulence checked to see whether other artists did the same. Most impressionists achieved ” luminance” with their art (which is the sort-of *pulsing* you see when you look at their paintings that really shows what light looks like).

But did other artists depict turbulence the way Van Gogh did?

NOPE.

Not even “The Scream” could hold a candle to Van Gogh!

Even in his darkest time, Van Gogh was able to capture — eerily accurately — one of nature’s most complex and confusing concepts … 100 years before scientists had the technology to observe actual star turbulence and realize its similarity to fluid turbulence mathematics as well as Van Gogh’s swirling sky. Cool, huh?

Watch the video below to learn even more:

This article originally appeared on 11.14.24

Australia is sending a strong message to domestic abusers worldwide: You’re not welcome here.

Australia has recently broadened a migration law to bar any person who has been convicted of domestic violence anywhere in the world from getting a visa to enter the country. American R&B singer Chris Brown and boxing star Floyd Mayweather had been banned from the country in the past, following their domestic violence convictions. Now the ban applies to all foreign visitors or residents who have been found guilty of violence against women or children.

Even convicted domestic abusers who already have visas and are living in Australia can be kicked out under the new rule. The government is using the rule, which took effect on February 28, 2019 to send a message to domestic violence perpetrators.

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“Australia has no tolerance for perpetrators of violence against women and children,” Federal Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman said in a public statement. “The message is clear: if you’ve been convicted of a violent crime against women or children, you are not welcome in this country, wherever the offence occurred, whatever the sentence.”

The ban is supposed to make Australia safer, but not everyone is happy about it.

“By cancelling the visas of criminals we have made Australia a safer place,” Coleman said. “These crimes inflict long lasting trauma on the victims and their friends and family, and foreign criminals who commit them are not welcome in our country.”

However, Australia’s neighboring country of New Zealand has long taken issue with Australia’s policy of exporting convicts, and this new policy highlights why. Under the new rule, New Zealanders who have already served their sentences for domestic violence and lived in Australia most of their lives could be kicked out and sent to live in New Zealand. Such circumstances raise questions about when justice has been served and the role of rehabilitation in domestic violence convictions.

Australia, like many other countries, is trying to come to terms with its domestic violence problem.

Barring domestic violence perpetrators from other countries sends a strong message, but it’s only meaningful if the country also tackles the problem among its own citizens. According to a Personal Safety Study conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about 17% of Australian women and 6% of Australian men have experienced partner violence since the age of 15. And the numbers have remained relatively stable since 2005.

That may seem to indicate that little progress has been made; however, as Australian law professor Heather Douglass points out, the numbers only tell part of the story. Since most people in abusive relationships don’t report the abuse until after they’ve left, it could simply be that more are leaving, which is a good thing. There has also been a marked increase in people seeking domestic violence services in some areas, which, again, is a good thing. For far too long, domestic violence was swept under the rug while victims were often too afraid or embarrassed to seek help. More calls for help could mean that the stigma associated with domestic violence is starting to fade.

This story originally appeared on 04.01.19

After working six years as a labor and delivery nurse Holly, 30, has heard a lot of inappropriate remarks made by men while their partners are in labor. “Sometimes the moms think it’s funny—and if they think it’s funny, then I’ll laugh with them,” Holly told TODAY Parents. “But if they get upset, I’ll try to be the buffer. I’ll change the subject.”

Some of the comments are so wrong that she did something creative with them by turning them into “inspirational” quotes and setting them to “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton on TikTok.

“Some partners are hard to live up to!” she jokingly captioned the video.

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The first video featured the following facepalm-inducing quotes:

“I think you should just get a C-section. This is taking too long.”

“How long is this gonna take? I have plans this weekend.”

“Are you sure you want an epidural? My mom didn’t have one. Before you make a decision, we should talk about it.”

“Sew an extra stitch down there for me, doc. We want everything just the way it was before all of this.”

@hollyd_rn

Part 1: Some partners are hard to live up to! Get you a good one #laboranddelivery #labor

It’s unbelievable that anyone would make such selfish comments while their partner is in the throes of giving birth. Anyone who would ask, “How long is this gonna take?” definitely isn’t prepared to raise a child.

Some TikTok users thought that these women should have left their partners right there in the delivery room.

“LOL immediate divorce, I’m not joking,” Rig wrote. Little_n_often agreed saying, “I’d be getting the divorce papers ready.”

“I would sign the divorce papers while in labor and pushing,” another commenter wrote.

The video was a massive hit on TikTok, receiving over 10 million views. So, the nurse followed it up with a sequel where she shared more “inspirational” delivery room quotes from men.

@hollyd_rn

Part 2: some partners are hard to live up to! Get you a good one! #laboranddelivery #babydaddy #labor

“Wake me up when the baby gets here I’m tired.” (Rolls over, puts cover over head and slept thru the birth of his baby.)

“Can you move to the birthing ball so I can sleep in the bed?”

(As the patient is pushing) “Do you guys do DNA tests here? My mom wants me to get one before we leave.”

“Call me when you’re about to have the baby. I’m gonna go with [name redacted] to the bar and watch the game.”

Holly also told TODAY Parents that men should also keep their thoughts on pain medication to themselves and to stop looking at the contraction monitor and making comments.

“She can feel it!” Holly said. “You don’t need to ask her if she felt it. Trust me, she did.”

Holly’s public airing of men’s bad behavior had to be therapeutic, because, as a nurse, she can’t tell them off in the delivery room. But it’s also a warning to men out there on how not to behave when their partners are giving birth. If there was ever a time in the world to stop thinking about yourself, it’s while your partner is giving birth.

Remember guys, think before you say anything in the delivery room, the nurses are listening.

This article first appeared on 09.23.22

The early 2000s was certainly a time to be alive. At that point in time most Millennials successfully survived Y2K, watched 9/11 unfold in real time and discovered the real Slim Shady. But by the time many were in middle or high school they saw the landscape of how bodies are “supposed” to look change.

It seemed like overnight Christina Aguilera and Paris Hilton’s naturally thin youthful frames were now the ideal, while Nicole Richie and Raven Symone were considered “plus sized.” Millennial women are looking back on these photos from the late 90s and early 2000s wondering what society was thinking. Nothing about a teenage Raven Symone was plus size, yet somehow an entire generation was convinced if they were built like the then teen, they were fat.

Briana Reyes shared a collection of images of these 2000s “fat” celebrities to Facebook with the caption, “Celebrities that were considered “fat” or “plus sized” in the 90s-early 00s. This is obviously why so many women struggle with body image.”

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The post has since gone viral with over 12,000 reactions and 9.3K shares on the social media platform. Over the years there has been a movement towards body positivity and body neutrality. While both movements mean slightly different things, the main focus is on learning to accept the body that you’re in and treating it well.

The way in which we view our bodies whether positively or negatively can affect the way we speak to ourselves about our bodies. This is something that many moms of young daughters have become acutely aware of as their own children pick up the negative self body talk they hear from their caregivers. But the media consumed also plays a significant role on what bodies are considered “normal,” “desirable,” or “sexy,” which means it also sets the standard for what is the opposite of those things.

In the 2000s, being extremely thin was the standard being set and the fashion was designed to cater to those with thin bodies. Jeans that used to ride well below the hip bones paired with crop tops that stopped mid-ribcage were common staples on thin celebrities. But the actors or singers with curves were outfitted in layers of varying lengths or larger tops to camoflauge the woman had a larger chest.

Some examples in Reyes’ post of “plus size” celebrities shows exactly how off base the media was with labeling people as “fat,” “plus-size,” and “obese.” In the post are pictures of Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears who were performing after having recently given birth, yet the focus was on how “large” they were. Looking at the photos from today’s lens it’s easy to see the unrealistic body standard placed on these celebrities who’s bodies simply were no designed to be extremely thin.

Demi Lovato who rose to fame in 2008 after staring in “Camp Rock” admitted to struggling with an eating disorder due to the pressures to be thinner. Commenters under Reyes’ post pointed out how the unrealistic standards contributed to their own body issues.

“I used to be smaller than I am now, but I was always bigger than other girls. I look at pictures of myself back then thinking I was so huge and I wasn’t. But I was made fun of because I wasn’t as skinny as the other girls and now all I see is a disgusting person when I look at myself in the mirror. I’ve always been considered plus size (I really am now) but I would love to go back to being the size I was way back when….,” one person reveals.

“I look back to pictures in the late 90s of myself when I thought I was so fat and I just think about how I probably couldn’t be any thinner. I imagine many people have this experience,” another says.

“Look at all those healthy beautiful, individual bodies. It’s sad how I and thousands of girls grew up and never appreciated our normal healthy bodies – because the rhetoric that circled around about how healthy and normal wasn’t the desired body type,” someone else writes.

While people focus on how the standards of beauty affected them, many of the celebrities people were picking apart were children and young adults. Demi Lovato was just 15 as Raven Symone when the two stars were being told they needed to lose weight. The criticism led to Symone getting a breast reduction twice and liposuction before she turned 18.

One woman sums up the struggle of Millennial women still healing and trying to do better by their own children. “This post sums up my adolescence – the reasons for my unhealthy relationship with the reflection I see in the mirror/the number I see on the scale. It’s so sad because I know better but I can’t unlearn it even after all these years. I just try to teach my daughters the right thing instead – to grow up as healthy women who take great care of their bodies and to truly take the time to get to know and love themselves for who they are and how they treat others.”

Eagerly anticipating a trip to the fun and doting grandparents’ house is something we think of children doing, but one couple’s doggo proves that visiting the “grandpawrents” is just as exciting.

In a TikTok video that’s been viewed nearly 30 million times, dog owners Skylar and Deko are nearing the end of a 20-hour drive from Phoenix to Kansas City, Missouri. Their good doggo named Nosh, sits in the backseat, looking out the front window.

Suddenly, Skylar asks Nosh if he wants to go visit Safta and Boppa, the nicknames of his grandparents, and he immediately reacts. You can practically hear him say, “Whut? Grandma and Grandpa? Are you serious?!? OMG, I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!!! When are we gonna get there?!?” only it comes out as a series of squeals and whimpers and sneezy woofs of joy.

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Seriously, what did Safta and Boppa do to earn this kind of reaction to their names being spoken?

Watch:

@sky.q

The other video got a “sensitive content warning” because of the end… but why?? 😂 #repost #dogsofttiktok #dogs #australiancattledog #blueheeler #acd #heeler #cattledog

That flop for the belly rub immediately upon seeing Grandpa? And the “I’m so excited to see you I gotta pee” moment? Too much.

“He always reacts like this to his grandparents,” Skylar told Newsweek, “whether it’s been months or only a few hours since he has seen them last.”

She said they waited until they were five minutes away to tell him, and he acted like this for the full five minutes until they arrived. It’s no wonder they waited until they were almost there to tell Nosh where they were going. Can you imagine making him wait any longer?

Skylar shared another video that demonstrates the love between Nosh and his favorite people.

@sky.q

Anyone else’s dog love grandma and grandpa more than anyone else? 😂❤️ #blueheeler #australiancattledog #acd #dog #heeler #cattledog

In case you’re wondering what kind of dog Nosh is, he’s an Australian Cattle Dog, also known as a Blue Heeler. (A real-life Bluey, if you will.) You can see even more videos of his excitement over going to the grandparents’ house on Skylar’s TikTok channel here.

This article originally appeared on 12.16.23

Ahhh, siblings. Sometimes they’re your best friends and other times your living room turns into an MMA octagon over the remote control. If you grew up with brothers and sisters, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to be an only child. (That’s not to say you didn’t dream about it when your sister stole your favorite shirt for the 30th time.)

But not everyone has siblings, so it can be equally as hard for someone who grew up as an only child to picture what it would be like to have them. Only children also likely had moments where they dreamt of having a little brother or sister, not realizing the literal torment siblings can inflict on each other.

TikTok creator Lonnie IIV recently posted a video of himself with two other friends seemingly out to lunch, when the girl in the group asked what it was like to grow up with siblings. In less than a minute she realized she lucked out being an only child because her two guy friends gave her a crash course in sibling behavior.

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In the clip, Lonnie asked if she wanted her drink but then promptly told her she didn’t want it before swirling his fingers around in her cup. This prompted the other friend to throw his balled-up straw paper at her before repeatedly dipping chopsticks into her soup. The woman just laughed and looked seemingly confused at the nonsense her guy friends were displaying. Of course, no sibling experience would be complete without the classic “stop touching me” added for a little pizzazz.

“She got an entire childhood in less than a minute,” one user wrote.

A different user said, “This is so accurate.”

Other commenters started sharing the things they did to their siblings or vice versa. The comment thread was full of childhood sibling…nostalgia? Seems weird to look back on those memories with fondness, yet here we are.

Honestly, my brother used to ask if he could have a bite of my food, and when I said no, he would just lick it before asking again. In turn, when my brothers wouldn’t let me play video games with them, I would pinch my arm until it turned red and run out of the room crying to tell my mom they hit me.

Kids are weird sometimes and thankfully there are usually doses of love in between. But if you grew up with siblings, you’ll likely appreciate the video below. Or it’ll give you flashbacks. It’s a toss-up. If you don’t have siblings, you may feel the need to have us evaluated. We turned out alright…mostly.

@lonnieiiv

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

This article originally appeared on 2.17.23

Most people today will never even reach age 98, much less see themselves win an award for work they did at that age. But Dick Van Dyke has done both, making history as the oldest Daytime Emmy winner for his role on an episode of “Days of Our Lives” at 18 months shy of 100. He took home the 2024 award for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Drama Series for playing Timothy Robicheaux, an amnesiac “mystery man” on the long-running soap opera.

As impressive as that achievement is, it’s Van Dyke’s jaunt down the red carpet at the awards show that has people cheering.

He didn’t just walk the carpet. He practically danced down it.

His hair and beard may be snowy white and he may use a cane to help him get around, but there’s no mistaking the signature pep in his step. As the “Put the Telly On” X account shared, “Dick Van Dyke, 98, is going to live until he’s 180. This is his world and we’re just living in it.”

Watch:

— (@)

Van Dyke is no stranger to awards for his television work, having won four Primetime Emmys for “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and the “Van Dyke and Company” variety show. This is his second Daytime Emmy win—he won his last one 40 years ago.

“I don’t believe this. I feel like a spy from nighttime television,” he said. “I’m 98 years old. Can you believe it? This really tops off a lifetime of 80 years in the business. If I had known I would have lived this long I would’ve taken better care of myself.”

Most people would agree that he seems to have taken quite good care of himself considering how vital he still is at age 98. He has credited his wife, Arlene, his positive attitude and his habits of movement for his aging so well.

And he’s still not done. He told Entertainment Tonight that he’s still on a mission to win an Oscar so he can claim the coveted EGOT status, winning an Emmy, a Grammy, and Oscar and Tony award. But even if he doesn’t get there, three out of the four most prestigious awards is an incredible feat for one career.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saSat5_1-BY#:~:text=At%20the%20age%20of%2098,can%20officially%20have%20EGOT%20status. expand=1 site_id=19596302]Dick Van Dyke chats with ET’s Deidre Behar after winning Outstanding Guest on a Daytime Drama Series for ‘Days of Our Lives’ at the 51st Daytime Emmy Awards….

A gay man is getting some love for the way he handled a straight woman at a bar who behaved rather entitled towards him. A Reddit user named KineticVibes was out with his friends when he noticed a woman trying to get his attention.

“I (25M) was out with friends last night and we went to a bar. This girl made eye contact with me when I walked in and I smiled at her. Me being a gay man I thought nothing of it,” KineticVibes wrote.

The woman approached him after realizing he wasn’t reacting to her flirtations from across the bar. “About 20 minutes later, the same girl walks up to my friends and me, and it’s clear she is very drunk and says to me, ‘Do you want to buy me a drink?’ To which I replied, ‘No, sorry, I’m here just to hang with my friends,’” he continued.

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She was clearly taking an aggressive approach by walking up and asking him to buy her a drink. Why didn’t she just ask what he was drinking and buy him a drink instead? She also unintentionally put him in a very uncomfortable spot because he didn’t want to tell her he was gay.

Even though it’s 2024 and people are a lot more accepting of people’s sexuality, you never know when a drunk person in the bar will have a problem with someone being gay and try to start a fight. “I am still not totally comfortable telling any old stranger on first meeting that I’m gay—so this seemed like the best course of action for me,” KineticVibes wrote.

Even though he was polite, the girl kept prodding him.

“She looks rejected and a bit frustrated now behind her glossy eyes and says, ‘A pretty girl wants to drink with you and you say no?’ Now I’m getting frustrated, and I kind of snap and say, ‘Well, I’m gay, so pretty girls don’t work on me.’”

“She snarkily laughs and says, ‘Well, if you ever decide to date women, let me know,’ to which I very snappily reply, ‘If you ever decide to become a man, let me know,’” KineticVibes said. The quick-witted response made his friends a bit uncomfortable.

“You could tell it embarrassed her and my friends all kind of got mad at me, saying that I should have patience and be nicer,” he concluded the story.

But did he need to be nicer to the woman? She tried to make eye contact, but he didn’t respond. Then she asked him to buy her a drink, to which he said no, politely. She then doubled down and asked why he wouldn’t buy one for her because she was pretty. Just about everyone in the comments on the story thinks he did the right thing by responding to her snark with a bit of sass. “I would’ve bought you a drink after that. Handling with humor 10/10,” A_Bull_Nuts responded.

Others thought the woman acted entitled by demanding a drink and got what she deserved. “If she was a dude, people would call her an incel for behaving like she’s entitled to anyone’s attention. It’s not cute when dudes do it. It’s not cute when dudettes do it,” NotSoBunny wrote.

“This is what I came here to say… She reeks of entitlement! She put herself out there and got shot down and then doubled down. She may not be a man, but she’s got a huge set of balls demanding a stranger pay her way,” formiddabble-opponent added.

This article originally appeared on 4.2.24

The WNBA is exploding in popularity and taking huge strides in terms of being part of the general sports conversation this year (for better and worse, at times). A lot of the conversation is driven by Caitlin Clark’s popularity, as every move made by the Indiana Fever’s star rookie is being scrutinized and put under the microscope, but she’s joined in this year’s rookie class by the likes of Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, who entered the league with plenty of fanfare themselves.

Clark and Reese have developed a healthy rivalry dating back to their college days, as Reese’s LSU beat Clark’s Iowa for the national title in 2023, with Clark and the Hawkeyes exacting revenge in the Elite Eight this year. Now, as rookies, their games are marquee events when the Fever and the Chicago Sky meet, and that rich history of NCAA Tournament battles allowed for a foundation to already be there for a WNBA rivalry.

Some have compared it to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s arrival in the NBA, as they pushed the league to new heights of popularity thanks to their rivalry with the Lakers and Celtics — that started with a national championship game showdown when they were at Michigan State and Indiana State respectively. Johnson himself has heard the comparisons and told Jimmy Kimmel this past weekend that he agrees with the comps (4:30 mark of the above video), noting they’re elevating the league’s popularity immediately but now have to prove themselves against the WNBA’s established stars.

“We have to understand that both Caitlin, Angel, and [Cameron] Brink, who plays for my Sparks, they made the WNBA better,” Johnson told Kimmel. “And they’re going to be tested by these incredible women who have been in the league for a long time. Caitlin is the most popular WNBA player at this time. Just like Larry and I were not the best NBA players when we entered the league. We became the best later on by our play. Caitlin still has to play great to become the best WNBA player.”

Johnson also suggested Clark talk with Larry Bird, who would have some unique insight into her situation as someone from Indiana who once was in a very similar position when he arrived in Boston. Magic also said Caitlin could call him for advice, but felt Bird would be uniquely qualified to help her navigate things where she is now in Indiana.