Category: News

It’s true that life never gets easier, and we only get continuously better at our lives. Childhood’s lessons are simple—this is how you color in the lines, 2 + 2 = 4, brush your teeth twice a day, etc. As we get older, lessons keep coming, and though they might still remain simple in their message, truly understanding them can be difficult. Often we learn the hard way.

The good news is, the “hard way” is indeed a great teacher. Learning the hard way often involves struggle, mistakes and failure. While these feelings are undeniably uncomfortable, being patient and persistent enough to move through them often leaves us not only wiser in having gained the lesson, but more confident, assured and emotionally resilient. If that’s not growth, I don’t know what is.

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Reddit user u/G_man252 asked people to share their own life lessons “learned the hard way,” and the answers, though varied, all touched on something useful that everyone can probably relate to. Especially those of us who have had the blessing of living long enough to gain a lot of hard-won knowledge.

Below are 17 of the best lessons that all of us either have learned, are trying to learn or will learn soon enough. Reading them isn’t necessarily the same as experiencing them, but there is still some comfort in knowing they are all part of what it means to be human.

Read. Be enlightened. Or at the very least, be soothed and entertained.

1.

“Not everyone who loves you is good for you.” – @Gulbahar-00

2.

“Back up your data.” – @SomeoneHad2FuknSayit

3.

“You can’t fix other people. Only yourself.” – @Bob_N_Frapples

4.

“It’s okay to put yourself first. Don’t expend all your energy on others and leave nothing for yourself. Understand how to give and take in moderation and that it’s a two way street.” – @Neffili

5.

“Your fear of failure is worse than the failure itself. Take the chance. Now.” – @aerofish_

6.

“Nothing ever stays the same no matter how hard you want it to be … don’t take it for granted.” – @CodyGhostBlood

7.

“Not everyone will like you for doing the right thing.” – @Kaitriarch

8.

“Never take your health for granted. Appreciate every little thing you have that makes you happy.” – @galestrikesback

9.

“Being vulnerable is the hardest thing you can do, but not being vulnerable will make your life much, much harder.” – @thiccdiccboi

10.

“Budget and be financially responsible.” – @QuailandDoves

11.

“If your gut is screaming at you that something is wrong, listen to it.” – @REDDITprime1212

12.

“Time does not heal all wounds. Most days get better but you’ll always have days where you feel it all over again as if it just happened and you can’t do anything about it except for ride it out.” – @Smokey_S

13.

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” – @Karnezar

14.

“Mental illness is very real and will get in the way of your life.” – @NoUsername817226

15.

“It’s okay to be wrong sometimes. Humility really goes a long way in maintaining relationships and being happy.” – @Freezeucriminalscum

16.

“You will inevitably, directly or indirectly hurt people in life.” – @Sinusoidal0360

17.

“Don’t wait until the right time. For most things there is no right time. Perfectionism stalls you.” – @lovelyfallday

We all know that seahorses are some of the most unique and fascinating creatures that Mother Nature has to offer.

For one thing, they’re gorgeous. Who has ever looked at a seahorse, with all its vivid colors and delicate, otherworldly shapes and gone, meh? No one, I tell you.

Plus they’re basically the mascot for cool, supportive dads everywhere. Not every creature in the animal kingdom can say that.

Yet, for as much as we know about the seahorse, there are even more thrilling stories swimming around—particularly when it comes to how it got here in the first place.

A video published by PBS Eons explains that today, seahorses are found in all of the world’s oceans. And yet, they are pretty terrible swimmers. So how on Earth could they have traveled such far distances to spread across the globe?

As it turns out, the answer is possibly hiding even further below the surface.

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Throughout at least the last 55 million years, the ocean floor around southeast Asia has been whirling with tectonic plate activity, with the most important shift happening at the end of the Cenozoic era.

As deep channels between continents became more shallow and surfaces were thrust upward toward the sun, more aquatic plant life was able to grow and expand. Experts think that meadows of seagrass in particular helped ancient seahorses travel away from the waters of the Indonesian region (where they likely originated) and across the world. Yep, just like land horses, seahorses wildly gallop into unknown terrain. Actually, they prefer to simply hold onto traveling seaweed and raft into unknown terrain. Still majestic though.

You can watch the full video here:

How Plate Tectonics Gave Us Seahorses

The surge in seagrass might have even caused seahorses to trade in the long, horizontal shape of most traditional fish for their signature upright posture. As the video explains, the grass beds might have supported their ambush hunting technique, allowing them to obtain a longer reach and blend in with the grass blades before striking. Ambush hunting seems OK for a seahorse, but kind of terrifying if you think of land horses doing the same thing. Thank goodness the latter are herbivores.

PBS Eons is a virtual treasure trove of lesser known evolutionary stories. Its YouTube channel covers everything from the domestication history of cats to why we have 10 toes. If you’re looking to go down the coolest educational rabbit hole ever, you can check out its videos here.

The Raiders and Seahawks went back-and-forth on Sunday, trading leads and big plays, with both defenses struggling to get stops in a game that went to overtime tied at 34-34.

Seattle held a seven-point lead late, but Derek Carr found Foster Moreau in the back corner of the end zone on 3rd-and-goal to tie things up with just under two minutes to play.

The Seahawks would be go three and out and be forced to punt on the ensuing possession, which nearly won them the game when the Raiders muffed the return but managed to jump on the loose ball inside their own 15. After running out the clock despite having two timeouts, Vegas won the toss in overtime and marched across midfield before stalling, missing a 56-yard field goal on 4th and 2. The defense would again show up in a big way when they needed it the most, forcing yet another three-and-out and a punt that pinned them on their own 14.

On the first play of their second drive in OT, they would lean on Josh Jacobs for his 33rd carry of the afternoon, which he’d break off for an 86-yard walkoff touchdown to give Vegas a 40-34 win, as he went untouched up the middle for six.

It’s a beautifully blocked play up front and once Jacobs is able to outrun an overly aggressive angle from the safety, there was no one between him and the goal line. Jacobs finished the day with 229 yards rushing and two touchdowns (as well as 74 receiving yards on six catches) as he was just about everything for the Raiders offense in Seattle, and capped off a career-best game in style with this exclamation point in overtime.

Thanksgiving weekend has traditionally been a big one for Hollywood, with families looking to find some way to spend time together. This year was a bit of a mixed bag. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in its third weekend, added another small fortune to its already sizable box office haul. Newcomers weren’t so lucky. The Koeran War aerial pic Devotion underperformed while Disney had a big bomb with the under-advertised Strange World. But there was one big success story, and it just happens to be a film that wasn’t playing that many theaters and will be yanked after only a week.

That film was Glass Onion, the first sequel to 2019’s murder mystery sensation. Last year, Netflix forked over a money bin for two more romps with Daniel Craig’s amateur sleuth Benoit Blanc and writer-director Rian Johnson. It was originally supposed to be a streaming-only affair, but Netflix agreed to let it play actual movie theaters — for one week only, before it drops online for the holidays. And though it only played about 700 theaters (for contrast, Strange World opened in over 4,000), a lot of those screenings must have sold out because it had the best per-screen average in the box office top 10, by far.

As per Deadline, by end-of-day Sunday, Glass Onion is expected to have amassed $13.3 million since opening last Wednesday, giving it a $13,505 per screen average. By the end of its one-week run, it will likely get to at least $15 million. It even opened in third place, not far behind Strange World (which opened to $18 million, with a measly $2,850 per screen average.

What does that suggest? That people really, really wanted to see a Knives Out sequel. The sequel is getting some of the best reviews of the year, and it’s not hard to find buzz on social media about how fun it is to watch with an audience. It also suggests Netflix, which has fallen on hard financial times of late, is probably leaving money on the table — a lot of money. (Now’s the time to point out the first Knives Out stayed in domestic theaters for 17 weeks, at which point it had made $165 million. Also worth noting is that Netflix has at least one more sequel, giving them the chance for a Mulligan.)

Glass Onion still has a couple days in theaters, leaving after Tuesday’s showings. It will be on Netflix on December 23, at which point those who couldn’t see it during its brief theatrical run can finally see what people are talking about. After all, it appears people legitimately want to see it.

(Via Deadline)

The Washington Commanders are, improbably, 7-5 on the season and on the fringe of a playoff spot in the NFC after beating the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

It’s been quite a year for the football team in the nation’s capital, as Dan Snyder prepares to sell the team amid various investigations into the organization, but on the field they’ve been remarkably resilient. The defense is the headliner for the Commanders, with arguably the best defensive line in the NFL, but offensively they’ve followed the lead of Taylor Heinicke, who just keeps winning since stepping in for Carson Wentz, and leaned on a rushing attack spearheaded by rookie Brian Robinson.

Robinson missed the start of the season after being shot twice in the leg in an attempted carjacking, and his return has been nothing short of incredible as he entered Sunday with 362 yards and two touchdowns on the ground before cracking the 100-yard mark for the first time in beating the Falcons. However, after the game his 105-yard performance was secondary to his postgame outfit in which he wore a gigantic baseball hat, telling reporters his friend makes them and “if you want a big hat, let me know.”

Look at that hat. It’s huge. It’s great. The hat plays.

I have some logistical questions about how the Big Hat works, but I also cannot resist the allure of the Big Hat and would now like one, Brian.

Taylor Swift‘s music is the gift that keeps on giving this season. For the fourth non-consecutive week, her 10th studio album, Midnights is sitting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Over the past week, Midnights pulled in 177,000 album unit equivalents, according to Billboard‘s independent data source, Luminate. Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss, which pulled in 119,000 equivalent album units this past week, is sitting at No. 2 for the second week in a row. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti and Lil Baby’s It’s Only Me came in at No. 3 and 4 on the chart, respectively.

Making a remarkable re-entry into the top 10 is Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which jumped from No. 115 to No. 7 this past week, upon the album’s 40th anniversary. Last week, Jackson’s estate put out a special 40th-anniversary edition of the album containing additional demos and remixed recordings.

Debuting on the chart is Rod Wave’s eight-track album, Jupiter’s Diary: 7 Day Theory, which hit No. 9. At No. 10 is Michael Buble’s Christmas, which was first released in 2011. Buble’s Christmas album has placed in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 charts at least once every year since its release.

Some of the artists mentioned are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Denver Broncos have been one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL this season. After trading two first round picks for Russell Wilson and then giving him a massive $245 million contract extension, the Broncos offense sits near the bottom of the NFL in most every category.

Sunday provided a rare opportunity for a win for Denver, as they traveled to Carolina to face the lowly Panthers in a battle of 3-win teams. Once again, the Broncos offense no-showed, falling behind 23-3 before scoring their first touchdown in the fourth quarter with the game already decided. Prior to that scoring drive, the Broncos defense had some frustrations with the offense boil over as defensive tackle Mike Purcell walked off the field and couldn’t help but give Russell Wilson a few choice words as he screamed at the star QB briefly before heading to the bench.

As the Fox crew notes, it’s not clear if Wilson said something that got Purcell’s attention or if he just decided in that moment he needed to give a piece of his mind to Wilson, but either way it’s unsurprising to see given how this season has gone. Denver’s defense has allowed 23 or fewer points in 10 of their 11 games this season, but will somehow fall to 3-8 with another loss to the Panthers. Also, the best drive of the day by the Broncos came after this, so maybe the defense needs to yell at the offense more and they’d turn things around.

Lizzo and Harry Styles’ friendship is goals. Styles brought Lizzo out during his headlining Coachella set in April, which surprised Lizzo, and he surprised her again in July by sending her a congratulatory flower arrangement after “About Damn Time” surpassed “As It Was” for the No. 1 spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100.

Styles’ “As It Was” has dominated 2022, but his 2019 Fine Line track “Falling” especially resonates with Lizzo. She was asked by Entertainment Weekly in a newly published, wide-ranging interview about the ballad’s placement in her Love, Lizzo HBO Max documentary.

“Harry… that was a huge moment because on one end I’m having this really bad emotional day, and on the other end you see the power of music. You really do. And how music has this visceral effect on me,” Lizzo told the publication. “And the funny part in the end where I was like, ‘Music is so powerful,’ and my makeup artist Alex was like, ‘You should really go to a Lizzo show.’ [Laughs] And I just think that that’s like such a real moment, you know? And it’s like, I can’t — I can never experience a Lizzo show, but just showing how much music is transformative and how the fans may feel about my music is how I felt about that Harry Styles song. I feel it too. I go there too.”

Lizzo also evaded a question about whether her house is on property formerly owned by Styles. “No comment,” she said, laughing and eating a cookie. When pressed, she added, “Harry’s House is a great album.”

Those who can fully experience a Lizzo show seem to have overwhelmingly approved of her Special Tour, which wrapped its first North American leg last weekend. “Lizzo has the BEST show on earth,” SZA tweeted after making a surprise on-stage appearance at the Special stop at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on November 19. “I cried. Pls go to a Lizzo concert for your own mental health.”

More people will have that opportunity in 2023. Lizzo will kick off her European and UK Special Tour dates in February, and then she will return stateside for a second North American leg dubbed the Special 2our.

Read Lizzo’s EW interview here, and watch her Love, Lizzo trailer below.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This article originally appeared on 03.31.15

This is a man named Michael Hughes.

Why is he in a women’s restroom?

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Michael is protesting a series of bills across the U.S. and Canada that, if passed, would ban men like him from using men’s restrooms and leave him no choice but to use the women’s room.

Bizarrely, these laws have been proposed as a way to protect the privacy and safety of women.(I know. It doesn’t make sense, but hang with me.)

Michael is a transgender man, meaning that when he was born, the doctor looked at him and labeled him a girl.

As Michael can tell you, he’s not a girl and he’s not a woman.

Inspired by a woman from Canada, Michael has been snapping selfies in women’s restrooms to show people just how out of place he looks.

If these types of bills become law, people like Michael and other trans men would be forced to use women’s restrooms.

Is this the type of guy you want in your restrooms and locker rooms, ladies?

Several states have proposed laws legalizing discrimination against transgender people this year alone.

The main focus of these bills has been whether trans people should be allowed to use public restrooms, though they’re often part of a larger effort to deny rights to trans people.

Texas’ bill would have denied trans people entrance to public restrooms, showers, or changing rooms.

The penalty for using a restroom that doesn’t match the gender “established by the individual’s chromosomes” is up to a year in prison and a fine up to $4,000.

Even worse, the bill stated that an “operator, manager, superintendent, or other person with authority over a building” who willfully allows a trans person to use restrooms that match their actual gender will be charged with a felony and could serve a minimum of 180 days in prison and be fined up to $10,000.

The bill remains in committee awaiting action.

Florida’s language would have established gender as one’s “biological sex, either male or female, at birth.”

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Frank Artiles, brushed off backlash by arguing that going to the bathroom is a choice.

The punishment for a trans person who uses the correct bathroom in Florida would have been up to a year in prison and a fine up to $1,000. The bill died in committee, and did not become law.

Kentucky’s bill would have denied trans students the ability to use the correct restroom.

The bill came in response to a Louisville school’s decision to allow a trans student to use the restroom that matches their gender.

While the bill didn’t specify punishment for using the “incorrect” restroom, it did put what some are calling a “bounty” on catching trans students in the “wrong” restroom. The bill did not become law.

The groups pushing to deny trans people the ability to use restrooms simply spread misinformation.

Opponents of trans-inclusive environments argue that allowing trans people to use restrooms that match their gender invites and allows men into women’s restrooms to leer and assault women at will.

Their arguments aren’t based in reality.

(Still with me? The laws are pretty ridiculous, but now you know why they’re being proposed.)

It’s just as ridiculous for a trans woman to have to use the men’s restroom as it is for Michael to have to use the women’s restroom.

Trans women are not men, and Michael is not a woman.

When it comes down to it, trans people just need to pee. That’s all.

Watch Michael Hughes’ appearance on MSNBC’s “Out There” with Thomas Roberts below:

Drake is stepping into the shoe game. For his latest venture, the “Jimmy Cooks” rapper is partnering with Nike to drop his Certified Lover Boy Nike Air Force 1s.

He took to Instagram yesterday (November 26) to share a preview of the sneakers. In his post, he revealed that the shoes were largely inspired by his mother.

“Love You Forever AF1 dedicated to my incredible mother and our favorite book,” read the post’s caption, referring to Robert Munsch’s children’s book, Love You Forever. In the book, a mother sings a lullaby to her son at various stages of his life. “I love you forever, I’ll love you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be,” sings the mom in the book.

This particular Air Force 1 pair comes in white, and contains an etching reading “Love you forever” toward the heel, and three bejeweled hearts hovering above the message.

In the post, Drake also shared a note written to his mom, which read, “For my mother, Your perennial care and nurturing is never lost on me. This book is the time capsule of our love. I long for the days when it was this simple. — Aubrey.”

According to Sole Collector, Drake’s Air Force 1s are set to hit shelves on December 2.