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I remember sitting in advanced algebra and trigonometry class in high school wondering if I was really ever going to use any of what I was learning. Math at that level meant nothing to me in a practical sense. I planned to study English and education to become an English teacher, so I couldn’t imagine why I’d need to learn the ins and outs of trig.

As it turned out, some of what I learned came in handy in the functions class I was required to take to fulfill my math requirement in college. But again, I found myself sitting in class with zero idea of why I was learning this level of math and suspecting that I was never going to actually use that knowledge in my adult life.

Now I’m a middle-aged adult and I can say with absolute certainty that I was right. In 27 years, I have not used anything I learned in functions. Not once. Not even a little bit. I agonized my way through that class to eek out a B-minus and to promptly forget everything I’d learned because it was utterly useless to me.

To be clear, higher math isn’t useless—it’s amazing. It was just completely useless to me.

You know what would have been useful? Learning about financing a car or a mortgage or understanding how and why and where to invest money. In all that time I was doing trigonometric proofs and calculating polynomial functions, I could have been learning all the various real-life math-related decisions I’d have to make as an adult.

I see the same thing happening with my kids in high school and college. It totally makes sense for students who are interested in going into math and science fields to take math beyond basic algebra and geometry. But for those who aren’t—why? There are so many more valuable things for them to take the time to learn—things that every single person really needs a basic knowledge of, such as:

Basic Psychology/Mental Health Maintenance

Every one of us has a brain and mental health is an issue for a huge percentage of people. Even those of us who don’t struggle with mental illness benefit from learning about how our minds work, gaining strategies for managing our thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and understanding why people do the things they do.

How many people would have been saved by learning how to spot a narcissist before getting into a relationship with one? How many people could mitigate an anxiety spiral right when it starts because they learned to recognize the signs earlier? How many people would appreciate the support and understanding of everyone having a basic understanding of their mental health disorders?

Basic Sociology/Human Behavior

Similarly, every one of us lives in a society. Understanding social connections, relationships and group behavior might kind of come in handy. If we don’t understand the causes and consequences of human behavior, we’re going to be confused by society at best and allow or enable atrocities to occur at worst.

From learning how cults and conspiracy theories work to recognizing how our prejudices can blind us to reality, sociology has useful knowledge we all need to internalize.

Media Literacy

If we’re going to be bombarded with media 24/7, we’d better know how to process it. Understanding how journalism works, what makes a source credible, how information can be skewed and how to recognize misinformation and disinformation is vital. What is bias and how can it be mitigated? How can we recognize when an outlet values accuracy?

So many of the problems the U.S. is facing currently are due to people watching or listening to dubious news sources. Mandatory media literacy courses would (hopefully) go a long way toward changing that.

The Stock Market and Other Investments

I underestimated how much I’d need to know about the stock market when I was younger. None of that economic stuff interested me, but I wish I understood it better now.

But really, it’s investing in general that we need to understand more about when we’re younger, especially since starting young is the No. 1 best advice any financial advisor will give you.

How Banking, Credit and Credit Cards Work

Every single one of us uses a bank or credit union and credit is a huge part of adult life. And yet most people I know have had to piece together how credit and credit cards actually work through advice from friends and family and good old trial and error, sometimes with devastating consequences.

Taxes

Good gracious, right? Not just how to do taxes, but what taxes get used for.

Financial literacy is what I’m saying. We need mandatory financial literacy classes. (Florida has actually just become the first state to require personal finance education to graduate, so yay Florida.) I think I was required to take economics in high school, but it was much more high-level economic theory than personal finance. We need personal finance first, then the bigger picture.

First Aid/Safety/Self-Defense

Most of us probably got some first aid and/or CPR training in health class, but how comprehensive was it? Did it include infant CPR? Do we know how to recognize if someone is having a stroke? Signs of infection?

What about basic everyday safety, like why you shouldn’t leave a car running in a garage or common household fire dangers or how to spot asbestos?

Self-defense seems like a no-brainer. Basically, a “How to Stay Alive and Keep Others Alive” course that includes most everything you need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones on a daily basis.

Navigating our Healthcare and Health Insurance System

Ugh. I’ve been an adult for almost three decades and everything about our healthcare system confuses and frustrates me. Maybe if we required schools to teach young people how it works, it would shine a big spotlight on how ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated it is because no one could possibly explain it in a way that’s understandable. Maybe that would push lawmakers to actually do something about it, because honestly, it’s just a gigantic mess.

There are surely others, but those are the major subjects that come to mind as vital after being an adult for a long while and seeing what my own kids need to have a decent grasp on as they make their way into the world. And honestly, there are some classes that adults should be required to take well into adulthood. Parenting classes, for example. Or local government and voting.

All subjects and courses have value to some people, but if we want students to be prepared for adulthood, we should make sure they are given the vital knowledge and skills every person actually needs and will use.

This article originally appeared on 03.25.22

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It’s a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

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— (@)

The teen’s height doesn’t stem from a gland issue; he comes from a family of tall people. Both his parents are over 6 feet tall.

Eric plays football for Goodrich High School in Goodrich, Michigan, but doesn’t wear cleats, which led to a sprained ankle. He also suffers from ingrown toenails that are so severe he’s had two nails on his biggest toes permanently removed.

Last year, the family was lucky enough to stumble upon five pairs of size 21 shoes at a Nike outlet store. It was discovered they were made especially for Tacko Fall, the NBA player with some of the most enormous feet in the game. To put things in perspective, Shaquille O’Neal wears a size 22.

However, Eric soon grew out of those as well. The family was left with one more option: have orthopedic shoes made for Eric at the cost of $1,500 with no guarantee he won’t quickly grow out of those as well.

After his mother’s heartfelt plea to Hometown Life, the family got much-needed help from multiple companies, including Under Armour and PUMA, who are sending representatives to Michigan to measure his feet for custom shoes.

CAT has reached out to make him a custom pair of boots. Eric hasn’t had any boots to wear for the past five Michigan winters.

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— (@)

Kara Pattison started a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of the family to help them purchase custom shoes for “the rest of the time Eric has these feet.” It has raised nearly $20,000 for the family in just over a week.

“The success of this fundraiser is well beyond what was ever expected,” Pattison wrote on the site on March 18. “The Kilburns plan to open a bank account dedicated to Eric’s future footwear and some specialized sports equipment. He can use this to get a helmet that fits for football along with pads. They will also look into a football and track jersey for him.”

The sense of relief felt by Rebecca, Eric and the rest of the Kilburn family must be incredible. It has to be frustrating to be unable to provide your child with something as basic as footwear.

“It’s been overwhelming,” Rebecca told Hometown Life. “I have been this puddle of emotions, all of them good…It’s the coolest thing to be able to say we did it! He has shoes! I am not usually a crier, but I have been in a constant state of happy tears…We are so grateful.”

This article originally appeared on 03.23.23

Animals can be far cleverer than we give them credit for, especially creatures we don’t think of as having distinct personalities. Most of us expect cats and dogs to do show us their unique quirks, but what about a flying squirrel?

A video is making its way around the internet that has people giggling over the dramatic antics of a large pet flying squirrel. It includes no narration explaining what’s happening and no context—it just shows a flying squirrel repeatedly faking its own death by broom.

That’s right. Death by broom. And from the way it looks, the little bugger came up with the idea on its own and made multiple attempts to create a convincing crime scene.

This is one you just have to see.

Twitter user @Birrellebee wrote that the squirrel “faked his own death, and created a whole crime scene…for attention. I think I’m in love.”

Whether the squirrel really did this just for attention or for some other reason isn’t clear, but no one seems to offering a more plausible explanation for it.

Watch:

u201cThis flying squirrel faked his own death, and created a whole crime sceneu2026for attention. I think Iu2019m in love. u201d

— Sarah Beeud83dudc1d (@Sarah Beeud83dudc1d)
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While some people have expressed understandable concern over flying squirrels living indoors as pets, we don’t know what the living situation here really is. Maybe the squirrel was injured and rescued. Maybe it can’t survive in the wild. We simply don’t know.

What we do know is that this adorable rodent deserves an Oscar for its performance. The way it gracefully somersaults right into position. The placing of the broomstick on its neck and splaying itself out flat on its back. The checking to see if anyone is looking. The repositioning of the murder weapon multiple times to figure out which one seems more believable.

Was that really what it was doing? Who knows. But it was a genuinely incredible performance nonetheless.

And of course, the people of the internet didn’t disappoint in the comments.

u201c@pimlius @nycsouthpaw Well, maybe he shouldu2019ve thought of that, befor being such a wee drama queen. Nobody likes an attention whore.u201d

— Sarah Beeud83dudc1d (@Sarah Beeud83dudc1d)
1685808791

u201c@RIDICULO_pathy @BirrelleBee I love this squirrel ud83dude02ud83eudd70u201d

— Sarah Beeud83dudc1d (@Sarah Beeud83dudc1d)
1685808791

“@GreigBeck @BirrelleBee @MAllanScott It’s an insurance scam.”

u201c@GreigBeck @BirrelleBee @MAllanScott Itu2019s an insurance scam.u201d

— Sarah Beeud83dudc1d (@Sarah Beeud83dudc1d)
1685808791

u201c@Marx_Bros_Thing @BirrelleBee Sameu201d

— Sarah Beeud83dudc1d (@Sarah Beeud83dudc1d)
1685808791

This article originally appeared on 6.6.23

Listening to someone speak a language you don’t know can be a trippy experience. You can glean a bit from someone’s tone of voice and maybe pick out a few words here and there, but otherwise the sounds that are coming out of their mouth are meaningless. And yet, most of us are able to figure out what language someone is speaking if we’re even just a little bit familiar with it. We know what Spanish and French and Chinese sound like, and could easily differentiate between people speaking those languages even we barely even know any words in those languages.

But what about someone rapid-fire rhyming? If you’ve ever wondered what English rapping sounds like to non-English speakers, have we got a treat for you.

Italian singer Adriano Celentano proved with his 1972 pop song, “Prisencolinensinainciusol,” that you don’t have to sing in English to sound like you are. And now, YouTube creator and comedic musician Daniel Thrasher has done the same thing, only with rap music.

The song is called “IGOWALLAH (ft. Hoodie Guy)” and according to people in the comments who have experienced learning English, it’s spot on—right down to being able to pick out a few actual words here and there.

Watch:

He even listed all of the lyrics in the caption of the YouTube video. It’s even a real song on Spotify—and the lyrics are listed there, too.

Imagine having to learn lyrics like this:

Menku. Slemper with flango bajeegin. When you firspepple on a reemstrap, dredju mether wanna gubby?

Many of the more than 34,000 comments on the video confirmed that he nailed it.

“The ‘okays’ being understandable is incredibly real considering okay is a pretty much universal word. Just goes to show the attention to detail.”

“As a non native English speaker this speaks to my childhood. Never thought I’d hear this language ever again but here we are.”

“I showed this to my non English speaking aunt and she said, “you know I don’t speak English, why are you asking me what they are saying?”

“Being able to say not actual words, but actually able to make it sound like it isn’t just slurred together, takes actual skill.”

“It’s actually impressive how well this man can speak gibberish.”

“As a non-English speaker, I can confirm that this is exactly what rap sounds like.”

“The fact that he randomly sings in Spanish just once makes it so much more accurate.”

Other people really liked the song itself.

“This song is proof that even when the lyrics are Gibberish, a catchy beat makes all the difference.”

“I’m not sure why but every few days I come back to this video for no apparent reason it’s weirdly a good song.”

“This is how you know someone puts effort into their videos, they literally rehearsed this, actually memorised the lyrics, dude did everything that it takes to make a real song and he proudly did so. 100/10 music artist dude here.”

“Why does this hit SO HARD.”

If this is your first introduction to Daniel Thrasher, you’ve got a whole world of incredibly impressive musical comedy to discover. You can find him on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

Navigating the American healthcare system can give you a rage induced headache. Between the monthly premiums, copays, coinsurances and deductibles, it’s enough to make you feel like you’re going to lose it. But then there’s finding a doctor that’s in network that can convince the insurance company that you actually need the procedure they want to do.

Tarek Ziad, frustrated with the process of trying to schedule with an ophthalmologist took to Instagram with an original song that he sang a cappella. The song has people howling with laughter while simultaneously commiserating with the struggle of navigating referrals for specialty visits.

According to the lyrics of the song, the man was told he needed to see an ophthalmologist so he called his insurance company to see who was in his network. Ziad sings that calling his insurance company was no help because he was then told that he needed to contact his medical group. But what’s a medical group? It’s like peeling back an onion.

Ziad sings, “so you go online and you look at all the ophthalmologists and you call them one by one and you go through 29 ophthalmologists and every single one either doesn’t answer your call or they don’t actually take your medical group. They say ‘we’ve never heard of that medical group.'”

Commenters related to his struggle trying to get into the right kind of doctor, or any doctor at all working within the American health insurance system.

“The realest thing I’ve seen in a phat minute,” one person says.

“God the database being out of date and/or simply inaccurate is so infuriating. ‘oh, no, I don’t take that insurance.’ or ‘I used to but I stopped years ago idk why they still loist[sic] me,'” another writes.

“You’re going places. Not the ophthalmologist, but places,” someone jokes.

“Step aside star spangled banner, there’s a new national anthem,” a commenter jokes.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tarek Ziad (@tarekaziad)

All joking aside, there were doctors in the comments expressing their frustration and sorrow around insurance companies. One commenter says it was cheaper and faster for her to fly back to Morocco to see an ophthalmologist for eye surgery than having it done the the United States. Yikes. Hopefully, Ziad can get in to see the right doctor soon. Maybe his next viral hit will be about billing.

Once upon a time, our only option for getting clothes clean was to get out a bucket of soapy water and start scrubbing. Nowadays, we use fancy machines that not only do the labor for us, but give us free reign to choose between endless water temperature, wash duration, and spin speed combinations.

Of course, here’s where the paradox of choice comes in. Suddenly you’re second guessing whether that lace item needs to use the “delicates” cycle, or the “hand wash” one, or what exactly merits a “permanent press” cycle. And now, you’re wishing for that bygone bucket just to take away the mental rigamarole.

Well, you’re in luck. Turns out there’s only one setting you actually need. At least according to one laundry expert.

While appearing on HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast, Patric Richardson, aka The Laundry Evangelist, said he swears by the “express” cycle, as “it’s long enough to get your clothes clean but it’s short enough not to cause any damage.”

Richardson’s reasoning is founded in research done while writing his book, “Laundry Love,” which showed that even the dirtiest items would be cleaned in the “express” cycle, aka the “quick wash” or “30 minute setting.”

See on Instagram

Furthermore the laundry expert, who’s also the host of HGTV’s “Laundry Guy,” warned that longer wash settings only cause more wear and tear, plus use up more water and power, making express wash a much more sustainable choice.

Really, the multiple settings washing machines have more to do with people being creatures of habit, and less to do with efficiency, Richardson explained.

“All of those cycles [on the washing machine] exist because they used to exist,” he told co-hosts Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson. “We didn’t have the technology in the fabric, in the machine, in the detergent [that we do now], and we needed those cycles. In the ’70s, you needed the ‘bulky bedding’ cycle and the ‘sanitary’ cycle … it was a legit thing. You don’t need them anymore, but too many people want to buy a machine and they’re like, ‘My mom’s machine has “whitest whites.”’ If I could build a washing machine, it would just have one button — you’d just push it, and it’d be warm water and ‘express’ cycle and that’s it.”

According to Good Housekeeping, there are some things to keep in mind if you plan to go strictly express from now on.

For one thing, the outlet recommends only filling the machine halfway and using a half dose of liquid, not powder detergent, since express cycles use less water. Second, using the setting regularly can develop a “musty” smell, due to the constant low-temperature water causing a buildup of mold or bacteria. To prevent this, running an empty wash on a hot setting, sans the detergent, is recommended every few weeks, along with regularly scrubbing the detergent drawer and door seal.

Still, even with those additional caveats, it might be worth it just to knock out multiple washes in one day. Cause let’s be honest—a day of laundry and television binging sounds pretty great, doesn’t it?

To catch even more of Richardson’s tips, find the full podcast episode here.

This article originally appeared on 2.4.24

The Zach Wilson era in New York is coming to an end. Wilson, the former No. 2 overall pick whose tenure with the Jets has been defined by poor play and high-profile benchings, is getting sent to the Denver Broncos in a trade that includes late-round NFL Draft picks getting swapped, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Wilson burst onto the scene after his final year at BYU, when he went from a late-round pick to one of the top quarterbacks in his class. Whether it was because of the team around him or his own struggles to get used to the NFL, he was unable to reach the highs that he achieved in college once he got to the league, as he’s thrown more interceptions than touchdowns in his career and consistently posted one of the worst QBRs in the league.

Ahead of last season, New York attempted to upgrade under center when it traded for Aaron Rodgers in the offseason. However, Rodgers tore his achilles on his first drive as a member of the Jets, which led to Wilson getting his job back. While he had the best year of his career, that wasn’t an especially high bar, as he went 221-for-368 (60.1 percent) for 2,271 yards, eight touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He was benched later in the season as the offense struggled to take advantage of New York’s elite defense, and rumors popped up that 2023 would be his final year with the team.

The Broncos have an opening under center after the decision was made to cut Russell Wilson. Currently, the team’s QB room includes Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci.

Every week, Billboard unveils the top 10 songs on the latest Hot 100 chart. The most recent rankings, for the chart dated April 27, are out now, so let’s run down who had this week’s biggest hits.

10. SZA — “Saturn”

SZA finds herself re-entering the top 10 this week as “Saturn” gets a bump up from No. 15 all the way to No. 10.

9. Noah Kahan — “Stick Season”

Kahan just got a new personal best, as “Stick Season,” after spending last week at No. 10, climbs up to a new high of No. 9 this week.

8. Ariana Grande — “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)”

What Grande can be friends with is the top 10 as “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For You Love)” maintains its No. 8 spot from last week.

7. Sabrina Carpenter — “Espresso”

Congratulations are in order for Carpenter, who has her first top-10 single of her career with “Espresso.” Also of note is that “Feather,” which was Carpenter’s first top-40 hit, hits a new high on this week’s chart at No. 21.

6. Jack Harlow — “Lovin On Me”

“Lovin On Me” has become a top-10 mainstay in recent months and even after all this time, it’s still only just outside the top 5.

5. Beyoncé — “Texas Hold ‘Em”

After hanging out at No. 6 last week, “Texas Hold ‘Em” returns to the top 5 at it leads the Hot Country Songs chart for a 10th week.

4. Teddy Swims — “Lose Control”

Swims’ breakout hit is still doing well for the song as it maintains control at No. 4.

3. Benson Boone — “Beautiful Things”

The same is true for Boone, who hasn’t yet managed to get to No. 1 but it still doing great at No. 3 this week.

2. Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar — “Like That”

“Like That” was No. 1 for its first three weeks on the Hot 100, but the time has come for that streak to end, because there’s a new champion on the latest chart.

1. Hozier — “Too Sweet”

For a long while, it seemed that 2013’s “Take Me To Church” would make Hozier a one-hit wonder, as it was his only single to chart in the top 10 (in the top 35, even), peaking at No. 2. Now, though, it’s no longer the biggest chart success of his career, as “Too Sweet” just became his first No. 1 single. It’s also the first chart-topper by an Irish artist in decades, since Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” in 1990.

(WARNING: Spoilers for the most recent All American episode will be found below.)

Throughout six seasons of All American, we’ve known Spencer James to be the hero for everyone around him, whether it be his family, friends, girlfriend, or community. For the next episode in season six, Spencer now has to figure things out for himself. The new episode follows the events before, during, and after Spencer’s 21st birthday. It isn’t the smoothest night for the star college football player, and now, hangover and all, Spencer has to put the pieces together and right his many wrongs from the rowdy night.

When Will All American Season 6, Episode 4 Come Out?

The fourth episode of All American season three, titled “Black Out,” will arrive on April 22. The Adrian Dukes-written and David McWhirter-directed episode will be available on Monday, 4/22 on the CW TV channel at 8pm EST/PST. The episode will later be available to stream on the CW app and website at 3 am ET/12 am PT. A synopsis for “Black Out” can be found below:

After celebrating his 21st birthday, Spencer enlists Coop’s help to figure out what happened at his party the night before; Olivia and Jordan reminisce about their childhood with Billy; Asher deals with the fallout of a tough decision he made.

You can also watch the trailer for All American season six, episode four below:

New episodes of ‘All American’ are available on CW TV on Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT and on the CW app and website at 3 am ET/12 am PT.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone has a reputation for running hot with umpires and getting himself ejected for using some colorful language to express his displeasure with calls. As such, he’s not one to get the benefit of the doubt from many home plate umps, but on Monday, Boone got ejected two batters into a game against the A’s when he didn’t even say anything.

After voicing his displeasure with home plate ump Hunter Wendelstedt, he got warned not to say another word. The camera lingered on Boone, who calmly took the warning and stayed quiet before Wendlestedt turned and informed him he was gone, causing the Yankees manager to rightfully lose his mind.

Boone and another coach point to behind the dugout to plead their case that it was a fan, not Boone, who yelled at the umpire the second time. Wendelstedt didn’t care to hear out Boone, who finally had a legitimate gripe about a wrongful ejection.

YES Network showed a replay from a camera with a wider view on the dugout that showed the fan in the blue a row behind Boone was the one that yelled at the ump, who then tossed the Yankees skipper.

It is truly an incredible moment, as the Yankees will play the rest of the game without Boone in the dugout because a guy in the first row yelled at the ump.