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Chris Christie has spent the last two months relentlessly hammering Donald Trump, his longtime pal, with whom he’s very much on the outs. Trump has responded with jokes about his weight. That’s what he did on Tuesday during a New Hampshire rally that was chaotic even for him. But the former New Jersey governor isn’t letting that one slide either.

During the rally, Trump made a reference to Christie, one of many, many people who once worked for him who now hates his guts. “He’s eating right now, he can’t be bothered,” Trump joked.

As the crowd reacted wildly, Trump pointed to one person and told them, “Sir, please do not call him a fat pig.” As the crowd laughed, he added, “That’s very disrespectful. Don’t call him. See, I’m, I’m trying to be nice. Don’t call him a fat pig. You can’t, you can’t do that. So now, because you’re not allowed to do that, and therefore we’re not gonna do it, ok? We want to be very civil, right?”

Later that day, Christie posted the video on Twitter alongside the caption, “If you had the guts you would show up to the debate and say it to my face.”

Trump has vowed not to take part in the GOP primary debates, ostensibly because he’s already killing it in the polls. Others have speculated it’s because he doesn’t to be called out by his rivals. Of course, pretty much none of his rivals have taken a hard stand against him aside from Christie. Even Mike Pence, Trump’s former veep, has kept his criticisms on the mild side, and the big guy almost got him killed.

It would be something, though, if Trump showed up and Christie spent the entire time railing on him. Perhaps having an old friend who knows you way too well basically call you a pussy on national television might make even him snap. But he’s not going to do that because Christie’s probably got his number.

(Via Mediaite)

When you’re a kid, kind words from a caring adult can make such a lasting impression.

Schools can have so much at stake with their testing results, they often inadvertently transfer that pressure onto the students.

That’s exactly what happened to Indiana third-grader Rylan as he was gearing up for something most kids dread: standardized testing week.

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His teacher, who has asked to remain anonymous, gave each of her students a letter and a cookie before the big test. The letter is touching, but it’s the video of Rylan’s reaction to it that really gets me (you’ll see that at the end).

Whether you think the amount of testing being done in public schools is great or if you wish it were reduced dramatically, one thing we can all probably agree on is that it’s important to not send kids the wrong message — that their entire worth is wrapped up in whatever score they get.

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The need for kids to hear this stuff is real. School pressures are waaaayyy different from when most of us were kids.

I’ll never forget when I drove my daughter home after results came in from a three-day marathon of fifth-grade testing. Usually she was bubbly and happy on days like these because she often got the highest score in her class and was proud of herself — she worked hard and did her best to beat her own scores and loved feeling like it was paying off.

This time she was salty. Her friend had bested her, and though she congratulated her sincerely and effusively, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment that her “winning” streak had been broken.

My daughter exercising her love of learning: on her way to Battle of the Books (L) and learning photography basics (R).

A lightbulb went off in my head. Her self-worth is all wrapped up in this, I realized. This is all she’s ever known as a measure of who she is and where she ranks.

I pulled the car over and we had an instant talk because it was that important. My speech went something like this:

“You know that if you never achieved another thing in your entire life, you would still be loved and valued in our family just for who you are, right? It’d be disappointing if you stopped trying to reach your potential, but even if you did, we’d still love you.
Who you are isn’t proven by your track record of achievements — it’s the moments when you’re sad but are kind to others anyway, when you have a good reason to be a jerk but you choose not to be, and it’s when no one is looking and you don’t have to be a good person but you are anyway.
You will achieve amazing things in your life, and I will always be happy for you when you do, but not because it’s proving anything about who you are. I already know who you are.”

I saw a lightbulb go off for her then too. I hope it was a pivotal moment in how she will orient herself when going after lofty goals throughout her life.

Here’s Rylan and his mom talking about what it meant to get his teacher’s letter.

Hearing and seeing Rylan’s face and his mother’s gratitude as they share the letter is all the proof we need — a little kindness can go a long way.

If you’re not completely sure a kid in your life totally knows how to separate their test scores from their self-worth, this is a great thing to share with them right now.

This article originally appeared on 03.08.16

Anytime you look at the news, it’s about death, destruction, abductions, natural disasters…

That kind of thing can mess us up. It makes the world look scarier than it is. It’s like wearing the opposite of rose-colored glasses.

Feel like you’ve fallen into the Matrix yet?

It’s time to stop giving awfulness the power to bend our lens. Here’s how.

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Shawn Achor studied happiness at Harvard.

When he tells people this, they say: “Shawn, why do you waste your time studying happiness at Harvard? Seriously, what does a Harvard student possibly have to be unhappy about?”

But the crazy truth is, Harvard kids are as unhappy as anyone else. What’s going on in your life — from health, to money, to relationships, to prestige — predicts only about 10% of your happiness.

So … if I had a million dollars … I wouldn’t be any happier?

Shawn’s work flips our understanding of happiness inside out.

You don’t get happy by achieving success. You achieve success by getting happy.

Dopamine, which your brain makes when you’re happy, has one important side effect: It makes you smarter. A positive brain is 31% more productive. It’s better at sales, faster and more accurate at diagnosing problems.

So how can you up your dopamine?

Take two minutes every day and do one of these things:

1. Write down three new things that you’re grateful for.
2. Journal about one positive experience you’ve had in the last 24 hours.
3. Try meditation, to teach your brain to focus.
4. Use the first email you write every day to praise or thank someone you know. Spread the happy.

And it wouldn’t hurt to disrupt the endless barrage of bad news by sharing this with your friends, right? Everyone needs a little more happiness.

Remember…

Watch Shawn Achors’ Ted Talk in the video below:

This article originally appeared on 04.10.15

Sesame Street is a national treasure.

I think we can all agree on that.

Sesame Street invented the idea that television could teach children, not just entertain them.

It taught kids letters and numbers and introduced them to talented and famous people, from Savion Glover to Kofi Annan.

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But the curriculum on the Street was always bigger than counting and Weimaraners. From very early on, its creators showed the world as they dreamed it could be. Black people, white people, and furry blue monsters lived in the same neighborhood. At a time when people with Down Syndrome were regularly institutionalized, Jason Kingsley was a frequent guest. Moms breastfed their babies in public, and all anyone had to say about it was, “That’s nice.” The whole neighborhood knew enough sign language that they could talk with Linda. They welcomed a new neighbor with a song about how happy they were to have a new friend.

The most important message Sesame Street sent to its millions of young viewers was this: You matter. You are an important person. You are valuable.

In 1971, a young Jesse Jackson stood on the steps of 123 Sesame Street and got a bunch of kids to chant “I Am — Somebody,” a poem by civil rights activist Rev. William Holmes Borders Sr.

These kids chant a message that we should give to every kid on earth.

Did I say kid? I mean human.

I may be poor. But I am Somebody!
I may be young. But I am Somebody!
I may make a mistake. But I am Somebody!
I must be respected, protected, never rejected.
I am God’s child.
I am Somebody!

So say it loud. And pass it to someone who needs a reminder that they are Somebody.

P.S. Are you dying to learn a thousand wonderful facts about Sesame Street’s origin story? I highly recommend “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street” by Michael Davis. I’ll never watch the show the same way again.

This article originally appeared on 04.27.15

From awkward phone calls and impostor syndrome, to depression and anxiety, at some point all of us have experienced challenging feelings and self-doubt.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, those worries and fears can strike at any moment.

That’s why Beth Evans’ comics feel so familiar and honest.

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The 26-year-old from the Chicago area started doodling and drawing in college and now works on her comic full-time. Through uncomplicated line drawings and simple stories, Evans reveals a slice of her daily life, including some of her anxieties, brushes with self-doubt, and small victories. Working on the comic has helped Evans manage some of these thoughts and feelings too.

“Sometimes I’m not always able to express those feelings in my real life,” she says. “Sometimes it’s easier just to say ‘Here’s the awful emotion of the day, we’re just going to put it down, put it out there. Maybe someone else feels that way so we can feel awful together.”

Her work has clearly struck a chord, as she’s amassed more than 216,000 followers — including some fans so dedicated that they’ve gotten tattoos of her work.

Evans is flattered by the gesture, though she’s a little nervous too. “I just hope they like it,” she says.

Her mindset speaks to the honesty and authenticity of her work — just like the rest of us, Evans experiences feelings of self-doubt. The common feeling just seems to be part and parcel of life as an adult. If we can’t make it go away completely, at least we can commiserate together.

Here are 15 more of Evans comics that may have you saying, “It me.”

1. When you make plans at night versus when you wake up.

2. You still earn a ribbon, even if you have nothing to show for it.

3. And don’t get me started on impromptu small talk.

4. If you can limit the internal screaming to 5%, you’re ahead of the curve.

5. This is how it goes down every. single. time.

6. Just in case you needed a reminder.

7. Though compliments can bring their own kind of anxiety.

8. Adulting isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, kids.

9. And why is saving money so, so hard?

10. You know what’s more awkward than feeling all the feelings? Talking about the feelings.

11. But it’s good, especially if you need to.

12. Raise your hand if you’ve played any of these before.

13. Even the love chart is easy to love.

14. It’s totally OK not to know, btw.

15. And, finally, don’t forget to give yourself a break.

No matter your worries, fears, “weird” thoughts, or wild ideas — remember, you’re not alone.

Talk it out, or keep it to yourself. Feel free to laugh, cry, scream, or do something in between. Just remember you are enough, and you are pretty darn great right this second, OK?

And if you enjoy Evans’ work, be sure to follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

This article originally appeared on 09.15.17

Since launching his presidential campaign in early June, Chris Christie has mostly talked about one thing: Donald Trump. He has nothing good to say, and why should he? He’s known the guy for two decades. He’s kept up his attacks at about the same level of intensity. In return, Trump has made fat jokes. But that’s okay because Christie is basically calling him a pussy.

At a recent town hall in New Hampshire, the former New Jersey governor tried to disabuse any MAGA heads of the notion that Trump is some tough guy who would have joined the Capitol rioters on Jan. 6.

“Now let me tell you everybody,” Christie said, “I’ve known him for 22 years, if there is the slightest danger that he would break a fingernail, he ain’t going. Not going.”

Christie also dragged the big guy for one of his more bizarre lines about his ever-growing list of indictments: that they’re really coming for them, but he’s in the way. Christie began by talking about how he spent last Thursday, namely observing Russian war atrocities in Ukraine. What was Trump doing then? Getting arraigned, again.

“As I’m walking around Ukraine, he’s waltzing into a courtroom in Washington, D.C. to tell us that he’s being indicted for us,” Christie told the crowd.

“For us,” he said, emphasizing that last word. “How lucky are we that we have such a selfless, magnanimous leader that, because you know that the government was coming to get you, and on their way to get you, low and behold they came across Donald Trump, and they said, ‘OK, we won’t get you, we’ll take him, for you.’”

Christie then reminded the crowd that none of them had been accused, much less committed, the crimes for which Trump has been indicted.

“Except I don’t think anybody in this room tonight I suspect, invited people to come to Washington on January 6, 2021, and told them it was going to be wild,” he said. “I don’t suspect anybody in this room stood in front of that audience that day and told them that the 2020 election had been stolen when he knew that it happened. I don’t suspect any of you in this room, told the people gathered there that day, to march to Capitol Hill, that he was gonna go with him.”

In the meantime, Trump is such a tough cookie that he’s skipping out on the GOP primary debates, as Christie has also enjoyed pointing out. After all, if he did he’d probably have to deal with a longtime buddy who’ll ask him to his face why he keeps ripping off his supporters.

(Via Raw Story)

In March 2022, Mark Ronson slid into Dua Lipa’s Instagram DMs, telling her that he would “f*cking love” for her to “consider” co-writing and starring in what would become “Dance The Night,” the theme song for Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar Barbie movie.

“Dance The Night” peaked at No. 10 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart, and Lipa and Ronson shared new glimpses into what makes the disco-themed pop bop so resonant. Days ago, Lipa posted a five-video making of “Dance The Night” Instagram carousel.

Ronson, who executive produced Barbie: The Album, followed her lead and provided more context with a lengthy caption, which can be read below:

“The first time we worked on ‘Dance the Night,’ we wrote a whole damn song that we all loved… but we didn’t have the scene yet cause it was still being edited.

Then a few months later, we saw the scene and Dua was like ‘f**k, this is so good and so fun, we need to rewrite the whole thing to complement what’s going on’

We got back in the the studio even though she was in the middle of a massive world tour.
We went in my studio, turned the scene on and let the beat rock.

Dua started to freestyle lyrics that fed right off what Margot [Robbie] was doing. I started to get goosebumps, especially on the ‘come along for the ride’ line, but even more detailed, Dua was like, ‘I want to sing the word ‘up’ right when her hands swing to the sky’

That’s why I f**king love Dua so much: we had a whole song and she was down to spend a hundred extra hours tweaking a word and a line here of there to make not just the song but the WHOLE SCENE better.

STREAM AND DOWNLOAD DANCE THE NIGHT my people!”

See Lipa and Ronson’s posts below.

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

The Barbie soundtrack is a Warner Music release. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

There’s no shame in Flavor Flav’s Swiftie game. He used to be synonymous with wearing a massive clock chain, but now he’s just as likely — if not more likely — to rock stacks of friendship bracelets associated with Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. In March, the rap and pop culture icon fulfilled his wish of meeting Swift at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards. He also attended Swift’s Eras stops in June at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. He proclaimed online, “In my Red (Taylor’s Version) era and makin new friends.”

Swift is finishing out her US leg of The Eras Tour with six shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, finishing on Wednesday, August 9. It won’t be the finale it was expected to be because Swift announced a smaller 2024 North American leg last week, but it has still felt like a culmination of a monstrous 2023 run. The LA shows have welcomed the likes of Channing Tatum and the Bryant family in the audience. Of course, Flav was in on the celebration.

Flav posted a few Instagram videos from the evening, including one in which he hugged Andrea Swift and Scott Swift and another labeled his “Eras Outfit Fit Check” that incorporated Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights.

“FLAVOR FLAV::: I’m honored to meet Taylor Swift’s Mom and Dad plus Papa Swift gave me the guitar picks to hand out!!! COME FIND ME #TaylorSwift,” Flav wrote in the caption.

See Flav’s posts below.

Did you know Mike Pence is running for president? Strange but true. To most he’s the guy who could wind up sending Donald Trump to prison, should he be called to testify in court against someone who almost got him killed. Till then, he’s just one of a dozen-or-so people trying — and absolutely failing — to dethrone the aforementioned former president. But perhaps a campaign video in which he does a bad job pumping gas will help.

On Tuesday, the former veep dropped a video in which he complains about gas prices, which have risen again lately, though they’re still far short what they were this time last year. In the ad, Pence tries to ooze Everyday Joe vibes: He’s wearing an ironed button-down dress shirt — but with jeans! And he’s standing next to a blindingly bright red pick-up. But it’s when he puts that gas pump into filler neck that things truly go haywire.

As Pence waxes poetic about remembering the days of “$2 a gallon gas,” eagle-eyed viewers may notice that he forgets to do one key part of filling up gas: pressing the trigger and holding it down while gas floods into the car’s tank. Instead, he stands there holding the handle, rambling about Biden’s “war on energy.”

Listen carefully and you can even hear beeping that’s supposed to prompt Pence to select a grade of gasoline.

Still, at least he’s among august company. His GOP rivals are singularly unconvincing when they try to sound like everyday folks. As for Trump, he absolutely doesn’t give a crap that he doesn’t know what a Dairy Queen Blizzard is, and nor do his fans.

(Via Mediaite)

And even if you don’t know who Petrov was, he might be the reason you’re alive today.

In the 1980s, Petrov was a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union’s Air Defense Forces. He was in charge of watching the computers at one of the Soviety Union’s nuclear early warning centers. If the Americans wanted to start a nuclear war, Petrov would be one of the first to know.

At this time, the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in the Cold War. Each had stockpiled tens of thousands of nuclear weapons and a nuclear war, though horrific, often seemed imminent.

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Suddenly, in the early morning of Sept. 26, 1983, a siren started to scream. If Petrov’s computer was to be believed, the Americans had just attacked the Soviet Union.

The word “LAUNCH” appeared in bold red letters across Petrov’s computer’s screen. Then it happened again and again — five missiles in all.

Petrov need to react. If a nuclear attack really was incoming, the Soviets only had a few minutes to save themselves and launch a nuclear counter attack of their own.

It was Petrov’s job, his duty, to alert his superiors — but something seemed off.

Petrov sat there, trying to figure out what to do. If the Americans were attacking, why were there only six bombs? Why not the thousands they were capable of? Why weren’t there corroborating reports from ground radar? Plus this particular computer system was new and unproven. It could be a malfunction.

Did Petrov really think this was enough evidence to potentially start a full-scale nuclear exchange? Kill millions of people? It was a heavy weight to bear.

“Nobody would be able to correct my mistake if I had made one,” Petrov later told the BBC.

After a few pregnant minutes, Petrov made his decision.

He picked up the phone and, though he couldn’t know for sure, told his superiors it was a false alarm. His level-headed thinking may have saved millions of lives.

He was right. It was a malfunction.

For his efforts, Petrov’s reward would be a long time coming. In the immediate aftermath, he actually got reprimanded by his superiors. It wouldn’t be until after the fall of the Soviet Union that the world learned just how close we all came to destruction and the one man who saved it.

Petrov reportedly died on May 19,2017 in a home outside Moscow. The news was not widely reported.

If you want to hear Petrov describe the incident in his own words, check out this interview with Petrov from the BBC.

This article originally appeared on 09.20.17