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Child care is essential for the majority of parents out there. Over the past couple of decades, it has become a necessity for both parents to work in many American households. When no one is home to care for the children, parents rely on daycares to fill the gap. But what happens when the only daycare in town is about to close?

In a small Minnesota town, that question became reality because there weren’t enough workers and the cost to run the Little Sprouts Learning Center was high. Families, including the board members of Little Sprouts, were worried they’d have to relocate if the center was forced to close. They needed a radical plan.

Warren, Minnesota, where the childcare center is located, was in desperate need of a miracle since they’re located in a childcare desert. A CBS Saturday Morning segment about the center mentioned that 51% of Americans live in childcare deserts, “where there are more children than available daycare providers.”

“We really didn’t know what we would do. We don’t have any family who live here. What I have found over my experience with the daycare is that once they close, they’re very hard to get back open,” parent Kelly Pahlen told CBS.

So, what was the daycare board’s radical idea to not only keep the daycare open but make it bigger and better? They took a chance on their community and asked to raise the taxes just a little to keep the only childcare center in business. The board members knew the risk and braced for the town to refuse that half-cent increase to their sales tax.

Much to their delight, they were pleasantly surprised by the results of the vote. The measure to raise the sales tax passed by 15 votes, and that provided enough money for the daycare to build a new, bigger center to care for more children in town. This is a prime example of what community support can look like, and it could catch on in other areas when people see how successful this town was.

Watch the full video below:

The end to regulation in Cleveland was wild on Monday night, as the Boston Celtics, coming off a double overtime loss to the Knicks on Sunday, found themselves once again facing the threat of overtime after Cleveland clawed their way back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

After a questionable call (which was upheld on review) on Grant Williams allowed Donovan Mitchell to tie the game with a pair of free throws, Williams got a chance at redemption after he got fouled with 0.8 seconds left on a putback attempt. That sent him to the line needing just one make to win the game and avoid having back-to-back overtime games, and prior to the free throws, Mitchell stood in front of him and tried to get in his head with some words. Williams responded “I’ma make ’em both,” as the broadcast captured.

That was, unfortunately for Williams, not correct as he managed to rim out both attempts to the delight of the Cavs and the dismay of Grant and the Celtics.

Much like Sunday against the Knicks, things would not go the way of the Celtics in overtime. Boston could only muster five points in the additional period, all coming by way of Jaylen Brown, and Cleveland found an unlikely hero in Lamar Stevens, as he had five of the Cavs’ nine points in the overtime to win a 118-114 thriller. It’s the third consecutive loss to the Celtics, and while they were without key contributors like Jayson Tatum and Al Horford, it continues a concerning trend of Boston blowing leads late in games.

It’s undeniable that Norway’s Øya Fest is going to be a big treat this year. Taking place annually in Oslo, the five-day event already revealed a batch of exciting acts such as Blur, WizKid, Sigrid, and Caroline Polachek. While it doesn’t get much better than that, even more names have been announced, and they’re definitely going to draw in a new wave of stoked concertgoers.

Pusha T, Boygenius, and Snail Mail are joining this year’s lineup, along with Susanna Sundfør, Dry Cleaning, Ayra Starr, Liv.e, Balming Tiger, Oxlade, and more. Other artists on the bill who were previously announced include Devo, FKA Twigs, Shygirl, Amyl And The Sniffers, Obongjayar, and TV Girl. It’ll occur from August 8 to August 12 in Tøyen Park.

One of the goals of the festival is to be “as environmentally sustainable as possible,” as per a press release. “The site operates free of fossil fuels, with 98% of its power being renewable, and all construction machinery is run on biofuel.” It continues: “That progressive approach is also applied to everything from recycling.” It also prioritizes inclusion when it comes to gender by maintaining a 50/50 split of female artists and male artists on the roster.

Find ticket information here.

On Monday evening, Bill Walton and Jason Benetti hosted the “Throw it Down with Bill Walton” alternate telecast of the headline-grabbing matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers. In addition to the appeal of a matchup between top-four teams in the Eastern Conference, Walton is always entertaining and, this time around, the host pairing was joined by noted Celtics fan Ben Affleck.

Affleck and Matt Damon are making the rounds to promote their upcoming Air movie about Michael Jordan’s courtship with Nike, and Affleck told an amusing tale of how the two friends once drove to French Lick, Indiana to check out Larry Bird’s house and try to meet Larry — who wasn’t home at the time.

Afflack acknowledged he and Damon had no plan whatsoever in just popping into French Lick. Then, he brought it back around to emphasize the level of fandom required to make the pseudo-pilgrimage.

“We went and rang the bell. Nobody answered,” Affleck said. “We took pictures out front. That’s what kind of Celtics fans we were. We probably watched that ‘Larry Legend’ VHS tape, narrated by Daniel Stern, 200 times.”

It seems logical that Affleck and Damon weren’t the only fans to show up at Bird’s house unannounced in the last few decades. Still, it is something different given that they became quite famous in their own right, and it would’ve been interesting to see what happened if Bird was home and welcomed the duo in.

The water bill at the Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis residence appears to be pretty low after recent revelations the couple made about their family’s bathing habits.

In a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, they admitted they’re not that into bathing themselves or their two children, Dimitri Portwood, 4, and Wyatt Isabelle, 6.

The conversation started when Shepard explained his ongoing disagreement with co-host Monica Padman. The two have dissenting views over whether people should use soap. “You should not be getting rid of all the natural oil on your skin with a bar of soap every day,” he said. “It’s insane.”

Kunis agreed with Shepard and was very candid about her bathing ritual. “I don’t wash my body with soap every day,” she shared. “But I wash pits and tits and holes and soles.”

“I can’t believe I’m in the minority here of washing my whole body in the shower,” Padman replied. “Who taught you to not wash?”

“I didn’t have hot water growing up as a child,” Kunis recalled, “so I didn’t shower very much anyway.” Kunis was born in the then-Soviet controlled Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi in 1983. Her family migrated to America when she was seven.

Kutcher added that he regularly uses soap and water on just his “armpits and crotch” and “nothing else.”

Kunis has passed her lax attitude towards bathing on to her children.

“When I had children,” she said, “I also didn’t wash them every day. I wasn’t the parent that bathed my newborns—ever.” Shepard agreed, saying that he and wife Kristen Bell only bathe their children as part of a nighttime routine and don’t pay much attention to their cleanliness.

“That’s how we feel about our children. We’re like, ‘Oof, something smells,'” Kunis added. Kutcher has a simple rule when it comes to his children and their cleanliness. “Here’s the thing — if you can see the dirt on ’em, clean ’em,” he says. “Otherwise, there’s no point.”

u201cMila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher Say They Only Bathe Their Kids When ‘You Can See the Dirt on Them’u201d

— People (@People)
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While the Kutcher-Kunis clan’s approach towards hygiene may not be typical of the average American family, they may not be wrong according to science. Research suggests that children benefit from being exposed to germs early in life.

“This line of thinking, called the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ holds that when exposure to parasites, bacteria, and viruses is limited early in life, children face a greater chance of having allergies, asthma, and other autoimmune diseases during adulthood,” WebMD says.

Basically, the more your body is exposed to the more it can fight off.

“Just as a baby’s brain needs stimulation, input, and interaction to develop normally, the young immune system is strengthened by exposure to everyday germs so that it can learn, adapt, and regulate itself,” notes Thom McDade, PhD, associate professor and director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University.

As for Kutcher and Kunis, they both share the same attitude when it comes to hygiene so nobody in the relationship has the right to complain if the other is a little funky. If it works for them, who are we to judge?

This article originally appeared on July 28, 2021

For grieving pet parents, few words come closer to providing some sort of comfort than those of “Rainbow Bridge.” After all, the poignant and wildly popular poem offers a slice of hope, promising a reunion with our furry loved ones in a magical paradise of the afterlife. Even for those who aren’t so theologically inclined, the imagery can be soothing after irrevocable loss.

For so long, “Rainbow Bridge” has seemingly existed as its own entity, being handed out by vets or shared in condolence cards and online sans a credited author. However, thanks to the tireless sleuthing of historian and author Paul Koudounaris, that mystery has been solved.

According to an interview with National Geographic, Koudounaris had first become enticed to find the unknown creator of “Rainbow Bridge” after encountering it several times while working on his book about pet cemeteries (fitting). Wanting the person who wrote what he described as “a text with monumental importance to the world of animal mourning” to receive some well-deserved acclaim, Koudounaris began his search.

He discovered that “Rainbow Bridge” first came to notoriety through the long syndicated advice column “Dear Abby,” where in 1994 the poem was printed along with a warning for readers to “grab their hankies.” However, there was still no writer’s name attached. Koudounaris would have to compile two dozen names with even the slightest connection to the poem, and one by one cross them off the list until he landed on just one—a woman in Scotland by the name of Edna Clyne-Rekhy.

“What initially would have seemed like the most unlikely candidate in the end turned out to be the most intriguing candidate and, of course, the actual author,” Koudounaris told National Geographic, noting that Clyne-Rekhy was the only non-American on the list.

Koudounaris reached out to Clyne-Rekhy, who was not only shocked that he had found her but completely unaware that her poem had touched millions of hearts.

As Koudounaris details in his own story, Clyne-Rekhy was only 19 years old when she first put her words to paper. The year was 1959, and she had just lost her beloved Labrador named Major. Her only ambition (or more accurately—compulsion) at that time was to memorialize him and surrender to the “warm feeling” that seemed to be inspiring her to write.

Even when it was but a messy draft full of crossed-out words and scribbles, people knew the poem was special. At least, the few people who were shown it knew. Despite her husband’s encouragement, Clyne-Rekhy never sought to publish but would share a copy from time to time, always without her name written on it.

Here is the poem in its entirety:

The Rainbow Bridge

By Edna Clyne-Rekhy

“Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, your pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water, and sunshine, and friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who have been ill and old are restored to health and strength, those who were hurt are made better and strong again, like we remember them before they go to heaven. They are happy and content except for one small thing, they each miss someone very special to them who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance, his bright eyes are shineing (sic), his body shakes. Suddenly he begins to run from the herd, rushing over the grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cuddle in a happy hug never to be apart again. You and your pet are in tears. Your hands again cuddle his head and you look again into his trusting eyes, so long gone from life, but never absent from your heart, and then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together.“

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By the early 90s, “Rainbow Bridge” made its way to a few animal lovers’ groups in America and then to the 1 million readers of “Dear Abby.” Sixty-four years after its creation, now we see its words engraved on countless pet gravestones and recited during mourning groups. Clyne-Rekhy had no idea.

And though she wasn’t thrilled that several people attempted to take credit for something she poured her heart into—including one who, according to Koudounaris, insisted it was originally performed by a Native American shaman—more than anything, she was touched to learn that it made such a positive impact on others.

As for any further advice for grieving a lost pet? Clyne-Rekhy, now 82, says get another one. While she agrees that no two animals are alike, she told Koudounaris, “There’s no reason to deny yourself…your previous pet certainly wouldn’t have wanted you to live without it.”

When we think about gifted conversationalists, we’re more likely to think of great talkers—those who wow us with their insights, wit, and charm. However, communication experts believe that if you want to make a great impression on someone, knowing how to listen goes a long way.

Those of us who love being verbose may think the world loves us because of how well we can talk. But the person sitting in front of you has a lot to say, and nothing makes them feel better during a conversation than your undivided attention.

As the old saying goes, we never quite remember everything someone has said to us, but we’ll never forget how they made us feel. When you actively listen to your conversation partner, they feel that you value them and are receptive to their needs. It also eases any feelings of conflict or resentment.

After a good conversation, the person you spoke with should think, “Wow, that person really gets me,” instead of, “It was like I didn’t even exist.”

A study from 2016 on sales calls did an excellent job of quantifying the amount we should speak versus listen during a conversation. A marketing director at Gong.io analyzed 25,537 sales calls using artificial intelligence and found that the interactions where the salesperson talked 43% of the time and listened 57% of the time had the highest sales yield.

This finding has come to be known as the 43:57 rule.

Even though the study was conducted on business calls, the reason that it works should apply to social conversations as well. Paying more attention helps a salesperson identify the client’s needs and makes them feel comfortable spending money because they know it’s with someone who understands their interests.

It’s the same as a social situation where the person you speak to wants to know they are valued and you respect what they say.

This is excellent advice, but sometimes it’s hard to listen when you’re in a fun conversation and have a lot to say. Kate Murphy, author of “You’re Not Listening,” says it’s all about staying calm.

“Deep breaths are always good. They’re always good. Because it…calms down that fear response. It helps you get more centered,” Murphy told WBUR. “But also to develop your curiosity. Like I said, make it more important to be curious than to be right. And to go into every conversation with that mindset of how could I be wrong? Instead of, let me prove how I’m right.”

“That’s how you develop creative ideas. It’s how you cooperate. It’s how you find middle ground, or at least a peaceable existence,” Murphy added.

The idea that to be a great conversationalist one should master the art of listening is a bit counterintuitive. But, if you feel that you have a lot to say in conversations and can be interesting to listen to, imagine how great that’ll make others feel when you show that you enjoy listening to them as well. It’s a virtuous cycle where everyone wins.

Parents, do you think your child would be able to survive if they were transported back to the ’70s or ’80s? Could they live at a time before the digital revolution put a huge chunk of our lives online?

These days, everyone has a phone in their pocket, but before then, if you were in public and needed to call someone, you used a pay phone. Can you remember the last time you stuck 50 cents into one and grabbed the grubby handset?

According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, roughly 100,000 pay phones remain in the U.S., down from 2 million in 1999.

Do you think a 10-year-old kid would have any idea how to use a payphone in 2022? Would they be able to use a Thomas Guide map to find out how to get somewhere? If they stepped into a time warp and wound up in 1975, could they throw a Led Zeppelin album on the record player at a party?

Another big difference between now and life in the ’70s and ’80s has been public attitudes toward smoking cigarettes. In 1965, 42.4% of Americans smoked and now, it’s just 12.5%. This sea change in public opinion about smoking means there are fewer places where smoking is deemed acceptable.

But in the early ’80s, you could smoke on a bus, on a plane, in a movie theater, in restaurants, in the classroom and even in hospitals. How would a child of today react if their third grade teacher lit up a heater in the middle of math class?

Dan Wuori, senior director of early learning at the Hunt Institute, tweeted that his high school had a smoking area “for the kids.” He then asked his followers to share “something you experienced as a kid that would blow your children’s minds.”

A lot of folks responded with stories of how ubiquitous smoking was when they were in school. While others explained that life was perilous for a kid, whether it was the school playground equipment or questionable car seats.

Here are a few responses that’ll show today’s kids just how crazy life used to be in the ’70s and ’80s.

First of all, let’s talk about smoking.

u201cMy high school had a smoking area. For the kids. Whatu2019s something you experienced as a kid that would blow your childrenu2019s minds?u201d

— Dan Wuori (@Dan Wuori)
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Mine too. Up until my senior year. Also, my biology teacher smoked in the classroom. We used to tell time by how many cigarettes she had in her ashtray.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) April 24, 2022

We made clay ashtrays as gifts for Mother’s Day…whether moms smoked or not!😂

— Mark (@coach_mark1) April 24, 2022

We had a smoking room IN our high school. We also had cadet training and a shooting range in the basement of the school. We had Latin as an option and could drop math in Grade 10! Also in the « good old days »: we could smoke in class at Carleton, at the movies and on airplanes.

— 🇨🇦Jacques Leger🇺🇸 (@jacquesleger17) April 24, 2022

I grew up in a rural area. It wasn’t unheard of for guys to have a shotgun in a gun rack in their trucks, parked at school. Could also carry large knives and openly chew tobacco in school. They don’t allow any of this now, which is good.

— High Plains Grifter (@Too_Grizzled) April 24, 2022

Want to call someone? Need to get picked up from baseball practice? You can’t text mom or dad, you’ll have to grab a quarter and use a pay phone.

My high school had pay phones.

— Mark Angres (@AngresMark) April 24, 2022

Using a pay phone that was outside the school gym to call my parents for a ride home from practice. But calling collect and saying “pick me up” and hanging up before getting charged. 😂

— Stacy Kratochvil 💟 (@StacyKratochvil) April 24, 2022

People had little regard for their kids’ safety or health.

I slept in the back window of the car when the family went on vacation!

— CJFuemmeler (@fuemmelercj) April 24, 2022

We stared Death in the eye every day. pic.twitter.com/zWHh5bvUym

— Ed Lettis 🌻 (@edbobgreen) April 24, 2022

Car seats that just hung over the front seat. Hang on, kid! pic.twitter.com/2DdCoXhqmf

— Bluenoser Forever (@long17_de) April 24, 2022

I have heard stories of country schools in the 50s (which are now urban schools) having boys swim naked in PE (that’s just how they did it in the country). Van Horn High School in Independence MO.

I use this example any time people lament the changes from the “good ole days”.

— Matt Parker (@DrMattParker) April 24, 2022

Also, in Driver’s Ed. We warched this film, “Blood on the Highways.” 45 minutes of unedited film of fatal highway accidents. This was mostly before mandatory seatbelts. 45 years later, I remember the rear view mirror that split a guy’s skull, imbedded in his brain.

— some call me Tim 🇺🇦 🌻 MAT Elem. Educ. (@realtimaier) April 24, 2022

Large fry as your entire meal in middle school. It was the most popular item too. Literally as it sounds. Just a large basket of French fries for lunch.

— Monique (@LivAnotherDay) April 24, 2022

Truck with gun racks/rifles in the HS parking lot.
(DFW too not a small town) pic.twitter.com/RnWiKQwKB7

— FortWorthPlayboy (@FWPlayboy) April 24, 2022

You could buy a soda in school.

Vending machine in the cafeteria to buy sodaaaaa 🥤

— Anna Sutter (@AnnaMSutter) April 24, 2022

Things were a lot different before the internet.

If you wanted to listen to a particular song, you had to call the radio station (and hope you got through) and ask them to play it for you.

— Sarah (@sarahbschaefer) April 25, 2022

Remember pen pals?

I wrote letters regularly to a penpal from a different country and then saved them all in a shoebox. Then in college I flew to “meet” her for the 1st time to participate in her wedding ❤️ But now we connect on FB 😂

— Ms.Teach (@MidwestTeach14) April 24, 2022

A lot of people bemoan the fact that the children of today aren’t as tough as they were a few decades back. But that’s probably because the parents of today are better attuned to their kids’ needs so they don’t have to cheat death to make it through the day.

But just imagine how easy parenting would be if all you had to do was throw your kids a bag of Doritos and a Coke for lunch and you never worried about strapping them into a car seat?

This article originally appeared on 06.08.22

Nicolas Cage once almost played Superman. Back in the late aughts and early teens — before comic book movies all but took over the multiplexes — he played the anti-heroic superhero Ghost Rider. And yet he’s managed to resist the current trend, in which almost every actor in Hollywood at least plays a villain or a sidekick in the MCU or the DCEU, if not one of the main stars. He ain’t changing his mind anytime soon.

“I’ve gotta be nice about Marvel movies, because I named myself after a Stan Lee character named Luke Cage. What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down? Stan Lee is my surrealistic father. He named me,” he said while receiving an award at the Miami Film Festival over the weekend, as per Variety. “I understand what the frustration is. I get it. But I think there’s plenty of room for everybody. I’m seeing movies like Tár. I’m seeing all kinds of artistic and independently driven movies. I think there’s plenty of room for everybody.”

But would he still do Marvel? Apparently not. When asked, he replied, “I don’t need to be in the MCU, I’m Nic Cage.”

He sure is. Cage did regret that his stint as Supes never came to be:

“They wanted Renny Harlin to do the movie. I sat down with Renny. I was doing another picture, he came to the trailer and we talked. I liked Renny… but I thought if I’m going to do this, it’s such a bullseye to hit,” Cage explained. “I said, this has to be Tim Burton. I called Tim and said, ‘Would you do this?’ Tim didn’t cast me, I cast Tim, and Tim said yes. I loved what he did with Michael [Keaton] and Batman, and I was a big fan.”

He continued, “I love ‘Mars Attacks.’ I thought ‘Mars Attacks’ was just a fantastic, groundbreaking movie. He’s a groundbreaker! But they were scared at the studio because of ‘Mars Attacks.’ Warner Brothers had lost a lot of money on the movie. These movies that are really weird, that challenge and break ground, they piss a lot of people off. I think they got cold feet. They’d spent a lot of money already building the sets and the costume and what have you. But you never know. I don’t mean to be cryptic Cage, but you never know!”

The actor really enjoyed the character they were building, he explained: “It was more of a 1980s Superman with like, the samurai black long hair. I thought it was gonna be a really different, sort of emo Superman, but we never got there.”

But hey, at least he still has time to do movies like Pig.

(Via Variety)

It looks like pop superstar Rihanna isn’t the only musician to find love in a hopeless place. “Ay Caramba” rapper Tyga and indie rock legend Avril Lavigne have reportedly also found the same type of love deep within one another. Late last month, the pair first sparked dating rumors after being spotted out hugging in the parking lot of the famous restaurant Nobu in Los Angeles.

Now, according to TMZ has shared that the musicians are, in fact, a couple (we’re coining them, Tygav). While attending the Mugler X Hunter Schafer Party, earlier today (March 6) as part of Paris Fashion Week, the duo wasn’t shy about putting on a full show of affection in front of the paparazzi.

After the rumors first hit social media, users raised several questions. Firstly, when did Lavigne and Mod Sun call off their engagement? Sun quickly took to his Instagram page to confirm not only did he and Lavigne split, but it had only happened a week ago (at the time), making the news of her new budding romance with the rapper even more difficult to stomach.

Secondly, why? Lavigne and Tyga have both been linked to different members of Jenner/Kardashian family. Tyga has dated Kylie Jenner, and Lavigne’s ex is Jenner’s brother Rob. The same Rob that has a daughter with Blac Chyna, with whom Tyga also shares a son.

Now that the rumors have been seemingly confirmed by social media, users are sounding off yet again. Check out their responses below.