GoneTrending

This article originally appeared on 07.21.15

Temple Grandin spent her early life, as she says, “goofing off” until a science teacher made her brain light up.

She was born with autism during the 1940s, when people didn’t understand it well.

But Grandin has done a lot since those days of goofing off.

She became a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling author, a consultant to the livestock industry, and a popular public speaker.

---

HBO made an award-winning movie about her life, which millions of people saw. (When she talks about “the movie” in the TED Talk below, that’s what she’s referring to.)

You can watch “Temple Grandin” on HBO or Amazon.

Her main work now is to educate people on how she, like many people with autism and Asperger’s, sees things in pictures.

She even suggests that some people in places like Silicon Valley may be on the autism spectrum or they wouldn’t have been able to do what they’ve done.

Grandin really does think almost completely in images.

As she describes it, when you say “steeple,” her mind goes to the first image she knows is a steeple from her childhood church. Then, to the next one.

Kinda like Google Images does, right?

Autism is still not very well understood, although research — as well as the number of people diagnosed on the autism spectrum — has been increasing.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the prevalence of autism spectrum diagnoses has drastically increased since 1970. And Temple was born 28 years before this graph’s earliest date.

And no, vaccinations do not cause autism. Science has proven otherwise, so please do not take away from this anything that’s purely fiction.

But there are some things we do know.

Some of them are included in Grandin’s TED Talk.

She has some great suggestions for ways to help those on the autism spectrum, too, like these:

• Educators and parents need to find ways to get people on the spectrum to be engaged and thrilled to be using their unique brains the way they need to in order to make a difference in the world.
• Understand their reality. She was a “different” kid and adult. She made it work because she found her place and made other humans understand that she didn’t function the way that they do. What if we approached other humans on a regular basis with this understanding and empathy? What a wonderful world it would be, indeed.
• Get to know a family with kids who are differently abled than the rest of us. See what their world is like, and maybe make them feel loved — or at least understood a little better.
• Spread the word — when you see her movie or TED Talk, pass it around. It’s a great place to start a conversation.

This article originally appeared on 11.20.15

When her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, this medical student knew what she had to do.

She dropped out of school for a year to be with her mom and help her navigate the procedures, helpers, hospice workers, medications, and so many other things that suddenly occupied her mother’s life, 24/7.

---

“I decided to take a year off from medical school and spend the time with her, and I just feel like I want to grasp at every moment I can, really. A typical day of caring for my mom usually includes preparing meals, running errands, grocery shopping, and picking up prescriptions. I work a lot behind the scenes organizing the nursing, a nursing assistant to come and help us.” — Hannah Roberts

It’s not something that everybody can do.

It’s grueling, wonderful, painful, life-affirming, terrifying, rewarding, and many more things, all wrapped up into one big ball of … life.

I really hope when my mother reaches the end of her life, I have a chance (and the ability) to be there for her in the same manner.

Watching a relative go through something like this is probably not in anybody’s top 10 list of things they really want to do with their lives, but helping them cope is certainly in the realm of being a loving human being.

Getting them through it with grace and dignity — I cannot think of a greater gift to give.

Some facts, all from National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP:

1. Nearly 1/4 of all of America’s caregivers are Millennials, between the ages of 18—34, and they’re equally likely to be male or female.

2. The value — that is, if it were paid — of caregiving by family members was approximately $470 billion per year in 2013.

3. 40 million family caregivers helped another adult or loved one carry out daily activities
4. More than half (55%) of family caregivers report being overwhelmed by the amount of care their family member needs.

Caregivers are the unsung heroes of modern life, and sometimes we forget that they’re also grieving and suffering as they help their loved ones.

They need our support in any way we can offer it.

Roman Reigns’ run atop the WWE is still running strong despite a valiant effort from Sami Zayn in the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match at the Elimination Chamber in his hometown of Montreal. Reigns made his way to the ring to a chorus of boos, followed by Zayn, who got a hero’s welcome.

Zayn and Reigns stood across from each other for first few minutes of the match, taking in the raucous atmosphere before locking up. When the action started, Reigns steamrolled Zayn, overpowering the challenger time and again.

Urged on by the crowd, Zayn found his confidence, tossing Reigns to the outside, flipping out onto the champ, and then taking the action to him inside the ring. As the momentum swung back to Reigns, he yelled out at Zayn’s family saying he wanted to provide for them.

Zayn and Reigns traded blows as the match went on before the champ set up for Superman Punch. Zayn reversed into an exploder suplex, but Reigns responded with a Superman Punch. Reigns went for the spear, but missed and Zayn rolled him up for a two count. Zayn hit another exploder suplex, then hit Reigns with a Superman Punch followed by the Helluva Kick, pinning Reigns for the two.

Reigns rolled out of the ring and Zayn attempted to jump through the ropes for a DDT, but Reigns stopped him with a punch. On the outside, Reigns attempted to spear Zayn through the barricade, but missed. Zayn hit the Blue Thunder Bomb for the two count.

Reigns knocked the referee out, attacking Zayn in the corner, who followed up with a Helluva Kick that could have ended the champ’s night. Jimmy Uso then ran to the ring and landed a slew of superkicks on Zayn before hitting the Uso Splash and pulling Reigns onto Zayn as a new official ran down and counted to two.

On their knees, Zayn and Reigns traded blows. After a distraction by Jimmy, Reigns hit a spear for the two count. Reigns went for another Superman Punch and took out the ref. Zayn and Reigns hit each other, and both fell to their backs in the middle of the ring. Reigns called for a chair, and Paul Heyman tossed it into the ring.

As Reigns lifted the chair, Jey Uso stepped into the ring between Reigns and Zayn. Reigns handed Jey the chair, putting him in the same spot Zayn was in with Kevin Owens. Jey took the chair before Reigns took it back and shoved his face twice, then Zayn went to attack Reigns and speared Jey. Reigns then took the chair to Zayn’s back over and over again.

Reigns then hit a spear on Zayn as the referee counted three.

After the match, Jimmy continued to beat down Zayn. Owens’ music hit as he made the save and attacked Jimmy up the ramp. Owens then attacked Reigns in the ring and hit a stunner. Owens hit a stunner to Jimmy in the ring, and then pop-up power bombed him through the announce table. Owens grabbed a chair and was attacked from behind by Heyman, eventually giving a stunner to Heyman. Owens set Reigns up in the corner, and Zayn followed it up with a Helluva Kick, laying out the champ.

Zayn’s story follows a near year-long integration into the Bloodline, aligning with Jimmy and Jey Uso, alongside Solo Sikoa and the Tribal Chief, Reigns. Over the year, Zayn was forced to constantly prove his allegiance to the Bloodline, eventually gaining the approval of Jey Uso by helping his team defeat Owens and Co. at War Games. After John Cena returned to team with Owens and defeat Reigns and Zayn, Reigns began to lose patience with Zayn, leading to their fallout at the Royal Rumble over Zayn’s refusal to clobber Owens with a chair.

With the win, Reigns is now squarely in the driver’s seat to face off against 2023 Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, but it’s difficult to imagine a world without Zayn involved in at least one major title match at WWE’s biggest show of the year.

Mac McClung intends to be involved in the NBA’s All-Star weekend in 2024. McClung, the Philadelphia 76ers guard who won the Dunk Contest on Saturday evening in Salt Lake City, was asked if he wants to come back and try to defend his title when the league heads to Indianapolis for All-Star next February.

McClung didn’t hesitate when asked by Adam Lefkoe of TNT, saying that as long as he is given an invitation to try and be the first person to go back-to-back in the Dunk Contest since Zach LaVine in 2015-16, he’ll be back.

After spending the start of the 2022-23 season in the G League, McClung signed a two-way deal with Philly earlier this week. He had already committed to participating in the Dunk Contest by that point, and on Saturday night, McClung outlasted Trey Murphy, Jericho Sims, and KJ Martin to earn the title of the best dunker in the league.

A former social media sensation during his high school days, McClung got a 50 on three of his four dunks on the night, with his only effort that fell short receiving a score of 49.8. He entered the night as the favorite to win the competition, although Shaedon Sharpe of the Portland Trail Blazers opened as the favorite to win the event before he decided to pass on participating.

Mac McClung is the winner of the 2023 Dunk Contest. McClung, who received his invite to the competition while in the G League but signed a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers earlier in the week, came 0.2 points away from throwing down four perfect dunks to defeat Trey Murphy of the New Orleans Pelicans, Jericho Sims of the New York Knicks, and KJ Martin of the Houston Rockets.

Round 1

Mac McClung: 99.8 (50, 49.8)
Trey Murphy: 96 (46.6, 49.4)
Jericho Sims: 95.4 (47.6, 47.8)
KJ Martin: 93.2 (46.0, 47.2)

Murphy led things off in the opening round with a Grand Theft Alvarado-inspired dunk. After pretending to do a dunk, Murphy hyped up the crowd, only for Pelicans teammate Jose Alvarado to run out, steal the ball, throw it off the backboard, and set Murphy up for a 360.

Sims went second and made a very difficult dunk look routine, as he threw the ball off of the backboard and went for a double honey dip dunk. His eyes got up to the rim and his right arm went straight through to the elbow, while his left wrist went in before he slid it the rest of the way.

Martin was up third and enlisted some help from his Rockets teammate, Jae’Sean Tate. After Tate lobbed the ball up from under the rim, Martin rushed in from the corner and threw down an explosive up and under where his head hit the net.

The betting favorite to win the whole thing, McClung ended up going last during the first round of dunks. He got a pair of volunteers, with one sitting on top of the other’s shoulders. McClung jumped over both of them, grabbed the ball, tapped it off the backboard, and finished with two hands over his head.

Martin led off the second go-around and got a little help from his dad. A 3D-printed ball got delivered by his father, who lobbed it off the backboard. His first dunk didn’t work out like he wanted, so Martin reeled in the ball, turned his back to the basket, pumped, and threw it down.

Murphy’s second dunk came after he asked the crowd if they wanted a tomahawk or windmill. The Pelicans standout decided to pump the ball over his shoulders, bring it down to his knees via a half windmill, do a 180, and finish.

For Sims’ second dunk, the Knicks big man had someone bring out a ladder and clip an envelope onto the net. He did another honey dip, grabbed the note, open it after he landed, and revealed that it said 50.

McClung entered his final dunk needing a 45.5 to guarantee he’d move on. He managed to get that by doing a two-handed windmill and a 360, thereby sending himself to the finals against Murphy.

Final Round

Mac McClung: 100 (50, 50)
Trey Murphy: 98 (48.8, 49.2)

Murphy went first in the finals. He went to the top of the key, jumped, threw the ball up between the legs, and caught it for a clean windmill where his eyes nearly got to the rim.

With his first effort in the finals, McClung got some help once again. He ran in from the corner and jumped over his volunteer, than double pumped in mid-air and dunked.

Murphy needed something big with his second dunk to keep the pressure on McClung, who held a lead heading into the final effort of the night. He decided to try and replicate Vince Carter’s first dunk from the legendary 2000 contest, a windmill 360.

McClung did not need a 50 to win with his final dunk, but he got one, anyway. While decked out in his high school jersey, McClung ran in from the corner and did a 540 with a two-handed windmill.

Damian Lillard is the 2023 NBA three-point champion. Lillard outlasted a field of seven other sharpshooters in Salt Lake City to win the competition, as he registered the second-best score in the field during the opening round and outlasted a pair of Indiana Pacers in the finals.

Round 1

Tyrese Haliburton: 31
Damian Lillard: 26
Buddy Hield: 23
Jayson Tatum: 20
Lauri Markkanen: 20
Tyler Herro: 18
Julius Randle: 13
Kevin Huerter: 8

After Tatum started things off and made the tactical error of putting his moneyball rack first — thereby hurting him, as he did better once he was warmed up — Haliburton stepped up second and threw down a record-tying score that set the bar awfully high for the remainder of the field.

Hield’s 23 put the pressure on Tatum, but the Celtics star was able to stay alive due to Herro struggling between his inability to hit a shot on the first rack and his inability to finish his moneyball rack, which he put last. While Randle did not get blanked on a single rack, he likewise struggled mightily and couldn’t finish his moneyball rack. And in one of the bigger surprises of the evening, Huerter threw down the lowest score in the first round, as he missed all but one shot on his first two racks and could not dig himself out of that hole.

Tatum’s contest looked like it was over as Markkanen had 18 going into his final, all-moneyball rack, but the Jazz star only hit one, which meant the two would go to a shoot-off if Lillard could not exceed their score. But Lillard, decked out in a Weber State uniform, knocked both of them out and got himself into second place.

Final Round

Damian Lillard: 26
Buddy Hield: 25
Tyrese Haliburton: 17

Hield went first in the final round and put up the kind of big score you expect from a former champion. Hield drilled four of the five shots off of his moneyball rack and improved on his first round score with a 25.

Lillard’s round came down to his very last shot. Despite hitting both of the ultra-deep balls to accrue six points, the Blazers star only hit two of the balls off of his moneyball rack. On his final rack, Lillard put himself in position to win if he knocked down his final triple, and he got nothing but net.

Haliburton went into the final round knowing exactly what he needed, but he came nowhere close to his first round. By the time he got to his final rack, there was no way for him to surpass Lillard’s total, making Portland’s talisman the first player in franchise history to be crowned three-point champion.

On Saturday, it was announced that Jimmy Carter — the 39th American president and, at 98, the nation’s oldest-ever commander-in-chief — would begin receiving home hospice care. “After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” read a statement from The Carter Center. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team.”

It’s not yet known what prompted those hospital stays, but the former president faced — and defeated — a number of health scares over the last decade. He beat brain cancer in 2015, though he faced more trouble after. In 2017 he was hospitalized after facing dehydration. He later underwent surgery to remove pressure on his brain. Not long after, following decades teaching Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Carter had to withdraw from those duties.

Before going into politics, Carter was a peanut farmer and US Navy lieutenant. In 1962 he ran for a Georgia Senate seat and won, though only after it was uncovered that there had been actual voter fraud that falsely declared his opponent the winner. Less than a decade later he graduated to the state’s governor, and by 1974 he was running for president. In 1976 he beat Republican incumbent Gerald Ford.

Carter’s term was plagued with troubles, including inflation and recession, an energy crisis, the Iran hostage crisis and more. His term wasn’t without its peaks. Among his triumphs was brokering the Camp David Accords in 1978 with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. On a lighter note, his son once smoked weed with Willie Nelson the roof of the White House.

Ronald Reagan conquered Carter’s second presidential run, winning in a landslide victory. Carter’s presidency was looked down upon at the time and, for the most part, since. However, he’s enjoyed a rich post-presidential life. A devoted humanitarian, he founded The Carter Center with his wife, Rosalynn, which works to not only strengthen democracy at home and abroad, but also to reduce diseases in other countries. He’s also long volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, a Christian organization that, among other things, builds “simple, decent and affordable housing” for low-income people.

Once news broke that Carter was entering the final stretch of his long life, people honored his many accomplishments, among them still building houses for Habitat for Humanity into his mid-90s.

Many sent their love.

And others shared incredible photos, such as this one of him rocking an Allman Brothers tee from 1976.

Our thoughts are with Jimmy Carter and his family.

(Via CNN)

During a recent interview, Rihanna opened up about how rough the first days of motherhood can be for a new mom. Fresh off her Super Bowl LVII Halftime performance, the “Lift Me Up” singer sat down with British Vogue to talk about motherhood, her relationship with Asap Rocky, and more.

The Barbadian-bred talked about shedding her old self and ushering in this new chapter, saying, “the feeling, the desires, the things that you enjoy, everything, you just don’t identify with it because you don’t even allow yourself mentally to get that far because it doesn’t matter.”

While Rihanna is more than excited about the new stage, it’s also been pretty exhausting, she said.

“You don’t sleep. At all. Not even if you wanted to,” she told British Vogue.”You’re a zombie for the most part. You’re just going through the motions, and even then, you’re so paranoid.”

The “Work” hitmaker also pointed out how grateful she was to have Rocky by her side, saying that the pair are “best friends with a baby.”

“Everything changes when you have a baby, but I wouldn’t say it’s done anything but made us closer,” she said.

At the time of the interview, Rihanna didn’t know that she was pregnant with her second child, but she did share that she wasn’t opposed to having more children. The couple has made it a point to shield their growing family from the public, going as far as not even revealing their firstborn’s name.

Regarding music, Rihanna said that she never stopped recording but is in no rush and wants to “have fun” with her next project. She also hinted that fans could expect new music sometime in 2023, saying, “honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year.”

Kehlani is officially in album mode. Hot off the tour for her most recent album, 2022’s Blue Water Road, she said she is ready to begin work on her next project.

She took to Instagram to share the news, and in the post, she shared pictures of herself wearing tank tops, thongs, heels, and her hair cut short, reminiscent of her 2017 debut era for her SweetSexySavage interview.

“sweet.Sexy.Savage. 2.0. back in my bag. tour over, it’s album time,” she said in the post’s caption

Over the course of her several eras, Kehlani has enjoyed going on tour, blending a multitude of genres, and seeing how fans react differently to her music. In an interview with Billboard, she shared what sets a Kehlani tour apart.

“We headbang, we call ancestors, we celebrate love, people get engaged, we sing petty things about exes, we call in new love, [and] we talk about community,” she said. “I think that that’s what makes this tour so unique. People are coming to be everything they are and meet other people in their ‘everythingness.’ It’s a cool f*cking room full of people who don’t even exist in anyone’s binaries, just f*cking celebrating.”

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

The internet is abuzz over the NBA Celebrity All-Star game this weekend. Several notable entertainers have hit the court over the past two days to show up their skills on the court, including Simu Lu, Janelle Monáe, and 21 Savage.

Today (February 18), the “Rich Flex” rapper accomplished a rather fateful feat. At one point in the game, 21 Savage scored the 21st point in the Celebrity All-Star Game.

Surely, this accomplishment marks another milestone in 21’s career, making his hometown of Atlanta all the more proud.

Last year, 21 was granted his own holiday in the state of Georgia. In a recent interview with Complex, 21 said he only wants to keep his accomplishments on an upward trend.

“I just want to drop a good ass album that everybody loves so it helps solidify me,” 21 said. “I want that level-up album. You know how everybody has those moments in their career where it’s like, ‘He was doing this and this and then he dropped this.’ I feel like I’ve had those albums for every stage of my career. I had all my mixtapes, then Savage Mode came, and that was a pivotal moment. Then Issa Album built up, “Bank Account” built up, and then I Am > I Was was another pivotal moment, with “A Lot” with J. Cole, the Grammy, all that sh*t.”

You can see the clip from the NBA Celebrity All-Star game above.