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This article originally appeared on 02.28.20

Robert Bush Sr. is an avid outdoorsman who runs a Facebook page called “Bob’s Pennsylvania Wildlife Camera.”

He set up a secret camera on a log that lays across a steam to capture footage of all the different animals that walked across it. The result is a relaxing video featuring all sorts of wildlife including a black bear, chipmunk, coyote, turkey, and great horned owl.

You may have noticed the video is called “The Log 2.” Well, here’s the original.

This article originally appeared on 11.08.19

Christina Hunger, 26, is a speech-language pathologist in San Diego, California who believes that “everyone deserves a voice.”

Hunger works with one- and two-year-old children, many of which use adaptive devices to communicate. So she wondered what would happen if she taught her two-month-old puppy, a Catahoula/Blue Heeler named Stella, to do the same.

“If dogs can understand words we say to them, shouldn’t they be able to say words to us? Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans?”
she wondered.

Hunger and her fiancé Jake started simply by creating a button that said “outside” and then pressed it every time they said the word or opened the door. After a few weeks, every time Hunger said “outside,” Stella looked at the button.

Soon, Stella began to step on the button every time she wanted to go outside.

They soon added more buttons that say “eat,” “water,” “play,” “walk,” “no,” “come,” “help,” “bye,” and “love you.”

“Every day I spent time using Stella’s buttons to talk with her and teach her words just as I would in speech therapy sessions with children,” she wrote on her blog.

“Instead of rewarding Stella with a treat for using a button, we responded to her communication by acknowledging her message and responding accordingly. Stella’s voice and opinions matter just as our own do,” she continued.

If Stella’s water bowl is empty, she says “water.” If she wants to play tug of war, she says, “play.” She even began to tell friends “bye” if they put on their jackets by the door.

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Stella soon learned to combine different words to make phrases.

One afternoon, shortly after daylight savings, she began saying “eat” at 3:00 pm. When Hunger didn’t respond with food, she said, “love you no” and walked out of the room.

Today, Stella has learned over 29 words and can combine up to five at a time to make a phrase or sentence.

“The way she uses words to communicate and the words she’s combining is really similar to a 2-year-old child,” Hunger says of her blog.

She believes her work has the potential to transform the bond between humans and dogs.

“I think how important dogs are to their humans,” Hunger says. “I just imagine how much deeper the bond will be.”

Stella asks to play ball outside.

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Stella clearly wants some more breakfast.

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After a fun day at the beach, Stella wants to go back.

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Stella telling Hunger that she doesn’t want her to leave to work.

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Soon, Stella began to step on the button every time she wanted to go outside.

They soon added more buttons that say “eat,” “water,” “play,” “walk,” “no,” “come,” “help,” “bye,” and “love you.”

“Every day I spent time using Stella’s buttons to talk with her and teach her words just as I would in speech therapy sessions with children,” she wrote on her blog.

“Instead of rewarding Stella with a treat for using a button, we responded to her communication by acknowledging her message and responding accordingly. Stella’s voice and opinions matter just as our own do,” she continued.

If Stella’s water bowl is empty, she says “water.” If she wants to play tug of war, she says, “play.” She even began to tell friends “bye” if they put on their jackets by the door.

This article originally appeared on 01.24.20

In June 2015 The Supreme Court of the United States declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

The legalization of gay marriage granted over 1100 statutory provisions to same-sex couples, many of them granting rights and privileges previously only afforded to heterosexual couples.

After the decision, President Barack Obama said the ruling will “strengthen all of our communities” by offering dignity and equal status to all same-sex couples and their families.

He called it a “victory for America.”

However, the law didn’t just benefit same-sex couples who want to get married, it also had a dramatic affect on LGBT youth. Two years after the legalization of gay marriage, the suicide attempt rate among LGBT youth declined significantly according to the Associated Press.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for U.S. teens. LGBT teens are five times more likely to make an attempt than their straight peers.

The study was conducted with over 26,000 LGBT youth participants in the 32 states where gay marriage was legalized up through the 2015 Supreme Court decision. The study found that suicide attempt rates dropped 7% among all students and 14% among gay kids after same-sex marriage was legalized in each state.

Part of the drop in suicide attempts by kids who didn’t publicly identify that they were gay could be because they were closeted or questioning.

There was no change in states where same-sex marriage wasn’t legalized.

While the change in suicide attempts doesn’t prove there’s a direct connection, researchers believe that the law made LGBT kids feel “more hopeful for the future.” They also believe the measures increased tolerance among their straight peers while reducing the stigmatization felt by gay kids.

A study out of Denmark and Sweden published in 2019 found similar results among married gay couples.

Same-sex marriage was made legal in 2009 in Sweden and 2012 in Denmark.

The study found that couples in same-sex unions saw a 46% decline in suicide suicide, compared to 28% of those in heterosexual unions.

“Although suicide rates in the general populations of Denmark and Sweden have been decreasing in recent decades, the rate for those living in same-sex marriage declined at a steeper pace, which has not been noted previously,” researchers noted.

These studies show the power that societal recognition can have on stigmatized minority groups. When one is protected by the “law of the land” it means a lot more than what happens in a courtroom or at city hall.

It shows that you are accepted by the community and protected by those in power. For to love flourish — whether it’s loving oneself or sharing it with a partner — first it must first be protected.

This article originally appeared on 02.20.20

As a soccer match between German teams Preussen Munster and Würzburger Kickers went into its final minutes, a defender from the Kickers, 23-year-old Leroy Kwadwo, stopped to point out a problem in the stands.

A Munster fan was making monkey noises at Kwadwo, a black player of Ghanaian descent. It was a clearly racist heckling—an issue that has publicly plagued the international sport in various venues, even as recently as last week. But this time, the response from the crowd far outshined the racist in the stands.

First, the man was quickly identified by his fellow Munster fans and ejected from the game. While stewards escorted him from the stadium, the crowd chanted, “Nazis out! Nazis out!”

Some fans also stood and applauded Kwadwo and the player received supportive pats on the back from opposing team members as well.

u201cChills.nnIn Germany, a fan hurled racist slurs towards Leroy Kwadwo, a Ghanian football player.nnWhen other fans saw it, they alerted security, who escorted the man out.nnThen, as opposing players came to hug Kwadwo, the entire stadium stood up and chanted “Nazis Out!”u201d

— Muhammad Lila (@Muhammad Lila)
1581795227

This is how it’s done, folks.

Kwadwo thanked fans via social media the next day for their “exemplary” reaction, the Associated Press reported:

“I was racially abused by one single spectator. It just makes me sad. I indeed have a different skin color, but I was born here in this wonderful land that has given my family and I so much and made so much possible. I am one of you. I live here and can live my calling as a professional with the Würzburger Kickers.

Something like yesterday just makes me sad and angry because everyone has to know, racism does not belong in OUR world. We all have the opportunity to oppose it and stop it if it happens.”

Munster said it would seek to ban the racist fan from all German stadiums for three years, which is the toughest sanction the sport itself can implement. However, the man also faces legal consequences and is being charged with incitement.

“As repulsive as the monkey noises against the player were, the subsequent response from the rest of the spectators were so impressive,” the Preussen team said in a statement.

According to CNN, Preussen Munster president Christoph Strasser said of the heckling: “It is not something that belongs on the soccer field and certainly not in our stadium. We don’t want and need people like that here. We clearly distance ourselves from such statements and I apologized to the Würzburgers immediately after the game.”

If we have to live with nasty racists in our midst, it’s at least encouraging to see a huge crowd reject it with such immediacy and fervor. Nazis out, indeed.

This is how it’s done, folks.

Kwadwo thanked fans via social media the next day for their “exemplary” reaction, the Associate Press reported:

“I was racially abused by one single spectator. It just makes me sad. I indeed have a different skin color, but I was born here in this wonderful land that has given my family and I so much and made so much possible. I am one of you. I live here and can live my calling as a professional with the Würzburger Kickers.

Something like yesterday just makes me sad and angry because everyone has to know, racism does not belong in OUR world. We all have the opportunity to oppose it and stop it if it happens.”

Munster said it would seek to ban the racist fan from all German stadiums for three years, which is the toughest sanction the sport itself can implement. However, the man also faces legal consequences and is being charged with incitement.

“As repulsive as the monkey noises against the player were, the subsequent response from the rest of the spectators were so impressive,” the Preussen team said in a statement.

According to CNN, Preussen Munster president Christoph Strasser said of the heckling: “It is not something that belongs on the soccer field and certainly not in our stadium. We don’t want and need people like that here. We clearly distance ourselves from such statements and I apologized to the Würzburgers immediately after the game.”

If we have to live with nasty racists in our midst, it’s at least encouraging to see a huge crowd reject it with such immediacy and fervor. Nazis out, indeed.

Most of us who fly on commercial airlines with any regularity at all have heard the preflight safety presentation so many times we tune it out. Emergency exits forward and back, seat cushions act as flotation devices, put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others, and so on. Once you’ve heard it a couple of times, you feel like you’ve got it down.

However, we’ve seen evidence that most people actually don’t have it down. In 2018, a Southwest flight had an emergency midflight and passengers were asked to put on their oxygen masks. Photos from the flight showed that the majority of passengers put them on incorrectly, indicating that people actually do need to be paying attention to the flight crew’s standard safety spiel.

Let’s face it, though. Even most flight attendants appear to be robotically going through the motions in those presentations, and who can blame them? They have to do the same thing over and over hundreds if not thousands of times.

But occasionally a flight attendant comes along and breathes new life into the routine with some unexpected humor and flair.

Case in point: A WestJet flight attendant whose physical comedy was nearly impossible to ignore. Watch how he makes a standard safety demonstration into a hilarious comedy routine:

u201cThis guy is truly living his best lifeu201d

— Giles Paley-Phillips (@Giles Paley-Phillips)
1665301402

According to Narcity, the flight attendant’s name is Michael McAdam and videos of his hilarious safety presentations have been circulating since at least 2011.

Here’s a longer version of the above video. This is a guy who truly makes the most of his job.

While McAdam’s dramatic antics are entertaining, they could actually make passengers on his flights safer if an emergency actually happened. Instead of zoning out while he demonstrated the aircraft’s safety features, people were giving him their rapt attention. Who’s going to forget his goofy face when he pulls on the straps of the oxygen mask? Humor is a clever way to get people to actually tune in, which may make it easier for people to remember what to do in case of an actual emergency.

Getting passengers to laugh is also a wise way to influence the overall emotional tenor of the flight. Travel can be stressful, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only added to passengers’ stress levels. Setting a light, jovial tone at the beginning of a flight and getting everyone’s feel-good chemicals flowing with some collective laughter might preemptively fend off conflict between cranky flyers or conflicts with crew members.

Finally, some people are very nervous to fly. Hurtling through the sky at 500 mph with nothing between you and the Earth 30,000 feet below you but few layers of sheet metal and a fairly uncomfortable chair can do that to a person. Having a flight attendant put on a mini comedy show might put them at ease, lessening the likelihood of panic setting in as the crew explains what to do in an emergency.

While we can’t expect all flight attendants to be this entertaining, it is a treat when you get a funny one. Thanks, Mr. McAdam for giving us all a good giggle.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got new music from Alvvays, Sharon Van Etten, Weyes Blood, and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Alvvays — Blue Rev

This Canadian band’s new album Blue Rev is a comeback of sorts, seeing as their last LP arrived over five years ago. They picked a perfect time to share the lush, 14-track project since it arrived just in time for sweater weather. Tracks like “Very Online Guy” and “Tom Verlaine” makes it clear the band is holding on to the fuzzy, dream-pop sound fans know and love, but updated for the year 2022.

Sorry — Anywhere But Here

Fontaines DC lead singer Grian Chatten called this UK post-punk group “genius,” and their sophomore album Anywhere But Here proves why. It flows between moody, dark jams like “Key To The City,” stripped-back ballads like “Quit While You’re Ahead,” fuzzy jams like “There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved,” and joyous anthems like “Let The Lights On.”

Dayglow — People In Motion

It might be the time of the year when we begin to break out the blankets and cozy up, but Dayglow just dropped a celebratory album fit to soundtrack sunnier days. His third LP People In Motion is groovy, danceable, and aptly titled since it makes you want to get up and move. With tracks like “Then It All Goes Away” and “Radio,” Dayglow’s new release is exactly the kind up upbeat music we need to stave off seasonal affective disorder.

Disq — Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet

Buzzy Wisconsin-based five-piece Disq first set themselves ahead from the pack with their 2020 debut LP, but now, they are showing off their playful and dynamic approach to songwriting with their sophomore effort, Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet. The album as a whole combines driving riffs, pastoral anthems like “Prize Contest Life,” and simmering power chords on tracks like “(With Respect To) Loyal Serfs.”

Jean Dawson — Chaos Now*

Jean Dawson has already positioned himself a pop-punk innovator with his 2020 album Pixel Bath, but this week’s new LP Chaos Now* cements his trailblazing status. The album is filled with biting hooks on tracks like “Glory*” and revved-up hits like “Pirate Radio*” that carry both a swaggering and vulnerable edge.

Will Sheff — Nothing Special

It might come as a surprise that Will Sheff dropped his moniker Okkervil River two decades after his initial debut, but his new album Nothing Special‘s haunting, stripped-back sound gives a clear reason for the name change. The album is a sprawling reflection on past ambitions and realigning a sense of self, complete with heart-tugging prose and atmospheric production.

Sharon Van Etten — “Never Gonna Change”

Sharon Van Etten released her standout album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong earlier this year, but now the venerable indie musician is readying a deluxe version with a few new singles. One of those is “Never Gonna Change,” a cathartic ballad that shows off the singer’s ability to create an enveloping and emotionally charged tune.

Sigur Rós — “Untitled #7”

Icelanders Sigur Rós are breathing new life into their past songs and celebrating the 20-year anniversary of their breakthrough album () by remastering it. The new version of the album includes b-sides and never-before-heard singles alongside new versions of the classic album tracks, including the stirring number “Untitled #7.” The 12-minute epic takes the band’s boundary-pushing catalog to soaring new heights and is a reminder of the group’s cutting-edge sound.

Weyes Blood – “Grapevine”

Weyes Blood, aka songwriter Natalie Mering, has a unique ability to translate social ills into gripping ballads. Her 2019 LP Titanic Rising took aim at climate catastrophe, but her latest song “Grapevine” leans on her recognizably poignant vocals to unpack stubbornness in a relationship. “Technology is harvesting our attention away from each other,” she says of the song. “We all have a ‘Grapevine’ entwined around our past with unresolved wounds and pain. Being in love doesn’t necessarily mean being together. Why else do so many love songs yearn for a connection?”

Fever Ray – “What They Call Us”

Karin Dreijer, the pioneering mind behind Fever Ray, returned this week with their first new music since 2017. The single, “What They Call Us,” mixes an industrial beat with a reverberating cello and, like Fever Ray’s previous works, is enchanting, eccentric, and just a touch unsettling.

Ed Sheeran likes to push boundaries when it comes to gift-giving. Last year, he spoke about the leather gimp masks he regularly gets for pal Courteney Cox, and now a different Sheeran buddy has spoken about a present they got from the pop star.

In a new interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Sam Smith revealed Sheeran bought them an inconveniently large marble penis. Smith said, “It’s actually wild. I thought it was a joke: It’s a 6-foot-2 marble penis that is… it’s two tons! It’s two tons, and I’m going to have to get it craned into my house.”

An incredulous Clarkson replied, “What… where? What… in your foyer? Like, what’s going to happen?” Smith continued, “Well, I want to turn it into a fountain, which I think will be hard to do,” which got a big throw-your-head-back laugh from Clarkson.

Smith continued, “He gives people concrete penises, yeah, yeah. I’m not the first: Elton [John] got the first.”

The pair then decided they ought to name the statue, eventually settling on Duke Of Hastings, a reference to the Bridgerton character, and not once mentioning other names more commonly referenced in scenarios such as these, like Richard, Dick, and so on.

Check out the interview above.

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

G Herbo is ringing in his 27th year in style. His birthday was Saturday, October 8, but Survivor’s Remorse: A Side arrived last Friday (October 7). Monday (October 10) brought us the B Side. Smash them together, and you get the 25-track Survivor’s Remorse (Complete Edition). The Chicago artist celebrated by sharing a cinematic video for “No Guts, No Glory,” a B Side track.

Directed by Jerry Production, the visual begins with Herb smoking up outside of a church. Throughout, scenes oscillate between inside the church and the club while Herb reflects on people from his past “like the Reaper, tryna take my soul,” but they can’t shake his hard-won confidence. “They call me the humble one, but I know I’m the GOAT,” he asserts with effortless flow. “Yeah, I’m calm / I’m still a tickin’ bomb / I’ma blow.” (There’s a brief but adorable cameo from Herbo’s son, Yosohn, who is also featured on the album’s opener “FWM.”)

“No Guts, No Glory” reasserts that G Herbo can hold his own — even on an album that boasts features from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Benny The Butcher, Conway The Machine, Future, Gunna, Jeremih, Kodak Black, Offset, Young Thug, and (somehow) more.

Previously released singles include “Blues” featuring Future and “Me, Myself & I” featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

Watch the video for “No Guts, No Glory” above.

In early October, Elon Musk was roundly criticized after tweeting out a peace plan to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Notably, the plan involved ceding Crimea to Russia, which earned Musk a blunt rebuke from a Ukrainian ambassador. “F*ck off is my very diplomatic reply to you,” Andrij Melnyk tweeted at the Tesla CEO. In essence, Musk’s proposed plan was a little too conciliatory to Russia, who could very easily end the war by calling off the invasion.

According to a new report, there’s a reason why Musk was a little too differential to Russia. He had spoken to Vladimir Putin before writing his now maligned peace plan. Even more noteworthy, Musk appears to have proposed virtually everything that Putin wanted during their conversation, which is obviously not great. Via Vice:

In a mailout sent to Eurasia Group subscribers, Ian Bremmer wrote that Tesla CEO Musk told him that Putin was “prepared to negotiate,” but only if Crimea remained Russian, if Ukraine accepted a form of permanent neutrality, and Ukraine recognised Russia’s annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

According to Bremmer, Musk said Putin told him these goals would be accomplished “no matter what,” including the potential of a nuclear strike if Ukraine invaded Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Bremmer wrote that Musk told him that “everything needed to be done to avoid that outcome.”

Here is Musk’s peace plan, which again, matched closely to Putin’s wishes:

What’s concerning is not only Musk’s massive reach on Twitter, which he’s now used to push Putin talking points, but a day after the Tesla CEO was mocked for his peace plan, he restarted his purchase of Twitter after spending all summer trying to back out of the deal. Pundits pointed out the coincidental timing, and there were theories floating around that Musk was receiving cash from Russian sources. However, that deal has yet to be completed, and the likelihood of Musk completing the purchase is once again in flux.

Regardless of what happens with Twitter, Musk pushing a peace plan that benefits Putin is concerning in and of itself.

(Via Vice)

It’s likely that no one in hip-hop is more excited for the spooky season than the Halloween Hottie herself, Megan Thee Stallion. The self-declared horror movie superfan kicked off the month of October with an Instagram post wearing a Jack-o’-lantern over her head, and now, she’s got a new horror movie to look forward to — Megan, the latest offering from Malignant‘s James Wan and Blumhouse. The trailer dropped today and Megan (Thee Stallion) couldn’t wait to see the latest creepy doll flick, even going so far as to dump all over the old favorite, Annabelle.

“Not being biased but I think they made this movie for me,” Meg wrote on Twitter, winking at her obvious connection to the new film. “I will be the THEE FIRST in line to see M3GAN !!!” She followed up a few minutes later with the coup de grace: “Annabelle bitch your OVER,” she joked. (Having rewatched Freddy Vs. Jason myself yesterday, I have a great idea — Blumhouse, hit me up.)

As for what Megan (thee movie) is about: Think something between the recent Child’s Play remake and Ex Machina, where a highly advanced android companion for a lonely child becomes both self-aware and extremely belligerent. The doll also shows off some wickedly charming dance moves in the trailer, likely contributing to Thee Stallion and other fans’ instant approval. January 13 can’t get here soon enough.

Check out the trailer above.