In recent years, baby boomers have often been the target of criticism from younger generations. The most common accusations are that boomers are selfish and don’t care about leaving ample resources (whether financial or environmental) to subsequent generations.

They also come under fire for not being able to acknowledge that it was easier for people of their generation to come of age when things were more affordable and life was a lot less competitive.

However, we should also understand that many of today’s problems are not the boomers’ doing, especially when it comes to the issues that stem from entitled children and technology run amok. In hindsight, there’s something to be said about the importance that boomers placed on self-reliance, letting kids be kids and having a healthy skepticism towards technology.

In the end, each generation contributes to the tapestry of society in its unique way, whether good or bad, even baby boomers. This became evident after a Reddit user named Youssef4573 asked the AskReddit subforum: ‘What is something you can say ‘I’m with the boomers on this one’ about?” Over 4,700 people responded to the prompt, and the most prevalent problems mentioned by the younger generations were overreliance on technology, the modern world’s lack of human touch and how Gen Xers and millennials have raised their children.

Here are 17 things that younger people are “with the boomers” about.

1. Public filming

“Just because I’m in public doesn’t mean I want to be filmed. Yeah, I know legally you can, but common courtesy people.” — Jayne_of_Canton

2. Customer service

“I want to talk to a person in customer service, not a machine.” — lumpy_space_queenie

“And also a person that actually works at the company I bought the product from, not a teenager at an outsourced call center with a script to follow and who answers calls for 15 different companies on the same day.” — Loive.

3. Turn up the dialog

“For the love of all that is holy, can we fix the audio in movies so that the music and sound FX aren’t drowning out the dialogue?” — Caloso

“And the action sequences don’t burst your eardrums or the dialogue is whispers.” — Whynottry-again

4. Bring back buttons

“No, I don’t need everything in my car to be electronic. Some stuff needs buttons.” — LamborghiniHEAT

“This was the big thing for me in my last car – trying to adjust volume or change songs while driving is way more dangerous when it’s all touch screen. Thankfully my current car has physical knobs for everything.” — GeekdomCentral

5. App overload

“Every store/service does not need an app.” — BigDigger324

“I was standing at a car rental counter at an airport (boomer here) to rent a car. My daughter’s car broke down on the way to pick me up. While standing at the counter, with a customer service rep right there and not busy, I had to log in to their site, create an account, and reserve a car. It seemed ridiculous and it took a long time, filling in my license information and all that. This was last September.” — Cleanslate

6. Bring back DIY

“Learning DIY skills is crucial. I had basically zero DIY skills when I bought my house because I had lived in apartments for so long and I’ve had to learn a lot. YouTube tutorials are absolutely clutch.” — JingleJongleBongle

7. Turn off the speakerphone

“I hated this when I worked at Walmart. So many of my coworkers would talk on speaker or watch TikTok at full volume. It’s just trashy imo, nobody wants to hear your media.” — WhiteGuy1x

“I work at an emergency medical office and holy sh*t the amount of people that sit in a quiet, peaceful lobby and just have the LOUDEST conversations on their phone…. Speaker or otherwise. Not to mention the people that still watch sh*t without headphones. Like do you not see the plethora of other people around you that you’re disturbing?” — Cinderpuppins

8. Ban QR code menus

“I think menus should be tangible.” — Limp-Management9684

“QR codes kill the vibe. We’re all on our phones constantly throughout the day and then when you go to spend some quality time with someone, it’s another excuse to whip out the phone and stare at it. There’s an intimacy to a physical menu. You’re looking at what the other person is reading, you’re each pointing to parts of the menu. You’re noticing the lighting of the restaurant. QR codes feel chintzy and kill the ambiance completely.” — VapeDerp420

9. Stop subscriptions

“When I was your age, you only had to pay for a video game once to own it.” — CattonCruthby

10. Free the children

“A kid in 2024 should have the same freedom to exist unsupervised and move about their community independently as a boomer did growing up.” — PixelatedFish

“The world is safer than it’s ever been and people are more scared than ever. I blame true crime and local news.” ⲻ Unhappyhippo142

11. Kids need to touch grass

“Kids shouldn’t be on phones or iPads all the time. It makes them weird.” — Ubstantial_Part_952

“The same could be said about most adults.” — DrunkOctopus

12. Stop being so sensitive

“People in our generation are far, far too sensitive. Don’t get it twisted; empathy is, by and large, a good thing and it takes some serious doing for me to say it’s gone too far. But collectively, we’ve become people willing to throw every last bit of energy fighting against every slight and making sure our pet cause gets top billing to the point of fighting amongst each other even if we’re in almost complete agreement otherwise. Emotional energy – like any other kind of energy – is very much a finite resource. Whereas boomers could at least generally agree to disagree and get on with things (obvious cross-wielding exceptions doth apply). Culturally, we’ve lost sight of the adage of ‘winning the battle, losing the war.'” — almighty_smiley

13. Stop delivery

“Food delivery services are a complete ripoff; if you use them regularly, you’re terrible with money. Get off my lawn.” — VapeDerp420

14. Parking meters

“So rather than throwing a few coins in your meter, you have to now get your license plate #, get your meter number, go to the meter station, stand in line with everyone waiting to pay their meter, then you’re set. It’s an unnecessary amount of extra steps. I don’t carry cash much anymore, but I can hide a small amount of coin in my car to quickly pay a meter.” — Luke5119

15. Kids should know their place

“Not letting your children rule the roost. When did it become acceptable to let your kids back-talk to you, slap you, climb all over shi*t in public places? As we’ve raised ours, I’ve witnessed so many parents around us just let these behaviors slide. It’s kind of sad when I’m the one saying things like, “Did I just hear you just say that to your mom?!?!?!?! That is not ok. You go and apologize right now!!”. Then I get this stunned “deer in headlights” look back that tells me they aren’t used to someone calling them out on their behavior.” — Cobblestone-Villain

16. Pride in ownership

“Seems that a lot of boomers have pride of ownership and enjoy maintaining what they have.” — Awkward_Bench123

17. Don’t follow leaders

“My dad (a solid boomer) has been saying that ALL politicians are crooks since he became disenchanted with politics around the Nixon era. He was starry-eyed before that, trying to make social change, yada yada. He still votes, but holds his nose. Can’t say I disagree with him.” — Thin_white_duchess

This article originally appeared on 1.23.24

LGBTQ people have faced discrimination around the globe for centuries. A big reason is that non-heterosexual relationships have been seen as unnatural by both church and state. LGBTQ people have either been seen as acting against the will of God for rejecting the traditional family structure or, nature, for engaging in sexual activity that doesn’t result in reproduction.

However, science has slowly been striking down the idea that homosexuality is unnatural by proving that it’s seen across countless species, from bonobo monkeys to black swans to fruit flies. A landmark 2019 research paper found that over 1500 species of animals exhibit homosexual behavior.

However, now it appears that the paper wildly underestimated the amount of homosexual activity happening in nature.

A new report published on June 20, 2024, in the journal PLOSOne shows that same-sex sexual behavior in the animal kingdom is much more prevalent than previously documented. The big reason is that researchers have been underreporting their observations.

— (@)

The study surveyed 65 experts and 77% said that they had observed same-sex sexual behavior in the species they studied. However, only 48% reported collecting data on the observations and only 18% published their findings.

“Many respondents reported that their lack of recording data or publishing on SSSB [same-sex sexual behavior] was due to a perception that it was very rare,” Karyn Anderson, a PhD candidate in evolutionary anthropology at the Univerity of Texas, who led the study, told CNN. “When looked at on a broader scale, we found instead that it was very commonly observed by our survey participants.”

Anderson adds that homosexuality is, in fact, “widespread and natural in the animal kingdom.”

The news doesn’t surprise Josh Davis, author of “A Little Gay Natural History,” a book that examines the diversity of sexual behavior in the natural world.

“Whilst it has only been officially recorded in around 1,500 species, this figure is likely a massive underestimate,” he told IFL Science. “This is because it can be found in pretty much every branch of the evolutionary tree, from beetles and butterflies to turtles and squirrels, so the idea that it is limited to just a few hundred species out of the 2.13 million described to date is incredibly unlikely.”

“There’s a growing suggestion it’s normal and natural to almost every species,” he added. “It’s probably more rare to be a purely heterosexual species.”

At first, it may seem as though same-sex sexual behavior runs counter to evolution. If animals reproduce through heterosexual intercourse, why do some still have same-sex relations?

Researchers believe that homosexuality may have evolved in humans because individuals with a degree of same-sex attraction benefit from greater social integration, mobility, and stronger social bonds. So, there is a survival benefit to participating in same-sex sexual behavior.

These developments are further proof that humans and the rest of the animal kingdom have never been exclusively heterosexual and those that have same-sex relations are as natural as those who do not. It seems the more we learn about the science of sexuality, the more we realize that Lady Gaga was right on the mark when she wrote “Born This Way.”

No shortage exists for upcoming adaptations of Stephen King’s work. There’s HBO’s Welcome To Derry series that will include Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, and Glen Powell is preparing for a remake of The Running Man. Also, a Salem’s Lot remake will stream on Max at some point.

Then there’s The Monkey, which shall be a feature-length movie (contrasted with the 2023 short from director Spencer Sherry) that adapts King’s 1980 story that he later tweaked for the Skeleton Crew collection. If you are enjoying the evil doll films these days like M3GAN and her diabolical predecessors, then The Monkey should feel like the granddaddy of those stories. What can we expect from this long-overdue onscreen slice of horror?

Plot

Essentially, this film will revolve around a cymbal-clanging, diabolical toy monkey that refuses to be thrown into the trash. You know how that goes whenever James Wan is producing a doll-based movie, right? NEON has also released a lone image of this horrible artifact lurking in the darkness:

As noted above, this project also hails from director Osgood Perkins, who will soon head into theaters with another seat-handle gripping project, Longlegs, his Nic Cage serial killer movie. While promoting that project, Perkins recently dropped a few hints on The Monkey to Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew podcast. Those details include what type of Stephen King vibe to expect: “It’s gonna feel more like Misery or Creepshow.”

Will this be a serious-toned film or a bit more like dark comedy? Perkins had that answer, too, along with advice on ideal viewing companions:

“To me, if you’re gonna make a movie about a toy monkey, you can be serious about it. But so much of King is funny and nostalgic feeling. So we tried to make a movie that felt a little bit more like something from the late ’80s – ’90s … For me, ideally it’s the movie that kids and their parents wanna go see together. People blow up, people explode; it’s very extreme but it’s very funny. It’s very father-son redemption, it’s very touching, it’s very nostalgic, it’s very Stephen King.”

There you have it. If your parents are cool and into horror, then perhaps you can watch with them, if everyone is of age. Big promises there, but this movie hails from Black Bear and is produced by Michael Clear, James Wan, and Jason Cloth, and here’s the movie’s synopsis:

When twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.

Cast

Theo James will be on hand to lend his handsome-leading-man-who-might-harbor-a-dark-side talents. The film co-stars Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Elijah Wood, Sarah Levy, Rohan Campbell, and Colin O’Brien.

Release Date

Finally, an anticipated Stephen King project has a concrete release date: February 21, 2025.

Trailer

It’s only a matter of time before we see a trailer or teaser clip, but if you are jonesing for some King-fueled horror that you might have missed, here’s the trailer for the underrated In The Tall Grass, now streaming on Netflix:

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials for track and field got underway on Friday night in Eugene, Oregon, and the biggest name on track for the evening was the current world champion in the 100 meter dash, Sha’Carri Richardson.

Richardson ran a 10.65 second race in Budapest last August, becoming the fifth fastest woman in history and the first U.S. woman to win a world championship gold in the 100 meters since 2017. That performance meant Richardson arrived at U.S. Trials with lofty expectations, as she looks to become the first American woman to win Olympic gold since 1996 (Marion Jones’ 2000 gold was stripped due to testing positive for PEDs).

As she took the track for her first heat of the team trials, Richardson was heavily favored to win the heat, much less punch a ticket to the semifinals, but disaster nearly struck when she stumbled out of the blocks and had an untied shoe. However, Richardson put forth an absolutely incredible final 50 meters to run down Tamari Davis in lane 2 to win the heat and set the fastest time of the night with a 10.88.

Her closing speed here is truly stunning, and to run a 10.88 is outrageous after a start that saw her nearly end up in lane 8 next to her after an awkward start out of the blocks (and with a shoe not tied). After crossing the finish line, Richardson properly tied her right shoe and soaked in the love from the Oregon crowd.

I’d guess Richardson will be double checking her laces prior to the semis and finals on Saturday night, as she’ll look to build on that 10.88 and punch her ticket, officially, for Paris.

The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from Ice Spice, GloRilla, and 6lack.

The big news of the week was, of course, Kendrick Lamar’s Ken & Friends concert, The Pop Out. Attended by a who’s-who of LA royalty (a characterization that could also apply to the performers), the show culminated in a multiple encore of Ken’s battle turned hit du jour “Not Like Us.”

Ice Spice put some attention on her “Phat Butt” ahead of the release of her debut album Y2K.

Meanwhile, GloRilla kept her string of turn-up anthems alive with “TGIF.”

6lack said “F*ck The Rap Game” as he put the focus back on the music.

Chance The Rapper kept his comeback going with “Stars Out.”

And in hip-hop news, ASAP Rocky announced the release date for his long-awaited album Don’t Be Dumb while Megan Thee Stallion revealed the tracklist for her independent debut, Megan.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending June 21, 2024.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

G-Eazy — Freak Show

G-Eazy’s comeback album arrives with a minimum of fanfare (which is to be expected, now that he’s gone independent with distribution by his former label RCA), but with something of a return to form for the Bay Area rapper. The carnival motif ties together a diverse array of beats that run the gamut from his signature post-hyphy (“Femme Fatale” with Coi Leray and Kaliii) to deconstructed boom-bap (“South Of France”). French Montana, Lancey Foux, and Leon Bridges guest, but Gerald keeps the spotlight firmly on himself. There isn’t too much introspection or experimentation, but is that really why we love G-Eazy?

Kaelin Ellis — You Are Here, Start

The Florida producer has been around for a bit, working with just about anyone in alternative hip-hop you can name. That experience and those relationships serve well on his latest, which mashes up pulsating, funk-washed EDM (longtime readers will know exactly what I mean when I say it’s extremely my sh*t) with jazzy hip-hop instrumentation and heady, wordy rhymes from the likes of indie rap stalwarts like Buddy, Iman Europe, Guapdad 4000, Kenny Mason, Saba, ToBi, and more. My favorite release of the week, and will very probably end up being one of my most-played projects by the end of the summer.

Your Old Droog — Movie

The Brooklyn rapper-producer returns with his first full-length release since 2021’s Space Bar (although a string of tough EPs kept his name buzzing in the New York City streets through 2022). His stream-of-consciousness punchlines pair with hard-hitting, gritty beats like a Yankee fitted cap and a pair of Timbalands — the images that jump into mind the second you press play. Fans of intricate backpack raps will be thoroughly satisfied with 18 tracks and appearances from Denzel Curry, Madlib, Method Man, and Yasiin Bey.

Singles/Videos

Headie One — “Tipsy” Feat. Aitch

Mandem connect on a tropical vibe to riff on the delights of intoxication. Headie and Aitch have great chemistry and their flows blend coolly with the laid-back Caribbean riddim undergirding the debauchery.

IDK — “Tiffany” Feat. Gunna

DMV rapper IDK has proven to be a master of reinvention. Coming off his breezy 2023 project F65, he dips his toe into some cinematic trap, alongside the resurgent Gunna.

Jaden — “Roses”

He’s back! The second-gen rap star is on a new wave; the low-key beat, the mellow crooning, and the introspective but deft rap verse portend one hell of a third chapter coming down the pike.

Jpegmafia — “don’t rely on other men”

Combative, defiant verses from Peggy top a distorted, thumping beat that sounds like a Ninja food processor full of industrial grunge and dubstep records on “high.”

Snakehips & Earthgang — “Been A Minute…” Feat. Sinéad Harnett

Again, extremely “my sh*t.” Snakehips and Earthgang have actually collaborated before, on the 2021 track “Run It Up.” Clearly, they enjoyed the process, teaming up again for a 5-track EP, SNAKEGANG.

Tee Grizzley — “Robbery 7”

The Detroit rapper’s storytelling bursts to the forefront of what starts off a regretful reflection and turns quickly into a high-speed crime adventure.

It’s easy to imagine what we’d do or how we’d respond to imaginary scenarios, playing the hero in an emergency, speaking up when we witness an injustice or confronting someone who mistreats us.

Real life, however, can feel different than we expect it to as emotions and fight-or-flight chemicals flood our minds and bodies.

Two studies illustrate this reality when it comes to responding to sexual harassment, finding that imagined responses don’t tend to play out in real-life harassment scenarios.

A 2002 study published by Julie A. Woodzicka and Marianne LaFrance in the Journal of Social Issues examined the way women anticipated they would respond to sexual harassment in imagined scenarios vs. how women respond when facing a real sexual harassment scenario in a job interview and found that the two did not match up.

Psychologist Kaidi W, Ph.D. shared excerpts from the study on X, illustrating the study’s key findings.

— (@)

Setting up a real sexual harassment scenario posed an ethical dilemma for the study design, as they couldn’t create severe harassment without the subjects knowing. They created a job interview that participants thought was real and had the male interviewer intersperse three sexually intrusive questions amidst regular questions:

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Do people find you desirable?”

“Do you think it’s important for women to wear bras to work?”

When presented with such questions in an imagined scenario, women shared how they predicted they’d respond. “The most prominent emotion women imagined they’d feel was anger (27%), while fear was rarely mentioned (2%),” Wu wrote. “62% of women said they’d confront the interviewer. 68% said they’d refuse to answer at least one harassing questions.”

However, when the researchers set up the job interview, women facing the questions in real life reacted very differently. None of them refused to answer all the questions, none confronted the interviewer, none left the interview, and none reported the harasser to the supervisor.

— (@)

Notably, the most prominent emotion women experienced in the real scenario was fear. “Simply put, women imagined feeling angry, but women in the situation were actually afraid,” the authors wrote.

“It is noteworthy that the self-reports of being afraid were not due merely to actually being in an interview situation in contrast to an imagined interview situation,” the authors added. “For when we compared interviewees in the sexually harassing interview to those who got the surprising but nonharassing questions, we found that women who were asked harassing questions reported feeling significantly more afraid than did their nonharassed counterparts.”

Another finding was that women facing the harassing questions exhibited more non-Duchenne smiling (basically feigning a smile) than the others. Non-Duchenne smiling is associated with accommodation or appeasement as opposed to genuine pleasure. The authors suggest that the women may have been smiling in such a manner to signal that they were “willing to play by the rules so that they could get out of that place.”

Another study from 2023 also found a gap between how people think they’d respond to a sexually harassing situation vs. how they actually do.

A study by the University of Exeter, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and published in Psychology of Women Quarterly, found that people who imagined a sexual harassment scenario predicted that they would feel a strong need to take formal action, such as reporting the harassment to authorities.

But people who had actually experienced harassment shared different needs that often overrode the need for immediate justice

Senior author Manuela Barreto, from the University of Exeter said: “We found there is a widely held belief that quick and formal reporting is the correct response to sexual harassment. It’s what’s generally meant with the phrase ‘coming forward.’ Yet most people who are sexually harassed do not report it formally and those who do, often report the offence a significant time after it happened.”

“There is an assumption that those who experience sexual harassment are primarily guided by their desire for justice,” shared lead author Thomas Morton of the University of Copenhagen who worked on the research at the University of Exeter. “But this research shows that peoples’ needs are wider than what others might expect, and include needs for safety, personal control, and for life to just return to normal. Of all the needs that people expressed, the need for justice was not the highest priority. This might explain why people don’t take the kind of formal actions, like reporting to police, that others expect them to.”

“If you have not experienced sexual harassment, it is hard to accurately anticipate what you might need, and therefore what you would do to satisfy those needs,” Morton added. “Our research suggests that the assumptions people make are often wrong, or at least don’t reflect what the people who have experienced sexual harassment say they need.”

The Me Too movement brought needed awareness to how often women face sexual harassment, but it also raised a lot of questions about why women don’t confront or come forward to report it. These studies are a good reminder that we don’t truly know how we are going to feel or respond until we are facing a real-life scenario ourselves, so we can’t truly judge how another person handles an experience with sexual harassment. They also help us expand our understanding of how easy it is to underestimate fear and a sense of security as primary motivating factors in our responses, even if we are convinced our righteous anger and justice will override them.

Cats in general are too often mislabeled with unsavory personality traits, but rescue cats really suffer the consequences of being misunderstood. When they hiss, growl or even scratch at their rescuer, it’s sometimes assumed that aggression is just their regular disposition, rather than a fear response. But when given consistent reassurance and a whole lotta patience, even the crabbiest kitty can transform into a sweet cuddlebug.

Just take Bruno’s word for it.

According to his rescuer Grace, Bruce was the “most challenging” cat she had ever dealt with when it came to aggression.

According to his rescuer Grace, Bruce was the “most challenging” cat she had ever dealt with when it came to aggression.

In a video posted to her TikTok account, titled @kittyboyandfriends, we see exactly when she means as Bruno ferociously swipes at Grace’s hand when she opens his carrier.

“He was so untrusting of humans, but desperate for love,” her onscreen text reads.

We see this inner conflict as well, as poor Bruno cautiously approaches Grace for a pet while offering a warning hiss at the same time. The anguish is palpable.

Grace was determined not to give up Bruce, and it paid off. Slowly but surely, Bruce softened. He started approaching Grace for love—no bites attached.

And then, after a month, Bruce was transformed “into the most loving affectionate boy.”

Watch:

@kittyboyandfriends “Aggressive” Bruno’s 1-month Transformation 💫 It’s so hard to believe that this is the same cat I brought home. The first few weeks with Bruno were overwhelming. I felt hopeless at times. Even with my experience with feral & aggressive cats, Bruno has been the most challenging by far. But with love, time and patience, we uncovered a gentle soul just craving love and affection. We still have some work ahead of us, as he occasionally gets triggered, but I am so incredibly proud of how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time 🥰 A big thank you to #FurboForGood for making this video possible and generously donating to The Happy Kitty Rescue! I am so grateful for their support and the impact they’re making in the whole rescue community. Every purchase made with Furbo helps improve the well-being of rescued pets by providing meals, shelter, training, and more. I’ve especially loved having our Furbo Cat Camera to capture all our precious moments and keep an eye on the babies when I’m not home. Thank you, @Furbo Pet Camera ♬ original sound – Grace

Nowadays Bruce can be seen cuddling up on Grace’s chest. There’s still work to be done, and moments where he gets triggered, but Grace is nonetheless “incredibly proud” of how far he’s come.

Down in the comments, people were equally amazed.

“The way his whole face changed as he started to trust you,” one person wrote.

Many noted how many “aggressive” cats like Bruno are really just scared, and in need of more love.

“Hisses get kisses NEVER FAILS. Some cats take days, some weeks, some months but it always wins,” one person declared.

Another echoed, “Deep down I think no animal is really ‘aggressive,’they were just not treated right.”

Many wrote “to be loved is to be changed,” a popular phrase conveying the transformative power love has on rescue animals.

There are multiple ways to make the transition period a little smoother for rescue cats, primarily by establishing a routine, respecting boundaries and providing positive reinforcement. But really it just comes down to having enough patience to see it through. But these creatures are so, so worth it.

Technology is the single greatest contributor to climate change but it may also soon be used to offset the damage we’ve done to our planet since the Industrial Age began.

In September 2018, a project in Myanmar used drones to fire “seed missiles” into remote areas of the country where trees were not growing. Less than a year later, thousands of those seed missiles have sprouted into 20-inch mangrove saplings that could literally be a case study in how technology can be used to innovate our way out of the climate change crisis.

“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” Irina Fedorenko, co-founder of Biocarbon Engineering, told Fast Company. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”

According to Fedoranko, just two operators could send out a mini-fleet of seed missile planting drones that could plant 400,000 trees a day — a number that quite possibly could make massive headway in combating the effects of manmade climate change.

The drones were designed by an ex-NASA engineer. And with a pressing need to reseed an area in Myanmar equal to the size of Rhode Island, the challenge is massive but suddenly within reach. Bremley Lyngdoh, founder and CEO of World Impact, says reseeding that area could theoretically house as many as 1 billion new trees.

“Obviously, planting a billion trees will take a long time without the help of drones,” Lyngdoh told Fast Company.

But they’ve now got a powerful new ally in their corner. For context, it took the Worldview Foundation 7 years to plant 6 million trees in Myanmar. Now, with the help of the drones, they hope to plant another 4 million before the end of 2019.

Myanmar is a great case study for the project. In addition to the available land for the drone project, the nation has been particularly hit by the early effects of climate change in recent years. Rising sea levels are having a measurable impact on the population. In addition to their ability to clear CO2 from the atmosphere, healthy trees can also help solidify the soil, which can reduce the kind of soil erosion that has been affecting local populations in Myanmar.

Going forward, technologies like seed-planting drones could help stem the tide of catastrophic climate change while our governments and societies work to change the habits of consumers and corporations that are driving the problem. Our endless hunger for new technology may be the driving force behind climate change and deforestation but it could also end up being the solution to a problem.

This article originally appeared on 4.17.19

Matt Diaz has worked extremely hard to lose 270 pounds over the past six years.

But his proudest moment came in March 2015 when he decided to film himself with his shirt off to prove an important point about body positivity and self-love.

Matt had lap-band surgery in 2009 at age 16.

Through the course of his weight-loss journey, Matt became passionate about promoting body positivity for people of all shapes and sizes.

To stay motivated, he started sharing his journey on social media, posting before-and-after photos, answering questions and giving support to followers, and even sharing his meals and favorite workouts. Six years later, Matt is down over 270 pounds and is a very active voice in the online body-positivity movement.

But in all his years of sharing his story, the one thing he’s never done is showed what his body looks like after 200+ pounds of weight loss. So he uploaded the video above to show his followers his true self.

Shortly after he posted the video online, originally to Tumblr, it quickly went viral and garnered thousands of shares and comments from people around the web. I was one of the thousands touched by the video, so I reached out to Matt to find out more about what motivated him and what he hopes others can take away from his story. Here’s what he had to say:

Why was it so important for you to post this video?

“I’m a really big advocate for self-love and body positivity. I think it’s important that we learn to love the bodies we’re in, even if we don’t necessarily like every little thing about them. However, in the time I’d been writing and talking about it, I’d never actually shown my excess skin to anyone. It felt dishonest somehow, to others and to myself. I couldn’t tell others that I wanted them to love themselves and keep myself hidden away and ashamed of my skin.”

“I know what it feels like to hate your body, and to be depressed about it, and I never want anyone to feel that way again. So, if making myself vulnerable can help one person, why not?”
— Matt Diaz

What’s the response been like? Anything particularly unexpected?

“I think that putting any opinion on the Internet will garner a certain amount of negativity and cynicism, but I haven’t seen anything like that at all. I’ve read every comment and message since the video has gone up, literally thousands, and they’re all so thoughtful.

A really surprising side-effect were the number of transgender people who’ve thanked me saying that they understood my struggle, even though their body-related insecurity grew from different roots. I’d never even begun to [think] of what that must be like, and the fact that my message could help even though my problems began somewhere else is really incredible.”

What advice or words of encouragement do you have for someone who’s struggling to love their body?

“I know it’s difficult, especially when you’re starting out. I want you to remember that you are not the problem, certain aspects of society are the problem. You’ll constantly be told that you’re too heavy or too tall to be attractive, or you’re not masculine or feminine enough, or that your skin isn’t the right tone or your hair isn’t the right color, and these people are always always always wrong.

Luckily, we’re slowly starting to see these ideas get phased out by modernity. Plus-sized, un-retouched models are getting more attention in major brands, more attention is being put on the alternative scene for high fashion, it’s becoming clear that these negative ideas are not going to last, though it’s going to take a while.”

“Understand that to love yourself is to contest the negative things that were put into your head. Every smile, tattoo, bathing suit, and crop top is a small revolution. Tell yourself you’re beautiful every day, and I promise you will be.“
— Matt Diaz

Watch video below:

Matt’s story is a personal one, but it’s one we can all learn from.

I think the most important thing to take away here is that self-love takes time and is different for everyone no matter what they look like. It’s also worth noting that for Matt, losing weight was an important part of his journey, but that might not be the case for everyone. Even so, our society has such incredibly high and unrealistic body standards that even many of those who do work to lose weight end up feeling uncomfortable or being shamed for not having “perfect bodies” once they’ve lost weight.

There’s no such thing as a “perfect body” because everyone is different, which is what makes us beautiful and great! I’m glad there are people like Matt in the world who are not only willing to share their stories but also to inspire others by showing that body confidence comes in all shapes and sizes, and that everyone deserves to feel good about who they are. Here’s hoping Matt’s inspiring words can help others begin to love and accept themselves, no matter where they’re at in their journey.

This story originally appeared on 03.18.15.

This is YouTuber and makeup guru Manny Gutierrez.

Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for People.

He’s taking the beauty world by storm, one tweet at a time.

Maybelline just recruited Gutierrez to be the face of its new mascara campaign — the very first time the role has ever been given to a man.

From a promotional standpoint, the move was a smart one. Gutierrez has amassed millions of social media fans who follow him for his expert makeup advice and hilarious online presence.

But with all the extra fanfare lately, Gutierrez, who is openly gay, has attracted some unwanted attention too.

On Jan. 6, 2017, conservative blogger Matt Walsh tweeted out a photo of Gutierrez, writing, “Dads, this is why you need to be there to raise your sons.”

Dads, this is why you need to be there to raise your sons.pic.twitter.com/8ybirgppKi

Dads, this is why you need to be there to raise your sons.pic.twitter.com/8ybirgppKi

— Matt Walsh (@Matt Walsh)
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Needless to say, Walsh’s tweet — which racked up nearly 5,000 favorites and over 1,600 retweets — encapsulates a whole lot of bigotry and ignorance in less than 140 characters.

Walsh’s rhetoric wasn’t just harmful, though, it was factually incorrect too.

Gutierrez’s dad, “Manny Sr.,” has been there for the social media star.

In fact, he’s been one of Gutierrez’s biggest supporters.

After Walsh’s example of fragile masculinity went viral, Manny Sr. — who works for his son and is “so proud” of him — decided to throw in his two cents. He wrote a message addressed to Walsh and asked Gutierrez to share it on his social media accounts:

My dad is a fucken SAVAGE, I can’t with him pic.twitter.com/iWceEmZ6L4

My dad is a fucken SAVAGE, I can’t with him pic.twitter.com/iWceEmZ6L4

— Manny MUA (@Manny MUA)
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“Not only am I proud of what [my son] has accomplished, but I’m more proud of the person he has become,” Manny Sr. wrote.

“I know the words you speak are from lack of knowing anybody from the LGBT community,” he wrote. “If you did, you would soon realize they are some of the most real and kind hearted individuals that walk this planet of ours.”

Fortunately, Manny’s tweet with his dad’s message has spread much further than Walsh’s original hateful comment, garnering more than 12,000 retweets and nearly 60,000 favorites.

Gutierrez’s dad’s love for his son reflects a broader shift in parents who are accepting and supportive of their LGBTQ children.

While the popularity of same-sex marriage doesn’t necessarily indicate progress on all queer issues, it does serve as a general barometer to gauge Americans’ evolving attitudes on LGBTQ rights. And in that sense, we’ve come a long way.

Not only has national approval of marriage equality trended upward in recent years — surpassing 60% in 2016 — but, more specifically, parents of a certain generation are coming around to the idea too: A 2016 WedInsights study found that 60% of married same-sex couples reported having emotional support from their parents — up from 46% in 2013.

There are many more Manny Sr.’s out there.

In response to the letter, fans applauded Gutierrez’s dad.

Whether it was through an abundance of exclamation points…

…attempts to recruit Gutierrez’s dad for public office…

Can we have your dad for president?!

Can we have your dad for president?!

— Cheryl (@Cheryl)
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…or sending him a simple message of love via hug.

Fans loved Manny Sr.’s message of inclusion. And that message, of course, wasn’t lost on Gutierrez either.

“He’s the best,” Gutierrez wrote in response to one fan. “[I’m] so lucky to have him.”

This article was originally published on 1.18.17