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One Girl Had A Mission To Show Everyone They Were Beautiful. Here's Her Story.

Talia Joy Castellano was a YouTube star and an honorary CoverGirl. She inspired thousands of little girls to channel their inner star with her makeup tutorials, her positive attitude, and her unflinching determination to be the best Talia she could be. At age 7, Talia was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and started undergoing chemotherapy. On July 16, she passed away. She was 13 years old. I didn't know Talia, but after watching her videos, I'm so glad she was able to spread joy and love in the world. I hope that after watching this interview, you will be inspired to do the same.

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Pets

Four guys write a letter asking to walk their new neighbor's dog. The dog writes back.

"I am very friendly and full of beans."

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Photo credit: Canva, Stevieticks /Instagram

black lab (left. Handwritten letter (right)

If you've lived your whole life with a dog, a home has to feel pretty empty without one. Your heart has to feel like there's something missing as well. When Jack McCrossan, originally from Scotland, moved to Bristol, England with his three friends, they were bummed out to learn that their landlord didn't allow dogs.

So when they saw a beautiful black Sheprador (a German Sheppard Lab mix) in their neighbor's window, they knew that had to become buddies with her. They wrote the dog's owner, Sarah Tolman, a letter asking to arrange a play date with the dog. "If you ever need someone to walk him/her, we will gladly do so," they wrote.

"If you ever get bored (we know you never will, but we can dream), we are more than happy to look after him/her. If you want to come over and bring him/her to brighten our day, you are more than welcome. If you want to walk past our balcony windows so we can see him/her, please do," the letter continued.

"We hope this doesn't come too strong, but our landlord won't allow pets, and we've all grown up with animals. The adult life is a struggle without one," they wrote. "Yours sincerely, The boys from number 23," the letter concluded.

Soon after, the boys in 23 received a response from the dog herself, Stevie Ticks, accepting the offer. However, it may have been written by her human, Sarah Tolman. In the letter, Stevie shares a bit about herself, saying she's two years and four months old, was adopted in Cyprus, and that she's "very friendly and full of beans." (The boys shouldn't worry about a gassy hound, in England, "full of beans" means lively.)

"I love meeting new people and it would be great if we can be friends. I must warn you that the price of my friendship is 5 x ball throws a day and belly scratches whenever I demand them," the letter continued. A few days later, the boys got to meet Stevie.

"Meeting Stevie was great!" McCrossan told Buzzfeed. "She was definitely as energetic as described. We got to take her for a walk and she wouldn't stop running!"

Tolman thought the boys' letter was a fantastic gesture in an era where, quote often, neighbors are strangers. "In a day and age where people don't really know or speak to their neighbors, it was really nice for them to break down that barrier," she said. After the story went viral, she saw it as an opportunity for people to share their love of dogs with the world. "My mother and I are amazed at all the love we've received from around the world these past few days," Tolman wrote as Stevie. "If you have a doggo in your life, share that love with those around you."

A lot has changed since this story first warmed hearts around the globe. The boys have since moved away, but as of September 2024, Stevie is around 8 years old and still living her best life. Recently, she even made it to the doggie wall of fame at her local coffee shop.

In the years since this story first went viral, pet-sharing and neighbor dog borrowing have actually become more common, especially in cities where landlords restrict pets. Several platforms (like BorrowMyDoggy) and community groups now exist to pair dog owners with trusted neighbors who want occasional playtime, walks, or dog-sitting without having to own a pet. It’s a small but growing trend that reflects how deeply animal companionship is needed—even for people who can’t adopt a dog full-time. In many apartment buildings, these kinds of informal arrangements help reduce loneliness, build community, and give non-owners the emotional benefits of living with pets.

Just goes to show the power of a dog's love…even if that dog isn't your own.

This article originally appeared six years ago.

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Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis admit they rarely bathe their kids, or themselves

Like it or not, science may be on their side.

ashton kutcher, mila kunis, bathing, how often should you bathe your kids, how often to shower, hygiene, cleanliness, health, parenting
TechCrunch (left), Gage Skidmore (right) via Wikimedia Commons

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have two kids together. They say they rarely bathe them.

Celebrities: they're just like us! Well, not always. Take Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, for example. Their wealth and fame aren't the only things about them that have some people struggling to relate.

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

In a 2021 appearance on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast, they admitted they're not that into bathing themselves or their two children, Dimitri Portwood, 9, and Wyatt Isabelle, 11. 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."

ashton kutcher, mila kunis, bathing, how often should you bathe your kids, how often to shower, hygiene, cleanliness, health, parenting The secret to getting Mila Kunis' hair? Don't wash it!By Gage Skidmore - Wikimedia Commons

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?"

The origin behind Kunis' practice was not woo-woo new-ageism after all, but was rooted in her childhood.

"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 7.

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."

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.

Shepherd, Kunis, and Kutcher might be onto something about our skin's natural chemicals and bacteria. Particularly if you're not using the right products, that much washing can dry out or damage skin.

However, a whole slew of TikTok videos in 2025 have taken the unscrubbed masses to task with elaborate shower routines that include not only soap, but multiple steps of exfoliating and cleansing on a daily basis. It's a powerful counterpoint to the Kutcher-Kunis approach. But is it really about cleanliness or is the ritual more about relaxing and self-care?

@pickleflipflops

my in-depth shower / smell-good routine! yall taking notes? #pickleflipflops - #showerroutine #bodycare #hygienetips#vanillagirl #vanillaperfume #signaturescent #showertok #everythingshower #cleangirl #smellgood #hygieneroutine #blackgirl

Some people are swearing by these routines after trying them, so maybe there's something to them. On the other hand, some say this much cleansing and scrubbing would cause problems with eczema and other dry skin conditions, so maybe it's all individual need and preference.

Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, better known on YouTube as Doctor Mike, actually sides a little closer to the Kutcher-Kunises, saying that people don't necessarily have to shower every day and the decision of how frequently to wash should be "holistic" and based on your preferences and lifestyle.

"If you just had a normal day, it's not absolutely mandatory that you shower," but adding that washing with soap after the gym, for example, is a must.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

As for Kutcher and Kunis, they've both clearly put a lot of thought into how they want to raise their kids; baths be damned. In a recent interview she explained that she and her husband never work at the same time, and she only makes one movie per year to ensure she's there for her kids. She doesn't want them raised by a Hollywood nanny.

As for their bathing philosophies, 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 four years ago. It has been updated.

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Women's Health

Forensics student reveals the two types of women predators target based on how they walk

It's chilling that they all have the same "type."

predators, forensics, crime, women, awareness
via Екатерина Шумских/Pexels, Vladimir Konoplev/Pexels and Teona Swift/Pexels

Three women walking down city streets.

A forensics student named Alexandria recently shared vital information on TikTok that all women should know. She detailed the specific signs male predators are looking for when they choose a victim.

Her video is based on a 2013 study entitled “Psychopathy and Victim Selection: The Use of Gait as a Cue to Vulnerability.” For the study, researchers interviewed violent criminals in prison and asked them the type of women they’d be most likely to victimize.

The study found that the criminals all agreed that how the woman walked was a deciding factor.

“What the selected women all had in common was the way that they walked and how they generally held themselves in public,” Alexandria says in the video she later deleted but has been shared broadly across the platform.

@_alf_90_

How to walk for your safety! #women #safety #tips #walking #kidnapping #murder #attacks #fyp

“The selected women all had a similar ‘awkwardness’ to the way that they walked and carried themselves,” she continued. “The first part of the woman had a gait that was a little bit too small for their body, which resulted in smaller steps, slower speed and their arms more typically to their sides, or crossed, as well as their heads being down and not really taking in their general surroundings, which indicated three different things to these potential attackers.”

The woman’s body language signaled to attackers that she was fearful and anxious and because her head was down, she'd be easier to surprise. Alex then described the second type of woman the criminals said they’d target.

“On the other hand, the other part of the women that were selected had a gait that seemed a bit too big for their body and their arms tended to flail to the sides and seemed just overly awkward,” Alexandria continued.

The woman with the bigger gait signaled to potential attackers that she may be clumsy and won’t put up a good fight. “Because their arms were out and flailing to the side, it left the lower body open to, again, come around and grab them,” she said.

women, walking, predators, crime, body language Women walking down a street.Image via Canva Photos.

The video was helpful because Alexandria also discussed the types of women the attackers wouldn’t pursue. Alex says these women “walked with a gait that tended to be more natural to their body.” She adds they moved at the same pace as those in the immediate area, with their shoulders back and chins up and asserting a general sense of confidence.

“Essentially, the women that were not selected gave off an energy that said, ‘Don’t mess with me. I will put up a good fight.’ And that’s why they weren’t selected,” Alex said. “I know that it sounds silly, but something as simple as the way you walk or the way that you carry yourself in public could determine the likelihood that you become a target of a predator.”

According to the Center for Violence Prevention and Self Defense Training, detecting vulnerability is the biggest factor in who predators choose to victimize. Confusion, isolation, appearing insecure, unaware, unassertive, or distracted all play a part in who predators target, but being aware of these factors can increase safety considerably. They also note that access plays a part in being targeted, stating that, "Attackers tend to target people positioned near entrances, exits, or secluded areas where they can quickly grab and escape without arousing suspicion."

woman, crime, predator, safety, awareness Woman aware of her surroundings in a parking garage. Image via Canva Photos.

Alexandria concluded her video by sharing an acronym that can help prevent women from being victimized while in public: STAAR.

S(tride): Walk with a natural stride to your body with steps that are not too far apart or short.

T(all): Stand tall. Keep your shoulders back and your chin up. Assert a natural confidence and dominance to those around you.

A(rms): Swing your arms naturally by your sides, avoiding keeping them too close to your body or flailing out of your natural range of motion.

A(wareness): Stay aware of your surroundings. Take notice if something feels or looks off.

R(elax): Stay cool, calm, and collected and don’t indicate to a potential attacker that you feel or see something is wrong.


This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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Why being politically 'pro-choice' doesn't conflict with being morally 'pro-life'

Most of us sit somewhere in the messy middle of the abortion debate.

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Photo credit: Canva

A woman praying

Abortion is not a black-and-white issue, no matter how some folks want to make it one. Despite being viewed as one of the most polarizing issues in America, most of us sit somewhere in the messy middle of the abortion debate, with our personal moral convictions and what we want our laws to be not necessarily aligning perfectly.

People have big feelings about abortion, which is understandable. On the one hand, some people feel that abortion is a fundamental women's rights issue, that our bodily autonomy is not up for debate, and that those who oppose abortion rights are trying to control women through oppressive legislation. On the other hand, some believe that a fetus is a human individual first and foremost, that no one has the right to terminate a human life, period, and that those who support abortion rights are heartless murderers.

abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, reproductive rights, abortion laws Pro-choice and pro-life aren't mutually exclusive.Photo credit: Canva

And then there's the rest of us, who have personal, moral, and/or religious objections to abortion under many circumstances, but who choose to vote to keep abortion legal with few if any restrictions attached. According to a 2024 Pew Research report, there appear to be a whole lot of us. Most Americans (63%) want abortion to be legal with few or no restrictions, and most white non-evangelical Protestants (64%), most Black Protestants (71%), and most Catholics (59%) support abortion being legal in all or most cases. White evangelical Protestants were the only religious affiliation shared by Pew that believed abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

Some people don't understand being personally anti-abortion but politically pro-choice, citing the moral conflict seemingly inherent in that equation. But I don't feel conflicted about it at all. Here's why:

There are too many unknowns and far too much gray area to legislate abortion.

No matter what you personally believe, when exactly life begins and when “a clump of cells" should be considered an individual, autonomous human being with the same rights as a person who is not dependent on a woman's body for life is a completely debatable question with no clear scientific answers.

I believe life begins at conception, but that's my own religious belief about when the soul becomes associated with the body, not a proven scientific fact. As Arthur Caplan, award-winning professor of bioethics at New York University, told Slate, “Many scientists would say they don't know when life begins. There are a series of landmark moments. The first is conception, the second is the development of the spine, the third the development of the brain, consciousness, and so on."

abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, reproductive rights, abortion laws There are many unanswerable questions about when life officially begins.Photo credit: Canva

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that a human life unquestionably begins at conception. Even with that point of view, there are too many issues that make a black-and-white approach to abortion too problematic to ban it. The biggest issue I see is that medicine is complex, and obstetrical medicine is particularly so. It's simply not as simple as "abortion is wrong." Every single pregnancy is personally and medically unique throughout the entire process—how can we effectively legislate something with so many individual variables that are always in flux?

Abortion bans hurt women, even those who desperately want their babies to live.

One reason I don't support banning abortion is that I've seen too many families deeply harmed by restrictive abortion laws.

I've heard too many stories of families who desperately wanted a baby, who ended up having to make the rock-and-a-hard-place choice to abort because the alternative would have been a short, pain-filled life for their child.

I've heard too many stories of mothers having to endure long, drawn out, potentially dangerous miscarriages and being forced to carry a dead baby inside of them because abortion restrictions gave them no other choice.

A midwife friend shared a story of a client with a super rare pregnancy condition that necessitated an abortion. She sent the client to her previous OB, who practiced in a state with strict abortion restrictions. Despite the mother's health declining quickly and zero chance of the fetus surviving, the OB couldn't help her without risking legal action because there was still a fetal heartbeat and the mother's life was not yet in enough danger to qualify for the "to save the mother's life" exception. The mother, going downhill with a deteriorating baby she very much wanted, had to be driven two hours to a hospital in another state to get the care she needed.

I've heard too many stories of abortion laws doing real harm to mothers and babies, and too many stories of families who were staunchly anti-abortion until they found themselves in circumstances they never could have imagined, to believe that abortion is always wrong and should be banned at any particular stage.

I refuse to serve as judge and jury on someone's medical decisions, and I don't think the government should, either.

Most people's anti-abortion views—mine included—are based on their religious beliefs, and I don't believe that anyone's religion should be the basis for the laws in our country. The Constitution makes that quite clear.

I also don't want politicians sticking their noses into my very personal medical choices. There are just too many circumstances (seriously, please read the stories linked in the previous section) that make abortion a choice I hope I'd never have to make but wouldn't want banned. I don't understand why the same people who decry government overreach think the government should be involved in these extremely personal medical decisions.

abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, reproductive rights, abortion laws, medical decisions Abortion is a medical decision.Photo credit: Canva

And yes, ultimately, abortion is a personal medical decision. Even if I believe that a fetus is a human being at every stage, that human being's creation is inextricably linked to and dependent upon its mother's body. And while I don't think that means women should abort inconvenient pregnancies, I also acknowledge that trying to force a woman to grow and deliver a baby that she may not have chosen to conceive isn't something the government should be in the business of doing.

As a person of faith, my role is not to judge or vilify, but to love and support women who are facing difficult choices. The hard questions, the unclear rights and wrongs, the spiritual lives of those babies, I comfortably leave in God's hands, not the government's.

Research shows that if the goal is to prevent abortion, there are more effective ways than abortion bans.

The last big reason I vote the way I do is that, based on my research, pro-choice platforms actually provide the best chance of reducing abortion rates.

Just after Roe vs. Wade was passed, abortion rates skyrocketed, peaked around 1990, and then plummeted steadily for nearly two decades. Abortion was legal during that time, so clearly, keeping abortion legal and available did not result in increased abortion rates in the long run. And in the three years since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe vs. Wade, abortion rates in the U.S. have actually risen. So stricter laws don't seem to be lowering rates, either.

And the statistics globally seem to follow this pattern as well. Switzerland has one of the lowest abortion rates on Earth, and rates there have fallen and largely stabilized since 2002, when abortion became largely unrestricted.

abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, reproductive rights, abortion laws Abortion laws don't stop abortion.Photo credit: Canva

Outlawing abortion doesn't stop abortion, it just pushes it underground and makes it more dangerous. And if a woman dies in a botched abortion, so does her baby. Banning abortion and imposing strict restrictions on it are a recipe for more lives being lost, not fewer.

Our laws should be based on the best data we have available. At this point, the only things consistently proven to reduce abortion rates on a societal scale are comprehensive sex education and easy, affordable access to birth control. The problem is, anti-abortion activists also tend to be the same people pushing for abstinence-only education and making birth control harder to obtain. But those goals can't co-exist with lowering abortion rates in the real world.

The polarization of politics has made it seem like the only choices are on the extreme ends of the spectrum, but it doesn't have to be that way. We can separate our own personal beliefs and convictions from what we believe the role of government should be. We can look at the data and recognize when bans may not actually be the most effective means of reducing something we want to see less of. We can listen to people's individual stories and acknowledge that things are not as black-and-white as they're made out to be.

We can want to see fewer abortions and still vote to keep abortion legal without feeling morally conflicted about it.

This article originally appeared six years ago and has been updated.

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From trials to treatments: one family's journey with "Brittle Bone Disease"

For Alex and his family, osteogenesis imperfecta spans four generations — and Shriners Children’s has been there every step of the way with life-changing care.

Four generations, one diagnosis: A family’s lifelong journey with “Brittle Bone Disease”
Four generations, one diagnosis: A family’s lifelong journey with “Brittle Bone Disease”
Four generations, one diagnosis: A family’s lifelong journey with “Brittle Bone Disease”

Like his mom, grandma and great-grandma before him, Alex was born with a condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as “brittle bone disease.” For every family member before him, the condition meant a lifetime of broken bones, hospital visits, and constant worry — but that story is now changing. With the support from Shriners Children’s™, Alex is experiencing a level of freedom and quality of life that former generations had only hoped for.

A family affair

Alex’s family’s story began in 1934, when his great-grandmother June started fracturing her bones at the age of 10. June would be nearly a teenager before she received a diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfecta — and, with that, she became one of the first patients with the condition to be treated at Shriners Children’s.

June’s daughter, Wanda, was diagnosed with the same condition at Shriners Children’s shortly before she was born in 1955. Like her mother, Wanda spent a significant part of her childhood in the hospital, often watching her siblings line up outside the hospital window to wave and wish her luck between surgeries.

When Wanda’s daughter was born, Chandra spent years undergoing treatment at Shriners Children’s for osteogenesis imperfecta, like her mother and grandmother before her. Experiencing more than 200 fractures in her early years, she was unable to walk before age 22 — but no less determined to make life better for others with her condition. Chandra donated her bone marrow to be used in a study, and the results contributed to the OI protocols and treatment that are now the standard of care all over the world. Best of all, this study would go on to benefit her own son, Alex.

Care that feels like family

While her treatment journey was challenging, Chandra also cherished her experience at Shriners Children’s. “The staff was like family to me,” she said.

Shriners Children’s has been providing that same level of professional care for families across the country. Founded in 1922 — just two years before June was born — Shriners Children’s has been providing specialty care to children with a wide variety of complex conditions, such as orthopedics, burn injuries, cleft lip and palate, and others.

But Shriners Children’s doesn’t provide this care alone. All services are made possible by generous donors. Through their giving, patients are able to access specialty care as well as adaptive equipment, long-term rehab, surgeries, and more. In one year alone, Shriners Children’s performed more than 24,000 life-changing surgeries, as well as 446,000 procedures. On top of that, they delivered tens of thousands of prosthetic and orthotic devices for patients in need and welcomed an additional 62,000 patients on top of that.

Hope for a new generation

With Chandra’s bone marrow donation, along with the compassionate care he was able to receive through Shriners Children’s, Alex is now able to live a life his family only dreamt of. To treat his condition, Alex receives infusions that regulate calcium levels in his blood and slow bone breakdown.

“When Alex started walking between one and two years old, I was shocked,” Chandra said. “The fact that he was able to walk, even run, and knowing I had a part to do with that, makes my heart happy.”

Without consistent treatment, Alex’s family believes he might still be spending most of his time in the hospital, facing broken bones and countless fractures. Instead, the compassionate care he receives has given him a bright future — and has made Chandra eternally grateful.

“Shriners [Children’s] is amazing with him,” she said. “I love Shriners [Children’s] so much.”

Shriners Children’s helps children heal and thrive so they can chase their dreams. Learn more about how they’re making it possible and share this article to inspire others to join you. Shriners Children’s relies on generous donors to make a difference.

Donate today during the 3X Match Challenge to make 3X the life-changing impact for patients.

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