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A kid got revenge on his bully and immediately regretted it...
This story about bullying features a really nasty prank, among other things. But don't jump to any conclusions. The story takes some unexpected turns ... to say the least.
05.01.14
The portraits, taken by acclaimed photographer Nigel Barker, are part of CARE's "She Leads the World" campaign.
Women are breaking down barriers every day. They are transforming the world into a more equitable place with every scientific discovery, athletic feat, social justice reform, artistic endeavor, leadership role, and community outreach project.
And while these breakthroughs are happening all the time, International Women’s Day (Mar 8) is when we can all take time to acknowledge the collective progress, and celebrate how “She Leads the World.”
This year, CARE, a leading global humanitarian organization dedicated to empowering women and girls, is celebrating International Women’s Day through the power of portraiture. CARE partnered with high-profile photographer Nigel Barker, best known for his work on “America’s Next Top Model,” to capture breathtaking images of seven remarkable women who have prevailed over countless obstacles to become leaders within their communities.
“Mabinty, Isatu, Adama, and Kadiatu represent so many women around the world overcoming incredible obstacles to lead their communities,” said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE USA.
Barker’s bold portraits, as part of CARE’s “She Leads The World” campaign, not only elevate each woman’s story, but also shine a spotlight on how CARE programs helped them get to where they are today.
About the women:
Mabinty
Mabinty is a businesswoman and a member of a CARE savings circle along with a group of other women. She buys and sells groundnuts, rice, and fuel. She and her husband have created such a successful enterprise that Mabinty volunteers her time as a teacher in the local school. She was the first woman to teach there, prompting a second woman to do so. Her fellow teachers and students look up to Mabinty as the leader and educator she is.
Kadiatu
Kadiatu supports herself through a small business selling food. She also volunteers at a health clinic in the neighboring village where she is a nursing student. She tests for malaria, works with infants, and joins her fellow staff in dancing and singing with the women who visit the clinic. She aspires to become a full-time nurse so she can treat and cure people. Today, she leads by example and with ambition.
Isatu
When Isatu was three months pregnant, her husband left her, seeking his fortune in the gold mines. Now Isatu makes her own way, buying and selling food to support her four children. It is a struggle, but Isatu is determined to be a part of her community and a provider for her kids. A single mother of four is nothing if not a leader.
Zainab
Zainab is the Nurse in Charge at the Maternal Child Health Outpost in her community. She is the only nurse in the surrounding area, and so she is responsible for the pre-natal health of the community’s mothers-to-be and for the safe delivery of their babies. In a country with one of the world’s worst maternal death rates, Zainab has not lost a single mother. The community rallies around Zainab and the work she does. She describes the women who visit the clinic as sisters. That feeling is clearly mutual.
Adama
Adama is something few women are - a kehkeh driver. A kehkeh is a three-wheeled motorcycle taxi, known elsewhere as a tuktuk. Working in the Kissy neighborhood of Freetown, Adama is the primary breadwinner for her family, including her son. She keeps her riders safe in other ways, too, by selling condoms. With HIV threatening to increase its spread, this is a vital service to the community.
Ya Yaebo
“Ya” is a term of respect for older, accomplished women. Ya Yaebo has earned that title as head of her local farmers group. But there is much more than that. She started as a Village Savings and Loan Association member and began putting money into her business. There is the groundnut farm, her team buys and sells rice, and own their own oil processing machine. They even supply seeds to the Ministry of Agriculture. She has used her success to the benefit of people in need in her community and is a vocal advocate for educating girls, not having gone beyond grade seven herself.
On Monday, March 4, CARE will host an exhibition of photography in New York City featuring these portraits, kicking off the multi-day “She Leads the World Campaign.
Learn more, view the portraits, and join CARE’s International Women's Day "She Leads the World" celebration at CARE.org/sheleads.
Let's settle this silly-but-surprisingly-heated debate once and for all.
Humans have debated things large and small over the millennia, from the democracy to breastfeeding in public to how often people ought to wash their sheets.
But perhaps the most silly-yet-surprisingly-heated household debate is the one in which we argue over which way to hang the toilet paper roll.
The "over or under" question has plagued marriages and casual acquaintances alike for over 100 years, with both sides convinced they have the soundest reasoning for putting their toilet paper loose end out or loose end under. Some people feel so strongly about right vs. wrong TP hanging that they will even flip the roll over when they go to the bathroom in the homes of strangers.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not merely an inconsequential preference. There is actually a "correct" way to hang toilet paper, according to health experts as well as the man who invented the toilet paper roll in the first place.
First, let's be clear about what we're even talking about here with a visual. In the image below, left is "over" and right is "under."
Toilet paper hung "over" (left) and "under" (right)
Elya/Wikimedia Commons
So which one is the right way? According to health experts, "over" is the way to go.
"One key to maintaining a hygienic washroom is minimising contact between people and surfaces," Dr. Christian Moro, associate professor of health sciences and medicine at Bond University on Australia's Gold Coast, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "Depending on the type of roll holder, [hanging the toilet paper "over"] often lowers the chance that a user will touch the wall behind when fishing for paper, leaving germs behind on that surface which can be spread to the next user."
Picture it: Grabbing the end of the toilet paper when it's hung "over" means you only touch the part of the toilet paper you're going to use. When it's "under," you sometimes have to fish for it or scrape your fingers on the wall in order to grab the loose end. In addition to whatever might be on people's hands already, think about all the people who wipe twice, potentially transferring fresh fecal matter or other bacteria to the wall on the second pass, which then get picked up by other people who inadvertently touch that wall when trying to grab their TP.
Theoretically, we all should have become better hand washers during the pandemic, scrubbing with soap for the full 20 seconds it takes to remove bacteria. But I wouldn't be willing to bet on it.
And touching any surface in a bathroom is pretty nasty, according to a study from the University of Colorado. As Inc. reported: "Using a high-tech genetic sequencing tool, researchers identified 19 groups of bacteria on the doors, floors, faucet handles, soap dispensers, and toilets of 12 public restrooms in Colorado — six men’s restrooms and six women’s restrooms. Many of the bacteria strains identified could be transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces."
Bacteria means things like e.coli, which is a common source of food poisoning and one of the most common bacteria found on bathroom surfaces in the study. If you've ever had a bout of food poisoning, I'm sure you'll agree that a toilet paper roll hanging preference isn't worth risking it.
But sanitary health concerns aren't the only argument for the "over" camp. After all, the original patent for the toilet paper roll, issued in 1891, clearly shows the TP in the "over" position. Thank you for the clarity right from the get go, Mr. Wheeler.
The toilet paper roll was patented by Seth Wheeler in 1891.
Now, before the "under" folks come running with their pitchforks, there are some understandable exceptions to the "over" rule. Namely: cats and kids.
If you have a furry friend or a tiny toddler who likes to unroll the toilet paper roll, "over" makes it super fun for them, while "under" stops them in their tracks. For many people, cats and kids are the primary motivator of their TP hanging habits.
That doesn't change the fact that "over" is actually the "correct" way to hang toilet paper according to health science and the inventor's intention, of course, but "under" is certainly preferable to having a pile of TP on the floor.
Now go forth, do that with information as you will, and try to make peace with your over vs. under rivals.
Just keep telling yourself, "We're in jello."
Fear of flying—aerophobia, in technical terms—is an extremely common phobia, affecting around 25 million adults in the U.S. alone. Some people grit their teeth and white-knuckle their way through their fear, while others find themselves unable to get on an airplane at all because of it.
Such a fear is understandable, really. Hurtling through the sky at 500 miles per hour, tens of thousands of feet above the Earth's surface, isn't exactly the way humans were designed to get from place to place. (We may have evolved with the brain power and ingenuity to make it happen, but that doesn't mean we automatically go along for the ride without our sense of self-preservation kicking in.)
One of the triggers for people with aerophobia is turbulence—the occasional shaking and pitching of an aircraft when it hits certain conditions in the atmosphere. Even people who are comfortable flying can find turbulence disconcerting sometimes, especially when it creates a sudden dropping sensation. Turbulence is normal, but it doesn't feel normal when you're sitting in a chair 30,000 feet from solid ground. It feels chaotic and out of control.
Anna Paul, a popular TikTok star from Australia, has shared a helpful visual for people freaked out by turbulence in a video that has more than 19 million views.
Paul explains that a pilot shared the analogy of a plane flying through the air being like an object suspended in jello. There's pressure on all sides, so even if the jello is shaken—and the object shaken along with it—the pressure suspends the object.
In other words, a plane is not going to suddenly drop down out of the sky due to turbulence, in the same way that an object won't drop out of the middle of a bowl of jello.
Watch:
@anna..paull Fear of flying tip ✈️❤️
The jello analogy is also used by aerophobia experts. Therapist Les Posen specializes in flying phobias, and he shows his clients a model airplane suspended in raspberry jello to illustrate the fact that turbulence won't cause a plane to drop out of the sky. He even goes a step farther by having clients smell the jello, and then advises them to eat some raspberry candy or juice on the plane to remind themselves of the analogy, using their senses to calm their nerves.
At the end of her video, Paul said there's never been a plane crash from turbulence, but that's not quite true. In 1966, a flight (BOAC 911) coming out of Tokyo broke apart in midair due to unexpected severe turbulence. However, that was a very long time ago. Monitoring of meteorological conditions has greatly advanced since then, as have the designs of modern aircraft and the skill of pilots, so experts will tell you that turbulence is not something to worry about.
If imagining air pressure as jello doesn't really work for you, it may be helpful to have a visual of what turbulence actually is. For that, Captain Stuart Walker, who has been flying for 30 years, explains the four main types of turbulence, what causes them and what pilots do to avoid them or reduce their impact. He also explains what passengers can do to minimize their chances of feeling turbulence on a flight, such as sitting over the wings or toward the front of the plane and flying earlier in the day when temperatures are not as likely to cause air disturbances.
Whether you prefer hospital-food-based analogies or no-nonsense, scientific explanations, the bottom line is that turbulence feels far scarier than it actually is. A shaking plane is not going to drop from the sky, modern aircraft can withstand a great deal of movement midair and pilots are highly trained to handle turbulence.
And remember: Commercial airline travel really is the safest way to get to where you're going, statistically speaking. So next time you fly, kick back, relax and imagine you're suspended in jello, knowing you're in capable hands when the turbulence starts.
This article originally appeared on 06.23.22
She was on the job for 2 months.
TikTokker Brielle Asero, 21, a recent college graduate, went viral on TikTok in October for her emotional reaction to the first day at a 9-to-5 job. The video, which received 3.4 million views, captured the public’s attention because it was like a cultural Rorschach test.
Some who saw the video thought that Asero came off as entitled and exemplified the younger generation’s lack of work ethic. In contrast, others sympathized with the young woman who is just beginning to understand how hard it is to find work-life balance in modern-day America.
“I’m so upset,” she says in the video. "I get on the train at 7:30 a.m., and I don't get home until 6:15 p.m. [at the] earliest. I don't have time to do anything!" Asero said in a video.
“I don’t have the time to do anything,” she continued. “I want to shower, eat my dinner, and go to sleep. I don’t have the time or energy to cook my dinner either. I don’t have energy to work out, like, that’s out of the window. I’m so upset, oh my god.”
@brielleybelly123 im also getting sick leave me alone im emotional ok i feel 12 and im scared of not having time to live
On December 16, Asero gave an update on her professional life, and sadly, things aren’t going too well. After just 2 months on the job, she was laid off. It had taken her 5 months to find the job and she had recently relocated to New York City to be near the office.
"I worked for a startup, and they didn't have the workload or the bandwidth they needed to train me and to give me work to do," she said. Being laid off during the holidays makes Asero's situation even more difficult because most employers are closed for business in late December and early January.
Asero had some stern words for those who would blame her for losing her job.
"I know that I'm a hard worker, and my boss literally said that I'm one of the smartest people he's ever had working under him, and he knows that I'm going to land on my feet, and he will give me a great referral to anybody, so don't start," she warned.
@brielleybelly123 can someone tell me im going to be okay !!!! feels like the world is ending i need a job immediatley i am feeling so lost rn like i moved for this...!?
"I have done everything I possibly could have, and it's still not enough," she said. To supplement her income while looking for her next big break, Asero says she will look for work as a server or nanny.
Even though Asero took a lot of criticism for crying after her first day at work, the comments on the new video were overwhelmingly positive and supportive. There were also a lot of people who shared how they had recently been laid off, too.
"Just want to note that there’s no shame in taking a service job while you’re still looking. You’re going to be okay, you got this," Baby bel wrote. "It happened to me, seems like ur life is ending, but I promise it's just getting started. You’ll laugh about it at some point," Rachie added.
This article originally appeared on 12.22.23
Contractions = "birthquakes" and jet skis = "boatercycles."
Language is a fascinating thing to explore. Where words come from, how things are named, the way sayings and slang are constantly being invented—it's all great fun to plunge into.
But sometimes a deep dive into words and language reveals missed opportunities as we contemplate what a thing should be called instead of what it is.
Reddit user johnnylgarfield asked, "What is badly named, and what is a better name for it?" and hoo boy did the wordsmiths deliver.
"Otto Preminger wrote his own biography and failed to title it Otto-Biography.
Once in a lifetime pun, and he just threw it away." – hippo717
"I saw an automatic car wash with the name "Otto's automatic carwash"
The fact it wasn't called an ottomatic carwash still hurts me." – ShadowVader
Man taking a "boatercycle" out for a spin.
Photo by Yuriy Bogdanov on Unsplash
"I keep seeing people say that contractions should be birthquakes." – ssssobtaostobs
"Dentures. Should be Substitooths" – donkeyknuckles
"Any bacon alternative that is not named Fācon is an abomination." – RitaPoonismysister
"Jet ski. Dumb name. Obviously it is a Boatercycle." – KYbywayofNY
"Hemorrhoids should be asteroids obv." – UncleDuude
"Olives should be Greece’s Pieces." – rmg18555
"Abbreviation should be a much shorter word. Dyslexia should also be easier to spell."– Masked_Daisy
"Lisp" shouldn't make me lisp." – rhaegar89
"And why isn't palindrome a palindrome?" – slimfastdieyoung
"Why is a fear of palindromes aibohphobia?!?" – 1nonspecificgirl
"The same reason the fear of big words is hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." – redwolf1219
"The word for your condition is also your exposure therapy!" – quaffee
A beautiful flutterby.
Photo by Calvin Mano on Unsplash
"I'm not the first to say it, but 'pick-up artists' and 'garbage men' should swap titles." – GGAllinPartridge
"A driveway should be a parkway and a parkway should be a driveway." – scottcmu
"And cookies and bacon should switch since you bake cookies but cook bacon." – cwx149
"Butterflies should be Flutterbys." – genderlawyer
"Weather forecast is boring. Weather prophecy is awesome." – dire18
"Atmospheric foretelling." – uneducated_sock
"Precipitation Prognostication" – VonBrewskie
"As the atmospheric oracles have foretold, 'tis raining." – Shi-Rokku
"Meteoracles*" – HauntedHippie
"You mean the skyentists?" – illfygli
"Murder of crows" can stay.
Photo by Qurratul Ayin Sadia on Unsplash
"Why is a group of squid called a shoal when it should be called a squad?" – xdark_realityx
"A squid squad? Nice.
A crow crew
A whale wall
A swan swarm
A bat batch
A lobster cluster
and of course
A group of groupers" – loopywolf
"Cloister of oysters" – itsmarvin
"A Murder of Crows. It should be a CawCawphony." – EscapedCapybara
"A murder of crows goes so unfathomably hard tho, it can stay." – mrspuffispeng
"The committee on groups of bird names are the best in the business. They put everyone else to shame. Murder, curiosity, charm, kettle, mural, cast, parliament. Why even compete?" – remeard
If you're going to have gas, you better have insurance.
Even though the number of uninsured Americans has been on the decline for over a decade, the cost of healthcare is still astronomical, especially if you are uninsured. A perfect example of this story was recently shared by TikToker Cinthanie McAllister, who told a hilarious story about a bill she got for having a nasty case of gas.
Obviously, high healthcare costs aren’t funny, but sometimes, a good laugh can make the pain a bit more bearable.
"I bet you didn't know that you wanted to know how much it costs to fart without insurance in an ER in the United States," McAllister starts her video from the kitchen.
"A little while ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with the most excruciating abdominal pain I have ever experienced in my life," she said while doing her best to hold back the laughter. "I was doubled over. I couldn't walk. I had to literally crawl across our bedroom floor to wake my husband up to get him to take me to the ER. They had to come out to the car and wheelchair me into the ER because I couldn't walk because I was in so much pain."
@cinthanie i have to laugh to keep from crying because this is insane #storytime #ervisitstorytime #emergencyroom #fyp
The pain was so severe that healthcare workers tried to give her morphine for relief. But McAllister didn't want any. "I was like, 'No! I don't want any f*cking morphine; I just want to know what's wrong with me.'"
The staff had McCallister take a CT scan because they were concerned, as were the McAllisters, that she may have a ruptured appendix. If not, then why would she be in such terrible pain?
While she was waiting for the scan results, nature called and McAllister went into the restroom. It was there she realized what was causing all of the abdominal distress.
"I let out the world's fattest ripper you've ever heard in your life," she said, trying to keep it together. "It was so ungodly smelling. It was so unwomanly. It was so wretched. Like, I'm positive that if there were bugs in the walls in that hospital, they were bug-bombed out. It was so f*cking bad."
"Anyways, needless to say, after letting out the world's biggest ripper, I felt pretty good," she admitted. "They ruled it as gastrointestinitis. The CT scan came back clear and they sent me on my way with some suppositories."
"How much do you think it cost me to let out that fart in the ER with no insurance? I'm telling you right now, you're wrong. It's more. It's more than what you think," she says. "This fart cost me $8,621.10."
"The price of gas in this country is outrageous," Sarah Staten wrote. "Happened to me once… spent hours in the ER for the Dr to say I had a 'fart stuck sideways,'" D added.
Many people gave her advice on how to avoid paying the bill.
"Get an itemized bill and tell them you are a cash patient. That should cut it in half or more. Then, just tell them you’ll make payments. Send them $20 a month. They’ll take it and do nothing," SeaChelleAviatrix suggested.
Upworthy has contacted McAllister for comment and has yet to receive a response.
The moment he realizes what the gift is 🥲
Many people dream of somehow being able to pay their parents back for the sacrifices made for them during childhood. Whether that’s something physical, like paying off their mortgage, or simply being the best version of ourselves to make them absolutely proud.
For Lindsay Moore, it was finding a “prized possession” her dad once gave up to help the family, and returning it to him once again.
Moore still vividly remembers being only seven years old when she saw her father walk into a comic book store to sell a Dan Marino rookie football card from his first season with the Miami Dolphins.In a now-viral TikTok, Moore’s father is seen reliving this memory as he holds onto a Christmas bag and a family member reads a card out loud.
"Money was tight, so you were selling your most prized possession – at least I viewed it as that," Moore wrote. "I felt your sacrifice and it taught me that I would do whatever necessary to ensure my future family never needed anything. It was a lesson that has stuck with me since that moment."
It was also the moment she became “determined” to pay her father back. Cut to thirty years later, and her father is her Secret Santa. It was the perfect opportunity to fulfill that promise.
"I will never be able to fully repay that debt," her note continued. "Seven-year-old me would be so elated to see that I finally fulfilled that promise I made to myself. Thank you for everything."
As he listened, Moore’s dad began tearing up. Sure enough, he opened his gift to see it was the cherished card he sold all those years ago.
The video concludes as Moore and her father enjoy a warm embrace.
@lindseyswagmom Im not crying, you’re crying
♬ original sound - Lindsey Moore
The sweet exchange certainly struck a chord online.
“When he started crying I LOST IT,” one person wrote.
Another added, “Something about bringing a grown man to tears always gets me.”
A few parents shared their own stories of sacrificing prized possessions.
“As someone who has sold his prized Gretzky rookie to provide for his kids, I appreciate and respect this a lot,” commented one person.
“Just had to sell my signature MacKinnon jersey to pay bills. Sucked so much but kid comes first,” echoed another.
On the flip side, some shared their one experience of getting to repay their parents. One wrote:
“I got to do this for my mom last year. She won a [Dolce & Gabbana] purse one year at work and sold it to buy my prom dress and never thought twice. She never [got] name brand anything. So this year I took her to get her very first name brand fancy hand bag or her picking, my treat.”
But perhaps the best comment belonged to this person, who astutely pointed out: “The card wasn't the real gift to him. It was hearing his impact on you. Priceless.”
We might not all get to reclaim what our parents sacrificed. And that’s okay. There are so many other ways to share just how much of a positive impact they made on our lives. Even saying how much we appreciate them can be an invaluable reward. Yes. Really.
This article originally appeared on 12.23.23