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Heroes

2 Australian southern right whales decided to hang out with this paddleboarder, and it was amazing.

We already knew that whales were highly evolved creatures. But who would have thought they liked chillin' in the surf like the rest of humankind?

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The Wilderness Society

We don't often get to see ginormous southern right whales hanging out with humans.

This might have something to do with the fact that we hunted them nearly to extinction. Or it could just be because our homes can't comfortably accommodate a 50-foot-long, 60-ton aquatic houseguest. Either/or.

GIF via Jaimen Hudson.

So it's easy to understand the excitement that filled local residents when they heard that a pair of these incredible leviathans were lounging right on the coast of Perth, Australia.

Presumably, the whales were interested in checking out the surfing scene at Esperance's Fourth Beach.

Whatever the reason for their casual beach trip, Jaimen Hudson headed down the footpath with his drone as soon he got word. He knew he had to capture the moment on camera.

GIF via Jaimen Hudson.

What he didn't know was that Dave Price, owner of the local Esperance Sail & Surf, had already made his way out onto the water to greet the friendly critters.

Here's how Hudson described the moment to the local news:

"Dave Price who lives close by, was just making his way over to the whales on his stand-up paddle board and they were really inquisitive and came over to meet him."
...
"I don't think it was dangerous, the whales moved to where he was and the whole time they were very slow moving and peaceful."

I think we're gonna need a bigger paddleboard. GIF via Jaimen Hudson.

Southern right whales are just one of the many majestic animals that make their home in Australia.

I haven't actually been there, but from what I hear, all of these awesome creatures peacefully integrate into everyday Australian life, existing happily side by side with our cousins down under.

And, you know, also happily asserting their boundaries.

And sure, dingoes are crazycool, but it's the marine life in the country that's perhaps the most remarkable — thanks in part to the Great Australian Bight.

The bight is the longest east-west ice-free coastline in the southern hemisphere, spanning over 700 miles from Western Australia to Tasmania.

Image via Nachoman-au/Wikimedia Commons.

In addition to the majestic views from its hundreds-feet-high cliffs, the pristine waters of the bight are home to an abundance of amazing and unique creatures. 85% of the species that live there aren't found anywhere else on the entire planet. The bight is home to the largest nursery for endangered southern right whales.

Also: the blobfish.

GIF via Epic Wildlife.

So you can understand what I mean when I say that it's a pretty important ecosystem.

Unfortunately, the bight is in trouble — thanks to a certain accident-prone oil company.

Hey, remember that time BP was drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and then their rig exploded and spent 87 days spilling an estimated 210 million gallons of oil into the water and killed 11 people and tens of thousands of animals and the entire area is still suffering from the aftermath more than five years later?

*Gasps and takes a breath.*

Oh, boy. Well, now BP is getting together with its friends to try that whole drilling thing all over again.

If BP spills oil in the Great Australian Bight, it'll take at least 35 days for support to arrive from Houston and Singapore — plus who knows how many more days after that before they finally plug the leak. And even then, there's a significant chance that a spill of any size will spread and contaminate the entire southern coast in under four months.

GIF via The Wilderness Society.

If by some strange miracle absolutely nothing goes wrong with BP's drilling, there's still the fact that millions of marine animals will be severely injured or killed by collateral damage from BP's underwater sonic blasting.

Simply put: The risk is too great.

So, two things: First, check out the amazing aerial video of Dave Price paddleboarding with his right whale friends.

Second: If that crystal-clear water strikes you as something to preserve, and you want those massive marine mammals to keep frolicking — or if you just don't want to see another oil disaster like the one that wrecked the Gulf of Mexico — take a second andsign this petition.

(Here's that link again! It's easy: Sign!)

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ACUVUE launches a new campaign to inspire Gen Z to put down their phones and follow their vision

What will you create on your social media break? Share it at #MyVisionMySight.

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If you’ve always lived in a world with social media, it can be tough to truly understand how it affects your life. One of the best ways to grasp its impact is to take a break to see what life is like without being tethered to your phone and distracted by a constant stream of notifications.

Knowing when to disconnect is becoming increasingly important as younger people are becoming aware of the adverse effects screen time can have on their eyes. According to Eyesafe Nielsen, adults are now spending 13-plus hours a day on their digital devices, a 35% increase from 2019.1. Many of us now spend more time staring at screens on a given day than we do sleeping which can impact our eye health.

Normally, you blink around 15 times per minute, however, focusing your eyes on computer screens or other digital displays have been shown to reduce your blink rate by up to 60%.2 Reduced blinking can destabilize your eyes’ tear film, causing dry, tired eyes and blurred vision.3

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Mom who packs her child a meal when going out to restaurants has parents fired up

Does she have a good point?

via UnbreakableMomma/TikTok

Karlie Smith shows the meal she's bringing to the restaurant for her son.

A mom who admitted she packs her 2-year-old a meal when they go out to dinner has started an interesting debate on TikTok about restaurant etiquette and how it applies to young children.

The video posted by Ohio mom, Karlie Smith (unbreakablemomma on TikTok), has received nearly 600,000 views and has over 1,850 comments.

“Call me cheap, call me whatever, but if we’re going out to a restaurant, I’m packing my kid a meal," Smith, 21, said in her post. "I do this for many reasons. On Friday nights, my family and I get together, and tonight, we’re getting food out. My son is not getting food out.”

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Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
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18-year-old took her college savings and bought the restaurant where she was a dishwasher

Samantha Frye, the newest owner of Rosalie's restaurant, is proving there's more than one way to invest in your future.

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There are many way to invest in your future

Eighteen year old Samantha Frye has traded college life for entrepreneurship, and she has no regrets.

Frye began working at Rosalie's Restaurant in Strasburg, Ohio at 16 as a dishwasher, working up the ranks as a kitchen prep, server, then line cook. All while working a second job, sometimes third job.

After graduating high school, Frye started college at Ohio State with plans of studying business or environmental engineering. But when she came back to work a shift at Rosalie’s for winter break, an opportunity arose—the owners had planned to sell the restaurant.
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Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

“I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not?”

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77-year-old woman decides she's the love of her life and marries herself.

We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

On a beautiful May day, friends and family gathered in the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, where Fideli is a resident, to witness the ceremony.

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12-year-old Texas girl saves her family from carbon monoxide poisoning

She knew something was wrong with her mom and brother, which wound up saving her whole family.

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Fort Worth 12-year-old helps save family from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is called a silent killer for a reason. Many people don't realize they're experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning before it's too late. The gas is colorless and odorless and tends to have a sedating effect that causes people to sleep through the fatal poisoning. Having carbon monoxide detectors is one of the most effective ways to identify the gas before it's too late to get out of the house, but not every home has one.

A little girl in Fort Worth, Texas, experienced a terrifying encounter with the deadly gas, but her quick actions saved her entire family. Jaziyah Parker is being held up as a hero after she realized something was wrong with her family members and called for help.

The girl called 911 after she noticed her mom pass out. On the call with the dispatcher, Jaziyah says she thinks her mother has died before explaining that there was something now wrong with her baby brother, who was just 5-months-old.

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In a touching, unscripted moment, Drew Barrymore rushes to comfort a crying audience member

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via Eva Rinaldi/Flickr

Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Barrymore has consistently starred in hit films and movies that are rewatchable cable-TV staples, such as “Charlie's Angels” (2000), “Never Been Kissed” (1999), “Scream” (1996), “The Wedding Singer” (1998), “50 First Dates” (2004) and “Fever Pitch” (2005).

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS. So far, the show has been a big success, attracting an average of 1.21 million views per show, and ranks as the #4 talk show in syndication. It was recently renewed through the 2024 season.

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