Heroes
A movie star's rant against an Australian billionaire is exactly what our planet needs.
Russell Brand: Comedian. Media critic. Climate change crusader. Tea drinker.
10.15.14
“He explained every sound and bump”
Flight attendant sits on floor to comfort passenger
Not everyone enjoys flying. The level of non-enjoyment can range from mild discomfort to full blown Aerophobia, which is defined as an extreme fear of flying. While flying is the quickest way to get to far away destinations, for some people being that far off the ground is terrifying and they'd rather take their chances on the ground.
A passenger flying from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina to JFK International Airport in New York confronted that fear while flying with Delta. The woman, who is currently still unidentified expressed that she was nervous to fly according to Molly Simonson Lee, a passenger seated behind the woman who witnessed the encounter. Tight spaces don't make for much privacy, but in this case, the world is better for knowing this took place.
According to Lee, who posted about the exchange on Facebook, the Delta flight attendant, Floyd Dean-Shannon, took his time to give the nervous traveler his undivided attention. Lee told Upworthy the unidentified passenger, "was very nervous and even before the plane took off, she was visibly shaken by each sound."
Approximately 25 million people in the United States have Aerophobia according to the Clevland Clinic and most of them probably wish Dean-Shannon was on their flights. "He took notice and began explaining what each [sound] was, with the warmest, calmest tone," Lee said. That wasn't even the most amazingly sweet part of the story.
While the explanation of noises helped, Lee said about halfway through the flight the passenger was fighting back tears, which prompted Dean-Shannon to sit on the floor and hold the frightened passenger's hand. He comforted her for the rest of the flight while sitting on the floor. "His tone was so kind and soothing," according to Lee.
Dean-Shannon's kindness didn't stop there. Lee explained, "the woman next to me was celebrating a birthday and he sang to her and made her a 'cake' with all of the goodies he could round up."
I'm not sure what Delta pays him but he needs a raise immediately and it seems the people of the interwebs agree.
Commenter, Miranda Anderson, tagged Delta Airlines and wrote, "I hope you see this! These are the types of people that deserve raises and make your company worth flying with. This is what pits [sic] you above the others so show these employees this is what you want and what you need."
"I love this. This is what society is lacking. Empathy and kindness towards people in time[s] of need" wrote Diane Lawrence.
While Mary Beth Acker Ford, said, "I was on a flight with him today. He exudes joy and is intentional about making a connection with each person!"
This level of engagement with passengers is not a common experience but clearly people are happy to see this type of connection between humans. Flying anywhere can be stressful for any amount of reasons. From leaving the house late and having to participate in an involuntary 5k to catch your flight, to making your way through the devil's backyard, also known as Atlanta International Airport...just for them to change your gate 10 minutes before boarding.
So having a flight attendant like Dean-Shannon is just the breath of fresh air people need. "The way he's looking at her...letting her know she's safe!!! This is just one of the many reasons I will always fly Delta Air Lines," Liz Martin wrote in the comments.
"It was obvious he is just a good, kind soul who shares that generously with everyone he encounters. Such kindness is rare and a true gift when encountered," Lee remarked. That level of kindness is rare indeed and we sure are happy someone thought to capture it.
A good excuse to not clean. It's for luck!
Don't sweep your good fortunes away!
Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations among East and Southeast Asian cultures. Unlike the Gregorian New Year, which takes place for one night, Lunar New Year celebrations last for several days and involve centuries old traditions steeped in superstition. Even the most mundane of everyday activities, when done on Lunar New Year, could decide a person’s fate—for better or worse.
Luckily, home decor blogger Wendy has given us a perfect rundown of taboo activities to avoid this Lunar New Year and thwart ill tidings—in the form of one hilarious TikTok.As Wendy explains in her caption, many customs are based not only in superstition, by a play on words. Washing your hair “washes” away your fortune, for example. Sweeping “sweeps” it all away. You get it.
There’s even caution against items that sound like Chinese words with a negative connotation—buying a book, which sounds like the word “lose” in Chinese, would bring bad luck. Similarly, buying shoes, which sounds like “rough” in Cantonese and “evil” in Mandarin, would be equally bad. There will be no trips to Barnes and Noble or Foot Locker during Lunar New Year. No sir.
While the education is already great, what makes this video next-level is the amazingly cartoonish slow motion chase scene happening the whole time on loop.
Watch:
@thekwendyhome What not to do on Lunar New Year. Inspired by: @thehustlingmama Most of these customs are based in superstition and a play on words! But I’ll take the excuse not to wash my hair or clean any day! Watching our expressions in slow motion really made us laugh out loud. Especially the scene where K runs with the knife and scissors. Which you should neverrrr do. This video took me much longer to edit with the “special effects” but I think it makes it funnier that we are chasing each other in a perpetual loop. #lunarnewyear#chinesenewyear#cny#cny2023#chineseculture#chinesecustom#chinesenewyear2023#yearoftherabbit♬ Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
Wendy alluded to the video being a time consuming project—what with all the special edits—but man was it worth it. This is TikTok comedy at its finest.
The clip has already garnered over 195K views. Those familiar with the customs found it laughably relatable. One person wrote, “thank you! I was running them through my mind and this was a great mini refresher.”
Others marveled at just how many things could make a year go terribly, terribly wrong. “Well, I’ll just stay in bed and not do anything,” one person joked.
The Lunar New Year for 2023 will fall on Jan 22, transitioning away from the Year of the Tiger and into the Year of The Rabbit, which represents wealth and prosperity in Chinese culture. Hey, if it means becoming rich this year, I suppose we can let the hair washing and sweeping slide for a day.
'You date people you think you deserve. You deserve better.'
Gen Xer shares some timeless advice for Gen Z.
Meghan Smith is the owner of Melody Note Vintage store in the eternally hip town of Palm Springs, California, and her old-school Gen X advice has really connected with younger people on TikTok.
In a video posted in December 2022, she shares the advice she wishes that “somebody told me in my twenties” and it has received more than 13 million views. Smith says that she gave the same advice to her partner's two daughters when they reached their twenties.
The video is hashtagged #GenX advice for #GenZ and late #millennials. Sorry older millennials, you’re too old to receive these pearls of wisdom.
Here is some of the timeless advice that Smith shares in the video.
Perfection is bullshit.
You will never be more good-looking than you are today.
Put your phone down and enjoy your life.
Don't change for anybody.
Don't worry about making mistakes.
Laugh at yourself.
If somebody shows you their true colors, believe them.
Travel.
You end up dating the people you think you deserve. Usually, you deserve better.
Don’t forget to always wear your sunscreen.
@melodynotevintage This might only help one person and thats ok. Advice I wish somebody told me in my twenties. #genx advice for #genz and late #millennials #adviceforyour20s #lifeadvice #fyp dont be an asshat in the comments if you are older, its not helpful.
She followed up the video with a sequel with even more sage advice.
Know who's on your side and who you can ask for help.
Don't smoke.
Don't spend longer than one year with the wrong person.
Find your own style.
Don't stress over the small stuff.
Good manners don't go out of style.
Do the work that it takes to be really good at something.
Your happiness is more important than other people's disappointment.
@melodynotevintage This might only help one person and thats ok. Advice I wish somebody told me in my twenties part 2 #genx advice for #genz and late #millennials #adviceforyour20s #lifeadvice #fyp
Do you ever wonder what the future used to look like?
French artists in 1900 predict future inventions.
This article originally appeared on 08.10.16
I mean back in the day, before we all walked around with glass bricks in our pockets that contained every piece of information that's ever been available and allowed us to connect with anyone anywhere in the world in real time. What did people from more than 100 years ago think our future might look like?
That was the question posed to French commercial artist Jean-Marc Côté in 1899. Côté and his team were commissioned to create a series of cards to commemorate the 1900 world's fair, "Exposition Universelle," in Paris, featuring images of how the world might look in the then-distant future of the year 2000. Sadly, the company that commissioned the project (which was likely either a toy or cigarette manufacturer) went out of business before the cards could actually be distributed, and the images remained out of print until author Isaac Asimov rediscovered and published them with accompanying commentary in 1986.
But now that we've lived through that fantastical future, how did these predictions turn out? Let's just say there was, um, a lot of creativity on display. Which is enough to make even the most flawed of these forecasts — of which there are many — even more fascinating to think about today.
Here are 11 delightfully inaccurate visions of the year 2000, according to artists from the late-19th century:
This one didn't pan out ... unless maybe Côté was just trying to predict the creation of Batman?
Flying firefighters in artist rendering from the 1900 world's fair.
All images by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
Again, not spot on ... although to be fair, I'd prefer this to ever flying standby again.
It's a flying blimp boat.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
Nope. If only we'd spent half of the 20th century training whales instead of killing them.(Although there is that dolphin chillin' there, and dolphin-assisted childbirthis a thing that exists in the 21st century, for better or for worse.)
A drawing of a dolphin looking at a whale bus.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
There's a slight chance all this weird aquatic stuff was their way of warning us about the impending threat of sea-level rise from climate change. Either that or they were warning us about the general existence of Aquaman.
Drawing of scuba divers riding giant seahorses.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
Not so correct. But maybe I'm wrong, and we've been overlooking the nutritional value of seagulls for the last century. (Also, why is that woman swimming in a dress?)
Divers attract seagulls from underwater in future prediction drawing.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
While this image does resemble the traffic outside the Paris Opera just before showtime, our automobiles are unfortunately still stuck on the ground. It does go to show, however, that humans have been obsessed with the idea of flying cars for a long time.
A painting of flying cars.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
Although perhaps it's only a matter of time until "Uber for aerial wing-flapping hover cars" becomes a thing.
Hopefully, by the time this happens, that orange aerial wing-flapping hover car on the right will learn how to fly without slicing her wings through the other aero-cabs on the stand.
Wing-flapping cars cruise around the city.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
As clever as today's smart homes are, we still haven't quite figured out how to create a fully-automated bathroom like this. The few failed attempts that have been made at creating robot lipstick applicators were all much less elegant, and much less steampunk.
Woman gets dressed in automated bathroom.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
I'm OK with this one not panning out because I'm just not ready to trust an automated tree of spider arms to use sharp objects near my head.
Robots do the work of a barber.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
While this one is utterly incorrect on a literal level, the image itself works pretty well as a metaphor for our modern education system. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is entirely up to you. (Although we do have EEG technology today, which isn't so different from those helmets...)
Students learn with technology if futuristic rendering from the 1900 world's fair.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
That's scary. It might help if you wanted to breed a race of ginormous seahorses ... but probably isn't safe to keep in the fireplace as your main source of heat.
People relax around a radium fueled fireplace.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
Not all of these future visions were as ridiculously off-the-mark as the ones above though.In fact, here are three more that were downright prescient.
They totally called the invention of FaceTime/Google Hangouts/every other video chatting service that I use on a daily basis.To be honest, I kinda wish I had a holographic phonograph setup like this. It's way cooler than just staring at my laptop screen all day. (Also I wish I had a sweet mustache like these dudes.)
People communicate through a predicted version of video chat.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
Sure, on an overly-literal level, this is basically just a glorified mobile home — which is kind of ironic considering how mobile homes in America are more commonly associated with lower incomes than the wealth that this image depicts.
A drawing of a future prototype mobile home.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
But more importantly, images like this — and the one below, which accurately predicts the rise of electric trains that have helped to enable more public mass transportation — show that these French thinkers were looking forward to a more adaptable and international society. Telecommuting, remote offices, cross-continental teleconferencing, even the idea of transient living through AirBnB — that's where we are today, and it's exactly where we wanted to be at the turn of the 20th century. And that's pretty freaking cool!
(There's also probably an argument to be made that this electric train suggests a greener and less coal-dependent future, which is cool too.)
People board an artist drawing of a futuristic electric train.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
Today, automation and industrialization can be touchy subjects. Are they responsible for job loss? Do they rely too much on questionable cost-cutting practices, such as artificial ingredients and other structural shortcuts?
Those are all important issues to address. But the future portrayed in these images reminds us of the inherent optimism of industry and progress — something that's all too easy for us to ignore today.
A picture of a possible future with industrialized farming.
Image by Jean-Marc Côté/Wikimedia Commons.
See how happy this guy is? He's not freaking out over (and alternately consuming) pesticides and chemicals for the sake of mass production. He's got a big ol' farm, and technology is helping him to make more stuff — and make it fast, so he can sell it and make money and support his family and all that good stuff we like to talk about when we talk about jobs.
Sure, maybe modern factory farming does deserve its less-than-stellar reputation. But at the same time, it's all too easy for us to forget the amazing headway in the creation of life. Now, we can even 3D print ovaries to induce fertility. Think about how amazing that would have seemed in 1899.
And on that note, maybe we should also celebrate the fact that we can 3D print a freaking house today. For all the very real problems that we face in the modern world, technology like that still makes a major difference in a lot of people's lives.
Also these brilliant French futurists clearly foretold of the rise of the almighty Roomba, which is just wonderful on so many levels.
It's kind of like writing out your own personal five-year plan ... envisioning the future still makes it easier for us to map out how to get there. Sure, it might not look exactly as you'd hoped — after all, you can't predict every random roadblock you might hit along the way. But it still helps to have some idea of where you're going.
Between improving factory farm conditions and domesticating those giant radioactive seahorses, there's obviously still a lot to be done.
Instead of letting ourselves become jaded with the growth we take for granted, maybe this is evidence that we should all try to look back at where we came from, evaluate and celebrate just how far we've come, and figure out a plan to keep moving forward.
"75% of adults with anxiety actually have ADHD as the cause of their anxiety."
Doctor breaks down how to recognize ADHD in adults
If it seems that everyone is being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), there may be a reason and it's likely not the reason people think. Diagnostic criteria were initially based off of how ADHD presented in white children who were mostly male, so if you fell outside of that box your diagnosis was often overlooked. This is especially true in girls who then turned into undiagnosed or misdiagnosed women.
But it's not just women who were undiagnosed since the criteria mostly included ways in which hyperactivity showed up—you know, the "H" in ADHD. But not everyone with ADHD presents with the stereotypical hyperactivity bit. Dr. Heather Brannon breaks down ways in which ADHD is missed and how to identify it in adults.
In the first few minutes of the video, Brannon drops a statistic that feels mind-boggling: "75% of adults with anxiety actually have ADHD as the cause of their anxiety." Even though I fit into that category, consider my mind completely boggled because I thought I was a rarity and my psychiatrist was a magician. Turns out, he was probably just up to date on his continuing education credits.
Brannon talks about how people who may express feelings of overwhelm, anxiousness, and tiredness and who are easily frustrated may actually have undiagnosed ADHD. Turns out, it's pretty easy to overlook ADHD that presents with more of the attention deficit part of the diagnosis than the hyperactivity part. When someone is having difficulty sitting still, talking so fast that you can barely keep up and is constantly on the go, it's pretty easy to pinpoint there may be an issue.
But when the person is quiet, sits still but misses large chunks of conversations or is chronically forgetful and sleepy, it's much easier to miss the signs, according to Brannon.
Brannon says many people feel bad about themselves without knowing why, so having an answer for why you're feeling this way can be helpful. The video is really fascinating and may help others recognize signs within themselves or with loved ones.
Give it a gander below:
Silent touchdowns still count!
He scored bonus points for creativity.
When a newborn comes in, parents have to make adaptations to their lives. And to be certain, it’s a whole lot more than just baby-proofing the house. Even once beloved hobbies might have to evolve. But where there’s creativity, there’s a way.
Case and point—this brilliant dad hack for watching sports during naptime.
Makenzie Waters, aka @makwaters on TikTok, shared an adorable video of her husband—clearly, a Cowboys fan, as indicated by his shorts—avidly watching a football game while Coop, their little one, stayed fast asleep.
How was he able to pull it off? With oven mitts, of course.
As the game plays at a low volume, the clever dad can be seen cheering silently. The oven mitts come into play when he gingerly picks up his beer to take a covert swig, or when he simply must clap emphatically for his team—which is often.
@makwaters One half down and baby Coop is still asleep 👍🏼 #cowboys♬ original sound - Makenzie Waters
“He learned his lesson,” Waters wrote in the video’s caption, indicating that maybe her husband picked up this hack the hard way.
The hilarious video quickly went viral, and ignited a variety of comments online. Many were applauding the unconventional parenting strategy.
“Respect for that. Find a way to do it," a commenter wrote.
“This is so much better than the videos of the dad just doing it and getting irritated when baby cries. He’s adapting!" another added.
Others felt like the opposite approach might have been better. One person wrote, “This is why you train your baby to be around lots of noise and different sounds especially when asleep!”
While this might be true to some degree, experts do say that exposure to loud noise (above 80 decibels) can be potentially harmful. And in this case—given that even the mildest sports viewing can get quite loud—the oven mitt method might have been the safest.
Perhaps the best takeaway from this is that parenting doesn’t always have to mean total sacrifice of the other things that bring you joy. All in all, this seems like a win-win. Or a win-win-win, if you count the Cowboys' victory.
With the Dallas Cowboys successfully making it to another round of the playoffs, it seems this dad will have a few more silent games to enjoy. And hopefully, those will also be filmed, giving us even more wholesome TikTok content to enjoy.