There’s an article making the rounds on social media called, “How to Talk to a Woman Who is Wearing Headphones.”
It’s written by self-described dating and relationship expert Dan Bacon, and it’s equal parts funny, sad, and scary. The truth is that if a woman is wearing headphones, she probably (OK, pretty much definitely) doesn’t want to be interrupted for a chat with a stranger.
How To Approach A Girl Wearing Headphones: A Comprehensive Guide -walk up to her -keep walking -exit the building -just leave her alone— LØTA (@LOTAERINNE) August 30, 2016
Leaving someone wearing headphones alone is just one of those unwritten rules of polite society. Headphones are basically a universal sign meaning “Leave me the eff alone.”
Twitter users came out in force to respond, letting the author know exactly what they thought of his advice:
Oh no, I totally "get" what you're doing. I'm just not interested in being bothered just for your needs. pic.twitter.com/XRfna1GF2q— erin mallory long (@erinmallorylong) August 30, 2016
How To Approach A Woman Who Is Wearing A ‘Do Not Approach Me, I Clearly Have Headphones In’ Sandwich Board— Rebecca Eisenberg ? (@ryeisenberg) August 30, 2016
Now, reader, if you’re wondering to yourself: “Sure, but if I can’t (or shouldn’t) try to strike up conversation with strangers, how am I supposed to meet new people? What about the future of courtship?” it’s worth examining where that concern comes from.
Lindsey M., a board member at Stop Street Harassment, offered some helpful answers to common questions about why this type of interaction isn’t welcome.
“This concern presumes, as a default, that it is acceptable to gamble a woman’s discomfort or sense of safety against the odds that there’s a shot of success,” Lindsey wrote in a Twitter direct message. “That willingness to gamble is male privilege: It centers the desire to pick up a woman over the possibility that she wants to be left alone.”
Photo by iStock.
Why don’t disinterested women just politely say no? For one, in trying to ignore you, she already has said no. Additionally, it’s not nearly that simple, as saying “no” has been known to lead to even more aggressive harassment and even physical violence.
“There are plenty of consensual ways to meet and connect with women, and intentionally choosing cold approaches of women whose only act of participation was walking in your line of sight is the ultimate expression of male entitlement,” Lindsey added.
Studies have shown that street harassment has a very real, very negative effect on various aspects of its victims’ lives.
“The threat of harassment leads women to adjust their schedule, how and when they commute, where they choose to live, what they wear, what social or work functions they attend, how or where they work out, etc.,” Lindsey wrote.
It’s also important to remember that it’s not any single interaction that leads to this feeling, but rather the fact that women are bombarded with unwanted male attention from an early age. It all adds up over time.
GIF from “Watchmen.”
There’s also the scourge of “pick-up culture,” which spawns many of these “how-to” guides to dating that encourage men to use tactics of emotional manipulation and physical intimidation to trick women into engaging with them.
At #StreetHarassment workshops I ask women how harassment affects their daily life. *Every time* women mention seeking refuge in headphones.— CardsAgstHarassment (@CardsAgstHrsmt) August 30, 2016
“Street harassment and ‘pick up culture’ perpetuate the objectification and gamification of women, which carries its own set of costs on women and girls’ mental health, self esteem, and social standing,” Lindsey explained.
Approaching strangers wearing headphones is different from most other public interactions because, for many, avoiding social interaction is exactly why the headphones are there in the first place.
“The very reason I and many other women wear headphones isn’t as a trivial obstacle to some throbbing hormone mountain, nor as a challenge for those blessed with an abundance of ego. It’s a defence. … We fill our ear holes to stop you from getting in.”
Earbuds in? Stay away. Photo by iStock.
True story. She continues:
“If you’re in a bar or party, her flirtatious smile may be the come-on you’re looking for, but be prepared to accept that you read it wrong, politely wish her a good evening and toddle back off. … If you’re looking for a horde of single, eligible women all looking for friendship-maybe-more in one convenient place, try a dating site.”
The point isn’t that you can never spark up a conversation with a stranger. Rather, it’s that men need to respect social cues — not find ways around them.
To review: Remember that you’re not entitled to anybody else’s time, attention, or space. If someone is wearing headphones, they’re probably not up for conversation, and you should respect that.
In a small village in Pwani, a district on Tanzania’s coast, a massive dance party is coming to a close. For the past two hours, locals have paraded through the village streets, singing and beating ngombe drums; now, in a large clearing, a woman named Sheilla motions for everyone to sit facing a large projector screen. A film premiere is about to begin.
It’s an unusual way to kick off a film about gender bias, inequality, early marriage, and other barriers that prevent girls from accessing education in Tanzania. But in Pwani and beyond, local organizations supported by Malala Fund and funded by Pura are finding creative, culturally relevant ways like this one to capture people’s interest.
The film ends and Sheilla, the Communications and Partnership Lead for Media for Development and Advocacy (MEDEA), stands in front of the crowd once again, asking the audience to reflect: What did you think about the film? How did it relate to your own experience? What can we learn?
Sheilla explains that, once the community sees the film, “It brings out conversations within themselves, reflective conversations.” The resonance and immediate action create a ripple effect of change.
MEDEA Screening Audience in Tanzania. Captured by James Roh for Pura
Across Tanzania, gender-based violence often forces adolescent girls out of the classroom. This and other barriers — including child marriage, poverty, conflict, and discrimination — prevent girls from completing their education around the world.
Sheilla and her team are using film and radio programs to address the challenges girls face in their communities. MEDEA’s ultimate goal is to affirm education as a fundamental right for everyone, and to ensure that every member of a community understands how girls’ education contributes to a stronger whole and how to be an ally for their sisters, daughters, granddaughters, friends, nieces, and girlfriends.
Sheilla’s story is one of many that inspired Heart on Fire, a new fragrance from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection that blends the warm, earthy spices of Tanzania with a playful, joyful twist. Here’s how Pura is using scent as a tool to connect the world and inspire action.
A partnership focused on local impact, on a global mission
Pura, a fragrance company that recognizes education as both freedom and a human right, has partnered with Malala Fund since 2022. In order to defend every girl’s right to access and complete 12 years of education, Malala Fund partners with local organizations in countries where the educational barriers are the greatest. They invest in locally-led solutions because they know that those who are closest to the problems are best equipped to solve and build durable solutions, like MEDEA, which works with communities to challenge discrimination against girls and change beliefs about their education.
But local initiatives can thrive and scale more powerfully with global support, which is why Pura is using their own superpower, the power of scent, to connect people around the world with the women and girls in these local communities.
The Pura x Malala Fund Collection incorporates ingredients naturally found in Tanzania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil: countries where Malala Fund operates to address systemic education barriers. Eight percent of net revenue from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection will be donated to Malala Fund directly, but beyond financial support, the Collection is also a love letter to each unique community, blending notes like lemon, jasmine, cedarwood, and clove to transport people, ignite their senses, and help them draw inspiration and hope from the global movement for girls’ education. Through scent, people can connect to the courage, joy, and tenacity of girls and local leaders, all while uniting in a shared commitment to education: the belief that supporting girls’ rights in one community benefits all of us, everywhere.
You’ve already met Sheilla. Now see how Naiara and Mama Habiba are building unique solutions to ensure every girl can learn freely and dare to dream.
Naiara Leite is reimagining what’s possible in Brazil
Julia with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura
In Brazil, where pear trees and coconut plantations cover the Northeastern Coast, girls like ten-year-old Julia experience a different kind of educational barrier than girls in Tanzania. Too often, racial discrimination contributes to high dropout rates among Black, quilombola and Indigenous girls in the country.
“In the logic of Brazilian society, Black people don’t need to study,” says Naiara Leite, Executive Coordinator of Odara, a women-led organization and Malala Fund partner. Bahia, the state where Odara is based, was once one of the largest slave-receiving territories in the Americas, and because of that history, deeply-ingrained, anti-Black prejudice is still widespread. “Our role and the image constructed around us is one of manual labor,” Naiara says.
But education can change that. In 2020, with assistance from a Malala Fund grant, Odara launched its first initiative for improving school completion rates among Black, quilombola, and Indigenous girls: “Ayomidê Odara”. The young girls mentored under the program, including Julia, are known as the Ayomidês. And like the Pura x Malala Fund Collection’s Brazil: Breath of Courage scent, the Ayomidês are fierce, determined, and bursting with energy.
Ayomidês with Odara in Brazil. Captured by Luisa Dorr for Pura
Ayomidês take part in weekly educational sessions where they explore subjects like education and ethnic-racial relations. The girls are encouraged to find their own voices by producing Instagram lives, social media videos, and by participating in public panels. Already, the Ayomidês are rewriting the narrative on what’s possible for Afro-Brazilian girls to achieve. One of the earliest Ayomidês, a young woman named Debora, is now a communications intern. Another former Ayomidê, Francine, works at UNICEF, helping train the next generation of adolescent leaders. And Julia has already set her sights on becoming a math teacher or a model.
“These are generations of Black women who did not have access to a school,” Naiara says. “These are generations of Black women robbed daily of their dreams. And we’re telling them that they could be the generation in their family to write a new story.”
Mama Habiba is reframing the conversation in Nigeria
Centre for Girls' Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura
In Mama Habiba’s home country of Nigeria, the scents of starfruit, ylang ylang and pineapple, all incorporated into the Pura x Malala Collection’s “Nigeria: Hope for Tomorrow,” can be found throughout the vibrant markets. Like these native scents, Mama Habiba says that the Nigerian girls are also bright and passionate, but too often they are forced to leave school long before their potential fully blooms.
“Some of these schools are very far, and there is an issue of quality, too,” Mama Habiba says. “Most parents find out when their children are in school, the girls are not learning. So why allow them to continue?”
When girls drop out of secondary school, marriage is often the alternative. In Nigeria, one in three girls is married before the age of 18. When this happens, girls are unable to fulfill their potential, and their families and communities lose out on the social, health and economic benefits.
Completing secondary school delays marriage, and according to UNESCO, educated girls become women who raise healthier children, lift their families out of poverty and contribute to more peaceful, resilient communities.
Centre for Girls’ Education, Nigeria. Captured by James Roh for Pura
To encourage young girls to stay in school, the Centre for Girls’ Education, a nonprofit in Nigeria founded by Mama Habiba and supported by Malala Fund and Pura, has pioneered an initiative that’s similar to the Ayomidê workshops in Brazil: safe spaces. Here, girls meet regularly to learn literacy, numeracy, and other issues like reproductive health. These safe spaces also provide an opportunity for the girls to role-play and learn to advocate for themselves, develop their self-image, and practice conversations with others about their values, education being one of them. In safe spaces, Mama Habiba says, girls start to understand “who she is, and that she is a girl who has value. She has the right to negotiate with her parents on what she really feels or wants.”
“When girls are educated, they can unlock so many opportunities,” Mama Habiba says. “It will help the economy of the country. It will boost so many opportunities for the country. If they are given the opportunity, I think the sky is not the limit. It is the starting point for every girl.”
From parades, film screenings to safe spaces and educational programs, girls and local leaders are working hard to strengthen the quality, safety and accessibility of education and overcome systemic challenges. They are encouraging courageous behavior and reminding us all that education is freedom.
Experience the Pura x Malala Fund Collection here, and connect with the stories of real girls leading change across the globe.
Online, you’ll find hundreds of newfangled hacks to get food crispy and golden brown without the oil. But one new method taking over TikTok isn’t new at all. In fact, it’s centuries old.
Enter: salt frying. Recently, Roice Bethel (@roicebethel) went viral after sharing a clip of himself dropping chicharrones and popcorn kernels into a frying pan filled to the brim with salt and salt alone. Then voila, each of the foods puffed out, ready to eat…leaving some viewers dumbfounded.
In truth, the technique of using salt (or sand) to cook certain foods has been around for millennia in countries like China, India, and Greece. And you’ll still find it among street food vendors today. In India, for instance, far far (or fryums), made from potato starch, tapioca, and/or wheat flour, are often made this way.
In China, chestnuts roasted in large woks filled with hot sand are a seasonal winter staple, prized for their subtly smoky flavor. And in Bangladesh, peanuts are traditionally toasted in pans of hot black sand, which helps them roast evenly without burning.
Similar techniques have also appeared in parts of the Middle East and Mediterranean, where cooks have long relied on heated salt beds to gently cook or warm foods. Historically, these methods were especially useful in places where cooking oil was scarce or expensive, making salt and sand practical alternatives. Not to mention that watching foods cooks this way is also a treat for the eyes.
In Turkey, sand has also been a tried-and-true way to make coffee, seen below.
How salt frying works
Really, salt or sand frying isn’t so much frying as it is dry roasting. Frying food in oil makes food crispy by rapidly dehydrating the outer layer. The intense heat triggers the Maillard reaction, which is responsible for browning and complex flavors, and causes surface starches to gelatinize and harden while the inside stays moist.
When heated, salt and sand act as equally excellent heat conductors. Both can store and distribute heat evenly, surrounding food on all sides and eliminating hot spots. This creates a consistent cooking environment that mimics the effect of deep frying, only without added fat.
As Kurush F. Dalal, an archaeologist and culinary anthropologist, told Food & Wine, “it’s an incredibly cost-effective and very controllable process,” especially since you can reuse the salt you fry with. Tell that to the southerners among us who save every drop of their bacon grease!
Salt frying tips
Now, if you’re excited to try this cooking style out yourself, there are a few caveats—the most important being that this really only works on dry ingredients. Salt will stick to any damp ingredients and completely ruin the taste of the dish.
Second, it is advised to use coarse salt, according to Food & Wine. And at least one person on Reddit suggests that no matter what salt or sand you use, “let it heat for 15 minutes to let the volatile compounds evaporate (like iodine).”
Lastly, you’ll need a large, deep fryer-friendly utensil, like a wok or cast-iron skillet, that can hold a lot of salt or sand.
So, while it may look like a viral magic trick, salt frying is really just ancient ingenuity making a well-deserved comeback. Some things are timeless for a reason.
Most of us have a self-improvement checklist. Exercise more. Stress less. Sleep better. Be more present. It’s a lovely list. But it can also be quite mean and vague. And it tends to sit there, quietly judging us, while we scroll our phones in bed at 11 p.m.
However, you don’t need an elaborate morning routine or a 45-minute meditation practice to shift how you feel. Science keeps arriving at the same surprising conclusion: tiny actions, repeated consistently, change lives. Not because of magic. Because of biology.
Instead of a grand, sweeping declaration like, “Stress less” (what does that even mean?), start small. These 15 micro-habits take two minutes or less. Some take ten seconds. All of them have real research behind them. Begin with one. See what happens.
Morning habits for a strong start
Photo credit: Canva – Jot down the messy, unfiltered stuff.
1. Write it out
Before you pick up your phone—before the news, the texts, the notifications—grab a notebook and spend two minutes writing down whatever is on your mind. Not a diary entry. Not a to-do list. Just the messy, unfiltered stuff, like the dream you just woke up from or an event later you’re nervous about. Psychologist James Pennebaker spent decades studying what happens when people do this, and the results are striking: expressive writing reduces anxiety, improves emotional processing, and even strengthens immune function. Think of it as taking out the mental trash before the day fills back up.
2. Get moving, even a little
To change your day (on a micro level, at least), you don’t need a gym. You need two minutes and an open space. Go nuts! Jump. Sprint up your stairs. Do jumping jacks in the kitchen. Anything to warm up those muscles. Researchers at Victoria University found that just two minutes of all-out effort triggers the same cellular adaptations in your muscles as a 30-minute workout. Surprisingly, your body genuinely cannot tell the difference.
3. Anchor your identity
Spend 60 seconds stating—out loud or on paper—one true thing about who you are. Not a wish. A fact. Think along the lines of, “I am someone who shows up.” Or, “I take care of the people I love.” Neuroscientists have confirmed that self-affirmation activates brain reward pathways and buffers against stress. So, this is more than a pep-talk: it’s a reminder of who you are.
4. Savor that first sip
Before you gulp your coffee or tea, pause. Wrap both hands around the mug. Notice the warmth radiating from its contents. Breathe in the smell. Then, take one slow sip and actually taste it. Woohoo, that’s it! Research shows that even brief moments of sensory awareness lower cortisol and reduce anxiety. Who knew? Your morning drink has been waiting to do this for you the whole time.
5. Catch ten seconds of sunlight
Step outside, or at least to a window, within the first hour of waking, and let natural light reach your eyes for ten seconds. Andrew Huberman has spent years explaining why this matters: morning sunlight triggers a healthy cortisol spike that wakes up your immune system, sets your circadian clock, and produces serotonin. Skip it regularly, and your body’s internal timing slowly drifts. Ten seconds. That’s all it takes.
6. Visualize a good day
Close your eyes for one minute and picture one thing going well today. Not perfectly and not the entire day. Just one thing, well. The research here comes from the sports world, where mental rehearsal has been studied extensively. Studies show that imagining yourself performing an action fires the same neural pathways as actually doing it.
Mid-day habits to ease stress
Photo credit: Canva – The antidote is choosing, for once, not to hurry.
7. Slow down on purpose
Once a day, pick one task that doesn’t actually need to be rushed, and deliberately don’t rush it. Walk a little slower. Eat a few bites without looking at a screen. Wash those dishes at a snail’s pace. Researchers who study “hurry sickness” (yes, it’s a real clinical term) have found that chronic time urgency keeps your amygdala on high alert, flooding your system with cortisol for hours. The antidote is choosing, for once, not to hurry. Your nervous system will slowly get the message that not everything is an emergency.
8. Leave your phone out of the bathroom
This one isn’t glamorous, but it matters. Studies have found that phones carry roughly ten times more bacteria than toilet seats. Besides, neurologists note that bathroom scrolling creates dependency, fragments attention, and eliminates one of the last quiet spaces in the day. The bathroom used to be a sanctuary. Reclaim it.
9. Sigh or hum out loud
A Stanford study published in 2023 found that the “physiological sigh”—a double inhale through the nose followed by a long exhale through the mouth—reduced stress hormones more effectively than mindfulness meditation in head-to-head trials. Alternatively, try humming. Humming for 60 seconds stimulates the vagus nerve through vibration, effectively shifting your body from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest.
10. Run cold water over your hands
When anxiety peaks, hold your hands under cold running water for 30 seconds. Cold water on the skin activates what physiologists call the “diving reflex,” triggering the vagus nerve to slow your heart rate and engage the parasympathetic nervous system. It’s an ancient mammalian stress response that still works remarkably well.
11. Unclench that jaw
Right now, check: are your teeth touching? Is your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth? Most of us spend hours a day with our jaws subtly clenched, and researchers now recognize this as a nervous system pattern, not just a dental one. The simple act of letting the jaw go slack, teeth apart, sends a signal to your brain that the perceived threat has passed.
Around sunset, switch off your overhead lights and use softer lamps instead. The reverse can be catastrophic: a 2021 study in PNAS found that just a few weeks of bright evening lighting can delay your circadian rhythm by two to three hours, disrupting sleep, memory, and mood.
13. Hold a smile for five seconds
Yes, even a fake one. A landmark 2022 study involving nearly 4,000 people across 19 countries found that deliberately holding a smile—even without genuine emotion—makes people feel measurably happier. The science behind that? Facial muscles feed information back to the brain, meaning your mind will get the message. So, hold that grin for five seconds.
14. Give one genuine compliment
Before the day ends, tell someone something specific you admire about them. Not a generic compliment, like “great job.” Dig for something real. Maybe they handled a tricky moment with poise, or put in some extra effort while crafting that company-wide email. It could be as simple as, “Hey, your sandwich looked incredible during lunch.” Cornell researchers discovered that we consistently underestimate how much our words mean to others, and that compliment recipients feel far better than givers ever predict. The kicker? The givers feel better, too.
15. Finish your shower with 30 seconds of cold
A Dutch randomized controlled trial of over 3,000 people found that ending a shower with just 30 seconds of cold water reduced sick days by 29%. Going even further, there was no difference between 30, 60, or 90 seconds: the benefit kicks in almost immediately. This little dose of freezing also produces a lasting surge of dopamine and norepinephrine. So, while it’s unpleasant for about five seconds. Then it isn’t, and you feel great.
Don’t go overboard, okay?
Despite the headline of this article, you don’t have to do all 15. How about you just pick two? Try them for a week and notice what shifts. The point here isn’t perfection; it’s incorporating the smallest acts into your daily routine and watching them compound into tangible benefits. Remember, your nervous system is paying attention, even when you think nothing is happening. Feed it something good to work with.
Tipping culture is ever-changing and, for many, has always been a bit confusing. Perhaps that’s why a training video was made circa the 1980s to give “tips” (pun intended) on gratuity after a meal.
The Instagram account Totally 80s Room (@totally80sroom) posted the clip, with a chyron reading, “How much should you tip?” We see a video of a young woman receiving her bill. She ponders, “Hmm, how much should I tip?” A male voiceover answers, “That’s a good question. The gratuity can range from 10% for acceptable service to 20% for exceptional service.”
An 80s training video on how to tip. Credit: Totally 80s Room, Instagram
The screen then flashes over to a “waitperson” rocking a stained shirt. Mascara drips down her face, while she casually blows bubbles with her gum. The voiceover continues, “But if your waitperson is blatantly bad or has some attitude, don’t tip. Just leave a penny to show you didn’t forget to tip. And tell the manager your complaints. Believe me, he wants to know.”
During this advice, the server then says to the customer, “Look. You’re just lucky I’m waiting on you.”
The question is posed: “Basically, did the waitperson do everything in their power to make your dining experience pleasant? Were they courteous? Were they knowledgeable about specials, preparation methods, menu accompaniments, and other aspects of the restaurant? Or don’t they?”
While the appropriate waitperson seems caring and calm, the “bad” employee files her nails and quips, “I ain’t got all day. Are ya gonna order or what?” The customer asks, “Ma’am, what’s the soup today?” The server is annoyed by the question. “Soup? I don’t know! Some kind of vegetable thing.”
People in the comment section have a wide range of views. Many joke about the absurdity of the video itself. “I hate when servers constantly tell me how lucky I am they are waiting on me.”
Others debate tipping etiquette in general with a variety of thoughts. “Always 20%.” “Australia = no tipping.” “15% if it’s okay service. 10% if it’s terrible service. 20% if the service was amazing and 0 if I have to order at the counter and get my own food.”
How tipping culture has taken over. Credit: WSJ, YouTube
Another notes how even the idea of a pressured gratuity has changed. “It’s not tipping anymore. It’s commission.”
What’s up with tipping anyway?
In MSN‘s recently posted piece, “The right thing: Should waiters expect a tip on every meal?” Jeffrey L. Seglin explains how much wait staff (and the restaurant owners) depend on these tips, especially in the United States. “The federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour (a rate that hasn’t changed since 2009), and the federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13 per hour. Because the federal tipped minimum wage is below the federal minimum wage, most Americans who dine out know that most servers make a living wage based on the tips they receive.”
CNBC writer Emily Lorsch reveals that expected gratuity percentages have grown over the decades. While in the past few years tips have crept up to over 20% for some diners, it didn’t used to be that way. “During the 1950s, people commonly tipped 10% of the bill. By the 1970s and 1980s, that percentage had jumped to 15%.”
How tipping has evolved. Credit: Casually Explained, YouTube
Lorsch shares data from a study conducted by Creditcards.com, who claim that the sleek machines brought to the table may pressure many to tip more. “22% of respondents said when they’re presented with various suggested tip amounts, they feel pressured to tip more than they normally would.”
Regardless of steadfast tipping etiquette, it’s safe to say that wait staff should never file their nails at the table. Hopefully, that doesn’t change.
Even though Americans and British people share the same language, there are a lot of figures of speech that don’t make a lot of sense when they go from one side of the pond to the other. The British have some unique turns of phrase that are head-scratching to Americans, such as “Bob’s yer uncle” and “Taking the Mick.”
Laurence Brown, a Brit who moved to the midwestern U.S., documents the differences between U.S. and U.K. culture on the Lost in the Pond YouTube channel. Brown created a fun video in which he explains why some American figures of speech make absolutely no sense to most British people. In the video, he explains how he first encountered each phrase and what they actually mean.
1. “It’s not my first rodeo”
“The thing is, rodeo isn’t really a common competitive sport in the UK. And so, if we are aware of it, we’re only aware of it through American movies and clips on the internet of bat crazy things that Americans do for fun. So while we can probably figure out what it means, we have absolutely no idea what it means.”
2. “As American as apple pie”
“I was baffled by the phrase ‘as American as apple pie,’ because if we have them in Britain, what’s so American about this apple pie? Well, as I’ve pointed out on this channel, nothing. Because apple pie has its origins in England.”
“Americans like to use the term “hit” metaphorically, hit the gym, hit the books, hit the gas, hit the skids. … But in hindsight, even though I was quite confused by the phrase ‘hit the books’ at first, I sort of prefer it to what we’d say in Britain, which is ‘I’m doing revision.’”
4. “The boonies”
“Anybody who’s followed this channel for a while will know that I’ve lived in Indianapolis and Chicago, the two largest cities in their respective states. But often we find ourselves driving between the two cities, where there is nothing other than farmland. In the early days of living in the US, I remember somebody referring to these parts as ‘the boonies.’ This itself was a confusing phrase at first, because I had never heard this word before.”
The phrase“Boondocks” appears to have entered the American lexicon from Tagalog, one of the languages of the Philippines. In Tagalog, bundok means “mountain.” The U.S. military began using the term and changed it to “Boondocks;” then, shortened to “Boonies” to describe the Vietnamese back country.
“‘Wazoo’ is an American slang term for the buttocks or anus. I see. So when you’re talking out of the wazoo, you’re literally talking s**t.”
6. “Get behind the eight ball”
“It is a billiards term in the UK. Billiards is not really all that popular, and so the phrase, as far as I’m aware, did not really catch on over there. Well, what does the phrase mean, Laurence? Well, it turns out that it means don’t get yourself into a sticky situation. In other words, don’t be thwarted by it.”
7. “Don’t mess with Texas”
“When I first heard it, I thought it was the state of Texas telling everyone else, ‘If you bring a fight to us, we will absolutely destroy you.’ It’s part of the reason that I haven’t properly visited Texas yet. I think a lot of people find this tagline funny because of that weirdly provocative-sounding threat. Well, British people, and anyone who’s genuinely confused by this phrase, might, depending on your perspective, be thrilled or distraught to discover that the phrase was just part of a successful anti-littering campaign.”
The phrase “Don’t Mess with Texas” comes from a 1985 anti-littering campaign by the Texas Department of Transportation. The first commercial, featuring blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn, was a massive success, and the phrase soon entered the lexicon of Texans and the world beyond.
An interaction between a 4-year-old boy and a Cast Member at Disneyland highlights the importance of inclusion and shows that learning American Sign Language (ASL) can have an incredible impact on deaf people and their families.
Callie Foster, 38, and her husband, Leonardo Silva, 39, were recently at the park when their son, Luca, came across Disney Cast Members dressed as Jessie and Woody from the Toy Story series. The parents were taken aback when, for the first time at the park, the boy initiated a conversation in ASL with Jessie.
Jessie from Toy Story communicates in ASL
“Because we go to the parks often, we really try not to put that expectation on anyone. We never assume a character will know ASL, so usually we’re the ones interpreting for Luca; we’re used to stepping in to help facilitate those interactions,” Foster told People. “This time was completely different. Luca initiated it on his own. He signed to her first, and there was this split second where we all kind of looked at each other like, ‘Wait… did that just happen?’ And then she recognized it and started signing back to him.”
When Jessie and Luca first met, she didn’t know that he was deaf. Then, he looked up to her and signed, “What’s your name?” to which Jessie responded in ASL, “Name, J-E-S-S-E.” She then asked Luca, “Your name?” to which he responded, “Luca.” Jessie then said, “Nice to meet you,” and “Thank you.”
“Watching your child be included in their language… It’s a kind of magic you don’t forget,” Foster concluded the video.
This isn’t the first time Luca has gone viral for interacting with a character at Disneyland. Two years ago, when Luca was just 2 years old, a Cast Member playing Bo Peep communicated with Luca in ASL. When Luca approached Bo Peep, his mother signed, “This is Luca.” Bo Peep returned the greeting with, “Nice to meet you,” in ASL.
Bo Peep then knelt down to Luca’s height and signed, “You’re our friend.” Excited, Luca then tried to tell Jessie that her friend, Buzz Lightyear, was nearby.
Disney is committed to ASL inclusion in its theme parks
The fact that many characters in Disney Parks know ASL isn’t an accident. Since 1997, Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort have offered ASL interpretation at many attractions and shows. Sign language interpretation is a service that is available in parks for guests with hearing disabilities.
“When a show or new attraction that warrants Sign Language interpretation is being developed, my team at Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort Accessibility team are included in planning conversations and rehearsal process. We work to ensure appropriate interpreter placement and lighting are being considered and to share show scripts and videos with the fantastic theatrical interpreters who do work for us,” Mark Jones, Manager of Accessibility and Services for Guests with Disabilities at Walt Disney World Resort, told Disney Parks Blog.
The passing down of stories, memories, and keepsakes is important in many families. But how to do that isn’t always so simple. A lot can get lost over the years, both figuratively and literally. And younger generations don’t always want or appreciate physical heirlooms. One woman shared a brilliant heirloom that belonged to her grandma,…
The passing down of stories, memories, and keepsakes is important in many families. But how to do that isn’t always so simple. A lot can get lost over the years, both figuratively and literally. And younger generations don’t always want or appreciate physical heirlooms.
One woman shared a brilliant heirloom that belonged to her grandma, which solves some of these problems. It’s called a perpetual calendar, and it keeps the whole family’s major memories in one spot. Essentially, it’s a ring of index cards that each have a month and day on them, but no year. As events happen in the family, they get written on the day they happened, with the year written next to them.
Watch Jenn Perez Miller explain how her grandma’s perpetual calendar, which she started in the 1970s, works:
The beauty of this idea is that it doesn’t take up a huge amount of space. If the cards eventually fill up, they can be stored physically or digitally and replaced with new ones, making the calendar filled with family memories essentially eternal.
Another plus is that people can decide what they think is important to document. Will your great-grandkids care if you replaced your carpet 60 years ago? Maybe, maybe not. But not all memories have to be monumental. There’s something special about seeing the everyday events our loved ones felt were worth noting.
A sample of what a perpetual calendar card might entail. Photo credit: Canva
People loved the idea:
“Brb, gonna go put a perpetual calendar on my wedding registry and start this from our wedding day.”
“If I came across something like this in an estate sale I’d immediately sit on the floor and read every single one.”
“My boyfriend’s grandma did this and we were cryinnnnng laughing…. She talked about diarrhea a lot.”
“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“This is some serious matriarchal behavior and i am sooo jealous that you have something like this!!!”
“I just love how women bring the family together in simple ways. 🥰”
“I love the idea of seeing the major and insignificant things that happen on the same day years apart. Puts things into perspective.”
“Genuinely this is such a treasure, future archeologists would lose their minds finding something like this.”
You can make a perpetual calendar yourself with index cards. Photo credit: Canva
The concept is not only simple, but it’s pretty easy to make yourself. All you need is index cards (one for each day of the year, including February 29th for leap years), a hole punch, and large binder rings. You could also use an index card box with dividers for each month instead of the rings.
Some of us might see this idea and love it, but wish we had started earlier. But it’s never too late, especially when you think of it as something to pass down through the generations. Someone has to start sometime.
Snoopy, everyone’s favorite beagle from the mind of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, is the joyous gift that keeps on giving. So, when content creator Patrick Ferguson took the time to rank each and every one of Snoopy’s relatives, it’s no surprise fans were delighted.
Ferguson does this by playfully spoofing a popular “ranking” system commonly used on YouTube and Twitch. The idea is to put pop culture phenomenon (often movies or video games) and rank them in “tier lists.”
Standing below an initial shot of all the animated beagles playing instruments, he begins by stating, “Snoopy is the best thing ever drawn or animated, and his siblings are pretty cool too. So I thought I would introduce you to them all and place them on a ‘tier list’ as I count them down.”
He confirms where his references will come from: “I’m mainly discussing them from their role in Snoopy’s Reunion, but I will briefly mention the comic strips as well. And yes, ‘S’ tier does stand for ‘Snoopy tier,’ even on tier lists outside of this one.”
Snoopy family tiers
He begins with “Rover,” who he admits has a “cliché name even by today’s standards.” We see Rover, his light brown ears bouncing as he plays the resonator guitar. “Love his collar choice too. S tier.” From the Snoopy Town Tale fandom site, it’s reported that Rover only appeared in the TV special Snoopy’s Reunion, but never in the actual comic strip.
Next, we see Olaf, a pudgier dog in a red hat. He blows dust off a jug, which happens to be his instrument of choice. Ferguson insists that Olaf “deserves every good thing in life that comes his way. S tier.” A site dedicated to learning about the Peanuts characters confirms that Olaf is “warm and sensitive, with a big, gentle heart.”
We then see Molly, wearing a blue dress that Ferguson points out is similar to fellow Peanuts cast-mate Lucy’s signature style. Molly plays the mandolin and has some “really good, iconic Snoopy family qualities to her. I think I’ve gotta put her in S tier.” Like her brother Rover, Molly also only appeared in Snoopy’s Reunion.
Then there’s Spike, who Ferguson points out has the “second most iconic look in the Snoopy family. He plays a mean fiddle.” He also notes that Spike isn’t the only S-tier dog with that name in the animated TV lexicon. Ferguson is most likely referring to the bulldog from Tom and Jerry, or quite possibly the bulldog from the Looney Tunes universe.
The Peanutssite shares that Spike lives out in the desert: “He prefers a quiet, solitary life. His closest friends are the cacti and tumbleweeds. Spike is thoughtful and, at times, melancholic.”
Next up is Belle. “She should have her own plushie. I think I have to go with S tier on this.” It’s stated on the site that Belle “lives in Kansas City with her teenage son. Snoopy and Belle reconnected when Snoopy hopped the wrong train on his way to Wimbledon and ended up in Missouri.”
Up next is Marbles. The Peanutssite describes him as quiet and “weary of cats, often checking for them before entering a new place. Marbles is smart but lacks the imagination of his other siblings. He always finds himself confused by the games Snoopy plays.”
Lastly, we can’t forget the drummer. “Then we arrive at Andy. And this is the Snoopy sibling I want to pick up the most—but only after he and his scruffy fur are done jamming on the drum set. S tier.” Andy is described by the site as “a good traveler.” He “is always up for a walkabout, but his sense of direction is terrible.”
As if that wasn’t adorable enough, Ferguson wants to give credit to both the guardian of the Snoopy gang and his own mother. “And could we forget the woman who raised the entire Snoopy family? Missy. One of the few S-tier moms, aside from my own.”
Meet Patrick
Upworthy had the delightful chance to chat with Ferguson, who shares that he’s a huge Snoopy fan. “Some of my earliest memories of laughter involve watching Snoopy as the Red Baron. I wouldn’t call myself the biggest Peanuts fan, per se, but I’ve always called Snoopy the greatest thing ever drawn.”
He also further explains why he chose the tier system. “I made the video both to celebrate a character I love but never made a video for, and to poke fun at the idea of doing a tier list (a video concept I don’t see myself revisiting). The irony of having everyone at S tier plays into that.”
The best part was the online response. “I’m surprised how many people commented on the wholesomeness of the video, if for no other reason than I was being very silly in every aspect of making it, albeit in a way that was also pretty sincere.”
Snoopy appears alongside his friends in the Peanuts comic strips. Photo credit: Unsplash
The comments were definitely supportive and wholesome, indeed. The Reel has over 160,000 likes and nearly 500 comments. One Instagrammer shares, “Grinned so hard watching this. 10/10. No notes.”
A few people argue over which instrument the puppies are playing. “95 percent sure Rover is playing a resonator dulcimer and not a resonator guitar,” one person notes. “10/10 video, though!”
Another has thoughts on Spike, writing, “I’m kind of suspicious of the Snoopy with the mustache.”
This commenter sums up what many seem to feel quite nicely: “I want to cuddle all of them.”
Every week, Dana Chitucescu grabs a bag, walks around her home in the Transylvanian village of Pianu de Jos. She’s collecting something her neighbors happily hand over: empty bottles and cans.
The 51-year-old brings them to her local shop, drops them off, and walks out with 40 brand-new Romanian leu in her pocket, about $9 USD. She uses it to feed her seven cats.
It’s a small thing, nothing, really. But it also, somehow, encapsulates the story of how an entire country is changing the way it thinks about trash.
From zero to hero: Romania used to be Europe’s worst recycler
Photo credit: Canva – The secret to Romania’s success isn’t complicated.
The European Environment Agency even flagged Romania as being at serious risk of missing its recycling targets for years in a row. It looked like a problem without a solution.
Here’s how RetuRO works: when you buy a bottled or canned drink in Romania—water, soda, beer, anything—you pay an extra deposit of .50 Romanian leu. That’s about 11 cents in US dollars. When you finish the drink and bring the empty container back to the store, you get your money back. Voila!
That’s it. That’s the whole idea.
On top of that, Romania has made it ridiculously simple for citizens to recycle. Supermarkets have automated reverse vending machines that scan the container, crush it, and then credit your deposit on the spot. Smaller shops handle returns manually. And crucially, the program accepts plastic, aluminum, and glass; the latter, which most countries’ deposit systems skip altogether because glass is heavy and expensive to transport.
RetuRO launched in November 2023 as a partnership between the Romanian government, beverage producers, and retailers, meaning everyone had skin in the game. Everyone had a reason to want to make it work.
What happened next was remarkable
Within months, something shifted in Romania. The recycling numbers, of course—those went through the roof—but also, something deeper. The way people regarded bottles and cans changed. Containers stopped feeling like garbage and became, instead, money left on the table.
In the peak summer months, 94% of beverage containers were being returned. Later, in January 2026, the return rate hit 108%. That meant Romanians were returning more containers than were even sold that month, as people dug old bottles out of storage. Nine out of ten Romanians have used the system at least once. Six in ten do it every single week.
Since launch, over 9 billion containers have been returned.
Yes, Romania’s story is impressive. But not because of the infrastructure or the statistics alone. It’s the way RetuRO has fundamentally changed Romanian citizens’ views on recycling.
Grandparents who never recycled in their lives have found a new weekly routine (and a small but real source of income). Parents use their trips to the return machine as a chance to teach their kids that taking care of the planet doesn’t have to be a sacrifice; it can just be Tuesday. Young Romanians in their 20s now describe recycling as part of their identity.
Dana Chitucescu’s brother lives in Spain, a country without a comparable system. Apparently, he’s jealous. “He says it’s one of the few things Romania does exceptionally well,” she told The Guardian. “He’s right.”
Not to mention, the program has also added over $346 million to Romani’s GDP and created more than 2,000 new jobs: all within its first year of full operation. Romanian recyclers no longer need to import plastic raw material, because for the first time, there’s enough good-quality recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (or PET, the clear, lightweight plastic used to make the vast majority of beverage bottles) being collected domestically to meet industry demand.
The rest of the world is paying attention
Government leaders from Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria, and beyond have traveled to Romania specifically to learn how to replicate this recycling scheme. In the European Parliament, Romania serves as the benchmark model for deposit-return programs.
The secret to Romania’s success isn’t complicated. They made the recycling incentive real and immediate, simplified participation by creating a universal system (every retailer who sells drinks must accept returns by law), and trusted its citizens to do the right thing.
What could this look like where you live?
Romania’s recycling journey is proof that a recycling revolution doesn’t require a perfect society, unlimited funding, or decades of gradual habit change. It requires the right system, one built around real human behavior, not wishful thinking.
Sometimes, all it takes is a bag, a short walk to the corner shop, and eleven cents.
Or, that’s how it starts, anyway. That’s how nine billion bottles get returned.
