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How do we coax millions of Americans away from the edge of election conspiracy insanity?

If the past four years has taught us anything, it’s that when you think things can’t really get any nuttier, they totally can and will. Case in point: Lin Wood’s latest tweets. Lin Wood is a lawyer who has filed or joined multiple lawsuits on behalf of President Trump in an attempt to overturn the…

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Annie Reneau

Array
Photo credit: Andrew Feinberg/Twitter, Lin Wood/Twitter – Array

If the past four years has taught us anything, it’s that when you think things can’t really get any nuttier, they totally can and will.

Case in point: Lin Wood’s latest tweets.

Lin Wood is a lawyer who has filed or joined multiple lawsuits on behalf of President Trump in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Wood has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and a forceful pusher of conspiracy theories—not only about the election, but about…well, just take a look.

Wood already made headlines a few days ago for suggesting Mike Pence should be executed by firing squad. Late last night, in a series of tweets, Wood lays out absolutely bonkers allegations against Chief Justice John Roberts and the world’s “most well-known & ‘elite’ intelligence agencies.”

I’m not fond of amplifying these kinds of batsh*t crazy rants, but considering how intertwined this individual is with the current legal actions of the president of the United States, and considering the fact that President Trump has retweeted this man’s tweets just within the past month, it’s important to understand the level of unreality that a significant portion of Americans are living in—or at least tacitly accepting.

In a series of tweets, Wood wrote:

“I believe Chief Justice John Roberts & a multitude of powerful individuals worldwide are being blackmailed in a horrendous scheme involving rape & murder of children captured on videotape.

I have the key to the files containing the videos. I have also shared this information.

This blackmail scheme is conducted by members of 10 of world’s most well-known & “elite” intelligence agencies. One of those groups was hacked by a group known as Lizard Squad.

The blackmail files of rape & murder were obtained by this group & copy was provided to Isaac Kappy.

The blackmail targets are approached with a gun, a child, & a camera. The target is ordered to rape the child on video. The target is then ordered to shoot the child on video. The target is then owned & controlled by the blackmailers until blackmail evidence loses its value.

After Kappy received the hacked files from member of Lizard Squad, he gave files to one friend and the encryption key to another friend. He provided this information to his friends shortly before he was murdered in May 13, 2019. Members of Lizard Squad were jailed for hacking.

Jeffrey Epstein used this same blackmail scheme of child rape & child murder to either further his own interests or those of any intelligence agency with whom he worked. ALL who flew on his private jet or visited his island must be IMMEDIATELY interrogated & brought to justice.

I decided to post this truth on Twitter & Parler as wall exists around @realDonaldTrump that may have prevented me from getting this evidence to him. Kappy tried to deliver info to President but was then murdered. I do not know who Kappy gave it to for delivery to the President.

I have concerns that information from Kappy was not delivered to @realDonaldTrump & his effort to get it to President may have caused his death. I am aware that my life is now at great risk. But I put my faith in God. I prayed before I made the decision. I had to reveal TRUTH.”

Let’s pause for a moment here.

First of all, how is this even a thing that he believes? Someone just walks up with a gun and a child and a camera? What? Most of us who actually are not pedophiles would rather die than rape a child. And if someone handed us a gun to shoot a child, most of us would shoot the person trying to blackmail us instead. On a basic level, this is just dumb.

Second of all, every conspiracy theory sucks people in with grains of truth, so let’s briefly get those out of the way. Lizard Squad might sound like a made-up thing, but it was actually a real hacking group that successfully disrupted XBox and PlayStation systems in addition to committing other hacking crimes. A bunch of members were arrested in 2014—but their arrest had nothing to do with intelligence agencies.

Former Lizard Squad member Vinnie Omari, when asked about Wood’s tweets, told the Daily Dot, “That sounds fucking insane, bro. I’m not going to lie to you. That sounds like the type of stuff that I usually laugh at people for bringing up in conversations.”

Omari said he’d never heard of Wood or Kappy and that the group never hacked any government entities or agencies. “We never hacked anything in regards to any of these billionaires like Jeffrey Epstein or any government officials,” he said.

That won’t convince the conspiracy theorists, of course. (We’ll get to that in a minute.) At this point, you may be wondering who the heck Isaac Kappy is. Kappy was an actor and musician who tragically died by suicide by jumping off a bridge onto a freeway in Arizona in 2019. He left lengthy messages on social media before his death, expressing remorse for who he had been, stating that he had spent thousands of hours diving into QAnon conspiracies, talking about how he’s abused himself with drugs and alcohol, and apologizing to people he’d hurt.

But instead of his death being a cautionary tale, QAnoners like Wood claim that Kappy didn’t die by suicide but was murdered because this obscure actor had the elusive evidence proving all of the cabal nonsense that he was trying to get to the president. As if that makes sense.

Moving on. Wood continued on Twitter.

“I would never make an accusation without having reliable source for it. Stakes are too high. So I did due diligence to validate the accuracy of the shocking information I am revealing tonight. I am entirely comfortable that you are learning the truth. A truth that explains much.

I have no idea extent of blackmail scheme of raping & killing children but given the number of agencies involved, the hundreds of thousands of missing children, & the otherwise inexplicable actions of many powerful officials, celebrities, & business leaders, I fear the worst.

The number of missing children worldwide & in United States is staggering.

So I have now conveyed the truth as I know it. There has been a rising chorus of people questioning my sanity in recent days. Now you can understand why. I have no idea what will be done to me or said about me in coming days, but I will rest well tonight for having spoken truth.

Many issues in our world may be tied to blackmail scheme I described tonight, including bizarre behavior of officials & judges in recent election. @realDonaldTrump must appoint special prosecutor to thoroughly investigate. We need answers. We must investigate. For the children.”

Ah yes. For the children. I’ve written about how the QAnon child trafficking conspiracy theories are doing real harm to actual anti-trafficking organizations that work to protect vulnerable missing children. QAnon is not in the business of saving children from anything.

Oh, and there’s also this:

https://www.twitter.com/LLinWood/status/1346020295002497026

To be perfectly clear, this is insane. That should be totally obvious, but at this point, even obvious truths need to be stated clearly, unequivocally, and constantly. This man has a million followers on Twitter and has been retweeted by the president, who is a known peddler of conspiracy theorists himself. We also now have QAnon adherents in Congress, so this stuff can’t be ignored. As NBC reports, nearly all of Trump’s election fraud allegations come from the QAnon world, and he has hoards of MAGA followers who have bought it all hook, line, and sinker. At this point, no one can be all in for Trump and not, by extension, support these crazy conspiracy theories. They are all inextricably linked.

https://www.twitter.com/BrandyZadrozny/status/1346198251343671297

So how did we even get here? And more importantly, how do we get out?

It was predictable, to be honest. During the 2016 election, there were an alarming number of comments that referred to Hillary Clinton being part of an evil global cabal of pedophiles who operate in secret and communicate in code via email. The rumors included various details about Satanic rituals (which involved bizzaro accusations of harvesting something called adrenochrome from children), Obama ordering 65,000 hot dogs (which was supposedly code for little boys), and child trafficking taking place in the basement of a popular D.C. pizza parlor (which doesn’t even have a basement). Even though none of it made the least bit of logical sense and most of us just rolled our eyes at it all, a shocking number of people truly believed it—and still do.

I assumed at the time that it was just a dumb disinformation campaign to hurt Clinton’s chances of winning the election (which it was) and that it would die out after the election (which it didn’t). I think most reasonable people believed the same thing, which was a mistake. For four years, we’ve watched these conspiracy theories grow and spread. For four years, I’ve personally seen more and more people get sucked into the unreality the person/people behind QAnon created. For four years, people have continued to claim that well-known politicians and A-list celebrities are about to be arrested, that they’re all going down soon, that Donald Trump is the great savior who will finally blow the lid off of this vast conspiracy and save the world from the machinations of the evil elite. For four years, the big reveal has always been just around the corner. Just wait. (That’s literally the entire premise of QAnon. Just wait. Just wait. Just wait. It’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming.)

The quackiness was never going to just fade away. The fringe element just kept growing and spilling into right-wing media. And like a snowball that gathers size, speed, and strength as it tumbles down a mountain, the quackiness was becoming more and more dangerous.

When a guy took his AR-15 to Comet Ping Pong Pizza to save the children from the clutches of Clinton and her cabal of child traffickers and found nothing, that should have been the end of it. When the D.C. police called Pizzagate “a fictitious online conspiracy theory,” that should have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. Because that’s not how these things work.

There’s a reason conspiracy theories are called rabbit holes. Once you start detaching from reality, it’s really hard to come back. Real news is fake news. Fact-checkers can’t be trusted. Every reasonable explanation gets rejected. Anyone who denies the unreality is in on the conspiracy. From an objective outside stance, none of it makes sense, but within that world, it all makes perfect sense. Just wait, you’ll see.

From a psychological point of view, the draw is pretty simple. It’s a connect-the-dots mystery with the added thrill of a gambling addiction—this time, it’s really gonna happen. It’s a thrilling chase with the carrot of Trump saving the world from the evil elites always dangling just out of reach as you chase it. It has everything we’ve become accustomed to in our favorite movie plots—intrigue and deception, bad guys you’d never suspect, and an unlikely hero who we just know is going to swoop in at the finale to bring it all down. Just you wait.

The problem is that we’re not living in a movie. This is real life, and our country is being damaged in real ways by having too many of its citizens swept up in an alternate reality, which isn’t reality at all.

The dilemma we face now is what to do about it. This stuff isn’t going to go away just because Biden gets inaugurated on January 20th, and it’s destructive to the fabric of society no matter who is in charge. For goodness sake, I’ve had people accuse me of being a pedophile because I wrote about how child sex trafficking organizations want people to stop sharing QAnon conspiracy theories. That doesn’t make sense, of course—but how am I supposed to sit down and have a reasonable conversation with someone who believes that? We can have disagreements about government and policy and social issues, and we can debate those things passionately even. But we have to exist in the same objective reality in order to have that reasonable exchange of ideas.

I’m not sure how we get there, but I have a few ideas. We need to have psychologists along with political pundits weighing in on the daily news shows. We need to see the opinions of cult deprogramming experts in addition to legal analysts as we talk about what happens from here. We need to be talking about how to convince millions of our fellow Americans to step back from the edge of the rabbit hole and how to extricate them from it once they’ve fallen down it.

The issues are important, but we can’t have the important conversations we need to have about the issues without a basic shared reality, and right now, we’re so not there.

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  • The surprisingly mysterious reason we use the $ symbol for the U.S. dollar
    Photo credit: Canva – Why do we use $ to represent a dollar?
    ,

    The surprisingly mysterious reason we use the $ symbol for the U.S. dollar

    The U.S. dollar and its symbol have an international origin story.

    Annie Reneau

    We see many symbols in our everyday lives that we likely don’t pay much attention to: the @ in our email addresses, for instance, or the % in our weather forecasts. But do we ever wonder where these symbols came from? Why they look like they do? Or how they came to mean what they mean?

    One of the most commonly used symbols that most of us are clueless about is the dollar sign ($). Why does it have an “S” if there’s no “s” in “dollar”? Is there supposed to be one line or two? And where did the $ symbol even originate?

    As educator and etymology enthusiast Rob Watts (better known as RobWords on YouTube) explains, the answers to those questions are surprisingly complicated.

    The first written use of the dollar sign as we know it appeared in a handwritten letter sent by a man in New Orleans in 1778. Some may be under the impression that the $ is an amalgamation of “U” and “S,” as in United States, but nope. Its origin isn’t actually from the United States at all.

    The international origins of the U.S. dollar start in Spain

    In fact, we have to take a whole international tour through hundreds of years of currency history to arrive at what we think is the origin of the $. As Watts shares, we don’t know with 100% certainty.

    The story begins with the Spanish real, the silver coin that served as the currency of Spain in the 14th century. A larger coin, worth eight times the value of the real, became known as a “piece of eight” in English. Those pieces of eight made their way to the Americas through colonialism in the 15th and 16th centuries.

    “The discovery of huge, gleaming reserves of silver in Central and South America meant that they could also be made there, too,” Watts shares. “At the local mints, they took on a new name as well, based on the fixed weights of  silver they were made from. They became known as the ‘peso,’ meaning ‘unit of weight.’”

    spanish dollar, piece of eight, peso, coin
    A Spanish piece of eight dating between 1651 and 1773. Photo credit: Portable Antiquities Scheme/Wikimedia Commons

    Because of their reliability and divisibility into smaller units, these pesos started being used not just in the Spanish-speaking colonies, but in British colonies in the Caribbean and North America as well.

    Hold the peso thought. We’ll come back to it momentarily.

    The word “dollar” can be traced back to the German Joachimsthaler coin

    In the meantime, another coin of similar value from the German town of Joachimsthal had gained traction in Europe.

    “In precisely the same way that a round slab of beef from Hamburg became known as a hamburger, this round slab of silver from Joachimsthal became known as a Joachimsthaler,” Watts explains. “And in exactly the same way that a hamburger is sometimes just called a ‘burger,’ a Joachimsthaler was sometimes just called a ‘thaler.’”

    Joachimsthaler, thaler, german dollar, coin
    A Joachimsthaler coin from 1525. Photo credit: TommyG/Wikimedia Commons

    “Thaler” became “daalder” in the Netherlands, “daler” in parts of Scandinavia, and “dollar” in the English-speaking world.

    But that dollar wasn’t the dollar we ended up with.

    “By 1700, the thaler had been adapted to have almost exactly the same silver content as another coin that was competing for usage in Europe: the ‘piece of eight’ or peso,” says Watts. “And so, to help differentiate between the two similarly valued coins, people started referring to the peso as ‘the Spanish dollar.’ This Spanish dollar was the de facto currency of the Americas right up until the American Revolution.”

    spanish dollar, piece of eight, peso, coin
    A Spanish dollar from Mexico circa 1771. Photo credit: Heritage Auctions/Wikimedia Commons

    The dollar sign actually comes from the peso symbol

    Prior to declaring independence from Britain, the U.S. used the British pound for accounting. But the Spanish dollar, or peso, was the coin most often used as currency, so post-Revolution, the U.S. adopted the dollar as its own. (The first official U.S. dollar coin was minted in 1792.)

    So, long story short, the Spanish dollar, or peso, was the basis for the U.S. dollar. Which finally leads us to where the $ came from.

    The symbol used for pesos way back when was “ps,” with the “s” written like a superscript. When written with a pen in one stroke, the “s” ended up with a line through it. And when someone wanted to indicate plural pesos, they would write the symbol twice. The second instance, written more quickly, ended up blending the “p” and “s” together to look more like a $.

    Essentially, the evolution looked like this:

    dollar, dollar sign, peso
    Theories of where the dollar sign came from. Photo credit: JesperZedlitz/Wikimedia Commons

    What about the double-lined dollar sign?

    How did the $ with two lines come about? As shown in the image above, the two lines often lead people to the “U” plus “S” theory. However, Watts points out that the first printed version of the dollar sign appeared in 1797. That dollar sign actually had two lines, with no indication that “U” and “S” were the reason. Both versions of the symbol were in use by the close of the 18th century.

    Watts goes into some of the other theories about where the double-lined dollar sign comes from. However, there doesn’t seem to be solid evidence to back any of them up.


    Isn’t that wild? Who knew that our currency had such a complicated origin story? Or that we don’t even really know for certain why we use $ for the almighty dollar?

    Thanks, Rob Watts, for making us all a little bit smarter. You can follow him on YouTube for more word fun.

    Keep Reading →
  • Woman lives on a cruise ship for free, but says there are 4 things she’s not allowed to do
    A woman looks out over the ocean while standing on a cruise ship.
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    Woman lives on a cruise ship for free, but says there are 4 things she’s not allowed to do

    Living the high seas life.

    Tod Perry

    Upworthy Staff

    Upworthy has covered a few stories about people who decided to live permanently on cruise ships because it’s cheaper than living on land or in a nursing home. These stories have connected with millions because they say a lot about the modern cost of living but are also aspirational.

    Christine Kesteloo has become popular on TikTok with over one million followers because she shares what living on a cruise ship is really like. Kesteloo is the wife of the ship’s Staff Chief Engineer, so she gets to live on the boat for free. She only has to pay for alcohol and soda, which she gets for half off according to Business Insider.

    So what is life actually like on board?

    “I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it’s often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told Business Insider. “After all, I don’t cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“

    Kesteloo’s life seems pretty stress-free. After all, she’s basically on a permanent vacation. However, even though she lives on a cruise ship as a “wife on board,” there are a few things she either can’t or shouldn’t do.

    Here are the four things she cannot do

    She shared these four things in a TikTok video with nearly 10 million views.

    @dutchworld_americangirl

    I go through four things I can, and cannot do it while living on the cruise ship with my husband #weliveonacruiseship #4things #alaskacruise #cruiseship #cruiseshiplife #cruise #alaska #caribbeancruise #cruiselife #livingstsea #getreadywithme

    ♬ Chill in a good mood, calm and fun(1263486) – zukisuzuki

    1. Gambling

    Kesteloo says she cannot sit at a slot machine and “play my heart out until I win.” She believes it would “look a little weird if I, as the wife of the staff chief engineer, won a big jackpot.”

    2. Leaving the ship with the guests

    When the ship arrives at a destination, she can’t get off with the guests. She must wait about an hour and exit the vessel with the crew. When returning to the ship, she also has to be on time. “No, they will not wait for us,” she says. And the same goes for her husband, if they “miss the ship, someone else will take over the role.”

    3. Sitting in a crowded pool

    Although Kesteloo has access to the pool, gym, and all the ship’s amenities, she’s cautious not to interfere with the guests’ good time. She’ll exit the pool if it’s busy because “it’s just the right thing to do.”

    4. Traveling without international traveler insurance

    She must have insurance in case of a misfortune on the ship. But as a citizen of the Netherlands, they already have coverage and just have to pay a few extra dollars a month.

    The comments had one big question

    Though folks generally welcomed Kesteloo’s advice, some of the most popular commenters on the video were from women regretting that they married men who aren’t chief engineers on cruise ships or those who want to know where to find a single one.

    “OK, can you explain how to marry a cruise ship engineer?” one female commenter wrote.

    “How. in. the. H E double hockey sticks do I become the wife of a cruise ship engineer???? I don’t have to work AND cruise for free!” another added.

    “Does he have any single friends with same job??? Asking for me,” one more asked.

    For even more tips on living this charmed life, follow Kesteloo on TikTok. Who knows, by now she might even have some advice for landing your own cruise ship engineer spouse.

    This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.

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  • Comedy rock band use 38 songs to prove how ‘every pop song’ uses the same four chords
    Photo credit: random804/YouTube – Axis of Awesome on stage.
    ,

    Comedy rock band use 38 songs to prove how ‘every pop song’ uses the same four chords

    The Beatles, U2, and Maroon 5 are all guilty of the same crime.

    Tod Perry

    Upworthy Staff

    Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was found not liable on April 4, 2023 in a lawsuit where he was accused of stealing elements of the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit, “Thinking Out Loud.”

    Since then, a federal appeals court also upheld that ruling in November 2024, affirming that the two songs only share basic musical building blocks that copyright law does not protect. A separate, related lawsuit remains ongoing.

    The case called attention to the fact that there are motifs and musical structures common in pop music that no one owns, and all are free to use. When it comes to chord progressions, the 12-bar blues and basic I, IV, V, I progressions you hear in country and folk have been used and reused since people first picked up the guitar.

    In the wrong hands, the progressions can result in music that is boring and formulaic, but in the right hands, they can be a springboard for fresh ideas.

    guitar, music, chords, chord progression, songs, axis of awesome
    Guitarist playing their instrument. Photo credit: Canva

    A comedy group proved the point perfectly

    In 2009, Australian comedy group Axis Of Awesome did a funny sketch showing how one four-chord progression, famous for being the basis of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” has been used countless times by musicians to great effect.

    They played a medley of 38 major hits using the same progression to prove their point. For musicians, it’s known as the I–V–vi–IV progression, and when played in the key of C it would be C, G, Am, F.

    Warning: Video contains strong language.

    Here are all 38 songs in the medley

    “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey

    “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt

    “Forever Young” by Alphaville

    “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz

    “Happy Ending” by Mika

    “Amazing” by Alex Lloyd

    “Wherever You Will Go” by The Calling

    “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” by Elton John

    “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5

    “Pictures Of You” by The Last Goodnight

    “With Or Without You” by U2

    “Fall At Your Feet” by Crowded House

    “Not Pretty Enough” by Kasey Chambers

    “Let It Be” by The Beatles

    “Under the Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers

    “The Horses” by Daryl Braithwaite

    “No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley

    “Sex and Candy” by Marcy Playground

    “Land Down Under” by Men at Work

    “Waltzing Matilda” by Banjo Paterson

    “Take On Me” by A-ha

    “When I Come Around” by Green Day

    “Save Tonight” by Eagle Eye Cherry

    “Africa” by Toto

    “If I Were A Boy” by Beyoncé

    “Self Esteem” by The Offspring

    “You’re Gonna Go Far Kid” by The Offspring

    “U + Ur Hand” by Pink

    “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga

    “Barbie Girl” by Aqua

    “You Found Me” by The Fray

    “Don’t Trust Me” by 30h!3

    “Kids” by MGMT

    “Canvas Bags” by Tim Minchin

    “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia

    “Superman” by Five for Fighting

    “Birdplane” by Axis of Awesome

    “Scar” by Missy Higgins

    And the official video has even more songs

    It’s quite an extensive (and, as they prove, accurate) list, but that’s not all. In the summer of 2011, Axis of Awesome released an official music video of “4 Chords” on their YouTube channel, which included even more songs such as Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister,” The Black Eyed Peas’ “Where is the Love?”, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and even Men at Work’s “Land Down Under” in addition to many, many, many more.

    Check it out:

    Axis of Awesome officially broke up in August 2018 after a year-long break in 2017. Though the trio is no longer performing together, the impact of “4 Chords” goes on and on…much like the use of that musical progression. And, while all these songs may use the same four chords, you’ve got to admit they’re all bangers, so we’re not mad at it.

    This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.

    Keep Reading →
  • How does an election with no electioneering work? A peek inside the Bahá’í electoral process.
    Photo credit: Annie Reneau – The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States, left, and the Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, right.
    ,

    How does an election with no electioneering work? A peek inside the Bahá’í electoral process.

    Around the world, the nine-member governing bodies of the Bahá’í Faith are democratically elected with no nominations, campaigns, or even mention of individual names.

    Annie Reneau

    While doing research for her 2021 book, High Conflict, investigative journalist Amanda Ripley posed a question: “Are there examples of institutions that do conflict better, institutionally, sort of enshrined in what they do?”

    That question led Ripley to the Bahá’í Faith and the process it uses to elect its governing bodies. Ripley specializes in exploring “depolarization” and found the faith’s electoral process to be a solid example of how to avoid polarization while electing the most qualified people.

    Elections with zero electioneering? How?

    Imagine a democratic election process with no nominations, no campaigning, no parties or factions, and no electioneering of any kind. Not a whisper of “You should vote or shouldn’t vote for so-and-so.” Not even an “I’d like to humbly put myself forward for consideration.” That’s what Bahá’í elections are like.

    “It’s literally the opposite of elections today in the United States, in every way,” Ripley told the Society Builders podcast. “And yet, it’s happening all around the world, so it’s very encouraging.”

    As a Bahá’í myself, seeing Ripley explain the Bahá’í electoral process from an outside perspective is fascinating. I’m so used to it, having participated in dozens of elections, that I sometimes forget how unique it is. But when contrasted with nearly every other democratic voting system, I can see why it drew Ripley’s attention.

    Bahá’í elections at the local level

    At the local level of administration (town, city, or county), Bahá’ís elect nine-member bodies called Local Spiritual Assemblies. The elected members of a Spiritual Assembly have no individual authority, but function as a collective, consultative institution that tends to the affairs of the community.

    Here’s how these institutions are elected: Throughout the year, we spend time getting to know the members of our community, keeping in mind that we will elect some of these people to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly each spring. No names are ever mentioned when discussing the Assembly election, though. We only discuss the combination of qualities necessary to serve, which include selfless devotion, a well-trained mind, unquestioned loyalty, recognized ability, and mature experience.

    At election time, after prayer and reflection, every adult member of the community votes by secret ballot for the nine people they believe are best qualified to serve on the Assembly.

    The way ballots are handled ensures that even the tellers who tally the votes don’t see who voted for whom. The nine people who receive the most votes overall are called to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly.

    Serving on a Spiritual Assembly is viewed as a sacred, selfless duty, not as a personal victory or promotion. As Ripley shared, “If you get asked to serve, you gotta serve. And the ego is really subverted in that process.”

    How Bahá’ís conduct national elections

    The electoral process looks slightly different at the national level, where we use a delegate system. I participated as a delegate in helping elect the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States this year, so I can share an insider’s view of what that process looked like.

    Last October, a total of 171 delegates were elected (again by secret ballot, with no electioneering) from electoral units around the U.S. Every adult Bahá’í has the opportunity and responsibility to participate in their local delegate election. And again, whoever receives the most votes serves.

    Baha'i temple, Baha'i house of worship, Wilmette, Illinois
    The Bahá’í National Convention was held at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. Photo credit: Annie Reneau

    In April, those 171 delegates gathered for the Bahá’í National Convention at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. The purpose of the convention was twofold: to elect the National Spiritual Assembly and to consult and share what we’ve been learning through our community activities over the past year.

    It may be hard to imagine, but the admonition against electioneering is taken to heart in elections at every level. The convention began on Thursday morning, and the election took place on Saturday. The delegates were together all day Thursday and Friday, and there was not a single conversation about who should or should not be elected to the National Spiritual Assembly.

    Instead, we consulted about what’s been happening in our communities, sharing triumphs and challenges, heartening stories and heartfelt concerns. We discussed the qualities necessary to serve on the Assembly, but never names. Not even the slightest indirect hint about any particular individual.

    Baha'i, delegates, election
    Bahá’í delegates from around the U.S. gathered in Wilmette, Illinois, to elect the National Spiritual Assembly. Photo credit: Nancy Wong

    What the actual voting looks like

    The morning of the election, the delegates gathered in the sanctuary of the House of Worship for prayer and meditation. Then we returned to the meeting hall downstairs to vote. Each of us silently filled out a paper ballot with the names of nine people we felt were most qualified to serve. Then we placed our ballots into plain white envelopes. Once all delegates had finished voting, we deposited the envelopes, one by one, into a box at the front of the room. The atmosphere was peaceful, calm, and reverent.

    Our votes are secret and private—no one will ever know who we voted for unless we choose to tell someone. (In 30 years of participating in elections, I’ve never had another Bahá’í tell me who they voted for.) As delegates, we represent our local areas at the convention, but we are elected to vote according to our own consciences. No one from our electoral unit talks to us about who they want us to vote for.

    The process is about as pure as an election process can be. And the result is a high-functioning administrative body that beautifully reflects our national community.

    Baha'i, National Spiritual Assembly, election
    The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States elected in April 2026. Photo credit: Annie Reneau

    (Every five years, the world’s National Spiritual Assemblies from every country gather to elect the Universal House of Justice, the nine-member body that guides the international Bahá’í community. Again, no electioneering—just prayerful, conscientious voting by secret ballot.)

    Bahá’í consultation: A low-conflict approach to making decisions

    The other low-conflict element of Bahá’í administration that Ripley found in her research is the process of decision-making, simply referred to as “consultation.” As Ripley shared with the Aspen Institute, the ideal way to deal with conflict is to avoid it in the first place. Bahá’í consultation, she said, is designed “to keep the ego in check and keep high conflict less likely.”

    When the Assembly needs to discuss an issue or make a decision, all members are encouraged to voice their thoughts and opinions frankly and openly. But as soon as an idea is presented, it becomes the idea of the group to discuss. It is no longer associated with the individual who shared it. Discussion centers on the idea itself and the spiritual principles that need to be applied to the situation. Ripley says this method aligns with how humans naturally function, helping “reduce the odds of the kind of binary, us-versus-them dynamic that we know tends to lead to high conflict.”

    Of course, we are ever-evolving humans doing our best, not perfect beings. I have occasionally seen personal conflict arise over the years, and I’ve seen it handled well and not so well. But considering the inherent complexities of human dynamics, the Bahá’í system works remarkably well as designed and intended. Compared with how elections and institutions so often function, it’s truly a beautiful thing to witness and participate in.

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  • After touring the globe, Mark Twain listed 60 American dishes he sorely missed
    Photo credit: The Guardian/Wikimedia Commons & Cary Bass-Deschênes/Wikimedia Commons – A raccoon, left, and Mark Twain, right.
    ,

    After touring the globe, Mark Twain listed 60 American dishes he sorely missed

    Baked apples ’n’ cream? Yum. “‘Possum”? Not so much.

    Tod Perry

    Mark Twain is often seen as the quintessential American novelist, having penned classics such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But he was also a popular travel writer who wrote six books about his adventures abroad. In 1867, he was sent by a newspaper to travel throughout Europe and the Holy Land via the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in the popular book The Innocents Abroad.

    In 1880, Twain wrote an unofficial sequel to The Innocents Abroad called A Tramp Abroad, a fictionalized account of himself, his traveling companion “Harris,” and their attempt to walk through Europe. The book is both a travelogue from a time when it was rare for most Americans to travel to Europe and a satire of how clueless they can be when encountering new cultures.

    Twain didn’t care much for European cuisine

    One unforgettable passage in A Tramp Abroad has Twain critiquing European food and longing for his favorite comfort foods. He refers to European fare as unsatisfying, to say the least. “The number of dishes is sufficient, but then it is such a monotonous variety of UNSTRIKING dishes. It is an inane, dead-level of ‘fair-to-middling.’ There is nothing to ACCENT it,” Twain wrote.

    mark twain, twain relaxing, mark twain book, mark twain suit,
    Mark Twain relaxing. Photo credit: The Guardian/Wikimedia Commons

    In the book, he jokes that when he returns to the States, he will have a “modest” meal of his favorite foods prepared for him and will send his requests ahead of time so they are ready when he arrives. The menu contains 60 of his favorite American comfort foods.

    Twain lists his favorite comfort foods

    “It has now been many months, at the present writing, since I have had a nourishing meal, but I shall soon have one, a modest, private affair, all to myself,” Twain wrote. “I have selected a few dishes, and made out a little bill of fare, which will go home in the steamer that precedes me, and be hot when I arrive, as follows:

    Radishes. Baked apples, with cream

    Fried oysters; stewed oysters. Frogs.

    American coffee, with real cream.

    American butter.

    Fried chicken, Southern style.

    Porter-house steak.

    Saratoga potatoes.

    Broiled chicken, American style.

    Hot biscuits, Southern style.

    Hot wheat-bread, Southern style.

    Hot buckwheat cakes.

    American toast. Clear maple syrup.

    Virginia bacon, broiled.

    Blue points, on the half shell.

    Cherry-stone clams.

    San Francisco mussels, steamed.

    Oyster soup. Clam Soup.

    Philadelphia Terapin soup.

    Oysters roasted in shell-Northern style.

    Soft-shell crabs. Connecticut shad.

    Baltimore perch.

    Brook trout, from Sierra Nevadas.

    Lake trout, from Tahoe.

    Sheep-head and croakers, from New Orleans.

    Black bass from the Mississippi.

    American roast beef.

    Roast turkey, Thanksgiving style.

    turkey, thanksgiving turkey, cooked turkey, stuffed turkey, roast turkey,
    A Thanksgiving turkey. Photo credit: Canva

    Cranberry sauce. Celery.

    Roast wild turkey. Woodcock.

    Canvas-back-duck, from Baltimore.

    Prairie hens, from Illinois.

    Missouri partridges, broiled.

    ‘Possum. Coon.

    Boston bacon and beans.

    Bacon and greens, Southern style.

    Hominy. Boiled onions. Turnips.

    Pumpkin. Squash. Asparagus.

    Butter beans. Sweet potatoes.

    Lettuce. Succotash. String beans.

    Mashed potatoes. Catsup.

    Boiled potatoes, in their skins.

    New potatoes, minus the skins.

    Early rose potatoes, roasted in the ashes, Southern style, served hot.

    Sliced tomatoes, with sugar or vinegar. Stewed tomatoes.

    Green corn, cut from the ear and served with butter and pepper.

    Green corn, on the ear.

    Hot corn-pone, with chitlings, Southern style.

    Hot hoe-cake, Southern style.

    Hot egg-bread, Southern style.

    Hot light-bread, Southern style.

    Buttermilk. Iced sweet milk.

    Apple dumplings, with real cream.

    Apple pie. Apple fritters.

    Apple puffs, Southern style.

    Peach cobbler, Southern style

    Peach pie. American mince pie.

    Pumpkin pie. Squash pie.

    All sorts of American pastry.

    Fresh American fruits of all sorts, including strawberries, which are not to be doled out as if they were jewelry, but in a more liberal way. Ice-water—not prepared in the ineffectual goblet, but in the sincere and capable refrigerator.”

    mark twain, twain relaxing, mark twain book, mark twain suit, mark twain pool
    Mark Twain playing pool. Photo credit: The World’s Work/Wikimedia Commons

    Twain’s list of favorite foods is notable because he spent much of his life in different regions of the United States, including Hannibal, Missouri (his boyhood home), Hartford, Connecticut (his adult home), and Elmira, New York (his summer retreat).

    His career as a writer also took him to places in the West, including San Francisco and Sacramento, California, as well as Carson City and Virginia City, Nevada. This led him to develop a taste for many regional cuisines, which he referenced specifically on his list. The oysters should be from San Francisco, and the black bass from Mississippi.

    Some may recoil when they see a few items on his list, namely “’coon” (short for raccoon) and “’possum,” short for opossum. These days, most Americans would shudder at the idea of eating them for dinner, but in the 1800s, they were seen as delicacies. Both were commonly roasted or stewed and served with sweet potatoes.

    Twain’s over-the-top menu is a fun look at the types of food that were popular in the late 1800s, and it’s also a charming example of how every region of the U.S. has its own specialty. Whether it’s fish in the Sierras or duck in Baltimore, Maryland, every place has its own flavor, and to a man who lived just about everywhere, they were all something to savor.

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  • Brendan Fraser surprised everyone at a screening of ‘The Mummy’ by showing up in costume
    Brendan Fraser dressed as Rick O'Connell.
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    Brendan Fraser surprised everyone at a screening of ‘The Mummy’ by showing up in costume

    Now we want a “Mummy 4.”

    Heather Wake

    Upworthy Staff

    Brendan Fraser might be making the greatest career comeback ever, having won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his dramatic, transformative role in “The Whale.” But the OG Fraser fans (the ones who watch “Doom Patrol” solely to hear his voice and proudly pronounce his last name as Fray-zure, for this is the proper pronunciation) have known of his remarkable talent since the ’90s, when he embodied the ultimate charming, dashing and slightly goofball Hollywood action lead.

    Let us not forget his arguably most well-known and beloved ’90s character, Rick O’Connell from the “Mummy” franchise. Between his quippy one-liners, Indiana Jones-like adventuring skills, and fabulous hair, what’s not to like? During a double feature of “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns” in London, moviegoers got the ultimate surprise when who should walk in but Brendan Fraser himself, completely decked out in Rick O’Connell attire. The brown leather jacket. The scarf. Everything.

    stephen colbert, brendan fraser, montclair film festival, red carpet,
    Stephen Colbert and Brendan Fraser at the Montclair Film Festival 2022. Photo credit: Montclair Film/Wikimedia Commons

    What Fraser said to the crowd that night

    “I am proud to stand before you tonight,” he told the audience. “This is a film that was made in Britain. You should know that! Even the second one, too. Be proud. Thank you for being here.”

    He continued, “We didn’t know if it was a drama or a comedy or a straight-ahead action or romance, a horror picture, more action, all of the above. No idea until it tested in front of British audiences. Thank you for that.”

    Fraser then asked the crowd if anyone hadn’t actually seen the movie yet, before shouting, “Outstanding!” when somebody raised their hand. He then quickly made a polite plug, encouraging people to go see “The Whale” before whisking himself away, saying, “I won’t take up any more of your time.”

    Uh, yeah…I don’t think any time spent with Brendan Fraser is a waste. Do you?

    Watch:

    Mummy 4 is officially happening

    The answer to whether we’ll see Fraser back as Rick O’Connell is now a resounding yes. The Mummy 4 was officially confirmed in early 2026, with Fraser and Rachel Weisz both set to reprise their roles, and a release date of October 15, 2027. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are attached to direct.

    This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.

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  • The ‘Knight Rider’ car somehow got a speeding ticket even though museum owners swear it hasn’t moved in years
    Photo credit: Morn, NBC Universal, Wikimedia Commons – David Hasselhoff, left, and his car KITT from "Knight Rider."
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    The ‘Knight Rider’ car somehow got a speeding ticket even though museum owners swear it hasn’t moved in years

    There are only a handful of KITT replicas still in existence.

    Cecily Knobler

    “Give me every ounce of turbo boost you’ve got,” Michael Knight often demanded of his black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, KITT.

    If you didn’t grow up glued to television (like much of Gen X), this is a reference to the NBC hit show Knight Rider, starring David Hasselhoff as Knight. Its first incarnation ran from 1982 to 1986 and featured the crime-fighting Knight alongside his well-ahead-of-its-time talking car, KITT, short for Knight Industries Two Thousand. (In a later reboot of the series, KITT stood for Knight Industries Three Thousand.)

    So imagine everyone’s surprise when KITT was allegedly spotted by traffic cameras driving 36 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone in Brooklyn on April 22. Or was it KITT? A car was seen zipping through a New York City intersection with a California plate that read KNIGHT.

    Where is the real KITT?

    The only issue? The speeding ticket was sent to the Volo Museum in Illinois, which has a replica of the KITT car on display. A spokesperson for the museum took to Facebook to share the mix-up:

    “Well, this is a new one… we got this in the mail today. This is 100% legit. A traffic camera captured Knight Rider’s KITT speeding down the streets of New York City. The camera captured the novelty license plate (not a real plate…and also a California plate). Their official system ties the novelty plate to Volo Museum and we got a bill for $50! You can’t make this up! Our KITT hasn’t moved from our museum in years! Does anyone have Hasselhoff’s number? He owes us $50!!!!”

    WABC-TV reports that the “summons, complete with a picture from a traffic camera, was sent to the Volo Museum in Volo, Illinois, where a black 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am replica of the TV show car is on display. It linked the KNIGHT license plate to the museum’s display vehicle. The museum has requested a hearing to dispute the ticket.”

    Turbo boost

    Of the more than 20 KITT cars built for the series, only five remain. According to Road & Track:

    “KITTs were made out of 1982, 1983, and 1984 Trans Ams, as well as base Firebird hardtops. Transmissions got swapped for Turbo 350 3-speeds, brake line locks were added, as well as some additional bracing, while the team used as much body filler as the panels would take.

    The second-to-last KITT ever built started out as an ’84 base hardtop before taking up the role of a disposable stunt car. Yet after the show, NBC chose this example to be retrofitted with their sound stage dashboard, T-tops, and all the things children would expect to see once they put it on display at their theme park.”

    “KITT’s been out traveling and breaking the law”

    So why was Volo Museum in Illinois on the hook for a California-plated car? Theories and jokes abound. One Facebook user commented under the museum’s post, “You THINK that KITT hasn’t moved in years, but you forget KITT can drive anywhere he wants without Michael Knight. KITT’s been out traveling and breaking the law.”

    And this case of mistaken identity isn’t unique. Another commenter added, “There’s a guy in southern Indiana who drives his KITT on a novelty plate while going through a toll bridge into Kentucky. Since I have a legitimate Indiana KNIGHT plate, they charge his tolls to my EZ-Pass.”

    KITT conspiracy theories

    On a Reddit thread titled, “Museum’s ‘Knight Rider’ replica car got a speeding ticket. It hasn’t gone anywhere in years,” commenters were quick with the nostalgic jokes. “I think there is an obvious answer. This car is a Brum, and every night it drives out into the big city on adventures,” one user wrote.

    This Redditor shared the story of someone reportedly trying to evade speeding tickets: “There’s a story about an engineer who tried to be clever and got the plate ‘NULL’ in the hopes of avoiding tickets (if you’re not aware, NULL is used in some databases as a way of saying ‘no data’). He ended up with every ticket that didn’t have a plate number attached to it.”

    Another user jokingly quoted KITT, writing, “I do not understand how you’ve managed to get us a speeding ticket without even being in motion, Michael.”

    Will the real KITT please stand up?

    As for the real KITTs? The remaining five cars used in the series have been spread among various museums and private owners. One famous car enthusiast, Jay Leno, got to take a ride in Joe Huth’s fabulous ride and even featured it on his show Jay Leno’s Garage.

    It’s possible that if KITT were asked for comment about this whole affair, he might repeat one of his more memorable lines: “Really, some people are simply too much.”

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  • 9 fascinating Colonial-era words to brush up on for America’s 250th birthday
    Photo credit: Canva – Signing of the Declaration of Independence.
    ,

    9 fascinating Colonial-era words to brush up on for America’s 250th birthday

    The word “vulgar” had a different meaning than it does today.

    Emily Shiffer

    On July 4, the United States of America will celebrate its 250th birthday. Called the “semiquincentennial,” the day will commemorate 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed.

    Of course, English was spoken by colonial Americans, and they had a distinctive accent that was unique to the newly formed country.

    Surprisingly, they did not sound British. That’s because by the time of the Revolutionary War, two new generations had been born on American soil, according to JSTOR.

    British English and American English began to develop separately. An English tourist commented on the colonial American dialect in 1770:

    “The colonists are composed of adventurers, not only from every district of Great Britain and Ireland, but from almost every other European government…Is it not therefore reasonable to suppose that the English language must be greatly corrupted by such a strange admixture of various nations? The reverse is however true. The language of the immediate descendants of such promiscuous ancestry is perfectly uniform, and unadulterated; nor has it borrowed any provincial, or national accent from its British or foreign parentage.”

    9 interesting Colonial American words

    Many words from colonial America have faded from the modern-day lexicon. But a book from 1785 titled The Vulgar Tongue by author Francis Grose documented slang used during colonial times. The book was reprinted over the years, including an updated version titled 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

    The word “vulgar” had a different meaning than it does today. “Vulgar” meant “common” or “ordinary,” according to Merriam-Webster.

    Here are nine fascinating colonial-era words to add to your lexicon:

    Adam’s ale

    This is another word for water. According to Merriam-Webster, its origins are “after the biblical Adam; from its being provided by nature and thus presumably being the only drink in the Garden of Eden.” The term’s first known use was in 1643.

    Altitudes

    This is another word for drunk. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “the man is in his altitudes, i.e. he is drunk.”

    Arsy yarsey

    According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “to fall arsy varsey, i.e. head over heels.”

    Merriam-Webster defines it as “backside forward; head over heels; topsy-turvy.” It goes on to add that the word is “a non-reduplicative (yet still very cheeky) equivalent of arsy-varsy would be the expression ass over teakettle. However, arsy-varsy may be used as both adverb (modifying an action, as in the first example below) or an adjective (modifying a noun, as in the second) meaning ‘topsy-turvy’ or ‘disordered.’”

    Calibogus

    Surprisingly, this is the name of a colonial drink. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “rum and spruce beer, American beverage.” It may also have been sweetened with molasses, according to Merriam-Webster.

    Carroty-pated

    This is another word for a redhead. According to the Collins Dictionary, “carroty” means “a reddish or yellowish-orange colour; having red hair.” The word “pated” means “having a (specified kind of) pate, or head.”

    Caudge-pawed

    This is another word for left-handed, according to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

    Flam

    According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “a lie, or sham story: also a single stroke on a drum. To flam; to hum, to amuse, to deceive. Flim flams; idle stories.”

    While it was used in colonial times, its history dates further back. Merriam-Webster explains:

    “‘Flimflam’ first entered English as a noun meaning ‘deceptive nonsense’ in the second half of the 16th century. A sense meaning ‘deception’ or ‘fraud’ soon developed. The verb use didn’t show up until well into the next century. In addition to general deceiving or tricking, the verb ‘flimflam’ is often used specifically to refer to swindling someone out of money. The ultimate origin of ‘flimflam’ is uncertain, but the word is probably of Scandinavian origin and may be related to the Old Norse flim, meaning ‘mockery’.”

    Huzza

    This celebratory word was chanted during colonial times. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “said to have been originally the cry of the huzzars or Hungarian light horse; but now the national shout of the English, both civil and military, in the sea phrase termed a cheer; to give three cheers being to huzza thrice.”

    American colonists also adopted the word. According to Dr. Tyler Putman at the Museum of the American Revolution, it also had a surprising pronunciation: hu-ZAY (like “hooray”), not hu-ZAH (like “hoorah”).

    Oyster

    This word had a second meaning besides the shellfish. According to the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it means “a gob of thick phlegm, spit by a consumptive man; in law Latin, UNUM [one] VIRIDUM [green] GOBBUM [lump or mass].”

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