More
No More Blaming Teachers! The Real Reason Education Is Failing.
This response to our flawed education system is reason #154 that author James Baldwin is my public-speaking idol.
06.29.13
Nature
Pennsylvania home is the entrance to a cave that’s been closed for 70 years
You can only access the cave from the basement of the home and it’s open for business.
01.30.23
This Pennsylvania home is the entrance to a cave.
Have you ever seen something in a movie or online and thought, "That's totally fake," only to find out it's absolutely a real thing? That's sort of how this house in Pennsylvania comes across. It just seems too fantastical to be real, and yet somehow it actually exists.
The home sits between Greencastle and Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and houses a pretty unique public secret. There's a cave in the basement. Not a man cave or a basement that makes you feel like you're in a cave, but an actual cave that you can't get to unless you go through the house.
Turns out the cave was discovered in the 1830s on the land of John Coffey, according to Uncovering PA, but the story of how it was found is unclear. People would climb down into the cave to explore occasionally until the land was leased about 100 years later and a small structure was built over the cave opening.
The idea was to make it accessible to visitors and use the cave as a tourist attraction, and the small structure was eventually built into a two-story house. But it was closed to the public in 1954 after the land was purchased for limestone mining and it remained closed for nearly 70 years. (In the words of Stephanie Tanner, "How rude.") Sometime during that 70-year closure, the home that contains the cave was purchased by Dara Black, and in 2021, it reopened to the public.
Currently, the home is occupied by Black, but to gain access to the cave you can simply book a tour. The best part about booking a tour is that you only have to make a donation to enter. It's a pay-what-you-can sort of setup, but since someone actually lives in the home, you can't just pop in and ask for a tour. You have to go during the "open house" times available.
According to the Black-Coffey Caverns Facebook page, they treat the tours truly as an open house, complete with snacks and drinks. There's a waiting room area where people can chat and eat their snacks while they wait for the tour to start. They also offer cave yoga once a month. According to Uncovering PA, the tour takes about 45 minutes to complete and there are about 3,000 feet worth of passageways.
Imagine living on top of a cave and just taking strangers on a waltz under your floorboards essentially. It makes me wonder if the house is quiet at night or if you can hear echoes of the cave sounds while you're trying to sleep. From the Facebook page, it appears that the cave doesn't have any lights, but there were pictures with some Christmas lights mounted to the cave walls. Otherwise, you have to use flashlights.
Hopefully, no mischievous children decide to play hide and seek or you just might have to call in a rescue crew. Literally. But what an unbelievable "pics or it didn't happen" kind of story to tell. It's not every day you run into someone that has a door that leads you to an underground cave.
If you want to see what a cave tour looks like starting from the outside of the house, check out the video below:
From Your Site Articles
- New research shows that children who grow up near nature become happier adults ›
- Texas drought reveals 113-million-year-old dinosaur footprints in Dinosaur Valley State Park ›
- Cave with ancient indigenous paintings sold in auction for over $2 ... ›
- David Harbour and Lily Allen show off quirky Brooklyn home - Upworthy ›
Keep ReadingShow less
Joy
10 things that made us smile this week
We've got some adorable kids and inspiring grown-ups, some delightful dancing and sassy public servants, and even a cute quokka thrown in for funsies.
02.02.23
Upworthy's weekly roundup of joy.
Life is full of precious and magical moments, from watching a baby take its first steps, to saying "I do," to witnessing an artist transcend in a way we've never experienced. These moments touch something deep inside us and etch themselves in our memories, enabling us to draw on their joy for years to come.
That's one of the coolest things about joy. Some might think of it as a fleeting feeling, but it's always there within us, ready to rise to the surface when it gets tickled.
Bringing out people's joy is one of the things we love doing at Upworthy, which is why we curate these collections of smile-worthy finds each week.
In this week's roundup, we've got some adorable kids and inspiring grown-ups, some delightful dancers and sassy public servants, and even a cute quokka thrown in for funsies. Enjoy!
1. Wee one discovers his ability to walk and his reaction is priceless.
@alissa_and_b It’s the #pterodactyl noises for me! 😍😍😍 #babytok #babysfirststeps #lgbtqfam
His little roar, followed by that precious smile? It doesn't get any cuter.
2. Iraqi-Irish wedding musical mashup has everyone dancing with joy.
Cultures coming together, especially in the context of love and family, is such a beautiful thing. Read the full story here.
3. Oliver James has taught himself to read in his 30s with the help of BookTok and he's an inspiration.
@oliverspeaks1 Learning and reading books has literally saved my life. How do you feel about books what has reading done for you.? #books #bookshelf #readingbooks📚 #booktok
In this video, James explains how much anxiety it used to give him to go shopping, not being able to read. Now he has a goal to read 100 books this year, and book lovers on TikTok are helping him out. Read more about James' journey to literacy here.
4. A couple asked their grandmothers to be flower girls at their wedding and look how gorgeous they were.
What a wonderful idea. Let's make this a thing.
5. 13-year-old ventriloquist wows with her impressive and hilarious rendition of 'You Don't Own Me."
Ana-Maria Mărgean was the winner of "Romania's Got Talent" and is now competing in "America's Got Talent: All-Stars." What's amazing is that she just started learning ventriloquism during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Read the full story here.
6. Whoever runs the National Park Service Twitter account deserves a raise.
Swipe through to see the follow-up tweets. The whole account is full of delightful silliness, and we are here for it.
7. Dad gets emotional while singing to his NICU baby who raises his tiny little hand.
@fritojohnson89 Remington Hayze Johnson. Proof that God is faithful. Born 4 months early and given a 21% chance of survival. Today we are 2 1/2 months old giving God all the praise He deserves. #worship #nicu #nicubaby #dadsinging #elevationworship
Having a baby in the NICU can be exhausting and worrisome. What a special moment for this family. Read the full story here.
8. Little girl hears a sax in the subway and feels the music in her soul.
Children are so pure and the way they react to music is always fun to see. What a wonderful exchange and testament to the power of live musicians.
9. She brushed her bald dad's 'hair' and her cackle is too adorable.
Gotta love it when a kid goes all in on their own joke. She's just cracking herself up.
10. May we all be as happy and content as this quokka enjoying a beet.
\u201cQuokka eating beetroot.. \ud83d\ude0a\u201d— Buitengebieden (@Buitengebieden) 1675022909
Quokkas always look like they're smiling anyway, but there's no mistaking the joy in this one's snack time. (Also, I want a quokka. Does anyone know where I can get a quokka?)
Hope that gave you a little serotonin boost! Come back next week for another collection of delights. (And if you'd like to have posts like these delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.)
Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture
Finally, someone explains why we all need subtitles when watching TV
No, you're probably not losing your hearing.
02.01.23
Finally, someone explains why we all need subtitles
It seems everyone needs subtitles nowadays in order to "hear" the television. This is something that has become more common over the past decade and it's caused people to question if their hearing is going bad or if perhaps actors have gotten lazy with enunciation.
So if you've been wondering if it's just you who needs subtitles in order to watch the latest marathon-worthy show, worry no more. Vox video producer Edward Vega interviewed dialogue editor Austin Olivia Kendrick to get to the bottom of why we can't seem to make out what the actors are saying anymore. It turns out it's technology's fault, and to get to how we got here, Vega and Kendrick took us back in time.
They first explained that way back when movies were first moving from silent film to spoken dialogue, actors had to enunciate and project loudly while speaking directly into a large microphone. If they spoke and moved like actors do today, it would sound almost as if someone were giving a drive-by soliloquy while circling the block. You'd only hear every other sentence or two.
But with today's technology, microphones are so small they can be strapped just about anywhere on an actor. This allows the actor to move about the set freely and speak at a normal volume without worrying that their words won't be picked up. So then why can't we hear them? Turns out it's super complicated…and also not.
"A lot of people will ask, 'Why don't you just turn the dialogue up?' Like, 'Just turn it up.' And...if only it were that simple," Kendrick said before explaining, "If you have your dialogue that's going to be at the same volume as an explosion that immediately follows it, the explosion is not going to feel as big. You need that contrast in volume in order to give your ear a sense of scale."
Sure, you may be thinking, well that kinda explains it, but why do the music and other cinematic noises sound like they're beating on your eardrum while the dialogue sounds like the actors are whispering every line? That doesn't seem very balanced. There's more to it, and again, it falls back onto technology.
In the video, they explain how our televisions are too thin to hold large speakers facing in the correct direction, and until this video, it didn't dawn on me that the speakers to my television are indeed in the back. No wonder we can't hear. The actors are quite literally talking to our walls.
And there's more. Check out the full explanation in the video:
Keep ReadingShow less
Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox
By signing up you agree to Upworthy's privacy policy.
Pop Culture
David Harbour and Lily Allen just gave the coolest home tour ever and people are loving it
The only thing better than their decor is their love.
02.02.23
Architectural Digest/Youtube
This house was made with love.
Celebrity home tours are usually a divisive topic. Some find them fun and inspirational. Others find them tacky or out of touch. But this home tour has seemingly brought unanimous joy to all.
“Stranger Things” actor David Harbour and British singer-songwriter Lily Allen, whose Vegas wedding in 2020 came with an Elvis impersonator, gave a tour of their delightfully quirky Brooklyn townhouse for Architectural Digest, and people were absolutely loving it.
For one thing, the house just looks cool. There’s nothing monotone or minimalist about it. No beige to be seen.
The couple hired interior designer Billy Cotton and architect Ben Bischoff to use the 19th-century building’s classical Italian-style architecture (and its Italian-American history) as inspiration for the renovation. Along with that, they have some added layers of traditional English design, modern New York touches, a ton of floral wallpaper, crystal chandeliers, pink silk sheets…and a velvet emerald sofa for good measure.
lily allen and david harbour’s brooklyn town house is a rare W for rich ppl interiors pic.twitter.com/mXh2q2yxCJ
— e. (@sidewalkchalk6) February 1, 2023
The result? As Cotton told Architectural Digest, it was “as if they’d inherited the home from a kooky Italian nonna with fabulous taste.”
Also, Harbour and Allen are so. darn. cute. Throughout the entire video tour, they were able to make each other laugh, applaud each other's taste and show affection towards each other. It’s lovely.
Watch:
All in all, people were equally inspired by the couple’s home and their relationship.
Here are some of the top comments:
“A house ain't a home without love stored in its walls. You can feel how much love they have for each other. So sweet.”
“They are just such a cool couple and I love their quirky style. I was not expecting how floral some of their interior choices are, but I think they seem to be very attuned and open to each others’ tastes."
“This has to be my all-time favorite AD tour. The two of them together are SO GOOD! And their home is like an exploration of the entire spectrum of design! The colors, the patterns, the style, function.. just all of it so clever and inspiring! Absolutely adored this house tour—thank you AD for bringing us this masterpiece!”
“Love these guys... they need to 'present' some show. They represent all the lovable qualities of being welcoming, confident, and humorous. Amazing home.”
“Their chemistry is so infectious.”
May we all get to be our weird and wonderful selves with someone who loves us exactly as we are.
Keep ReadingShow less
Health
Oregon utilizes teen volunteers to run their YouthLine teen crisis hotline
“Each volunteer gets more than 60 hours of training, and master’s level supervisors are constantly on standby in the room.”
02.01.23
Oregon utilizes teen volunteers to man YouthLine teen crisis hotline
Editor's Note: If you are having thoughts about taking your own life, or know of anyone who is in need of help, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a United States-based suicide prevention network of over 200+ crisis centers that provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 9-8-8. It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
Mental health is a top-of-mind issue for a lot of people. Thanks to social media and people being more open about their struggles, the stigma surrounding seeking mental health treatment appears to be diminishing. But after the social and emotional interruption of teens due the pandemic, the mental health crises among adolescents seem to have jumped to record numbers.
PBS reports that Oregon is "ranked as the worst state for youth mental illness and access to care." But they're attempting to do something about it with a program that trains teenagers to answer crisis calls from other teens. They aren't alone though, as there's a master's level supervisor at the ready to jump in if the call requires a mental health professional.
The calls coming into the Oregon YouthLine can vary drastically, anywhere from relationship problems to family struggles, all the way to thoughts of self-harm and suicide. Teens manning the phones are provided with 60 hours of training and are taught to recognize when the call needs to be taken over by the adult supervisor.
"We’re not medical professionals. We’re like a sidekick, really. The person has the option to choose what they want to do," Mia, a YouthLine volunteer, told PBS NewsHour. "They’re like the hero of the story. We’re just there to assist them to make that choice."
The uniqueness of this program is the fact that teens are helping teens, and while that may seem strange to some, William Brangham revealed to PBS NewsHour that research shows teens actually cope better with stress when interacting with peers. A study from 2017 shows that interacting with peers after a particularly stressful event helps calm emotional upset.
Surprisingly, the program isn't new. It's been around for 20 years and has mostly received calls from Oregon, but since 2021, calls have been coming from all over the country. Since fielding crisis calls can take a toll on anyone who does it, YouthLine has worked to combat the impacts on the volunteers.
"Woven into all of the mentoring, all of the training are these—these safeguards for these young people, that we have contact information for their parents. We can reach out to them if they need to. They do check-ins every day after every shift. We underestimate the capacity of what young people can do to help other young people. As adults, it’s easy for us to say they can’t do that. But they can," Emily Moser, YouthLine’s director told PBS.
The program won't solve the mental health crisis amongst teens, but it can certainly help fill in the gaps.
Watch the full segment below:
Keep ReadingShow less
Family
Mom shares her brutal experience with 'hyperemesis gravidarum' and other moms can relate
Hyperemesis gravidarum is a severe case of morning sickness that can last up until the baby is born and might require medical attention.
02.01.23
@emilyboazman/TikTok
Hyperemesis gravidarum isn't as common as regular morning sickness, but it's much more severe.
Morning sickness is one of the most commonly known and most joked about pregnancy symptoms, second only to peculiar food cravings. While unpleasant, it can often be alleviated to a certain extent with plain foods, plenty of fluids, maybe some ginger—your typical nausea remedies. And usually, it clears up on its own by the 20-week mark. Usually.
But sometimes, it doesn’t. Sometimes moms experience stomach sickness and vomiting, right up until the baby is born, on a much more severe level.
Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), isn’t as widely talked about as regular morning sickness, but those who go through it are likely to never forget it. Persistent, extreme nausea and vomiting lead to other symptoms like dehydration, fainting, low blood pressure and even jaundice, to name a few.
Emily Boazman, a mom who had HG while pregnant with her third child, showed just how big of an impact it can make in a viral TikTok.
The video, which now has 6.6 million views, shows multiple instances of Boazman hunched over and exhausted, completely unable to take care of her other kids or keep her house from falling into disarray. It’s a brutal, miserable sight.
@emilyboazman TIKTOK THINKS THIS IS TOO GRAPHIC.🙄😤 they keep flagging my videos and warning my account.😤 #hyperemesisgravidarum#severemorningsickness#hyperemesisgravidarumpregnancy♬ original sound - Emily Boazman
“TIKTOK THINKS THIS TOO GRAPHIC,” the mom of three wrote in her caption. In an earlier video she shared that having to focus on surviving each day left her feeling guilty for not being able to take care of her two daughters. While her husband cooked and cleaned up every night, the girls would play during the day and “destroy the house.”
Boazman’s video soon received a flood of comments from other moms who had gone through similar experiences. Many felt that it robbed them of the joys of pregnancy and made them not want to get pregnant again.
“Hyperemesis gravidarum absolutely destroyed me. I couldn’t function. It took such a beautiful thing and turned it into my nightmare 😔,” wrote one person.
“Hyperemesis is why I will no longer have any more kids…I almost died with my last…it’s such a real dangerous thing and people don’t understand that,” wrote another.
While there is no cure for hyperemesis gravidarum, there are some treatments that may help. According to WebMD, doctors might recommend lifestyle changes (such as smaller, more frequent meals and drinking through a straw), or supplements like ginger, vitamin B6, thiamine or an electrolyte drink. In some cases, certain medications or even hospitalization is required.
As for Boazman, having gone through HG does not stop her from wanting to become pregnant again. In a subsequent TikTok she shared her goal to have five kids. Fingers crossed for smooth sailing on the next two rounds.
Keep ReadingShow less
Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox
By signing up you agree to Upworthy's privacy policy.
Trending Stories