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The internet's cracking up over this very telling pic of Doug Jones' son.

On Wednesday, January 3, 2017, Doug Jones was sworn into the U.S. Senate.

Photo by Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images.

Jones, whose special election victory over republican Roy Moore flipped Alabama politics on its head, was joined by his wife Louise, and sons Carson and Christopher for the occasion.

Carson, Doug, Louise, and Christopher Jones. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

The ceremony was relatively uneventful, all things considered. But one photo from the day began to ... catch people's attention.

The image captured Jones' son Carson appearing to give some some serious side-eye to Vice President Mike Pence during his father's swearing-in ceremony.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Carson is openly gay. Pence openly hates gay people.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

And that look truly is worth a thousand words.

No one confirmed Carson was staring maliciously at Pence, of course. In all likelihood, Carson's expression was nothing but fateful timing caught in the flash of the camera.

But of course, that didn't stop the internet from noticing.

In the blink of a (side-)eye, the photo blew up social media in spectacular fashion.

"Photo of the decade: Doug Jones being sworn in, while his openly gay son QUIETLY DISINTEGRATES THE SOUL OF MIKE PENCE," author Derek Milman quipped.

Queer men, especially, had a field day.

YouTuber and LGBTQ activist Tyler Oakley relished in Carson's glare: "Don't fuck with us, [Pence]."

Carson glaring at the V.P. "is all of us," one user wrote.

"Doesn't get much better than this," wrote another.

"I thought Carson Jones ... was already hot," someone chimed in. "But this side-eye has me sweating."

"Someone buy the rights to adapt this staring contest between Carson Jones and Mike Pence," The Wrap's Matt Donnelly said.

Other users noted that — with or without the side-eye — it was great seeing the vice president swearing in a political opponent while the new senator's gay son stood proudly nearby.

The pic felt like "my new cozy blankie," said Alex Blagg.  

Carson's viral photo is just the latest incident of internet mockery aimed at Pence from the LGBTQ community.

Just last week, a neighbor of Pence's Colorado vacation home hung a "Make America Gay Again" rainbow flag on a stone pillar near the vice president's driveway. The story quickly blew up on both LGBTQ and mainstream media.

Last January, a "queer dance party" erupted outside the then-vice president elect's Washington, D.C. home. The event was organized by Werk For Peace, a "grassroots movement using dance to promote peace," BuzzFeed reported.

"This is our dance party!" supporters yelled in the street. "Daddy Pence, come dance!"

The dance parties, rainbow flags, and side-eyes are all in good fun, of course — but LGBTQ people also understand that Pence's record on queer rights is no joke.

In the past, the vice president has supported conversion therapy — which promotes the lie that LGBTQ sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression — particularly in children — can and should be changed through "therapy." Many consider it a form of child abuse that can ruin and even end lives.

Pence is fervently anti-marriage equality and opposed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." He allowed an HIV outbreak to flourish in rural Indiana as governor and once voted against measures to protect LGBTQ people from employment discrimination. Pence also claimed government "has no business" guaranteeing that transgender students have the right to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender.

Now, as the second-most politically powerful person in the U.S., his abhorrent record on equal rights has alarmed LGBTQ advocates across the country. For queer people, his vision for the future of America is certainly worth resisting.

But sometimes, resisting can entail smaller actions, like dance parties, clever "MAGA" slogans, and — yes — some serious side-eye.

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TD Bank
TD Bank
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Girls at Work, Inc. shows girls they can do anything they put their mind to

Photo courtesy of Girls at Work

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Girls are bombarded with messages from a very young age telling them that they can’t, that is too big, this is too heavy, those are too much.

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Indiana principal had the perfect solution for child skipping class because of bad haircut

via Lewis Speaks Sr. / Facebook

This article originally appeared on 02.25.21


Middle school has to be the most insecure time in a person's life. Kids in their early teens are incredibly cruel and will make fun of each other for not having the right shoes, listening to the right music, or having the right hairstyle.

As if the social pressure wasn't enough, a child that age has to deal with the intensely awkward psychological and biological changes of puberty at the same time.

Jason Smith, the principal of Stonybrook Intermediate and Middle School in Warren Township, Indiana, had a young student sent to his office recently, and his ability to understand his feelings made all the difference.

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American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
Science

Meet the researcher shining a light on the “white lens” of medical AI in skin cancer prevention

How we can create equity for all communities?

All images provided by Adewole Adamson

It begins with more inclusive conversations at a patient level

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Adewole Adamson, MD, of the University of Texas, Austin, aims to create more equity in health care by gathering data from more diverse populations by using artificial intelligence (AI), a type of machine learning. Dr. Adamson’s work is funded by the American Cancer Society (ACS), an organization committed to advancing health equity through research priorities, programs and services for groups who have been marginalized.

Melanoma became a particular focus for Dr. Adamson after meeting Avery Smith, who lost his wife—a Black woman—to the deadly disease.

melanoma, melanoma for dark skin Avery Smith (left) and Adamson (sidenote)

This personal encounter, coupled with multiple conversations with Black dermatology patients, drove Dr. Adamson to a concerning discovery: as advanced as AI is at detecting possible skin cancers, it is heavily biased.

To understand this bias, it helps to first know how AI works in the early detection of skin cancer, which Dr. Adamson explains in his paper for the New England Journal of Medicine (paywall). The process uses computers that rely on sets of accumulated data to learn what healthy or unhealthy skin looks like and then create an algorithm to predict diagnoses based on those data sets.

This process, known as supervised learning, could lead to huge benefits in preventive care.

After all, early detection is key to better outcomes. The problem is that the data sets don’t include enough information about darker skin tones. As Adamson put it, “everything is viewed through a ‘white lens.’”

“If you don’t teach the algorithm with a diverse set of images, then that algorithm won’t work out in the public that is diverse,” writes Adamson in a study he co-wrote with Smith (according to a story in The Atlantic). “So there’s risk, then, for people with skin of color to fall through the cracks.”

Tragically, Smith’s wife was diagnosed with melanoma too late and paid the ultimate price for it. And she was not an anomaly—though the disease is more common for White patients, Black cancer patients are far more likely to be diagnosed at later stages, causing a notable disparity in survival rates between non-Hispanics whites (90%) and non-Hispanic blacks (66%).

As a computer scientist, Smith suspected this racial bias and reached out to Adamson, hoping a Black dermatologist would have more diverse data sets. Though Adamson didn’t have what Smith was initially looking for, this realization ignited a personal mission to investigate and reduce disparities.

Now, Adamson uses the knowledge gained through his years of research to help advance the fight for health equity. To him, that means not only gaining a wider array of data sets, but also having more conversations with patients to understand how socioeconomic status impacts the level and efficiency of care.

“At the end of the day, what matters most is how we help patients at the patient level,” Adamson told Upworthy. “And how can you do that without knowing exactly what barriers they face?”

american cancer society, skin cacner treatment"What matters most is how we help patients at the patient level."https://www.kellydavidsonstudio.com/

The American Cancer Society believes everyone deserves a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer—regardless of how much money they make, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, gender identity, their disability status, or where they live. Inclusive tools and resources on the Health Equity section of their website can be found here. For more information about skin cancer, visit cancer.org/skincancer.

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You don't see that every day! A lost seal turns himself in to a Massachusetts police station.

'Shoebert' has definitely made an impression on the town.

Photo by karlheinz_eckhardt Eckhardt on Unsplash

Lost seal turns himself into police station.

Animals can be just as cheeky as toddlers and their cheeky actions usually result in unexpected sass and raised eyebrows. A town in Massachusetts became the temporary home to a grey seal that the citizens nicknamed "Shoebert" after he was found in Shoe Pond in Beverly. If you're wondering how a seal wound up in the pond, you're not the only one. No one knows exactly how the savvy seal made his way to the pond but he hung out there for a few days somehow evading efforts to catch him so he could be relocated.

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'90s kids share movies that will 'take you back to a better time'

It was a magical time when animals played sports and yet somehow things were just simpler.

YouTube/Upworthy photo illustration

Honey, I shrunk the kid named Matilda while jamming in space!

Everyone knows that '90s movies just hit different. From sports movies to rom-coms to even horror, there was an undeniable innocence, without being overly simplistic or juvenile. They didn’t have nearly the amount of money going into production as they do today, but somehow managed to transport us to magical places.

Movies of the '90s are so iconic that there have been several attempts to reboot beloved titles. Which, let’s face it, tends to be a fool's errand at a cash grab. These movies are so timeless that simply viewing the original is more than fine.

Not sure which movie to start with? You’re in luck—a Reddit user by the name of YouBrokeMyTV asked ’90s kids to share movies that took them “back to a better time,” and because the internet can be a wonderful place, tons of people responded with some beloved classics.

These answers certainly don’t make a definitive list (there are just so, so many gems) but they're a fun glimpse into what made '90s cinema so special. A nostalgic romp through memory lane, if you will.

Enjoy these 14 titles that just might leave you jonesing for a rewatch:

1. "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"

via GIPHY

A perfect example of how '90s movies were silly, but smart at the same time. And oh so wholesome.

2. "The Sandlot"

via GIPHY

It taught us nothing about baseball, but everything about friendship, rooting for the underdog and (most important) how to make s’mores.

3. "Drop Dead Fred"

via GIPHY

Critics might have run this cult classic through the mud during its inception, but audiences fell in love with the bizarre charm of this story about a mischievous little girl and her anarchist imaginary friend. So take that, snotfaces!

4. "The Goonies"

via GIPHY

Everyone just wanted to set off an epic quest with their friends for pirate treasure after seeing this movie.

5. Tim Burton's "Batman"

via GIPHY

Before the superhero genre was the behemoth it is today, a quirky director and the dude who was best known for playing the creepy demon in "Beetlejuice" breathed new life into comic-book movies. Marvel might be the leader on creating stories with adult themes that are digestible for kids nowadays, but this DC film was the first of its kind. Plus, that soundtrack … forget about it.

6. "Hook"

via GIPHY

Pretty much any '90s film starring Robin Williams was an absolute gem, but this one in particular is timeless. His gift of balancing childlike humor with emotional gravitas lent itself so well to playing the now grown and cynical Peter Pan, who must learn to reclaim his joy (relatable, millennials?). It was a bang-a-rang-er, no question.

7. "Space Jam"

via GIPHY

It had Looney Tunes, it had aliens and it had Michael Jordan. That’s a winning combination.

8. "Matilda"

via GIPHY

I don’t think I’m out of line when I say that this movie helped a lot of kids make their way through difficult childhoods.

9. "The Parent Trap"

via GIPHY

Even '90s reboots were awesome. And how fun it is to see that Lisa Ann Walker—the actress who played Chessy the housekeeper—is not only yet again gracing the screens in NBC’s “Abbott Elementary,” but is also being revered as a style icon on TikTok for her ultra casual looks in the film. We all knew she was onto something with long button downs and shorts.

10. "The Land Before Time"

via GIPHY


No cartoon, not even “The Lion King,” was a better depiction of childhood grief. And yet, despite encapsulating tragedy, director Don Bluth still left viewers hopeful. The subsequent 14 (yes 14) sequels definitely pale in comparison to the original, but "The Land Before Time" continues to stand the test of time nonetheless.

11. "Richie Rich"

via GIPHY

The scene where they play tag on four-wheelers is simply iconic.

12. "Dunston Checks In"

via GIPHY

Man, the '90s were the golden age of animal-centered films. And not just monkeys either—we got sports playing golden retrievers and not one, but two movies starring talking pigs. What a time to be alive. These films were made before CGI had reached the levels it’s at today, and the authentic interactions between humans and creatures reached right through the screen.

13. "George of the Jungle"
george of the jungle, brendan faser

Watch out for the tree!!!

Giphy

Have I seen this movie at least 20 times? Probably. It doesn’t get any better than this in terms of silly action films with bird puppets. It’s crazy to think that this role would eventually lead Brendan Fraser to "The Mummy" franchise, turning him into a household name. Though his career has had some tragic ups and downs, we are all grateful for the glorious comeback he’s been having.

14. Anything involving Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
mary kate and ashley

Yes, they were professional detectives.

Giphy

Whether vacationing in London, Paris or Rome, whether playing magical witches or making a huge billboard so their father could find love … Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen offered zany, whimsical entertainment while wearing fun outfits. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

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