Usually when someone walks into McDonald’s they expect to walk out with something to eat, not a baby.
But for new mom Alandria Worthy, that’s exactly what happened. Worthy was on her way to the hospital but needed to use the bathroom so she had her fiancé make a pit stop at McDonald’s.
After a few minutes of Worthy being in the bathroom, workers heard the mom to be screaming which prompted Tunisia Woodward, the manager on duty to check things out. The her surprise, she was about to turn into a labor and delivery nurse.
Woodward explained in an interview with 11 Alive that she saw feet under the stall door before saying, “I opened, and she was on this toilet lying back, screaming. Then I knew to tell my crew, ‘We’re having a baby today.’” Woodward was right, the baby was coming and the three moms are duty were there to help.
If you’re wondering where Worthy’s fiancé was, he was waiting in the parking lot growing concerned. When he went to see what was taking so long, he walked in on a surprise and had to get right to work in order to catch his baby. Deandre Phillips told 11 Alive that Worthy was frantic so he was focused on getting her to breathe and to lay down on the floor so she could deliver the baby, which only took a few minutes and three pushes.
Talk about a fast delivery, though I’m sure they likely would’ve preferred a fast pizza delivery and not a baby so eager to see the world that making it to the hospital was out of the question. But what do I know, watch the new parents tell you all about their new “Little Nugget” themselves below.
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.
Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.
A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.
Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.
Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.
Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.
Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.
Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.
Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis
Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community
Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe
Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.
They also share the importance of intentional breeding. Pevny quotes Camp Bow Wow’s animal health and behavior expert Erin Askeland, who says, “Breeding history and the intention of the breed can shape their loyalty characteristics. Breeds bred for companionship or working closely with humans tend to exhibit higher levels of loyalty, for example, dogs who are bred to be trained as service dogs.”
But far from everyone agrees with the list, and some don’t think such a subjective list can be ranked in the first place. On Reddit, someone asks, “What is objectively the most loyal dog breed?” One person simply responds, “Dogs.” And another claims, “My mongrel,” of course referring to their mixed breed pup. A few others mention their breed of choice, but there is no real consensus.
When the question is opened up in broader terms on the subreddit r/puppy101 to ask, “What are the three best dog breeds in your opinion and why?” many more commenters jump in. Some argue, obviously, that it’s subjective based on what the pet guardian is looking for. Someone jokingly writes, “The ‘my dog’ breed unequivocally takes top spot. Universally adored.” Another states, “Dachshund, dachshund and dachshund. Why? I am a masochist, apparently.” But again, there is no consensus.
If one changes the term from loyal to “Velcro dog,” it’s true that some breeds are a bit clingier than others. Though again, it’s based on the individual canine. A dog expert from Pets Radar explains that “Velcro” dogs were most likely bred to work alongside humans. Many pooches such as the Golden Retriever, the Lab, the Vizsla, the German Shepherd and the Chihuahua also make their list, though they add the Maltese, the French Bulldog and the Italian Greyhound.
On their YouTube page, The Pet Collective lists their top 13 “most loyal dog breeds” and at number one? Lo-and-behold, it’s the Beagle! They claim, “Those who want a loyal and curious sidekick should get a Beagle.” They then show a Beagle begging for treats and adorably honking a car while throwing their head back like Snoopy.
It’s pretty safe to say there is no objective “best” breed of dog. We love what we love and there are no wrong answers. As for loyalty, seems like that Redditor got it right. The true answer is simply “dogs.”
This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.
Now more than ever, the transgender community needs support. In Texas, the legislative environment for transgender people has only grown more hostile. In 2025, Texas enacted Senate Bill 8, known as the bathroom bill, banning transgender people from using facilities that match their gender identity in public buildings, schools and universities. A separate bill was also filed that would charge transgender people with gender identity fraud, making it a felony to identify as trans on official documents. Combined with earlier laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors and new definitions of sex in state law, the cumulative effect has been devastating for the transgender community in the state.
A dad shared his first encounter with a transgender woman in his small Texas town, and the simple lesson he taught his son inspired hope in others. James Eric Barlow shared a video on TikTok describing how he and his son just saw a trans woman in real life for the first time.
“We all know that there’s people that are disgusted whenever they see a trans person,” Barlow began. “And we all know of the people who don’t care if they see a trans person. “But apparently, we’re a third type of person (or at least I am, I can’t speak for him),” he says, indicating his son in the backseat who chimes in with “I am, too!”
Barlow went on to explain how they had just had their first experience with a trans woman. It wasn’t anything major. She just walked through a door behind them and Barlow held the door for her, just as he would any other person. He didn’t even notice she was trans at first, but once he did, his immediate reaction was one we can all learn from.
“When I tell you how happy it made me,” he said, beginning to tear up, “to be able to see somebody be out and open to the world here in small town Texas. You just gotta know how much bravery that takes. Right, Mikey?”
“Hell yeah!” the son agreed.
Barlow wanted to say something to her, but he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, either.
“But if you’re a trans woman and you came here to the Landmark truck stop in Clyde, Texas, just know we’re proud of you,” he concluded.
The internet was moved by his reaction
Barlow’s video was shared on Reddit, where it’s received a slew of views and comments that prove parents set the tone for their kids’ sense of acceptance.
“Indoctrinate your children with kindness, compassion, consideration and respect for others.” – Toddthmpsn
“When I was younger I would get my hair cut by a woman named Liz. She spoke Spanish so it was hard for to understand her English sometimes. My dad spoke Spanish so would translate for her and me. I noticed Liz looked a little different then other women. But I never said anything, I never felt any differently about her. She never scared me, or made me question anything. She was just Liz. As I got older I realized she was a trans woman. And it literally changed nothing. She was still just Liz. Liz was always kind and treated everyone warmly. I havnt seen her in years but I hope she is doing well. I really liked her.” – PerplexedPoppy
“This literally happened to me as a child in the 80s. A cashier at a store we visited suddenly started dressing in a feminine style and it appeared that they were transitioning. My mom explained to me in an age appropriate way that sometimes people decide they want to be a man instead of a woman, or a woman instead of a man. She told me that people would probably be mean to the cashier and it was important for us to remember that and always be polite to her, as we would anyway. This was way before trans issues were as mainstream as they are now, but my mom had seen an episode of Phil Donahue where trans woman discussed their stories, and she recognized it as a medical issue. Core memory for me.” – ZipCity262
“As a trans woman, im deathly afraid whenever I have to go to rural areas. I can instantly feel physical tension when I walk into a gas station or a restaurant in these areas. Thank you for being supportive. Trans people need you now more than ever.” – rainbow_lenses
This is what allyship actually looks like
As this dad and son showed, it’s a simple matter to demonstrate non-judgmental acceptance in front of our kids so they hopefully will grow up without being bound by chains of bigotry they’ll later have to learn to unload.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
Uytae Lee is the founder of About Here, an adjunct journalism professor at UBC, and a BC Housing Board commissioner. As an urban planner and videographer, he is passionate about sharing stories about our cities.
In the video below, he explains why regulations in North America have made these quaint walk-up apartments, known by architects as point access blocks, nearly impossible to build.
It all comes down to staircases
“Quaint walk-up apartments … are a beloved feature in cities around the world,” Lee says in his video entitled “Why North Americans Can’t Have Nice Apartments.” “They’re inviting and full of character. But, here in North America, they are not allowed to be built today. Instead, our apartments are big and imposing, often stretching across the entire block and the reason why it really comes down to one reason: staircases.”
The problem is that one stairway in a point access block allows access to all apartments. This became a problem in the late 1800s when fires were commonplace in urban areas worldwide and people were more likely to die in a fire with only one exit route. So, in the U.S. and Canada, they created new regulations that made it so all buildings over two to three stories had to have two staircases to allow them to exit during a fire.
“Staircases take up a lot of space and fitting two of them in a small building means that there is much less usable floor space on every floor,” Lee says in the video. “As a result, developers here construct much larger buildings so that the staircases and hallways take up a much smaller proportion of the overall building. It’s why apartments in North America, in general, are much bigger and wider than their European counterparts.”
So why didn’t Europe make the same call?
But there are fires in Europe, too. Why did they stop short of requiring multiple staircases in apartment buildings on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Instead of changing the floorplans on new buildings, Europeans opted to require fireproof materials in new building construction. A big reason why the U.S. and Canada opted for larger buildings over fireproofing was because they had better access to materials and the new direction aligned with the move towards suburban sprawl.
The two-staircase regulations in the U.S also made it harder to build units greater than one bedroom because the buildings needed long hallways which reduced the number of layout options.
Now cities are rethinking the rules
The current housing crisis has many rethinking the regulations that require apartment buildings to have two stairways in North America. Many urban planners believe that modern-day demands mean we should return to building more point access block buildings, but this time with modern fire-retardant materials.
Cities like Seattle, Washington, were early adopters, but the movement has since gone national. As of 2025, seven states have passed bipartisan legislation allowing single-stairway apartment buildings, including Colorado, Montana, New Hampshire, and Texas, with 19 states and Washington D.C. having introduced bills since 2022.
Until recently, Seattle, New York, and Honolulu were the only U.S. cities that allowed apartment buildings up to 6 stories to have just 1 stairway.
More cities and towns should follow suit—it'd provide much-needed housing without risking anyone's safety. https://t.co/LWQhATtmCl
“Now, if all this makes you a bit nervous, I get it. After all, these codes are about our safety. But I do want to mention that these codes do change over time as our technology and our understanding of safety evolves,” Lee finishes the video. “It’s important that we discuss and update these rules as our world changes.”
Pew Charitable Trust reports that small, single-stairway apartments actually have a strong safety record, sharing that those kinds of buildings as tall as six stories are “at least as safe as other types of housing.” As we gather data and learn more, we should be able to adjust our regulations. So maybe, hopefully, there are more quaint apartment buildings in our future.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
“I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it’s often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told Insider. “After all, I don’t cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“
The one thing that makes it hard
Living an all-inclusive lifestyle seems like paradise, but it has some drawbacks. Having access to all-you-can-eat food all day long can really have an effect on one’s waistline. Kesteloo admits that living on a cruise ship takes a lot of self-discipline because the temptation is always right under her nose.
“One of the hardest things about living on a cruise ship is that I know right now, if I just leave my cabin, I can go and have cookies, pizza, a shake, I could have anything I wanted, and I want it, I absolutely want it,” she said in a TikTok video that received over 400,000 views.
“I am laying here. It is 2 pm. I had a salad for lunch, I had some fresh fruit, but that didn’t fill me up,” she continued. “Right now, all I can think about is eating a burger with some French fries and some mayonnaise.”
She added, “The hardest part is telling myself not to eat.”
She is not alone in this struggle
Kesteloo’s trouble is a common problem among people on cruise ships. A study by Admiral Travel Insurance found that over 60% of people who go on a week-long cruise anticipate gaining weight. Seventeen percent of people say they gain 2 to 3 pounds on a cruise, while 14% say they gain 4 to 5 pounds.
Other estimates show that the average cruiser will put on 5 to 10 pounds on a weeklong cruise. Imagine living on a cruise ship for half the year, like Kesteloo. She could quickly put on 100 pounds a year if she’s not careful.
The internet completely related
“I’d be huge if I lived there. I would feel like I’m on a constant vacation, and who diets on vacation?” Theresa Gramelsapcker-Wilson wrote in the comments.
“This is my main reason why I couldn’t do this HHAHAHAHAHAA,” Cara Mia added.
“I never thought about those who actually live on a cruise ship. I would be 500 pounds,” Lucky Penny2468 said.
A woman eats and drinks while enjoying the view on a cruise ship. Photo credit: Canva
Kesteloo’s battle with temptation shows that in every life, a little rain must fall. Nobody ever truly has it perfect. Kesteloo seems to be living the perfect life on board a cruise ship, but she still has to fight temptation every moment of the day or make good use of the ship’s gym facilities. But, obviously, having access to too much food is far better than having too little.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
Like it or not, kids will tell you what they really think. Their naive honesty is refreshing, hilarious, and at times, a little bit rough on the self-esteem of the adults around them. Regardless, they don’t shy away from telling it like it is, or at least how they see it.
That’s why 7th grade teacher Shane Frakes loves to frequently poll his students for their opinions on, well, almost anything.
They look younger, seem younger, and even feel younger than a lot of their predecessors. It’s a well-documented phenomenon, in fact. Part of it has to do with cultural and societal factors that have delayed major life milestones. Millennials came of age in a time where earning high-pay in their careers, getting married, and buying a house were more difficult than they ever were for their parents. Many people in the “Peter Pan generation” are just beginning to really get on their feet in their 30s.
Millennials also hold a deep fear of aging, more so than Gen X does. That may drive them to cling to styles, cultural references, and other preferences from their younger days. But it’s not weird, no. This blurring of the lines that define what a generation is has actually been pretty seamless.
“A millennial parent can post a TikTok dance with their kids, binge Stranger Things, or geek out over a Marvel premiere without feeling like they’re stepping out of their lane,” says Stacy Jones, a pop culture expert and founder and CEO of Hollywood Branded. “Earlier generations were pigeonholed into what their generation was supposed to be. Millennials are defining that instead. That cross-generational cultural participation blurs what ‘age’ looks and feels like. And it doesn’t stop there. Today’s 50-year-old doesn’t look or act like the 50-year-old of yesterday. Wellness, skincare, acceptance of Botox, fitness, and social media have redefined what ‘middle age’ even means, pushing the whole curve of youthfulness upward.”
Jones definitely has a point about how people look; there must be something in the water. This is what a 40 year old looked like just a few decades ago. No offense to the great Kelsey Grammer, but by today’s standard, the style and hair would have most people peg him to be in his (late) 50s.
All the more reason that Mr. Frakes’ students’ list is absolutely hysterical. If there’s anyone bound to be playfully offended by being prematurely aged, it’s us millennials. But the fact of the matter is, whether we like it or not, we are getting older and settling down. Many of us truly do enjoy shopping for home decor and playing a round of low-impact pickleball.
What the kids don’t understand is that we’re still rocking the hottest music of 2001 and wearing our baseball cap backwards while we do it.
This article originally appeared one year ago. It has been updated.
Only 1% of this Bolivian tribe develops dementia. They walk 17,000 steps a day, eat almost no processed food, and have never heard of a wellness trend.
When CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta traveled deep into the Bolivian Amazon to spend time with the Tsimané people, he wasn’t expecting to find a population that had essentially solved one of modern medicine’s hardest problems. But that’s close to what he found.
The Tsimané, an indigenous group of roughly 17,000 people living in the lowland jungle near the Bolivian Amazon, have a dementia rate of approximately 1 percent. Among Americans 65 and older, that figure is around 11 percent. Researchers who have studied the Tsimané extensively through peer-reviewed work published in the journals PNAS and Alzheimer’s & Dementia say the gap isn’t genetic luck. It’s lifestyle.
Members of a Bolivian tribe take a break at sunset. Photo credit: Canva
The Tsimané don’t have a wellness plan. They have a life. An average member of the community walks around 17,000 steps per day, not on a treadmill but out of necessity in order to do the fishing, farming, hunting, and foraging in the forest around them. Their diet is roughly 70 percent complex carbohydrates, primarily plantains, cassava, rice, and corn, with around 15 percent fats and 15 percent protein. Processed food, added sugars, and added salts are largely absent. Their diet is dense in fiber and micronutrients like selenium, potassium, and magnesium.
They also practice intermittent fasting, but not as a trend but because food availability has natural limits. They sleep on a consistent schedule. They spend most of their waking hours physically active.
“This ideal set of conditions for disease prevention prompts us to consider whether our industrialized lifestyles increase our risk of disease,” Dr. Andrei Irimia, an associate professor at the University of Southern California who led one of the major studies, told researchers.
The contrast with American life is stark. A study published in the BMJ found that 60 percent of Americans’ daily caloric intake comes from ultra-processed foods. For children, registered dietitian Ilana Muhlstein told Fox News Digital, that figure climbs above 70 percent. The Tsimané’s cardiovascular health, separately documented in The Lancet, is similarly remarkable with some of the lowest rates of coronary artery disease ever recorded in any population.
None of this means moving to the Bolivian jungle is the answer. The Tsimané face real hardships that come with their lifestyle, including limited access to medical care for acute conditions. But researchers are increasingly clear that the chronic disease burden plaguing industrialized nations isn’t inevitable. It’s a product of specific choices about food, movement, and how we structure daily life that we’ve collectively made and could, at least in part, collectively unmake.
The Tsimané didn’t design a diet. They just never stopped moving, and never started eating processed food. The results, it turns out, are remarkable.
In March 2020, an 18-year-old waitress in Utah named Kaitlyn Brande pointed her phone at two tables in her section and said exactly what she was thinking. The video was 20 seconds long. It hit 9.3 million views, got her reprimanded by her employer, and launched a generational argument that apparently has no expiration date.
The setup is simple. Brande pans to the first table, still scattered with plates, napkins, and leftover food. “This is a table of five boomers that I took some plates out of the way of already,” she says. Then she swings the camera to the table next to it, where every plate has been stacked neatly at one end, cups grouped together, trash consolidated. “This is a table of six Gen Zs. They did that. Just saying.”
Her caption did the rest: “‘They get paid to do that’ VS ‘We know restaurant life is hard, here, let us help you out.’”
Brande eventually deleted the video at 9.3 million views because, as she explained in the comments, corporate got mad. She quit shortly after and got a new job. The video lived on anyway, resurfacing every year or two and reliably restarting the same argument.
The comments split in every direction. Some people praised the Gen Z table for the gesture. Others pushed back on the framing entirely, pointing out that stacking plates isn’t automatically helpful and can actually make a server’s job harder depending on how it’s done. “Half of your server squad would prefer the plates not stacked,” wrote one commenter who works in the industry. “You all need a handbook to get it together.”
A more measured version of that argument: “I was taught by the main dishwashers to always be cautious about how you stack, and leave it if you don’t know how. There is a difference between cleaning up your area and just leaving it.”
Others bypassed the plate-stacking question entirely and went straight to the generational read. “It doesn’t matter even if they do get paid for it,” one commenter wrote. “It helps the staff out, especially if it’s hella busy and they don’t get as much money as you think.” A self-identified Gen Xer chimed in: “I have been cleaning up tables for waitstaff for decades. Not only is it helpful, it’s also the right thing to do.”
Research on how the two generations actually experience restaurants backs up the idea that something real is going on beyond just table manners. A qualitative study on Gen Z dining behavior found that younger customers are more attuned to the behind-the-scenes reality of service work, more likely to engage with restaurants through a lens of efficiency and mutual respect, and more likely to treat servers as people doing a hard job rather than as part of the restaurant’s background.
What keeps this video resurfacing every year or two isn’t really about plates. It’s about what those plates represent: who sees service workers as people doing a hard job under pressure, and who doesn’t register them much at all. That’s a question without a clean generational answer, which is probably exactly why nobody can stop arguing about it.
You can follow Kate (@katebrande) on TikTok for entertainment-related content.
One Richmond, Virginia, man shared with WTVR News why he shows up at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU every Tuesday and Thursday to hold babies. Dave Whitlow, 73, has been a baby cuddler for eight years, calling it “the best gig I’ve ever had.”
Baby cuddling involves more than just holding babies
Cuddling babies in the NICU is delicate work. Whitlow puts on a gown and gloves before picking up the babies, who can sometimes weigh as little as two pounds. He’s been trained to watch the monitors while cuddling them. If a baby’s oxygen saturation dips, they may need to be repositioned.
Whitlow, a retired local government manager, also checks with the nurses to see what a baby’s specific needs are.
“I ask the nurse, ‘Tell me. Tell me what this child is receiving. What kind of treatment? Is there anything special I need to know about it?’” the father of two and grandfather of three told WTVR.
But perhaps the best part of Whitlow’s time with the dozen or so babies he cuddles each week is what he whispers in their ear: “Grow strong, grow smart, grow kind.”
That’s really what he wants from people in general, he said.
Charity never failith ❤️ ❤️Lyn Harris, an 80yo Vietnam Veteran, spends his free time comforting babies. He’s part of the NICU Cuddler Program at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin. He’s says he’s happy to help the staff and parents. Lyn says it’s very rewarding and he’ll help the cuddles coming for as long as he can.❤️ Credit to @stdavidshealthcare/IG #children#hospital#childrenshospital#volunteer#love
If baby cuddling sounds like a dream volunteer opportunity, check with your local hospital to see if it has a program. Some hospitals have volunteer coordinators you can speak with or sections on their websites for volunteers.
Though volunteer requirements differ from place to place, you can likely expect:
age requirement (often a minimum age of 18 to 21)
commitment of a certain number of hours per week over a minimum time period (such as a year)
personal interview
background check
health screening, including immunization verification and updated flu vaccines
orientation and training
Baby cuddlers serve an important purpose in infant care
Cuddling a baby may be beneficial for the cuddler, but it genuinely helps the infants as well. One study found that the length of stay in the NICU for newborns with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome was six days shorter for babies who were part of a volunteer baby cuddling program. And according to Intermountain Healthcare, research shows that human touch helps a baby’s brain and body develop. Short-term and long-term benefits of positive touch for babies include increased stability in vital stats, faster weight gain, shorter hospital stays, better pain tolerance, improved sleep, stronger immune systems, and more.
Baby cuddling truly is a win-win volunteer experience, especially when you’re someone who whispers words of strength, wisdom, and kindness in babies’ ears.
