Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of Iran's slain former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been named the country's new supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts, a body made up of Shia clerics. The younger Khamenei has never held an official position in the Iranian government, although he allegedly has close ties to the country's security services and has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for representing his father in an unofficial capacity. The choice is widely seen as a signal that the Islamic Republic intends to continue the hardline policies of the elder Khamenei. Heidari Alekasir, a member of the Assembly, told Iranian media that the selection had been made in accordance with the advice of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iran's next supreme leader be "hated by the enemy."

NO. The average American works 241 days yearly. Clark (2018) proposes that days employed in medieval England cannot have been much lower than the 250-day range for most centuries. Allen and Weisdorf (2010), meanwhile, find that male farmers would need to work at least 150 days per year during the late Middle Ages to afford subsistence for their families, given wages, and 300 days before the Black Death. A peasant's workday lasted from sunup to sundown with breaks.AllSides highlights content from Gigafact, a network of newsrooms that respond to online claims. View the full fact brief on EconoFact.

Having a lemonade stand is like a rite of passage for children in the United States. So much so that they’ve become a trope in many movies set in America. Lemonade stands evoke nostalgia and fond childhood memories for many Americans. According to Smithsonian Magazine, 40% of Baby Boomers reported having a lemonade stand during their childhood. So when a non-American on Reddit genuinely asked if lemonade stands are “a real thing” here in the States, they got a flood of emphatic responses. Adding that in their country “parents would be embarrassed if their kids did that,” they asked Americans to describe “the vibe” of lemonade stands. “Is it seen as a cute hobby or an actual way to learn about money?” they wrote. And while many Americans confirmed that lemonade stands are indeed breeding grounds for future entrepreneurs, they also explained why they symbolize so much more in American culture. American lemonade stands, explained Some American Redditors took a more straightforward approach, describing what lemonade stands are all about and how they support kids with a business mindset: “It’s not something kids do to actually support their families. It’s a for fun thing typically done when school is out for pocket money or for fun to learn about running a business.” “I’ll also add that many people like to support kids doing this. I rarely want a cup of lemonade, but I pretty regularly stop to buy some when I see a stand in the summer. People like supporting kids who are putting in effort and people find it cute. It’s similar to kids mowing lawns, shoveling snow, selling bottled water, watering gardens, etc. for cash.” “I don’t want the lemonade, but I want to reward the kids for initiative. I’ll usually pay for a few, drink one and then tell others to stop by.” “I ALWAYS stop when I see one. Anytime I do I always overpay. $1 lemonade? Here is $5+ (depends on what I have). I’ve done it… 4 times so far? Not often but enough to make me happy to do it.” “Yes and I personally believe it’s illegal to not buy lemonade from a lemonade stand, especially if the kids are young and having fun.” “Yeah it’s viewed here they the kid is a ‘go getter’. They’re motivated and trying to get ahead. It’s not common on super busy roads, but on smaller neighborhood roads.” Americans share their nostalgic lemonade stand memories Others offered up their personal stories of how setting up a lemonade stand back in the day impacted them: “I remember receiving a Sacagawea dollar as a kid selling lemonade!! Best customer ever!” “When I was of the age (early 1970s) we had a giant lemon tree in our yard, that we used to make the lemonade. Ours was definitely not ‘warm and horrible.’ Ice came from the trays for free, but my mother lent us the money to buy the sugar, and we paid her back from profits. I guess she was really into the authenticity of the business experience.” “My dad made me pay him back for the frozen lemonade cans (where you add water to create a quart or half gallon), but didn’t tell us until after so our price of $0.50 barely covered it. Killed my business initiative real quick Selling coffee at the bottom of my driveway that was across from a polling place was far more effective.” @sweetmamamadeline Even tho I don’t like lemonade… I am still always going to stop! #lemonadestand #mom ♬ original sound – mama madeline | mom life The history of the lemonade stand According to Smithsonian Magazine, the first recorded lemonade stand in the U.S. appeared in New York City in the fall of 1839. The publication also noted that in 1880, The New York Times reported that “a customer can have a glass of ice-cold lemonade, made before his eyes, for five cents.” Back then, lemonade was hawked by adults. By the early 1900s, it had become a popular entrepreneurial venture for children. Kids initially sold lemonade for charitable purposes. After states passed laws in 1918 requiring school attendance for children, lemonade stands became a summer staple. In recent years, many states have cracked down on lemonade stands due to public health concerns. Some began requiring permits for kids to run them. However, many states have also bucked regulation—including Georgia and Texas—ensuring that lemonade stands continue to be part of many American childhoods. The post A non-American asked how lemonade stands work. The responses are an absolute field day. appeared first on Upworthy.

“You look like you’re aging backwards!” “You can’t be 50—you don’t look a day over 35!” “How do you stay looking so young? What’s your secret?” While such comments may be well-intentioned, a woman’s viral video challenges the idea that they are actually compliments. Ting, who posts as @tingmystyle on Instagram, looks directly at the camera and says matter-of-factly, “I am 55 and I look exactly 55. Stop telling a woman, ‘You look younger,’ or ‘You look good for your age.’ It’s not a compliment.” View this post on Instagram Challenging youth-obsessed culture Ting says such comments only reinforce our youth-obsessed culture. “Everyone ages so differently,” she points out. “What are we even supposed to look like at this age? So tired of hearing that ‘She’s in her 50s but looks 20 years younger.’ Why is that the goal?” It’s a question worth asking—and definitely one worth pausing to answer. So often, people go along with what society dictates as the norm, and today that norm means trying to look younger than one’s age. But why? Traditionally, elders have been revered. When did we decide youth was superior? As Ting declares, “I don’t survive five decades to be obsessed with looking 30. How many people never made it to 55?” Getting older IS a privilege. When I hear people saying they won’t celebrate their birthdays or they’re sad about getting older I always provide a reality check. This life is not promised.— Dr. Addie A. (@african_delight) February 19, 2020 Aging is a privilege Aging is a privilege not everyone gets. Shouldn’t we feel happy to have lived as long as we have? Part of wanting to look younger may be that getting older reminds us of our mortality. But in reality, none of us knows our timeline, and if we see each day of life as a gift, the more days we’ve lived, the better. “Women don’t owe the world youth, beauty frozen in time,” Ting states. “Looking my age, or even older than my age, is not a failure. Youth is not a standard. It’s just a season. And the seasons change.” Every season has its unique beauty. Photo credit: Canva Amen. When we hold youthful beauty up on a pedestal, we miss the beauty of every other season. And though women have borne the brunt of the expectation to remain young-looking, men are feeling the pressure to look younger as well. Just look at the Hollywood stars across the gender spectrum getting facelifts and eyelifts. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look good. But that’s not the same as trying to look young. “We look our age not because we’ve let ourselves go, but because we’ve finally let ourselves be,” says Ting. “I am so proud to look my age.” Embracing aging with pride It feels like an act of defiance to let ourselves look our age, much less be proud of it. But with more than eight million views, middle-agers everywhere heard Ting’s message loud and clear. View this post on Instagram Here’s what people are saying in the comments: “Ooooh, youth is not a standard, it’s just a season. Loveeeee.” “‘How many people never made it to 55.’ My mum never made it. I would have loved to send this video to her.” “Turning 39 next year and I’m excited! Like wow thank you for another year of life! I almost died in 2022 from a stroke and every birthday I’m just so thankful for my life.” “Aging is a privilege. I’ve lost too many people who would have loved to be here, wrinkly & full of sun spots and grey hairs.” “Yes! I’m 58. Don’t call me ‘young lady.’ Don’t tell me ‘happy 30th,’ on my birthday. Do you imagine I was having this much fun when I was 30? I wasn’t.” “Yes! Yes! Yes! When I turned 50 someone said to me – and I quote – ‘That’s ok 50 is the new 30!’ And I immediately shot back – ‘God I hope not. At 30 I was knee deep in diapers, never got any sleep and cared way too much about what other people said.’ At 58 when someone tells me I don’t look my age all I say is yes I do and change the subject.” I find aging actually so beautiful like there’s a certain elegance in older women who have grown to know themselves so well… have their own signature scent & style, unapologetically who they are, smile lines & endearing eye crinkles.. reapplying hand cream every hour— k (@Polished0rganic) July 4, 2023 “I’m 55 too. My only goal is to have clear glowing skin. I’m not supposed to look like my kids and I’m okay with that.” “I like giving compliments like wow you have amazing skin. Or wow you have such gorgeous shiny hair. Your eyes are bright – etc. You’re so right about youth-based compliments.” Examining our own habits So many are taking Ting’s message to heart, and it’s something to consider the next time we feel compelled to tell someone they look young for their age. Is this really a goal we want to reinforce? Or is it a social norm that needs to be thoughtfully examined—if not outright done away with? Thank you, Ting, for putting it so plainly and for serving as an example for us all. You can follow Ting on Instagram here. The post ‘I am 55 and I look exactly 55.’ Woman’s viral commentary on aging hits all the right notes. appeared first on Upworthy.

After years of photographing soon-to-be-married couples, wedding photographer Ona Vicente says she can spot the “surefire” signs a relationship won’t last simply by going off the “vibes” of the photoshoot. “You spend enough time with couples, you develop a spidey-sense,” she says in a TikTok video. These red flags include: being dressed to go to “two completely different places,” when one spouse refuses to take off a piece of clothing (a coat, for example) for at least one shot, having constant arguments over “small stuff,” making fun of each other “in a mean way,” and getting verbally or physically aggressive. What do these “red flags”mean? All of these signs point to an unhealthy communication dynamic, which can undermine one of the most important keys to a lasting relationship: healthy communication. After all, Dr. John Gottman, a renowned relationship researcher, has famously said he can predict with over 90% accuracy whether couples will stay together or divorce simply by analyzing their communication patterns. @onavicente Replying to @George signs I know as an engagement and wedding photographer, that your relationship won’t last #dating #photographer #wlw #weddingphotographer #relationships ♬ original sound – Oniii As psychotherapist Eliza Davis explains, couples who have healthy communication can “navigate misunderstandings” and high-pressure situations, such as a wedding shoot, because they know how to “repair” after conflict. In one of Vicente’s scenarios, that might look like instantly knowing to apologize and reset the tone after saying something snippy. Cheryl Groskopf, an anxiety and trauma therapist, points out that even healthy couples may find themselves acting more hostile toward one another in “emotionally loaded environments.” “Stress isn’t personal,” she tells Upworthy. “When people are overwhelmed, the brain shifts into survival mode. The prefrontal cortex, aka the part responsible for patience and thoughtful communication, gets quieter, while the threat-detection system gets louder. That’s why someone might sound sharper than usual or seem short-tempered. It’s often physiology, not intention.” View this post on Instagram How couples can navigate high-stress situations That said, couples can help mitigate these tiffs by building in “small regulation moments,” suggests Groskopf. “When the schedule is packed, people forget to pause,” she adds. “Even something as simple as stepping aside together for a few breaths, holding hands for a moment, or sharing a quick joke can reset the nervous system. These micropauses help your body move out of stress mode and back toward connection.” In a subsequent video, Vicente shares that she’s seen plenty of “green flags” during her shoots as well, like reassuring one another during bouts of awkwardness, expressing the same level of enthusiasm while sharing their love story, being able to laugh with one another, and generally being on the “same page.” @onavicente Replying to @CatchinupwithCath love radar green flag edition!! #wlw #dating #relationship #greenflag #weddingphotography ♬ original sound – Oniii Vicente says couples who don’t display these traits shouldn’t consider themselves doomed; she was merely reflecting on patterns she’s witnessed. This is also reflected in how experts assess the health of a relationship—by looking at what patterns emerge. How often do bids for connection get recognized? What is the positivity-to-negativity ratio? Does feedback tend to result in curiosity or contempt? Moral of the story No two people are perfect, and therefore no relationship is going to be perfect. But what really matters is how the two prioritize their connection with one another throughout all the inevitable twists and turns of life. The post Wedding photographer shares the surprising but ‘surefire’ ways she knows a relationship won’t last appeared first on Upworthy.

There’s no simple answer for how to be happy, but many brilliant individuals have dedicated their lives to finding the answer nonetheless. Matt Killingsworth is one of them. A Harvard-educated psychologist and senior fellow at the esteemed Wharton School, Killingsworth has led numerous studies designed to uncover the secret to happiness. In one of his biggest undertakings, he helped design TrackYourHappiness.org, “a large-scale research project that uses smartphones to collect real-time happiness data from people around the world.” The findings he’s cultivated over the course of his career are mandatory reading for anyone who wants to maximize the joy they get out of life. Here are just a few takeaways from his body of research: 1. Money can buy happiness. Really. Money can buy most people a little more happiness. Photo credit: Canva A groundbreaking study conducted in 2010 by Daniel Kahneman and others found that money does not make you happy. Or rather, money increases happiness only up to around $60–$90,000 per year—enough to live comfortably and without many of the hardships associated with poverty. Beyond that point, Kahneman found no additional benefit to earning more money when it came to happiness. Killingsworth’s own research disagreed, showing “a linear relationship between happiness and income” with essentially no upper limit. The two authors came together to reconcile their findings in a paper titled “Income and emotional well-being: A conflict resolved.” In the end, they determined that the “flattening” effect applies only to the least happy people. Meanwhile, the happiest people continued to get happier as their wealth increased. In other words, if you aren’t happy to begin with, more money probably won’t help. But if you’re generally pretty happy, having more resources allows you to maximize your joy in new ways. 2. Buying things doesn’t move the needle. Buying experiences does. It’s hard to say exactly why having more money continues to make most of us happier, but some of Killingsworth’s other research may offer a clue. Money makes a lot of problems in our lives go away. But as the old saying suggests, having a lot of money also creates new problems. One thing large amounts of money do allow us to do is buy things that can help us experience joy. Well, not necessarily things. Experiences make us happier than things. Photo credit: Canva In his paper with fellow authors Amit Kumar and Thomas Gilovich, Killingsworth finds: “Spending on doing promotes more moment-to-moment happiness than spending on having. Relative to possessions, experiences elicit greater in-the-moment happiness.” The study found that experiences trumped possessions in nearly every category of satisfaction, including anticipation, moment-of-consumption, and remembrance. Vacations, concerts, parties, and adventures are a far better use of your money than cars, clothes, and other material items. 3. The joy is in the waiting Speaking of anticipation, Killingsworth has found that it is sometimes one of the greatest elicitors of happiness. In the published paper “Waiting for Merlot,” Killingsworth and his co-authors argue that waiting eagerly is a crucial element of extracting joy from experiences, and reiterate that the happiness we feel while anticipating an experience or event far outweighs the joy we get from waiting for a material possession. Happiness expert and New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin agrees. She writes that there are four keys to maximizing how happy an event makes you. The first is anticipation, but savoring the moment, sharing it with others, and reflecting back on it often round out the magic formula. “Anticipation is a key stage; by having something to look forward to, no matter what your circumstances, you bring happiness into your life well before the event actually takes place,” she writes. “In fact, sometimes the happiness in anticipation is greater than the happiness actually experienced in the moment—that’s known as ‘rosy prospection.'” 4. Being present is a happiness superpower In “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” Killingsworth dropped one of the biggest truth bombs of his career. He and his co-author Daniel Gilbert found “that people are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is and … found that doing so typically makes them unhappy.” In an essay for the University of California, Berkeley, Killingsworth writes that many of the other factors involved in happiness are relatively superficial: “Yes, people are generally happier if they make more money rather than less, or are married instead of single, but the differences are quite modest.” Our ability to stay present in the moment and take joy in our lives—not what’s already happened, or what’s coming next—is incredibly powerful: “We found that people are substantially less happy when their minds are wandering than when they’re not, which is unfortunate considering we do it so often. Moreover, the size of this effect is large—how often a person’s mind wanders, and what they think about when it does, is far more predictive of happiness than how much money they make, for example.” It’s no wonder so many scientists, philosophers, and researchers have dedicated their careers to understanding the mysteries of happiness. After all, most people simply want to live a happy life, and feeling fulfilled can make us healthier and help us live longer. Finding happiness is easier said than done. Killingsworth’s research suggests that being rich and checking things off your bucket list can help in the search, but ultimately the most important part is learning to find joy in the everyday moments. The post Wharton researcher discovers money can buy happiness. But these 3 other things matter just as much. appeared first on Upworthy.

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He passed away on March 7, 2026.