Actor Alan Rickman gave us so many memorable characters, from the terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard to the oft ill-tempered antihero Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, to the unfaithful husband who broke Emma Thompson's heart in Love Actually.Though he was often cast as a villain, Rickman's distinctive voice and irresistible screen presence made audiences love him. He brought a unique human touch even to his most odious bad guy characters, a quality that makes perfect sense when you hear Thompson, his friend and co-star in seven films, talk about his character in real life.In a moving tribute upon the release of his diaries in October 2022, Thompson shared insights into the virtues and quirks that made Rickman "blissfully contradictory." Alan Rickman signing autographs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, January 2011. Photo Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen via Wikimedia Commons Thompson is at the top of her award-winning writer game here, and her words about Alan Rickman are filled with heart, wit, respect, admiration and love. It's truly a eulogy for the ages.Watch (or read the full transcript below): - YouTube youtu.be People love Thompson's tribute to her friend and some have even shared their own stories of their encounters with Alan Rickman:"A close friend of mine bumped into him in a theatre in London many years ago. My friend instantly recognised Mr Rickman and from nowhere, instantly found the courage to ask him for his autograph. Having neither pen nor paper for this, he asked Mr Rickman if he would mind waiting a moment whilst he collected the items from somewhere, anywhere! The moment became at least 10 minutes or so, and when my friend ran back to a now empty theatre foyer, he noticed one solitary figure. Mr Rickman had waited patiently for my friend to give him what he asked for.""I was lucky enough to work with him on a film. At lunchtime I joined the line for a meal and as I payed and went to turn to look for a table, someone knocked into me from behind and my drink went flying. I turned and it was Alan, he apologized put his hand on my shoulder and said let me get you another. He came back with a cup of tea and I was so overwhelmed. I was shocked how he was so down to earth and a real gentleman.""I meet him once in Boots and said hello, he realised it was a reflex to recognising a known face. He picked up an item we both were looking at, smiled and said “well hello there are we going to arm wrestle for this?” That deep tone rendered me mute, I realised it was Mr Rickman and instantly denied needing this forgotten thing, apologised for well nothing really, smiled and backed away. He was a giant of a fellow on and off the stage and will be missed.""Everything she said is true. I was fortunate to have dinner with him and his wife and his drama teacher. He was charming and friendly and shared some great ideas about directing, which I use today in my theater group. He is missed by many."Indeed he is.Here's the full transcript of Thompson's tribute:"The most remarkable thing about the first days after Alan died was the number of actors, poets, musicians, playwrights and directors who wanted to express their gratitude for all the help he'd given them. I don't think I know anyone in this business who has championed more aspiring artists nor unerringly perceived so many great ones before they became great. Quite a number said, latterly, that they'd been too shy to thank him personally. They had found it hard to approach him. And of all the contradictions in my blissfully contradictory friend (hold on, Thompson), this is perhaps the greatest this combination of profoundly nurturing and imperturbably distant.He was not, of course, distant. He was alarmingly present at all times the inscrutability was partly a protective shield. If anyone did approach him with anything like gratitude or even just a question, they would be greeted with a depth of sweetness that no one who didn't know him could even guess at. And he was not, of course, unflappable. I could flap him like nobody's business and when I did he was fierce with me and it did me no end of good.He was generous and challenging, dangerous and comical, sexy and androgynous, virile and peculiar, temperamental and languid, fastidious and casual, the list could go on. I'm sure you can add to it. There was something of the sage about him, and had he had more confidence and been at all corruptible, he could probably have started his own religion.His taste in all things from sausages to furnishings appeared to me anyway to be impeccable. His generosity of spirit was unsurpassed and he had so much time for people I used to wonder if he ever slept or ever got time for himself. A word not traditionally associated with Alan is gleeful, but when he was genuinely amused he was absolutely the essence of glee. There would be a holding back as the moment built, and then a sudden leaning forward and a swinging around of the torso as a vast, impish grin flowered, sometimes accompanied by an inarticulate shout of laughter. It was almost as if he was surprised by himself. It was my life's mission to provide those moments. I remember Imelda Staunton nearly killing him by telling him a story about my mother and an unfortunate incident with some hashish—it's a really good story, I won't tell it now—I've never seen him laugh more before or since. It was a bit like watching someone tickling the Sphinx.One Christmas Eve party I had a sprig of mistletoe hanging up at home, and I was loitering under it and turned to find Alan bearing down on me. I lifted up my chin hopefully. He smiled and approached. I puckered. He leaned in under the mistletoe and a sudden change came over his face. His eyes started to glitter and his nostrils to quiver. He lifted up a hand, reached in, and pulled a longish hair out of my chin. 'Ow!' I said. 'That's an incipient beard,' he said, handing me the hair and walking off.That was the thing about Alan—you never knew if you were going to be kissed or unsettled, but you couldn't wait to see what would come next. And the trouble with death is that there is no next. There's only what was, and for that, I am profoundly and heartbrokenly grateful. So the last thing we did together was change a plug on a standard lamp in his hospital room. The task went the same way as everything we have ever done together. I had a go. He told me to try something else. I tried. It didn't work, so he had a go. I got impatient. I took it from him. I tried it again. It still wasn't right. We both got slightly irritable, then he patiently took it all apart again and got the right lead into the right hole. I screwed it in with a screwdriver. We complained about how fiddly it was, and then we had a cup of tea. Took us at least half an hour, this thing, and he said after, 'Well it's a good thing I decided not to become an electrician.'I'm still heartbroken that Alan's gone, but these diaries bring back so much of what I remember of him. There is that sweetness I mentioned, his generosity, his champion of others, his fierce, critical eye, his intelligence, his humor. He was the ultimate ally in life, art, and politics. I trusted him absolutely. He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again." Alan Rickman posing for a fan at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, January 2011. Photo Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen via Wikimedia Commons This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

Training a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active breed that needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store, while others may require more personalized training in home. There are even some pet parents who opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months before coming home. Many times these programs are expensive and used as a last resort option, when the other training programs aren't providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. This decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one to make, but with your pets' best interest in mind, you put your faith in someone who specializes in the care your pup needs, and keep your fingers crossed that it pans out. In 2024, one family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It's unclear what prompted the family's concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer, but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team. Oakley, the first of the dogs to be found, shortly after being trappedCourtesy of Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team The dogs, which were from Ohio, where their owner Andrea lives, were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It was suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in in the woods without contacting the family to retrieve their beloved pets. Thankfully, Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps, and they were eventually able to help recover the lost pups. The first of the Huskies, Oakley, was found and reunited with Andrea after spending a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. In a clip posted to TikTok, we see that poor Oakley was clearly unsure of the situation when she first spotted her human. It almost appeared that she was afraid of being in trouble. Anakin's Trails referred to this as "lost dog syndrome." But after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain her excitement. Understandably—neither could Andrea. @anakinstrailsdogsearch One of four pet Siberian Huskys that were dumped by a training facility in the southern part of Greenville county farmland , was found by the Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery team and reunited with her owner after FIVE months of surviving in the wild on the run ! ##anakinstrails##animalrescue##fromthestreettothesofa##fyp##sc##trustthetrap##lostdog##animaltrapping##laurenssc ♬ original sound - AnakinsTrailsstray&petrecovery To make things even better, just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was also found.Ashley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin's Trails told Upworthy, "We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later [after entering the training facility]. For about a month, we hung flyers , set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras, and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings." @anakinstrailsdogsearch Owner reunited with second husky dog (Marley) when she was finally captured by the Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery team after surviving in the wild for months with two of her sisters. Marley was captured days after her sister (Oakley) and reunited with her owner . As of now, there is still one sister on the run in the wild that the recovery team is adamantly trying to locate and capture . #anakinstrails #animalrescue #fyp #sc #trustthetrap #animaltrapping #lostdog #dogontherun ♬ original sound - Pixar & Dreamworks ? Things were looking up for the agency after the sightings, but then the region experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these remaining two pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn't give up hope though."Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming," Raymond shares. "This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings."As of October 2024, the third dog, Juno, Marley and Oakley's sister, is still missing, and their dog mom, Nova Jo, had been found but has still not been reunited with her human, according to Anakin's Trails."There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up," Raymond said. "SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court." Nova Jo, who had been found, but taken into a new home. Courtesy of Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team The work Anakin's Trails does isn't easy and since it's a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. And how they are able to help many others reunite with the four-legged member of their family. If you'd like to donate to Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so here.This article originally appeared last year.

There are some obvious ways to determine if someone is highly intelligent, like when you see them work out a complex trigonometry problem on a blackboard or when they can easily explain the science behind mRNA vaccines or dark matter.But there are also those we meet at social gatherings who immediately make us think they are very smart. Usually, it isn’t because they are making a long-winded speech about the fall of the Roman Empire or explaining quarks. We know they are intelligent because of the way they interact with people and ideas.A Redditor named SomethingAbout2020 asked people on the AskReddit forum to share the “non-obvious signs” that people are intelligent. Many of their responses centered on highly intelligent people being open-minded, curious, and not wasting their time arguing with others.Brilliant people are confident in what they know, consider other people’s opinions, and readily admit when they don’t know the answer.What are 15 'non-obvious' signs that someone is really smart?1. They know what they don't know"They acknowledge areas where they lack knowledge.""'Never pretend to know something when you don't' is something I always teach. It covers lying and ignorance."2. They consider other people's ideas"They’ll listen to the other's facts and points and take them into account when giving an objection.""One of the best developers at my last job and manager of a project I was at is an extremely intelligent person. ... One thing I noticed is how he would take everyone's opinion into account. He would take my opinions into consideration even if I'm not a smarter person or know less about development."3. They make you feel smart"Talking to a dumb person will make you feel smart. Talking to a smart person will make you feel dumb. Talking to a very smart person will make you feel smart."4. They see patterns"Part of the reason smart people throughout history are well-known is because they discovered something new and figured out how to maximize its potential. Darwin was a guy who discovered a bunch of islands with slightly different animals. He then collected and analyzed that data to come up with the theory of evolution, which was largely correct. Einstein’s theory of relativity was based off of his observation that physics acted on everything equally. He figured out that “exceptions” were because of the way high-speed objects interact with the universe’s speed limit (the speed of light). He recognized these exceptions by gathering them and recognizing the pattern between them all, then created his theory of relativity based on that." A painter making a mural. via Canva/Photos5. They consider multiple intelligences"They realize not everyone is smart the same way. Your 'stupid hick neighbor' might have dropped out of school in 8th grade, but he can drive your car once and tell you exactly what's wrong, then fix it. That a**hole in school that had no empathy for anyone and showed no emotion made that sci-fi sh*t you thought would never be real. Yeah, she's dingy and her worldview is tiny, but she's the best teacher you've ever met and inspires tons of kids to go on and do great things with themselves. There's no one-size-fits-all answer here, really."People who are super bright are probably familiar with Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The theory suggests that people have more than just one type of just one type of intelligence, like being good at mathematics. Gardener says there are several, including musical, spatial, linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and kinesthetic intelligence. This theory allows people to appreciate different forms of intelligence that may not be of the academic variety.6. They choose their battles"When another person is not able to process something and, therefore, sticks with his opinion, after a few tries, the smart person just gives up. There is no use in trying to make someone understand something while they already have an uneducated opinion."7. They speak to their audience"They know how to explain concepts on just about any level, tailoring that level to their intended audience, and without coming across as condescending in any way.""I heard a saying that went 'you have to be an expert to explain it simply.'"8. They're confident in their intelligence"Not constantly bragging about their intelligence. If they truly are smart, people can figure that out pretty quickly without them doing anything to show it.""You generally only brag about things you're insecure about because you seek validation. If you are very comfortable with your intelligence, then you may not care if someone misinterprets you and makes you look dumb or something. You have nothing to prove. That's not just for intelligence but for anything."9. They're funny"I think the smart people are even more funny than stupid people because smart people understand the complexity behind humor and can make their jokes reflect that."Scientific studies show that funny people, especially those with a dark sense of humor, are more intelligent than their not-so-funny peers. Researchers argue that it takes cognitive and emotional ability to make people laugh, and analysis shows that funny people have higher verbal and non-verbal intelligence. A man laughing at his friend's joke.via Canva/Photos10. They mind their own business"This is a big one. They keep to themselves and deal with their own drama."11. They aren't necessarily great students"Believe it or not 'average' or 'above average' students are often smarter than those with straight A’s on the report cards. They do enough to pass well and get what they want but don’t let the academic system control them. Life isn’t all about booksmarts. This shows they are independent thinkers and don’t get wrapped up in designed systems. Not all, but many. Many kids who are forced to always be exceptional in school can end up the worst off and can develop deeper issues."12. They are good listeners"They actually listen to who they are talking to as opposed to waiting for their turn to talk."13. Curiosity"It really does seem to be one of the single greatest differentiators between average and smart."A meta-analysis of over 50,000 students from around 200 separate studies found that students who are curious do better in their school work over those who are not. Why is curiosity so important when it comes to IQ? “Curiosity is basically a hunger for exploration. If you’re intellectually curious, you’ll go home, you’ll read the books," Dr Sophie von Stumm, the study’s first author, said. "If you’re perceptually curious, you might go traveling to foreign countries and try different foods.”14. Comfortable in silence"Being comfortable enough to allow a moment of complete silence while you think when the natural instinct of most is to immediately start replying tells me that you are, at the very least, mindful of what you want to say."15. Unattached to their opinions"Most of the smart people I know are not pushy with their opinions; by contrast, most of the opinionated people I know are flaming morons. I don't know if there's a correlation there, but my anecdotal experience has always been that the more eager someone is to state their opinion, the less that opinion is probably worth."This article originally appeared last year.

Parents of newborns know they are in the middle of a joyous and stressful era. But far too often, the people they run into choose to frame things negatively when talking to them about their young child. They’ll say things like, “Don’t worry, it gets better” or “Boy, do you have your hands full.”That’s why Steph Morrison's video on TikTok touched so many hearts. It’s about the fantastic things that can happen when people choose to see things in a positive light instead of a negative one. Moms of littles need positive encouragement.Photo credit: Canva“The sweetest thing just happened,” Morrison begins in her video. “I was just finishing my walk and we were just pulling down our street and this old man, he stopped so we could walk by because we’ve got the double-wide stroller that takes up the whole space, and he goes ‘Wow! You’re going to have a lot of fun.’"The comment blindsided Morrison because it reframed how she looks at being a parent. @_stephmorrison_ I never would have guessed what the man would say nor did I ever predict tears would roll down my face like they did. Thankful for this sweet glimmer from God ??✨ #momspiration #momsoftiktok #momsover30 #quotesforyou #momquotes #postpartumjourney #postpartumlife #happywords #happinessbegins #creatorsearchinsights “I don’t know why I’m getting emotional telling you now. But most people say, ‘You’ve got your hands full’ and it’s my biggest pet peeve, but he was so sweet and I could, like, see the memories flash through his eyeballs as he said that to me: ‘You’re going to have a lot of fun.’”“Like, dang! That’s the type of vibe and energy I’m going to bring to motherhood,” she continued. “I was having a really great time with the kids already, so I don’t know why I’m crying while telling you this. But if you’re a mother out there, I hope you’re having a lot of fun, too, because why not?” Kids can be a lot of fun. Giphy GIF by Piñata Farms Everyone knows that parenting can be hard. But it’s also filled with joy, laughter, hope, possibilities and new experiences. The elderly man’s comments were a great reminder to Morrison and her followers to focus on the joy and possibilities of being a parent instead of the challenges and hard work.The video struck a chord with mothers in the comments who shared similar experiences.“An older man in the grocery store stopped me when my son was 8 months old and said, ‘Young enough to still talk to the angels, put in a good word for me!’” Rachel wrote. “My only son is 7 months old. I can’t have any more kids due to life-threatening complications at birth. The other day, a man said to me, ‘He gets to have you all to himself. Isn’t that so special?’” Happy_Gilmoree added. Moms share stories of strangers sharing encouraging words in public.Photo credit: CanvaCaitlinPrice25 hit the nail on the head. “Society makes us feel like kids are a burden,” she wrote. “Just a little change of perspective can make all the difference.”A positive mindset can make life much easier for parents, but it’s also great for their children. Children look to their parents and model their behavior; those with a positive attitude are likely to raise happy, optimistic children. “A mother’s ability to model positivity becomes a powerful tool in shaping a child’s character, fostering qualities such as kindness, compassion, and a positive outlook on life,” The Motherhood Center in Houston, Texas, writes. Modeling positivity is a gift to your children. Giphy GIF by Maddie And Tae The story also reminds everyone, whether they are parents or not, of the importance of leading with positivity when dealing with others. The man could have said something cliché such as “I hope you’re getting enough sleep,” but instead, he reminded Morrison of the joy of parenting, and she made his remark her north star. That’s the power of positivity.This article originally appeared last year.

We know too much screen time is not good for us. We also know that younger folks are particularly susceptible to screen addiction. Crucially, teachers and psychologists have been sounding the alarm about the effects of too much screen time on young people for years now. Reports flood in every year that more and more people in schools struggle to do anything without ChatGPT's help, that they're way behind in learning fundamental skills, that they're disrespectful and lazy. Every generation has been "concerned" about the one that comes directly after them, bemoaning that they don't have the same values or that their brains are being rotted by Elvis, rock and roll, radio, or television. So some of the doom and gloom is probably overstated, but there's truthfully never been anything quite like iPhones loaded up with TikTok and other forms of hyper-dopamine-fueled social media.Still, it's unlikely that a young person, or any person, really, can exist in modern society without some level of access to screens. So parents need to effectively help teens and tweens manage the habit and offset the dangers as much as humanly possible.Psychiatrist, author, and dad of seven Richard Wadsworth recently went viral after showing his own personal strategy for getting his kids to do something other than scrolling. Kids are playing outside way less. So parents are looking for new ways to get them exercise. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash It could be the perfect solution for parents to not only break screen addiction, but instill some other healthy ritual as well.In the clip, we first see Wadsworth’s tween son doing deltoid exercises with dumbbells. Which he apparently got up at 6:30 am to do. What could possibly incentivize practically anyone, let alone a preteen to wake up at the crack of dawn to lift weights? Was his dad forcing him to exercise?No. Wadsworth went on to show a typed out list of various tasks that must be performed before his kids even think about setting eyes on a phone or tablet. The list included a short workout in the form of one mile on the treadmill or 20 minutes of another exercise.Wadsworth explained that rather than enforcing strict rules, this method provides necessary structure without taking away choice.“I’m not forcing my son to exercise every day, but I am setting rules and boundaries around his screen time,” he said. “He decided he wanted to have more time after school to play with his friend. And so in order to do that, he realized that he’d need to wake up a little bit earlier and exercise in the morning.”In addition to exercise, the list included domestic chores like cleaning the bedroom and shared areas, finishing homework, doing laundry, preparing for the next day…and, perhaps most importantly…making sure the toilet is flushed. (Not cleaned, just flushed. Parents everywhere can relate.)“We have all of their screens locked away. And if they want access to any of them, they need to come ask us and we’ll go through the list together. And they’re not getting their screens until the list is done,” Wadsworth continued.He also drew a comparison between screen time and sugary sweets, noting how most parents probably wouldn’t routinely allow kids to eat dessert before a nutritious meal, but instead allow it to be a treat.“Just as you would hopefully have your kids eat dinner before they had their dessert, you should probably be having them do something positive…before they get on their screens." Hence why he tries to get his kids to complete their list before going to the phone.And in case you’re wondering how Wadsworth’s son feels about all this, he reported having “so much energy for school” feeling “so much better” since his dad introduced the to-do list. @doctorwadsworth #greenscreen #parenting #parentingtips Bottom line: kids need guidance from their parents. And Wadsworth recommends clear cut boundaries to help them develop good habits, “because if you don’t do it, nobody else is.”Wadsworth’s parenting hack was well received, with quite a few grown adults saying they could benefit from this type of boundary-setting in their own life.“Even I’m addicted to this screen. I have to tell myself to put it down all the time and I’m a grown adult. Kids definitely need this!” one user wrote.Another added, “I need someone to do this for me (I’m 28).” To which Wadsworth replied, “we all need parents sometimes.” Phones and social media aren't going anywhere. We have to figure out how to make it work. Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash "We implemented a similar plan, and I was surprised at how easy they took to it. It’s almost like kids need structure. What a concept!" another user remarked.While the inclusion of exercise on the To-Do List might be controversial, the facts don't lie. Most kids and teens aren't getting enough daily physical activity. Kids don't play outside or walk to school anymore, either. So if they're not exercising, they're probably not moving much at all. And that's just as dangerous as too much TikTok.Even with potential TikTok bans, social media isn’t going anywhere. The sooner parents can implement guidelines like these, the better equipped their kids will be at balancing tech savviness with tech dependence.This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

"A bunch of crap."

The actor reportedly got into an argument with a neighbor that turned fatal.