A new paper, "Differences in misinformation sharing can lead to politically asymmetric sanctions," published today in Nature suggests that the higher quantity of social media policy enforcement (such as account suspensions) for conservative users could be explained by the higher quantity of misinformation shared by those conservative users—and so does not constitute evidence of inherent biases in the policies from social media companies or in the definition of what constitutes...

In 2016, My husband and I started renting our basement apartment out as a short-term rental on Airbnb. We live in a college town and figured we'd get some guests during football game weekends and graduations. We didn't realize how many people come to our town to visit their college kids or check out the school, so we were pleasantly surprised by how regularly we were booked.In 2019, we bought the house next door and now rent out both floors of the old house as separate units. We love being Airbnb hosts and have had a very successful run of it, with hundreds of 5-star reviews, Superhost status and lots of repeat guests. We also don't charge a cleaning fee or make guests do check-out chores. In fact, we find both things rather loathsome.What makes us good hosts is that we've been Airbnb guests for years. As a family of five that travels a lot, we've found far more value in Airbnbs than in hotels over the years. We love having a kitchen, living room and bedrooms and feeling like we have a "home" while traveling. We even spent a nomadic year staying at short-term rentals for a month at a time. When you've experienced dozens of Airbnbs as a guest, you learn what guests appreciate and what they don't. You see what's annoying and unnecessary and what's to be expected in comparison to a hotel. We started taking mental notes long before we started our own rental about what we would want to do and not do if we ever had one and have implemented those things now that we do. As guests, we know the pain of the cleaning fee, so we don't charge one. via GIPHYIt helps that my husband has a flexible schedule and grew up helping with his parents' janitorial service, so most of the time he cleans the apartments himself. We could charge a cleaning fee for his time and labor, but even if we were paying for outside cleaners, we still wouldn't put a separate fee onto guest bookings. It makes far more sense to us to just wrap the cleaning fee into the per-night price.From a host's perspective, the one-night stay is where the cleaning fee question hits the hardest. Whether someone stays one night or 10 nights, the cleaning cost is the same. But spreading the cost over 10 nights is a very different beast than adding it to one night, especially from a guest's perspective. On the host side, if we had to pay cleaners without passing that fee onto guests, we've barely make anything on one-night stays. But on the guest side, a $100 a night stay suddenly jumping to $150 because a cleaning fee was added is painful, and often a dealbreaker. You can see the conundrum. $200 cleaning fee Airbnb — (@) The way we see it, and as other Airbnb hosts have found, wrapping cleaning costs into the base price comes out in the wash over time, as long as you have some longer-term stays mixed in with the one-nighters. And it's a much better experience for the guest not to get hit with sticker shock on the "final cost" screen, which is already eye-popping when service fees and taxes are added on.(I will say, this may only ring true for smaller units. If you're renting a huge home, cleaning costs are going to be higher just because it takes longer to clean. But I still don't think the full cost should be passed onto guests as a separate fee.) If you charge a cleaning fee, you should not be allowed to include CHORES in your AirBnB rules — (@) As for check-out chores—asking guests to do things like start laundry, sweep the floor, take out the trash, etc.—those have never made sense to us. Hosts should have enough switch-out linens that laundry doesn't have to be started prior to checking out, and none of those chores save enough time for the cleaning people to make it worth asking guests to do it. I can see taking out trash if there wasn't going to be another guest for a while, but usually you'd want to clean right away after a stay anyway just in case it does get booked last minute. The only thing we ask guests to do is to start the dishwasher if they have dirty dishes (as a guest, I've never found that an unreasonable request), lock the door and have a safe trip home. Don't need to pull the sheets. Don't need to take out any garbage or recycling. Those things don't take that long, but that's just as much a reason not to ask guests to do it. Annoying your guests by asking them to do something extra isn't worth the tiny bit of time it might save the cleaning people. And you know what? This approach works really well. Approximately 95% of guests leave the apartments clean and tidy anyway. In seven years, I can count on one hand how many problems we've had with guests leaving a mess. That's been a pleasant surprise, but I think part of the reason is that guest are simply reciprocating the respect and consideration we show them by not making them pay extra fees or do chores on their way out. To be fair, it probably also helps that we aren't some big real estate tycoon buying up a bunch of apartments and turning them into short-term rentals run by impersonal management companies. People's complaints about how short-term rentals impact local housing economies are legitimate. We're more aligned with the original "sharing economy" model, renting out our home to guests who come through town. And in a small college town with a large university, there often aren't enough hotel rooms during busy weekends anyway, so it's been a bit of a win-win. I think being right next door, having personal communication with our guests (but also leaving them their privacy), and not charging or asking anything extra of them makes them want to be respectful guests. From our perspective, both as guests and hosts, cleaning fees and check-out chores simply aren't worth it. This article originally appeared on 4.4.24

Since 2019, Kodi Lee has wowed “America’s Got Talent” audiences with his next-level musical skills. That goes for whether he’s performing touching original works or putting his own personal touch on well-known songs.For “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League,” the music savant was guided by his mentor Howie Mandel to cover “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.It’s hard to imagine a version of this fan-favorite tune you haven’t already heard before, since the song has been covered quite a few times. But once again Lee delivered something epic and completely unique.Even though judges Mel B and Heidi Klum still prefer Lee’s original songs, all applauded his haunting and emotional piano rendition of the rock-n-roll anthem.Simon Cowell even said “You use these words ‘Star Quality’ a lot, but you genuinely, Kodi, over the years we’ve got to know you, you’ve just got better as an artist. You’ve never given up, and the Finals just wouldn’t be the same without you in it this year.”Other viewers applauded Lee for one-of-a-kind performance, agreeing that he did freddie Mercury proud. One wrote, “‘You can do whatever you want to do in my music, just don't make it boring’ -Freddie. What a magical performance.” Another added, “Kodi has an amazingly rare talent to be able to sing across different musical genres. He owns them all!!!”Last but not least, I think this comment sums up the general consensus pretty well: "This version is unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. It’s truly a masterpiece. Kodi is an amazing gift to our world. He continues to change the world just by being himself." Watch below. And enjoy. This article originally appeared on 2.13.24

A new video by TikTok user Shiraah Benarde is a fun way of exposing a serious problem that countless people face when going to bars, nightclubs, or even a friend’s party. It’s a lot easier than most people think to have their drink spiked, especially when you’re not taking any precautions. Benarde is the CEO of NightCap, which makes products that prevent people from having their drinks spiked. In the video, Benarde has several gummy candies and Pixy Sticks at a house party. Throughout the video, she drops them into people’s drinks when they aren’t paying attention without getting caught. “Pregames and private parties are a false sense of security. You don’t expect anything to happen, but it does,” she captioned the video. @shiraah With everything going on with #diddy right now, this is do important to remember. Do not let your guard down even at a private party. #diddyparty #drinkspikingprevention #spiked Benrade’s experiment is even more eye-opening because it happens at a friend’s house, a place where most people wouldn’t assume they’d have their drink spiked. However, it often occurs in places where people feel like no one would ever tamper with their drink. In this type of situation, the person who spiked the drink could fall victim to someone they trust to take of them in a drugged state. There are many reasons why people spike drinks, the most common being to render the victim defenseless against sexual assault or robbery. Drink-spiking has also been tied to abuse or dangerous pranks. It can be tough to know the difference between the effects of alcohol and a doctored drink, but here are some warning signs, according to NBC News. You may feel drowsy and nauseatedYour cheeks may feel flushedYou may feel like your body temperature has gone upYou may feel sexually arousedYou may feel like you've had many more drinks than you've consumedYou may start staggering and have an unsteady gaitGiven that many people don’t tell the authorities that they’ve had their drink spiked it’s hard to know how often it happens. A 2016 study of 6,000 students at 3 American universities found that nearly 8% thought they had been slipped something in a drink at one point in their lives. Another 1% admitted that they had spiked someone’s drink. Benarde says that she made the TikTok video to remind everyone of the dangers of having their drink spiked at a time when sexual assault is making headlines. “With everything going on with #diddy right now, this is so important to remember. Do not let your guard down even at a private party,” she writes in the video’s caption. Sean Combs, a.k.a P. Diddy, was recently accused by over 120 people of sexual assault, some of whom claim they were drugged. Many of the 200,000-plus people who’ve seen the video thought it was a great way to show how easy it is to have your drink spiked and to encourage people to be more cautious. “This is a good video. You really don’t think it’s this easy! Especially when you trust someone. I got roofied by someone close to me who I trusted,” one commenter wrote. “Honestly, this is a fun way to teach your friends to pay attention to their drinks,” another added.

The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, known for being one of the most entertaining photography contests, has just wrapped up, and this year’s top prize goes to Jason Moore for his hilarious and brilliantly captured photo of a kangaroo, cheekily named “Air Guitar Roo.” Not only did this fantastic shot win the overall competition, but it also rocked the Creatures of the Land category, too.Jason's photo stood out among a whopping 5,300 entries submitted by 1,842 photographers from 85 countries. Moore’s photo of the female western grey kangaroo was taken in the outer suburbs of Perth, Australia when Jason visited a field of wildflowers to snap some pics of the many adult kangaroos and joeys playing there. “The shoot turned out to be a great session, and I am quite fond of several images that I captured,” Moore said in a statement. “Not many people know that kangaroos are normally fairly docile and even a bit boring most of the time if I’m honest. However, when I saw this roo striking the air guitar pose, it immediately brought a smile to my face, and I knew that I had captured something really special."The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards was started in 2015 by Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam to create a competition focused on the lighter, humorous side of wildlife photography while assuming an essential role in promoting wildlife conservation.Here are 14 of the big winners. 1. Overall Winner: "Air-Guitar Roo" (grey kangaroo) by Jason Moore, Australia"On this day, I had been out with my camera photographing some waterfowl at a nearby lake. I had been up at sunrise to take advantage of the 'golden hour' light, but it turned out to be a disappointing morning on the water. After leaving the lake, somewhat dejected, I decided to swing past an area of open bushland, because there are often a 'mob' of Kangaroos feeding and sunning themselves in a field close to the road. ... The morning light was still favorable so I grabbed my camera and headed off to a spot where I could get down to eye level with my subjects. I ended up shooting about 40 or 50 frames of the kangaroos with various content including mum’s, joeys and also some action shots of them bouncing along through the yellow field. The shoot turned out to be a great session, and I am quite fond of several images that I captured. However, when I saw this animal strike this pose it immediately brought a smile to my face and I knew that I had captured something special." — Jason Moore2. Creatures of the Air Award: "Unexpected Plunge" (heron) Vittorio Ricci, South Africa"An unusual end of a perfect moment." — Vittorio Ricci3. Creatures Under the Water Award: "Otter Ballerina" (smooth-coated otter), Otter Kwek, Singapore"The otter was leaping while attempting to grasp the overhanging leaves, and during an unusual landing, it ended up in the Arabesque pose. I showed this photo to a ballet teacher, and she commented that the otter is a natural but just needs to tuck in its tummy a bit — precisely what a ballet teacher would advise." — Otter Kwek4. People's Choice Award: "Dispute" (greenfinch), Jacek Stankiewicz, Poland"I caught this scene while watching birds in the Bialowieza Forest. My friends interpret this scene in two ways. One, a young naughty kid is arguing with a parent. Two, a kid is reporting to the parent that their brother did something wrong: 'Look he broke a window!'" — Jacek StankiewiczHighly Commended Winners5. "The Happy Turtle" (swamp turtle), Tzahi Finkelstein, Antarctica"The swamp turtle is surprised and smiles at the dragonfly resting on its nose." — Tzahi Finkelstein 6. "The Monday Blahs" (great grey owl) John Blumenkamp, USA"While photographing the great gray owl shown in my image, I had been busy working to capture that majestic-looking pose. As the owl preened and then sat still for a short while, it stretched once more and for a quick moment gave the pose shown. As it did, I grinned and thought… now that’s funny!" — John Blumenkamp7. "One for the Family Album" (gannets) Zoe Ashdown, UK"At RSPB Bempton Cliffs, each year between March and October, around half a million seabirds use the chalk cliffs towering above the North Sea to nest and raise a family. Gannets mate for life and they return to the same nest year after year to raise their young. Lying safely at the top of the cliff face, I was able to observe the affection shown between the gannets each time one returned to the nest. They have a greeting ritual, they rub beaks and entwine their necks; it’s how they strengthen their bond. But it’s also a brilliant opportunity to catch them in various poses. I didn’t realize I’d taken this image until I got home, but as soon as I saw it I laughed out loud! They look like proud parents, posing with their baby." — Zoe Ashdown8. "Don't Look Down" (Atlantic puffin), Brian Matthews, UK"A puffin does an inverted snoopy impression while watching jelly fish." — Brian Matthews. 9. "Boing" (grey kangaroo) Lara Mathews, Australia"Taken at Westerfolds Park, a beautiful and surprisingly wild pocket of land in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, famous for its kangaroo population. The mob was enjoying some morning sunshine when this joey decided to get silly and try his hand at boxing." — Lara Mathews10. "The Rainforest Dandy" (monkey) Delphine Casimir, Bali"This picture was taken in the monkey forest in Ubud, Bali, a crazy place where monkeys are king! This forest is special even magical and sacred to the Balinese people. Maybe our dandy is the reincarnation of a divinity?" — Delphine Casimir11. "Look Right, Bro" (macaque, deer) Pratick Mondal, India12. "That Wasn't Here Yesterday" (white-winged dove) Wendy Kaveney, USA"A white-winged dove appearing to fly head-on into a cholla cactus skeleton." — Whitney Kaveney13. "Snowball" (white grouse) Jaques Poulard, Norway"The white grouse is coming towards me and looks like a snowball with eyes." — Jaques Poulard14. "Excuse Me Sir But I Think You're a Bit Too Young to Be Smoking" (grey fox) Dakota Vaccaro, USA"While I was working deep in the Virginian woods, a family of grey foxes took up residence under the deck of the abandoned cottage next to my work housing. One day, while practicing their hunting skills on bits of moss and branches, one of the kits lunged at a small chunk of wood and started rolling around with his prize. Tired after his hunt, the kit lounged on his belly still holding the wood in his mouth which gave the strong resemblance of a cigar." — Dakota VaccaroThis article originally appeared on 11.27.23

There are a million and one ways to find a baby name. Some parents might glean their own family line, scour through beloved books or pop culture references, or even hire a professional to conjure up some creative ideas. But as we dive into the spooky season, you could opt for the more macabre route. That is what Haley Hodge did for her fourth child. In a video that quickly went viral on TikTok back in May, Hodge filmed herself in a flowy pink dress traipsing around the Smithville Burying Ground in Southport, North Carolina, on a quest to find her soon-to-be-daughter’s name. As she does, her onscreen text offers this fun fact “did you know families usd to come to cemeteries to have a picnic with their loved ones?” (sounds like a very Victorian pastime). Hodge’s other kids lend a helping hand in the name hunt, her son getting particularly excited to find a gravestone with the name Salem. Bunny, Winnie, Vienna, and Olympus were some other good ones. @hodgehouse Fun fact: My sister came from someones gravestone ? #babynames #southport #love #fyp #viral #weird #graveyard ♬ Beautiful Memories - Lux-Inspira In an interview with TODAY, Hodge shared that she came by this idea rather honestly, as her mom was a history buff who loved to go epitaphing—i.e., visit cemeteries—and would often bring her and her sister along. In fact, her sister’s name came from someone’s grave. "My mom found that we were more interested in spooky stories and ghost stories rather than the historical tours," she shared with USA Today. "I've always been fond of walking through the cemeteries and looking at how they're decorated or their stories behind some of the people." Though she said some might find it “creepy,” Hodge argues that “You can learn so much about cultural aspects of the past." And many in the comments seemed to agree. “I love this! and it’s absolutely no different than looking at a book of names or getting a name from a movie/show. and it’s a great way to bring back the older generation's names!” one person wrote. “How beautiful must it be for some of these souls to hear their name spoken again after so many years. I hope you have an incredible pregnancy and a healthy baby,” added another. One fellow “gravestone baby” even shared that “whenever people compliment my name I love to tell them and see their shocked faces when I say, ‘thanks my mom got it from a gravestone.’" Still, other more superstitious viewers did share concern about visiting cemeteries while pregnant, as they feared it could attract uninvited spirits or energies. Either way, Hodge has found a really cool way of both honoring some family traditions while bringing something fresh and unique. "I know there's baby books, but I feel like I see a lot of repeated names over and over again. And it's fun to have a story behind finding a name,” she told USA Today. And in case you were wondering, it looks like Salem was the winner. See on Instagram Look, graveyards might be a place for somber remembrance, but they can also be a source of joy. Previously, Upworthy covered a librarian who got delicious recipes from tombstones. Even earlier this mount a cemetery went viral for filming a nesting bluebird couple. Bottom line: Cemeteries remind us of the inevitably of death, but they are also opportunities to celebrate life as well.

There's a lot of men out there that shy away from discussing menstruation with women. But any man who's ever taken a class in basic human biology or had a mother, sister, wife, girlfriend or any other woman in their life should know the basics of how it works.That's why a mother on the Mumsnet message board was completely "shocked" that her daughter's teacher told her to "hold in" her period.Does he think a woman can hold in her period like it's pee?Mumsnet is a UK website where parents come together to discuss anything from adoption to women's rights. This post appeared under the "Am I Being Unreasonable" thread.According to the post, the 15-year-old's teacher prevented her from using the bathroom because he legitimately thinks women can hold back period blood. Or he knows a bit about biology but still decided to put her in the position to be mortally embarrassed.The mother later said that the lessons last two hours so the girl had a long time to wait before being able to change her pad.A few parents said that the teacher was correct to say no because students often lie about their periods to get out of class.But most parents thought the teacher did the wrong thing and needs a lesson in basic biology.One poster was irate but completely right about the issue.Another believes the daughter should have disobeyed the teacher and gone to the bathroom.This poster did a great job at re-framing the situation so that the teacher's actions seem even more ridiculous.Why should the mother even have to justify herself?The $50,000 question: What subject does the instructor teach?This story originally appeared on 02.13.20

It's easy to forget what life was like before cell phones fit in your pocket and Google could tell you the meaning of life in less than .2 seconds. Gen Z is the first generation to be born after technology began to move faster than most people can blink. They never had to deal with the slow speeds and loud noises of dial up internet.In fact, most people that fall in the Gen Z category have no idea that their parents burned music on a CD thinking that was peak mix tape technology. Oh, how wrong they were. Now songs live in a cloud but somehow come out of your phone without having to purchase the entire album or wait until the radio station plays the song so you can record it. But Gen Z has never lived that struggle so the idea of things they consider to be basic parts of life not existing are baffling to them. One self professed Gen Zer, Aneisha, took to social media to ask a question that has been burning on her mind–how did people travel before GPS? Now, if you're older than Gen Z–whose oldest members are just 27 years old–then you likely know the answer to the young whippersnapper's question. But even some Millennials had trouble answering Aneisha's question as several people matter of factly pointed to Mapquest. A service that requires–you guessed it, the internet.Aneisha asks in her video, "Okay, serious question. How did people get around before the GPS? Like, did you guys actually pull a map and like draw lines to your destination? But then how does that work when you're driving by yourself, trying to hold up the map and drive? I know it's Gen Z of me but I kind of want to know." @aneishaaaaaaaaaaa I hope this reaches the right people, i want to know ♬ original sound - aneishaaaaaaa These are legitimate questions for someone who has never known life without GPS. Even when most Millennials were starting to drive, they had some form of internet to download turn-by-turn directions, so it makes sense that the cohort between Gen Z and Gen X would direct Aneisha to Mapquest. But there was a time before imaginary tiny pirates lived inside of computer screens to point you in the right direction and tales from those times are reserved for Gen X.The generation known for practically raising themselves chimed in, not only to sarcastically tell Millennials to sit down but to set the record straight on what travel was like before the invention of the internet. Someone clearly unamused by younger folks' suggestion shares, "The people saying mapquest. There was a time before the internet kids." @tiff.elizabeth #stitch with @aneishaaaaaaa Others are a little more helpful, like one person who writes, "You mentally note landmarks, intersections. Pretty easy actually," they continue. "stop at a gas station, open map in the store, ($4.99), put it back (free).""Believe it or not, yes we did use maps back then. We look at it before we leave, then take small glances to see what exits to take," someone says, which leaves Aneisha in disbelief, replying, "That's crazyy, I can't even read a map." @nstrumentalism #stitch with @aneishaaaaaaa "Pulled over and asked the guy at the gas station," one person writes as another chimes in under the comment, "and then ask the guy down the street to make sure you told me right." Imagine being a gas station attendant in the 90s while also being directionally challenged. Was that part of the hiring process, memorizing directions for when customers came in angry or crying because they were lost? Not knowing where you were going before the invention of the internet was also a bit of a brain exercise laced with exposure therapy for those with anxiety. There were no cell phones so if you were lost no one who cared about you would know until you could find a payphone to check in. @honibeesweet #stitch with @aneishaaaaaaa GenX and paper maps. #beforegps #papermaps #genx #hey punkin #genz The world is so overly connected today that the idea of not being able to simply share your location with loved ones and "Ask Siri" when you've gotten turned around on your route seems dystopian. But in actuality, if you took a few teens from 1993 and plopped them into 2024 they'd think they were living inside of a sci-fi movie awaiting aliens to invade. Technology has made our lives infinitely easier and nearly unrecognizable from the future most could've imagined before the year 2000, so it's not Gen Z's fault that they're unaware of how the "before times" were. They're simply a product of their generation.

The Story of Bottled Water www.youtube.com Here are six facts from the video above by The Story of Stuff Project that I'll definitely remember next time I'm tempted to buy bottled water. 1. Bottled water is more expensive than tap water (and not just a little). via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTubeA Business Insider column noted that two-thirds of the bottled water sold in the United States is in individual 16.9-ounce bottles, which comes out to roughly $7.50 per gallon. That's about 2,000 times higher than the cost of a gallon of tap water. And in an article in 20 Something Finance, G.E. Miller investigated the cost of bottled versus tap water for himself. He found that he could fill 4,787 20-ounce bottles with tap water for only $2.10! So if he paid $1 for a bottled water, he'd be paying 2,279 times the cost of tap. 2. Bottled water could potentially be of lower quality than tap water. Fiji Water ran an ad campaign that was pretty disparaging about the city of Cleveland. Not a wise move. The city ordered a test of the snooty brand's water and found that Fiji Water contained levels of arsenic that weren't seen in the city's water supply.How was that possible? Sarah Goodman of the New York Times explains:" Bottled water manufacturers are not required to disclose as much information as municipal water utilities because of gaps in federal oversight authority. Bottom line: The Food and Drug Administration oversees bottled water, and U.S. EPA is in charge of tap water. FDA lacks the regulatory authority of EPA."3. The amount of bottled water we buy every week in the U.S. alone could circle the globe five times!That sounded like it just had to be impossible, so we looked into it. Here's what our fact-checkers found:"According to the video, ' People in the U.S. buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week.' National Geographic says for 2011, bottled water sales hit 9.1 billion gallons (roughly 34 billion liters).A 'typical' water bottle is a half-liter, so that's about 68 billion bottles per year. Divided by 52 weeks would be a little over 1 billion bottles of water sold per week in the U.S. Because that's based on a smaller 'typical' bottle size, it seems reasonable that a half billion bottles a week could be accurate.The Earth is about 131.5 million feet around, so yep, half a billion bottles of varying sizes strung end-to-end could circle the Earth five times."4. Paying for bottled water makes us chumps.Beverage companies have turned bottled water into a multibillion-dollar industry through a concept known as manufactured demand. Bottled water advertisements used a combination of scare tactics (Tap water bad!) and seduction (From the purest mountain streams EVER!) to reel us in.Well, we now know their claims about the superior quality of bottled water are mostly bogus. And research shows that anywhere from a quarter to 45% of all bottled water comes from the exact same place as your tap water (which, to reiterate, is so cheap it's almost free).5. Bottled water is FILTHY.It takes oil — lots of it — to make plastic bottles. According to the video, the energy in the amount of oil it takes to make the plastic water bottles sold in the U.S. in one year could fuel a million cars. That's not even counting the oil it takes to ship bottled water around the world.And once we've guzzled our bottled water, up to 80% of the empty bottles end up in landfills or noxious-gas-producing incinerators. The rest is either recycled or shipped to countries like India where poor people without environmental and labor protections have to deal with it.On top of all that, the process of manufacturing plastic bottles is polluting public water supplies, which makes it easier for bottled water companies to sell us their expensive product.6. There are 750 million people around the world who don't have access to clean water.A child dies every minute from a waterborne disease. And for me, that's the core of what makes bottled water so evil.The video wraps by comparing buying bottled water to smoking while pregnant. That may sound extreme, but after learning everything I just did about the bottled water industry, I can't disagree.If you're properly disgusted, here are a few ways you can help destroy the bottled water industry: Don't buy bottled water. Get a reusable water bottle. The savings will add up.Rally your schools, workplaces, and communities to ban bottled water.Demand that your city, state, and federal governments invest in better water infrastructure.This article originally appeared on 5.7.15

As parents age, they may regret the names they give their children. This is especially true as they get older and have to enter the professional world, where studies show unusual names are a hindrance. However, should they have the right to change their child’s name as a teen if their child isn’t into it?That’s the crux of a recent viral story on Reddit’s AITA forum. A 16-year-old boy who goes by the username 1ft2nyn shared how, for the past 6 years, his parents have been nudging him to use a different name, but he isn’t interested. “My parents started to regret my name when I was maybe 10 … [They] started sometimes calling me by my middle name and only stopping when I told them it was weird and I liked my first name. When I was 13, they asked me if I ever went by a nickname and I said no,” he wrote.The boy’s name is Sunny, which was intentionally spelled with a u, the common girl’s spelling, instead of an o, as in the traditional boy’s spelling of “Sonny.” Sunny says his parents chose the name a middle finger to their parents, who had insisted on having a hand in naming their previous kids. A teen fights with his parents to keep his name.via CanvaA year ago, the parents asked Sunny if he wanted to change his name to something “more adult” to spare him the expense of changing the name on his diploma when he graduates college. But Sunny wouldn’t budge. “I was like, ‘Oh, I guess if people want that, it makes sense.’ Then I said, ‘It must suck to hate your name.’Six months ago, Sunny’s parents said he looked a lot like a “James” and asked if he liked the name Luke. Three months ago, they tried again and presented him with 3 new name options, and he declined to make the change. “They said they feel like they named me as a big f*** you to their families but felt bad that I had such an unserious name for a man. I told them I didn't want to change my name and I always loved the way they talked about finding my name,” Sunny wrote.It’s interesting to note that the parent's final appeal to Sunny was as much about their own feelings as his. “They said they really didn't want to live with the guilt,” Sunny wrote. “I told them how I feel about my name is more important now. They told me I should at least think of their feelings and that I should consider the future and whether I'll be taken seriously.” A teen fights with his parents to keep his name.via CanvaSo, is Sunny wrong for refusing to change his name to appease his parents and possibly make his professional life less challenging? The commenters on the post overwhelmingly supported Sunny for standing strong and keeping his name.“Sonny or Sunny, regardless how you spell it is a perfectly normal name for a male. An identity is intertwined with a name and it's hard to separate the two. You, and you alone, are the person that should decide if you want to change your name,” Naisfurious wrote. “It sounds like your parents are more concerned about their feelings regarding your name than your feelings. that name is yours, you're your own person, and if you don't want to change your name because you like it, then don't. those are their feelings to live with, and putting them on you as a child is unfair and weird. I also have a weather name and I still love it, and i'm almost thirty. More power to you!” Anxious-Nobody-4966 added.Because Sunny isn’t an adult, there is a slight chance that his parents could change his name without his consent. Some commenters said Sunny should take a firm stand and let his parents know there will be consequences for pushing too hard on this issue.“Make it clear to your parents that if they were to do that there would be serious long term consequences for your relationship and that you will NEVER answer to or acknowledge that name under any circumstances and will have your name changed back the day you turn 18,” CelticMusebooks wrote. “Let them know the harder they push, the more stubborn you’ll be and if they don’t watch out, their grandson is going to be sunny jr. Whether you actually have a jr. is up to you, but it might help shut them up for now,” RezCuong added.Ultimately, Sunny only has 2 more years left to fend off his parents and keep his name. The post he made on Reddit received over 2,000 comments from people who have his back, so it has to have given him the shot in the arm he needs to keep standing firm. This post is a great example of people pulling hard for someone to lean into positivity instead of settling for a boring name that looks good on a resume.