he Supreme Court on Friday temporarily kept on the job the head of the federal agency that protects government whistleblowers, in its first word on the many legal fights over President Donald Trump's second-term agenda.The justices said in an unsigned order that Hampton...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The following article, Social Media Platforms Are Beginning To Embrace And AMPLIFY Calls For Violent Revolution Against Trump, was first published on Conservative…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The following article, Social Media Platforms Are Beginning To Embrace And AMPLIFY Calls For Violent Revolution Against Trump, was first published on Conservative…

EFF does a lot of things, including impact litigation, legislative lobbying, and technology development, all to fight for your civil liberties in the digital age. With litigation, we directly represent…

Nearly everyone has their own version of a "Roman Empire." It's the thing you think about at different points in your day often for no connected reason. You have amassed a lot of information on this random topic and could probably talk about it for hours. Many people's "Roman Empire" is the literal Roman Empire, which is where the phrase came from after someone claimed that a lot of men think about the collapse of the Roman Empire unprompted throughout the week. A teacher who goes by the moniker of Miss Redacted on social media recently shared about her own "Roman Empire" and it was quite surprising. The teacher teaches high school students and has made an observation about her students' physical development when it comes to fine motor skills and being able to sit in chairs for longer periods of time. But what sparked the conversation about the importance of play for physical development and subsequent academic success is a video by a preschool teacher, Miss Redacted shares. School Teacher GIF by Sesame Street Giphy "They teach preschool and they were talking about how the kids like, literally can't do anything. They can't hold a pencil for long periods of time, they can't play with play dough, they can't color, they can't spray a spritz bottle and my Roman Empire is the connection between physical development through play and academics," the teacher says. Miss Redacted reveals that she currently teaches U.S. History to eleventh graders but before she started teaching high school, she also worked with Early Headstart, a program geared towards child development for low income families. "I feel like because that's been my experience, I really view child development from an interesting perspective and I'm able to make a lot of connections between younger kids and older kids and why they are the way they are, and why they do things that they do," she reveals before explaining further that kids have been evaluated heavily using standardized testing which means play is being "ripped out of schools." Playing Season 3 GIF by The Simpsons Giphy Miss Redacted explains that this isn't just happening in elementary schools, but preschools as well. In some of the schools she has spoken with, elementary students are only given recess for 20-30 minutes once or twice a week. The rest of the week they are expected to be in class as recess is seen as part of "specials" like library or art. It's not always something students are given on a daily basis as some schools believe it's taking away from valuable educational instruction time. Of course children play outside of school, but school recess equipment is designed specifically for gross motor development and meets the additional recommendations by the CDC about child activity levels. The Center for Disease Control recommends that children between the ages of 6-17 have moderate to vigorous activity for at least 60 minutes a day with a mixture of aerobic, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening activities. While some kids may be meeting or exceeding this recommended level of activity with sports outside of school, others may not be due to the increase of screen time in young children. @awalmartparkinglot ♬ original sound - miss redacted✨???? This teacher sees the difference in her high schoolers when they have not had the proper amount of physical activity as children saying, "When I see my high school students, I can see the impact of that. A lot of my high school students still hold their pencils like this," she says while demonstrating a fist hold on a pencil. "And I want to make it clear, I don't want this to come across as body shaming at all, I do not care what you look like but I've noticed a lot of my high schoolers do not have physical strength and stamina."Miss Redacted further explains that fine motor strength is built first by having core strength which is built up through play, "So if you were not playing that much as a child, you're either on an iPad or you're doing standardized testing, or like those weird modules they make them do now. If all your time is being spent on technology and not physical play, you're not lifting yourself, you're not pulling things, you're not crawling, you're not building that core strength so then it's also hard for you to build that fine motor strength." kid childhood GIF Giphy Before electronics replaced typical childhood play, fine motor skills were refined by playing with small items, whether it was making friendship bracelets, putting puzzles together, playing with Polly Pockets or Play-Doh. Miss Redacted shares that even her AP U.S. History kids have a hard time holding their pencils and sitting upright for longer periods of time without their hands becoming too fatigued for them to even be able to finish their required essays during AP exams. The teacher laments, "me as a history teacher should not have to do strength training to get you to be able to pass your test but I don't know. It's like so my Roman Empire. I think that, that is one thing that's a really big problem in education, is that people don't realize how much the brain and the body are connected."

When a woman becomes pregnant, her whole life gets turned upside down. She can't drink alcohol or use THC or, in some cases, even have caffeinated coffee anymore. Her body changes size and shape rapidly. She'll feel exhausted and nauseous much of the time. And she has to eat enough food to feed an extra person, take vitamins every day, and be poked and prodded by her OB around 20-some odd times over the span of her pregnancy. It's a lot to go through, all to make sure the baby is as healthy as possible.Dads, by comparison, get off pretty easy. After the whole conception part, their main job is just to support mom and make sure she has everything she needs. It can be a lot of late night Taco Bell runs, but otherwise, it's a pretty chill job until the baby arrives.One husband recently went viral when he advocated for a more hands-on, and some say extreme, approach from dads well before they even start trying for a baby with their partner."Men should have to spend nine months getting in the best physical shape of their lives before having a baby," Hunter Leppard tells his wife Maya in a TikTok video.He goes on to note that several elements of pregnancy, and potential complications, are tied to the father's sperm health.The science backs him up on most of this. Pre-eclampsia, for example, may be tied to faulty sperm. The father's sperm also play a role in the development of a healthy placenta that can deliver oxygen and nutrients to the developing baby. Who knew!"So if you're going to spend nine months following all of these rules while building a baby inside of you, then I can spend the nine months prior to that not drinking alcohol, limiting caffeine. I'll get blood work, I'll have three healthy meals a day. I will be in the best physical shape of my life prior to you getting pregnant, for the betterment of you and your pregnancy and our baby. It's common sense."Watch Hunter's full passionate plea here: @maya.and.hunter it’s common sense he fears I have two kids and I don't think anyone has ever talked to me once about sperm health and how it affects pregnancy.Why are we not having a bigger conversation about this? Why is the onus of maintaining a "healthy" pregnancy completely laid at women's feet? They have enough to deal with!Commenters on the now viral video had the same thought:"Why aren’t we TAUGHT THIS! It’s so obvious I should know but never heard it said until Tik Tok of all things!" one user wrote."Why is nobody talking about this?" asked another.Some women chimed in to say that their own partners did this already, and they were grateful for it:"My husband quit smoking, limited caffeine, and drank more water then also abstained during the entirety of my pregnancy, it's empathy, and compassion.""Yes! ? Some men actually do the work. My husband lost 30lbs, and prioritized eating healthy and specific fruits to ensure I’d have a healthy pregnancy after we had a miscarriage before our daughter.""My husband stopped smoking, drinking, and started eating really healthy before we started trying. My pregnancy has been pretty dang smooth!""My husband actually cut out caffeine, beer, and ate healthier in order for us to get pregnant this last time.. I’m now 4 months pregnant with the boy we’ve been wanting and my pregnancy is much easier than the first two!"It's truly amazing that sperm health can impact "embryo development and implantation, the risk of miscarriage, the likelihood of pregnancy complications, birth weight and overall fetal health, and the inheritance of certain genetic mutations," according to a Yahoo Life article. And all it took for us to learn about it was a viral TikTok. Giphy Knowing, as GI Joe says, is half the battle. The other half is actually getting guys to follow through on this knowledge. Sadly, it's not a given that they will. Men are notoriously cranky about wearing condoms and, as a group, prefer women to be the ones responsible for birth control. There might be a male birth control pill one day, and surveys show guys would be up for it, but... we'll see. Likewise, pregnancy has always been viewed as something that women do and go through, so adjusting that programming could take a little work.Hopefully we can get to the point where men taking a proactive approach to pre-pregnancy is a standard practice. And no, you don't need to spend nine whole months becoming an ultra-marathoner with chiseled abs. But regular exercise, reducing caffeine and alcohol, and eating a diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, will go a long way toward healthier sperm and a healthier pregnancy. That's not so bad, am I right guys?