Macy Avis, a 9th-grader with Down Syndrome, had a reaction to receiving a birthday party invite that was so pure and joyous that it quickly went viral on Instagram. Heather Avis, Macy’s mom, wrote in the video’s caption that she could “count on one hand the amount of birthday parties” that Macy had been invited to throughout her childhood. Understandably, when a friend from Macy’s life skills program handed her an invitation, her joy was “palpable.” “To me it spoke of a longing fulfilled. All I could do was laugh with her and then cry as I celebrated with her,” Avis wrote. In the video, we hear the proud mom say, “You got invited to a birthday party?” followed by absolute squeals of delight from Macy. Watch: See on Instagram Macy and her mom weren’t the only ones feeling celebratory. So many viewers chimed in to share their own joy at the news, and offer some encouragement. “Thank you for sharing this wonderful moment with us! I got goosebumps listening to the glee in Macy’s voice. I am so incredibly happy for her and can’t wait to hear all about the amazing time she’s bound to have!” one person wrote. Another declared, “This is the best thing on the whole internet."The birthday party invite is the result of Avis’s “fight” to find inclusive spaces for her daughter, a journey she noted has “only just begun” in a pinned Instagram post. Avis explained up until recently how Macy was in general education, where they had experienced some “amazing inclusive classrooms,” but still overall “felt a longing for belonging.” This led Macy to joining a life skills program with other disabled students, where she has been able to nurture a solid community—complete with birthday invitations.As for how that party went, this follow-up video speaks for itself: See on Instagram Along with celebrating Macy’s victory, Avis used the moment to note that “the party was inclusive not because a student in the general education program invited Macy, but because a person with an intellectual disability invited both disabled and non-disabled individuals. It was inclusive because people like Macy and the young man we were celebrating, who are often excluded, truly understand how to include others. Let’s reflect on that for a moment!”While it’s important that students with Down Syndrome are placed in environments with the resources they need, not including them into the general community doesn’t help break through the stigma they regularly face—including being treated as children even when they are adults, or assuming they are entirely dependent. This was an issue recently tackled in the “Assume I Can” ad starring Madison Tevlin.Moreover, Avis added that prioritizing diversity and inclusion offers the “beautiful gift” of “recognizing our shared humanity” among those who might at first seem different from us. That’s why she continues advocating for both her daughter and the Down Syndrome community through her The Lucky Few Foundation and podcast.

Most episodes of “Saturday Night Live” are scheduled so the funnier bits go first and the riskier, oddball sketches appear towards the end, in case they have to be cut for time. But on the February 4 episode featuring host Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian,” “The Last of Us”), the final sketch, “Lisa from Temecula,” was probably the most memorable of the night.That’s high praise because it was a strong episode, with a funny “Last of Us” parody featuring the Super Mario Brothers and a sketch where Pascal played a protective mother.In “Lisa from Temecula,” Paul, played by Pascal, takes a few friends out for dinner, played by Punkie Johnson, newcomer Molly Kearney and breakout star Bowen Yang. The trouble comes when Johnson’s sister Lisa, played by Ego Nwodim, orders her steak “extra, extra well done.”The sketch is a play on the notion that it’s a faux pas to order well-done steak, especially in a fancy restaurant. However, Lisa doesn’t care and won’t tolerate “one speck of red” on her steak.The sketch is one of the rare moments on “SNL” where things are so funny that the cast breaks character. Pascal has difficulty getting through his lines and Yang has to cover his face because he can’t stop laughing. But Nwodim only has one small break in the scene and keeps it together as the sketch’s comedy core.“Lisa from Temecula” got a lot of attention on social media and Nwodim later thanked the sketch’s writers Alex English, Gary Richardson and Michael Che. \u201cwe have @alex3nglish + Gary Richardson and Che to thank for Lisa. love them 4Life.\u201d — Ego Nwodim (@Ego Nwodim) 1675645093 This article originally appeared on 2.6.23

It's not a secret that nearly all golden retrievers are identical. Honestly, magic has to be involved for owners to know which one belongs to them when more than one golden retriever is around. Seriously, how do they all seem have the same face? It's like someone fell asleep on the copy machine when they were being created.Outside of collars, harnesses and bandanas, immediately identifying the dog that belongs to you has to be a secret skill because at first glance, their personalities are also super similar. That's why it's not surprising when one family dropped off their sweet golden pooch at daycare and to be groomed, they didn't notice the daycare sent out the wrong dog.See, not even their human parents can tell them apart because when the swapped dog got home, nothing seemed odd to the owners at first. She was freshly groomed so any small differences were quickly brushed off. But this accidental doppelgänger wasn't fooling her feline siblings. Once the dog was in their house, they noticed that their cats started behaving strangely towards their canine sibling. The cats started attacking the dog, likely trying to get it to tell them what they did with their real dog sister. Cat slaps and a house full of strange people didn't dampen the imposter's spirit though, in fact, that's what helped reveal the switcharoo. This dog kept handing out face kisses and had no interest in seeing her favorite neighbor. After putting all of those things together, the owners decided to hightail it to the vet's office to scan the dog's microchip. Alas, they indeed had the wrong dog. "We just never even thought that that would happen, and of course we thought we would know right? Like we're her parents, we would know something was wrong, we would know right off the bat that it wasn't Emmy," Kebby Kelley told Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul. Seems both golden retrievers got to go on a really strange adventure that deserves a lifetime of delicious dog treats for the confusion. See both sweet pups below:This article originally appeared on 9.21.23

Americans everywhere are dealing with subscription fatigue. A report by the financial experts at the Motley Fool found that 57% of respondents to their survey believe they are overpaying for subscriptions and 40% say they have too many. The worst part is checking your bank account and find you’re being charged for a subscription or service that you don’t even use. A fast way to cut back on your subscription payments is to unsubscribe to services on your phone. Content strategist Marvelle Reed, aka the “Marketing Misfit,” recently shared a video on TikTok explaining how to see what you’ve subscribed to on your iPhone and cancel the services you don’t need."If you've got a bunch of charges coming from Apple that you don't know where they came from or you don't know why they still trying to charge you and you want to cancel all them checks, this is what you do," Reed opens the video.#greenscreenvideo #greenscreen @marketingmarvy #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen 1. Go to "Settings” on your device2. Click on your profile3. Go to "Media and Purchases"4. Click on "View Account"5. Scroll down to "Purchase History"6. Review all of your charges and turn off subscriptions you no longer wantThe video was a big help to those who discovered they were being charged for services they didn’t need. "You are sent from heaven!!! The way I was just talking about all the random charges on my credit card that I can’t keep up with. Thank you, my friend!!" Summertime wrote. "Thanks for this. There were two charges for an app that I canceled," Aailyahalexis added.Reed’s post is also a great reminder for everyone, even if they don’t have an iPhone, to check their bank account once a month for unnecessary services or subscriptions and those that may have raised their prices. In a world where an increasing number of services are on a subscription model, staying one step ahead of unnecessary charges is a big part of staying financially fit. 1. Go to "Settings” on your device2. Click on your profile3. Go to "Media and Purchases"4. Click on "View Account"5. Scroll down to "Purchase History"6. Review all of your charges and turn off subscriptions you no longer want The video was a big help to those who were being charged for services they don’t need. "You are sent from heaven!!! The way I was just talking about all the random charges on my credit card that I can’t keep up with. Thank you, my friend!!" Summertime wrote. Thanks for this. There were two charges for an app that I canceled," Aailyahalexis added. Reed’s post is also a great reminder for everyone, even if they don’t have an iPhone, to check their bank account once a month for services they didn’t know they were paying for or subscriptions that may have raised their prices. In a world where an increasing number of services are on a subscription model, staying one step ahead of unnecessary charges is a big aprt of financial fitness.

There are some people who actually enjoy cleaning, but it’s fairly safe to say that most people don’t. Most of us like things to be clean, but we don’t necessarily like the actual cleaning part it takes to get there. Not everyone can afford to hire professional cleaners, so we’re stuck doing the cleaning chores ourselves—the normal everyday housekeeping as well as the seasonal/occasional deep clean. Some of us were trained by our families to do it, while other people have to learn on their own. For the latter folks, crowdsourcing some tips for making the cleaning process go more smoothly with less effort is a great way to make it less daunting. Someone on Reddit asked people to share their best hacks when deep cleaning the house, and more than 1,000 responses yielded some best practices worth trying out. Here are people’s most popular cleaning hacks:Declutter, declutter, declutterThe more stuff you have to clean, the more cleaning you have to do. That may sound obvious, but it’s not something we necessarily think about when we’re looking at our belongings we’ve either become attached to or have mindlessly collected over the years. So the first step in deep cleaning is to get rid of things we don’t actually use or want anymore. You don’t have to become a total minimalist, but less is more when it comes to keeping a space clean. “Declutter, declutter, declutter. Having fewer things to collect dust makes general cleaning so much easier, let alone the awful stuff like vents or behind heavy appliances.” – WassupSassySquatch“Definitely. I realised when I treated us to a one off cleaner after 4 years of having kids that I spent the whole day prior decluttering and tidying so they could clean most efficiently. Well, if it was always that tidy or empty we could deep clean every week without overwhelm. So, it's the stuff. Moving the stuff before you can even clean.” – aga8833Carry Hefty bags as you goAs an addendum to the "declutter" advice, have bags on hand for donating and for throwing away. Be ruthless about your belongings. Most people have too much stuff and hold onto things they'll never use because they think they might someday or because they don't feel like it's worth throwing away. If you don't have bags to put them in, you definitely won't move past those lines of thinking, so keep them with you as you clean and use them liberally. "Lots of hefty bags and don’t be precious- throw it all away/ donate it." – trou_bucket_list"Don't hold on to junk that you never use, because you don't want to create waste by throwing it out. It's already waste, it just lives in your house instead of a landfill. Donate it if you can, sure, but sometimes it's easier to just throw it away and give yourself grace for it." – happypolychaetesOne room at a time, from the top down Cleaning one room at a time breaks the whole house into smaller parts, which makes it seem less overwhelming. And starting from the top down means you clean any dust or debris that falls as you go, ending with the floor so nothing gets left behind. “Top down. One room at a time. Pace yourself.” – Straight_Calendar_15“If you clean the counters first, you don’t have to worry about messing up the floor since you’re saving it for the end. If you clean the floor first, you could end up dirtying it again as you clean the counters.” – o_in25Wear a headlamp Headlamps aren’t just for camping or spelunking—they can be super handy for cleaning as well. Even in a lit room, there are nooks and crannies in bookshelves and corners where you can’t see dirt, dust or cobwebs unless you shine a light on them. Why bother if you can’t see it normally anyway? Because dust can create a mild, stale odor that keeps your house from smelling fresh. This hack may not save you time or energy, but it will make the end result far more satisfying. “Clean wearing a head torch - if it looks good under such good light, it'll look sh*t hot under normal lighting. It's great for finding cobwebs on walls / ceilings too as they throw an obvious shadow.” – Dougalface“I’ve done this while cleaning inside my car. I kept cleaning and cleaning and it still looked dusty and awful so I gave up. When I came back the next day under normal lighting it looked brand new again.” – Potatobender44Pump up the jams…or ‘Hoarders’Yes, cleaning is a chore but that doesn't mean it can't be fun and energizing. Turning on some of your favorite music, whether that's upbeat dance tunes, powerful symphonies or fun fiddle music, can make cleaning a whole lot more enjoyable. Turn it up loud to drown out any grumbling thoughts and get moving. Alternatively, put on episodes of the television show “Hoarders,” which can be a great motivator, especially during the decluttering part. “Listen to music while you do it (earbuds or headphones while vacuuming).” – SRB112“This is a little strange but I like to put on runway show music in the background when I clean, usually its super long and kinda questionable energetic music so you can do 25 minutes of cleaning and feel like a supermodel all in one. (balenciaga has some good soundtracks imo love or hate the brand)” – NickyThePerson“I play a hoarders marathon in the background while cleaning…” – Last_Sundae_6894“Put Hoarders on the TV while you clean. I stg within 10 minutes I'm ready to throw everything away.” – HalbbitterHappy cleaning, everyone!

A Louisiana student has beaten the odds and graduated high school at the top of his class while living in a homeless shelter. Source: Student who lived in homeless shelter during high school graduates as valedictorian Very impressive.

The start of his political mind. The post The “genius” song Bono was embarrassed to play: “That’s a tattoo” first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

The record they refused to play. The post The Steely Dan album Donald Fagen calls a “piece of shit” first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

Coming together for the music. The post ‘The Dance’: The song that brought Fleetwood Mac back together first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

Pointing the way to the West Coast. The post The three artists that made Glenn Frey want to be a musician: “The pioneers” first appeared on Far Out Magazine.