Did you know that littering is bad? Of course you did! We all do. But people still do it every day on an incalculable scale, and it might have something to do with the fact that we rarely stop to think about why littering is actually so bad for the Earth. Sure, it looks gross, but does it actually hurt anything?The answer is, of course, Yes. Chemicals and microplastics in pieces of trash don't just stay there, they inevitably make their way into our soil, into our waterways, and even into our food. It can also spread disease and kill wildlife. Look, I get it. Pollution is an overwhelming idea. When you see giant piles of garbage covering the streets, and you think how big the world is, it feels like there's no way to make a difference. Is picking up one piece of trash going to matter? How about ten? A hundred? A million?This is the exact question behind one 30-year-old woman's quest to make a difference. Emily started a campaign called Million Little Pieces, and is documenting her journey on TikTok as she works to pick up one million individual pieces of litter. It sounds like a lofty and impossible goal, but as of this writing, she's already well over 200,000 and counting.In January of 2024, Emily was in a car crash that left her with a spine injury. She wanted to get in better shape after and began walking as part of her rehab, but as she walked, she noticed just a ton of garbage everywhere she went. She was disheartened to say the least. That's where Emily came up with the idea to pick up all the litter she could find along the way, ultimately settling on a goal of one million pieces.In one recent video, she hits 217,286 after 233 straight days of picking up trash. The dedication is absolutely amazing to watch! @millionlittlepieces 12/21/24 Day 233 of collecting one million pieces of #litter. Daily total: 753 Grand total: 217,668 Follow me please ??‍♀️ Go check out StopLittering.com and use my code 0efg9b4Z ??? #earthdayeveryday #cleantheworld #fightpollution #bethechangeyouwishtosee #millionlittlepieces #millionactsoflove #millionchallenge #cleaningchallenge #litter #trash #rubbish #waste #globalmovement #bekindtotheworld #onepieceatatime #landfills #recycle #dobetter #mothernature #theworldisdying #christmas #newyear #thankyou Sadly, litter is easy to find for Emily and the Million Little Pieces project. She finds anywhere from 500 to 2000 or more pieces a day just on walks through local parks and neighborhoods.The worst offenders are aluminum cans and, not surprisingly, cigarette butts — which just so happen to be one of the most destructive forms of littering aroundNot everything she finds is trash, however! Outside of obviously recyclable items, she finds lots of things that can be washed or otherwise cleaned up and donated, like old clothing and sports equipment. She finds tons of tennis balls and hands them over to a local dog shelter.And, of course, there's the money! (Though it takes a while to add up. By day 100 she'd found a total of around five dollars.) @millionlittlepieces Replying to @swagballs69 I literally found a quarter right after filming this video ? 100 days of picking up trash, 102,709 pieces collected, $5.49 found! #cleantheplanet #quitlitterin #stoplittering #cleaning #recycle #earthdayeveryday #nature #parks #florida #trash #garbage #environment #litteringistrashy #fypage #fyp #cleantok #treasure One of the best things to come out of the Million Little Pieces project, besides a cleaner planet, is the way it's inspiring others.Commenters mention constantly how much they admire the work Emily is doing, and so many of them have begun picking up trash in their own neighborhoods. She even encourages people to send in their own counts for a little competition! Emily also offers tips for how to get started for people who are interested in following her lead."I love this! I just bought a grabber," wrote one commenter on an early video.Viewers who can't help themselves will cheer Emily on, donate to her cause, or buy her new litter-picking gear from her Amazon wishlist.They say one of the main reasons people litter is because there's already litter present in the area. What can it hurt to toss a cup or a cigarette butt onto an already substantial pile of trash?That's not the kind of thinking we need. If you've ever heard of the Shopping Cart Theory, it states that whether you return your shopping cart to the proper area is a good judge of your integrity. It takes effort to do and you gain nothing personally by doing it, and there are also no consequences for not doing it. So the question is, do you care about the next person that comes along, do you care about the community? Emily likens littering to the shopping cart conundrum. You don't have to spend an entire year picking up hundreds of thousands of pieces of trash, all you really have to do to make a difference is walk the extra couple of steps to find a trash can, recycling bin, or ash tray. After watching Emily's videos, you'll definitely be inspired to put in the extra effort!

Dale Carnegie famously quipped in his 1936 book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," “Remember that a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” This adage is proven true whenever someone mispronounces someone's name, creating an uncomfortable but often hilarious situation. An English woman named Tabitha, who goes by Tabby, shared a funny story recently where someone got mad at her mother because, with her thick accent, she sounded like she was calling her daughter “Tubby,” which would be a terrible thing for a mom to do. So, Tabby asked other people to share their funny stories of having their name (or their dog’s) mispronounced. The stories are funny, but they’re also a reminder that from time to time, just about all of us can screw up somebody’s name and that it’s ok to laugh it off if yours is the one that gets mangled. But you still have to wonder what some of these people had stuck in their ears to mishear a name so badly. Here are 17 of the funniest times someone mispronounced a name.1. Heather"Ordered a pizza in French from a small local restaurant here in Quebec, I have a very difficult name for francophones to pronounce and I guess it wasn't clear over the phone. When I went to pick up and asked for the pizza for 'Heather' the lady was like OHHHH, HEATHER!! and handed me a pizza with 'Gisèle??' written on the box."2. Ham-Butt the Dog"I met a friendly couple and their friendly dogs. I asked for the dogs' names. The poodle was Toby, the french bulldog was Ham-Butt. I was delighted. This is the best name for a French bulldog ever. My wife walked up as I was petting these puppos. I was still riding high on the glory of such a perfectly matched name. I said: 'Babe babe babe, meet these dogs! This is Toby and this....(pause for dramatic effect) is Ham-Butt.' My wife was delighted. The friendly couple frowned in a confused way and then said: 'His name is Hamlet.' I was very disappointed."3. Hor-rible"My last name starts with the syllable 'Hor-'. One of the doctors I work with is an older Indian woman and likes to call people she considers friends by their last name. She was working with a resident and needed help so she literally just shouted 'WHORE' across the lab. The resident was mortified, but the boys in high school definitely said worse, so I just laughed."4. Patty"My mom’s name is Patricia and she has always been called Patty. When she was young, her and her family (including 3 older siblings) traveled to French Canada. A woman raved about how beautiful her name was 'Oh Potty, what a beautiful name!' My mom is now 64 and still gets called Potty every now and then."5. Kevin"I have a friend named Kevin. He and I went to lunch in a food court near work once, and they asked his name. When he told her, the lady taking his order responded 'that's a beautiful name!' His reaction was '..thanks?' and we kinda laughed it off. I mean, it's a common enough name, and it's not exactly what I'd consider 'beautiful.' Then we got his food and she had written his name as 'Heaven.'"6. Daisy"A nurse asked what our baby’s name was at her first doctor's appointment, and we said, Daisy. English is her second language and maybe she wasn’t expecting this name, but she looked a little shocked and asked us how to spell it. Soon, we realized she thought we said Jaisy... or maybe Jay-Z? I give her credit for not looking more horrified that we named our daughter Jay-Z."7. Another great dog story"I have a dog one: We are fostering a boy named Ranger...my 92-year-old grandma thinks his name is Reindeer."8. Felicity"Not an accent thing, but more like a pronunciation/not listening thing: but my daughter’s name is Felicity (pronounced exactly as Felicity is pronounced lol) and I have had people give me weird weird looks and go 'Velocity?' 'Facility?' 'Fallacy?' Here I thought I picked a totally normal, easy to say and spell name.... and now my daughter is stuck being called Velocity lol."9. Fox"My firstborn child turned 2 just two weeks before her little brother was born, so her enunciation wasn’t that great yet. We named the baby Fox. For a solid 6 months it sounded like my daughter was calling my son F!ck. 'Oh, f!ck! You’re awake!' 'I love baby f!ck!' Yep."10. Rebecca"I used to work for a hearing aid center, so I mostly spoke to old and hard-of-hearing people. I was always careful with the volume, speed, and pitch of my voice. We had this one sweet old lady client. I would call and say 'Hi, this is Rebecca from calling to confirm your appointment.' She’d reply “Oh, hi, Beatrice! I’ll be there!” I never bothered to correct her, mostly because it was cute and didn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Until one day, my coworker asked why she kept calling me Beatrice. The poor woman was embarrassed and didn’t know how she’d gotten my name so wrong! She’d never even known a Beatrice!"11. Naughty Maureen"I have a super nasal voice. At Starbucks, when I’ve said my name is Maureen, I’ve heard 'Morning,' 'Maury,' but once.... the dude had me repeat like 12 times and seemed to struggle writing it. He had written 'Horny.'"12. Oh no, Annie"It sounds contrived, but I swear this is exactly how it went down. My sixth-grade math teacher had a habit of calling students by the first letter of their name, followed by the first syllable of their last name. For instance, Kaiden Jackson would be K Jack, or Bailey Wellington would be B Well. No idea why he did it, but that was the nickname he'd use every once in a while to refer to any one of us. I've changed her name slightly, but it still works. He used this nickname technique on Annie Holsgrove. Yeah. He called an 11-year-old a-hole."13. Jamorphus"My husband and I have been around so many unique and uncommon names that nothing really phases us. So we never even thought about it when he had an appointment with 'Jamorphus.' They talked on the phone a few times, and he always asked for Jamorphus, and then eventually, they met, and he gave me the paperwork after, and I saw it was 'Joseph (Joe) Morfis' (not real spelling or anything). But we still laugh about it, and it's been like 10 years."14. Clark"My sweet brother Clark had a minor speech impediment as a kid. It resulted in lots of people thinking his name was 'Clock.' He still enunciates his name extremely carefully to make sure people don’t think he’s named after a timepiece."15. Kyana"Hi, I'm Kyana. Literally everyone: nice to meet you, Rihanna And this is why I hate Rihanna. I also get kenya a lot( really don't understand that one). Absolute favorite. Old lady at work can never remember my name and will literally call me anything with a k. One time she needed me and I let her loudly yell for Kahlua 4 times across the room before I asked her who she was trying to talk to."16. Dennis on tap"My ex-boyfriend ordered a pizza over the phone. When we got to the place to pick up the pizza, there was much confusion over our order. Finally, we got our food. The name they put on the box was 'Guiness.' My boyfriend's name is Dennis."17. Tobi"Freshman year of college I was going by Tobi, a name I no longer use. Ordered lunch at the on-campus diner, and the dude taking orders misheard and wrote 'Doobie' on the ticket. Yes, like that kind of Doobie.... The lady calling orders wouldn't even say it. I watched her look at the ticket, sigh very deeply, and call the order number instead. Walked up laughing and the first thing she said was, 'You're name's not Doobie, right? Please tell me it's not f*cking Doobie.' She was very relieved to learn that it wasn't."

One of the fun parts of buying a lottery ticket is walking out of the liquor store and fantasizing about what you'd do with the winnings. Where would I buy a home with an extra $20 million? To which charities would I donate some of the money? Which friends would I tell I won, and which family members would I keep in the dark? Studies show that lottery winners experience greater life satisfaction after winning. However, not everyone is equipped to deal with a massive windfall. Around 33% of lottery winners file for bankruptcy 3 to 5 years after their windfall because they overspend their fortune. Jayden Clarke, who lives in Los Angeles but was originally from Australia, admitted that he came from a family that won the lottery “over a decade ago” when he was 12 years old in a viral TikTok video. “Today, I’m going to do a storytime on how we won the lottery. I had obvious reasons to never speak about this because growing up, whenever anyone did know about it, they definitely had crazy perceptions of us immediately,” Clark begins his video. @jaydenclark21 We won the lottery… a decade ago #storytime #lottery #lotto #storytimevideos #growingup #lotterywinner #family #realitytv #winning #poortorich #gambletok The main point was to share that, of course, there are upsides to being in a family that has won millions of dollars; however, some unexpected discomfort creeps into one's life as well. “Even though we grew up still very structured in a way that if we wanted something, we had to have a reason to get it or work towards it in a way, I feel like the experience of winning the lottery makes you feel you have no option to be a normal person,” Clarke admits. Clarke grew up in a lower-middle-class family struggling to keep their house. After winning the lottery, they moved into an affluent neighborhood with wealthy doctors and priests. However, they didn’t feel comfortable in their new digs and also felt uneasy in the neighborhood they left. "Growing up, at least in Australia, it felt like when I did become aware of it, we would always make it very clear that we didn't deserve it because we didn't work hard,” Clarke said. “Even growing up we had the most beautiful house, like it was a blueprint for a reality show. Very often, we'd feel out of place between these two realities and just not fitting in anywhere." He says that his family felt like the “Bogan” lottery family. For the unfamiliar, Bogan is a rude Aussie slang term to refer to boorish, lower-class people. Due to the family’s guilt about their sudden, possibly undeserved wealth, they were very generous with family and friends. Unlike some lottery winners that blow all their money and then some, the Clarke family was smart with their winnings and is still “comfortable.” Clarke now lives in Los Angeles, where he feels he fits in much better than he did back in Australia. “Not until I came to LA did I feel like I belong and like it was normal,” he said. “Because there's so many crazy people here with crazy lives and realities and journeys. Back home, I often felt like like an outcast.” Ultimately, Clarke is happy that his family won the lottery, and he’s slowly learned to come to grips with his incredible stroke of luck. “I'm still to this day grateful for how it happened to our family and how it changed our lives. My relationship with the whole like experience is very different now to growing up cause growing up, I did feel like I had to hide it.”

The spiritual side of the Fabs. The post How many number one singles did George Harrison have? first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

The past couple of weeks have been really, really strange.  On New Year’s Eve, four of the most iconic buildings in the entire country were all hit by lightning.  In our political capital, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol were hit.  In our financial capital, the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center were hit.  Subsequently, there were terror attack in New Orleans and Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.  And now here we are a week later, and our entertainment capital is being absolutely devastated by fire. In some areas of Los Angeles, it literally looks like a nuclear weapon exploded.  Some of the most iconic locations in the Los Angeles area have been wiped out, and even Hollywood Boulevard is being evacuated… Hollywood Boulevard has been evacuated with 100,000 people told to flee with six wildfires raging as the apocalyptic skies of Los Angeles continue to fill with smoke. Two new blazes broke out overnight in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City – forcing first responders to redeploy their already-scarce resources to the burnt landscape. The National Guard has been deployed and could send in military personnel to assist, amid revelations that heroic firefighters are ‘triaging’ homes and neighborhoods. One of the new fires that has erupted is located just west of the world famous “Hollywood” sign… A new fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills near the “Hollywood” sign Wednesday evening. There is a mandatory evacuation for Runyon Canyon and the Hollywood Hills. The new fire dubbed “The Sunset Fire” came out of nowhere and exploded. Hopefully they will be able to get these new fires under control very quickly. Sadly, large numbers of expensive homes have already been lost, and this includes the homes of many big names in the entertainment industry… By the afternoon, the Santa Ana wind-fueled fire had claimed the homes of more than half a dozen A-listers in the community perched above the Pacific ocean: Billy Crystal, Anna Faris, John Goodman, Anthony Hopkins, Eugene Levy and Miles Teller all lost homes there, according to social media posts and reporting by Page Six. The Palisades home of Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, who walked the Golden Globes carpet together on Sunday, also burned down. People Magazine has published a list of 47 major celebrities that have lost their homes so far. We have seen homes owned by celebrities get burned down in past fires, but we have never seen so many get burned down all at once. Unfortunately, many of those celebrities will be joining countless others in the exact same uninsured boat.  In 2024, large insurance companies ruthlessly terminated the policies of tens of thousands of California homeowners… In 2024 Liberty Mutual and State Farm, two of the largest insurers in the country, told nearly 50,000 homeowners in the Golden State – some of whom were in high risk areas – that their fire insurance would be terminated in a bid to prevent ‘financial failure’. At least 1,600 people in the affluent neighborhood of the Pacific Palisades – the hardest hit area of the fires – lost coverage when State Farm pulled out in April. Furious residents are now publicly sounding off at insurance companies in the wake of the deadly blazes, with one local nurse slamming insurers for failing to renew the policy for her elderly parents. What a nightmare. Will the federal government come riding to the rescue? On Thursday, it was being reported that the Biden administration has decided to cover 100 percent of the costs for “the initial disaster response”… President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the federal government would cover 100% of costs for the initial disaster response to the Los Angeles wildfires. Meeting with federal officials at the White House, Biden said the funds would go toward debris removal, temporary shelters, salaries for first responders and more for 180 days. Biden said he emphasized to California officials they should “spare no expense to do what they need to do.” As I discussed in a previous article, the total economic damage from these fires could be in the neighborhood of 50 billion dollars. It will take years to recover, and Los Angeles will never look the same after this. So precisely what will “rebuilding” look like in Los Angeles? Prior to these fires, officials were planning to transform Los Angeles into a “smart city” by 2028… Visitors for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics will find a transformational digital Olympic experience from the moment they arrive. Passing through LAX airport’s completely renovated terminals, they can use the new automated people mover to select between light rail airport connections, rideshare, or taxi transportation choices. They will be greeted by digital signage, directed by multi-lingual electronic wayfinding, and connected through their smartphone with the hotels, restaurants, and venues that they are looking for during their stay. Whether visiting Hollywood Boulevard or Venice Beach, visitors will use smartphones or easily accessible kiosks to learn in their own language about the landmarks and readily available services to enhance their experience, including blind or deaf visitors. This vision is already becoming a reality. As a three-time United States Digital City Winner (2016-18), the City of Los Angeles has been investing and continues to invest in the infrastructure, digital services, and data tools to be a globally recognized Smart City. The SmartLA 2028 strategy is a concise summary of our vision, our approach to being a Smart City, and our roadmap to 2028. At this stage, it is going to take an enormous mountain of money just to make the most heavily damaged areas of Los Angeles livable again. And the destruction is far from over. Since I began writing this article, even more new fires have erupted. That is not good news at all. The region continues to be under a “red flag” fire weather warning, and there is no rain in the forecast for the next week. Hopefully the winds will at least die down in the days ahead, because that is what firefighters need more than anything else. Of course once this disaster is finally over, it won’t be too long before more major disasters come rolling along. We have entered a period of unprecedented global chaos, and I have a feeling that 2025 is going to be filled with lots of unpleasant surprises. Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com. About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today. Get prepared for what is ahead by visiting some of our sponsors… The Jase Case is more than an emergency medication supply. The right meds the moment you need them: https://shorturl.at/gMpOj Protect your home and vehicle with EMP Shield: https://shorturl.at/Hh2oz Ready Hour Emergency Food: https://shorturl.at/RB6ul My Patriot Supply: https://shorturl.at/GhppY InstaFire: https://shorturl.at/brRN1 AlexaPure: https://shorturl.at/CH23z Operation Blackout: https://eflow.americablackout.com/2964TZB/7XDN2/ Final Famine: https://trk.finaleagainstfamine.com/2964TZB/BP658/ Genesis Code: https://trk.discovergenesiscode.com/2964TZB/M2GJW/ Final Blackout: https://trk.borderdatareport.com/2964TZB/2N721M/ Last Blackout: https://trk.last-blackout.com/2964TZB/2J2CRS/ The post America’s Political And Financial Capitals Were Just Hit By Lightning, And Now Our Entertainment Capital Is Being Devastated By Fire appeared first on End Of The American Dream.

from Mark Dice: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

from Your News: Recently declassified documents reveal the disturbing extent of the CIA’s MKUltra program, which subjected unsuspecting Americans to drugging, torture, and mind control experiments during the Cold War. By yourNEWS Media Newsroom Newly declassified files from the National Security Agency (NSA) have shed light on the chilling scope of the CIA’s infamous MKUltra […]