We've all done it in secret when we think no one's looking. We inconspicuously pull out our phone, give one more sideways glance to make sure no one can see our screen, and then we open up our Calculator app just to make sure 6 plus 3 really does equal 9 before confidently announcing it out loud. You can never be too sure.It's OK! No one has to know that we don't have faith in ourselves to do even simple arithmetic that comes second-nature to most elementary schoolers. Those moments of self-doubt are our little secret. Or, at least we thought they were.A viral TikTok, however, just announced a major development: The Calculator app on iPhone keeps track of your history.It's been hiding in plain sight this entire time, and suffice it to say, but people are shook."Yall please remember to clear your CALCULATOR history every once in a while," user jeffersonjohn14 captioned. "My bf just saw mine and would have rather him gone thru my internet history."In the text caption to the post, the user wrote "3+8??????" implying that at some point they had to be extra sure they could properly add to 11, and were mortified by the idea that someone might find out.I had to double check to confirm that this is true, and unfortunately, it is. If you're an iPhone user and you look at the upper left hand corner of your Calculator app, there's a small hamburger menu that you probably never bothered noticing before. Open it up and you'll see your calculations from the last 30 days or so. Why does the Calculator app save all your formulas for a month? Who knows — but this is your warning to go in there and delete anything egregious before someone you respect sees it. @jeffersonjohn14 3+8?????? If you have embarrassing calculations in your Calculator history, it's OK: You're not the only one.Not only were viewers of the now-viral TikTok flabbergasted to know the truth, many of them seemed surprised at what they found in their own histories.Here are some of the best responses:1x10.. it was a difficult day!3+3 the other dayNah why I got 35-1 in mineDamn mine really said 18-35x2 ? what the heck was I doingI just checked mine and the last one was 15 x 2 ? why am I like this Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash And if you're someone who doubts the intelligence of the average TikTok user, how about this comment from someone who should definitely be above using an app for simple calculations:As a math major, having 100x2 in my calculator history is just embarrassingIt seems that people of all ages and backgrounds fall victim to the same phenomenon: We know the answer to basic addition and subtraction questions, but sometimes we just want to be extra sure.It could be chalked up to a fear of being wrong (announcing the wrong answer to a group), or maybe it's a lack of practice with basic arithmetic that makes us doubt ourselves. Maybe it's deeper than that, where we want to really see something with our own eyes to before we believe that it's true, like the way we look for other people to confirm or even shape our thoughts and opinions.Whatever the reason, I found it reassuring and heartwarming just how many people chimed in to share their own calculator fails. We really are all in this together!And if you do regularly use a calculator for basic addition and subtraction that you know how to do in your head? There's no shame in that. In fact, some educators argue that kids should be allowed to use calculators more often in school so that, instead of drilling computation over and over, they can spend more time on critical thinking and problem solving skills. Calculators can allow you to solve problems on your own and even explore numbers creatively (ever randomly wonder what 38239 * 77771223 is? Now you can find out!) They also, obviously, allow us to get the right answer, and sometimes it's better to be accurate than to protect your ego. After all, your waiter at the restaurant would prefer you leave a good tip — even if you need to use your phone to double check what 20% of 100 is.

At the University of Oregon, scientists have created a potential medical breakthrough— well, technically a “mend-through.” These researchers have created tiny implants that could help speed up the healing process of mending broken bones. If you have suffered a broken bone, you know that proper healing requires a combination of rest, rehabilitation, and time. Your doctor likely prescribed various physical therapy exercises and increased their intensity to ensure that the bone is properly mended at top strength and mobility. However, the key to completing recovery is finding a balance. Too little and infrequent resistance exercise won’t help “encourage” the bone enough to build strength as it heals. Too much training and the injury could become worse. Depending on the severity of the break, it could take months for a broken leg or arm to heal completely since it is difficult to determine if the bone is strong enough for more intense rehabilitation or if it still needs less resistance training to prevent harm. Recovery time also varies from person to person, too. www.canva.com That’s the issue the researchers at the University of Oregon tackled. They created a series of small implants with sensors that can provide data in real time at the injury site to help better determine if a bone needs more resistance rehab or if it has been overworked. In a technological study, the implants “significantly improved” the healing time for broken femurs in lab rats, cutting down a healing time from four-to-six months down to as little as eight weeks. “One of the most impactful aspects of this work is that our resistance rehabilitation could regenerate the femur to normal strength within eight weeks without biological stimulants, and we’re really excited about that,” said study leader Dr. Kylie Williams. While monitoring their bones using the sensors, the researchers found that the rodents that were given proper physical therapy in their exercise wheels with increasing resistance to promote building strength had their femurs heal much faster and more effectively than rodents that were sedentary. This included rodents that needed their training lowered at times depending on the data retrieved from the sensors. After seeing such positive results, campus-startup Penderia Technologies is working on perfecting the implants to a battery-free, wearable version for human patients to monitor their progress. Recovery of any sort is a push/pull process. Depending on where you’re at, you might need to further push yourself forward, even when it isn’t comfortable. On the other hand, you might need to pull back a little bit at certain points to make sure you’re not overwhelming yourself. Finding the balance is tricky but doable. It especially helps when you know that you’re not alone. You can also find support in your family, friends, physicians, and therapists in your life. If not those people, whatever you have experienced has been experienced before, no matter what your “broken bone” is. Whether it’s a bad habit you wish to get rid of, a new goal in your life, or a literal broken bone, it has impacted someone else that you can learn from. There are resources available to help you determine whether you need to push yourself a little harder or when to rest and recover. Healing something that’s broken takes a combination of effort, rest, and time. That’s not just for femurs, that’s for everything.

It’s just a fact of life that sometimes our partners will be in foul moods. But when the occasional bouts of crankiness become a full blown personality—that’s a bit of a different issue, as chronic negativity can cause actual harm to a relationship. At the same time, it’s important to now throw the baby out with the bathwater. If your partner still has plenty of other redeeming qualities, then it might be worth exploring how establishing new boundaries can possibly salvage things. Plus, nearly all of us have probably been through a difficult chapter where we weren’t at our best for extended periods of time. And it’s often those times that we need support from a loved one most of all. All this to say—it’s not always an easy road to navigate, knowing when to give our cantankerous partner grace or when to cut ties. But couples therapist Jeff Guenther, who regularly shares relationship advice via his @therapyjeff TikTok account, has eight different ways folks can address 'incredibly negative’ partners through honest communication, which can be great starting points. First, Guenther urges us to “validate” our partner’s feelings to establish empathy. “Maybe they keep repeating themselves because that's all they need from you,” he explained, adding, “feel free to meet them where they are at and be a little negative too, just don't live there.” Second, he recommended being “straightforward” about the “impact” this negativity has had, jokingly adding to use all the “therapy speak” he’s imparted in previous videos. Example: “I wanna hold space and offer support for your negative feelings but constant negativity feels overwhelming my nervous system. Can we work together to find more balance?” @therapyjeff 8 ways to deal with a partner who’s incredibly negative. #therapy #mentalhealth #dating #relationshiptips #datingadvice ♬ original sound - TherapyJeff Three, create a "negativity free zone,” which Guenther says “sounds dumb but works well.” To set up a negative free zone, simply set aside time or physical spaces where grumblings are off-limits. You could even make it "playful" by coming up with a special signal to “catch complaints” for later venting sessions. But, disclaimer, “don’t be a turd” about catching complaints, Guenther warns. Four, clearly communicate "emotional boundaries” around this issue. When doing so, it’s important to focus on “I” statements, and be honest about your personal limitations. Guenther demonstrates by saying “I wanna support you, but I only have 15 minutes to hear you vent right now. After that, I need to switch gears.” Five, encourage problem solving. Basically, when a partner begins to complain, Guenther suggests to “gently redirect” the conversation from venting to “action-oriented thinking” by asking something like, "What do you think could help fix that?" This one not only stops the complaining, but helps remind the partner of their autonomy in the situation. Though Guenther does joke that “this sh*t never works but try it anyway.” Six is a bit similar to five, since it also involves pivoting the conversation. “Talk about something else,” he says. “Passive aggressive move? Maybe. But if they get mad you can tell them Therapy Jeff told you to do it.” Seven, don’t take your partner’s negativity personally. Their gloominess has nothing to do with you, and might just be how they are currently “processing stress and frustration,” Guenther notes. It’s easier said than done much of the time, but none the less incredibly important that we protect own energy by not absorbing others—even the energy of our loved ones. Lastly, if all other methods have failed, Guenther does suggest to "consider compatibility." “If their negative feelings are chronic and unchangeable, it's okay to question things. You have permission to end the relationship if their constant negativity is dragging you down,” he concludes. Bottom line: there are of course dealbreakers to every relationship, and constant negativity is certainly a valid one. But there’s something to be said about having strategies to deal with our partner’s not-so-lovely habits in a way that’s compassionate and empowering. At least that way, no matter what route is taken, we know that we’ve shown up in the best way possible.

When you fly on an airplane, you agree to abide the passenger rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), even if you don't know what all of them are. If a crew member catches you breaking an FAA rule, they will definitely let you know. But there are other "rules" of airline travel, largely unspoken and unwritten, that people who fly frequently abide by as well. If you don't travel a lot, you may not be aware of these rules, and it's not likely that someone will tell you if you break them, but knowing them makes air travel much more pleasant for everyone.The middle seat ruleMost people have a preference for which seat they prefer—window, middle or aisle—with almost no one preferring to sit in the middle. (According to a survey from Going, 53% of people prefer the window seat, 46% prefer the aisle and a whopping 1% want the middle seat.) The window seat gets the views and control of the window shade and the aisle seat gets extra elbow room and controls when the row exits, but the middle seat only seems to come with down sides. Since the middle seat is basically the booby prize of air travel, the person who occupies it deserves to have at least one perk—control over the middle armrests. Those two middle armrests go to the middle seat occupant.Photo credit: CanvaThe middle seat rule means that the aisle and window seat occupants let person in the middle seat use the two middle armrests. What else do those poor souls have, really? The rules of recliningFew airline etiquette topics are more contentious than the "right to recline." The vast majority of economy airline seats have a button that allows the seat back to recline a few inches, but whether or not you should use it is a question without a clear answer. It's become even more of a question mark in the era of ever-shrinking legroom, with passengers fighting for every inch of space they can get. Though people have strong opinions one way or the other, the general consensus for reclining "rules" seems to be that the courteous thing to do is 1) alert the person behind you that you want to recline, 2) don't recline during a meal, 3) avoid reclining on short-haul flights, 4) don't recline on someone who is using a laptop, and 5) when you do recline, ease the seat back slowly.The headphones ruleThere are actually two rules when it comes to headphones: 1) Wear them if you're watching or listening to something. No one wants to hear whatever you're watching or listening to. And 2) If someone's wearing headphones, don't try to chat them up. Don't talk to people wearing headphones or earbuds unless you really have to.Photo credit: CanvaSome people are airplane talkers and some aren't, but headphones a surefire way to signal that you're not up for chatting with strangers. If someone is wearing headphones or earbuds, that's a clear "please don't talk to me" sign, so unless there's something you really have to ask or tell someone wearing them, leave them to themselves. The headrest ruleWe all know getting in and out of the middle or window seats to go to the restroom can be a challenge, but if at all possible, try to avoid grabbing onto the headrests of the seats in front of you for leverage. It's better to move more slowly to climb your way across the seats than to seize someone's headrest like it's a grab bar. If you've ever tried to nap on a plane and had your headrest yanked suddenly with someone's full body weight, you understand this rule first hand. The rules of deplaningGetting onto a flight is a pretty orderly process since there are assigned seats and boarding groups and whatnot. But getting off the plane is another story. As soon as the plane parks at the gate and the seatbelt sign is turned off, it feels like the whole plane collectively thinks they'll just be able to stand up and walk off, but that's not how it works. Sit tight until the plane doors open and the front rows start emptying.Photo credit: CanvaFirst of all, it takes several minutes to get the plane doors ready to open, so standing up and filing into the aisle is a fairly useless practice (which also tends to make people feel a bit impatient). Sitting tight until the first people start actually deplaning keeps things a bit more relaxed. But more importantly, some people seem to think deplaning is a free-for-all, with whoever can make it into the aisle with their luggage first taking priority, but that's not how it works. Emptying the plane row by row from the front to the back is The Way, so waiting patiently until the rows in front of you empty before filing out makes deplaning more efficient and less hectic. Most unspoken rules, on airplanes or elsewhere, are based on common sense and/or courtesy. But since air travel comes with its own unique peculiarities, what's sensible or courteous may not be obvious, so it helps to have those rules explained. When everyone on the plane is on the same page, it makes for a much more pleasant travel experience for all.

For over 50 years, rock ‘n roll legends Elton John and Rod Stewart have been historic “frenemies” and pranked each other in grand ways that only people worth hundreds of millions of dollars can. “We try and publicize the fact that we always have a go at each other in the papers, but in fact, we do that for reasons known only to us. Actually, we're really good friends,” John told David Frost in 1983. The rockers even have drag names for one another, John calls Stewart “Phyllis, and Stewart calls John “Sharon.” The rivalry came to a head in 1985 when John saw the perfect opportunity to cut Stewart’s ego down to size. The “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” singer was playing a series of dates at London’s Earl’s Court and had enormous balloons, the size of blimps with his face on them, hanging above the venue to advertise the shows. John couldn’t miss such an incredible opportunity to prank Stewart. So, he had a sniper bring down the balloon with an air rifle. “I was staying in London and could see it from my hotel room. It was too good an opportunity to miss. So I called my management, who hired someone to shoot it down: apparently, it landed on top of a double-decker bus and was last seen heading towards Putney,” John recalled. “An hour later, the phone went. It was Rod, spluttering: 'Where's my f***ing balloon gone? It was you, wasn't it? You cow! You bitch!' A year later, when I was playing Olympia, the promoters hung a huge banner across the street. It was mysteriously cut down immediately after it was put up,” John continued. “I learned this had happened from Rod, who seemed curiously well-informed. 'Such a shame about your banner, love. I heard it wasn't even up five minutes. I bet you didn't even get to see it.’” John and Stewart may have enjoyed a friendly rivalry over the years, but a few years ago, things turned sour. In 2019, Stewart criticized John for going on multiple farewell tours and it rankled the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” singer. “Talking about retirement, I’ve never spoken about retirement, and if I do retire, I won’t make an announcement. I’ll just fade away,” Stewart said in 2018. “I don’t think this big deal, ‘I’m going to retire’ – it stinks of selling tickets…it’s dishonest. It’s not rock and roll.” Stewart even emailed John, ribbing him for having multiple farewell tours, but didn’t receive a response. “He was accusing me of being dishonest about one of the biggest decisions of my life. What’s more, I thought he had a cheek, complaining about me promoting a tour while he was sat on a TV show promoting his own tour,” John wrote in his memoir. The comments may have hurt John, but Stewart did have a point. In 2015, John had a “Final Curtain” tour, but then in 2018 hopped back behind the piano for a 330-date “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour that lasted until 2023. But Stewart later revealed that it was all water under the bridge and the two were able to leave the comments behind them. “I was a bit spiteful when he announced his tour. I regret it. I really do regret it. So we’re mates again now. I do love him,” Stewart said.

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Get psyched for a rockin' 2025 with this all-day lineup of music docs and musicals.

The UK government, led by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, believes it can “grow” the economy through policy decisions, but this approach is flawed and ignores the natural course of economic growth. Reeves’ views […]

The songs on this list look hopefully toward the future. Of course, they are also an excellent way to launch the New Year. Prince – 1999 “So tonight we gonna party like it’s 1999.” The inspiration for the ’82 song came from a TV documentary Prince watched about Nostradamus. The film claimed Nostradamus predicted that a terror would fall upon the world in 1999. The next day, Prince discussed the documentary with his bandmates, where they imagined a huge party would be thrown knowing this terror was about to happen. A day later. Prince came to the studio with song lyrics fully written. Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself Billy Idol’s late ’70’s Punk band Generation X were touring Japan when he and bassist Tony James visited a Tokyo discotheque and were struck by the sight of the young crowd dancing with their own reflections in mirrored walls rather than with one another. Generation X were the first to release the song in 1980. Idol issued it as a solo single a year later. . John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over Lennon chose the song as the lead single from “Double Fantasy,” because it was the most appropriate following his five-year absence from recording. He did “tongue in cheek” impersonations of Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. Lennon explained, “I’m a born-again Rocker, I feel that refreshed, and I’m going right back to my roots.” Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’ Keyboardist Jonathan Cain got the song title from encouragement his father gave him as a struggling musician living on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard.  Cain was ready to give up, and each time he would call home in despair, his father would tell him, “Don’t stop believing or you’re done, dude.” Cain and vocalist Steve Perry created the story of two people leaving behind past lives and boarding a midnight train to anywhere. Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now The lyrics say it all… “(Don’t stop me now) ’cause I’m having a good time.” Guitarist Brian May originally didn’t like the song. But after hearing that it played at weddings, parties and other celebratory occasions, he came to appreciate the song’s ‘great joy’. Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild Written by Mars Bonfire (Dennis Edmonton), “Born to Be Wild” is described as the first heavy metal song due to the lyric “heavy metal thunder.” A critic described the song as “a roaring anthem of turbo-charged riff Rock… that at once defines Steppenwolf’s sound and provided them with their shot (at) immortality” Guns N’ Roses – Welcome To The Jungle Singer Axl Rose wrote the lyrics while visiting a friend is Seattle. “It’s a big city, but at the same time, it’s still a small city compared to L.A. and the things that you’re gonna learn. It seemed a lot more rural up there. I just wrote how it looked to me. If someone comes to town and they want to find something, they can find whatever they want.” U2 – New Year’s Day Originally intended to be a love song, the lyrics were reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement, Driven by Adam Clayton’s bass line, it’s the most serious song on the list but it is also the most hopeful… “Though torn in two, we can be one.” . Europe – The Final Countdown Intended only to be a concert opener, it was the first single and title track from the band’s album of the same name. The “countdown” aspect is perfect for New Year’s Eve. Written by singer Joey Tempest, the song’s lyrics were inspired by David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”  Rolling Stones – Start Me Up It’s a classic party song that opened countless Stones concerts, “‘Start Me Up’ took about six hours to record,” noted session engineer Chris Kinsey. “If they all played the right chords in the right time, went to the chorus at the right time and got to the middle eight together, that was a master. They would never sit down and. work out a song. They would jam it and the song would evolve out of that. That’s their magic.” Start Me Up WELCOME TO 2025! ### The post New Year’s Rocks! 10 Songs To Rock In 2025 appeared first on RockinTown.