One of America’s most deeply entrenched political machines is finally coming apart. New Jersey political insiders struggled to come up with big enough words Monday morning morning to describe what they were hearing: The state attorney general was about to indict South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross, one of the most formidable and fearsome operators in state history, on corruption charges. “Earthquake,” one told POLITICO. “Atomic bomb,” said another. Norcross ruled much...

Almost 100 years ago, nine newspapers joined forces to create a national spelling bee to help promote literacy. Now the Scripps National Spelling Bee has become so popular that was televised for 27 years on ESPN before moving to its own network in 2022.The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a serious competition with students who have studied arduously to memorize root words, phonetic rules and unusual spellings in the hopes of being crowned the nation's spelling champion. The honor also comes with a $50,000 cash prize, so the competition is fierce.But that didn't stop one competitor from bursting into giggles at being asked to spell the word "sardoodledom." During the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee, 11-year-old Kennyi Aouad approached the microphone with serious concentration when it was his turn to spell. But when the judges told him the word he was to spell and he repeated it, he burst out laughing. "Sardoodledom" isn't a word most of us have ever even heard, much less recognize. (It means "mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama"—basically "melodrama"—according to Merriam-Webster.) It does sound a bit funny saying it out loud, and even one of the judges started giggling at the young contestant's reaction to it.Watch Kennyi lose it repeatedly as he tries to make it through his turn:Despite how serious the competition is, these kids are still just kids and people loved seeing his joyful reaction to a silly-sounding word. "His laugh!! I love that in the seriousness of spelling bees, he was able to be himself. This made me smile!" wrote one person."So cute. Smart with a touch of sense of humour," wrote another."Talk about breaking the tension!!" shared another. "I love it and he got it right!"If you're curious, Kennyi placed 34th in that year's spelling bee. He would go on to compete again, however, and tied for 5th place in the 2009 bee. This article originally appeared on 9.28.23

A Reddit user asked an innocent question about the future and it exposed a lot of the issues that people worry about today. It also highlighted the things we should appreciate while they are still around.Klausbrusselssprouts asked the AskReddit forum, “In 50 years, what will people be nostalgic for?” and the responses went two ways. Some people mentioned the things they fear will get a lot worse in the future such as the role that technology plays in our lives and climate change.Others saw the question as a way of appreciating the things we have now that may not survive over the next few decades.As the old saying goes, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, so it’s hard to predict the things that we have today that people will feel nostalgic for in the future. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, nobody would have ever guessed that people would feel nostalgic for everyday experiences such as going to Blockbuster video or the sound of an old dial-up modem. But a lot of people get a warm, fuzzy feeling when they think about them today.It’s safe to say that in 50 years, a lot of the real experiences we enjoy today will be replaced by digital technology. So take time to appreciate face-to-face interactions with other people, technology that isn’t implanted into your brain and attending events in person.Here are 17 of the best responses to the question, “In 50 years, what will people be nostalgic for?”1. "Owning something you don't pay a subscription for." — JohnnyNumbskullSwitchplayerclassic added:"THIS is exactly what I hate rn about everything."2. "Drinking water from the tap." — Credible cactus3. "Grandparents will say to their grandkids, 'When I was your age, I had to get off the screen and actually GO to school.'" — Truck_Stop_Sushi4. "Privacy. Even babies are overexposed today." — birdiewings5. ​"Being able to do basic maintenance on your car without needing a shop manual and a years salary worth of special tools." — kilroy-was-here-25436. "Keys. Even more specific vehicle keys." — UpMan7. "Social media. Not because it’s good, but because whatever comes next will probably suck more." — RockoTDF8. "The number of wild animals that exist and can be seen. They are already on the decline." — SpikedBubbles9."Wired earbuds with an actual headphone jack. Not USB version 93 delta." — Rodeo6a10. "The abundance and availability of power, water, and food." — wrath__11. "Retail shopping. There will be these cutesy, extremely expensive retro shops selling things you'd find at the convenience store." — shay1990plus12. "I'd say people will miss being uncontactable. Like back in the day, you could just go to your bedroom, and block the rest of the world away for a couple of hours. Now we've got video calls, phone calls, texts, emails. Urgh." — mr_wernderful13."Having sex with someone who isn't a robot." — Clarenceworley48014."Probably movie theaters." — rsvredditacct15. ​"Life before covid." — ButterflyGirlie16. "Human made art and music without the use of AI. Or even just knowing it was made without the use of AI tools like DALL-E 2 or similar. Kind of like how before autotune you knew for certain a singer could sing that way." — ConfidentlyNuerotic17. ​"Democracy." — K3b1NThis article originally appeared 9.22.22

Robert Bush Sr. is an avid outdoorsman who runs a Facebook page called "Bob's Pennsylvania Wildlife Camera."He set up a secret camera on a log that lays across a steam to capture footage of all the different animals that walked across it. The result is a relaxing video featuring all sorts of wildlife including a black bear, chipmunk, coyote, turkey, and great horned owl.Bush is very active recording wildlife videos, which he shares on his Facebook and YouTube pages. In the introduction to his Facebook page he captures his philosophy that is welcoming to all, with a few ground rules:"I love the outdoors and wildlife and I am not anti-hunting, this page is not about hunting and I will not post any hunting pictures or videos on this page, this page is about the wildlife in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Please do NOT post hunting pictures in the comments, and do not comment about killing the animals or about hunting at all, and do not bash hunters or talk about anti-hunting ... just enjoy the videos."Well said, Robert. And now, on to the first video: You may have noticed the video is called "The Log 2." Well, here's the original.This article originally appeared on 02.28.20

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