U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared skeptical of a challenge on free speech grounds to how President Joe Biden's administration encouraged social media platforms to remove posts that federal officials deemed misinformation‚ including about elections and COVID-19. The justices heard oral arguments in the administration's appeal of a lower court's preliminary injunction constraining how White House and certain other federal officials communicate with social media...

The Supreme Court weighed a historic First Amendment dispute on Monday between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat social media posts on subjects including COVID-19 information‚ election security‚ or possible threats. Oral arguments before the high court on Monday centered on a high-profile lawsuit filed by Louisiana‚ Missouri‚ and other parties accusing officials in the Biden...

A majority of the Supreme Court seemed wary on Monday of a bid by two Republican-led states to limit the Biden administration’s interactions with social media companies‚ with several justices questioning the states’ legal theories and factual assertions. Most of the justices appeared convinced that government officials should be able to try to persuade private companies‚ whether news organizations or tech platforms‚ not to publish information so long as the requests are not backed...

We all know that proper hygiene is important‚ but when it comes to which hygiene habits take priority‚ we can’t always agree. Heck‚ we can’t even agree on some of the basic things when it comes to cleanliness‚ like how often to shower. A lot of this we can chalk up to no one rule being able to apply to all humans. But some helpful habits might go undone simply because we aren’t aware of how much they can benefit our wellbeing. Or we’ve gotten so busy that we’ve forgotten them. Luckily‚ the internet is a mecca of crowdsourced hacks. Reddit user u/Away_Needleworker655 recently asked “What are some underrated hygiene tips?” and answers ranged from items (and body parts) that often go ignored to helpful products and everywhere in between. Check out what folks are saying below. You never know what ideas you might be able to glean to make life just a little more squeaky clean. ”Baking soda works better than any other gimmicky product for stinky shoes.” ”I work for a sock design company. Sooooo many people think they have bad foot odor‚ and some do‚ but most people are just wearing really low quality all polyester socks. Switch to a cotton blend or wool blend!!!! You will see a huge difference.”“I honestly thought 'don't forget to wash behind your ears' was just a folksy way of my parents telling me to be thorough with washing. Then at some point I ran my finger behind my ear and smelled it‚ and got religion about washing behind my ears.”“Washing your reusable water bottle daily to prevent bacterial growth.Changing your pillowcase frequently to prevent oil and bacteria buildup. Regularly cleaning and disinfecting your kitchen sink‚ as it can harbor harmful bacteria.”“Hot water and dish soap will get rid of just as much bacteria as disinfectants so don't worry too much about a special product. A good scrub down with dish soap and rinse with the hottest water will work just fine!”“When cleansing your face‚ spend 60 seconds rubbing the cleanser in.”“Maybe not so much hygiene per se but in order to keep your house tidy it really helps to never walk empty handed. If you’re sitting at the dinner table for example and getting up for a drink/toilet visit/whatever‚ put your plate and cutlery on the counter. Goes for everything that needs to be moved anyway‚ snack wrappers‚ glasses‚ cups etc. Takes almost no extra effort and it is a habit that’s very easy to gain. This way you’ll prevent a buildup of a seemingly manageable amount of clutter/trash. House is easier to clean and it is better for your peace of mind. So incredibly simple but turned out to be a life changer for me and some of my ADHD friends. Try it for a couple of days/weeks and it becomes so habitual that it doesn’t take any discipline to keep it up. Because I know that lack of discipline can become a (very) serious problem if you have nothing to fall back on.”“If you are disabled‚ chronically ill‚ dealing with mental illness‚ etc‚ and struggle to shower‚ use baby wipes or a wet rag to wash yourself. It will help you feel refreshed‚ and something is better than nothing!”“Use body cream straight after you shower and then apply your cologne or perfume whatever. It absorbs everything and you smell good for hours.”“Floss guys. It's not that hard and makes a huge difference.”“Cleaning/ disinfecting your phone.”“Your computer keyboard‚ too! Especially if you eat or smoke while using the computer.On a high-quality keyboard you can remove the keycaps and wash them‚ then take a swab and some rubbing alcohol to the spaces between the keyswitches. Laptops and cheap desktop keyboards are difficult‚ though. You can at least wipe off the key surfaces.”“Take your shoes off at the door.”“Your steering wheel is probably filthy. I use baby wipes to clean it when I’m sitting in traffic.”“Getting a pedicure. It's amazing! You don't even need the color. It feels tremendous and your feet feel great!”“Replace your toothbrush regularly! the bristles become worn and ineffective after a 3/4 months.”…and last‚ but possibly most important…“Work to figure out what makes keeping up with your hygiene difficult and keep an open mind while looking for solutions‚ no matter how atypical.”

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

Many people dream of somehow being able to pay their parents back for the sacrifices made for them during childhood. Whether that’s something physical‚ like paying off their mortgage‚ or simply being the best version of ourselves to make them absolutely proud. For Lindsay Moore‚ it was finding a “prized possession” her dad once gave up to help the family‚ and returning it to him once again.Moore still vividly remembers being only seven years old when she saw her father walk into a comic book store to sell a Dan Marino rookie football card from his first season with the Miami Dolphins.In a now-viral TikTok‚ Moore’s father is seen reliving this memory as he holds onto a Christmas bag and a family member reads a card out loud."Money was tight‚ so you were selling your most prized possession – at least I viewed it as that‚" Moore wrote. "I felt your sacrifice and it taught me that I would do whatever necessary to ensure my future family never needed anything. It was a lesson that has stuck with me since that moment." It was also the moment she became “determined” to pay her father back. Cut to thirty years later‚ and her father is her Secret Santa. It was the perfect opportunity to fulfill that promise."I will never be able to fully repay that debt‚" her note continued. "Seven-year-old me would be so elated to see that I finally fulfilled that promise I made to myself. Thank you for everything." As he listened‚ Moore’s dad began tearing up. Sure enough‚ he opened his gift to see it was the cherished card he sold all those years ago. The video concludes as Moore and her father enjoy a warm embrace. @lindseyswagmom Im not crying‚ you’re crying ♬ original sound - Lindsey Moore The sweet exchange certainly struck a chord online. “When he started crying I LOST IT‚” one person wrote. Another added‚ “Something about bringing a grown man to tears always gets me.” A few parents shared their own stories of sacrificing prized possessions. “As someone who has sold his prized Gretzky rookie to provide for his kids‚ I appreciate and respect this a lot‚” commented one person. “Just had to sell my signature MacKinnon jersey to pay bills. Sucked so much but kid comes first‚” echoed another.On the flip side‚ some shared their one experience of getting to repay their parents. One wrote:“I got to do this for my mom last year. She won a [Dolce &; Gabbana] purse one year at work and sold it to buy my prom dress and never thought twice. She never [got] name brand anything. So this year I took her to get her very first name brand fancy hand bag or her picking‚ my treat.” But perhaps the best comment belonged to this person‚ who astutely pointed out: “The card wasn't the real gift to him. It was hearing his impact on you. Priceless.” We might not all get to reclaim what our parents sacrificed. And that’s okay. There are so many other ways to share just how much of a positive impact they made on our lives. Even saying how much we appreciate them can be an invaluable reward. Yes. Really. This article originally appeared on 12.23.23

Even though the number of uninsured Americans has been on the decline for over a decade‚ the cost of healthcare is still astronomical‚ especially if you are uninsured. A perfect example of this story was recently shared by TikToker Cinthanie McAllister‚ who told a hilarious story about a bill she got for having a nasty case of gas. Obviously‚ high healthcare costs aren’t funny‚ but sometimes‚ a good laugh can make the pain a bit more bearable. "I bet you didn't know that you wanted to know how much it costs to fart without insurance in an ER in the United States‚" McAllister starts her video from the kitchen."A little while ago‚ I woke up in the middle of the night with the most excruciating abdominal pain I have ever experienced in my life‚" she said while doing her best to hold back the laughter. "I was doubled over. I couldn't walk. I had to literally crawl across our bedroom floor to wake my husband up to get him to take me to the ER. They had to come out to the car and wheelchair me into the ER because I couldn't walk because I was in so much pain."i have to laugh to keep from crying because this is insane @cinthanie i have to laugh to keep from crying because this is insane #storytime #ervisitstorytime #emergencyroom #fyp The pain was so severe that healthcare workers tried to give her morphine for relief. But McAllister didn't want any. "I was like‚ 'No! I don't want any f*cking morphine; I just want to know what's wrong with me.'"The staff had McCallister take a CT scan because they were concerned‚ as were the McAllisters‚ that she may have a ruptured appendix. If not‚ then why would she be in such terrible pain?While she was waiting for the scan results‚ nature called and McAllister went into the restroom. It was there she realized what was causing all of the abdominal distress."I let out the world's fattest ripper you've ever heard in your life‚" she said‚ trying to keep it together. "It was so ungodly smelling. It was so unwomanly. It was so wretched. Like‚ I'm positive that if there were bugs in the walls in that hospital‚ they were bug-bombed out. It was so f*cking bad.""Anyways‚ needless to say‚ after letting out the world's biggest ripper‚ I felt pretty good‚" she admitted. "They ruled it as gastrointestinitis. The CT scan came back clear and they sent me on my way with some suppositories.""How much do you think it cost me to let out that fart in the ER with no insurance? I'm telling you right now‚ you're wrong. It's more. It's more than what you think‚" she says. "This fart cost me $8‚621.10.""The price of gas in this country is outrageous‚" Sarah Staten wrote. "Happened to me once… spent hours in the ER for the Dr to say I had a 'fart stuck sideways‚'" D added.Many people gave her advice on how to avoid paying the bill."Get an itemized bill and tell them you are a cash patient. That should cut it in half or more. Then‚ just tell them you’ll make payments. Send them $20 a month. They’ll take it and do nothing‚" SeaChelleAviatrix suggested.Upworthy has contacted McAllister for comment and has yet to receive a response.

Language is a fascinating thing to explore. Where words come from‚ how things are named‚ the way sayings and slang are constantly being invented—it's all great fun to plunge into.But sometimes a deep dive into words and language reveals missed opportunities as we contemplate what a thing should be called instead of what it is. Reddit user johnnylgarfield asked‚ "What is badly named‚ and what is a better name for it?" and hoo boy did the wordsmiths deliver.Anything that could have "Otto" in it should"Otto Preminger wrote his own biography and failed to title it Otto-Biography.Once in a lifetime pun‚ and he just threw it away." – hippo717"I saw an automatic car wash with the name "Otto's automatic carwash"The fact it wasn't called an ottomatic carwash still hurts me." – ShadowVaderAlternate names for everyday things that we should seriously consider "I keep seeing people say that contractions should be birthquakes." – ssssobtaostobs"Dentures. Should be Substitooths" – donkeyknuckles"Any bacon alternative that is not named Fācon is an abomination." – RitaPoonismysister"Jet ski. Dumb name. Obviously it is a Boatercycle." – KYbywayofNY"Hemorrhoids should be asteroids obv." – UncleDuude"Olives should be Greece’s Pieces." – rmg18555Words that just shouldn't be the way they are‚ on principle"Abbreviation should be a much shorter word. Dyslexia should also be easier to spell."– Masked_Daisy"Lisp" shouldn't make me lisp." – rhaegar89"And why isn't palindrome a palindrome?" – slimfastdieyoung"Why is a fear of palindromes aibohphobia?!?" – 1nonspecificgirl"The same reason the fear of big words is hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." – redwolf1219"The word for your condition is also your exposure therapy!" – quaffeeHow about two things that should simply be swapped?"I'm not the first to say it‚ but 'pick-up artists' and 'garbage men' should swap titles." – GGAllinPartridge"A driveway should be a parkway and a parkway should be a driveway." – scottcmu"And cookies and bacon should switch since you bake cookies but cook bacon." – cwx149"Butterflies should be Flutterbys." – genderlawyerA whole thread just for the weather folks"Weather forecast is boring. Weather prophecy is awesome." – dire18"Atmospheric foretelling." – uneducated_sock"Precipitation Prognostication" – VonBrewskie"As the atmospheric oracles have foretold‚ 'tis raining." – Shi-Rokku"Meteoracles*" – HauntedHippie"You mean the skyentists?" – illfygliAnd everyone's favorite‚ the naming of animal groups"Why is a group of squid called a shoal when it should be called a squad?" – xdark_realityx"A squid squad? Nice.A crow crewA whale wallA swan swarmA bat batchA lobster clusterand of courseA group of groupers" – loopywolf"Cloister of oysters" – itsmarvin"A Murder of Crows. It should be a CawCawphony." – EscapedCapybara"A murder of crows goes so unfathomably hard tho‚ it can stay." – mrspuffispeng"The committee on groups of bird names are the best in the business. They put everyone else to shame. Murder‚ curiosity‚ charm‚ kettle‚ mural‚ cast‚ parliament. Why even compete?" – remeard

Fear of flying—aerophobia‚ in technical terms—is an extremely common phobia‚ affecting around 25 million adults in the U.S. alone. Some people grit their teeth and white-knuckle their way through their fear‚ while others find themselves unable to get on an airplane at all because of it.Such a fear is understandable‚ really. Hurtling through the sky at 500 miles per hour‚ tens of thousands of feet above the Earth's surface‚ isn't exactly the way humans were designed to get from place to place. (We may have evolved with the brain power and ingenuity to make it happen‚ but that doesn't mean we automatically go along for the ride without our sense of self-preservation kicking in.)One of the triggers for people with aerophobia is turbulence—the occasional shaking and pitching of an aircraft when it hits certain conditions in the atmosphere. Even people who are comfortable flying can find turbulence disconcerting sometimes‚ especially when it creates a sudden dropping sensation. Turbulence is normal‚ but it doesn't feel normal when you're sitting in a chair 30‚000 feet from solid ground. It feels chaotic and out of control. Anna Paul‚ a popular TikTok star from Australia‚ has shared a helpful visual for people freaked out by turbulence in a video that has more than 19 million views. Paul explains that a pilot shared the analogy of a plane flying through the air being like an object suspended in jello. There's pressure on all sides‚ so even if the jello is shaken—and the object shaken along with it—the pressure suspends the object.In other words‚ a plane is not going to suddenly drop down out of the sky due to turbulence‚ in the same way that an object won't drop out of the middle of a bowl of jello. Watch: @anna..paull Fear of flying tip ✈️❤️ The jello analogy is also used by aerophobia experts. Therapist Les Posen specializes in flying phobias‚ and he shows his clients a model airplane suspended in raspberry jello to illustrate the fact that turbulence won't cause a plane to drop out of the sky. He even goes a step farther by having clients smell the jello‚ and then advises them to eat some raspberry candy or juice on the plane to remind themselves of the analogy‚ using their senses to calm their nerves.At the end of her video‚ Paul said there's never been a plane crash from turbulence‚ but that's not quite true. In 1966‚ a flight (BOAC 911) coming out of Tokyo broke apart in midair due to unexpected severe turbulence. However‚ that was a very long time ago. Monitoring of meteorological conditions has greatly advanced since then‚ as have the designs of modern aircraft and the skill of pilots‚ so experts will tell you that turbulence is not something to worry about. If imagining air pressure as jello doesn't really work for you‚ it may be helpful to have a visual of what turbulence actually is. For that‚ Captain Stuart Walker‚ who has been flying for 30 years‚ explains the four main types of turbulence‚ what causes them and what pilots do to avoid them or reduce their impact. He also explains what passengers can do to minimize their chances of feeling turbulence on a flight‚ such as sitting over the wings or toward the front of the plane and flying earlier in the day when temperatures are not as likely to cause air disturbances. Whether you prefer hospital-food-based analogies or no-nonsense‚ scientific explanations‚ the bottom line is that turbulence feels far scarier than it actually is. A shaking plane is not going to drop from the sky‚ modern aircraft can withstand a great deal of movement midair and pilots are highly trained to handle turbulence. And remember: Commercial airline travel really is the safest way to get to where you're going‚ statistically speaking. So next time you fly‚ kick back‚ relax and imagine you're suspended in jello‚ knowing you're in capable hands when the turbulence starts. This article originally appeared on 06.23.22

Around 1 a.m. on April 24‚ semi-truck drivers in the Oak Park area of Michigan received a distress call from area police: An unidentified man was standing on the edge of a local bridge‚ apparently ready to jump onto the freeway below.Those drivers then did something amazing. They raced to the scene to help — and lined up their trucks under the bridge‚ providing a relatively safe landing space should the man jump.Fortunately‚ he didn't.The impressive line-up wasn't a coincidence — the drivers were prepared for exactly this sort of situation.Sgt. Jason Brockdorff of the Huntington Woods Police Department told The Detroit News that the response was something local police and truck drivers had actually trained for. But what was unusual was the sheer number of drivers who responded to the call."That's a practice we use if we have a jumper‚" Brockdorff said. "We try to do it every time‚ to lessen the distance someone would travel if they were to jump. Fortunately‚ that didn't happen."The incident lasted nearly four hours‚ into the early morning. However‚ once the trucks were in place‚ the police were able to more comfortably negotiate with the unidentified man.Eventually‚ the man walked off the bridge on his own and is currently receiving medical help.In a pair of tweets‚ the local police department called attention to the incident to remind people in similar situations of the importance of seeking mental health services (emphasis mine):This photo does show the work troopers and local officers do to serve the public. But also in that photo is a man struggling with the decision to take his own life. Please remember help is available through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.You can also call a loved one‚ member of the clergy or 911. There are so many people that can help you make the choice to get help and live! It is our hope to never see another photo like this again.Working together‚ the police and everyday strangers saved a life.Ordinary people heeded the call of service to help a fellow person who was struggling. It's a powerful image that's impossible to ignore‚ and a reminder of humanity at its best.This article originally appeared on 04.24.18