The White House on Friday announced “transgender day of visibility” for March 31‚ which this year falls on Easter Sunday. “NOW‚ THEREFORE‚ I‚ JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.‚ President of the United States of America‚ by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States‚ do hereby proclaim March 31‚ 2024‚ as Transgender Day of Visibility‚” President Biden wrote in a Friday statement. “I call upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of...

The Biden administration has authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite concerns from Washington about a probable military operation in southern Gaza.  The weapons package includes more than 1‚800 MK84 2‚000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs‚ Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.  A State Department official told Fox News Digital that "fulfilling an authorization...

The U.S. in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel‚ two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday‚ even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah. The new arms packages include more than 1‚800 MK84 2‚000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs‚ said the sources‚ who confirmed a report in the Washington Post. Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military...

The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite Washington’s concerns about an anticipated military offensive in southern Gaza that could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians. The new arms packages include more than 1‚800 MK84 2‚000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs‚ according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The 2‚000-pound...

Imagine that a company began mass-producing a new toy. This was not a toy for little kids; instead‚ it appealed most to adolescents. The toy became wildly popular‚ first with teens and eventually with younger children as well. The toy was so engaging that some teens stayed up until 2 a.m. just to play with it. Before long‚ teens spent so much time using the toy that they cut back on socializing in person. This is not a fictional story. The toy is the smartphone‚ and this is the story of...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday that prohibits people under 14 years of age from having social-media accounts‚ regardless of parental consent‚ one of the most restrictive laws aimed at curbing social-media access for minors. Under the new law‚ social-media companies are required to close accounts believed to be used by minors under 14. The platforms must also cancel accounts at the request of parents or minors‚ and all information from the accounts must be deleted....

On the issue of kids‚ smartphones‚ and social media‚ a vibe shift is happening‚ and it’s happening on the left‚ right‚ and in the center. Here’s a survey of recent anti-phone discourse on the topic in politics and culture in recent weeks and months: The TikTok “ban” (don’t call it that) garnered bipartisan support in the House‚ and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill making it illegal for people under 14 to have social media accounts in Florida. “People are so unwilling to blame iPhones as one of...

First‚ there was the “Two Beers and a Puppy Test” that could help determine if a relationship was meant to last. Then‚ the “bird test.” And now‚ we have a relationship litmus test that has zero animal associations‚ but might be the most telling of all. In a post published on March 20‚ a man sought out advice on one of Reddit’s most popular forums‚ "Am I the A**hole‚" to see if he had been in the wrong for leaving his girlfriend behind in the regular airport security line while he cruised through the TSA Precheck line. His predicament‚ and the heated debate that followed‚ brought up a common moral dilemma amongst couples: who's actually being the selfish one?For context: the man explained that he and his girlfriend were heading to Paris from New York for vacation. To make international travel a little less of a headache‚ the boyfriend encouraged his girlfriend to enroll in the Global Entry program‚ which includes TSA PreCheck—meaning a shorter‚ much faster moving security check line. "I thought this would be a great way for us both to avoid long lines at TSA‚" he wrote. "I even started the application for her‚ and all she had to do was finish it."However the girlfriend never finished the application. So when their travel day arrived‚ she remained stuck in the regular line while he could go through the TSA Precheck. “For the beginning part of our trip‚ she was mad at me for this‚" he recalled. AITA for using TSA Precheck while my girlfriend went through the regular line? byu/gdaddy3991 inAmItheAssholeThe man wondered if he was somehow in the wrong‚ even though he had tried to make the process of getting Global Entry easy for his girlfriend‚ so they could both enjoy the perks. However‚ many agreed that the boyfriend was absolute in the right‚ and felt like the girlfriend’s anger was unjustified. "What happened was a result of her own decision‚" one person wrote. "If she’s happy to go through the regular TSA line‚ that’s fine. There’s no need for you to suffer because of her bad decision. This was entirely foreseeable when she declined to complete the Global Entry process. There’s no way she should hold her own lack of planning against you.”Another added‚ “also‚ if you go through the regular line when you have Precheck‚ you’re wasting EVERYONE’S time!”There were even a few couples who were equally mismatched when it came to prechecks‚ but it never caused a rift in the relationship. One person shared‚ “I ALWAYS use my precheck line and [my husband] has never had a problem with it. I’m not going to take my shoes off‚ take my laptop and liquids out‚ etc just because I’d keep him company in the line! That’s insane. If anything‚ sometimes I take his electronics with me through precheck so he doesn’t need to take them out. I end up waiting for him on the other side anyways‚ but I use that time to use the restroom and fill up my water bottle. I don’t see the issue here.” “My spouse has global entry and I don’t. We always split up for security check. This is a nonissue‚" commented another. And yet‚ it wasn’t completely one sided. One person noted that while the OP didn’t necessarily do anything wrong‚ they could empathize with the girlfriend‚ saying‚ "splitting up on the first part of your holiday is a bit of a shame.”Another questioned the boyfriends true motivations:“You could make a point and teach her a lesson‚ or you could have a happy start to your trip. You picked the former but I don’t see how you could [have] expected her to be anything but unhappy about it.”While we may never reach a fully unanimous opinion on this‚ experts seem to agree that separating at pre-check doesn’t have to spoil the romance‚ especially when handled properly (having a drink or snack ready for the later partner vs. gloating‚ for example). Of course‚ in this man’s case‚ it sounds like he did try to think of his partner‚ even if his efforts weren’t appreciated. And that’s partially why most folks were on his side. Clearly one instance like this doesn’t fully diagnose a relationship‚ but it’s easy to see how little obstacles—especially while traveling together—can offer valuable insights into what’s working…and what’s not.

When we think of randomness‚ something chaotic and unpredictable often comes to mind. The funny thing is that when people are asked to choose a random number between 1 and 100‚ they will most reliably select 37. That doesn’t feel very random. So why do people seem to have a strange subconscious affinity for such a seemingly random number? Derek Muller and his team at Veritasium investigated this intriguing phenomenon in a video entitled‚ “Why is this number everywhere?” To unravel the mystery surrounding 37‚ Veritasium surveyed 200‚000 people‚ asking them to select a random number. The ones that came up most often were 7‚ 73‚ 77 and 37.Participants were then asked to choose a number they thought would be the least selected. Setting aside the extreme values and the number 50 for being positioned centrally‚ the numbers that emerged as the most chosen were 73 and 37‚ almost at a tie.In reality‚ the least-selected numbers were 90‚ followed by 30‚ 40‚ 70‚ 80‚ and 60.Why is this number everywhere?One reason why people choose 37 is because it’s a prime number. Muller says that primes “feel like the most random numbers‚” adding that they “don’t appear that much in our lives.” The show’s director Emily Zhang‚ noted that as a child‚ she had a book that counted to a hundred and it had a story for every number‚ but it had little to say about 37.“So for 26‚ that's how many letters in the alphabet‚” Zhang said. “Or for 30‚ they give the days of September. Or for 52‚ that's how many cards are in a deck.” But there isn’t anything notable about 37 besides the fact that it’s a prime number. The fact that little is attached to the number gives it an extra quality of randomness.On a deeper level‚ the number 37 seems to coincide with how we’re wired to make decisions when choosing from a large number of options.Using some rather complex math‚ Muller demonstrates that when people are given a large number of choices‚ they will explore and reject 37% of them to get a sense of what's available. They will then elect the first option that's better than all of the ones they’ve seen.Muller used how we choose partners to give an example of how this works.“So if you want to get married‚ say‚ in 10 years‚ then spend the first 3.7 years seeing what's out there and then select the next person who's better than anyone you've seen‚” Muller says.The video does a great job of revealing people's blind spots when they try to be random. It’s a lot like when parents choose a unique baby name‚ but on the first day of kindergarten‚ they realize other people had the same “unique” idea. “We can argue special coincidences for many numbers‚ but we need to finally address the elephant in the room‚” Muller concludes the video. “The sheer amount of brain power 37 secretly takes up in our collective minds. It's humanity's go-to random number‚ one of our most prominent prime numbers‚ and most of all‚ our ideal number for making decisions. Maybe that's why we're inclined to it naturally. It feels right to us as where to settle and what to pick.”Now that you’ve seen this video‚ you’ll probably see 37 everywhere.