Energy Secretary Chris Wright explained that the oil prices spike won’t last that long while the US and Israel continues dismantling the terrorist regime in Iran. Here’s what he said: The big . . .

Vincint Cannady, who uses they/them pronouns, recently opened up about the grieving process a year after losing their mother. On the podcast Tell Me Something Messy, the musician explains that the loss of their mother came four years after the death of their father. “It is the strangest feeling not having them here,” Cannady says. Losing a loved one is an unfortunate part of life that most people will experience. No two people grieve the same, but some things about grief remain consistent for everyone. Grief is not linear, and it can show up unexpectedly. But for viewers of the podcast, Cannady’s analogy about grief moved some to tears. Grieving people embracing. Photo credit: Canva “Grief is like glitter” Admittedly, the grieving child did not create the analogy, but read it somewhere and found it helpful. The singer explains that losing your parents takes away a certain amount of joy that you don’t realize until you experience it. “I read something the other day that I thought was really beautiful,” Cannady says. “Grief is like glitter. I don’t know about you, but I hate glitter. It’s lovely at first in small doses, but like grief, you don’t know when it’s coming. You don’t know how much of it is going to be there, but like glitter, glitter gets everywhere.” Mourners. Photo credit: Canva They go on to explain that, like after coming into contact with glitter, you find grief everywhere. “It comes in doses, and you’re overwhelmed, and you hate it, and you want to get it off, and you don’t know how to, but it’s there.” As time passes, the person wearing the glitter showers some of it away, but some still remains. No matter how much you try to rid yourself of it, glitter still shows up. The same goes for grief. No matter how much you try to rid yourself of grief, it still pops up in unexpected places. It’s then that Cannady shares something beautiful. After fighting with the sticky, sparkly grief for what feels like an eternity, it’s not as present. Grief never fully goes away A young man looking troubled. Photo credit: Canva “And then days pass, and weeks pass, and months pass,” Cannady tells the podcast host, Brandon Kyle Goodman. “And then someday you’re in your closet, and you pull out a coat or a jacket, and a bit of glitter falls on your hand, and you get sad because you remember what that glitter means. But it’s not as heavy as it was before, and it’s not as messy as it was before.” As time passes, glitter is found less often. However, Cannady explains that glitter is part of you now: “Even though it is annoying at times, and sometimes it gets in your eye, but you get it out, and you move on. You remain shiny. It’s just a remembrance of a lot of love.” The singer shares advice for those experiencing grief, saying that people should give themselves grace. They encourage others not to focus on how other people feel about how you feel about your grief. Grieving is personal, but talking about it with others is therapeutic, according to Cannady. They share that pouring grief into other things, like work or creativity, can be helpful. “You have to find ways to pour your grief into other things,” they advise. “You pour your grief into your work. You pour your grief into life. You pour your grief into your friends and your relationships, and you make sure that they know how much it means to you. Because it’s not just grief, because before it was grief, it was love. It’s still love. It’s just love in absence.” When the clip was shared to Instagram, people were moved to tears. One person comments, “Whew, and just like that — my glitter is back.” “Whew, I think I have a piece of glitter in my eye because…. I lost my father in July and it truly changes you,” someone else writes. “I remember I couldn’t say my mom died out loud,” another person shares. “If I did, I would burst into tears. It felt too real!! Saying it out loud almost 2 1/2 years later, it still feels unreal, but it doesn’t hurt as much. I still cry a little while saying it.” The post Singer who lost both parents in five years moves people to tears with ‘grief is like glitter’ analogy appeared first on Upworthy.

There seem to be two different ways of thinking about who we are attracted to, whether it’s in a romantic or a social relationship. Is it that opposites attract, or do birds of a feather flock together? The evidence overwhelmingly shows that likability has much more to do with what we share with others than with the traits that set us apart. In fact, a 2023 study from the University of Colorado Boulder found that historically, romantic couples tend to share between 82% and 89% of the same personality traits. “Our findings demonstrate that birds of a feather are indeed more likely to flock together,” said study author Tanya Horwitz, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, in a press release. Two friends who are similar. Photo credit: Canva Knowing that people tend to like those who are similar to them, you should focus on amplifying what you share in common when you meet someone new. Vanessa Van Edwards, founder of The Science of People and author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, shared a three-step process to increase your likability that taps into a psychological phenomenon known as the “similarity-attraction effect.” How to be more likable “How can we use the similarity-attraction effect to be more likable? Easy. You want to highlight your similarities. Here’s how to do this in an authentic way,” Van Edwards says in her video before sharing her three-step process: Step 1: Search for similarities “When you first meet someone, you should constantly be on the lookout for similarities. Are you both drinking red wine? Do you both know the host from work? Do you both love Thai food? Orient your first few conversational topics to find mutual likes and dislikes.” Step 2: Capitalize on similarities “Once you find a similarity, don’t let it pass you by. For example, if they think cilantro tastes like soap—because it does—share in the grossness. Double down on that disgusting little herb by saying, ‘Oh yeah, cilantro is the silent food killer. I’m totally on the same page.’ I’m a big fan of the high five, too. If I hear someone also loves Seinfeld, I’m like, ‘High five.’” Step 3: Extend similarities “This means using the similarity as a conversational diving board. If you both love watching soccer, ask if they’ve ever played. If they’re big into hiking, ask for their favorite trail and maybe throw out an option to go hike together. This builds on the similarity-attraction effect and creates rapport.” Two people hiking together. Photo credit: Canva It’s also important that when we meet people, we ask them about their likes and dislikes, because one of the quickest tricks to being likable when you meet someone new is to ask plenty of questions. Harvard University performed a study and found that after you ask someone the first question, ask two follow-ups, and they’ll be much more likely to like you. Studies show that the most likable people like others. Now, for a tongue-twister takeaway from this likability story: We like people who are like us, and we also like people who like us. “So get real on what you love, and then highlight that love in other people,” Van Edwards says at the end of her video. The post Social skills expert shares the ‘similarity-attraction effect’ that makes you instantly likable appeared first on Upworthy.

Today’s teachers have more than their fair share of complaints about Gen Z and Gen Alpha students. Educators say many of them are rude, behind on core skills, inattentive, and unmotivated. One teacher just wishes they’d stop breaking all of her pencils. In a recent video on TikTok, Jess, who teaches middle school, shared that her students were losing and destroying their supplies at an alarming rate, forcing her to rethink her classroom pencil policy. “My students went through 2,000 pencils in four months,” she says. That’s the fastest rate she’s seen in her seven years of teaching. She says much of it comes down to the kids purposefully breaking and throwing the pencils in class. But to make matters worse, these were no ordinary pencils. Jess supplies her classes with Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils, widely considered the cream of the crop of everyday writing pencils. Jess pays for them each semester out of her own pocket because she believes it’s important for her students to have access to high-quality materials, and we all know the school district isn’t going to pony up. That’s what makes the loss of so many pencils in such a short amount of time so frustrating. Teacher Jess came up with a great idea “There is a lack of respect for property that isn’t theirs,” she says. Jess then had an interesting choice. She could stop buying and issuing high-quality pencils, but would the kids really learn anything? Ultimately, she came up with a better idea: a clever new classroom pencil policy. Starting in the new semester at the beginning of 2026, each of her students would receive one pencil per month. Not only that, but the pencil would be engraved with their name. If they lose their pencil before the month is up, they’re out of luck. Jess even went out of her way to get each kid the color and style of their choice, along with a pencil pouch to make it easier to keep track of their writing tool. @inspo_by_jess new year, new pencil policy the problem has gotten to the point where I’m now engraving students’ names into @Ticonderoga pencils to teach them about respect & accountability Would you try this pencil policy? #teachers #asmr #diy @xtoolofficial ♬ original sound – inspo_by_jess A few months later, Jess was ready to issue a long-awaited update. Since her first post went up on social media, it has received over eight million views and thousands of comments from fellow teachers and parents cheering her on. In short, it worked out far better than she ever could have hoped. Not only did the new policy help her preserve more pencils and save money on supplies, but the kids also began internalizing some amazing lessons. Personal property became a point of pride for her students For starters, the kids loved the pencils in their chosen color with their name engraved on the side. They were excited to take better care of them and were motivated to avoid losing them and being stuck with whatever cheap loaner was lying around. The new policy even began to have an impact on the sense of community in the classroom. Jess was able to teach a few students to use the engraving machine, so now the kids are responsible for making their own new batch of pencils every month. She also noticed that students were beginning to help each other out and hold each other accountable. After class, students scoop up loose pencils from the floor and return them to their rightful owners or drop them in the lost-and-found box. A few kids still struggle with throwing and breaking pencils, but the majority of her kids have fully gotten on board. Overall, the system is a vast improvement in more ways than one. @inspo_by_jess update on our new pencil policy here’s what happened after engraving students’ names into Dixon Ticonderoga pencils… Would you try this pencil policy? #teachers #asmr #DIY ♬ original sound – inspo_by_jess Surprisingly, teachers have come up with all kinds of inventive ways to keep students from losing or breaking classroom supplies, especially pencils. Classroom pencil policy strategies range from “pencil debt,” a system in which the class works as a group to keep track of all pencils throughout the week, to reward charts, regular check-ins, collateral systems, and more. Dedicated educators make a real difference It’s amazing that educators would go through so much trouble. Perhaps the more obvious solution would be to just force kids to provide their own supplies if they can’t be trusted to take care of the ones their teachers provide. It’s not an exaggeration to say that nearly every teacher at some point is forced to buy needed supplies for the classroom out of their own paycheck. They’re also severely underpaid in most cases, which makes the burden of furnishing the class that much heavier. However, the best educators, like Jess, refuse to give up on the younger generations. Instead, they find problems that seem hopeless—like a lack of respect for materials—and creatively turn them into teachable moments. She could have cut them off, expressed her disappointment, and left them feeling dejected. But instead, she crafted a brilliant lesson in responsibility, respect, and community. Her students will carry it with them into their next classrooms and beyond. The post A middle school teacher used students breaking their pencils to teach a brillian lesson about respect appeared first on Upworthy.

Doing too much work for their own good. The post “It doesn’t impress me”: The guitarists George Harrison couldn’t stand listening to first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

From wood-fired pizzas and spaghetti alla puttanesca to classy cocktails and breezy patios, these joints offer some of the best Italian dining in New York City.