World Philosophy Day, officially recognised by UNESCO in 2002, celebrates philosophy's power to foster dialogue, critical inquiry, and intercultural understanding. Observed annually on the third Thursday of November, the 2024 theme, "Philosophy: Bridging Social Gaps," underscores philosophy's role in fostering empathy, challenging entrenched ideologies, and promoting dialogue across diverse perspectives. In a world marked by societal divides, philosophy stands as a crucial tool in confronting...

The Illinois State Supreme Court has dismissed Jussie Smollett's conviction for lying about a hate crime in a ruling issued Thursday. In a surprising 5-0 decision, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the case be dismissed, ruling that an agreement reached between Smollett and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to drop criminal charges in exchange for a fine and community service should have stood. The court said in its ruling, "We are aware that this case has generated significant...

As casting for the upcoming "Harry Potter" TV series gets underway, more information has come out about controversial author J.K. Rowling's level of involvement in the show, which will stream on Max. According to a statement from HBO provided to Hollywood trade publications Variety and TheWrap, Rowling's "contribution has been invaluable" to the company and the "Potter" show "will only benefit from her involvement" as executive producer.

Former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has reportedly had it with the United States and has already moved into a home in rural England with her wife Portia De Rossi following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. Sources with knowledge told The Wrap that the 66-year-old comedian/actress and Rossi purchased the home in South West England — two hours outside of London — before voters in America went to the polls and voted to send Trump back to the White House.

Ukraine fired long-range missiles into Russia for the first time Tuesday, marking the 1,000th day of the Russia-Ukraine War. The attacks came a day after President Biden authorized Ukraine to use long-ranged missiles as a response to North Korea sending support troops into Russia.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested permission for the use of long-range missiles early into the war, but the Biden Administration hesitated, due to concerns...

What dog owner wouldn’t want to jam out to Queen with their pup while the world watches? Of course, our version probably wouldn’t be nearly as impressive as what Roni Sagi and her black and white border collie, aptly named Rhythm, did for “America's Got Talent” on Tuesday. First off, audiences knew they’d instantly be in for a treat when Sagi and Rhythm recreated the band’s famous pose for “Bohemian Rhapsody.” But it only got better from there, in a routine that featured a mash-up of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Don’t Stop Me Now.” The dance duo wowed judges and audiences alike with synchronized steps, turns, flips…and even a cool bridge pose trick (seriously, this was a dog owner’s dream come to life). Simon Cowell jokingly asked “How do we know that the dog is a real dog?” because Rhythm was just that good. Sagi would later end up sharing that Rhythm earned his name from an early age, already tapping his little feet on her bed at only 6 weeks old. By that point, Sagi had already had experience training therapy dogs, which undoubtedly gave her a good foundation for working with her little “tornado storm.” Perhaps it should come as that much of a surprise that Rhythm is so gifted. After all, border collies are notorious for being able to pick up skills quickly, and there have been several border collies that have broken world records—including records for intelligence, balance and skateboarding (yes, really). But Sagi seems to credit their chemistry less on Rhythm’s species traits, and more on his individual personality. “It’s so much fun to have a partner that wants [to perform] as much as you,” she said. “He wants to do it all, and he wants to do it now, and he wants to do it as good as he can.” Down in the comments, online viewers shared their praises—and awe—for Rhythm’s performance. “This was the most amazing dog act I've seen!” one person wrote. “That precious dog Rhythm is SO talented and smart!!! I don’t understand how he knows what to do when his back is to her?!! This dog is truly dancing and just extremely talented!!!” added another. Still another said, “This dog is the most energetic and enthusiastic I've ever seen.” Of course, Rhythm wasn't getting all the love. One person wrote, “I don't usually like dog acts, but this was impressive. Roni is very creative with what she does and obviously a great dancer herself and trainer.” Maybe we can’t get all dogs to perform quite on this level, but it does show us just how amazing man’s best friend really is. Watch the full act below: - YouTube www.youtube.com This story originally appeared in August

Ever stop to think how bizarre it is that the United States is one of the only countries to not use the metric system? Or how it uses the word “football” to describe a sport that, unlike fútbol, barely uses the feet at all? What must our forefathers have been thinking as they were creating this brave new world? Wonder no further. All this and more is explored in a recent Saturday Night Live sketch that folks are hailing as an “instant classic.”The hilarious clip takes place during the American Revolution, where George Washington rallies his troops with an impassioned speech about his future hopes for their fledgling country…all the while poking fun at America’s nonsensical measurements and language rules.Like seriously, liters and milliliters for soda, wine and alcohol but gallons, pints, and quarters for milk and paint? And no “u” after “o” in words like “armor” and “color” but “glamour” is okay? The inherent humor in the scene is only amplified by comedian and host Nate Bargatze’s understated, deadpan delivery of Washington. Bargatze had quite a few hits during his hosting stint—including an opening monologue that acted as a mini comedy set—but this performance takes the cake. Watch: All in all, people have been applauding the sketch, noting that it harkened back to what “SNL” does best, having fun with the simple things.Here’s what folks are saying:“This skit is an instant classic. I think people will be referencing it as one of the all time best SNL skits for years.”“Dear SNL, whoever wrote this sketch, PLEASE let them write many many MANY more!”“Instantly one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time!!!”“I’m not lying when I say I have watched this sketch about 10 times and laughed just as hard every time.”“This may be my favorite sketch ever. This is absolutely brilliant.”There’s more where that came from. Catch even more of Bargatze’s “SNL” episode here. This article originally appeared last year.

Traveling with preteens and teens is a breeze in comparison to traveling with little ones but as a parent you still want to sit near your kiddos in case they need you for anything. If you've traveled on an airline in the last several years, you know it's much cheaper to chose the basic seats in the main cabin. There's nothing different about these particular seats other than the airline sort of randomly selects your seat and if you're traveling alone, that's really not a bad deal. The risk gets to be a little higher if you're traveling with a party that you'd like to keep together - like your children. One mom took the risk and banked on a stranger accommodating...that's not quite how it played out.People sit in the wrong seats on planes all the time, usually because they read their ticket wrong or accidentally sit one row ahead. Takes no time to double check your ticket and move along, but when Tammy Nelson did a double take at her ticket after seeing the mom in her window seat, she realized she wasn't mistakenly staring at the wrong row.This mom boarded the plane with her older children and had taken it upon herself to sit in the same row as her children, essentially commandeering a stranger's seat. Nelson assumed it was a mistake and informed the woman that the seat was in fact hers but the response she received was surprising."She said, 'Oh, you want to sit here?'," Nelson tells Good Morning America. "She said, 'Oh, well I just thought I could switch with you because these are my kids.'" That's an interesting assumption when seats are assigned and many people, like Nelson, pay extra to have the seat they prefer. Now, there's no telling if funds were tight and this was an unplanned trip for the mom and kids which caused her to buy the more budget friendly tickets or if she was simply being frugal and was banking on the kindness of a stranger. Either way, Nelson specifically paid for a window seat due to motion sickness and though she paid extra, she was willing to sit in the other row if that seat was also a window seat. But it turns out, it was a middle seat. Surely there's someone out there that loves the middle seat. Maybe a cold natured person that enjoys the body heat of two strangers sitting uncomfortably close. Or perhaps someone that doesn't mind accidentally sleeping on an unsuspecting passenger's shoulder. But that person isn't Nelson, so when the middle seat was offered in exchange for her bought and paid for window seat, she politely but sternly declined. @myconquering Having had only 90 minutes of sleep the night before and knowing I had to give a presentation to 500 people, I desperately needed some sleep, so I did not agree to switch seats. ?‍♀️ Before anyone comes after me… the kids looked like they were about 11 and 15 years old. And the mom was in arms-reach of both of them from the middle seat in the row behind us. The mom proceeded to complain for at least 15 minutes to the person next to her loud enough for me to hear. But the woman actually defended me – several times. It was so kind and I appreciated it so much because I was feeling really guilty. ?‍♀️ ##airplaneseat##seatswitching##airplanekarens Her refusal to give in to the mom's seemingly entitled request for Nelson's seat has resulted in parents and child-fee people cheering her on after she posted the details on her TikTok page, MyCONQUERing. The video has over 3.4 million views. "Nope. If it's not an upgrade it's a sacrifice," a commenter writes."You did the RIGHT thing. Folks need to plan their travel together. Lack of planning on their part does not constitute an inconvenience on yours," one person says. "I have 3 kids and have sat in different rows when they were passed toddler age. I agree, book your flight earlier," another writes. "You were right. As a woman with 3 children, I always pay extra so we're sat together," another mom says.Nelson is also a mom so she knows how important it is to sit next to kids on flights. But since airlines have made that a luxury, as the parent, you have to plan to pay extra or accept that you likely won't be seated next to your children. Hopefully in the future, this unnamed mom is seated next to her children or pays extra to make sure it happens. In the meantime, people continue to support Nelson standing her ground. This article originally appeared last year.

Nothing can ever fully prepare you for being an adult. Once you leave childhood behind, the responsibilities, let-downs and setbacks come at you fast. It’s tiring and expensive, and there's no easy-to-follow roadmap for happiness and success. A Reddit user asked the online forum, “What’s an adult problem nobody prepared you for?” and there were a lot of profound answers that get to the heart of the disappointing side of being an adult.One theme that ran through many responses is the feeling of being set adrift. When you’re a kid, the world is laid out as a series of accomplishments. You learn to walk, you figure out how to use the bathroom, you start school, you finish school, maybe you go to college, and so on.However, once we’re out of the school system and out from under our parents’ roofs, there is a vast, complicated world out there and it takes a long time to learn how it works. The tough thing is that if you don’t get a good head start, you can spend the rest of your life playing catch-up.Then, you hit middle age and realize that life is short and time is only moving faster.Adulthood also blindsides a lot of people because we realize that many adults are simply children who grew older. The adult world is a lot more like high school than a teenager could ever imagine.The Reddit thread may seem a bit depressing at first, but there are a lot of great lessons that younger people can take to heart. The posts will also make older people feel a lot better because they can totally relate.Being an adult is hard, exhausting and expensive. But we’re all in this together and by sharing the lessons we’ve learned we can help lighten each other's load just a bit.Here are 21 of the most powerful responses to the question: “What is an adult problem nobody prepared you for?”1. Lack of purpose"Lack of purpose. All your young life you are given purpose of passing exams and learning, then all of a sudden you are thrown into the world and told to find your own meaning," — Captain_Snow.2. No bed time"You can stay up as late as you want. But you shouldn't," — geek-fit3. Friendships"Where did all my friends go?" — I_Love_Small_Breasts Most of them are at the same place as you are ... Probably wondering the same thing," — Blackdraon0034. Bodily changes"I'm closer to fifty than forty, would have been nice to be better prepared for some of the ways your body starts to change at this point that don't normally get talked about. For instance your teeth will start to shift from general aging of your gums," — dayburner.5. People don't change"Didnt know that other adults have the emotional intelligence of teenagers and its almost impossible to deal with logically," — Super-Progress-63866. Money"$5K is a lot to owe, but not a lot to have," — Upper-Job51307. Our parents age, too"Handling the decline and death of your parents," - Agave6668. Free time"Not having a lot of free-time or time by myself," — detective_kiara9. No goals"Not having a pre-defined goal once I was out of college. Growing up my goals were set for me: get through elementary school! then middle school! Then high school, and get into college and get a degree, then get a job, and then...? Vague "advance in your career, buy a house, find a spouse, have a kid or multiple, then retire." At 22 I had no idea how to break that down more granularly," — FreehandBirdlime10. Constant upkeep"Life is all about maintenance. Your body, your house, your relationships, everything requires constant never ending maintenance," — IHateEditedBGMusic11. Exhaustion"Being able to do so many things because I'm an adult but too tired to do any of them," — London8212. Loneliness"Being an adult feels extremely lonely," — Bluebloop013. Dinner"Having to make dinner every. Fucking. Day," — EndlesslyUnfinished14. Time changes"The more life you’ve lived, the faster time seems to go," — FadedQuill15. You're responsibile, even if you didn't mean it"You are held to account for bad behaviour for which you are negligent even if you had no intention to cause harm. As a lawyer, I see this all the time. People don't think they're responsible for mistakes. You are," — grishamlaw16. Work is like high school"The intricacies of workplace politics," — Steve_Lobsen writes. ""When you're in school, you think that you won't have to deal with gossiping and bullying once you leave school. Unfortunately, that is not true," — lady_laughs_too_much17. Nowhere to turn"How easy it is to feel stuck in a bad situation (job, relationship, etc) just because the cost and effort of getting out can seem daunting. And sometimes you just have to accept a figurative bowl full of shit because you can't afford to blow up your life," — movieguy9545318. The happiness question"Figuring out what makes you happy. Everyone keeps trying to get you to do things you're good at, or that makes you money, but never to pursue what you enjoy," — eternalwanderer519. Constant cleaning"The kitchen is always dirty. You’ll clean it at least three times every day," — cewnc20. Life costs money"One adult problem nobody prepared me for is how expensive everything is. I always thought that as an adult I would be able to afford the things I wanted, but it turns out that's not always the case! I've had to learn how to budget and save up for the things I want, and it's been a difficult process," — Dull_Dog_812621. Keeping above water"All of it together. I was relatively warned about how high rent is, car bills and repairs, how buying healthy food is expensive as hell but important for your health, how to exercise and save what you can, my parents did their best to fill in my knowledge about taxes and healthcare and insurance that my schooling missed, about driving and cleaning a household, about setting boundaries at work but working hard and getting ahead if you can, about charity and what it means to take care of a pet and others, about being a good partner if you were lucky enough to have one, about how dark and messed up the world is when you just read the news and what all that means to me and my community… I was reasonably warned about all of it."No one could have ever prepared me for how hard doing all of it at the same time and keeping your head above that water would actually be," — ThatNoNameWriterThis article originally appeared two years ago.

Studies show that having daughters makes men more sympathetic to women's issues.And while it would be nice if men did not need a genetic investment in a female person in order to gain this perspective, lately I've had sympathy for those newly woke dads. My two sons have caused something similar to happen to me. I've begun to glimpse the world through the eyes of a young male. And among the things I'm finding here in boyland are the same obnoxious gender norms that rankled when I was a girl.Of course, one notices norms the most when they don't fit. If my tween sons were happily boy-ing away at boy things, neither they nor I would notice that they were hemmed in.But oh boy, are they not doing that. In fact, if I showed you a list of my sons' collective interests and you had to guess their gender, you'd waver a bit, but then choose girl.Baking, reading, drawing, holidays, films, volleyball, cute mammals, video games, babies and toddlers, reading, travel, writing letters.I imagine many of you are thinking at this point: That's awesome that your boys are interested in those things!There's more. One loves comics and graphic novels but gravitates to stories with strong female protagonists, like Ms. Marvel and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.Cool! I love it.And sports. They are thoroughly bored by team sports. They don't play them. They won't watch them. They will up- or down-arrow through any number of sporting events on TV to get to a dance contest or to watch competitive baking.So? Nothing wrong with that.Those are the kinds of things all my progressive friends say.But it's often not the message my sons themselves hear from the other adults in their lives, their classmates, and the media.For example, the first get-to-know-you question they are inevitably asked by well-meaning grown-ups is, "So, do you play sports?" When they say, "No, not really," the adult usually continues brightly, "Oh, so what do you like to do, then?"No one explicitly says it's bad for a boy not to play sports. But when it's always the first question asked, the implication is clear: playing sports is normal; therefore, not playing them is not.The truth is that one of them does play a sport. He figure skates, as does my daughter. When people find out that she skates, they beam at her, as if she suddenly has possession of a few rays of Olympic glory. In the days before my son stopped telling people that he ice skates, most of them hesitated and then said, "Oh, so you are planning to play hockey?"But it's not just what people say. It's all those pesky, unwritten rules. When he was in second grade, my younger son liked the Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew series. But he refused to check any out of the school library. He explained: "Girls can read boy books, but boys can't read girl books. Girls can wear boy colors or girl colors, but boys can only wear boy colors. Why is that, Mom?"I didn't have an answer.An obvious starting point — and the one that we have the most control over — is to change the way we speak to the boys in our lives.As Andrew Reiner suggests in a spot-on essay, we should engage boys in analytical, emotion-focused conversations, just like we do with girls. In "How to Talk to Little Girls," Lisa Bloom offers alternatives to the appearance-focused comments so often directed at young girls: asking a girl what she's reading or about current events or what she would like to see changed in the world. I could copy-paste Bloom's list and slap a different title on it: "How to Ask Boys About Something Besides Sports."And with a few more built-in nudges, we might expand the narrow world of boyhood more quickly. Boy Scouts could offer badges for developing skills in child care, teamwork, and journaling. Girl-dominated activities like art, dance, gymnastics, and figure skating could be made more welcoming to boys, with increased outreach and retention efforts. My son could write his own essay about trying to fit in to the nearly all-girl world of figure skating, including the times he has had to change clothes in a toilet stall at skating events because there were no locker rooms available for boys.I used to think that the concept of gender — of "girl things" and "boy things" — was what was holding us back.Now I see it differently.The interdependent yin and yang of gender is a fundamental part of who we are, individually and collectively. We need people who like to fix cars and people who like to fix dinner. We need people who are willing and able to fight if needed and people who are exquisitely tuned into a baby's needs. But for millennia, we have forced these traits to align with biological sex, causing countless individuals to be dissatisfied and diminished. For the most part, we've recognized this with girls. But we have a long way to go when it comes to boys. As Gloria Steinem observed, "We've begun to raise daughters more like sons … but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters."I acknowledge that young boys feeling pressured to be sports fans is not our country's biggest problem related to gender.Transgender individuals still confront discrimination and violence. The #MeToo movement has revealed to anyone who didn't already know it that girls and women can't go about their everyday lives without bumping into male sexual aggression.But if our culture shifts to wholeheartedly embrace the whole spectrum of unboyishness, it may play some small role in addressing these other issues, too. Male culture will be redefined, enriched, and expanded, diluting the toxic masculinity that is at the root of most of our gender-related problems.Boys and girls alike will be able to decide if they would rather be made up of snips and snails, sugar and spice, or a customized mix. And my future grandsons, unlike my sons, won't think twice about wearing pink or reading about a girl detective at school.This story originally appeared on Motherwell and is reprinted here with permission.This article originally appeared six years ago.