Loneliness is one of the most dangerous health problems in the United States‚ although it’s seldom discussed. Psychology Today says loneliness has the same mortality risks as obesity‚ smoking‚ alcoholism and physical inactivity.A meta-analysis from Brigham Young University found that social isolation may increase the risk of premature death by up to 50%. The problem with loneliness is that people suffer in silence and it afflicts the ones we don’t see. A TikTok user who goes by the name Megan Elizabeth recently shared a touching story on social media about how her grandfather was feeling lonely so he reached out to her. The story shows what can happen when one person is brave enough to confront their social isolation and the important role grandkids can play in their grandparents’ lives.It started when Megan's grandpa texted her to ask if she'd like to come over for a sleepover. “I haven’t been feeling well and miss you. We can order food and watch a mystery show. Love‚ grandpa‚” he wrote.Megan was happy to go see him‚ so grandpa made a series of requests to make the sleepover a hit.“Could you pick up applesauce? The cinnamon kind‚” he asked. “And if you go somewhere with mash potatoes‚ I would like that because I have no teeth and can only eat soft things. Ha!”He also wanted some strawberry ice cream for dessert. “Thank you. You are my favorite granddaughter‚” he ended the conversation. Megan later noted that she’s his only granddaughter. See on Instagram Megan came by with a big bag of food and some ice cream and the two hung out and watched his favorite black-and-white “mystery movies.” When it was time for bed‚ grandpa hadn't forgotten how to put her to sleep. He got her a glass of water to put by the bed in case she got thirsty and left a flashlight on the nightstand just in case his 29-year-old granddaughter got scared.The next morning‚ at 5:30 am‚ he watched her leave for work. See on Instagram Grandfather and granddaughter grew up close to one another. Megan lived with her grandparents when she was young while her parents saved up money for a house. When they bought one‚ it was right across the street.“I am so lucky to have grown up with my grandpa and my grandma (rest in peace)‚” she wrote on Instagram. “I feel so happy. I am thankful for my grandpa and he will never understand how much love he truly has shown me. And more importantly‚ the love he showed my grandma while she was alive. I believe in love and loyalty because of this man. He is my hero‚” she added. See on Instagram Megan's time with her grandfather made her realize a valuable lesson about her life."I think one of the most important realizations I have had recently is that it’s important to live in the moment but it is important to live in the now with intent‚" she wrote on Instagram‚ "so that when you are 92‚ you look back and smile at all the people you loved‚ the memories you made and the life you chose to live."This article originally appeared on 04.27.22

Optical illusions are universally beloved for how they trick our brains and blow our minds. There's a reason we enjoy magic shows and Escher paintings and are mesmerized by fake oases in the desert. We love seeing things that bend our perceptions of reality‚ and the science behind the magic always proves fascinating as well.The Ames window is a pretty well-known optical illusion‚ but it's always cool to see. When spun‚ the angled window appears to oscillate back and forth instead of spin all the way around. But this video adds a twist that makes the effect even more mindbending—our brains simply can't process objective reality mixed with an optical illusion.The YouTube channel Curiosity Show explains the science of the illusion and gives a DIY demonstration for making your own Ames window. But wait until the pen gets taped to the window and spun. This is some real-life magic right here. Mind. Blown.This article originally appeared on 02.21.20

The greats of jazz that came before. The post The song Stevie Wonder wrote about Duke Ellington first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

Canada's Federal Court ruled on Tuesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's use of the Emergencies Act in 2022 to punish protesting truckers was both unreasonable and unconstitutional.

This week‚ I visited Auschwitz. I never before had visited any of the death camps. The experience is absolutely chilling. Auschwitz‚ of course‚ was a complex of camps‚ the three largest of which were Auschwitz I‚ the camp most famous for the terrifyingly Orwellian German slogan welded onto its entrance‚ “ARBEIT MACHT FREI”; Auschwitz II‚ also known as Birkenau‚ the massive death factory at which the Germans operated four large gas chambers‚ each of which could be used to murder 2‚000 people at a time; and Auschwitz III‚ a large labor camp. Visiting in January‚ with the ice covering the ground‚ is a reminder of the cruelties that are possible when human beings commit to the perverse disease of Jew-hatred. Auschwitz was liberated some 79 years ago this month. But that perverse disease is alive and well. As survivor Marian Turski says‚ “Auschwitz did not fall suddenly from the skies‚ it was all tiny steps approaching until what happened here behind me did happen.” That gradualism masked the greatest evil in world history. As we descended into Krakow for the visit‚ I read the diaries of Victor Klemperer‚ a secular‚ intermarried Jew who had converted to Protestantism and who lived in Dresden during Hitler’s rule. Klemperer details the slow but steady changes that turned Jews into outcasts‚ no matter their ideology or even religious practice. Klemperer‚ for his part‚ considered himself a good German and the Nazis the outliers; in 1942‚ Klemperer wrote: “I am fighting the most difficult of battles for my German-ness now. I must hold on to it: I am German‚ the others are un-German.” His protestations meant nothing. Why? Because Jew-hatred is and was a conspiracy theory rooted in the supposed power of the Jew. And there is nothing new about that theory; it is seductive and easy and ancient. In Egypt‚ Pharaoh spoke thus: “Look‚ the children of Israel are too numerous and large for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them‚ so that they may not increase.” In Persia‚ Haman told Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people‚ scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm‚ whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws.” In Poland‚ Bogdan Chmielnicki told the Poles that they had been sold by the Polish nobility “into the hands of the accursed Jews.” In Russia‚ the bestselling “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” alleged a Jewish conspiracy to exploit and control the gentile world. In Germany‚ Hitler wrote that the Jews sought to make the gentile world “ripe for the slave’s lot of permanent subjugation.” Today‚ across the Muslim world‚ the toxic proposition that the Jews control the world is a popular notion and provides justification for murderous terrorist attacks on Jewish civilians: according to a recent poll from the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies‚ only 5% of all Middle Eastern and North African Arabs condemned the terrorist attacks Oct. 7 in Israel as an “illegitimate operation.” Across time and place‚ such ideas sprang from religion‚ from ethnic polarization‚ from nationalistic excess. Today‚ at least in the West‚ such ideas spring from an ideology that suggests a hierarchy of oppression that dominates Western societies‚ in which disproportionately successful groups are victimizers and disproportionately unsuccessful groups the victimized. It is no coincidence that LGBTQ+ and BLM activists‚ who propagate that victim/victimizer narrative‚ side with the genocidal Jew-hating terror group Hamas. According to a recent Harvard/Harris poll‚ some 67% of people aged 18-24 in the United States say that the Jews “as a class are oppressors and should be treated as oppressors.” Visiting Auschwitz‚ one can see the apex results of such perverse ideas. Another Holocaust may not be right around the corner; geopolitical conditions are not what they were in 1940‚ and no serious power has the means and capacity to accomplish anything like the Holocaust today (though Iran armed with a nuclear bomb would be a different story). But certainly‚ the slogan “Never Again” cannot be used by those who currently hand-wave the atrocities of Oct. 7 in the name of fighting supposed “Jewish power.” The only way to stop Jew-hatred is to stop conspiratorial thinking—particularly the conspiratorial thinking of those in the West who despise meritocracy itself and instead see the mirage of the “powerful Jew” hiding behind every problem. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Notes From Auschwitz appeared first on The Daily Signal.