Elon MuskHARRISBURG, Pa. — The parking situation tells part of the story. Volunteers in neon yellow wave red wands to bring order to the traffic snarl spilling out in the street, untangling gridlock…

Dogs have pretty big personalities, and it seems like some just may have enough to share. There are dogs that enjoy dressing up in cute clothes and others that like to pretend all four of their legs are broken when it's time to take a walk. Then there are dogs like Nilla, who thinks anytime she sees her mom getting ready for the day, she also has to get a full face of makeup to start her day, too. Cierra adopted Nilla when she was just a puppy, and they've become best friends who do lots of things together. One of those things is getting ready in the morning. While Cierra stands in front of her bathroom mirror to apply her makeup, Nilla will whine and bark at her mom, who is clearly hogging the blush.It doesn't take long before Cierra gives in to the dog's demands and starts giving Nilla a full face of makeup. After all, dogs have to look beautiful as well. Nilla sits patiently as her mom "applies" mascara and eyebrow pencil to her face. But as soon as Cierra takes too long with another product, Nilla is back to scolding her mom with high-pitched barks. Before long, the pittie is decked out with concealer, blush, highlighter and lipstick. Of course, none of this is actually applied to the dog's face, but she doesn't realize her mom is just pretending. In her mind, she's red carpet ready when Cierra is done with the puppy makeover. "I bend down and pretend that I'm doing her makeup," Cierra told The Dodo. "I'll grab a beauty blender and do it on her cheeks. I did the blow dryer and then I did some concealer."Nilla even gets fancy setting spray, and while she does try to eat the blush brush, she's a pretty good makeover candidate. You can watch her whole beautiful and amusing transformation below. This article originally appeared on 7.14.23

Good grandparents really are an important asset to young families just starting out. They can show you the ropes of parenthood, help entertain their grandkids, and probably most importantly, they know when you need a break because you're their baby and they can always tell when something's up with their child. But sometimes, grandparents can be a little...uh...needy, even when they're the best grandparents in every other aspect. Technology has changed so much over the decades since they were raising children, and sometimes they need a little extra help with things that might seem simple. Soon-to-be mom of two, Molly Madfis, took to TikTok to share what happened when her 75-year-old dad, John, was babysitting her 5-year-old, Arlo, for a few days while she was on a "babymoon" with her husband. In the viral TikTok, Madfis is seen with her husband with a text overlay that reads, "how to have a relaxing babymoon—don't ask your dad to babysit." Before you think Madfis is being mean to her sweet dad, you can clearly see through the text exchange that they love each other very much and her post seems to be in good fun. "Arlo worships my dad, but I was a little nervous about leaving them alone together. My dad is pretty co-dependent—like, he’ll go to CVS and then call me eight times with different questions,” Madfis told Today.com. The text exchanges that Madfis shared are pretty adorable, though I'm sure receiving them while you're trying to relax may have taken the cute factor down a notch. But let's be completely honest—do we think a nervous mom would've relaxed had grandpa not been sending random texts that let you know things are still going well? Probably not. In the short clip, you see the door cam video that shows John, whom Arlo lovingly calls "Poppy," leaving to take the little guy to school without his backpack...and 30 minutes late. Then comes the text, "Hi, how do you toast," which John sent along with a picture of the options shown on the machine. Clearly, or at least clearly to his daughter and viewers, there was a picture of a piece of bread indicating the toasting option. When Madfis explained where the bread icon was located, there was still confusion, but he made it work. "The one that looks like pizza worked," the grandpa replied. @almostmakesperfect never again #fyp The texts continue to get more comical as they go on. At one point, he asked if he should refrigerate the leftover pizza, complete with a photo of a half-empty pizza box. But the kicker was when Madfis asked for a picture of her child. John's response was a classic dad move: "Why? You already know what he looks like."The comment section was filled with people relating and laughing at the video. "I asked my FIL [father-in-law] for a pic of my baby so he sent me the pic that I sent him of her last week," one mom commented."Love how he didn't mind sending you pictures of the toaster and pizza but was confused on why you wanted one of the kid," another person wrote, complete with a crying laughing emoji. Others commented that the little boy probably had the best week of his life with his Poppy. Listen, even people who take their kids to school every day forget backpacks sometimes, so we can cut grandpa some slack there. As for the rest of it—keep being you, Poppy. Memories are certainly being made. This article originally appeared on 3.17.23

One of the funniest and most bizarre things about being a human being is that we really know very little about what’s going on. Sure, many religious people are confident they know why we exist, where we came from and what happens after we die, but there isn’t a whole lot of evidence to suggest they’re correct.However, even though we are at the center of an incredible mystery, most people are happy to go about their days without worrying about the basic nature of our existence. This has always been very strange to me. Why isn’t the nature of existence the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind the moment they wake up?There is one thing we do know for sure: that we are all going to die one day. Some people believe that once we flatline we may get invited to heaven where we get to spend all eternity playing the harp, reuniting with old friends and relatives, and enjoying a pain-free, joyous existence.But as the TV show “The Good Place” suggests, living a perfect life, free of suffering or challenges, eventually becomes pretty forking boring and pointless.Mark Twain said it best in “Letters from the Earth”:His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists—utterly and entirely—of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn't it curious? Isn't it interesting?Many also believe that if there’s a heaven, there’s also hell where the folks who had a good time on Earth wind up. But wouldn’t that get boring, too? Just as one can get accustomed to living in constant beauty, one probably gets acclimated to the heat and suffering down below.There are also some who believe in reincarnation, so every time we die we are born again as a different species. Cool if you’re a dolphin, bad news if you’re a dung beetle.Then there are those who believe that nothing supernatural happens. Your consciousness shuts off and things are a lot like before you were born—absolute nothingness. That’s the least interesting option, but according to science, the most likely.Reddit user throwawayacctlmaooo wanted to find out what posters on the forum thought about life after death, so they asked, “What do you legitimately believe happens after we die?” They received a ton of responses that were outside of the usual “go to heaven/go to hell” variety. What’s cool is that the posts show that a lot of people have widely divergent ideas about what happens after we die.Here are some of the best responses to the biggest question in life.1. You're a wave"No idea, but there is this quote from the TV show 'The Good Place' that I really like and have found comfort in."'Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it's there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It's a wave."And then it crashes in the shore and it's gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it's one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it's supposed to be.'" — AlexEventstar2. Our energy moves on"Our energy — just like that of every living thing before us — will go on and become new things. Soil. Plants. Lions. Toilet paper. Space ship wheel arches. Dragonfly toes. We're all just part of the same system. Neither manufactured nor destroyed. We're just transferring that bestowed upon us from all those before. Death is life." — four__beasts3. You've been there before"Just like before you were born. Not good, not bad, just non-existence." — SniffCheck4. No need to fear​"In the great words of Mark Twain: 'I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." — Eva__Unit__025. One more time"When I think about it, I come to this very same conclusion. And that terrifies me. The only thing that is a little comforting for me is that, according to some research and according to some people who have experienced Near Death, just before full-on 'nothingness," you relive your life one last time, with an emphasis on the best moments in your life, all being overwhelmed with a feeling of love." — MrXANA916. Isn't this reincarnation?"I think we just keep on hitting a randomize button and we manifest into something else, again and again endlessly." — FarOutSonOfLung7. The great nothing"In my opinion, nothing. Like being under anesthesia but never waking up and ceasing to exist." — throwayaacctlmaooo8. Choose your own adventure"I'd like to think we reset like a game and we could choose whether we get reborn or go to some sort of heaven or something." — No_But_Yes9. We're energy"I’d honestly like to believe that we all become energy. We move around the universe, maybe even become one with it until we are reincarnated again as something else on earth or a different planet." — cheese-emperor10. Salamanders"I think we are all reincarnated as salamanders." — Kyky71611. New universe?"I believe we go to another universe but that's just wishful thinking." — Zarek_Pumpkineater12. Incomparable infinity"I'm under the impression that death is a separate experience we can't comprehend. Like someone with vision will never truly know the concept of blindness or someone with hearing will never know the concept of deafness."You only experience it while you're doing it and I am currently experiencing being alive as a human. You don't know what it was like before you were born because you're obviously alive. Just like you don't know deafness because your ears work.Beyond that, I believe the universe is in endless million-trillion year long cycles of growth and collapse and the fact that I exist at all means, throughout infinity, I am a guaranteed mathematic outcome and must repeat again." — bermudalily13. Nothing"Nothing. It's the only answer that makes sense. We ARE our thoughts. Our thoughts are in our brain. When we die, our brain shuts down. So our thoughts no longer exist. Anybody who believes in any form of an afterlife really needs to explain how we can have thoughts without our brain. And if they believe that's somehow magically possible, why do we have brains while still alive?" — joeri150514. You become fertilizer"The same as when trees, plants, or other animals die, we decompose & feed the earth for something else to grow." — skev30315. May the source be with you"What I like to believe is that all life comes from a specific energy source and is returned there once we die. Sort of like a big pool of life, where all souls merge after death and cycle back into the world to be reborn. As for what we experience in that form I have no idea. But the entire world lives and functions on cycles, from the food chain to the weather cycle, eveywhere you look there is a cycle to maintain it. So it only makes sense life would work the same way." — doopster7716. Star stuff"Your surviving family gets all teary, then buries or burns your lifeless body. As the years pass, what atoms once made you, you, become all mixed up in other things, until much later on when the sun dies and engulfs the earth and all its atoms in a final dance of atomic death. Because we are all made of stars, and to them we will all return." — dbryarThis article originally appeared on 3.4.22

Our choices in life should only be limited by our imaginations. However, far too many of us limit our options because of what others may think or how we’ve been raised.Four women in Washington, D.C., completely reimagined their concepts of family, friendship and child-rearing and have created an urban commune where they’re free to pursue happiness in a way most people never consider.Holly Harper and Herrin Hopper always joked that one day they'd live together on a commune in Vermont. But after they both got divorced, they began to take their old joke seriously."Holly and I said, 'Why not do this?'" Harper recalled in an interview with Today. "Within a weekend we found this house."The two friends found two other single women, Jen and Leandra, and they purchased a four-unit home. The arrangement allows the four women to save money but it also has countless advantages for all four families. “We've unlocked the power of sharing, and our baseline expenses decreased, allowing us to experience abundance,” Harper wrote in Insider.“This living arrangement is a kid's paradise, complete with a giant trampoline, a parkour line, a garden, a gym, a big-screen TV, and a craft studio,” Harper wrote. “Our kids—who can use the buddy system for a walk to get gelato, and who have playmates during the quarantine and homeschool months—are thriving.”The children, ages 9 to 14, relate to each other like cousins and their new living arrangement provides them with new perspectives on life that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. It gives them a great opportunity to learn more about dating, bullying, divorce, family, sexual orientation, creativity, death and finding joy. \u2066@hollybluebike\u2069 is burning the Rulebook and I\u2019m here for it \n\nSingle Moms Buy A House Together In Washington, D.C.https://www.today.com/parents/moms/single-moms-buy-house-rcna19604\u00a0\u2026 — Cissy Jones (@Cissy Jones) 1647016746 They also have no shortage of playmates and things to do. The home is equipped with a 15-foot trampoline, parkour slackline, hammocks, sleds and an inflatable pool in the summer. Living at the home they’ve dubbed “The Siren House” is a lot like a permanent summer camp.It has also taught the four mothers how to share. The women share expenses, cars, food, babysitting duties, dog-walking and hugs with each other. Harper says that their living arrangement saves her $30,000 a year.“We don’t know whose socks are whose ... socks everywhere,” Harper said. “iPads, dishes, cups. There’s a lot of exchanging that occurs. Usually not planned.” See on Instagram To keep everything in order they have routine “homeowners meetings” where they discuss repairs and yard work. The meetings often happen over a bottle of Champagne."There is almost a spiritual safety net every day here," Harper said. "I could be my worst self, I could be my best self, and they see me for who I am, and it's OK."For Harper, the home isn’t a utopia, but the arrangement gives the four families the greatest chance to find happiness. “The goal of life is not to reach some plane of happiness but to create an environment where we are safe to pursue happiness in every moment,” Harper wrote.This article originally appeared on 3.15.22

Few things are more difficult than watching a loved one's grip on reality slipping away. Dementia can be brutal for families and caregivers, and knowing how to handle the various stages can be tricky to figure out. The Alzheimer's Association offers tips for communicating in the early, middle and late stages of the disease, as dementia manifests differently as the disease progresses. The Family Caregiver Alliance also offers advice for talking to someone with various forms and phases of dementia. Some communication tips deal with confusion, agitation and other challenging behaviors that can come along with losing one's memory, and those tips are incredibly important. But what about when the person is seemingly living in a different time, immersed in their memories of the past, unaware of what has happened since then?Psychologist David McPhee shared some advice with a person on Quora who asked, "How do I answer my dad with dementia when he talks about his mom and dad being alive? Do I go along with it or tell him they have passed away?"McPhee wrote:"Enter into his reality and enjoy it. He doesn't need to be 'oriented.' Thank God the days are gone when people with advanced dementia were tortured by huge calendars and reminder signs and loved ones were urged to 'orient' them to some boring current 'reality.'If dad spends most of his time in 1959, sit with him. Ask questions he didn't have time for before. Ask about people long dead, but alive to him, learn, celebrate your heritage. His parents are alive to him. Learn more about your grandparents. If he tells the same story over and over, appreciate it as if it's music, and you keep coming back to the beautiful refrain.This isn't 'playing along to pacify the old guy,' this is an opportunity to communicate and treasure memories real but out of time." wanted to share this incredible story on how to engage people with dementia \u2014 \u201center into their reality\u201dpic.twitter.com/4xbvWqMJ2L — Rob N Roll \ud83c\udf83\u2122\ufe0f (@Rob N Roll \ud83c\udf83\u2122\ufe0f) 1634002986 People on Quora loved the thoughtful, compassionate advice. Many people shared that they had taken this approach with their relatives with good results, and people who work with dementia patients confirmed it also. Some said that "orienting" to present reality may be helpful for people in the early stages of dementia, but not necessarily in the middle or later stages. Of course, caregivers know that dementia means more than simply living in another time period in your head, and that talking with a person with dementia might require different skills and approaches on different days. But this advice to learn about a loved one's past may come in handy for family members who feel sad or hurt that they aren't being remembered in the present. It may help to see it as an opportunity to time travel with the person rather than a loss. When a person is deep in their long-term memory, you may be surprised and delighted by what you can discover. People with dementia don't need to be brought back to the present if it's just going to confuse or irritate them. If they are in a safe place and are being watched over so they don't wander or do something dangerous, let them be. Join them in their past world and get to know them in a way you may not have had the opportunity to otherwise. Solid advice, Dr. McPhee. Thank you for sharing it publicly. This article originally appeared on 10.15.21

There are no lengths a mother won't go to protect her children. There's no better evidence of this than the actions of mother Phyllis Pena on January 31, 2021.The mother from Lake Jackson, Texas came home from the store at 7 am when she noticed a suspicious figure looking into her 15-year-old daughter's window. The daughter was not in her room at the time.Pena quickly called the police. When they arrived, the suspect fled. So Pena leaped out and tackled the young man before he could get away. The incident was captured on dashcam and as you can see, the mother made a textbook tackle. Mom tackles man suspected of peeking in daughter's window www.youtube.com After Pena tackled the man, the daughter helped her hold the suspect down. "First instinct was just to make sure he didn't go any further," Pena said according to NBC Houston.The police officers were seriously impressed with Pena's take-down. "The cop fist-bumped me and he was like, 'Hey, so I heard the Texans are looking for a new linebacker,'" Pena told KHOU.If you look at the tackle there's no doubt that Pena has seen J.J. Watt play more than a few snaps. She uses nimble footwork to square herself and then charges at him like a bull. She also does a good job at wrapping him up so he goes down. Officials out there take notice, she also was sure to keep her head up, so there's no flag on the play. "It's not very often that we have somebody that actually steps in, puts themself in harm's way to assist in apprehending somebody," Sergeant Roy Welch said. The suspect, Zane Hawkins, 19, was booked on charges of possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest, and resisting arrest. Welch says that more charges may be added. Pena says her children knew of the suspect but didn't know him personally."My kids are my life and just making sure I protect them," Pena said.Pena's actions were an incredible act of bravery. But it goes without saying she was very lucky she wasn't hurt in the situation. Hawkins was a predator, so he could have been holding a weapon and used deadly force against her.In these situations, it's always best to let the police do their job. No word yet on if the Texans have offered Pena a contract.This article originally appeared on 2.11.21

This article was originally published by The Conversation. You can read it here.Consider, for a moment, the paper cut. It happens suddenly and entirely unexpectedly, usually just as you are finally getting somewhere on that task you had been putting off.Recall your sense of relief to finish that thank-you note to your aunt for the lovely sweater she sent you three months prior when, at the crucial moment, your hands failed you in their familiar task and the paper's edge slid past its restraints into the flesh. Then pain – sharp, pure pain that bends your consciousness to the Only. Thing. That. Matters. Right. Now. There is sometimes a moment, between awareness and pain, when you bargain with fate, hoping that what just happened didn't. But the hand is gone and the blood needs tending.Physically, paper cuts hurt as much as they do for a variety of reasons. They typically occur on parts of our bodies that are the most sensitive, such as the fingers, lips or tongue. The nerve networks of these body parts can discriminate with exceptional clarity and specificity, sensations of pressure, heat, cold and injury. via Marco Verch / FlickrOur brains even have specialized areas to receive signals coming from these parts in high definition. The exquisite sensing abilities that makes our fingers, lips and tongue so good at what they normally do, also makes injuries all the more painful.These same highly sensitive areas are also parts we use all the time. Cuts on fingers, lips and the tongue tend to reopen throughout day dooming us to relive the pain again and again. Finally, the depth of the wound is perfect for exposing and exciting the nerve fibers of the skin without damaging them the way a deeper, more destructive injury can severely damage the nerve fibers impairing their ability to communicate pain. With a paper cut, the nerve fibers are lit, and they are fully operational.How to stop the ouchAs a family physician, I can recommend a few practical ways to minimize the discomfort of a paper cut. First, wash the cut as soon as you can with soap and water. This will reduce the chance of infection and help the wound heal quickly. Keep the wound clean, and if possible, for a few days cover it with a small bandage to cushion the wound and limit reopening.While the physical effects of a paper cut are a real drag, I am fascinated by the mental and emotional response to the paper cut.While both intentional self-injury (example: cutting) and major accidental injury (example: car accident with loss of limb or paralysis) have inspired important, ongoing research into their psychological effects, minor accidental injuries do not – and that is OK. There are more pressing issues in need of research than paper cuts.But for a moment think back to the feelings you may have had about your paper cuts: surprise that the mundane act of licking an envelope could result in an injury (and so much blood!); shame that your body didn't coordinate such a simple task (why does this always happen to me?); anger for hurting yourself (arrrgh!); anxiety that it will happen again (I still have 200 more envelopes to go!). Paper cuts are trivial, but they may invoke a complex emotional response.Paper cuts remind us that no matter how many times we have performed even a simple task we are capable of accidentally hurting ourselves. If that makes us a little more sympathetic to our neighbor's pains, and a little more humble, then maybe paper cuts do us some good too. Maybe.This article originally appeared on 4.28.20