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A Nurse Uses His Special Gift To Help Patients Cope With Pain

There is a whole field of work dedicated to using music as therapy, but this nurse breaks it down to the very basics. His patients seem to love it. When you're compassionate and creative and willing to share a few moments with your fellow humans, well, you just might improve someone's day.

Pets

The most inspiring pet stories of 2024

Leading pet brand Nulo knows every cat and dog has the power to be incredible.

Incredible pets deserve incredible food.

2024 was a year filled with heartwarming stories that reminded us of the incredible bond between humans and their furry companions. From acts of bravery to heartwarming gestures, these pets made a huge impact on the lives of their owners… and the lives of many, many more.

It’s stories like these that continue to inspire leading pet nutrition brand Nulo, which is committed to helping pets live their best lives with functional, delicious and nutritious food. Through their innovative and intentional formulas, Nulo fuels incredible cats and dogs just like the ones below each and every day.

Enjoy some stories below of 2024’s goodest boys and girls — courageous dogs, trauma-informed kitties and much, much more —that really show the unwavering love and loyalty animals bring into our lives. Their inspiring actions fuel incredible.

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When a 71-year-old man went unconscious and collapsed during a steep hike, his golden retriever and a black labrador instinctively broke up into a rescue team — the smart and resourceful labrador going off to look for help, and the loyal goldie staying by its owner's side. Sometimes it’s smart to have two of “man’s best friends.”

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Marley, a seven-year-old, black and white feline known for his "incredible gift of empathy” won Cat Protection's National Cat of the Year 2024 for the way he comforts women who have been enslaved, exploited and trafficked and staying at the Caritas Bakhita Safe House in London. He’s known to often leave a reassuring paw on guests’ legs to “let them know they’re not alone,” a gesture often called “the first kindness they’ve experienced in years.”

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In early 2024, Kobe, a four-year-old husky with an extraordinary sense of smell, began digging obsessively in the yard. At first the pooch’s owner, Chanell Bell, thought this was just typical behavior, but soon discovered that Kobe had indeed detected a dangerously large cloud of natural gas that would have not only been seriously life-threatening to her, but the entire neighborhood. It’s like they say, “the nose knows.”

Eight-year-old golden retriever Roger, may have failed his drug-sniffing training in Taiwan, but it turns out he has a knack for rescue operations during natural disasters. After a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck, Roger dug through the rubble of a collapsed building to locate the body of one of the 13 people killed in the quake, offering closure to a grieving family. This earned him the nickname of “the pride of Taiwan” on social media.

Dogs don’t only save humans — sometimes they rescue other animals as well.

When folks scrolling through the X account called “Animals Dying” saw a video of a creature swimming through murky water with a deer fawn in its jaws, they probably assumed it was an alligator enjoying its latest meal. But to everyone’s surprise and delight, it was actually a Labrador Retriever making sure the sweet little fawn didn’t drown.

Once a stray, 12-year-old Cilla found her home at Outwoods Primary School in Warwickshire, England, where she calms anxious students, inspires a community of cat lovers on X, and has even used her social media celebrity to help raise £5,000 to restock the school library — a place she loves to lounge in.

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In July, Bloodhound puppy and K-9 unit member Remi used his powerful nose to help an autistic and non-verbal boy who had gotten lost find his way back home. Deputy B. Belk, Remi’s partner, used a piece of sterile gauze to collect the scent from the boy’s forearms and the back of his neck and had Remi “reverse” track backwards for about half a mile to locate the child’s home in a nearby neighborhood.

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When a beautiful pooch named Gita saw her 84-year-old owner fall and hurt his leg, she ran down to the main road, and refused to move until someone stopped to help. Eventually she was seen by a man named Deputy Wright, who tried to get Gita into his patrol car, but the dog wouldn’t budge. When Gita did finally bolt off, Wright followed her down to where the man had been stranded, and was able to help him. Without her protection, who knows if the man would have been found in time? “The loyalty and heroism of our furry friends never cease to amaze us,” Wright would end up writing on Facebook.

If there’s an incredible furry friend in your own life, nothing says “thank you” quite like a nourishing meal. Check out Nulo for a variety of recipes sure to be loved by your beloved pet.

Health

Doctor breaks down how to recognize ADHD in adults. The symptoms may be surprising.

"75% of adults with anxiety actually have ADHD as the cause of their anxiety."

Doctor breaks down how to recognize ADHD in adults

If it seems that everyone is being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), there may be a reason and it's likely not the reason people think. Diagnostic criteria were initially based off of how ADHD presented in white children who were mostly male, so if you fell outside of that box your diagnosis was often overlooked. This is especially true in girls who then turned into undiagnosed or misdiagnosed women.

But it's not just women who were undiagnosed since the criteria mostly included ways in which hyperactivity showed up—you know, the "H" in ADHD. But not everyone with ADHD presents with the stereotypical hyperactivity bit. Dr. Heather Brannon breaks down ways in which ADHD is missed and how to identify it in adults.

In the first few minutes of the video, Brannon drops a statistic that feels mind-boggling: "75% of adults with anxiety actually have ADHD as the cause of their anxiety." Even though I fit into that category, consider my mind completely boggled because I thought I was a rarity and my psychiatrist was a magician. Turns out, he was probably just up to date on his continuing education credits.

Brannon talks about how people who may express feelings of overwhelm, anxiousness, and tiredness and who are easily frustrated may actually have undiagnosed ADHD.

It's pretty easy to overlook ADHD that presents with more of the attention deficit part of the diagnosis than the hyperactivity part. When someone is having difficulty sitting still, talking so fast that you can barely keep up and is constantly on the go, it's pretty easy to pinpoint there may be an issue.

But when the person is quiet, sits still but misses large chunks of conversations or is chronically forgetful and sleepy, it's much easier to miss the signs, according to Brannon.

Brannon says many people feel bad about themselves without knowing why, so having an answer for why you're feeling this way can be helpful.

The video is really fascinating and may help others recognize signs within themselves or with loved ones.

Give it a gander below:

This article originally appeared last year.

Are women's manicures the new avocado toast?

We’ve all heard millennial money woes get blamed on “frivolous” purchases like avocado toast, which is, as we know, both laughable and maddening. But just ask financial expert Tori Dunlap, and there are other "double standards” regarding spending habits that are just as frustrating…one prime example being the way we view women’s hobbies versus men’s hobbies.

“I did all this research for my bookFinancial Feministabout the way women spend money versus men, and the frivolous spending, the spending that is the reason you can’t get rich or the reason you can’t get ahead, is only feminine spending,” Dunlap noted in a video posted to her TikTok.

As for “women’s hobbies,” Dunlap listed lattes, manicures, and shopping. Granted, these activities can add up (especially with the price of coffee these days) but often they are shared experiences with friends, or a form of self care (few things are as empowering as a fresh set of nails, after all). So there’s an added mental health benefit.

And yet, it’s these purchases that are “the reason women aren’t rich.” Meanwhile, hobbies traditionally seen as masculine, like NFL season tickets, sports betting, golf and video games, obviously warrant a far heftier price tag, and yet are seen as much more acceptable pastimes.


Dunlap’s point clearly struck a nerve with many women, who shared their own experiences of being questioned about the frugality of their own hobbies by the men in their life whose choice of entertainment cost a small fortune.

“My husband has probably $20,000 worth of gym equipment. I really just wanted a Dyson air wrap 😂,”

My coworkers & boss made fun of me for spending $200 on a concert ticket ONE time meanwhile they spend $150 on golf EVERY WEEKEND. Not to mention the season tickets to baseball and football game,”

“My dad's tools cost like $100 each but he complains when my mom goes to Micahel’s once a month.”

It was also interesting seeing how many women’s hobbies still served others in some way, whereas men’s hobbies only served themselves.

For example, one person wrote, “I spent $600 on an embroidery machine I can use year-round and for various projects and for gift giving…we spent $3800 on golf clubs for my husband to go golfing 2 to 7 times a year.”

This might come across as a battle of the sexes, but there’s a broader underlying theme at work here. Much like the avocado toast controversy of yore, we see an advantaged subset of society blaming a more disadvantaged group for consuming ‘luxuries,’ rather than seeing the system that creates the disadvantages in the first place. In other words, are we really going to chastise folks for a little retail therapy instead of the money hoarding, resource exploiting billionaires and corporations that give us the real issues? C’mon.

As Dunlap put it, “The reason women aren’t rich is because of systemic oppression.”

Still, at least we can all agree that hobbies do us a world of good—especially if they get us off of blasted screens. So really, as long as it truly does no harm, let’s just let people find joy wherever they can. Be it at sports stadiums, or at the salon.

Pop Culture

'Wicked' author reveals how one line in 'The Wizard of Oz' inspired Elphaba and Glinda's story

Gregory Maguire says he "fell down to the ground" laughing when the idea hit him.

Public domain

Gregory Maguire was inspired by a line in the original 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book or listened to a piece of music and wondered, "How did they come up with that idea?" The creative process is so enigmatic even artists themselves don't always know where their ideas come from, so It's a treat when we get to hear the genesis of a brilliant idea straight from the horse's mouth. If you've watched "Wicked" and wondered where the idea for the friendship between Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) and Glinda (the Good Witch) came from, the author of the book has shared the precise moment it came to him.

The hit movie "Wicked" is based on the 20-year-old hit stage musical, which is based on the novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" written by Gregory Maguire. While the musical is a simplified version of the 1995 book, the basic storyline—the origins of the two witches from "The Wizard of Oz"—lies at the heart of both. In an interview with BBC, Maguire explained how Elphaba and Glinda's friendship popped into his head.

Maguire was visiting Beatrix Potter's farm in Cumbria, England, and thinking about "The Wizard of Oz," which he had loved as a child and thought could be an interesting basis for a story about evil.

"I thought 'alright, what do we know about 'The Wizard of Oz' from our memories,'" he said. "We have the house falling on the witch. What do we know about that witch? All we know about that witch is that she has feet. So I began to think about Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West…

"There is one scene in the 1939 film where Billie Burke comes down looking all pink and fluffy, and Margaret Hamilton is all crawed and crabbed and she says something like, 'I might have known you'd be behind this, Glinda!' This was my memory, and I thought, now why is she using Glinda's first name? They have known each other. Maybe they've known each other for a long time. Maybe they went to college together. And I fell down onto the ground in the Lake District laughing at the thought that they had gone to college together."

In "Wicked," Glinda and the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, meet as students at Shiz University, a school of wizardry. They get placed as roommates, loathe each other at first, but eventually become best friends. The story grows a lot more complicated from there (and the novel goes darker than the stage play), but it's the character development of the two witches and their relationship with one another that force us to examine our ideas about good and evil.


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Maguire also shared with the Denver Center for Performing Arts what had inspired him to use the "Wizard of Oz" characters in the first place.

"I was living in London in the early 1990’s during the start of the Gulf War. I was interested to see how my own blood temperature chilled at reading a headline in the usually cautious British newspaper, the Times of London: 'Sadaam Hussein: The New Hitler?' I caught myself ready to have a fully formed political opinion about the Gulf War and the necessity of action against Sadaam Hussein on the basis of how that headline made me feel. The use of the word Hitler – what a word! What it evokes! When a few months later several young schoolboys kidnapped and killed a toddler, the British press paid much attention to the nature of the crime. I became interested in the nature of evil, and whether one really could be born bad. I considered briefly writing a novel about Hitler but discarded the notion due to my general discomfort with the reality of those times. But when I realized that nobody had ever written about the second most evil character in our collective American subconscious, the Wicked Witch of the West, I thought I had experienced a small moment of inspiration. Everybody in America knows who the Wicked Witch of the West is, but nobody really knows anything about her. There is more to her than meets the eye."

Authors and artists—and their ideas—help hold a mirror up to humanity for us to see and reflect on who we are, and "Wicked" is one of those stories that makes us take a hard look at what we're seeing in that mirror. Thanks, Gregory Maguire, for launching us on a collective journey that not only entertains but has the potential to change how we see one another.

Joy

Woman with unfortunate initials warns parents to be more careful naming their kids

"When you’re deciding what to name your kids, look at what their initials are going to be."

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A lot of thought goes into choosing a baby’s name. Will other kids have the same name when they start kindergarten? Is the name too dull? Is the name too original? Will the name lead to bullying? Will the name look good on a job application? Could you run for president with this name?

Popular TikToker Emily Windham, 23, from Birmingham, Alabama, is adding another question that parents should ask themselves: What will their initials be? Windham has gone viral for her video in which she reveals how disheartening it is when she has to write her initials, especially when they appear multiple times on a document.

“When you’re deciding what to name your kids, look at what their initials are going to be,” she says at the beginning of her video. “Every time I have to initial a document, I have to write 'EW.' All these little initial lines just say EW EW EW EW.” The situation is frustrating for Emily because her parents considered naming her Alexia, which would have been AW, which is sweet. “That’s so cute,” she said.

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Easy em in tha house 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The post inspired other people with unfortunate initials to comment; some of them are much harder to live with than EW.

“Yea… mine is XL,” Xitlali wrote.

“Mine is ‘BLT’ because it was my dad’s favorite sandwich. Mom didn’t notice until it was too late I don’t even like blts,” Bryony Tally Art wrote.

“Mine is ‘PP’ elementary and middle school was a blast,” Pais wrote.

“I knew a girl in school whose name was Amy, and her initials were also AMY, and I’ll never forget because that’s so baller,” Charlie wrote.

“My son's initials are BRB,” Ashleigh wrote.

“My initials are EGG,” El-Glory wrote.

“My initials spell EMO and I think thats awesome,” Elle wrote.

“Mine is OG… now I’m getting married and it’ll be OJ. Can’t decide if I like an original gangster or Orange Juice more,” Olivia wrote.

“Mine is ME, and when I sign out on duties at work, someone goes, ‘Can someone please stop signing ME and sign your initials?’ I’m like, those are my initials,” a TokToker named Madison wrote.

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sorry if i talk about this problem too much but it is HAPPENING AGAIN!!

Emily’s story is similar to that of Samanta Hart, a woman who went viral on TikTok in 2023 because her name doesn’t exactly work well with modern email conventions. Clearly, her parents hadn't thought that her name would cause any trouble in the late '90s when email was a new thing. So, she made a video warning parents to think of their children’s future email addresses before selecting a name.

“My name is Samantha Hart,” the 27-year-old said. “Most companies use the email designation of first initial, last name, meaning my email would be shart.” A shart is an accidental release when one assumes they only have gas, which is not exactly how one wants to be known in professional circles.

“At every single workplace, I have received an email from HR the week before I start letting me know that my name does not exactly fit the company email structure as they would intend and [asked] would I mind if they gave me a different structure for my email,” Hart said. Sadly, Hart will probably have to deal with this whenever she gets a new job. Hopefully, she enjoys doing long stretches with her employers.

People who grew up as nudists have surprisingly normal childhood

Nudity is something that people are often taught to hide in American culture. There are specific places and time where it's acceptable for people to expose their nude bodies like in the shower, doctor's office or gym locker room. There generally aren't many exceptions made unless you're under the age of two and recently learned how to remove unwanted clothing.

But even toddlers are quickly chased down and redressed while they wriggle about trying to escape again. Toddlers aren't the only ones that have a desire to be free from restrictive clothing, some adults prefer to be naked as much as possible. They not only desire to be as naked as a mole rat, they want to live a lifestyle where being nude is the norm.

People that commit to being nudists also get married, raise children and have a network of friends who are also nude. The nudist lifestyle has always been a point of curiosity for many people though most wouldn't dare to ask about it. But curiosity won when someone decided to ask what it was like to grow up as a nudist.

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One of the best ways to learn about another culture or lifestyle is to be curious enough to ask questions to the members from that particular group. It can open up an informative dialogue making things feel a lot less strange and scary, which is exactly what happened when someone dared to ask what it was like growing up nudist. Several people who did grow up in a nudist family share their experiences while others who came into nudism later in life give their take.

"I grew up with nudist parents. They weren't very into the lifestyle but we did go to nude beaches a few times and were generally naked inside the home. I found it comfortable, clothes are a bit of a pain," someone writes in part before continuing. "It definitely desexualized nakedness and helped me appreciate that humans come in all shapes and sizes. When people find out, they often act very shocked but I had a positive experience. Even being a teenage girl in those spaces felt frankly much safer than regular beaches."

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Another person shares about their childhood experience, saying in part, "I'm from the Netherlands. I grew up with 'naturist' parents in the seventies/eighties. There was a slight difference between nudists and naturists, but I can't remember what it was. We weren't naked all the time, but it was fine if you were. We went swimming naked every Sunday afternoon in the city public pool. I remember it felt totally normal for me to be naked in public, and seeing all these different body shapes and quirks.

I think more people are being shy about their naked body than when I was a kid. I'm still comfortable being naked around other naked (or even clothed) strangers, even though my body changed over the years (on the heavy side), and it allows me to not worry about the way I look. I reckon it's quite a task to keep up with what people think you should look like. I feel being nudist/naturist is good for being kind to yourself and the way you look."

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Nudism and its affects are not yet thoroughly studied but in a small study done in the UK they showed that people who spent time naked with others felt more body positivity at the end of the experiment. So one could stand to reason that children exposed to all different body types from a young age would also grow to have a high level of body positivity.

But what about when those children are teenagers? Are they still naked around adults who are also unclothed? One person who's father was a nudist has an answer to those questions and it may be surprising to hear for some people, sharing, "Even the kids were naked. While a 3 year old isn't something surprising, a 10 or 15 year old sure as sh*t was. Made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but that was 100% on me. They were all just running around having fun and nobody cared."

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The experiences shared by adults who were children of nudists all seem pretty mundane. There's no comments sharing anything outside of a normal childhood with the exception of everyone being naked. Clothing was always an option for guests and even children of nudist who wanted to wear them. One person shares that her only source of shame came from people outside of the community.

"My parents weren’t into it in a big way, by any stretch. But we went to nude beaches as a family when we were younger maybe a handful of times? I think mainly in France and perhaps once in Spain. It’s certainly normalized it to me to the extent I think it’s a fine thing to do. I remember telling other people casually though and them being quite shocked. Some even thinking it was ‘abusive’ of my parents to have done that," the commenter reveals in part.

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Naturism may not be for everyone but it doesn't have to be a taboo subject whispered in hushed tones. From the sounds of it nothing nefarious or inappropriate is happening at these locations, just mundane daily living activities. Swimming, cookouts, watching TV and hanging out with friends. If everyone was clothed no one would think twice, so maybe knowing what actually happens at nudist resorts will help people release the stigma.