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Amber Tamblyn invented the perfect word for today's women's revolution.

A bunch of badass women brunched together in L.A. on Feb. 27, hungry for change in Washington come November.

Over poached eggs and avocado toast, women like former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, former Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth, and comedian Chelsea Handler zeroed in on a shared goal for 2018: Get more progressive women from diverse backgrounds elected to public office.

Amber Tamblyn, Constance Wu, Elaine Welteroth, Padma Lakshmi, Barbara Boxer, and Chelsea Handler. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

Actress Amber Tamblyn was one of the panelists at the Resist, Run, Win, pre-Oscars Brunch, organized by advocacy group Emily's List.

And while she was on stage, her confident, candid comments truly sent the room abuzz with laughs, applause, and approving hell yeahs.

Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Emily's List.

"We're in the midst of a revolution," Tamblyn said to applause, noting the importance of calling the movement what it is. "All these women who paved the way and worked their fucking asses off to make sure we can sit in rooms like this and … say, 'No, equality is now the norm.' This is how things go forward. And we’re not asking you anymore. We’re saying, 'This is the way it goes, period.' And you’re either with us or you’re against us."

Tamblyn pointed out how men can be great allies too — by basically getting out of the way.

"We need [male allies] to get out of our way, in the best possible sense," Tamblyn said to laughs and applause. "When we figure out what we want for ourselves — for our bodies, for the workplace, for power positions, for what we deserve to get paid — we’re going to come to you and ask you to support us. And that’s when you’re going to step in line and be a part of what we’re doing."

Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Emily's List.

The actress also proposed a word she coined that nails how women can get the most done: Be "angranized."

"I’ve said it before and I think this is really true," she said. "When women are angry and women are organized,  we’re 'angranized.' We’re a good combination of those two things. And that is the most dangerous thing this country has to offer — ‘angranized' women."

Judging by the record-high number of progressive women running for office — and winning when they do — it sure sounds like Tamblyn's on to something.

Learn more about Emily's List and make sure your voice is heard loud and clear next election.

Fatherhood

Dad and daughter relationships perfectly  explained in 10 paintings

The bond between dads and daughters is amazing.

All illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

It's hard to truly describe the amazing bond between dads and their daughters.

Being a dad is an amazing job no matter the gender of the tiny humans we're raising. But there's something unique about the bond between fathers and daughters. Most dads know what it's like to struggle with braiding hair, but we also know that bonding time provides immense value to our daughters. In fact, studies have shown that women with actively involved fathers are more confident and more successful in school and business.

You know how a picture is worth a thousand words? I'll just let these images sum up the daddy-daughter bond.

A 37-year-old Ukrainian artist affectionately known as Soosh, recently created some ridiculously heartwarming illustrations of the bond between a dad and his daughter, and put them on her Instagram feed. Sadly, her father wasn't involved in her life when she was a kid. But she wants to be sure her 9-year-old son doesn't follow in those footsteps.

"Part of the education for my kiddo who I want to grow up to be a good man is to understand what it's like to be one," Soosh told Upworthy.

There are so many different ways that fathers demonstrate their love for their little girls, and Soosh pretty much nails all of them.

Get ready to run the full gamut of the feels.

1. Dads can do it all. Including hair.

parenting, dads, daughters, fathers, art, artworkA father does his daughter's hairAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

2. They also make pretty great game opponents.



parenting, dads, daughters, fathers, art, artwork, chessA father plays chess with his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

3. And the Hula-Hoop skills? Legendary.



parenting, dads, daughters, fathers, art, artwork, hula hoopA dad hula hoops with his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.

4. Dads know there's always time for a tea party regardless of the mountain of work in front of them.



A dad talks to his daughter while working at his deskAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


5. And their puppeteer skills totally belong on Broadway.



A dad performs a puppet show for his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


6. Dads help us see the world from different views.



A dad walks with his daughter on his backAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


7. So much so that we never want them to leave.



a dad carries a suitcase that his daughter holds ontoAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


8. They can make us feel protected, valued, and loved.



A dad holds his sleeping daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


9. Especially when there are monsters hiding in places they shouldn't.



A superhero dad looks over his daughterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


10. Seeing the daddy-daughter bond as art perfectly shows how beautiful fatherhood can be.



A dad takes the small corner of the bed with his dauthterAll illustrations are provided by Soosh and used with permission.


This article originally appeared nine years ago.

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Science

The 'world's slowest experiment,' going for nearly 100 years, is still endlessly fascinating

It takes nearly a decade for one drop of this liquid to fall.

upload.wikimedia.org

John Mainstone was the custodian of the Pitch Drop Experiment for 52 years.

Because we use water all the time, most of us have an intuitive sense of how long it takes a drop of water to form and fall. More viscous liquids, like oil or shampoo or honey, drop more slowly depending on how thick they are, which can vary depending on concentration, temperature and more. If you've ever tried pouring molasses, you know why it's used as a metaphor for something moving very slowly, but we can easily see a drop of any of those liquids form and fall in a matter of seconds.

But what about the most viscous substance in the world? How long does it take to form a falling drop? A few minutes? An hour? A day?

How about somewhere between 7 and 13 years?

pitch drop experiment, tar pitch, solid or liquid, physics, world's longest experimentPitch moves so slowly it can't be seen to be moving with the naked eye until it prepares to drop. Battery for size reference.John Mainstone/University of Queensland

The Pitch Drop Experiment began in 1927 with a scientist who had a hunch. Thomas Parnell, a physicist at the University of Queensland in Australia, believed that tar pitch, which appears to be a solid and shatters like glass when hit with a hammer at room temperature, is actually a liquid. So he set up an experiment that would become the longest-running—and the world's slowest—experiment on Earth to test his hypothesis.

Parnell poured molten pitch it into a funnel shaped container, then let it settle and cool for three years. That was just to get the experiment set up so it could begin. Then he opened a hole at the bottom of the funnel to see how long it would take for the pitch to ooze through it, form a droplet, and drop from its source.

It took eight years for the first drop to fall. Nine years for the second. Those were the only two drops Parnell was alive for before he passed away in 1948.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

In total, there have been nine pitch drops in the University of Queensland experiment. The first seven drops fell between 7 and 9 years apart, but when air conditioning was added to the building after the seventh drop, the amount of time between drops increased significantly. The drops in 2000 and 2014 happened approximately 13 years after the preceding one. (The funnel is set up as a demonstration with no special environmental controls, so the seasons and conditions of the building can easily affect the flow of the pitch.)

The next drop is anticipated to fall sometime in the 2020s.

pitch drop experiment, tar pitch, solid or liquid, physics, world's longest experimentThe first seven drops fell around 8 years apart. Then the building got air conditioning and the intervals changed to around 13 years.RicHard-59

Though Parnell proved his hypothesis well before the first drop even fell, the experiment continued to help scientists study and measure the viscosity of tar pitch. The thickest liquid substance in the world, pitch is estimated to be 2 million times more viscous than honey and 20 billion times the viscosity of water. No wonder it takes so ridiculously long to drop.

One of the most interesting parts of the Pitch Drop Experiment is that in the no one has ever actually witnessed one of the drops falling at the Queensland site. The drops, ironically, happen rather quickly when they do finally happen, and every time there was some odd circumstance that kept anyone from seeing them take place.

The Queensland pitch drop funnel is no longer the only one in existence, however. In 2013, Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, managed to capture its own pitch drop on camera. You can see how it looks as if nothing is happening right up until the final seconds when it falls.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Today, however, with the internet and modern technology, it's likely that many people will be able to witness the next drop when it happens. The University of Queensland has set up a livestream of the Pitch Drop Experiment, which you can access here, though watching the pitch move more slowly than the naked eye can detect is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

But one day, within a matter of seconds, it will drop, hopefully with some amount of predictability as to the approximate day at least. How many people are going to be watching a livestream for years, waiting for it to happen?

PoorJohn Mainstone was the custodian of the experiment for 52 years, from 1961 to 2013. Sadly, he never got to witness any of the five drops that took place during his tenure. Neither did Parnell himself with the two that took place while he was alive.

John Mainstone, pitch drop experiment, university of queensland, physicsJohn Mainstone, the second custodian of the Pitch Drop Experiment, with the funnel in 1990.John Mainstone, University of Queensland

Sometimes science is looks like an explosive chemical reaction and sometimes it's a long game of waiting and observing at the speed of nature. And when it comes to pitch dripping through a funnel, the speed of nature is about as slow as it gets.


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Joy

Adorable Golden Retriever absolutely loses it when he runs into his vet at a bar

No one has ever been this excited to see their doctor.

@cosmo_andtheoddparents/TikTok

He wuvs his vet.

Not every dog might jump with joy after seeing their vet out in public. But for Cosmo the Golden Retriever, it was practically Christmas all over again when he spotted his own vet, Dr. Jones, at a brewery.

In an adorable clip posted to TikTok, we see Cosmo in pure, unadulterated bliss as he snuggles with an equally happy Dr. Jones, who, considering he’s still in his scrubs, might have just gotten out of work to grab a quick pint.

Watch:

@cosmo_andtheoddparents When you run into your vet in public #goldenretrieversoftiktok #vetlife #animallovers #petparents #goldenretriever #goldenretrievers #doglife #dogmom #dailyfluff #charlestondogs #doglover #charlestondog #brewerydog ♬ original sound - Cosmo

Ugh, the cuteness is too much to handle! People in the comments could barely contain their secondhand joy.

“He looked over like, “Mom, do you see who this is?” one person wrote, while another said, “What in the Hallmark movie? Adorable!!”

One person even joked, “Did we all check the vet’s hand for a wedding ring? (Said as a married woman. Looking out for you all, or something.)”

According to Hannah Dweikat, Cosmo’s owner, the two actually share quite a history. She tells Upworthy that when Cosmo was but a wee pup, he “gave a scare” after eating a Sago Palm seed, which are highly toxic to dogs, from a plant in their backyard, which of course resulted in him being rushed to the animal hospital and staying there over the weekend.

While that’s every pet owner’s worst nightmare, and certainly a scary situation for the poor fur baby, Dweikat says that “the calm and patient demeanor” of Dr. Jones and his staff put Cosmo at ease. And because of this, “Cosmo has always loved going to see his friends—especially because they give him lots of treats and snuggles.”

Cosmo and Dr. Jones’ buddyship has also blossomed thanks to proximity, as Dweikat only lives down the street from the clinic. “Which means we get to see Dr. Jones and his staff out in public at times and Cosmo takes every chance he can get to say hi,” she explains. This time, however, she was able to capture it all on video. Yay for us!

What makes a good vet?

While not every vet, however gifted, will be able to elicit this type of reaction from their patients, having a calming presence like Dr. Jones is certainly a good sign for pet owners to be on the lookout for when shopping around for their own vet. But that’s not the only quality a good vet needs. According to Saint Matthews University, a vet also needs to have high stamina (both physically and mentally), as well as an ability to tolerate unpleasant situations (you can’t faint at the sight of blood or vomit), a high level of emotional intelligence (maybe all doctors should possess this skill, but especially those who work with animals), adaptability, a sense of enthusiasm, and finally, excellent communication skills.

Dr. Jones seems to have these attributes in spades, and his patients clearly love him for it. None so much as Cosmo, obviously.

By the way, if you’re in need of even more content featuring this precious pup, you can follow Cosmo on both TikTok and Instagram.

This article originally appeared in February

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Joy

Man turns tables on aggressive scammers and has them literally begging him to stop calling

Turnaround is fair play.

via Canva/Photos

A scammer finding his next victim.

One of the most perplexing things about living in the smartphone era is the number of times a day the average person is harassed by a marketing robocall or, worse, a scammer. With all of the magnificent technology in this world, shouldn’t there be a way for phone carriers and the government to work together to prevent people from losing billions a year to scammers?

To make things worse, scammers now contact people through text, so you must continually delete texts that say, “Hey, how are you doing?” in addition to blocking spam callers. The terrible thing is that spam calls are only getting worse, with more than 14 billion sent yearly to Americans alone.

A graduate student who goes by Boopinmybop on Reddit was fed up with spam calls, so he made a Herculean effort to stop them. It was so effective that he had the scammers beg him to stop calling. The great thing was that it only took under an hour for him to achieve this righteous endeavor.

scammers, spam calls, fraud calls, potential spam, targets, financial abuseA man yelling at a spam call. via Canva/Photos

It all started in January 2024 when he was in a debt relief program, and his number got shared. Gradually, the number of spam calls he received from one group rose to about 15 daily. The scammers kept using different numbers so they couldn’t be defeated simply by blocking them. “I’m a PhD candidate, so I’m constantly either in meetings, giving presentations, or running sensitive experiments. And boy, getting those calls was incredibly disruptive,” he told BoredPanda.

Boopinmybop decided that the only way to stop it is to give the scammers a dose of their own medicine. “I called, put myself on mute, and hung up after 5-10 seconds of them talking. I did this exactly 266 times in 35 minutes,” they wrote. “Each time to the same number, I cycled through 20-30 employees with accents from Australia to India to the Mid Atlantic, at least three different company names they claimed to be from, and many, many scripts. Sometimes they’d start one script, then mess up and start on another. Other times, they’d just say ‘hello?’ The best was when they changed mid-script what company they were claiming to be from. Then sometimes they’d say 'Hello, Mr. Boop.' After about 150 calls, I started getting intermittently hung up on immediately after they answered the call. I knew I was getting to them.”

spam boss, fraud boss, scammers, spam calls, phone fraud, irs fraudA spam call boss.via Canva/Photos

Eventually, he annoyed the scammers so much that his call was promoted to the top of the scam chain. “Finally, at call 260, I reach the final f***ing boss,” he wrote. “In a deep, mob boss type voice, I hear, and I kid you not: ‘Mr. Boop, you’ve gotta stop with these spam calls. I mean, seriously, you gotta have something better to do with your time.'" Isn’t it a little ironic for someone who runs a scam call center to accuse one of his targets of wasting his time dialing the phones all day? Maybe he had a sense of humor. Game recognize game, as they say.

Once Boopinmybop reached the top of the scam chain, the calls finally stopped, proving that you can beat scammers; you just have to play their own game.

There are a lot of apps and services provided by cellular carriers to help reduce the number of spam scams you receive. However, one of the easiest ways to stop them is not to pick up the phone. When you pick up the phone and it’s a spam call, even if you hang up immediately, it signals to the scammer that there’s someone on the other end of the phone number, opening the floodgates for more calls. When the spam call comes in, don’t even hang up on them, hit the “sleep/wake” button on your iPhone or Android, and send the call to voicemail.

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Modern Families

Beyond love: The family legacy born from a 63-year lavender marriage

“They knew they had to protect each other at all costs.”

Photo credit: Canva, TikTok @faultywiring0709

The results of a 63-year lavender marriage? Astounding.

Though decades have passed, the effects of the infamous “lavender scare"—a devastating moral panic that swept across the U.S. during the mid-20th century like a virus, targeting gay men and women—continue to reverberate today. It lives within the daughters, sons, friends, and grandchildren of those who were so cruelly denied the freedom to live life on their own terms. However, despite the rampant homophobia and bigotry these people endured, it would also be wrong to say their lives as nothing but a string of suffering, pain, and sorrow. For Elida Rose, who spent 63 years in what’s known as a “lavender marriage” with her closeted husband, Donald (who passed away in 2021), her story even comes with a happy ending. At the ripe, tender age of 90 years old, the Colombian immigrant and doting grandmother embraced her bisexuality. After six decades of living a double life, no longer held in the shackles of fear, she was finally able to enjoy the sweet taste of freedom that comes with embodying your true, authentic self.

Donald and Elida’s remarkable love story, although strictly platonic, was documented in a touching viral TikTok series created by their granddaughter, Christian Owen. In a flurry of slideshows, she depicts her grandparents’ lavender marriage—photos of the family with their two daughters, her grandfather making moves in Hollywood as an up-and-coming graphic design artist, Elida’s devout Catholicism, and her deep belief that queer people deserve a place in the Catholic church. Their commitment to each other demonstrates how their profound sacrifices paved the way for future generations to live authentically and love freely.


@faultywiring0709

I am so truly blessed. #fyp #TikTokPartner #pridetiktok #lgbt #lavendermarriage #

At the time, being gay was dangerous, and many faced vile social and professional consequences due to their sexual preferences. As a result, many queer people agreed to “lavender marriages,” covert unions typically between a man and a woman, where one or both partners were secretly gay. They wed, promising to keep each other safe. Lavender marriages are often referred to as “marriages of convenience”: a means to an end, a last-ditch survival tactic to conceal their true sexual preferences and avoid facing the potentially catastrophic repercussions.

Elida and Don’s six-decade relationship has swept social media, where their platonic love for each other has captured the hearts of thousands. Christian lovingly chronicles her grandparents’ lives, writing “I am so truly blessed” in a caption. “Despite both of them being LGBTQ, they were each other’s best friends and loved and protected each other fiercely… [and] as a result of my grandparents’ loving 63-year lavender marriage, they had two daughters, four grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.”


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Their story begins in West Hollywood, where Don was a Los Angeles Art School student and Elida was in nursing school. The two met and became fast friends. However, as Don’s career as a graphic design artist began to blossom in Hollywood, working with celebrities like Ansel Adams, Hugh Hefner, and Francis Ford Coppola, he feared that, like many in the industry, his sexuality would get him black-listed. With Elida’s immigration status pending, the two decided to wed. Don found a dazzling gold ring and set the emerald Elida had brought with her from Colombia in it, telling her, “I want you to always carry a piece of home with you.” (Christian would later propose to her girlfriend, now wife, Laura, with the same ring.) And just like that, Don and Elida found themselves in a lavender marriage.

But although Don never got the chance to live authentically as an out gay man, it turns out Elida had a few secrets of her own. Following Donald’s death, as the family lamented the fact that he’d always had to hide his true self, a secret slipped out. Seemingly out of the blue, she announced, “I might be 90 years old, but, well, I like women. I always have.”

Whoa.


Grandmother, lesbian, nongenarian, bisexual, LGBTQ, lavender marriage 90-year-old Grandma Elida is finally able to live her true, authentic life. TikTok @faultywiring0709

"Being able to live as my true self now means more to me than freedom, it is freedom," Elida told PEOPLE. "Please don't get me wrong, I loved my husband so much. We had a beautiful life together, but not being able to be our true selves made us felt like we were in a prison."

The term “lavender marriage” may be unfamiliar to some, especially younger generations. The fact that we now live in a time when this phrase, once synonymous with the oppression of queer people, has begun to fade from our collective memories speaks to the remarkable progress of the LGBTQ+ movement and activists. The concept dates back to the early 20th century, when society heavily stigmatized same-sex attraction. During Hollywood's Golden Age, many stars were forced to covertly enter these unions to protect their careers and public images. This was largely due to "morality clauses" in 1920s actors' contracts that prohibited any behavior considered "a deviation from social norms."

But lavender marriages came with a cost. Although they shielded queer men and women from the harsh realities of social expectations, these romantically void unions were often heartbreaking for all involved. They required immense emotional resilience and trust between partners. Because while Donald and Elida certainly had love for each other, keeping up the facade as a heteronormative family was far from easy. Their partnership demanded constant negotiation, sparking paranoia, fear, and even jealousy. “My grandparents had an arrangement,” says Christian. “When my grandfather was home, he prioritized him, her, and their family… [and] my grandfather worshipped the ground [Elida] walked on.” The two devised a special arrangement where they could date outside of their marriage, as long as they adhered to certain rules.


Men, gay men, sexuality, lavender marriagesLavender marriages, although shielding, come at a cost. Giphy

Christian’s videos have resonated deeply with viewers, who also carry oceans of emotion regarding lavender marriages and their impact on those involved.

"Lavender marriages are so beautiful, but also sometimes have a sense of underlying sadness. They make me feel bittersweet, in a way," one person commented.

“I’m reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Something about a lavender marriage is so bittersweet,” added another.

Then, from user Holly Danielle: “The only word that comes to mind is love. True, real, raw, unconditional love. Your family is absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing with us.”


According to ancient Greek philosophy, lavender marriages exemplify philia, or “friendship love.” Unlike eros, which is associated with romantic love, philia represents a deep bond between friends, a profound platonic connection rooted in mutual respect, companionship, and trust. In these marriages, partners often provided each other with a level of emotional support that transcended typical romantic love. Beautiful, yet sad, like the prettiest songbird stuck in a cage.

After significant demand from fans, Christian is currently crowdfunding on GoFundMe to create Lilac Love, The Story of Elida Rosa, a movie that would chronicle the marriage between her 90-year-old lesbian grandmother and gay grandfather. “Her story has inspired millions,” she writes. “And I know [it] has the potential to inspire millions more. Her story deserves to be told and honored!”

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