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These 4 young people are flexing their youth power and changing the world. Watch out.

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Gates Foundation

Young people: short in years, long in boldness.

While grown-ups are busy trying to cut back on coffee and file taxes, youngsters out there are standing strong on issues that matter to them and demanding action from world leaders.

They are taking control of their futures and making sure all young people have the resources necessary to live an educated life of opportunity — and we should thank them.

Action/2015 has helped compile four young leaders who are leading the charge in 2015. The world is their stage.

Four amazing youngsters you wish you knew about:

1. Anoyara, India

Anoyara is from India and I'm proud to share a planet with her. Image via Save the Children.

Anoyara is taking her unfortunate childhood experience and turning it into good.

Faced with extreme poverty as a child, her mother gave her away in exchange for money and a promise of a monthly portion of Anoyara's income. Anoyara was then trafficked to Delhi as a domestic worker.

Anoyara's experience — instead of scarring her — has made her a vocal campaigner against human trafficking. Her trauma has inspired her to devote her life to protecting those who are the most susceptible to being trafficked: young girls.

She has helped gather information about trafficked children, traced traffickers, and mobilized the support of adults in order to reunite children with their families. Anoyara's efforts have helped hundreds of trafficked children from her village get back to where they should be: with their families. On top of that, she has helped prevent 35 cases of early marriage (like, girls under the age of 10).

Holy crap, that's incredible! And people have noticed. She was named a "True Girl Hero" by the Malala Fund last year and nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2012.

Congrats, Anoyara. Keep it up!

2. Mohamedi, Tanzania

Image via Save the Children.

Mohamedi is a member of the children's council in Tanzania and educates his community about child rights. But that's not all.

"You see, I am an albino in Tanzania," he told Action/2015. "In my country, people think we are part of some sort of scary magic. It is believed albino body parts will bring a person wealth or luck. I want to be a champion in this cause."

He speaks out on the challenges and fears of fellow albinos in his country, as well as on the lack of health education in his area. And he's super involved in speaking out against a law that allows 15-year-old girls and 18-year-old boys to marry —a law that prevents girls from accessing their full education and encourages them to become mothers before they are ready.

3. Debora, Brazil

She cares about her home more than probably anyone you know. Image via Save the Children.

Debora is passionate about reducing the catastrophic impact climate change is having on our planet.

She's a champion of youth rights and knows how to use her voice for good by speaking at a lot of events, like the World Conference on Youth. She's also the co-founder of Engajamundo, a youth-led NGO that works on the participation, mobilization, and capacity-building of Brazilian youth regarding the international agenda.

"We are the present and future generation, so I have been working on raising awareness of Brazilian youth by organizing local actions and urban interventions," Debora says. "My goal, as an activist, is to show young people that if I engage myself and my community in order to protect my rights and my planet, our reality can be transformed."

4. Precious, Zambia

She's looking at you, world leaders. Do something! Image via Save the Children.

Precious knows the role she and her peers play in influencing leaders on programs and policies that can help them succeed.

"If we act irresponsibly, we won't grow into productive citizens and as a result we shall be burdens to our government instead of being assets."

So, she's leading by example.

Precious has set up Child Rights Clubs in her school to help promote and create awareness on child rights in education and health in Zambia. Um, awesome.

She's also been an advocate for increasing funding for improved access to maternal child health services, and she works with young women in her community and school to raise awareness around child, early, and forced marriage. Then, she works with local civic and traditional leaders to inform them of what's going on and what needs to be done.

And THAT is how change happens.

To think — these 4 young people are just the beginning of a huge line of heroic coolness. Yes.

They make me excited and hopeful for the future. And the best part? These are just four out of many driven young people out there overcoming obstacles to better the world. Do you know any of them?

Celebrate the amazing young leaders you know by showing support on International Youth Day.

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Pop Culture

Brit shares the one-word 'dead giveaway' that American actors are doing an English accent

There's one word they never get right.

via Warner Bros Discovery

Peter Dinklage on "Game of Thrones?

When it comes to actors doing accents across the pond, some Americans are known for their great British accents, such as Natalie Portman ("The Other Boleyn Girl"), Robert Downey, Jr. ("Sherlock Homes"), and Meryl Streep ("The Iron Lady").

Some have taken a lot of heat for their cartoonish or just plain weird-sounding British accents, Dick Van Dyke ("Mary Poppins"), Kevin Costner ("Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves") and Keanu Reeves ("Bram Stoker's Dracula").

Some actors, such as Tom Hardy (“The Drop”) and Hugh Laurie (“House”), have American accents so good that people have no idea they are British.

Benedict Townsend, a London-based comedian and host of the “Scroll Deep” podcast, says there is one word that American actors playing characters with a British accent never get right. And no, it’s not the word “Schedule,” which British people pronounce the entire first 3 letters, and Americans boil down to 2. And it’s not “aluminum,” which British and American people seem to pronounce every stinking letter differently.

@benedicttown

The one word American actors aways get wrong when doing an English accent

What word do American actors always get wrong when they do British accents?

“There is one word that is a dead giveaway that an English character in a movie or a TV show is being played by an American. One word that always trips them up. And once you notice it, you can't stop noticing it,” Townsend says. “You would see this lot in ‘Game of Thrones’ and the word that would always trip them up was ‘daughter.’”

Townsend adds that when British people say “daughter,” they pronounce it like the word “door” or “door-tah.” Meanwhile, Americans, even when they are putting on a British accent, say it like “dah-ter.”

“So top tip if you are an actor trying to do an English accent, daughter like a door. Like you're opening a door,” Townsend says.



What word do British actors always get wrong when doing American accents?

Some American commenters returned the favor by sharing the word that British actors never get right when using American accents: “Anything.”

"I can always tell a Brit playing an American by the word anything. An American would say en-ee-thing. Brits say it ena-thing,” Dreaming_of_Gaea wrote. "The dead giveaway for English people playing Americans: ‘Anything.’ Brits always say ‘EH-nuh-thin,’” marliemagill added.

"I can always tell an actor is English playing an American when they say ‘anything.’ English people always say it like ‘enny-thin,’” mkmason wrote.



What is the cot-caught merger?

One commenter noted that the problem goes back to the cot-caught merger, when Americans in the western US and Canadians began to merge different sounds into one. People on the East Coast and in Britain pronounce them as different sounds.

“Depending on where you live, you might be thinking one of two things right now: Of course, ‘cot’ and ‘caught’ sound exactly the same! or There’s no way that ‘cot’ and ‘caught’ sound the same!” Laura McGrath writes at DoYouReadMe. “As a result, although the different spellings remain, the vowel sounds in the words cot/caught, nod/gnawed, stock/stalk are identical for some English speakers and not for others.”

American actors owe Townsend a debt of gratitude for pointing out the one thing that even the best can’t seem to get right. He should also give the commenters a tip of the cap for sharing the big word that British people have trouble with when doing an American accent. Now, if we could just get through to Ewan McGregor and tell him that even though he is fantastic in so many films, his American accent still needs a lot of work.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Education & Information

Film shown to high schoolers in 1948 exposes the tactics of propaganda still relevant today

"What are 'glittering generalities?'"

images.rawpixel.com

Propaganda exposed in 1948 film shown to highs schoolers

Propaganda is a word we often hear thrown around when someone says something we don't agree with. It doesn't matter if what's being said is factually true or not. The word has been so overused that people may not recognize actual propaganda when they see it. Americans aren't well versed in recognizing propaganda outside of the brief disclaimer that other countries used propaganda during wartime.

There's not much of a deep dive on the topic in schools but at one point in history, it was completely normal for high schoolers to be taught how to spot propaganda. In the 40s, juniors and seniors in high school were required to learn about how propaganda mixes language and images to persuade people to believe one thing over another even if it wasn't true. The goal for propaganda was to get people emotionally invested in whatever was being pushed so they'd be more likely to trust what they were hearing.

America was so invested in teaching about the pitfalls of propaganda that they put together a video explaining different ways to recognize it. This was designed to come in handy for the deluge of information coming out about WWII at the time and eventually the Cold War. People needed to be able to critically pick apart what they were reading, seeing and hearing so they could best decipher the truth.

Oak Ridge High School Library | Free Photo - rawpixelwww.rawpixel.com

While America is not currently at war, learning to decipher propaganda is still relevant today, especially given how quickly information moves nowadays. In the 1948 film sold to high schools across the country, an older man shares with a high school boy ways to identify propaganda by first listing some of the techniques.

The techniques of propaganda listed are glittering generalities, transfer, name-calling, card-stacking, testimonial, plain folks, and bandwagon. They then go through each technique to breakdown what they look like in practice. Many of the techniques listed may be easily identifiable in modern American politics and advertisements.

grayscale photography of children sitting inside room Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

Examples given for glittering generalities are "good government" and "real American" used in different campaigns. But the faux politician asks the boy what is "good government" and is it the same as what the mayor considers to be "good government." This gets the young man's wheels turning. In his example for card-stacking he plays a recording where the mayoral candidate blames a water issue on the current mayor.

"That's what we call card-stacking. Cooper was mayor when the pumping station broke down but it was the man in office before him who allowed it to get into such a rundown condition and it finally gave way before he could get anything done," the man explains.

File:Oliver twist.gif - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.org

The boy then clarifies the information he is hearing, "and card-stacking is choosing some facts and leaving out others and arranging them to suit your purpose."

Once the teen understands some of the basic propaganda techniques, he and the man take another look at a campaign film they've previously watched, allowing the boy a chance to identify the types of propaganda techniques used.

"You'll find that the purpose of most propaganda is to persuade people to believe something, to do something or to buy something," the man says before later adding, "whenever you're tracking down propaganda, get as many different points of view as you can."

Gathering as much factual information as you can from multiple different points of view and different sources is important for any sort of research, but it's especially important when the goal is to sell you something or win your vote. Showing a film like this one in high school may be helpful in ensuring people continue to be able to recognize the persuasive techniques used in political and marketing ads to encourage critical thinking and informed decision-making.

"I think I understand," the boy says. "To know whether propaganda is good or not, whether it's true or not, I should know the purpose, recognize the technique, get the facts and judge the purpose and technique by the facts."

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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.

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Health

5 tricks for people with phone anxiety to gracefully end a phone call

It may seem simple, but the awkwardness of ending a phone call can feel debilitating to some.

Photo credit: Canva

Phone anxiety is surprisingly common.

Some people love to talk on the phone, chatting up their friends, family, and acquaintances, effortlessly making conversation from the first "Hello?" to the final "Bye." Others would rather have a root canal done. For people with phone anxiety—also known as telephobia—phone calls are painfully uncomfortable, and just the idea of making a phone call or answering the phone can be enough to send telephobic folks into a panic.

There are far more people with phone anxiety than you might think. A study of office workers in the U.K. in 2019 found that 76 percent of millennials surveyed dealt with phone anxiety, compared with 40 percent of the boomers. Even 40 percent is a lot of people, but three out of four millennials? That's astronomical. Research from Australia shows numbers for Gen Z, who tend to be more prone to anxiety and less experienced with phone calls than their predecessors, to be even higher at a whopping 90%.

People's reasons for being anxious about phone calls vary, but much of it boils down to not being able to see the person we're talking to. In real-life conversations, we rely a lot on non-verbal communication cues, but on the phone we only have our voices to go on. Not having any idea how the person on the other end of the call is receiving what we're saying creates anxiety, and not having any physical cues that aid with the ping-pong of natural conversation can lead to awkward moments of talking over one another.

But perhaps no part of a phone call is worse than the awkwardness of ending one. In real life, you can start gathering your things or use body language to subtly indicate that you're ready to end a conversation. On the phone, you have to signal that verbally, and some of us just aren't adept at the subtleties of graceful verbal exits. "I'm ready to be done talking on the phone now" is what we want to say, but that sounds abrupt. And then there's the back-and-forth pleasantries that seem to have no naturally smooth end to them. For those with socially anxious tendencies, the awkwardness of those final moments of call is unbearable.

However, all is not hopeless for the phonephobes of the world. Ending a call is a skill you can learn and hone with a handful of tools and tricks, like these 5 ways to gracefully end a phone call.

1. Set a time expectation at the beginning of the call that you can reference at the end

This is a "start with the end in mind" tip. When there's a time frame set at the beginning of the call, it's easier to wrap things up without seeming overly eager to get off the phone. Offering a shorter amount of time than you think the call might take helps here. If you know you're not going to want to talk for more than 15 minutes, say you have "about 10 minutes" and then you can give them a little extra. Pepper in some pleasantries, and this trick can give you a natural time to start ending the call.

Beginning of the call: "Hey there! So happy to hear from you! I've got about a half an hour to chat."

After 30 minutes: "Gosh, that time went so fast! I do have to get going, though…"

And if you want it to be a quick call: "Hi! I've got 5 minutes here. What's up?"

At 5 minutes: "I wish I had more time, but let's chat again soon."

If you're the one making the call, you can still set a time frame expectation: "Hey, do you have 10 minutes to chat?" or "I won't keep you long, I just wanted to ask you about…"

2. As you start to feel ready to end the call, indicate a specific amount of time you have left to talk

Instead of, "Okay, I have to go now," which can feel awkward and abrupt, tell the person you have just a minute or two before you have to get off the phone. You don't even have to say what you're doing, just indicate that you need to go soon.

"I've got about a minute before I have to go…"

"I have to run in like two minutes, but I want to hear about…"

"Let me tell share this one last thought and then I have to go."

3. Start using past tense to talk about the conversation you just had

If the goal is to lead the person to the end of the conversation, start talking about it like it's already ending.

"It's been so great to chat with you!"

"This conversation has been so lovely. I've really enjoyed talking with you."

"So glad you called! It was so nice to catch up."

"I'm glad we had the chance to talk about this. It was really important/helpful/enlightening."

4. Express gratitude for the call

A lot of hesitation with ending a call is being afraid the other person with feel like you're trying to get away from them or that you're tired of talking to them. Sometimes that might be the case, but even if it is, you won't want to seem rude. One way to mitigate that is to thank them, which is simple courtesy anyway but also an indicator that it's time to wrap up.

"Thanks so much for calling!"

"I'm so grateful I had the chance to talk with you."

"Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. I really appreciate it."

5. Focus the final wrap up on the other person

So often anxiety makes it so we focus more on what we're saying or thinking about saying than what the other person is saying. But if you focus on really listening, you can reflect back what the person was talking about as way to indicate it's time to conclude the call.

"Oh my gosh, I've just loved hearing about how your job is going and what so-and-so has been up to. So glad things are going so well."

"Well, I'm really sorry to hear about [whatever struggle they've shared] and I hope things turn around soon."

"I've got to get going, but best of luck on your [something they talked about]. You'll have to let me know how it goes."

Ending a phone call may feel like torture for some of us, but as with most anxieties, exposure helps. The more you practice with some specific skills like utilizing the above tips, the easier and more natural it becomes. You might still prefer not to make phone calls if you can help it, but at least when you find yourself on a call, you'll find it easier to leave the conversation without too much excruciating awkwardness.

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life hacks
Science

Simulation specialist reveals what would happen if you rode a rollercoaster without a harness

Not that you'd want to try it.

Imagine you’re at a Six Flags theme park, and after waiting an hour in line, you sit down in the front seat of The New Revolution, a looping roller coaster that hits top speeds of up to 55 miles per hour. The ride operator calls, “All clear,” your coaster takes off from the loading station, and you make your way up a lift hill. As the car goes clack clack clack, you realize that the lap bar was never secured and there’s no way back.

What would happen if you were stuck on a looping roller coaster and the harness stopped working? Could you hold on to the person securely seated next to you and make it through the loop, or would you be thrown out of the car for what would be a tragic ending? Popular YouTuber Zach D. Films, who specializes in digital recreations, showed what would happen if you rode a looping roller coaster without a harness, and the good news is that there’s a decent chance you will survive. (Not that you'd want to try, though.)

What would happen if I rode a rollercoaster without a harness?

“If the bar came loose while you were riding a roller coaster, you'd probably expect to immediately fall out, but that probably wouldn't happen,” Zach D. begins his video.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

According to Zach D., the competing forces of gravity and the speed at which you’re moving counteract each other, most likely keeping you safely in your seat. “You see, as you're being pulled into the loop, gravity tries to pull you down towards the ground, but because of the speed you're going and the direction of the tracks, a special force actually pushes you further down, outweighing the pull of gravity and keeping you in your seat,” Zach D. says in his video.

Another example of these forces is filling a bucket with a few inches of water, attaching a rope, and swinging it around your head. If you forcefully spin the bucket, the water will remain inside, even without anything to restrain it from falling out.


Even though science shows that it is possible to ride a looping rollercoaster without restraints, there aren't many people out there who want to try it. In November 2024, a passenger on the Desert Storm coaster at Castles and Coasters in Phonix, Arizona, claimed that his restraint released while he was on the ride. The restraint failure happened as the coaster climbed its first lift hill so he could exit quickly and make it to the emergency stairs near the coaster's peak.

"We started going up, everything seems to be OK. And then, when we get closer to the top, I hear a click. Different from the click of the roller coaster going up on the chain," he said. "So I check my bar, and when I pushed it, it released. It opened." The incident was caught on camera, and the footage is chilling.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

While the idea of riding a roller coaster without a lap bar is horrifying, Zach D. proves that physics may be your unexpected friend in case of a lap bar failure. That being said, let’s keep those restraints locked and double-checked. Roller coasters are meant to be fun, not a test of your centrifugal force knowledge.

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