Friday, June 30, 2017

Don't you think heat waves suck? 20 photos show how old-timers beat the heat.


Lately it can feel like we've somehow accidentally opened a portal to the heart of the sun.

Pictured: Phoenix, Arizona. Image from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons.

Unfortunately, heat waves are getting stronger and more common today, thanks to climate change. According to this article by The Guardian, a third of the world is at risk of dangerous heat waves today. While heat waves are hitting us more frequently now than in the past, 100 years ago people still had to deal with the occasional temperature spike. How did they do it?

The pictures from then show how people coped in ways as surprising as they are relatable.

Here are 20 examples of what I mean:

1. Need ice? That's going to require a little more muscle power than just walking over to your freezer.

Not going to lie, that looks incredibly refreshing. Photo from 1932. Photo from Francis M.R.Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

2. Back then, ice didn't come in plastic bags from a freezer outside 7-Eleven. You had to get it delivered.

August 1911. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

This photo's from 1911, just a couple years before the first electrically-powered home refrigerators hit the scene. Before then, the ice box was literally that — a box kept cool by giant chunks of ice.

3. Of course, once you carry that load of ice in, you have to have a little sit. Sometimes on it. With an ice cream.

Damp shorts are a small price to pay for the most refreshing chair ever. Photo from Fox Photos/Getty Images.

4. At some point, you decide your fashion sense is less important than keeping cool.

It's hard to keep a stiff upper lip when you have the funnies sitting on your head. July 1913. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

5. Wet pants are a small price to pay for a chance to go wading.

A group of girls goes wading into the Serpentine in London's Hyde Park. August 1911. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

6. And everybody's gonna need a hat.

These men are so happy about their hats, it's almost inappropriate. Circa 1928. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

7. Edwardian gentlemen know to act normally even if one is sweltering in a suit and bow tie. For comfort, one may remove one's jacket only.

Aww, yeah. May 1914. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

8. If you've ever lived anywhere super dry, you know all about spraying the driveway to keep the dust down.

1925. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

9. Or taking an extra bath to cool off before bed.

August 1919. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

10. Summer is the perfect time to take a day off and hit the beach with your friends.

May 1925. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

11. And everyone else's friends too, apparently.

A beach in Bognor Regis in 1933. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

12. At some point, it's hot enough to ignore the signs and just jump in a public fountain.

1912. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

13. And live your whole life in the water.

Circa 1930.  Photo from Hulton Archive/Getty Images

14. Literally — your whole life.

Can't imagine doing that with a Macbook. Circa 1937. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

15. Summer is the time when swimwear becomes daywear then eveningwear.

1929. Photo from Fox Photos/Getty Images.

16. No matter what you're wearing, lounge around in general. It's too damn hot to do anything else.

That is the slump of man who's decided that it's too hot to care anymore. Paris, 1929. Photo from Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

17. Get some sun.

1933. Photo from Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

18. Of course, in a heat wave, you've got to make sure to watch our for your animal friends too.

May 1936. Photo from E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

19. Especially if that means letting them join for a dip.

Horses in the Thames. 1935. Photo from David Savill/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

20. Or making sure they've got the right accessories.

1928. Photo from Fox Photos/Getty Images.

As the Earth gets warmer, heat waves are likely to increase in both frequency and strength, so take a page from these summer-sun veterans and play it safe.

Drink plenty of water. Keep an eye out for signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Try to do outside chores in the morning or evening, when it tends to be less hot, if you can.

And keep an eye out for tricky reporters and cameras because, who knows, in 100 years, you might end up on a list just like this one.




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Sweden is really good at gender equality. This kindergarten is an example of why.


Gender madness starts when you let skeletons do the dishes.

Dolls ride dinosaurs into battle, dump trucks haul colorful bracelets, and fire-breathing dragons loom over wooden train stations.

This is what an average day looks like on the playroom floor at Egalia, a kindergarten in Stockholm, Sweden.

Kids play at Egalia in 2011. Photo by Fredrik Sandberg/AP/Scanpix Sweden.

Egalia is a place where gender neutrality is worked into every level of learning. Including, yes, the toys.

Sweden is often held up as an example of gender equality; the World Economic Forum rated them as having the fourth smallest gender gap in the world, after all.

In 1998, the government passed an amendment pushing for more gender-neutral practices in schools. Lotta Rajalin — a preschool administrator — took the idea and ran with it. In 2011, she and a group of colleagues opened up Egalia.

Walking in the door, you might notice some simple changes. Toys are de-segregated, for instance; dinosaurs, dolls, and motorcycles all end up in the same bin. The books lining the walls are more modern tales rather than old-fashioned stories of knights and princesses.

The biggest change is probably in the teachers themselves.

Egalia has made a point to hire more male teachers. They're careful not to tell boys to "suck it up" after a fall or tell girls it's not appropriate to be rambunctious — expectations they themselves admit to harboring in the past.

Even the language they use is different. In the Swedish language, there are two typically used pronouns: "han" for "him" and "hon" for "her." But when it comes to jobs and roles, Egalia has also embraced the somewhat more obscure gender-neutral "hen."

They also make sure this linguistic care extends to group activities as well.

"We don’t say, 'Come on, boys, let’s go and play football,' because there might be girls who want to play football," school coordinator Frida Wikström told The Guardian. "We say 'friends' instead because it puts yourself on an equal level."

The school isn't trying to get rid of gender. It's gender-neutral, not gender-blind.

A pair of "emotion dolls" at Egalia. Photo by Fredrik Sandberg/AP/Scanpix Sweden.

Critics have labelled the project as "gender-madness," accusing the school of trying to brainwash the kids into a genderless homogeneity. Egalia's not trying to do that. Gender is an important part of people's identities, and the kids are free to embrace those differences.

But it's also true genders can come with a lot of baggage. Science shows that pretty much as soon as kids understand that different genders exist, expectations and stereotypes start to creep in. When teachers and other adults talk, kids listen.

When teachers change the way they talk, kids change too. A small study from Sweden's Uppsala University hints that while Egalia's kids were just as able to categorize different genders compared with other kids their age, they were also more likely to play with kids of different genders and less likely to assign stereotypes.

Gender is a complex subject. We still have a long way to go socially and even more to study. But when it comes to just letting kids play the way they want, without stereotypes bearing down on them, that seems pretty sane.




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Minneapolis just raised its minimum wage. Watch Congressman Keith Ellison celebrate.


On the morning of Friday, June 30, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) got some pleasant news about a policy he's long supported: increasing the minimum wage.

After learning the Minneapolis city council agreed on plans to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, Ellison recorded a celebratory video for his constituents, picking up a guitar and singing a version of "Money (That's What I Want)."

"I've been marching for my 15," sings Ellison. "Gettin' paid, now that's what I mean. I need money. That's what I want."

While he likely doesn't have any Grammys in his future, watching Ellison joyously sing is delightful — even more so because it's for an incredible societal win.

"Today, Minneapolis took a big step toward renewing the promise of the American Dream," Ellison posted to his Facebook page.

"'The American Dream' should mean that in a country this prosperous, nobody who works for their living should live in poverty. Yet today, working a full-time job at minimum wage doesn’t lift an American worker out of poverty — it keeps her in it."

Ellison speaks at a 2013 demonstration calling on for a minimum wage increase. Photo by Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images.

At a certain point, the minimum wage was enough to keep a family of three out of poverty. Now, it's not enough for a single person to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the U.S.

Minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation, and as a result, many full-time employees earning it struggle to get by. Income inequality and profit distribution will continue to change in the years to come. It's important for government officials to find ways to adjust and help Americans reach their potential. We must fight to protect the core American values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As Ellison said: Working a minimum-wage job should be a stepping stone out of poverty instead of the reason people are stuck in it.

The fight for a $15 minimum wage is a start, not a finish.

But today, let's enjoy a little music.




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This victim of a horrific acid attack nailed the problem in how we see terrorism.

Jameel Muhktar and Resham Khan were attacked with acid. They need our help.


Warning: This story contains graphic imagery from an acid attack.

Jameel Muhktar thought it was some sort of "practical joke" at first. But soon after the 37-year-old rolled down his car window in East London to greet the man who'd been knocking on the glass, he realized the stranger had far darker motives.

"He just squirted this clear liquid over us," Muhktar told Channel 4 News. Then, Muhktar's skin started to burn.

Muhktar had been doused with acid.

Photo via GoFundMe.

Resham Khan, Muhktar's younger cousin who'd been sitting next to him in the car, was also targeted.

Photo via GoFundMe.

Left with severe burns covering large areas of their bodies, Muhktar and Khan, who are both Muslim, needed emergency skin-grafting procedures to repair their overwhelmingly painful injuries.

"I'm devastated," Khan wrote in a tweet thread that's gone viral. "I keep wondering if my life will ever be the same."

The two had been celebrating Khan's 21st birthday the day they were attacked.

"We're innocent people," Muhktar told Channel 4. "We didn't deserve that. I've never seen this guy in my life."

The guy Muhktar spoke of is 24-year-old John Tomlin — the reported attacker, known to have ties to the far right.

Even though officials have said "there is no current information to suggest that this attack was racially or religiously motivated,” Tomlin's past comments certainly sows doubt. A Facebook page operated by Tomlin — currently a wanted man in the U.K. — contains posts linked to bigoted, nationalist rhetoric, The Independent reported.

“A sleeping lion can only be provoked so much before it wakes up and attacks," one post from 2015 reads. "And so will us British."

In his interview with Channel 4 News, Muhktar pointed out a sad reality: Why isn't his country reacting the same way it would if he'd been a white man attacked by a Muslim?

As Muhktar explained:

“It's definitely a hate crime. I believe it's something to do with Islamophobia. Maybe he's got it in for Muslims because of the things that have been going on lately. ... If this was an Asian guy like myself, going up to a couple in a car ... an English couple, and acid attacking them, I know for a fact and the whole country knows it would be straight-away classed as a terrorism attack."

Muhktar's comment points to a disturbing trend in the U.S. and Europe.

The way we view violence is heavily dependent on who's committing the crime. When a white person, motivated by hate, attacks a person (or people) of a different group, do we perceive it as a heinous act?

We tend not to — even though white, right-wing extremists have killed more people in the U.S. in recent years than jihadists have. We see those acts as crimes committed by "lone wolfs," though — people acting independently of any sort of hate-filled ideology. That's simply not the case.

As anti-Muslim attitudes and violence rise in the West, it's important we get our facts straight.

Fortunately, many people in the U.K. and around the world have been alarmed by Tomlin's acts of violence, and they have rallied behind Muhktar and Khan in their time of need.

Two separate GoFundMe pages have been set up — one for Mukhtar and one for Khan — so that supporters can help the two with mounting medical expenses.

"Although we have faith justice will be served once the criminal is caught, the scars Resham and Jameel will carry will last a life time," reads one of the pages.

Watch Muhktar's interview with Channel 4 News below:  




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14 eye-opening comics about life as a transgender person.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get a greater understanding of what it's like being trans.


When Seattle-area artist Jessica U. started making comics about her life after coming out as transgender, she never thought she'd get the response she did.

After falling out with some close friends, finding that even family would get very easily annoyed with her, and losing two jobs in a row, she needed some kind of outlet to vent her frustrations.

"Everyone made me feel like it was all my fault, like transphobia inside them simply couldn't exist because they pledged their support for me at one point," she says. "I really started to believe that I turned into the awful person and worker many said I become. But when I started drawing the comics about transphobia, other trans people responded immediately, saying that they've been through a lot of the same stuff."

She kept writing, drawing, and finding her audience. While she doesn't necessarily make her comic for people unfamiliar with trans issues, if someone learns something new, that's a great bonus.

Here are 14 of Jessica's best comics about her life as a trans woman.

Maybe you'll get a chuckle out of them or maybe you'll learn something new — or better yet, both!

(Psst: If you're unfamiliar with any of the terms used in these comics, check out this awesome glossary of trans-related words on author Julia Serano's website.)

1. Workplace harassment is real, even if it's not always intentional.

According to a 2015 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, 30% of all trans people in the workforce had been fired, denied a promotion, or harassed at work for being trans. There's no federal law that explicitly protects people on the basis of gender identity, though some have argued in court that the ban on sex-based discrimination in the Civil Rights Act should apply. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

2. If you're an ally, remember to treat trans people as people. Be cool, be kind.

3. Explaining gender dysphoria is tricky, but think of it this way...

Gender dysphoria — a kind of dissonance between the gender you are and the one you were assigned at birth — can be especially difficult. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

4. "Trans broken arm syndrome" is real, it's a pain in the butt, and it's also a public health issue.

"Trans broken arm syndrome" is what happens when trans people go to the doctor for something completely and totally unrelated to them being trans (for example, a broken arm) and are told that it's probably the result of their hormone treatments. It's not fun, and it makes actually getting treated for something (a cold, the flu, strep throat, and everything else you can imagine) a lot harder than it needs to be. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

5. Sometimes people just don't get why what might seem like a minor annoyance is actually a pretty big deal.

Jessica's comic on this subject came out back when a "Caitlyn Jenner" Halloween costume was being marketed to men, and yeah, that was pretty awful. It was about more than just that one costume; it was also the fact that the costume pushed a stereotype about trans women being burly men. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

6. Singular "they" is perfectly acceptable, and it shouldn't be a big deal if you're asked to use it.

Most people actually use singular "they" all the time in their speech whenever they don't know the gender of the person they're talking about. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

7. It's not fun when other people try to create criteria for what it means to be a man or a woman.

Jessica's premise — an ally who says that he'll only call a trans woman "she" if she's had gender-confirmation surgery — is super-relatable and messed up for a bunch of reasons. For one, that seems to suggest that people should have to announce what their genitals look like if they want to be called the correct pronouns. Just take people at their word. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

8. Sometimes questions get really personal really fast.

"What do your genitals look like?" "How do you have sex?" "Can I see a 'before' picture?" "What's your 'real' name?" These are all kind of personal questions that can be really, really uncomfortable to have to address — especially when the person asking is someone you just met. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

9. Pronouns and names are important.

As a trans person myself, it can be really hard for me to believe that someone truly accepts me for who I am if they continue to refer to me by the wrong name and pronouns behind my back. It gives the impression that the other person doesn't actually accept me but is merely humoring me when I'm around. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

10. Attacks on trans rights are happening all around us. This is where allies are really needed.

And yes, the situation described in the comic actually happened. North Carolina, Texas, and other states have experienced or are experiencing some pretty intense anti-trans messaging to push for discriminatory laws. The truth is that the common argument that policies protecting trans people's rights to be able to use public restrooms will be exploited by cisgender men "pretending to be trans" to sexually assault women isn't actually backed up by data — so they create situations, which is majorly messed up. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

11. The "debate" about whether trans people are legitimate finds its way to newspaper opinion pages and TV segments on a frustratingly regular basis.

It seems like just every few weeks a major media outlet in the U.S. or Europe will publish some variation on "What Makes a Woman?" or "Are Trans Activists Going Too Far?" The totally bizarre thing is that these stories tend to use the same arguments over and over and over and — well, you get the idea. It's pretty frustrating to have your existence talked about as an abstract hypothetical when there are so many very important, real things happening in the world. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

12. Compliments can have a way of taking weird turns — and often aren't compliments at all.

"I would have never guessed" is a common "compliment" people say to trans people, but that's just because there's this idea that trans women and trans men all look "visibly trans." The truth is that trans people are everywhere, and even if you don't think you know a trans person, you probably do. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

13. There's the whole "Oh no, is my existence going to be the punchline again?" anxiety when it comes to watching, well, anything.

"Ace Ventura," "Silence of the Lambs," "The Crying Game," and more; there's no shortage of less-than-sensitive entertainment that either uses trans people as a surprise twist or a cheap joke. Honestly, it wouldn't be that bad if not for the fact that there really aren't a whole lot of positive portrayals to counter the negative. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

14. It's difficult to be pigeonholed as "the trans person." People are complex, and not every trans person spends every waking moment thinking about trans-ness in the world.

We're all more than just our gender, trans people included. But seriously, it can be exhausting to constantly have to explain who you are to the world like a sentient encyclopedia of gender. It's just something worth keeping in mind. Comic by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.

Check out the rest of Jessica's comics at ManicPixieNightmareGirls.com and visit her Patreon page for more exclusive content.




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Her AncestryDNA test had a powerful impact on her, so she asked others to take one, too.


"I never really understood what it meant to be Peruvian as a child," says Connie Chavez.

Chavez is a self-taught videographer who works at Latina magazine in New York. Growing up in New York, she didn't really have an opportunity to be around other Peruvian people. Her friends dismissed her background, assuming it was the same as any other Latino culture.

"Nobody understood what Peru was," she says. "It made me really feel bad."

Now that she's older, Chavez has had the opportunity to learn about the rich, unique culture that she is a part of. "I'm Peruvian, and I'm proud," she says. Her parents taught her about the history and culture of their Incan ancestors, and that’s what led her to eventually embrace her heritage. "Because of that knowledge, I feel powerful," she says.

Learning about her background boosted Chavez's confidence in who she is — and it made her want to get others involved. Watch her story below:

She wanted to do something about the xenophobia she was seeing in the world, so she started with herself.

Posted by Upworthy on Tuesday, June 13, 2017

It wasn't just as a kid that Chavez faced misunderstandings and mischaracterizations of her culture.

During the 2016 election season, Chavez found herself on the receiving end of xenophobic and racist comments.

"It was last August, and I was feeling really low because I was hearing a lot of xenophobic things, racialized remarks towards me," says Chavez.  

She found herself wondering what she could do to start a more productive dialogue around race and culture. Inspired by activist Carmen Perez and her goal of starting "courageous conversations," Chavez wanted to start some courageous conversations of her own.

"It is really hard to talk about race. It's really difficult," she says. "People feel uneasy, but that feeling is what creates progress."

Chavez decided to take an AncestryDNA test as a starting point for these conversations.

As she puts it: "Are you 100% everything? No, you're not, and there's no such thing as a superior race because, essentially, we all have DNA from the entire world."

Chavez's test revealed that she's 59% Native American, 27% European, 2% African, and 3% West Asian.

"After seeing my Ancestry results, I got to admit, I felt really powerful," she says. "I truly felt like a global citizen. It just affirmed what I always believed in, and it really gave me the confidence to reclaim certain parts of myself."

Chavez wanted to share the empowerment she felt with others, so she persuaded her coworkers at Latina to take AncesteryDNA tests too.

Chavez worked with AncestryDNA to procure tests for her coworkers, and then the women got together at work to discuss their results. They broadcast the conversation in a Facebook Live video.

Many of Chavez's coworkers felt empowered by their results too.

"I would definitely say I feel a lot more confident in who I am, knowing where I come from," says Barbara Gonzalez, a former staff writer at Latina.

It's not always an easy process; sometimes seeing the results can be emotional and even scary. Chavez says, "It is a deeply profound, sentimental issue for some people, and I understand it. This is a big thing."

But, she says, it's worth it. "It's a beautiful thing to find out who you are."

Latina staffers discussed their results in a Facebook Live video.

Chavez's project demonstrates how learning about your ancestry isn't just about the past — it can also help shape the future.

With the help of her coworkers, Chavez used her AncestryDNA results to spark important conversations about race and culture. And she's inspiring others to do the same.

After the Facebook Live broadcast, she says she received numerous emails from people thanking her.

"When I started seeing the responses and the happiness behind every response," says Chavez, "I felt compelled to just continue the work that I'm doing."

"I never really thought of myself as a pioneer for  anything, but really, starting this project really made me feel like I had a purpose here."




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