A primer on the brutal and captivating Scripps Howard Spelling Bee
To some, spelling may seem like a useless, old-fashioned skill, like churning butter or exorcising demons. But for people with a certain strain of the word-geek virus, the sporting event of the year is coming up: The Scripps Howard Spelling Bee, which dates back to 1925 and is-as memorably described by ESPN.com's Bill Simmons-"a spectacle that ranks alongside the Adult Video News Awards and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show as the most secretly captivating telecast on TV." That secret has been out for a while now, judging from movies like 2002's Spellbound and the coverage on ESPN and ABC (which telecasts the finals May 28).As the bee rules state emphatically, participants have to be under 16 and not yet in high school. To be older, or further along in school, would be the spelling equivalent of taking performance-enhancing drugs. As for the bee itself, 293 kids (51 percent of them boys) made it to nationals this year, and they'll start with a written test before entering the octagon-er, the stage-for rounds two and three today on ESPN. Based on these combined scores, 50 or fewer students will proceed to the finals, with the winner earning $30,000, which is spelled K-A-C-H-I-N-G.For true trivia junkies and spelling mavens, past winners and their winning words can be found on the bee's website. The very first winner was Frank Neuhauser, who finished off the competition with gladiolus (a type of plant) in 1925. Other winning terms have included common words such as fracas, knack, therapy, Chihuahua, luge, and deteriorating, as well as obscurities like eudaemonic, odontalgia, and vivisepulture-my longtime companion the Oxford English Dictionary says they mean "conducive to happiness," a toothache, and "burying alive," which has never been considered polite.I was curious to look up the history of the term spelling bee itself. Could there be other kinds of bees, like a math bee, a crocheting bee, or a mother-joke bee? Actually, there could be. The OED says this use of bee is an "allusion to the social character of the insect" meaning some "meeting of neighbours to unite their labors for the benefit of one of their number." This led to coinages such as apple-bee, husking-bee, and quilting-bee, before the word broadened further in the form of spelling bee. So if you see a spelling bee logo with a bee and think that's ridiculous, well, not really. Buzzing bees truly are the inspiration for spelling bees.The national bee's popularity has built on ESPN coverage since 1994, the surprising spelling-bee movie genre, and ABC coverage since 2006. One reason for the popularity of the national bee must be that we can all relate. Not many people can throw like Peyton Manning, dunk like Dwight Howard, or hurt people like Randy Couture, but we can all spell a tough word once in awhile, and most people have at least been in a spelling bee at some point.The bee is also brimming with tension. I haven't seen the fictional spelling bee movie Akeelah and the Bee, but I rewatched Spellbound this week, and was mesmerized right from the opening shot, as a talkative speller hems, haws, frets, questions, grimaces, and appears to undergo a full-blown aneurysm while trying to spell a word. Focusing on eight kids who made nationals in 1999, this movie really captured the horrifying vulnerability of the event: a speller is all alone, with no teammates or even a golf club to swing-it's code-4 nakedness and much of it is televised. The awkwardness of a bee can match The Office in the cringe department any day. Though some parents are terrifying, the most soul-crushing aspect of the event is The Bell of Doom, which dings a misspelling. The look of relief on an unsure speller who mercifully doesn't hear that bell is amazing… and it tells you all you need to know about their bell-filled nightmares.Who will be the LeBron James of spellers this year? I have no idea, but if I were a gambling man, I'd lay money on one of the returning spellers. Many are back for the second or third time, while four spellers are on-board for their fourth go-round: Keiko S. Bridwell, Josephine Kao, Kavya Shivashankar, and Vaibhav S. Vavilala. Just as LeBron himself didn't win NBA MVP till his sixth season, one of these veteran spellers may be the one to survive this year without ever hearing that unbearable bell.My own experience in a spelling bee was not especially memorable-I think it was in seventh grade, with about 50 kids and something less than 30 grand at stake-but a few details did stick permanently in my brain. I remember being pleased to make the final 15, ecstatic that a blowhard who vowed victory bit the dust even earlier, and both happy and then mortified that my best friend made it to the final two, only to be defeated by a girl, which felt like a cootie-coated war crime at the time. Hey, at least my buddy didn't lose live on ABC-which I'll be glued to.
Between the bras, makeup, periods, catcalling, sexism, impossible-to-attain beauty standards, and heels, most men wouldn't survive being a woman for a day without having a complete mental breakdown. So here's a slideshow of some of the funniest Tumblr posts about the everyday struggles that women face that men would never understand.
In some states, women are put through humiliating and dangerous pre-abortion medical consultations and waiting periods before being allowed to undergo the procedure. In four states, women are even forced to bury or cremate the fetal remains after the procedure.
These government-mandated roadblocks and punitive shaming serve no purpose but to make it more difficult, emotionally damaging, and expensive for women to have an abortion.
Eighteen states currently have laws that force women to delay their abortions unnecessarily: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In a number of other states, mandatory-delay laws have been enacted but are enjoined or otherwise unenforced.
To help women get around these burdensome regulations, The Satanic Temple is promoting a religious ritual it believes provides an exemption from restrictions. According to the Temple, the ritual is supported by the federal Religious Freedoms Restoration Act.
The Temple is a religious organization that claims it doesn't believe "in the existence of Satan or the supernatural" but that "religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition."
The Temple says its exemption is made possible by a precedent set by the Supreme Court's 2014 Hobby Lobby decision. According to the Temple, it prevents the government from putting a "burden on free exercise of religion without a compelling reason."
Ironically, Hobby Lobby's case claimed that providing insurance coverage for birth control conflicted with the employer's Christian faith. The Satanic Temple argues that unnecessary roadblocks to abortion conflict with theirs.
The Temple is promoting the ritual on I-95 billboards in Florida where women must endure an ultrasound and go through pre-procedure, anti-choice counseling before having an abortion.
The Temple's billboards inform women that they can circumvent the restrictions by simply citing a Satanic ritual.
"Susan, you're telling me I do not have to endure a waiting period when I have an abortion?" one of the women on the billboard says.
"That's true if you're a SATANIST!" the other replies.
Next to the ladies is a symbol of a goat head in a pentagram and a message about the ritual.
The Temple also provides a letter that women seeking abortions can provide to medical staff. It explains the ritual and why it exempts them from obligations that are an undue burden to their religious practice.
The Temple believes that some medical practitioners may reject its requests. However, it believes that doing so is a violation of religious freedom and it will take legal action if necessary.
"It would be unconstitutional to require a waiting period before receiving holy communion," the temple says in a video. "It would be illegal to demand Muslims receive counseling prior to Ramadan. It would be ridiculous to demand that Christians affirm in writing the unscientific assertion that baptism can cause brain cancers."
"So we expect the same rights as any other religious organization," the video says.
To perform the ritual, a woman looks into a mirror to affirm their personhood and responsibility to herself. Once the woman is focused and comfortable, they are to recite two of the Temple's Seven Tenets.
Tenet III: One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone. One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.
Tenet V. Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
Then they are to recite a personal affirmation: "By my body, my blood. Then by my will, it is done."
The ritual affirms The Temple's belief in personal responsibility and liberty that, coincidentally, mirror that of the U.S. Constitution.
"Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds," the Temple's website reads.
There are two types of people in this world – those who panic and fill up their cars with gas when the needle hits 25% or so, and people like me who wait until the gas light comes on, then check the odometer so you can drive the entire 30 miles to absolute empty before coasting into a gas station on fumes.
I mean…it's not empty until it's empty, right?
But just how far can you drive your car once that gas light comes on? Should you trust your manual?
Now, thanks to Your Mechanic sharing this information in a recent post, you can know for sure. Of course, they also want to warn you that driving on a low fuel level or running out of gas can actually damage your car.
Now, thanks to Your Mechanic sharing this information in a recent post, you can know for sure. Of course, they also want to warn you that driving on a low fuel level or running out of gas can actually damage your car.
Proceed at your own risk.
These are, of course, approximations that depend on several factors, including how you drive, your car's condition, etc. So don't automatically blame your mechanic if you find yourself stranded on the side of the road.
If you ask people what they think the “perfect" body looks like, you're sure to get a range of answers, depending on where the person is from. Last year, Superdrug Online Doctor created a project, “Perceptions of Perfection" that showed what people in 18 countries think the “perfect" woman looks like. The project was a viral hit.
This time, they asked graphic designers—11 women and eight men—in 19 countries to photoshop the same image to highlight the male beauty standards for their country.
Some of the images are certainly amusing, but the collective result is an interesting look at what people find attractive around the world.
It's not revolutionary news that smoking wreaks havoc on your body in different ways. More often than not, however, the focus of anti-smoking campaigns is on your internal health, citing emphysema, heart disease, and lung cancer, to name just a few consequences.
While the superficial effects may not be as lethal, appealing to people's sense of vanity can have a powerful effect as this clever gallery below shows. Twins, only one of whom smokes, sit side by side, showing the profound damage smoking can cause to your face, hair, and teeth.
The twins' circumstances vary in each set of pictures, but the differences and effects are undeniable. In some instances, one of the twins never smoked. In others, the “smoking" twin had smoked for at least five years longer than the other “non-smoking" twin.
Though they're not common knowledge, the effects of smoking on your appearance are predictable and consistent. You can identify a smoker with ease if you know what you're looking for. Harmful smoke, dehydration, and even the heat from a burning cigarette can damage your complexion, hair, and eyes. The photos below helpfully point out the symptoms and effects on the smoking twin.
The photos here were taken from those of 79 pairs of identical twins at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. Though they weren't taken with this use in mind, that allows them to serve as an even more powerful testament to the effects as perceived by casual observers.
1. The eyes are a strong “tell" if someone's a smoker or not. In this photo, the smoker is the man on the right. He has smaller, more sunken eyes and carries more wrinkles throughout his face than his twin on the left. You'll also notice his hairline has receded further than his brother's. That's a little-known though hardly surprising effect of smoking habitually.
2. Here, the difference is profound. Though they're the same age, they look almost like they represent different generations. The smoking twin on the right has done so for 16 years, and it's manifested in a number of ways. Most noticeable is the pervasive discoloration of her skin compared to her twin on the left. Less noticeable, but still apparent, is the damage done to her lips, eyes, and even her hair. It's difficult to believe they're even related, let alone twins.
3. This comparison is less glaring but still apparent. The twin on the left is the smoker. You can see many more pronounced wrinkles on her forehead, under her eyes, and around her nose. There are also pronounced bags under her eyes.
4. In this comparison, the smoking twin only smokes about two cigarettes per day, so the difference will be less profound. The twin on the right is the smoker. The differences are on the subtle side, mostly the more damaged hair and the squintier eyes.
5. Based on what you've read in the earlier side by side pics, you might be able to ID the right twin as the smoker due to the discolored and receding hair as well as the aged skin.
6. These two twins are both elderly, so the differences are slightly less pronounced. Though the left twin has more graying hair, it's the right twin that's the smoker. She's got a droopier face, especially on the outside of the eyes. The wrinkles are also more pronounced in the brow and upper lip.
7. Though the two sisters here are also older, it's easier to distinguish the smoker. The left sister bears the hallmarks all over her skin. Her cheek, outer eye, and neck all look weathered from her habit. Not only is she more wrinkled, but the skin has begun to discolor from the fair tone her sister has.
8. Here it's pretty difficult to tell. The woman on the left is the smoker. She sports slightly discolored lips that are upon inspection, more wrinkled than her sister's. Since the lips are the most proximate to the smoke, they are a pretty telling feature when it comes to identifying smokers.
The pics above show a lot of singular traits that can call out a smoker, but it can be a lot more simple than that. Speaking to the NY Daily News, dermatologist Elizabeth Tanzi from George Washington Medical Center dispenses with the jargon, stating, “Smoking makes you look old. That's all there is to it."
Body autonomy means a person has the right to whatever they want with their own body.
We live in a world where people are constantly telling women what they can or can't do with their bodies. Women get it form all sides — Washington, their churches, family members, and even doctors.
A woman on Twitter who goes by the name Salome Strangelove recently went viral for discussing the importance of female body autonomy.
Here's how it started.
She continued talking about how her mother had a difficult pregnancy.
Her mother asked her doctor about the possibility of sterilization.
As was typical of the times, she was chastised by her male, Catholic doctor.
Her mother was made to feel guilty about simply exploring the medical options about her own body. But later on, a new doctor made her feel more comfortable about her situation.
None
Once her mother had the courage to speak up, her own family members supported her.
A mystery teacher has become an internet scholar after imgur user SharkyTheSharkDog shared photos of the extra credit questions on their exams.
While the first six are really fun—you should see if you can get them all correct—the last one is pure torture in the form of public humiliation.
Don't read too quickly, students.
1. How many seasons was “Full House" on the air?
2. Complete the verse... “I been in the game for ten years makin' rap tunes..."
3. What color pants does Jake from State Farm wear?
4. Okay, this one's going to be tough for you.
“Yesterday, during my lecture, I quickly mentioned that only a pink pen will save you tomorrow. Draw a stick figure below in that pink pen."
5. Describe the dumbest conversation you overheard recently.
Guy: Do you like Bon Jovi? Girl: No thanks, I don't eat Italian Food.
6. Including “The Revenant," how many times has Leo DiCaprio been nominated for an Academy Award?
7. And this one's a true test of your reading strategy.
First person to read this, stand up proudly on your chair, and yell at the top of your lungs, “Oh Captain, My Captain!" will receive a 95% on this exam. … ... ... *Just kidding. Name the drummer for The Beatles.
