When you propose to a human, you’re also essentially proposing to that person’s pets. Marriage is kind of a package deal, right? Given that logic, it’s perfectly valid—and quite sweet—that someone popping "the big question" would extend that courtesy to their beloved's pooch.
Posting these dual proposals has become an Internet trend, and one TikTok user has gone viral for sharing their delightful footage. The clip, overlaid with the caption, "When he knows how important your dog is to you and proposes to her too," focuses solely on the canine portion of that life-changing moment: A well-dressed gentleman walks up to an excited little pup, bends down to one knee, and opens a red box to reveal a comically oversized engagement ring toy.
The dog seems pretty stoked about the whole thing, wagging her tail and carrying her new treasure to the couch. Doubling up on the adorability, the video ends with the guy picking up his new furry fiancée (furancée?), beaming an enormous smile, and giving her a smooch. Everything went well, according to the caption: "We both said yes."
The comments are predictably fantastic, with users praising the cuteness of the moment and taking the opportunity to crack jokes. "A dog got proposed to before me?!?? Imma wrap it up," someone wrote, while another chimed in with, "New standard unlocked." A supremely underrated reaction: "how does it feel that she got a bigger ring?" Even the dog food brand Pedigree seized the moment, adding, "Dog dad score just sky rocketed."
Someone offered a congrats to the video’s creator, "datelistlou," and playfully asked, "Are you sure he doesn’t love her more?" They responded, "He just might," with a flurry of emojis.
Lots of amazing, dog-related marriage proposals have been blowing up online. One, documented on Instagram, shows a Golden Retriever named Bubbles excitedly jumping over a man mid-ask, prompting the overlay text, "My dog when he thought I was proposing to him…" After the scene cuts to the real proposal, the pup looks displeased, and the text shifts: "…Vs. when he realized I’m proposing to his mom!"
Susan Baur, an 85-year-old retired psychologist, was fed up with all the trash in a Cape Cod pond where she loved to swim. She shares in an interview with AARP Online, "I started the 'Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage' (OLAUG) because I was sick and tired of swimming through trash."
Susan is a swimmer, and the ponds have been her lapping ground for years. Back in 2017, she had been swimming with friends and thought, "There's too much stuff in here." She told AARP, "We commandeered a guy in a kayak and said, 'Follow us, we're gonna hand you trash.' It was fun, and it felt good to swim and see it so clean." She adds, "Someone said we’re a bunch of old ladies against underwater garbage, and it stuck."
Since then, each summer she leads 20-30 women on dives to clean up the ponds.
What kinds of trash do they find?
People tend to use bodies of water as dumping grounds.
Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash
When it comes to what they dig out of the ponds, nothing is all that shocking anymore. Susan shares they typically find golf balls, beer cans, and even dog toys. "And then there's the really interesting stuff: garden gnomes, tires, a toilet." She thinks about it for a moment. "The toilet wins."
But it gives them a sense of adventure. "The dives are like treasure hunts for things that shouldn't be there."
Who can join the club?
Not just anyone can be a part of this Garbage Avengers team. She states very clearly, "The requirements for being a member of OLAUG are you have to be a woman over 64 and an excellent swimmer. We give tryouts every spring. Swim half a mile in under 30 minutes and be able to dive a minimum of 8 feet."
According to an interview on WGBH News, Susan is very strict about those membership rules. “There was a guy who absolutely wanted to join. I said, No. Often they’re men, very often they're not old at all, and they're quite miffed when they say, ‘But I could help. I’m stronger than you guys. I could do this.’ I said, ‘Yeah, there's nothing three women can't do.’'"
What are the women like?
Susan shares, "Many of these women have a career or even two careers. Some have lost their husband, lost their house, lost their health, and they never imagined that there would be such an adventurous next chapter in their life."
One team member, Marci Johnson (age 73), says the club gives her a sense of purpose. "Having retired, you lose that whole sense of what do you do? Who am I now? And this is something I can do and do well, and I enjoy it."
What's next?
The team has worked their magic on over two dozen ponds. And it’s not going to stop with Cape Cod. The squad is expanding "farther into Massachusetts." Susan exclaims. "There's even a woman in Southern Illinois who wants to do the same thing we're doing there."
The 1440Daily on Instagram, a daily news page, claims there are at least 30 active members in the club, with their dives helping to "support wildlife conservation and environmental preservation in one of Massachusetts' most scenic regions."
The comments on the thread are incredibly supportive. One rightfully points out that not only does this obviously benefit the ponds, but it has great health benefits for the women. "This is awesome! Plus the extra benefit of longer, healthier lives with all that swimming, coordination, and social interactions."
Susan herself is not surprised that she takes part in this but she's amazed that people have joined her. "It does not shock me at all that I'm swimming around picking up garbage. I'm just that kind of person. And when I'm 90, if I make it to 90, I’ll be swinging from trees or doing something strange and wonderful. But that these people would JOIN me, and wear orange hats and have the enthusiasm, it sets me back on my heels."
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Astronaut Terry Virts captures incredible images of the pyramids
Astronauts have the privilege of exploring space - an experience available to limited humans. While most of us may have seen images of celestial objects captured by NASA, the visuals of how man-made wonders look from space are rare. Astronaut Terry Virts got the opportunity to fly around in space, and during his time at the International Space Station (ISS), he captured a crystal-clear view of the pyramids of Giza. Making the most of his time at the ISS, he was able to take a picture of this wonder of the world, as reported by IFL Science.
The American astronaut took to X and posted a picture of the pyramids from space with a caption that read, "It took me until my last day in space to get a good picture of these!" The story behind this photo was special for Virts as he had been trying to capture one particular view for the last six months, living and working on the ISS. However, his wish was fulfilled on his last day in space.
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This incident dates back to 2015, when the American astronaut was stationed at the ISS. Being a part of The Soyuz TMA-15M mission, he had been assigned as commander for Expedition 43, which was launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and docked at the ISS. He spent 200 days in space conducting scientific experiments and spacewalks before returning to Earth, safely landing in Kazakhstan.
“I was ready to stay up there because there were still pictures I wanted to take, there were still videos I wanted to do,” Virts told Time. “If you’re an astronaut flying in space, you gotta look at that as your last flight. And so you gotta enjoy it. And I’ve got the rest of my life to be on Earth.”
Safe to say, Virts had a productive time in his seven-month mission as he snapped thousands of aerial photos of Earth and life aboard the orbiting laboratory. To be exact, Virts shot 319,275 photos, the most anyone has ever taken in space, according to a report from Greenville Journal.
His book “View From Above: An Astronaut Photographs the World" includes photos of lightning storms over the Himalayan Mountains, the ice fields of Patagonia in South America, the pyramids of Egypt, and other stunning visuals showcasing the natural beauty of Earth.
In an interview shared with Greenville Journal, Virts also talked about the importance of taking photos from space as he said, "Most people will never get a chance to visit space, so my goal with this book was to share the experience as best as I could through words and photos. I touch on launches, landings, and just about all other aspects of living in space." The American astronaut retired in 2016, putting an end to his illustrious career in NASA. His contributions to technical roles significantly contributed to NASA's mission success and the advancement of human spaceflight.
You can follow Astronaut Terry Virts on Instagram and Twitter for more space-related content. If you are interested in space travel, you can go through his book "How to Astronaut."
As a person with Down syndrome, routines are very important for Christina Cavanaugh. Nearly every day for the past 15 years, the Pocatello, Idaho resident and her mother would go to the Video Stop to rent a movie for her to watch. She became such a valued customer that new employees would be trained on how to interact with her and check out her movie choices, as Christina is nonverbal. With the advent of streaming taking over the home video rental market, it appeared inevitable that Video Stop would close. However, thanks to the store’s owner David Kraning, she can still rent movies out of a section built in the convenience shop next door.
While Video Stop has ceased all rentals, Kraning took a small selection of film titles and built a small video rental section for Christina into the adjacent K&B Kwik Stop. While the section is affectionately known as “Christina’s Corner,” a small group of other loyal customers can also rent from the collection held there. For Toni Cavanaugh, Christina’s mother, it was a relief.
Video stores are dying out due to the popularity of streaming. Photo credit: Canva
“[Christina] doesn’t understand things closing,” Toni told East Idaho News, recounting a time when another video store Christina visited closed down. “Her and I drive over and I let her get out of the car and she goes up and there’s nothing there, and the doors are locked. She still wanted to go in, and it is really heartbreaking to watch the anguish.”
Knowing how much the store meant to Christina, Kraning decided to keep the video rental business, but smaller. After seeing a corner of his K&B Kwik Stop meant for deli storage fail to take off, he decided to change it into a small video rental section.
“That area was going unused, and I thought, ‘OK, it wouldn’t be too much terrible work to just retrofit it, put some shelving in there, and move some of the movies over, and just create kind of a mini video store corner for this kid, so she still could have her normal routine that she’s used to,’” said Kraning.
David Kraning poses in his now-closed video store.Photo credit: East Idaho News
Now Christina continues her routine of picking out a movie with her mother as the staff of K&B Kwik Stop welcome them like “family,” according to the store manager Jennifer Klassen.
Getting access to physical media can be important to many people, not just folks like Christina. While streaming services are convenient, the costs to maintain subscriptions have significantly increased across the board over the years since its inception. There is also not a guarantee that the streaming service you subscribe to will keep the movies you frequently watch as a part of their library, as services like Max permanently remove titles while other streamers like Netflix and Disney+ follow suit.
While they aren’t built for big business that require growing monthly profits or answering to shareholders, the small business market is welcoming the cult-like revival of video stores for film buffs in the mid-2020s as vinyl records were for music fans in the 2010s. Many revival stores have sprouted or survived in the video rental business in recent years such as Vidiots in big city Los Angeles, California and Symsonia Video in small towns Symsonia, Kentucky. If not a brick and mortar business, local libraries have also become hubs to check out blu-rays and DVDs.
DVDs and blu-rays have become a niche product that still has a strong loyal consumer base that is in part due to folks like Christina that prefer or can afford the rental store experience or people who have become collectors of physical media and enjoy being able to have certain movies available to them without needing to pay a subscription or risk having that movie taken offline.
These shops fall into the same category as vinyl record stores, comic book shops, and action figure toy shops. While they’re no longer products widely found in big box stores like Target or Walmart, or were items sold in defunct national chains like Blockbuster, Sam Goody, or Toys R Us, there is still need for them as a function, a collector’s item, or (in some cases) an archive for media
If you have an interest in movies or film, you may want to investigate if there is a similar video store in your area to support—and maybe find community there, too.
On February 18 2025, an Iowa House subcommittee recommended passage of House Study Bill 158, a bill that would make bringing a person under the age of 18 to a drag show a felony, punishable with “up to five years in prison and a fine between $1,025 and $10,245,” the Des Moines Register reports. The bill would also fine owners of a venue where said child saw drag $10,000 for every child in attendance, and charge them with a felony as well.
According to the bill, parents whose children saw drag could also “institute a civil action for damages in the amount of not less than ten thousand dollars and up to fifty thousand dollars for each violation.” The bill would additionally bar “a state agency or public entity that receives state funds” from displaying drag performances, also at risk of a $10,000 fine per child.
And this isn’t even where the problems of the bill end. Drag is defined in the bill as “a performer who exhibits a gender identity that is different than the performer’s gender assigned at birth through the use of clothing, makeup, accessories, or other gender signifiers.” This means that the bill could potentially outlaw classical theatrical productions like William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, in which one of the female characters masquerades as a man, and it could outlaw beloved film classics like Mrs. Doubtfire, according to them. Most hurtfully, though, because the language of the bill is so broad, it could actually bar transgender people from speaking in public at all. Republicans tried to demur–Iowa Republican State Representative Helena Hayes said the bill’s ultimate language would change in the future “so there are not unintended consequences such as banning minors from art performances,” the Des Moines Register wrote, but she mentions nothing about how the language as is would affect transgender individuals. If the bill passes it could still be damning to an entire community of people, not just artistic works.
Iowans spoke out against the bill’s outrageous overreach, citing that not only was passage of such a bill a disrespectful infringement on free speech, queer and trans civil rights, and parental rights, it was also totally useless and a waste of time. “I'm really getting tired of these culture war bills that are being introduced to grab headlines when we have real work to do here and we haven't done much real work to help Iowans," House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst told the Register a few days earlier. But Konfrst wasn’t the only one. Of the 121 pages of public comments from the February 18 meeting, many shared similar sentiments from concerned Iowans.
“I oppose this bill. I am a transgender person and a drag performer. Labeling my existence as ‘adult’ is labeling my daily life as obscene and explicit. Doing this is attempting to push me and people like me out of public life and existence itself. This is injurious to so many people, including the children this bill claims it seeks to save. Please vote NO on HSB 158,” shared citizen Kayden Ellis.
“I oppose this bill because it serves no function besides hurting the trans members of our community and pandering to our country's conservative fringe. Iowa needs leaders who will actually make our lives better not just hurt an already severely victimized minority group,” citizen Grant Manwaring said.
“This is a pointless bill. Can we please focus on something more useful, like gun control or poverty? Or how about taking care of our veterans, or how about the rising cost of food maybe? Drag Queens and Drag Kings are not the problem,” citizen Lindsey Coram shared.
This is not the first time Iowans have rallied around progressive causes–we learned at the end of last year that of those surveyed about Iowa’s ban on abortions after six weeks, 59% opposed the new law, and 64% supported legalized abortion.
So there’s no guarantees for this bill, HSB 158, yet. It will still have to pass the Senate and the Judiciary Committee to become law. But if Iowa Democrats have anything to say about it, hopefully it’ll never make it there.
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Michelle Phillips famously ate a banana during The Mamas & the Papas' lip-synced spot on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' Decades later, she explained why.
Lip-syncing is probably bizarre for most musicians. The audience can tell you’re not really producing sound—often because your microphone isn’t plugged in—and the whole thing can feel a little pointless and silly. But there are actual technical reasons why some of your favorite artists were miming on national television, and it was a pretty standard practice decades ago.
Which brings us to The Mamas & the Papas, the folk-pop quartet known for their string of sunshiny hits. In 1967, they "played" a three-song medley on The Ed Sullivan Show, including a clearly lip-synced version of "California Dreamin’"—and that resurfaced footage recently went viral due to the hilarious choices of singer Michelle Phillips, who's seen peeling and eating a banana on stage. In retrospect, many media outlets and casual fans interpreted this gesture as a fruit-fueled "protest," a moment of rebellion against the studio big wigs and their lip-sync preferences. But that doesn’t seem to be quite accurate.
Before we get into that, though, let’s revisit the actual footage. "California Dreamin’" was the last song of three, and the banana move makes a bit more sense with that context in mind. During opener "Monday Monday," we see a bit more of the psychedelic stage setup, filled with swirling colors and unusual props—including a bathtub, a possible nod to the cover of their debut album, 1966’s If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. At one point, Phillips reclines in the kaleidoscopic tub (located next to a bright-red fire hydrant) and munches on some green grapes.
The food bit is woven throughout the entire six-minute production: Phillips eats more grapes and officially peels a banana during "I Call Your Name," so she's already in full fruit mode when they segue into "California Dreamin’." She just leans into it even further, often taking bites during the vocal harmony parts and seemingly playing to the camera. The whole vibe feels playful and loose—and according to Phillips herself, nothing was too coordinated. She ate the banana basically because she wanted something to do.
AsSnopes notes, she talked about the goofy Ed Sullivan moment in a video posted on the YouTube channel of Chynna Phillips, a member of vocal trio Wilson Phillips and the daughter of Michelle and bandmate John Phillips. "It was so random, as you put it," she said of the performance, which Chynna called "iconic."
"You know, we were just lip-syncing to the song," she added. "And then I looked over and there was this plate of fruit, and there was this banana there, and so I just reached over and started peeling it, and I ate it!" Calling the decision "very spontaneous," she continued: "I looked over, and I was trying to do something with my hands, to do anything because I felt a little awkward."
So, there you have it. While the "banana take" is undoubtedly hilarious—and has become iconic in its own way—it feels a bit presumptuous to call it a "protest." After all, The Mamas & the Papas appear to have utilized backing tracks during other TV spots, including one for "California Dreamin’" in late 1966. It’s not like lip-syncing was an unusual request at the time. (That said, not every TV performance was lip-synched, even on The Ed Sullivan Show. You might remember, for example, that time The Beatles changed music history. That one was very much live.)
Also, that practice never went away. One of music’s funniest and most famous TV-miming moments dates back to the 1994 AMC Awards. During Alan Jackson's "Gone Country," drummer Bruce Rutherford simply flailed his arms around, not even bothering to hold drum sticks.
Why do artists lip-sync anyway? A lot of reasons, like illness, technical challenges, and lack of prep time. Ariel Chobaz, a prolific mix engineer, talked about this subject with ABC News’ 2020: "I've been involved in some very big broadcast shows, like the Grammys and the American Music Awards, and the time schedule is so precise. It's physically not possible to mic an entire band for every segment that comes up."
Nestled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is one of the world’s biggest collections of LGBTQ+ historical material. It resides in Stonewall National Museum, Archives and Library, or SNMAL, which has called Fort Lauderdale home since 1972, some 53 years. In that time, it has been dedicated to, as they share, “inspir[ing] and promot[ing] understanding through collecting, preserving, and sharing the proud culture of LGBTQIA+ people of all stories, and their significant role in American society.”
At SNMAL, there’s not just a lending library filled with books chronicling the queer experience–one of the U.S.’s largest with over 30,000 titles of books and media–but archives filled with objects that illustrate the depth of the queer community’s impact on American culture and history. There are newsletters from the 1950s from the Daughters of Bilitis, the country’s first lesbian civil rights organization; garments from RuPaul and John Waters; fine art prints from lauded photographers like George Platt Lynes and Herb Ritts; and so much more--like the below boot from the original Broadway production of Kinky Boots, autographed by its star Billy Porter. The space also holds regular historical exhibitions that detail facets of LGBTQ+ life, like their current exhibition on trailblazing lesbian activist Edie Windsor and forthcoming exhibitions on Bayard Rustin, queer baseball, and queer life in Broward County, where the museum is located.
There are also digital archives for people to peruse featuring “over 6 million pages of materials documenting LGBTQ+ political, cultural and social history.” SNMAL functions as a community space as well, inviting in the vibrant South Florida queer community for conversation, films, and book talks. While Florida might seem like an anomaly for such vibrant queer life, especially at our current cultural moment, Wilton Manors, a city adjacent to the museum, was once named the “second gayest city in America” behind Palm Springs.
It’s from the book talks that I best know SNMAL, which welcomed me in January 2024 as I presented my book about drag history. Being there was special as both a historian and a native of Broward County. In preparation for the evening, SNMAL put out some fabulous drag archival material it had collected through the years: 1950s-era programs from the legendary Jewel Box Revue drag troupe; a costume from the lauded drag performer Lady Bunny; greeting cards and magazines featuring 1990s drag stars, and more. It was such an honor and a pleasure to see items like this in person, not just because I had studied materials like these as I was writing my book, but because they’re so rare and it’s so powerful to have a piece of a history like this in front of your very eyes. I was touched by their thoughtfulness and entranced by the breadth of their collection. SNMAL is a gem and it was moving to be surrounded by such archival material. The same opportunity to experience it is given to anyone who visits SNMAL for exhibitions or to use the library–the archive requires an appointment. When a community can experience its own history, its members know they're never alone.
I’ve learned recently that, despite being a part of Broward County’s thriving queer community, SNMAL has had funding cut by the federal government. In a recent segment with South Florida’s WPLG Local 10 News, Executive Director Robert Kesten shared that while there are states that fund LGBTQ+ archives, Florida is not one of them. The archive also faced state budget cuts under Governor Ron DeSantis last year.
But even with this in mind, along with the state’s attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in the last few years, SNMAL doesn’t want to move. “It’s so important to have a presence in a place that doesn’t want you,” Kesten told WPLG. “You have to go where the fight is.” SNMAL has received other national grants, however, and they are mobilizing to stay open with their own fundraising. Their gala, for example, is coming up this weekend, and people can always donate online.
Archival material and literature from LGBTQ+ history is compelling and important, and places that preserve it like SNMAL remind us that queer culture has always been a part of American history, and that it can’t just be erased.
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The cast of Stuart Little
Cover Image Source: Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki and Geena Davis pose for a family portrait in a scene from the film 'Stuart Little', 1999. (Photo by Columbia Pictures)
Róbert Berény was one of the greatest Hungarian poster artists in the early 1900s, known for his expressionism and cubism art. One of his paintings, 'Sleeping Lady with Black Vase,' came to be known as a masterpiece. In 1928, the painting was presented at an exhibition by the Munkácsy Guild. Strangely enough, after this exhibition, the painting disappeared, per The Guardian. It wasn’t until 2009 that the missing masterpiece was discovered by a researcher immersed in watching TV with his daughter.
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In 2009, 43-year-old Gergely Barki, a researcher at the Hungarian National Gallery, sat on his couch to watch “Stuart Little” with his young daughter Lola. It was then that his gaze fixated on something familiar in the film scene. He noticed a painting that appeared as a prop in the backdrop of a scene showing Stuart’s family. The painting hung on the wall between two lamps tight above the fireplace. After looking at it repetitively, he became certain that it was none other than Berény’s long-vanished 'Sleeping Lady with Black Vase.'
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Berény’s long-lost masterpiece on the wall behind Hugh Laurie. I nearly dropped Lola from my lap,” said Barki. “A researcher can never take his eyes off the job, even when watching Christmas movies at home.” Intrigued by the discovery, Barki, who was writing a biography of Berény, felt like a sleuth hunting for a clue. He wrote e-mails to everyone involved in the film. One of the employees, a set designer for films, responded two years later.
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“She said the picture had been hanging on her wall,” Barki recalled. “She had snapped it up for next to nothing in an antiques shop in Pasadena, California, thinking its avant-garde elegance was perfect for Stuart Little’s living room,” Barki revealed that the employee had picked up the painting in a Pasadena-based antiques shop for just $500. She was probably unaware of the real identity of the masterpiece.
She used the painting as a background prop for the family house setting in the Hollywood film "Stuart Little." When the production equipment was packed off, she carried the painting from the studio and hung it in her apartment as a decorative showpiece. “I had a chance to visit her and see the painting and tell her everything about the painter,” said Barki. “She was very surprised.”
Later, she sold the painting to a private art collector. The artwork was put up for an auction sale in Budapest at the Virag Judit Galleria. According to Nicole Waldner, the painting was auctioned off on December 13, 2014 at this gallery with a starting price of $136,000. It was purchased for a quarter of a million dollars, the highest price ever paid for a Róbert Berény painting. From Berény’s art studio to the set of "Stuart Little" to an art lover’s apartment wall, the painting has traveled a long journey.
People tend to use bodies of water as dumping grounds.
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Video stores are dying out due to the popularity of streaming. Photo credit: Canva
