Two weeks earlier, in mid-November, Dan unexpectedly passed away, the end to a tragic three years in which frontotemporal dementia had aged him 40 years and ravaged his cognitive functioning. Since Dan had no wife, no partner, no living family members (save an estranged brother), I stepped in to take over his life. This included finding in-home care for him, and, eventually, an assisted living facility, handling his bills, packing up his home, and getting it sold....

In my mid-20s, I was dating someone who told me she wrote letters to her friends and family during Lent. It was a spiritual practice that challenged her not to sacrifice a vice, but to sacrifice her time by devoting it to loved ones. I was pretty smitten with her, so I did it, too. Our relationship would eventually end, but the spiritual dimension of letter writing had struck a chord with me, and I continued to write letters during Lent and beyond for several more years....

What’s Happening Thirty three percent of Baby Boomers believe they won’t retire until they’re 70 or older, if they can retire at all – that’s an 18-percent increase since 2000. Their concerns aren’t overblown; the number of 65-year-olds in the U.S. labor force has increased steadily over those 10 years, and is now above 20 percent for the first time since the mid-70s. (Thanks, Walmart!) While some of this can be attributed to longer, healthier lives, a lot of it can be blamed on the one-two sucker punch of the tech bubble popping followed by the Great Recession....

When Do Babies Roll Over? Depending on their own developmental pace, most neuro-typical babies will start rolling over somewhere between 3 and 6-months of age. They will generally begin by rolling from their front to their back before moving on to rolling from back to front. While developmental pace is important, so is opportunity. Babies who are given tummy time will practice pushing up and eventually learn to roll over onto their back....

When Does a Penis Stop Growing? The penis goes through its most rapid growth spurt during puberty as a result of a testosterone boost. Most growth occurs between the ages of 12 and 16. But that doesn’t always mean a kid has hit their peak by that point. Some boys experience puberty and additional penis growth into adulthood. For most, it stops at age 18. But some men, though few in number, report experiencing growth in their penis size into their early 20s....

Had Sarah had the abortion, she would have been among the 59 percent of American women receiving abortions who are already mothers. More specifically, she’d be joining the 26 percent of American women receiving abortion who already have one child — 33 percent have two or more. Those statistics, which Sarah did not know at the time, come from the Guttmacher Institute, where Dr. Rachel K. Jones has researched abortion for two decades and discovered that, counter to common political and dramatic narratives, many if not most American women receiving abortions do so for reasons related to the wellbeing — often financial — of the children they already have....

Prior to Craig, the actor who was Bond for the longest number of years was Roger Moore, who was Bond for 12 years between 1973 and 1985. Want proof that the movie industry was way different back then? Moore made seven different Bond films in that period. And, from 1963 to 1971, Sean Connery made six Bond movies, one more than Craig, in only 8 years. (Connery also took a break while George Lazenby made On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969....

In an interview with Empire, Joe and Anthony Russo said that Captain Marvel’s relegation to minor character was the result of a choice to focus on characters with longer tenures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “It was a story about the original six,” Joe Russo said. “That was the focus of the film, to conclude a 10-year saga about those characters. And Carol’s a fairly new character.” She “had no depth of relationship with those other characters, which on one side is an opportunity, but also – when you have a story that’s this size – you have to work with an economy of storytelling in order to maximize the journey in the movie,” Anthony Russo added....

Kaluuya won for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah and at the end of his speech, he expressed his gratitude for being alive, which then led him to thank his mom and dad for getting it on. “We got to celebrate life, man,” Kaluuya said. “We’re breathing, we’re walking, it’s incredible. It’s incredible. My mom. My dad. It’s amazing. They had sex....

Also, and this is more of a practical point, most protesters are non-violent. And even among the small subset of protesters who are employing violence, few do some randomly. If you don’t live in a police precinct, shut the fuck up. If you do, send me an email. I want to hear that story. Many parents won’t attend protests because, in this pandemic moment, childcare presents real risks and many are concerned about the safety of their children at said protests, which is reasonable though hardly courageous....

This is, by far, my favorite baby picture. That’s not because it’s the cutest baby picture (there are far cuter baby pictures of both of my kids) but because it’s an authentic baby picture. Truth is, babies often don’t look right. We are rarely presented with authentic newborns — not on commercials or in movies or on TV shows like when Murphy Brown somehow had a months-old sized “newborn” back in the 80s....

What was the situation? We have this really nice outdoor mall near my house. There’s an Apple store. That was the scene of the crime. I was having a bad morning (job stuff) and my laptop charger had died. So, first thing in the day, I went to the Apple store to get a new one. Simple enough. What went wrong? Parking is always at a premium at this place, so I was thrilled to find a spot right outside the store, across the street....

In the wake of the most recent shooting in Parkland, Florida, which claimed 17 lives, the organization is yet again the center of a national gun-control debate. Rather than taking measures to help restrict access to assault-level weapons — and after a week of media-silence following the Parkland shooting — the organization instead voiced the need for more armed school security. Per The Washington Post, NRA President Wayne LaPierre event went so far as to say that gun control advocates “don’t care about our schoolchildren; they want to make all of us less free....

In a culture suffused with Fortnite, awash in cartoons, and consumed with electronic devices, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood couldn’t be more different than the entertainment programming children watch today. But as my family and I have learned, that’s exactly the argument for giving Fred Rogers and the Neighborhood of Make-Believe another look. We recently started rewatching old Mister Rogers episodes with my kids and, in the process, uncovered six reasons why he is as relevant today as he was 50 years ago when the show first aired....

Since the pandemic hit, the federal government has only approved one round of direct cash assistance to American citizens and their dependents. That money, which was administered through the CARES Act, gave most American households $1,200 per adult worker and extra cash for dependent children. Although the cash was much appreciated, the economy is still in freefall, and many politicians, policymakers, and Americans have clamored for more help in the midst of mass unemployment and a crashing economy....

For those receiving monthly payments, the last one is scheduled to go out on December 15th, with this month’s hitting bank accounts yesterday. If you haven’t signed up for monthly payments, the deadline has already passed, but fear not – everyone will receive whatever money they were owed when they file their taxes next year. So… make sure to do that. But with the success of this year’s monthly payment program, many families might be wondering: What’s the future of this new influx of cash?...

And that’s fine. Not just now. Always. Statistically, American parents work too much. We don’t take enough vacations, we don’t spend enough time with our kids, and, for the most part, we outsource all kinds of parental tasks to third parties at debilitating cost. All around the country — and the world — the collective groans from parents sound the same. We are overwhelmed with our kids because they interfere with the work that defines and encompasses so much of our lives....

According to Mashable, the book will follow Elbow Grease, a little Monster Truck who’s the runt of his mechanical litter and who feels out of place, especially compared to his four older brothers. The story will follow the tiny but mighty truck as he proves to everyone that he has “the guts, grit, and gumption to do big things.” The book is inspired by Cena’s own experiences, as he grew up with his four older brothers in West Newbury, Massachusetts....

But there’s more to using your baby as an excuse than just telling people you have to “watch the baby.” For one thing, that kind of talk makes you sound like a reluctant father, which places you somewhere on the spectrum between men’s rights activist and deadbeat dad. For another thing, without a strategy, people will get wise to what’s going on. And if people figure out you’re using your baby as an excuse, they’ll think you’re gross....

This 10-part series takes Disney stans like me on an intensive journey (you guessed it) behind the history of some of their most popular attractions. The show tells the story of attractions like the Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, digging deep into the Disney archives and never-before-seen footage of the attractions. All that and Dwayne Johnson producing make the show a must-watch if you consider yourself a Disney connoisseur....