The “beta mom” has arrived — and she wants you to know she’s totally fine with the fact that her kid ate cereal for dinner three nights this week. Beta mom culture is the latest parenting identity to colonize TikTok and Instagram, positioning itself as the antidote to the hyper-curated,…
Category: Culture
Culture
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Red Button or Blue Button? Why Your Instinct to Survive Might Actually Kill Everyone You Love
A thought experiment is tearing through social media like a brushfire through dry grass. The setup: everyone on Earth votes privately by pressing either a red or blue button. If more than 50% press the blue button, everyone survives. If fewer than 50% press blue, only the red-pressers live. Which…
Culture
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Hacky Sacks Are Trending Again — If You Can Actually Get One
A 13-year-old in New Jersey just tried to buy a hacky sack. He couldn’t. Dirtbag — sold out. Bomb Footbags — waitlist only. Even the Wham-O Amazon page looks like a crime scene. Welcome to the hacky sack comeback, where a toy that once cost $4 at a gas station…
Culture
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A Dancing Robot Bought Its Own Plane Ticket — Then Got Its Batteries Confiscated
A Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to San Diego was delayed Thursday — not because of weather, not because of a mechanical issue, but because a child-sized humanoid robot named Bebop showed up with batteries that were too big for federal regulations and a dance routine nobody asked for. The…
Culture
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Call 947-SAW A UFO: The Hotline for People Who Actually Saw Something
There’s a new addition to the network, and it does something most UFO sites can’t manage — it takes witness reports seriously without turning the whole thing into a carnival act. Saw A UFO (sawaufo.org) launched with a simple premise: give people a straightforward place for UFO sighting reporting, daily…
Culture
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Scientology Speedruns: When TikTok Turns Churches Into Obstacle Courses
Ericka Buensuceso was walking down Hollywood Boulevard last Saturday when she spotted an alien, two hot dogs, and Jesus huddled together outside the Church of Scientology information center. They weren’t protesting. They weren’t evangelizing. They were about to storm the building — and film it for TikTok. Welcome to Scientology…
Culture
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You’re Losing Hundreds Because Nobody Told You About Radar Dollar Bills
My mother had a thing for $2 bills. Kept them tucked away like they were bearer bonds. Meanwhile, I’ve been collecting coins for years — Roman pieces pushing 2,000 years old, Morgan dollars with that satisfying heft, the occasional oddball quarter that makes you stop and squint at the mint…
Culture
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The New Travel Flex: No Signal, No Email, No Apologies
Americans left 768 million vacation days unused in 2023, according to the U.S. Travel Association — and even when we do take time off, 40% of us check work email. The World Health Organization defines workplace burnout as exhaustion, detachment, and declining efficacy. But clocking out at 5 p.m. doesn’t…
Culture
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Adults Are Pregaming Again — Because Cocktails Cost $20 Now
Somewhere between 2019 and now, the price of a cocktail became a moral question. Twenty dollars for a margarita. Eighteen for a beer and a shot. Thirty-five if you’re feeling adventurous and order something with mezcal and a torched rosemary sprig. So adults — the same people who swore they’d…
Crime
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Bear Suits, Pasta Swaps, and a Condom Crisis — This Week’s Whacky Wednesday
Welcome to Whacky Wednesday, where the news is real but the logic has left the building. This week’s lineup: a man who replaced Lego pieces with dried pasta before returning them to Target, three people who dressed someone in a bear suit to defraud luxury car insurers, and — because…