Every once in a while, people shopping at places like thrift shops and antique bazaars chance upon unique souvenirs, secret notes, or heartfelt messages from strangers. These mementos encapsulate a plethora of emotions. Something similar happened with Izabela, who goes as @grandmasnosejob on TikTok. She was shopping when she found a heartbreaking tag inside a sweater in one of the alleys in a thrift store and her heart was filled with love.
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Izabela posted a video showcasing a beige jute sweater featuring large golden-brown coconut buttons hanging on a clothesstand. She wrote in the overlay, “Which one of you dropped this off at the thrift store?” The video became viral with a whopping 8.8 million views, 1.8 million likes, and more than 6,000 comments. In the short clip, the viewers noticed that the sweater came with a price tag that read $10.49. A tag was sewn into the insides of the sweater and the label on it read, “Made with grandma with love.” Besides the note, there was a cute frog doodle printed on the tag. The tag made Izabella teary-eyed, and she posted in the caption, “Made by grandma? With love?” She accompanied her caption with several crying emojis.
The heartwarming incident left people on TikTok awestruck. However, there were some who had mixed opinions about the sweater. Many of them said that it was unjust, cruel, and heartless for someone to have thrown away this sweater at a thrift shop, something that was made with utter love. @pippalovesp.nk commented, “If I saw that I'm gonna buy ‘cause if they don't want I want it.”
Others just expressed how beautiful this entire scenario was, and shared their own similar experiences. @guro_man_manga, for example, said, “I found a sweater with a ‘from mom’ label in it.” @y3llowbricks recalled how his grandma had given her a craft set with which they made some dolls, but unfortunately, the dolls had to be donated to charity for some reason. "The box even had my name on it…I cry at night thinking about it. I would literally do anything to get it back,” she wrote.
At the same time, several people opined that the tag was just a logo of some brand and not an actual grandma’s message. “You can buy these tags on the internet! Maybe it’s not actually made by someone’s grandma and they just wanted us to be sad,” said @heyfelicia_.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Sam Lion
It is not the first time when someone has discovered a thoughtful note inside thrift clothing. From vintage jewelry boxes etched with mysterious sobriquets to antique chests hiding cryptic notes, people have been finding things like these for years. The infamous 'Silk Dress Cryptogram' is a testament to this. A secret note was hidden in a silk dress by a woman in 1888. The note was found years later by a shopper at a thrift store and after that, codebreakers from around the world were trying to decipher it. Wayne Chan, a researcher from the University of Manitoba, finally cracked the mysterious code a decade later.
He told CNN that initially he looked at 170 code books and none of them matched the message. “I worked on it for a few months, but didn’t get anywhere with it. I set it aside and didn’t look at it again.” Chan said. In August 2022, Chan published an academic paper explaining the puzzle. He started by saying that it was a telegraph code, “Since telegraph companies charged by the number of words in a telegram, codes to compress a message to reduce the number of words became popular,” he wrote.
Every year, we get reports, most often drawn from Social Security registration data, telling us what the most popular baby names of the last year were. Since population growth is relatively steady in the United States and England (home to the following study), naming babies is a zero-sum game of sorts. All the Addisons, Madisons, Brooklyns, and Aidans come at the expense of other names, once popular, but now out of favor for various reasons.
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As a complement to the Social Security report, BabyCentre, a U.K. parenting publication, has compiled a list of once-popular names that now seem to be circling the drain in terms of popularity. Everyone loves an underdog, so can we see Wayne or Clive rise from the ashes, or has time passed by? The internet has been known to adopt some crazy causes, so a #SaveBertram campaign, as odd as it would be, isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
Similarly, it seems that many parents are shooting for names that are more unique than conventional. Since these names have fallen out of favor in recent years, they’re, by nature of their inclusion on this list, unique once again. Perhaps this list is the best marketing tactic one could dream up.
Here are 36 names that may be on life support without some extraordinary measures:
It is said that hospitality is not just about serving food to customers but also serving souls. However, if the customer starts displaying utterly rude behavior, they have to be put in their place. In August 2023, a Reddit user shared a story about their friend who encountered a customer like that in r/pettyrevenge. The man presented the server with a $100 tip that they discovered later, was fake. They were furious but they did something that left the customer dumb-mouthed. They were lauded by people for how they handled the situation.
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The server in question received an irate customer one day. The man was one of the regular customers, usually remained quiet, and didn’t tip well. Most of the time, he visited the restaurant with his friends or by himself, where he would sit in the bar and watch a sports game. “I’ve never had a problem with him until he came in one time with a date,” the server wrote.
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That specific day, a woman was accompanying the man. The server had never seen the woman before so they assumed the man was on a date. After their meal, the couple called the server and asked them for the check. They went right around the corner from the table to get it.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Cottonbro
As they were returning to the table, they noticed that the man was placing a $100 bill on the table. "The guy says to the woman, 'Watch this' as he puts down a hundred dollar bill on the table. He saw me see and he was joking like, 'Oh! you weren’t supposed to see that'," they wrote. He was probably trying to impress the woman, the server thought. But they didn't care about it as they needed money at that time and their focus was on the $100 tip.
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To their shock, they discovered that the $100 note was fake. “That means this freaking guy planned this out to impress this woman. It was so frustrating because I needed the money but at the same time I thought it was because I did a great job,” the waiter said. They narrated the entire incident to her manager who thought it was “ridiculous.”
Two weeks later, the obnoxious man visited the restaurant again with the same woman. This time, the server was working on different tables and was quite busy. But when their manager asked if they wanted to take the order for the couple’s table and teach the man a lesson, they said yes. It was their chance to settle the score with the man. They walked to their table, with the fake $100 note in their pocket, waiting for the right moment to act. “I get to their table and they instantly recognize me, the woman seemed normal but the guy looked like he was nervous. I pretended nothing happened all the way until I got their check,” the server described.
When they brought the check, they placed it down on the table along with the fake $100 bill, saying, “Hey, not sure if you remember me from last time but I believe you forgot this, just returning it because I believed it was too much.” Apparently, their trick worked. The woman on the table looked confused as if she had spotted the man’s deception. The server walked away. When they returned, they found a big $0.00 from the man as their tip on the signed copy. But on a positive note, the woman who was also sitting at the same table and saw the whole charade of her date, left a $50 tip for the server.
“One can only assume that the guy didn’t want to tip on his card so he wrote obnoxiously big zeros on the tip and that $50 just happened to be where the woman was sitting, so I’m hoping she had placed it there,” the server reflected, adding that they hoped the woman eventually saw the red flags that the man showed.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Jonathan Borba
The server’s story was upvoted by 15,000 people and over 730 left comments on it. u/tricularia commented, “My dad always told me that if you want to know how someone will act in a long-term relationship, pay attention to how they treat servers in restaurants. And since I started paying attention, I am definitely noticing a pattern there.”
u/Its_only__forever shared their own similar experience, “As someone that has been in the industry for over 2 decades, I love this. I had a party once that tipped me in pennies spread across the table when they left. I scooped that s**t up so fast and chased them out and just dumped it at their feet with an 'I think you forgot something.' Yes, I got in trouble. Yes, it was worth it.”
Many said the woman needed to know that the man was a liar. “This is fabulous! I hope the lady dumped him because you showed her what kind of jerk he was,” said u/assignmentfit461. u/thekeekses added, “As a woman who was raised by a single mother who was a server for many many years, I ended a relationship with a guy because he didn't tip.”
u/Careless_Candle6771 shared from her personal experience. "The place I work at is a hot spot for 1st dates and any time I cash a couple out, I ask them if they want their receipt. The dude usually says no as the merchant copy is being printed and then I can see the $0 tip and I go, "ok!" And then just leave it face up on the table anyway. My god, do I love when the women run back with cash saying, "Oh, my god I'm so sorry!"
Siblings fight over the silliest things, from the last slice of pizza to whose turn it is to take out the trash. But they always have each other's backs. When Maverick Francisco Oyao learned his parents couldn’t afford a prom dress for his sister, Lu Asey, he was disappointed but determined. Maverick decided to make her a beautiful winter ball gown himself. He documented the entire process on Facebook, and it quickly went viral.
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It all began when their school announced the Junior and Senior Prom. Maverick shared that his sister, in her final year of junior high, really wanted to attend. Feeling heartbroken, Maverick decided to make her a dress himself, ensuring she wouldn't miss out on the special night.
Maverick, who has a Bachelor of Culture and Arts Education with no background in design, turned to the internet for guidance. He browsed YouTube and Google to study various ball gown designs. He took inspiration from Filipino fashion designer Michael Cinco's Spring and Summer Collection. He then conceptualized and sketched his design, choosing blue and white to match the prom's winter ball theme.
Image Source: Fashion designer Michael Cinco with models walk the red carpet after his show during D3 Presents: DIFF Fashion Forward during the 13th annual Dubai International Film Festival. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for DIFF)
He knew the challenges of making the dress but never backed out. In his post, he said, "The untold story of a loving [elder brother]." "I didn't expect that I could do this on time. I even doubted myself if I could do this or not because the concept is different from what is already being done. But God is really good. He did not abandon me."
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Pixabay
The end product was a masterpiece as Maverick was able to create an incredible skirt using royal blue fabric, adorned with white satin ribbons in a criss-cross pattern. To enhance the skirt's beauty, he added white plastic flowers with crystal beads. For the bodice, Maverick hand-painted a beautiful ombré that blended seamlessly with the skirt. The finishing touch was a pair of dramatic butterfly sleeves.
In the Facebook post, Maverick wrote, "The only ball gown is required which is the rent is very expensive, maybe mama and papa can't afford it, I told her you might not be able to continue or what because where do we get a rental? And she insisted that she really wants to join because it's her last year in Junior High." He then decided to do it himself.
"I've done my part very well as your supportive brother and I will never get tired of supporting you, that's your brother's promise to you." He even singled out a note for his sister, "I hope I make you happy this Valentine's Day. Even though we didn't get your wish for the best dress, for me it was the best dress and the best because you are wearing it. Your brother loves you so much."
The post has been widely appreciated online as it has managed to garner over 90,000 likes and 66,000 shares. Users were impressed and deeply moved by the love and dedication Maverick showed for his sister. @christianisabel.belenosanpedro wished him luck for his future and commented, "Wow I hope you get a scholarship at design school or a designer takes you in as an apprentice. Good job." Another user, @krishyyy023, commented, "Man! I had goosebumps when I saw the result. Amazing!!
Mystery lurks everywhere. Like an undersea treasure box, it lurches in every object, whispering sweet nothings in spaces long abandoned. From closed attics to vintage journals, mystery hangs in everything. At least, this is what Mr. Jimmie Smith would think, from now on, each time he looks at anything. He found this mystery and hit the jackpot, literally, in one of the shirts hanging in his closet. And this mystery turned out to be a 24-million-dollar winning lottery ticket, according to NJ.com
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A retired security guard by profession, and a father of two, the 68-year-old Jimmie went through his closet after he heard an announcement on television that this particular lottery ticket hadn’t found its prize winner yet. Jimmie, who had been an avid buyer and collector of lottery tickets, gave it a thought to do a quick check inside his closet. And there he found it, the ticket to his jackpot, lying among stacks of booklets and piles of crisp tickets.
Jimmie couldn't believe his luck, especially considering it was tucked away in his closet. “I ended up with a stack - a pile of tickets, including the one they were talking about on the news," he told lottery officials. He also said that he's been buying tickets in New Jersey and New York since the 1960s, but has never been in a rush to see if he’s the winner of some prize. This time, he checked the numbers and stood stunned. He wasn't sure he could believe it as he sat there gazing at the piece that had brought golden fortune to him, “I stood there for a minute thinking, ‘Do I see what I think I see?'” he told NJ.com. “I had to stick my head out the window and breathe some fresh air. I was in serious doubt. I really had to convince myself this was real.” But it was real indeed.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Pixabay
On the other side of it, Gweneth Dean, director of the New York Gaming Commission’s Division of the Lottery, said, “A lucky New Yorker has a $24 million Lotto payday just waiting — but the winner has to act fast as time is running out. We urge New York Lottery players: Check your pockets. Check your glove box. Look under the couch cushions. If you have this winning ticket, we look forward to meeting you,” according to The Washington Post.
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On May 25, 2016, Jimmie, a resident of East Orange, New Jersey, won $24.1 million from the New York Lottery. The winning numbers were 5, 12, 13, 22, 25 and 35. Jimmie had earlier bought the ticket at a grocery and tobacco shop at 158 Church Street in the Tribecca neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, according to NJ.com. “I always told myself, ‘I’ll check them when I have the time,'” he said. However, post this prize-winning and claiming himself as the owner of the winning ticket, Jimmie suddenly disappeared. He reappeared five months later only to complete the required paperwork and disappear again, as reported by The Washington Post. He chose to receive his $24 million in installments over 26 years, according to the commission.
This article originally appeared last year.
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Beavers in the Czech Republic built a dam in two days, bypassing the local government's stalled plans.
When nature interferes with human plans, the end result rarely saves us money. But that’s exactly what happened in the Czech Republic’s Brdy region, where a colony of beavers finished a dam project held up by administrative red tape.
Budgeted at 30 million CZK (or roughly $1.2 million), the endeavor was stuck in the planning stage for seven years due to permit complications, per National Geographic. Years after the military built a drainage system in the area, environmentalists planned to create a wetland, helping "the rare stone crayfish, frogs, and other species" that thrive in those conditions, according to Radio Prague International. But they ultimately didn’t have to: The Brdy Protected Landscape Area Administration reported that beavers constructed their dams in nearly the exact same spot.
"The Military Forest Management and the Vltava River Basin were negotiating with each other to set up the project and address issues regarding ownership of land. The beavers beat them to it, saving us CZK 30 million," said Bohumil Fišer, who heads the administration. “They built the dams without any project documentation and for free." They were able to construct the dam in two nights at the most—pretty efficient and unfussy work compared to the complications we humans create.
Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemian office of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency, put it simply to PRI: "Beavers always know best. The places where they build dams are always chosen just right—better than when we design it on paper." In a statement, per The Telegraph, The PLA wrote that they are "already seeing the emergence of a small pound and surrounding wetland," noting that the beavers are still working to create new wetlands.
Beavers—please forgive me—are pretty dam cool. They build their homes (or lodges) underwater, creating a safe space by stacking together tree branches, rocks, mud, and grass. And this unique instinct is apparently so strong that beavers can build dams wherever they happen to be, including, apparently, inside a house occupied by human beings. Dr. Holley Muraco, director of research at the Mississippi Aquarium, demonstrated this amazing fact in a 2023 YouTube video starring a female beaver named Sawyer, who piles stuffed animals, blankets, wrapping paper, Christmas decorations, and other found objects into a makeshift dam. It’s both ridiculously adorable and a little mind-blowing.
Muraco was rehabbing Sawyer at her home, along with two other orphaned beavers, with help from Mississippi’s Woodside Wildlife Rescue. "Sawyer is one of a kind," she told Upworthy. "Very opinionated and, as crazy as it sounds, intelligent. I raised Sawyer on a bottle in our home and then introduced her to Huck and Finn who are a bit older. All three were orphaned separately when their parents were killed. The three were sent to Woodside Wildlife to be raised as siblings."
In other prior rodents-are-hilarious news, a 2022 viral video focused on the rivalry between two beavers who shared a room at a wildlife rescue. While one, Ziibi, was playing around in a semi-aquatic enclosure, her roommate, Nibi, piled up sticks in front of the door—seemingly an attempt to ensure that her frenemy stay out. Crafty…
For the last five years, the text from my friend Hannah has arrived mid-January–Galentine’s Day is now just one month away, and will I be in attendance? Without fail, my answer is "yes." For love of Hannah and of parties, yes, but also the idea of the holiday itself: to celebrate not just the women but the people in your life whose love comes from the beauty of friendship. Noteworthy is that this year the invitation included an illustration of two grandmas in luscious pink and orange fur coats.
Galentine’s Day really does come from the television show Parks and Recreation. Every year on February 13, the indomitable Leslie Knope, the series tells us, throws a party for all of her girlfriends. The premise is “ladies celebrating ladies,” as she says. No husbands, no boyfriends, no partners, just breakfast foods and friendship, “like Lilith Fair without the angst.” At a long table, there are frittatas and waffles and gifts and stories. Galentine’s is not meant in opposition to Valentine’s Day, but in addition to it; as if to say, this kind of love deserves to be celebrated, too.
Parks and Rec was a wild success during its original time on air and continues to enjoy a fruitful life in the streaming age. The reach of Galentine’s specifically has extended far beyond the show since the eponymous episode originally aired 15 years ago, in 2010–Amy Poehler has famously continued her celebrations; plus, Michelle Obama has celebrated; it’s been added to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as of 2022; and it’s even been deemed trinket-worthy by big-box stores.
But, as with any holiday, the stuff you can buy is not what it’s really about. As we get older, how often do we really get to be in the same room with all of our friends for a single evening? A birthday, maybe; a wedding; some other milestone. People move away, they have children, they have crazy travel schedules. It’s noteworthy that people can and do make time for such a gathering.
So this past weekend, there we were. Hannah had decorated her apartment with elegant pillar candles that gave off warm light, pink roses, and her metallic pink fringe backdrop perfect for photos. Her signature gift table, culled from her life as a dating editor, offered a bounty of books and beauty products, sexy oils and toys. We place White Elephant gifts on the table for later.
“Be hot! Have fun!” Hannah wrote for the evening’s dress code, so I picked a ripped Billy Joel concert shirt and leather pants with wild blue eyeshadow and matching patent leather boots. There were gals in red sequins, gals in satin pajamas, gals in hot pink skirts sipping rose and Prosecco and seltzer and non-alcoholic spritzes. We snacked on shrimp and caviar dip, deviled eggs, pizzas, raspberry cupcakes with swirls of pink icing and jammy centers, and chocolate pretzels. It was a bounty of glam and coziness.
Galentine's Day 2025Elyssa Goodman
I was never really a Valentine’s Day person. In fact, I spent most of them single and often railed against what felt like the nonsense of the day’s happiness only belonging to a select few. Interestingly, though, even in my angst, my parents always thought of the holiday as a day for all of us–I remember one year in college my mother sent me a giant box filled with my favorite chocolate chip cookies; another year, after I moved to New York, they sent me a giant, four-foot teddy bear. They made me feel like I mattered even when, revealing only my own defense mechanisms, I made my distaste for the holiday all-too-well-known. Having spent the majority of their own lives single, they knew how it felt. We love you, they said. You have us. Of course they were worth celebrating, too. Traditional Valentine’s Day narratives don’t always make space for love outside of romantic partnership. Real love doesn’t need only one day.
The spaces beyond traditional narratives are always the places I’ve enjoyed being most, whether it’s with Valentine’s Day, with any of my work or, well, anywhere else. And while I do have a partner now and we do celebrate Valentine’s Day, it’s in an actively more anti-establishment way, as we’re both wont to do with…everything. To be a part of Galentine’s is a thrill in its own way for the same reason. At Galentine’s Day, friendship, love of a different kind, matters. I am valuable because I am me, not because I do or don’t have a partner.
Galentine's goodiesElyssa Goodman
The last time I had a gaggle of girlfriends I was in high school–the group I went to prom with, did sleepovers, had birthdays, had lunch with. I have that less now. I went on a trip with some girlfriends recently, but it was my first ever “girls’ trip.” For many of the reasons I mentioned above, many of my girlfriends aren’t in New York anymore, if they ever lived here to begin with. They moved away, they had families, they have lives of their own somewhere else, though we’re lucky we intersect whenever they’re or I’m in town. For the most part, I see all of my friends on a one-to-one basis now. At Galentine’s, being invited into the fold comes with a sense of belonging. I imagine this is what Leslie Knope wanted for her gals, too. Here, with me, you matter, and you always will.
At Hannah’s we exchange White Elephant gifts, tell salty stories, make our picks from her infamous gift table. We talk about sex and skincare and bad blowouts, fostering cats and new jobs, new projects, new jewelry, new loves. Glasses are emptied and refilled, shoes are kicked off, and we take pictures with the sparkly pink fringe behind us. I think there’s a lot of this kind of party that can get lost in the Instagram of it all, but for the most part people’s phones are put away unless it’s photo time. They’re engaged with each other. Snow falls outside, but the warmth inside keeps the cold at bay. On nights like this, I am a part of a phenomenon larger than myself: Galentine’s, yes, but friendship overall. Love.
On August 11, 2014, the world was shocked to find it had lost comedic genius and Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams. Williams took his own life after a decades-long battle with depression and the onset of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease.
But William's left behind an amazing career as a stand-up comic, TV star on "Mork and Mindy," and leading roles in such unforgettable films as "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Dead Poets Society," "Good Will Hunting" and "Good Morning, Vietnam."
Here, we take a look at some of his most powerful and hilarious quotes from throughout the years.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day at: 1-800-273-8255. You can also chat live with someone on their site here.
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Image Source: Fashion designer Michael Cinco with models walk the red carpet after his show during D3 Presents: DIFF Fashion Forward during the 13th annual Dubai International Film Festival. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for DIFF)
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Galentine's Day 2025Elyssa Goodman
Galentine's goodiesElyssa Goodman
