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Squad Goals: Here’s Why We All Need A Mean Friend In Our Lives

Amy Hansen
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Squad Goals: Here’s Why We All Need A Mean Friend In Our Lives

We all have (or at least know) that one mean friend who pushes us in ways that none of our other peers can. The person who forces us to face our fears and “tells it like it is.” Sometimes telling a person you love the truth isn’t at all necessary and can lead to hurt feelings. But other times, “tough love” is intentional to get us moving in the right direction.

New research published in Psychological Science shows that some people will often try to push others to feel certain emotions — sadness, anger, disappointment — in order to motivate them into making decisions that will ultimately benefit them. That’s where the “friend” part of this comes into play.

“We have shown that people can be ‘cruel to be kind’ — that is, they may decide to make someone feel worse if this emotion is beneficial for that other person, even if this does not entail any personal benefit for them,” says psychological scientist Belén López-Pérez, who conducted the research at the University of Plymouth.

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It all comes down to compassion and empathy. When we can put ourselves in our friend’s shoes, we can help guide them through certain emotions. According to Psychology Today, we all have a group of brain cells that allows us to share (mirror) another person’s pain, fear, or joy. And because empaths (those who empathize) are thought to have hyper-responsive mirror neurons, they deeply resonate with other people’s feelings. And when we can empathize, we are more likely to help our friend, whether they want it or not.

Says López-Pérez, “We identified several everyday examples where this might be the case— for instance, inducing fear of failure in a loved one who is procrastinating instead of studying for an exam.

These findings shed light on social dynamics, helping us to understand, for instance, why we sometimes may try to make our loved ones feel bad if we perceive this emotion to be useful to achieve a goal,”

So the next time your outspoken friend says “we need to talk,” listen. They’re probably trying to help, even if you don’t want it.

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Gossip: Prince William Will Not Be Prince Harry’s Best Man At Wedding; Engaged Joe Jonas Has Lost His Purity Ring

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Prince William Will Not Be Prince Harry’s Best Man At Wedding; Engaged Joe Jonas Has Lost His Purity Ring

“William will not be the best man because Harry wants a very small wedding. He would rather a friend from school be his best man than his brother,” sources tell Naughty Gossip. “It is no shade to William, it is just that he wants a ‘ordinary’ wedding. He doesn’t want the future King of England standing next to him with all that comes with that. William totally understands.”

Prince Harry’s life is far from ordinary, but he doesn’t want an extravagant ceremony when he walks down the aisle with Meghan Markle.

“Pomp and pageantry is the last thing he would want,” a source close to the 33-year-old royal exclusively tells Us Weekly. “I can see him wanting to get married at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. It would stop it from turning into a total media circus and give the day a sense of privacy that Harry so badly craves.”

That won’t stop Harry’s royal family from showing their support, though. As for whether Queen Elizabeth II will attend, the insider adds, “Of course. No question.”

Engaged Joe Jonas Has Lost His Purity Ring

“Joe has 100 percent lost his purity ring because these two are having lots and lots of sex,” sources tell Naughty Gossip. “Joe hates talking about those stupid rings. It was a press stunt and now he cannot get away from questions about that darn ring. He has sex. Lots of sex and wants everyone to know that he does.”

Sophie Turner didn’t know her engagement was coming. When Joe Jonas proposed to his girlfriend of one year on Sunday, October 15, a source tells Us Weekly, “Sophie was totally surprised.”

“Joe is a romantic,” a second source adds. “He is really so in love with Sophie and she’s so in love with him.”

The DNCE frontman, 28, and Game of Thrones star, 21, announced the happy news with matching Instagram posts. In the photo, Turner rests her hand on top of Jonas’, showing off her pear-shaped bling.

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

Jeff Sessions Still Pressuring Congress To Change Marijuana Law

Mary Schumacher
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Jeff Sessions Still Pressuring Congress To Change Marijuana Law

In 2014, 85 words in a budget bill made all the difference in the world to medical marijuana. They stopped the flow of arrests, virtually put a halt to California crackdowns and let activists breathe a little in the states that have legalized medical cannabis. The words were labeled the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment and are as follows:

“None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

Now Attorney General Jeff Sessions is pushing Congress to overturn the amendment. The Senate has already expressed its support of it going forward and will not be swayed. There is potential in Congress, however, and that potential could crumble the medical cannabis industry as we know it.

“It is shocking to think that this is at risk,” said Sarah Trumble, who is deputy director of social policy and politics at Third Way, which is a centrist think tank advocating the easing of federal restrictions on marijuana.

“This would give the attorney general a blank check to go after medical marijuana. Without it, he might try, but it would be really hard for him.”

The first signs of the coming scare and potential reality came when the House took pause regarding the amendment. Luckily for now, GOP leaders did not go forward with a vote on it in a committee chaired by Rep. Pete Sessions – who is no relation to Jeff Sessions, but does share his zeal for anti-pot legislation and philosophy. In other words, he also hates cannabis.

The amendment’s namesake, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, is livid and is doing everything he can to preserve the amendment, including working with Rep. Earl Blumenauer, otherwise his political opposite. Blumenauer is now cosponsoring the newest version of the amendment.

“There are dozens of Republicans who realize this is a really bad political move,” Blumenauer said. “Marijuana got more votes than Trump. There are millions of Republicans and independents who voted for it. There are 20 million people a month who use it.”

And do the two men think Sessions changed any minds with his rhetoric in Congress? The answer is a resounding, “No.”

Americans Are Spending More Than $100 A Month On Legal Weed

Terry Hacienda
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Americans Are Spending More Than $100 A Month On Legal Weed

As marijuana becomes legal in more and more states, it stands to reason that more and more Americans are devoting a larger portion of their monthly household budget to cannabis. A new poll bears that out: The average consumer of legal recreational marijuana spends $111.05 per month on cannabis products, according to a LendEDU survey of 1,000 consumers.

Surprisingly, more than a quarter of the respondents — 27.6 percent — spend more per month on legal marijuana than eating at restaurants.

“The point to be made is that in states where marijuana has become recreationally legal, the consumption of the drug has become both a priority and lifestyle choice,” said LendEDU research analyst Mike Brown. And even more telling, the survey finds that more than half of cannabis consumers actually include marijuana as a budget item in their monthly household budgets.

According to the survey:

Respondents were given the freedom to enter in a specific dollar amount, and LendEDU averaged together all 1,000 responses. On average, an of-age cannabis consumer from a state where the drug is recreationally legalized spends $111.05 per month on marijuana products.

Poll participants were also asked to accurately estimate how many individual purchases they make per month when it came to marijuana products. After averaging together all 1,000 responses, LendEDU found that the average marijuana consumer from a recreationally-legal state makes 6.22 marijuana-related purchases per month.

As Brown points out, legalization has lifted the taboo of marijuana use and the industry is booming. Legal retail marijuana sales in North America grew by 30 percent to $6.7 billion in 2016. Experts forecast that, by 2021, retail sales will be more than $20 billion.

“Because of an over-saturated market where marijuana retail stores are as common as the Golden Arches of McDonald’s, people have more access to make purchases than at any other point in history,” Brown wrote. “This access has simultaneously led to more consumers buying more cannabis products, but at a cheaper price thanks to competition and less costs for the marijuana retailers.”

Marijuana Makes Your Brain More Plasticy And That’s A Good Thing

Trey Reckling
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Marijuana Makes Your Brain More Plasticy And That’s A Good Thing

Plastic is not usually a word people would associate with their brains, but they should. When it comes to your brain, being malleable is a good thing. Neuroplasticity is the broad term used to describe how our brains reorganize its connections for our benefit. Marijuana can increase this.

The brain’s neural connections are like an incredibly complex road map. Even before you were born your brain has worked to create new pathways to communicate with itself and the rest of your body. Scientists have long recognized that this plasticity is stronger in young people than older ones. This is why learning a second language can be easier for children. However, our brains continue to be plastic in varying degrees until we die.

Academics and physicians pondered the idea of neuroplasticity since the 1800s. Neurologists later determined that brain blood flow is directly connected to neural activity. Busy areas of the brain need more glucose and oxygen, so they get more blood flow.  This is why certain music can give us “chills.” Thanks to a process called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists can now see the changes in brain blood flow to measure brain activity. 

Fortunately, these days we tend to ask, “can cannabis help?” Yes, it seems so. This is particularly true in relation to brain injury, where neuroplasticity is key to recovery:

It’s not just about traumatic brain injury. The reputable Salk Institute has contributed to a growing body of research that shows that low doses of THC reduce the plaque forming proteins associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. It effectively reduces inflammation and helps prevent neural cell death, preserving the brain’s ability to be “plastic.”

In addition to holding promise for people suffering from traumatic brain injury and early onset dementia, this function of cannabis is also of great interest to people with post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. Cannabis is believed to be effective for people with PTSD because neuroplasticity helps their brain to ‘forget’ the trauma more than before and allows the brain to rewire connections of learned fear, reducing hyper vigilance, nightmares and night terrors. 

As more research is undertaken our understanding of our brain improves. The early facts are positive when it comes to cannabis as an effective neuroprotective. Could it be that one day we will encourage athletes, soldiers and others people at high risk of head trauma to take a prophylactic dose before engaging in their tasks? Could the very thing we are screening for in drug tests be the thing that will best protect people from more serious brain injury? Could AARP one day be advertising cannabis vitamins for healthy senior living? Stranger things have happened. Stay plastic, my friends.

Science: Teens Who Smoke Marijuana Are Smarter

Sam Jones
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Science: Teens Who Smoke Marijuana Are Smarter

Years of D.A.R.E. classes and mid-90s TV programming would have most young adults today believe that the brainiest kids in school were the ones that “just say no to drugs.” But is that really the case? After British researchers published their study of 6,059 teenagers and their relationships with marijuana use, headlines declared the opposite: Teens who smoke marijuana are smarter than nonsmoking counterparts.

Their study found that for 18-20-year-olds, curiosity and the desire to be accepted by their peers made bright kids more likely to use marijuana. They were also less likely to pick up a tobacco-smoking habit.

“High childhood academic at age 11 is associated with a reduced risk of cigarette smoking but an increased risk of drinking alcohol regularly and cannabis use,” the researchers said.

As Tonic reports:

Students with high academic ability showed a significantly lower predilection for cigarette smoking as they grew into adolescence compared to those with poorer performance in school. Cannabis and alcohol use, on the other hand, were more prevalent among the high ability group—a trend sometimes attributed to “experimentation.”

But it wasn’t just a phase, their research suggests: These clever kids carried their use into adulthood.

The growing interest in marijuana as an industry has brought with it more research and scientific studies, but the results are complicated. In 2002, a study published in the same journal showed that frequent cannabis use in teenage girls predicts later higher rates of depression and anxiety, and a 2012 study posits that high school marijuana use makes kids dumb.

Just two years later, in 2014, a University of Toronto study backs up what the most recent research says: Intelligent students see marijuana use as less of a risk than cigarettes. It was the tobacco-smoking teens who were more likely to have bad grades and participate in vandalism, theft or assault — not the stoners, who were more likely at home watching cute panda videos, instead.

Part of the “stoner stereotype” is that marijuana users are mostly kids getting blazed in their parents’ basements, like a That 70’s Show pass-the-bong montage. The reality, however, is that those using cannabis are incredibly diverse: They’re adults treating chronic pain, 98-year-old women trying to cut back on morphine, and veterans caught in the opioid crisis. And sure, sometimes they’re also the president’s Harvard-educated daughter.

The biggest lesson we can take away from new and nuanced scientific findings around marijuana is that we’re always learning — and the more accessible cannabis research becomes, the more we’ll know about its potential.

This ‘Star Wars’ Gym Gear Will Help The Force Be With You

Brendan Bures
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This ‘Star Wars’ Gym Gear Will Help The Force Be With You

For the Star Wars fanatic who also happens to be a home gym junkie, one company decided to fill the woeful lack of Star Wars-themed gym equipment. Yes, the force is strong with this one.

Fitness company Onnit has produced a line of Star Wars-themed kettle bells, yoga mats, and medicine balls. The interestingly Empire-centric equipment comes in black cast-iron and features some well-known baddies of the franchise.

The kettlebells feature the faces of Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and stormtroopers while the slam ball resembles the Death Star. The one Rebel-focused piece is the yoga mat, which resembles Han Solo frozen in carbonite.

Above you can watch videos of how to use the kettle bells and slam ball—or how to use any kettle bells and slam ball, really. Onnit products have also received endorsements from Joe Rogan and Aubrey Marcus, as well as Olympic gold-medal skier Bode Miller and UFC Welterweight Champion Tyrone Woodley.

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If you’re interested, it’ll cost you. The yoga mat retails for $64.95, while the kettlebells range from $149.95-$199.95. The Death Star slam ball, our favorite of the set, will cost you $74.95. The items are currently available for pre-order here and expect to ship in November.

Terminal Stress: 7 Business Travel Hacks That Will Save Your Sanity

Amy Hansen
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Terminal Stress: 7 Business Travel Hacks That Will Save Your Sanity

When you’re flying, chances are you’re already stressed out. Did I pack everything I need? Will I make my flight? Is there going to be a bar near my gate? So many questions. Here are nine savvy business travel hacks that will hopefully help you cope on your next air journey.

Don’t Check Luggage

This is kind of a no-brainer, but you can easily avoid lines by bringing carry-ons only. You’ll not only divert the lines at check-in, but at the transportation hubs, too.

Get Pre-Check Approval Through The TSA

You’ll move through security like a breeze.

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Use Hotel Shower Caps To Store Your Shoes

This one comes courtesy of Julie Iannuzzi, who traveled 48 weeks a year. She recommends the shower caps to provide a buffer between dirty shoes and clean clothes in your suitcase.

Delete Your Browser History

According to HubSpot, some airlines and other travel sites will hike up your fare quote every time you click on their website.

So make sure to delete your cookies or use you browser in “incognito” mode.

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Take Screenshot Of Your Destination

Just in case there’s no wifi to access your Google maps.

Download Music And Podcasts

For the very same reason: No wifi to keep you company while you’re waiting for your flight — or on your flight? No problem.

Here’s a list of 45 essential podcasts to download for 2017. In fact, this will give you a reason to look forward to your next flight (or even that really irritating passenger you’ve been seated next to).

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Look Behind The TV

There is usually a USB built into your hotel’s TV in case you forgot your charger. This, ladies  and gentlemen, is what they call a damn lifesaver.

This Terrifying Plane Landing Might Make You Swear Off Flying For Good

Maria Loreto
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This Terrifying Plane Landing Might Make You Swear Off Flying For Good

A dramatic video captured at the Dusseldorf Airport in Germany shows a huge plane that’s almost blown away by the strong winds of a storm. Yikes.

The video was captured by Martin Bogdan, an airplane spotter who claims that he’s never seen a landing so abrupt and winds so strong. 

I have filmed a few thousand crosswind landings at several airports in Europe within the past years, but this Airbus A380 crosswind landing was extremely hard and extraordinary,”

I have never seen such a tremendous reaction of an aeroplane after a touchdown. You can see that the pilots tried to align with the runway by using the tail rudder and luckily it worked out.”

The plane was very large in size and from the Emirates Airlines, landing on Germany the past Tuesday. The airline claims that, despite the crazy footage, the safety of the passengers was never in question. Maybe that’s what all airplanes do when they land. We’d rather not know.

According to The Huffington Post, the Dusseldorf airport is known for it’s crazy crosswind landings, which airplane spotters document regularly. If you’re willing to never get on a plane again, check out this compilation video of crazy landings that’ll leave you shook.

Gossip: Joe Jonas & Sophie Turner Engaged; Daniel Craig And Wife Rachel Weisz On The Outs?

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Joe Jonas & Sophie Turner Engaged; Daniel Craig And Wife Rachel Weisz On The Outs?

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are engaged, and the singer’s family couldn’t be more welcoming to their new addition. “Everybody’s very, very happy for them and their family and friends are all thrilled. Everyone loves them together,” a source tells People of the exciting news.

Adds the insider, “She’s young but is beyond her years and is crazy, crazy mature. He’s never been like this with a girl.”

“He was such a dater before her but their relationship was much different from the start. She was just the one for him.”

Daniel Craig And Wife Rachel Weisz On The Outs?

The Next Split? Lots of buzz that 007 star Daniel Craig and wife Rachel Weisz have hit a very rough patch.

An insider says, “She and Daniel seem to be going through the motions right now. Word is they’re in a really bad place. They spend most of their time on opposite sides of the world, filming their own projects.”

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

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