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The 9 Best Thanksgiving TV Episodes to Watch on Turkey Day
Celebrate thanksgiving by hiding from your family and watching these fictional families enjoy turkey day!
11.25.2020
Celebrating Thanksgiving usually entails a day of eating, answering uncomfortable questions from your family about your career and romantic life, hearing about your grandma's bunion surgery, and, if you're lucky, a well-earned doze in front of the TV. This year, given the social distancing guidelines, you may bypass the family time and go straight to the couch.
Regardless of your plans for Turkey Day, when that second helping of turkey starts to settle in your belly and your eyelids start to feel heavy, it's time to shove your cousin (or cat) over on the couch, settle in, and turn on one of these classic Thanksgiving-themed episodes.
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“The One With the Rumor,” Friends
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNTcyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTg1MDUwM30.HQbIHMBhvTWbQXJfVjNNEdyF2dDzBgalqgLZBCxKPDs/img.jpg?width=980" id="5630d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="43c434173d17f82544480a47c4a8fb30" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Friends Thanksgiving episode" />Friends<p><strong>Season 8 Epsiode 9</strong></p><p>This iconic episode guest stars Brad Pitt (then married to Jennifer Aniston) as Rachel's former classmate who was still bitter about being an ignored and overweight teenager who co-founded the "I Hate Rachel Green Club" with Ross back in high school.</p><p><strong>Where to watch: </strong>Netflix</p>"Parents," New Girl
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNTc2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODI3MjI1NH0.oNG7ZNehomcjG8q5GShlB4QGnaMwQIIZOjLuU-uOVGk/img.jpg?width=980" id="9e04b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a6c4d706bbef84d1987a5fc8d320368a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="New Girl Thanksgiving" /><p><strong>Season 2 Episode 8</strong></p><p>This is an adorable and realistic depiction of the family drama that inevitably comes with Thanksgiving. Here, Jess tries to reunite her divorced parents and, obviously, chaos ensues. </p><p><strong>Where to watch: </strong>Netflix</p>"Homo for the Holidays," Will and Grace
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNTgzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTMyNjA2OH0.K_t3o1VI9Uu5vD24GR6RYbfFKkgpU2Xqt53G5_0NRF0/img.jpg?width=980" id="6b500" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="73c6dc0fde532b5293d958e38fd88e09" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Will And Grace Thanksgiving episode" /><p><strong>Season 2 Episode 7</strong></p><p>This episode centers on Jack trying to come out to his mother over Thanksgiving dinner. It's as messy and hilarious as it is touching. </p><p><strong>Where to watch:</strong> Hulu</p><p><center><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- Popdust Mobile Banner 320x100 --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:320px;height:100px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4301469008561137" data-ad-slot="6952751205"></ins><script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></center></p>"Slapsgiving," How I Met Your Mother
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNTk1Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTk2NzAwOH0.M1_L9ywWjrMCAUxURvr9FvXu1jaiL5PGEnvztptXHHY/img.jpg?width=980" id="b2791" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="23b9b895b1bd6b28b27a8e8d14ebd992" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="How I Met Your Mother Thanksgiving Episode" /><p><strong>Season 3 Episode 9</strong></p><p>HIMYM is all about running jokes, and this episode is full of them. The gang is going through a time of transition, since Ted and Robin just broke up and Lilly and Marshall were recently married, and things get rocky (and hilarious) as a result. </p><p><strong>Where to watch:</strong> Hulu</p>"Turkey In a Can," Bob's Burgers
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNjA2MC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2OTM1MjU5N30.5zhyqTD_xtyocyGKNe3J14VYwYM_YV6_EdZB4b42VGc/img.gif?width=980" id="bc662" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="99ddebe8711e7cde94576da02d51e1f4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Bob's Burgers Thanksgiving Episode" /><p><strong>Season 7 Episode 6</strong></p><p>The plot of this episode revolves around a turkey ending up in a toilet. That's it. Its fantastic. </p><p><strong>Where to watch:</strong> Hulu</p>"A Lilith Thanksgiving," Frasier
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNjE5My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTIxMDc0N30.MYlpMkpq7GwzX_yYEceAipyPv8cQC8MNR0jyzwP3jPM/img.jpg?width=980" id="34cd3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f3c950fa81fe24a4abfb08f8320d3f2e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Thanksgiving Frasier" /><p><strong>Season 4 Episode 7</strong></p><p>One of the few <em>Frasier </em>episodes that takes place in Boston, this episode sees Frasier and his ex-wife vying to get their son into a prestigious school, while Frasier's dad tries to teach his grandson to play baseball. There are also some fantastic Niles cooking mishaps that make the episode worth watching. </p><p><strong>Where to watch:</strong> Netflix</p>"Lockdown," Brooklyn Nine-Nine
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNjIxNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2OTM4MDU0Nn0.ZHzj8bYLjSEvNWhQIpLC82kZOxPD0MJxMFqG6X5Apq0/img.jpg?width=980" id="154e1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a2da54f625cc5508fc4b6abceadae0b5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Brooklyn nine nine thanksgiving episode" /><p><strong>Season 2 Episode 7 </strong></p><p>There are several great Thanksgiving episodes of <em>Brooklyn Nine-Nine,</em> but this one, in which the squad gets locked inside the station due to an anthrax scare, takes the cake.</p><p><strong>Where to watch:</strong> Hulu</p>"Thanksgiving," Master of None
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNjIyNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODMzODY4NH0.P6Ttnfk2Zu0ViTUFLc-La5pUDyLUMA8Aba6G6IRlqAU/img.jpg?width=980" id="8a36b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c247d8edbc6c937a360e1a087ab2df5f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Master of None Thanksgiving Episode" /><p><strong>Season 2 Episode 8 </strong></p><p>This episode hits all the heart strings in all the right ways. It shows family Thanksgivings over the course of 30 years and tells the moving story of Dez's bestfriend coming out to her mom. </p><p><strong>Where the watch:</strong> Netflix</p>"WUPHF.com," The Office
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwNjIzOS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTk1NDc0Nn0.YIyfcAsAgJJUQvFeQFw-d9HAZYdStj7Lodm-UxUz_FY/img.gif?width=980" id="0a047" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="59e7c43a63ff3b54811a903eb6a3cb8f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="The Office Thanksgiving Episode" /><p><strong>Season 7 Episode 9</strong></p><p>In this episode, Dwight decides that a hay festival is just what everyone needs to get them in the holiday spirit. Meanwhile, Ryan tries to scam his coworkers out of a lot of money. Good stuff!</p><p><strong>Where to watch:</strong> Netflix</p>From Your Site Articles
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Culture Feature
This Haunts Me: Did Scientists at CERN End the World in 2012?
Can the strangeness of recent history be blamed on scientists meddling with forces beyond their understanding?
11.25.2020
Do you remember 2012?
People were convinced that the world was going to end — that the Maya calendar had predicted it more than 2,000 years earlier. And protesters and time travelers continued to decry the cataclysmic dangers of CERN's Large Hadron Collider, where scientists were taking apart the building blocks of the universe to understand how they worked...
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --><p></p><p>And then those scientists discovered the particle they were looking for without any apparent disruption to the fabric of reality, and the year passed without the world flipping on its axis or <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/in-2012-neutrinos-melt-earths-core-and-other-disasters/" target="_blank">neutrinos suddenly becoming deadly</a> while John Cusack raced to save his children.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-630"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - underfirst11 - under_first_paragraph --></p><p>Did you laugh then, at the people who predicted doom? Did you mock them? And how have things been for you lately? Because for most of the world they have become increasingly weird, chaotic and incomprehensible — suffused with a growing sense of unreality.</p><p>People and events have stopped making sense. Almost as if the predictable order of the universe has begun to unravel...</p><div id="f14b0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="59889d2fabd2fb9d5429c2dfb255f905"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1329484160734547968" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🥴🥴🥴🥴 https://t.co/z5IbY4ulOt</div> — POPDUST (@POPDUST)<a href="https://twitter.com/Popdust/statuses/1329484160734547968">1605808699.0</a></blockquote></div><p>While it's hard to point to a moment when it things started to go wrong — does it all go back to 2012? — it's easy to say when things were less weird. Things were less weird about a week ago — before Rudy Giuliani gave a press conference with hair dye dripping down his face.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>But the weirdness seems to be accelerating at such an incredible rate that the answer to that question changes at shorter and shorter intervals.<br></p><p>Things were less weird before 2013, when we got a new pope <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25121121" target="_blank">without the old one dying</a> — so now there are t<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/two-popes-plotting-cardinals-francis-benedict-celibacy-rules" target="_blank">wo popes plotting against each other</a>. Things were less weird before 2016, when Donald Trump was elected president. Before 2018, when school shooting-survivors became celebrities, and then <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/17/politics/maine-house-gop-candidate-drops-out/index.html" target="_blank">became hated by half the country</a>.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>Before <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/watch-trump-kiss-caress-american-flag-cpac-love-you-baby.html" target="_blank">Donald Trump made sweet, passionate love to the American flag</a> on live TV. Before the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>Before <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/politics/qanon-cong-candidates/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">QAnon candidates</a>. Before <a href="https://www.popdust.com/kanye-west-kirsten-dunst-2647054867.html" target="_self">Kanye 2020</a>. Before Rudy Giuliani in <a href="https://www.popdust.com/borat-movie-2648503139.html" target="_self"><em>Borat 2</em></a> and Rudy Giuliani at <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2020/11/how-did-trumps-team-land-on-four-seasons-total-landscaping.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Four Seasons Total Landscaping</a>.</p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDgwNzI5MS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjc2NjI5MH0.cIBhn6zBdCyHAtn8t69OlnHTnPKwfkO1K_rxFcrKWLs/img.gif?width=980" id="8403d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="24478acc6f69023a1f7ea025fddfb269" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="trump flag">
</p><p>Even if we ignore the particular nexus of insanity swirling around Rudy Giuliani, everything has gotten so ****ing weird. But why? What is the origin? It's as if humanity has lost its grip on reality… or reality has lost its grip on us.<br></p><p>The idea that this can all be traced to CERN's activities in 2012 was <a href="https://twitter.com/NickHintonn/status/1154523206692331520" target="_blank">laid out by Twitter user Nick Hinton</a> back in July of last year. In an extensive thread on the topic, Hinton argued that we were all unknowingly sucked into a black hole in 2012, and relocated to another dimension/simulation.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p>He points to a number of supposed <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-mandela-effect-and-the-science-of-false-memories-114226" target="_blank">"Mandela effects"</a> and an anonymous CERN "whistleblower" on 4Chan as evidence that we have left our familiar reality. But while the particulars of his theory and his evidence may not hold up to scrutiny, there is a kernel of truth in Hinton's vision that has only gotten more compelling in the 16 months since he wrote it.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><div id="12706" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7d290f738884d3da36595e0bfca37790"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1154523264963796994" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">There’s the old cliche argument that nothing has ‘felt right’ since 2012. I agree with this. Maybe it has something… https://t.co/3elVkZPWO7</div> — Nick Hinton (@Nick Hinton)<a href="https://twitter.com/NickHintonn/statuses/1154523264963796994">1564094771.0</a></blockquote></div><p>With that in mind, I developed an alternate explanation for the accelerating weirdness of the world.<br></p><p>Back in 2012, the Higgs Boson was still theoretical. It was thought to mediate the quantum field responsible for giving particles their mass, thus regulating the force of gravity. And beneath the border of France and Switzerland, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) were using their enormous and incredibly powerful particle accelerator to find it.</p><p>They were hoping to improve our understanding of Gravity. The weakest of the fundamental forces, yet potent enough to puncture the fabric of the universe — creating a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html" target="_blank">black hole</a> from which even light cannot escape. As familiar as it is mysterious.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>At the quantum level, the mechanics of gravity remain little understood, and events are theorized to take place not as a result of ordinary cause and effect but as a function of probabilities. A popular explanation for this is that every possible outcome takes place, but splits off into an endlessly branching multiverse.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="db403a7cedbbbd7e1b0bf1d4c88fddd7"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dzKWfw68M5U?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The Many Worlds of the Quantum Multiverse | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzKWfw68M5U" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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</p><p>In that sense there would be countless versions of the Earth, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/mvx7v8/the-berensteain-bears-conspiracy-theory-that-has-convinced-the-internet-there-are-parallel-universes" target="_blank">the Berenstain Bears</a>, and you. But the vast majority of those versions would likely be clustered together around the most probable outcomes.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p>So what if that cluster was held together by the force of gravity? What if the people decrying the incredible power of the Large Hadron Collider were right to be worried?</p><p>The scientists at CERN were messing with forces beyond their control — beyond their understanding. So maybe they did trigger a doomsday scenario — one that we couldn't see.</p><p></p><center><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- Popdust Mobile Banner 320x100 --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:320px;height:100px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4301469008561137" data-ad-slot="6952751205"></ins><script>
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</script></center><p></p><p>Three weeks after they announced the discovery of the Higgs Boson, the sun shot out the largest solar flare in more than a century. If it had struck the Earth, it would have caused trillions of dollars of damage to electronics worldwide. <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">It missed us by the astronomical equivalent of inches</a>. That was just the beginning.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p>Could it be that they ruptured our universe's quantum gravitational bond to that core of probable realities?SH That we have been drifting further and further from its center ever since — into increasingly improbable events?</p><p>If so, then by now we are either living at a frayed end split off from the central strand of the multiverse — waiting to be pruned — or we are doomed to spiral off in an endless fractal of increasing absurdity. Each year more ridiculous than the last. An eternal apocalypse of strangeness.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p>Once I'd had this thought, I couldn't let it go. It seems far-fetched at first, but is it more absurd than the idea that millions of Americans would subscribe to a conspiracy theory placing every celebrity and politician in <a href="https://www.popdust.com/jim-watkins-qanon-2647439021.html" target="_self">a cabal of elite satanic pedophile cannibals</a>? That we would elect <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/11/04/congress-will-get-its-second-qanon-supporter-as-boebert-wins-colorado-house-seat/?sh=7418602d568f" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">legislators who believe that</a>?</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDgwNzMxNy9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Mzk1MjY4MX0.8_UYEQn_cQCqKuU3T6H__s7PvXeLvKeq9d9Gf8gX-AU/img.gif?width=980" id="2b5a4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="92172a9c18f5ede00c11cb5366c302c1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Fractal">
</p><p>The more I thought about it, the more I began to see the evidence in every improbable headline. I've started to perceive our hyper-dimensional drift in the erratic behavior of my fellow citizens.<br></p><p>I know now why they deny the overwhelming evidence of COVID-19's death toll (nearly 260,000), or <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/07/29/texas-louie-gohmert-positive-covid-19-raju-nr-vpx.cnn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blame its spread on face masks</a>, <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">5G, and pharmaceutical companies</a>. When they decide to trust Donald Trump's inability to ever admit a loss — and his willingness to <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/trump-campaigns-actual-argument-in-court-were-only-trying-to-disenfranchise-1-5-million-voters-not-6-million-pennsylvanians/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">toss out as many legitimate votes as it takes</a> — more than they trust every election expert in the country, I get it.</p><p>It's not that they are becoming unhinged from reality. Reality has become unhinged, and they are adapting to it.</p><p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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<!-- End Ezoic - incontent44 - longest_content --></p><p>Once you embrace this fundamental truth, the world starts to make sense. The rapid acceleration of strangeness is no longer a mystery. But three questions remain:<br></p><h2></h2><p>How much further can our reality stray from the realm of probable events? What happens when we've stretched too far? And when is it time to start buying lottery tickets?</p>
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Dolly Parton
It's becoming clearer and clearer that COVID-19 will never resolve itself without a vaccine.
The pandemic has had the entire globe scrambling in order to find a solution to this deadly disease, which has killed over 200,000 Americans—even some North Dakotans who, according to one nurse, insisted that the disease wasn't real up until their dying breaths.
Last week, Pfizer made headlines when it unveiled a vaccine it said was 90% effective, but reports of various side effects quickly undermined confidence in it. Then, Russian company Sputnik V announced a vaccine with 92% effectiveness, though that figure faced scrutiny because of the study's small sample size.
<p>This week, however, a new vaccine contender has emerged: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/watch/moderna-says-vaccine-nearly-95percent-effective/vp-BB1b4cDM" target="_blank">Moderna</a>, which just announced a 94.5% effectiveness rate in a clinical trial. The company began testing on human subjects back in March, and has since surged ahead as one of the virus's most promising combatants.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-630"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - underfirst11 - under_first_paragraph --></p><p>One patron in particular was instrumental to its efforts: an American hero named Dolly Parton.</p><p>In April, Parton donated $1 million to a COVID-19 research program at Vanderbilt University, which helped create the Moderna vaccine. Apparently, Parton heard about the program through Dr. Naji Abumrad, who treated Parton at Vanderbilt after a car accident in 2014. The two remained friends, and when Amraud mentioned some "exciting advancements" in the vaccine process, Parton decided to donate the money. A recently released paper on the vaccine cites Parton's fund as one of Moderna's major donors. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><div id="5b394" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ed53cdbab32229162d64614f3d1308fd"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1328741440470528000" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">When I donated the money to the Covid fund I just wanted it to do good and evidently, it is! Let’s just hope we can… https://t.co/Mn4KoAUEuw</div> — Dolly Parton (@Dolly Parton)<a href="https://twitter.com/DollyParton/statuses/1328741440470528000">1605631620.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Of course, finding a successful vaccine is the easy part. Now, should the vaccine be green-lit, Moderna will face massive distribution challenges, not to mention the difficulty of persuading all Americans to take the vaccine at all. </p><p>Still, if anyone can cure COVID-19, it's probably Dolly. It's been a great year in a great life for the iconic country musician, who made Stephen Colbert cry with a folk song earlier this month.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3cdeec6c69e29bf1a40c0e7b85468614"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aG9FHb7tpCk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Dolly Parton's Mom Used To Sing Songs That Told Great Stories</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG9FHb7tpCk&feature=emb_title" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>Parton's big-hearted activism is well-documented. Earlier this year, Parton came out in strong support of the <a href="https://www.popdust.com/dolly-parton-blm-2646985408.html" target="_blank">Black Lives Matter movement.</a> She's also the founder of Imagination Library, which has donated over 150 million books.<br></p><p>The 74-year-old singer, who recently said she hasn't <a href="https://www.grandhaventribune.com/lifestyles/entertainment/dolly-parton-i-dont-have-time-to-be-old/article_abf67301-c9f4-503d-9089-24597d958a53.html" target="_blank">"got time to be old,"</a> is responsible for hits including "Jolene," "I Will Always Love You," and the Dollywood theme park. This year, she's releasing a Christmas album and will be playing an angel in Netflix's holiday musical, <em><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/dolly-parton-shines-angel-trailer-163555576.html" target="_blank">Christmas On the Square</a>.</em></p><div id="eeeee" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="380ef6616e1d839018b78a0e792cf07f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1219681321762656256" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Get you a woman who can do it all 😉 https://t.co/sG4OHpVgxM</div> — Dolly Parton (@Dolly Parton)<a href="https://twitter.com/DollyParton/statuses/1219681321762656256">1579629662.0</a></blockquote></div><p>As critic Simon Price wrote, "In 2020, Dolly Parton's stood up for Black Lives Matter and put $1 million towards a Covid vaccine, and the year's not over yet. There's a strong argument that America should give up the whole 'democracy' thing as a bad idea now, and just make Dolly Parton queen of everything." </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><div id="3cdcf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1e8a5f1df2c711a2a963156ce3a0b590"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1328627761351634944" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">In 2020, Dolly Parton's stood up for Black Lives Matter and put $1 million towards a Covid vaccine, and the year's… https://t.co/3nJfD0nkBY</div> — Simon Price (@Simon Price)<a href="https://twitter.com/simon_price01/statuses/1328627761351634944">1605604517.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Dolly Parton for president doesn't sound like the worst idea. After all, her story is inspiring. After early screens of the movie <em><a href="https://nypost.com/2020/11/10/hillbilly-elegy-review-hollywood-bungles-an-important-american-story/" target="_blank">Hillbilly Elegy</a></em> was universally panned by critics, some argued that we should look to <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/dont-watch-hillbilly-elegy-listen-to-dolly-parton-instead" target="_blank">Dolly Parton's life stor</a><a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/dont-watch-hillbilly-elegy-listen-to-dolly-parton-instead" target="_blank">y</a> as an actual example of someone who grew up in Appalachia. "Why would anyone seek answers about life in Appalachia from a right-wing former venture capitalist, when they could put on a Dolly Parton record instead?" writes Marianela D'Aprile, adding that "Benevolent rich people can never be a substitute for a real welfare state. Still, at this point, Dolly may be better at emergency relief than the US government."<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p><strong>Read More:</strong><br></p><h4><a href="https://www.popdust.com/dolly-parton-blm-2646985408.html" target="_self">Dolly Parton on Black Lives Matter: "Do We Think Our Little White Asses Are the Only Ones That Matter?"</a><a href="https://www.popdust.com/dolly-parton-blm-2646985408.html" target="_self"></a></h4><h4><a href="https://www.popdust.com/dolly-partonim-a-redneck-white-trash-hillbilly-and-proud-1890061609.html" target="_blank">Dolly Parton—I'm a Redneck White Trash Hillbilly and PROUD!</a></h4><h4><a href="https://www.popdust.com/dolly-parton-twitter-2641506562.html" target="_blank">Dolly Parton's Best Tweets of 2019</a></h4><p><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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Trueself
Pagans, Slashers, and Wall Street Psychos: The True Story of Friday the 13th
Is it bad luck... or just the Christian church's fear of pagans?
11.13.2020
Friday the 13th: the very phrase can send a chill (of gleeful excitement or dread, depending on who you are) down the spine. Few days of the year are so notoriously unnerving and so profoundly associated with bad luck. But where did our fear of this date come from, and why does it persist?
<h4>Mythical Origins of Friday the 13th: Loki, Jesus, and the Knights Templar</h4><p>Today, we typically associate Friday the 13th with slasher movies, but the day's ominousness has holier roots. </p><p>No one is exactly sure where our fears of Friday the 13th came from, and its origins are shrouded in a mythological haze. <a href="https://www.history.com/news/friday-the-13th-history-of-a-phobia" target="_blank"><u>According to some biblical sources</u></a>, Friday the 13th was the day Eve offered Adam the apple and launched humanity out of paradise. It was also supposedly the day Jesus was crucified, just before the dawn of modern times.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-630"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - underfirst11 - under_first_paragraph --></p><p>Another popular theory about the beginning of Friday the 13th proposes that the date marked the downfall of the Knights Templar, a group of militant monastic Christians. On Friday the 13th, 1307, the French king is said to have ordered the arrest of hundreds of Knights Templar members, thus collapsing the society.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg3NTgyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDMzOTE2MX0.kiGZX-D8iLdJryuIhcNOzxip1i5UtW2PDbkI9co_NJ4/img.jpg?width=980" id="57f80" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b8aee0d238b5b11b5a7b85ce405c536f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Knights Templar">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit..."><a href="https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=knights+templar#id=6CFE77C34D3D7FCFF8BAF39743467BB0B3C6CB76" target="_blank">youtube.com</a></small></p><p>This idea was popularized in <em>The DaVinci Code, </em>in which Dan Brown wrote (in his typically dramatic fashion), "On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren — in chains, charged with heresy, blasphemy, various obscenities, and homosexual practices. None of these charges was ever proven, even in France — and the Order was found innocent elsewhere — but in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force 'confessions,' and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake."<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>It's not entirely clear how much of this occurred, and it's also unclear whether Friday the 13th was even feared before it was popularized in the 19th century. Still, seeing how badly Christians typically behave when faced with even the most minute deviance from the Holy Book, it's unsurprising that the church's superstition had something to do with our modern fears of the day.</p><h4>The Witchy Pagan Origins of Our Fear of Friday and 13</h4><p>The number 13's unlucky connotations are as ancient as human civilization itself. Across religions and time periods, the number 13 tends to have special implications. One ancient Norse myth tells a story of a dinner party intended for 12 gods. Of course, a 13th guest appeared uninvited. That uninvited guest was Loki, the trickster god (and notorious <em>Avengers</em> nemesis), who not only crashed the party but also immediately killed Balder, the god of joy and happiness. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p>Having 13 guests at dinner seems like a bad decision all around. In some narratives, Judas is described as the 13th guest at Jesus's pre-crucifixion dinner. Also, Hindus are thought to have believed that 13 people gathering in any one place is instantly bad luck.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p>On the other hand, Ancient Egyptians believed life was a twelve-step quest for spiritual ascension, and the eternal afterlife at the end of this quest was represented by a thirteenth step that marked not an end but an ultimate transformation into something eternal. </p><p>Naturally, as civilizations evolved to fear death instead of celebrating it, 13 became feared. Some speculate that our fear of the number 13 was–as most things are—manufactured by the patriarchy thanks to fear of women. It's believed that 13 was sacred in ancient goddess-worshiping cultures because there were 13 lunar and menstrual cycles in a calendar year. But as the patriarchy began to take power, the "perfect" number twelve and the 12-month year, the "imperfect" number 13 became feared and demonized.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg3NTgxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDUyODg3MH0.4novFXtPYhBBRyw6D1frs0iar37X7VkXAnj0sji13jo/img.jpg?width=980" id="228d5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e3244dc8a5250895f21f4d4989c36f03" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Frigg">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit..."><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HJcnpoeMnww/Uz8oHcWXuPI/AAAAAAAABzc/kFZCqesgGZA/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/frigg437260768_5de7.jpg" target="_blank">nordicwiccan.blogspot.com</a></small></p><p>In general, Fridays also don't have the best reputation (regardless of what the Rebecca Blacks of the world have to say). In Rome, executions happened on Fridays. Friday was also a holy day for pagans, meaning that the church had to immediately condemn it. </p><p>Just as they influence our fears of the number 13, the old Christian fear of Fridays might have roots in <a href="https://www.trueself.com/history-of-halloween-2641178814.html" target="_self"><u>fears of paganism</u></a>. The term "Friday" has been traced to a norse deity known as Frigg (goddess of marriage and fertility) or Freya (goddess of sex and fertility). Of course, when the church became determined to control the world, they recast Frigg and Freya as witches. Friday is the sabbath for pagans and Jews, so no wonder it was vilified by the church.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p>
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Culture Feature
Are Disney World And Universal Orlando Doing Enough To Keep Visitors Safe?
Is it possible to keep a theme park clean and safe during a pandemic?
10.29.2020
California governor Gavin Newsom recently announced a plan for reopening theme parks in the state.
After months of lobbying for reopening from both Disney and Universal as the state sought to limit the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan was not received well, with representatives from both companies balking at measures they saw as overly restrictive.
<p>With <a href="https://insidethemagic.net/2020/08/pandemic-theme-park-losses-rwb1/" target="_blank">staggering losses</a> and <a href="https://insidethemagic.net/2020/10/universal-lay-offs-tm1/" target="_blank">massive employee layoffs</a> as a result of months of closure, both Universal and Disney are eager for their theme park businesses to get back in gear in California. But the companies don't have the same issues in Florida, where they have been operational since the summer.</p><p><!-- Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph -->
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>In fact, Florida governor Ron DeSantis completely eliminated state-level restrictions on businesses as of September 25th, and even made it impossible for local municipalities to mandate anything beyond the most minimal restrictions on bars and restaurants.</p><p>Despite some worrying trends in the state's coronavirus numbers, the Governor has been determined to return to business as usual, even promising a "full Super Bowl" in Tampa next February. But not everyone is as blindly optimistic as Florida's highest elected official.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="607c2e93df047e90c7f5086996475cd2"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3VUskb38Eb0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Why Go to Disney World During a Pandemic? | The New Yorker</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VUskb38Eb0" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>While Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World have been reopened since June and July respectively—when Florida's first wave of COVID cases was at its worst—if travelers are considering a trip to either resort, they may want to have a closer look at the precautions taken by each company to make their parks safe(ish) for visitors.<br/></p><p>With that in mind, my wife and I recently went under cover as "tourists" and "nerds" to inspect these theme parks by going on a bunch of rides and getting overly excited about various attractions that may or may not be designed for small children.</p>
<p class="">So if you're considering a trip to Florida, and hoping that the theme parks at Universal Orlando and Disney World will provide a safe place to escape the world for a bit, you should know that, while neither one is doing a perfect job in terms of COVID safety measures, Disney is probably a safer bet.</p><p><strong>Disney: 4/5</strong><br/></p><p><strong>Universal: 3/5</strong></p><h2></h2><p>That said, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at Universal might be the most fun you'll ever have on a rollercoaster, so... tough call.</p>
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Capacity
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDQ1OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTk2OTY5N30.ACOxk1AH6UwYFHlepviA2xQ_qb7Sbm7YOfvPwOxupa4/img.jpg?width=980" id="34fdc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9d5a118c232d37dac52e6dd899c60dbd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="universal entrance" /><p>While both resorts claim to be taking measures recommended by the CDC, only Disney World has explicitly stated that they are operating at 25% capacity. That said, guests should not expect to see 25% of the usual crowds, because Disney World's various parks don't generally fill up to 100% capacity under normal circumstances.</p><p>Instead—on days when the parks reach their 25% capacity—the resulting crowds should be around 40-60% of average levels. While this creates a noticeable reduction in the density of visitors, Disney World is far from a ghost town, and both Epcot and Animal Kingdom—the two parks my wife and I <del>enjoyed</del> inspected—were host to a comfortable number of people on the weekdays we spent there.</p><p>As for Universal Orlando, it's hard to get a proper comparison, because we found ourselves at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure on the Sunday before Halloween. While that weekend would probably see the parks packed to the brim under normal circumstances, it was still quite busy, with throngs of people—especially in the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" sections—frequently making us feel uncomfortable.</p><p>While it may not be fair to blame Universal for the way their guests choose to cluster, it's worth noting that the resort has refused to publicly clarify their current operating capacity, referring to it simply as "limited capacity" or "reduced capacity," without providing a specific number.</p><p>Perhaps it's a more lax approach to limiting guests that has allowed the resort to maintain long hours with lots of mascots and live performances, while Disney has reduced both their operating hours and the presence of performers in their parks—having <a href="https://wdwnt.com/2020/10/actors-equity-association-releases-statement-on-mass-entertainment-layoffs-at-walt-disney-world-720-of-780-members-laid-off/" target="_blank">laid off around 90% of Disney World's union performers—</a>in order to cut costs.</p><p>While this may make for a more fun experience for some visitors to Universal Orlando, if safety is a priority, Disney is clearly taking a firmer approach to minimizing their crowds. And while Disney parks are operating for fewer hours each day, the reduced crowds make it easier to experience a lot in that limited time.</p><p><strong>Disney</strong><strong>: 4/5</strong></p><p><strong>Universal</strong><strong>: 3/5</strong></p>Social Distancing
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYyOTgwMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTY0MTY5OX0.Cx4nUq-WatmO8KG3ZokAg3tTH6qWgnT-01XQaRYhIpQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="b64d1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4093febb218f8c94593ad4733ec383f2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="social distancing universal disney" /><p><span style="background-color: initial;">Disney World and Universal Orlando have adopted the same basic protocol when it comes to social distancing, instructing guests to maintain at least six feet of distance from anyone they weren't traveling with, and providing floor markings in lines for rides and attractions.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: initial;">However, Disney was a bit more stringent about repeating and enforcing these instructions, which made a clear difference. While a substantial portion of guests at Universal seemed to ignore the floor markings—generally leaving only a few feet between themselves and other parties—nearly all the guests we saw at Disney World seemed to take the six foot rule seriously.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: initial;">Disney also took the extra step of adding physical barriers between lines wherever necessary, which is a major reassurance when you would otherwise be forced to keep track of dozens of strangers in various directions in order to maintain appropriate distance from everyone around you.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: initial;"></span><strong>Disney: 4.5/5</strong><br></p><p><strong>Universal</strong><strong>: 3.5/5</strong></p>Face Masks
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDI4MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDE4MjI5NX0.pKg1pv7Bng_sQ_whgE-gVYyO6ihltZljzJdmMYd2pNg/img.jpg?width=980" id="b2175" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a3e97fff89afa7c282d74bfb44d6fa01" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Again, both Disney and Universal have adopted the same basic protocol advised by the CDC. Guests must keep their mouths and noses covered by a face mask at all times, except when eating or drinking—which is only to be done while stationary and away from other guests.</p><p>In announcements reminding guests of the rules, those who do not comply are threatened with removal—though we did not witness any effort to make good on that threat. As with social distancing, the reminders were more frequent at Disney, and employees did occasionally correct people who left their noses exposed. Many of the workers at Disney World also had the added protection of face shields, which was nice to see.<br></p><p>As for the various restaurants in each park, they were still operating. And while there was some effort to space guests out, we did not feel comfortable removing our masks in indoor spaces with uncertain ventilation, so we chose to make use of abundant outdoor seating.</p><p><strong>Disney: 4.5/5</strong><br></p><p><strong>Universal: 4/5</strong></p>Hand Washing
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDUwOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjI5NTMzOX0.FXWAgJg47arOkauY9NBrlbghFBS1CIIjl9xIPANs8BE/img.jpg?width=980" id="b580b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0eb25364035ff0bc1bc2384f0bca36ca" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>This is the one area where Universal definitely had Disney beat. While both resorts had hand sanitizer stationed all around their parks in automatic dispensers—and Disney Epcot also had a number of outdoor handwashing stations, which was handy with their food and wine festival ongoing—only universal had employees stationed at every ride to make sure each guest sanitized their hands before boarding.</p><p>This made a big difference when grabbing seatbelts, restraints, and handlebars. We had a reasonable assurance the hundreds of other people who had also touched those surfaces had relatively clean hands at the time. Without that added step at Disney, it felt a little more urgent to track down hand sanitizer after getting off each ride. And while it was generally easy to find, it's easy to imagine what a challenge it could be for parents to keep a small child from touching their eyes, mouth, and nose in the meantime.</p><p>Both parks seem to be using hand sanitizer that includes aloe or some other kind of moisturizer, because after three days of near constant application, our hands had not transformed into scaly, irritated claws.</p><p><strong>Disney: 4/5</strong></p><p><strong>Universal: 5/5</strong></p><p><center><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- Popdust Mobile Banner 320x100 --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:320px;height:100px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4301469008561137" data-ad-slot="6952751205"></ins><script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></center></p>Cleaning
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDQyMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTI5MzU3NX0.c8pjU4szw6ibefUw53pUI378f08juj-cdSXYNfYF-Ao/img.jpg?width=980" id="d7cb6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8f45cf5b7c19df8d9d93896b97cd3658" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Cleaning" /><p>Speaking of strangers touching surfaces, you might wonder what kind of army it takes to keep these massive theme parks clean while thousands of people mill about, touching and breathing on everything. And you can keep on wondering, because while both resorts assure visitors that they have ramped up their cleaning procedures, that was only evident at Disney—and even there it didn't seem sufficient.</p><p>While nothing <em>looked</em> particularly dirty at either park, at Disney we saw only a handful of workers moving about with spray bottles and cloths, sanitizing handrails, benches, outdoor tables, and other surfaces. At Universal, the only place we saw that approach to cleaning was at the temporary lockers where guests are required to place their belongings before more intense roller coasters—which is less of an issue at Disney, where there's less emphasis on thrill rides.</p><p>This is not to say there weren't workers cleaning surfaces at Universal, but unless they are exceptionally good at doing their job undetected, they are certainly fewer than at Disney World.</p><p><strong>Disney: 3.5/5</strong></p><p><strong>Universal 2/5</strong></p>Guests...
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDQxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTk4ODM5M30.3xe2eFHk-ZAZsoMx5pM4xZRdk3-BYmn7Q0q-LOy0wj4/img.jpg?width=980" id="d6d7c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a106dd74a18a60d661114e9d7837cda7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Macaulay Culkin scream" /><p>Of course there is a confounding factor in all of the efforts theme parks take to keep their guests safe: the guests themselves.</p><p>While the new rules and safety measures are positive steps, there's nothing that will stop a stubbornly oblivious or selfish or just plain stupid person from pulling their mask off to talk on the phone or itch their nose or <strong>sneeze into their hand and then proceed to touch everything</strong>.</p><p>As much fun as we had at both Disney and Universal, that fun was regularly disrupted by the horrified rage of watching people comply with public safety rules only as much as they had to to avoid getting in trouble.</p><p>At Universal—where there was less effort to drive home the rules—that included way too many people crowding close to strangers, many of them not seeming to realize that their noses are attached to their lungs, i.e. the things that can get infected and then infect others with a deadly virus...</p><p>But at both parks it included people—only some of them children—touching everything within reach, ignoring hand sanitizer, then touching their phones, their loved ones, and every part of their faces. And worst of all, the drunk people...</p><p>There's a reason why bars have been subject to stricter rules as the country attempts to reopen. Drunk people cannot be tamed. If they remember and understand the rules, do they care?</p><p>Does it matter to someone who's just trying to keep a buzz going that they can spread COVID-19 even if they're asymptomatic? That—when they ignore the rules and take off their masks to throw back some some beer—they could be indirectly triggering the deaths of who knows how many innocent people?</p><p>At both Disney and Universal we saw people fully remove their masks while surrounded by strangers, indoors, in line for a ride, and leave their masks off for an extended period of time. In both cases they had drinks in their hands and were already drunk.</p><p>Maybe that's on the parks for letting them join those lines while they had drinks with them. Either way, it was a healthy reminder of how stubbornly selfish and uncaring people can be.</p><p><span></span><strong>People: 2/5</strong></p><p><strong>Drunk People: 0/5</strong></p>From Your Site Articles
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POLITICS
The Rap Community Reacts to Trump's Corona Diagnosis
Hip Hop Chimes in on the President's COVID-19 diagnosis.
10.02.2020
Donald Trump smiling and Cardi B looking excited
On October 2, President Donald Trump tweeted that both he and the first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19.
There was an outpouring of good wishes for a speedy recovery from the president's staff and constituencies alike. However, one of the most vocal anti-Trump demographics are having a field day with the news—and that's the Hip-Hop community.
Some of Hip-Hop's premier acts took to social media to voice their opinions (and joy) on the Commander-in-Chief's current health status. Cardi B, who has never bitten her tongue when it comes to her feelings on the Trump Administration, responded to the news via her Twitter account.
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Other rap luminaries like 50 Cent & Wale also took to Twitter to comment on the ironic turn of events.<br>
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<!-- End Ezoic - underfirst11 - under_first_paragraph --></p><div id="c3491" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3e8aafb060802c74eee25958faea0deb"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1311997383790809088" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Rona grabbed him by the p*ssy ??</div> — Wale (@Wale)<a href="https://twitter.com/Wale/statuses/1311997383790809088">1601639526.0</a></blockquote></div><p>
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</p><div id="421aa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="21a96accf1fa0e53b319913462ce8f53"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1312008097574064131" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">👀oh shit, #starzgettheapp https://t.co/i9QAs1WMu6</div> — 50cent (@50cent)<a href="https://twitter.com/50cent/statuses/1312008097574064131">1601642081.0</a></blockquote></div><p>
Trump has downplayed the severity of coronavirus since its beginning stages. He has also done a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21366624/trump-covid-coronavirus-pandemic-failure" target="_blank">terrible job</a> as far as providing comfort and relief, both economically and emotionally. The idea of him and his wife contracting the disease is the type of twist that M. Night Shymalan himself couldn't write.
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Though most of the Hip-Hop community (and the world) are ecstatic that Trump has contracted something that will make him just as sick as he has made the United States the last four years, some believe this is an elaborate ruse. Media maestro Charlamagne Tha God and Kanye West's potential running mate, Chance The Rapper, feel this is yet another lie that Trump and his team have concocted.
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<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><div id="3ef5e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="84fffce019830af629dbafe38d398903"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1312018575872462848" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">If you thought Trump saying "Covid is 99% harmless" was bad wait until you hear what he says after "surviving" Covi… https://t.co/IXvTFtE3tX</div> — Charlamagne Tha God (@Charlamagne Tha God)<a href="https://twitter.com/cthagod/statuses/1312018575872462848">1601644579.0</a></blockquote></div><p>
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</p><div id="39eba" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="361985ace0d25401642f108bd44a4e69"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1312022800782233601" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">He lying</div> — Chance The Rapper (@Chance The Rapper)<a href="https://twitter.com/chancetherapper/statuses/1312022800782233601">1601645586.0</a></blockquote></div><p>President Trump is coming off the heels of a
<a href="https://www.popdust.com/the-best-tweets-from-the-first-2020-presidential-debate-that-capture-what-we-were-all-thinking-2647868926.html" target="_self">disastrous presidential debate </a>with former Vice President Joe Biden. Many believe this coronavirus claim is a tactic devised to garner sympathy for Trump and his administration or to aid in his feverish attempts to stall next month's election.<br></p><p>
At one time, the name Donald Trump was a status symbol in rap. His name was synonymous with wealth, luxury, and enterprise amongst the Hip-Hop faithful. During the '90s and parts of the 2000s, Trump had a cool pass. A quick Google search and photos of Trump with various rappers will emerge–including one of him and elder statesman Snoop Dogg, who seemed to have a bit of reciprocated respect for 45. But these days "Tha Doggfather" will
<a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7718241/snoop-dogg-lavender-video-donald-trump-clowns-director-jesse-wellens" target="_blank">take any and every opportunity to voice his displeasure with the current Leader of the Free World.</a>
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<span></span>Historically, President Trump hasn't endeared himself to the Hip-Hop community since entering the political arena. His continued disrespect of former President Barack Obama, the<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/9/30/21494162/presidential-debate-donald-trump-race-and-violence" target="_blank"> dog whistle rhetoric</a> he uses when addressing Black people in general, and his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/22/donald-trump-nfl-national-anthem-protests" target="_blank">racist and dismissive tone</a> while talking about Black entertainers and athletes protesting police brutality have played on a loop for the world to witness.
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<span></span>As a result, Hip-Hop is reveling in the news of Trump's compromised health. Word of his diagnosis has highlighted how much he is an enemy to the culture and Black people. He still has a vocal portion of Black people who continue to sing his praises, but anyone will be hard-pressed to find supporters among rappers. Even his one time biggest cheerleader, Kanye West, has not only <a href="https://www.popdust.com/kanye-maga-manipulate-trump-2646164954.html" target="_self">ditched the MAGA hat </a>that he once called his "superhero cape" but has haphazardly announced his <a href="https://www.popdust.com/why-you-shouldnt-vote-kanye-2020-2647173266.html" target="_self">bid for the presidency </a>as well.
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<span></span>Many of the pundits on the Left have expressed sympathy for the president and his wife. They've embraced the 'When they go low, we go high' spirit of the former first lady Michele Obama. But in the immortal words of rappers YG and the late Nipsey Hussle, COVID or no COVID (real or fake)...It's still "FDT" ("F*ck Donald Trump").</p>
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