US senators examine TikTok hiring of ByteDance executives
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON Two U.S. senators said they were investigating short video sharing app TikTok's reported decision
2023-10-04 00:51
Can you really get a tan by eating carrots? TikTok trend explained
If some influencers on TikTok are to be believed, eating a handful of carrots a day will give you a tan. An account called isabelle.lux posted last week to claim that eating three carrots each day would make you orange. And the fad is spreading like wildfire. @isabelle.lux #stitch with @Isabelle ⚡️ Lux ?CARROT TAN 101 take Astaxanthin (i get mine on amazon) #carrottan #selftan #selftanroutine Tanning hack routine Carrot tan before and after results But like most things promoted by beauty grifters on the internet, all is not what it seems. Two dieticians wrote in The Conversation on 27 September that, no, you probably won't get that golden tan just from eating a couple of root vegetables. They are Lauren Ball, professor of community health and wellbeing at The University of Queensland, and Emily Burch, a dietitian, researcher and lecturer, Southern Cross University. Here’s what they had to say. What is Carotene? The reason carrots are orange is because they contain beta-carotene, a natural pigment. When you eat it, your gut breaks it down into vitamin A, which helps vision, reproduction, immunity and growth. If you eat too much beta-carotene, it stops breaking it down into vitamin A. Then your poo goes orange. (No, really.) The excess beta-carotene gets stored in the liver and fat tissue, write Ball and Burch, and is excreted through your poo, or removed via sweat glands in the outer layer of the skin. This is when your skin goes orange, or “tanned”. There’s even a medical name for the condition – carotenoderma – which sees the orange pigmentation concentrated in the palms of your hands, the soles of your feet and the smile lines near your nose. So how many carrots do you need? “A few days of high carrot intake will unlikely result in a change in skin colour,” Bell and Burch write. Moreover, “no high quality trials have been conducted to test the relationship between number of carrots eaten per day and skin colour changes or other outcomes”. One published case report found that for a person who ate around 3kg of carrots per week (about seven large carrots a day) found the colour of their skin started to change. Other experts have suggest you would need to eat at least ten carrots per day, for at least a few weeks, for colour changes to occur. The experts added: “Most people would find this carrot intake challenging.” Is that even good for you? And while they continue that myths around beta-carotene being toxic for humans don’t quite stack up, there is a potential danger. “There is, however, some evidence that taking high-dose beta-carotene supplements (20 mg per day or more) increases lung cancer risk in people who smoke cigarettes or used to smoke,” they wrote. “This may be due to changes to chemical signalling pathways.” The Cancer Council therefore recommends avoiding high doses of beta-carotene supplements (more than 20 mg per day). But the good news is that if you really want to go a strange orange hue, beta-carotene is also found in parsley, basil, chives, chilli powder and sun-dried tomatoes. So as far as real fruit and veg is concerned, you might as well crack on. Read the full article in The Conversation here. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-30 17:27
In major blow to TikTok, Indonesia bans e-commerce transactions on social media
Indonesia has banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms, the trade minister said on Wednesday, in a blow to short video app TikTok, which is doubling down on Southeast Asia's biggest economy to boost its e-commerce business.
2023-09-28 10:24
Hotel worker reveals why you should never use the free toiletries
A hotel worker has urged people to stop using the free products in their holiday accommodation. In a viral TikTok that's caught the attention of over a million people, the woman told people to avoid the shampoo, conditioner and body wash. "Here's your tip. Don't ever use these," she said, "Why? Because they're not secure." The woman unscrewed the lids of the full-sized bottles, demonstrating to TikTokers just how easy it is for guests to add their own substances. "They can put hair colour, bleach, anything in these. Don't ever use these," she reiterated. "I always bring my own when travelling," she continued. "If you don't bring your own, always call down to the front desk and ask for a fresh set or even the mini ones." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter @travelinghotelmanager Visit TikTok to discover videos! The footage was soon inundated with comments from fellow TikTokers. "I miss the days of the minis being the standard," one person wrote. "I hate the shared bottles." A second added: "I have always said this. I have a fear of someone putting hair remover in the bottle." Meanwhile, a third commented: "Been in the business for 16 years and these have become quite popular over the last several years." In another travel TikTok from a separate user, a flight attendant reiterated similar warnings before exposing other areas and items she would generally steer clear of. The hotel ice bucket is apparently a big no-no. "I’ve heard people have done the unmentionables in those, so just use the little plastic bag," she told her 13,000 viewers. The TikToker concluded with advice to take an anti-bacterial spray to give furniture and other items a clean down. She went on to tell people to avoid using some coffee machines as they're difficult to clean out, along with the cups that are not wrapped in plastic. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-24 18:57
Two bodies found in Rio Grande as migrant crossings rise
Migrant apprehensions at the US-Mexico border have risen to near-record levels in September.
2023-09-22 20:25
Historian explains why TikTok is so obsessed with the Roman Empire
If TikTok is to be believed, American men are absolutely obsessed with ancient Rome – and now a historian has explained why. The trend: “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” has swept the social media platform in recent weeks. Scores of women have posted about how often their husbands or boyfriends said they think about it. More often than not, it’s more than once a day. But why the fascination? Historian Tom Holland could have the answer – and it doesn’t reflect well on America. Firstly, he writes in Time magazine, it is likely to be something more “visceral” than the great orators and writers like Cicero and Ovid, whose work still gets academics excited 2,000 years later. Instead, he says, it is because the Roman empire was “the apex predator of antiquity: powerful, terrifying, box-office”. Not only this, he adds, but the fact that it was so long ago means modern audiences don’t feel as uncomfortable with the cruel and violent acts of the Roman Empire as with more recent examples. “The Romans, much like the dinosaurs, are not merely glamorous—they are also safely extinct.” However, writes Holland, an author and co-host of podcast The Rest Is History, there is more to it than that: “Romans, more than any other ancient people, seem to offer America a distorted reflection of itself.” @theyaresam_ the roman empire is actually fascinating “Just as American conservatives today look back wistfully to the Founding Fathers as patrons of an age of rugged independence and virtue, so did the Founding Fathers look back with an equal wistfulness to the early years of Rome. “There, for any infant republic victorious in a war against a great monarchy, was a morality tale to be found that could hardly help but serve as inspiration. “The Romans, like the Americans, had originally been ruled by a king; then, resolved no longer to live in servitude, they had dared all in a heroic and ultimately successful campaign to expel him.” The picture gets less rosy when you look to 21st century comparisons, he continues. Both the US and Rome suffered from from wars in Iraq, the rise of rival superpowers, “political vendettas pursued in the law courts” and “the emergence of radicals preaching that the last will be first, and the first will be last, to the excitement of many, and the consternation of others”. When Americans think of Rome, Holland concludes, they are thinking of a civilisation that is both “strange and familiar; terrifying and glamorous; safely extinct and the image of themselves”. Let's just hope the US doesn't suffer the same fate as the Roman Empire any time soon. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-22 16:53
TikTok was built off of Black creators. Black employees say they faced discrimination
Nnete Matima said she was attracted to work at TikTok because of how the social media platform was "really built upon Black culture" and the work of Black creators.
2023-09-21 23:16
Viral pancake woman criticised for leaving racist comment under her TikTok video
A TikToker has been criticised for leaving a racist comment under her viral video. Ana (@addictedtoana) posted a TikTok of her having an... expressive reaction to pancakes arriving at her table with the overlay text reading "my hangryness leaving my body at the moment I have food." The video, which now has over 36 million views, made many cringe with viewers relating to a woman in the background seemingly judging her, with the majority of comments relating to the girl in the background. Some comments include: "the girl in the back is so real", "we are all the woman in the back", and "I love the girl in the back." Despite thousands of comments saying an iteration of relating to the girl in the back, Ana decided to respond to one comment. @addictedtoana The best part of this video is the woman jugding me #humor The comment Ana decided to respond to was from a Black person who said "girl in the back is me and I am the girl in the back". Ana replied to it saying, "for a Black guy hating in other [another] person that's food for thought society doesn't made [mean] you suffer with hate too?" It seems to be Ana is saying that because Black people endure racism they should not joke about her video and cause suffering on her. The original commenter replied saying "wow so not only are you a cringelord but you're racist too." "You think someone looking at you weird in an iHop is equivalent to racism?!?" Wrote another. And many seemed to agree, with one user commenting "ended her whole career in one reply" Others pointed out the confusing wording of Ana's comment. "I don't even understand what she said," wrote one viewer. "I had to read it three times and I still don't know what she said," wrote another. Indy100 have reached out to Ana for comment. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-21 22:18
Indonesia jails woman who recited Muslim prayer before trying pork on TikTok
A Muslim woman has been sentenced to two years in prison under Indonesia's blasphemy law over a video she shared on TikTok which showed her reciting an Islamic prayer before trying out pork while visiting the tourist island of Bali.
2023-09-21 12:46
TikTok convinced Meghan Markle's Suits started Roman Empire trend
The latest TikTok trend sees women asking the men in their lives how often they think about the Roman Empire - and it turns out they think about the historical period a lot. But now, fans of the US legal drama Suits have noted a clip in the show that has convinced them that the Roman Empire trend started back then. In the clip, Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) dances along while wearing earphones and is stopped by Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle) who asks "What's playing on that thing?" To which Mike replied: "Uh, audiobook, 'Fall of the Roman Empire.'" @debodell TikTok · Deborah O'Dell "This Roman Empire thing goes way deeper than we thought guys," TikToker @debodell wrote in the post caption. Since posting this video, it has received 1.1m views, as people shared their thoughts on this as well as other times in the series the Roman Empire was mentioned. One person said:" No bc I immediately thought of this scene when I saw the Roman Empire thing." "LMAO they mentioned it in season 7 too, I was dying last night,” another person wrote. Someone else added: "Richard Gilmore mentions it in the beginning of season 5 too." Meanwhile, the Roman Empire TikTok trend was established when Rev. Kelsey Lewis Vincent tweeted about something she had seen about it and asked her husband if he thinks about the Roman Empire to which he informed her it's an everyday thought. “I saw an IG Reel that said something along the lines of ‘Women have no idea how often the men in their lives think about the Roman Empire’,” she wrote. “So I asked my husband: ‘How often do you think about the Roman Empire?’ and without missing a beat he said ‘Every day’ “YALL! Why!?” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-20 20:46
'UFO' spotted in Egypt leaving viewers baffled
It feels like 2023 has been the year of the UFO, and now there’s another video that has emerged online which has people in full investigation mode. Whatever you believe it or not, the clip has sparked a big reaction on social media – adding to the long list of curious UFO-related stories to emerge recently. This year, we’ve had congress hearings with witnesses attesting to the existence of UFOs, while it was also revealed that NASA is set to publish results from its unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) independent study which could very well confirm or deny the existence of aliens. The latest clip, claiming to have been filmed in Egypt, could yet prove another talking point. A video which has been circulating on TikTok supposedly shows a UFO flying over the pyramids. @uapworld #amazing #ufo #trend# #videoviral#pyramid#egypt#ancient#anunkai #zetareticuli #mars#ufonetwork#uapworld#fyp#fanpage#fyi#fyc Not only that, but the clip also supposedly shows the unidentified craft firing beams of blue lights – and it’s got a lot of people speculating. While some seemed pretty convinced, others were sceptical to say the least. “CGI through a convenience store camera,” one commented, dismissing the video. “I believe,” one wrote, seemingly more ready to take the video as real. Are you convinced by the footage? Earlier this year, a model has shared what some are describing on social media as the 'best UFO footage ever' after spotting something strange during a flight. Valentina Rueda Velez, a Colombian model who goes by the username @Valentinarueda.v on Instagram, shared a clip during a recent journey on a private plane. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings
2023-09-19 20:28
Virginia, other US states back Montana in TikTok ban -court filing
A group of 18 state attorneys general said on Monday they backed Montana's effort to ban Chinese-owned short
2023-09-19 06:54