New Zealand has once again held a nationwide Secret Santa exchange via Twitter, as if you needed any more reason to move to the idyllic isle.

More than 3600 people took part in the NZ Twitter Secret Santa, signing up to give and receive gifts with total strangers from the internet. After beginning in 2010, the scheme has become a Kiwi Christmas tradition, with even Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern playing along.

Twitter users sign up to play through New Zealand’s postal system and are then sent the Twitter handle of the person to buy a gift for. The NZ Secret Santa website tells participants to “get your Twitter-Sleuth on” to try to work out what sort of gift to give, with the rules saying that they need to “find/make/buy them an awesome gift for about $10.” 

With just days until Christmas, the gifts have started arriving in excited New Zealanders’ mailboxes, and everyone seems too stoked to wait until Dec. 25 to open them. People are already sharing pictures of their gifts ― sweet treats, notebooks, mugs, jewelery, socks and other trinkets ― to the #NZSecretSanta hashtag.

Judging by the reactions from gift recipients, the Secret Santas actually took time and effort to research the person they were buying for and think of meaningful gifts, as well as writing personalized Christmas cards. 

Ardern, who was elected prime minister in October and is recognized as the world’s youngest female head of government, was unveiled as one woman’s Secret Santa after sending some lotions and soap as a gift.

Ardern herself received a handmade Christmas tree decoration from a Kiwi citizen.

If you need a bit of Christmas cheer, check out all the rest of the gifts shared on the NZ Secret Santa Twitter account.

My name is Abed Elmajeed Elnaimi, I am 32-years-old, I am Jordanian and I was born in Syria.

Syria is a beautiful country, living there gave me amazing childhood memories. I finished college with a tour guidance major, and I have visited most of the historical attractions in Syria, it was an unforgettable stage of my life. Life in Syria was simple, everything was cheap and available, medicine, public transportation, education.

The war started in 2011, the first thing I experienced in Damascus was the increasing security forces presence everywhere, wherever I would go the security checkpoints were in front of me. Food items prices started to increase many folds in a very short time and lots of people couldn’t afford it.

I can still remember the very first scary situation. I was asleep at home where all of a sudden, I woke up at the noise of a ridiculously loud explosion, and then I learned that it was a suicidal car bomb attack. Up to this point people still had hope that violence will subside soon, but it was not meant to be.

I lived in Syria for one year during the war, in which time I experienced a couple of close-to-death experiences. One of them was when I was going back home after work and I had to cross a military checkpoint to reach home, and then after five minutes the same checkpoint was bombed and a crossing bus was destroyed, killing everyone in it.

The second incident was when I was working in an area where all of a sudden the shooting started between the government forces and the free Syrian army. I was stuck in a building for around five hours and it was located in the crossfire line between the two fighting forces, I was really scared. Eventually the shooting stopped, and on the way back home I saw the level of destruction in the area, there were many furniture shops and all of them were on fire, but the worst scene that is still stuck in my memory was the fear I saw in the people’s faces. I saw many families leaving the area and the women and children were terrified and crying. That was when I made my decision, I couldn’t stay in Syria anymore. It was a heart-breaking decision, but I had to do it. 

When I came to Jordan I had a problem that I shared with many Syrian people, I came with a very limited amount of money that was depleted in a short time and finding a job was difficult. The house rents were very expensive, and when I had spent all my money I almost made the decision to return to Syria like many Syrian families did, but then I had a job offer. It was in Za’atari camp.

When I got the job offer I went for it straight away. Working with the Syrian people is more than what I hoped for, coming from Syria I had a strong connection with the Syrian people and I had the desire to help them. I started working with a Jordanian NGO, at that time I used to work sometimes 24 hours a day in the camp because it was a state of emergency and people were coming by their thousands every day. I used to welcome the new arrivals and help distribute food and blankets for them upon their arrival. I continued witnessing the pain of the Syrian people by working in the camp but I was really happy knowing that I was doing something to help the Syrian people.

It’s been six years since I started working with humanitarian aid organisations and now I work with Unicef. My job is in communications, and mostly what I do is to help spread the news about the challenges the Syrian children are facing, hoping that the world would send more assistance for Syrian children.

One of the benefits of working with children is that every now and then I can directly help some of them. One of the children that I helped, her story will remain carved in my memory.

I met her couple of years ago she was struggling with English in school, she wasn’t able to memorise many words so I taught her couple of tricks on how to remember English words and she seemed very interested. After one year I came across the same girl, she told me how good she became in English and we were able to make a simple conversation in English. That moment knowing that – in a way – I was able to improve someone’s future was one of my proudest moments.   

Many families had to make the difficult choice to leave Syria, many of them crossed to Europe on a perilous route that can end up killing them, that is not easy, I know… My stepsister is one of them, she couldn’t come to be with us in Jordan but she left Syria to Europe. She sold everything she owns and worked so hard to get, including her house, to cover the cost of the trip, which is mostly paid to the smugglers, and she lost most of her bags and shoes crossing to Europe. She crossed on an unsafe inflatable raft but fortunately she ended up in the Netherlands and all I want to say is thank you to all the countries that welcomed the Syrian people, and without their help these people would have nowhere to go.

The Syrian people are still suffering the ongoing war in their country. Many of them, including children, lost their lives to the war, many others lost their futures, and many children’s lives have been altered to the point of no return. Children have lost their parents, and have lost their chance to education, girls were forcibly married due to economic situation of their parents. Children are growing up as refugees away from their home country and many of them have never seen Syria after seven years of war.

What I really wish for is that the Syrian people would have a chance to live in peace once again. I believe that peace is the most important thing in life, without peace there is no life, and there is no future.

For me I wish I can one day be reunited with my loved ones, my sister, my friends…         

HuffPost UK has teamed up with Unicef to raise money for Syrian children affected by a war which has stretched over almost seven years. 

To donate to the HuffPost UK Christmas Appeal go to: unicef.uk/huffpost

Kieron Graham, 20, and Vincent Ghant, 29, have a lot in common. They’re both juniors at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, and they’re both majoring in political science.

They even once shared a class together, according to BuzzFeed.

Last week, they discovered something else they share: the same DNA.

Graham and Ghant are biological brothers who never met until last week, despite growing up minutes apart from each other.

Ghant was 9 when Graham was born. Times were tough for their mother, Shawn Ghant. She put up Graham for adoption when he was 3 months old.

“At the time I felt like I could not give him what he needed,” she told WFAA.

Though Vincent Ghant had vague memories of diapering his younger brother, his mother was hesitant to discuss it.

“I asked my mother about him throughout my life, but the pain was so heavy on her that it was hard for her to drum up the words to explain it to me,” he told BuzzFeed. “So it just got to the point where I was, like, I’ll just wait for her when she’s ready.”

Graham knew the first names of his biological mother, father and older brother Vincent. But he wasn’t able to connect the dots fully until a few weeks ago, when his adoptive parents gave him an ancestry DNA kit so he could find out more about his roots.

“One day after school, I came home checked my email. I had an email the results were in,” Graham told “Inside Edition.” “I went through the names of people I was related to. I saw Vincent. I said, ‘I think that’s my birth brother.’”

Graham found Ghant on Facebook and told him about the DNA results. “[I said] this is so random, I think I’m your birth brother,” Graham said.

When he mentioned the name of his birth mother, Ghant knew Graham and he were indeed siblings.

“When I realized it was him, I was shocked and then elated just to meet him again and talk to him,” Ghant told “Inside Edition.” “I was very amazed. I started thinking, ‘What if I passed him all these years and didn’t even know it?’ It was just fate that brought us together.”

The two have since met in person, and Graham discovered he also has a 17-year-old brother, Christian Ghant. He documented the story on Twitter:

Shawn Grant was happy that she was able to reunite with Graham.

“Although it’s been 20 years, there’s not one day you don’t think about him,” she told Atlanta TV station WXIA.

Graham’s adopted family plans to share Christmas with his biological family, making the present a true gift.

“We have to catch up on a lot of missed times,” Ghant told Today.com.

Anna Kendrick knows when to walk away from a relationship ― and she doesn’t care if she gets labeled “crazy” in the process. 

In a new interview with Elle, the “Pitch Perfect 3” actress talks about the time she dumped a boyfriend who refused to respect her boundaries. 

“I was dating a guy. He tickled me playfully, and I said, ‘I know that’s cute and that people do it, but I really don’t like being tickled. It really makes me feel trapped and panicked. I know it’s silly and funny for most people, but I really hate it, so could you please not?’” she recalled. 

The soon-to-be ex apparently thought Kendrick’s qualms were “really dumb” and tickled her anyway. Bad choice.

“I broke up with him,” she told the magazine. “And I knew that in the retelling of that story, I would be some crazy girl. You never want to be labeled ‘the crazy girl.’ ... That he would tell his friends, ‘Oh, she broke up with me because I tickled her. What a psycho.’ I just had to go, ‘No, I broke up with you because I told you something was important to me, and you didn’t respect that.’”

The actress lost a boyfriend, but she walked away with valuable lesson: If someone doesn’t respect your boundaries, you should keep your distance. Therapists say she had a pitch-perfect response to the situation. (See what we did there?) 

“It all boils down to feeling like you are heard, understood and that you have a voice in the relationship that is respected and held in high regard,” said Marissa Nelson, a marriage and family therapist in Washington, D.C. “When there is a pattern of your partner dismissing or belittling your feelings, it begins to erode the foundation of the relationship.”

It’s important to be aware of a potential slippery slope, said Kimberly Resnick Anderson, a sex therapist and psychiatry instructor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine: A partner who laughs off your concerns about something as seemingly minor as tickling is very likely to shrug off weightier issues later on.

“If the Tickler trivialized Anna’s feelings about being tickled, just imagine how he might have trivialized boundaries around money, kids, career, sex and family,” she said. “It’s a great reminder, especially for women, to ignore that little voice in your head that tells you to ‘keep the peace,’ or as a client told me yesterday, not ‘rock the boat.’” 

Luckily, Kendrick had the self-esteem to say, “nope, not OK,” and went on to live a tickler-free existence. Even better, she wasn’t overly concerned if she got labeled a “crazy ex” in the process.

“If a woman sets a strong boundary, some men feel threatened or challenged and will call her crazy,” Resnick Anderson said. “Many of my clients worry about being labeled the ‘crazy-ex,’ but the truth is this: If you honored an important value or upheld a non-negotiable boundary, you should hold your head up high and let it go.”

New York artist Jake Kahana wanted to show his resistance to President Donald Trump’s administration, so he’s letting his watercolor paintings do the talking in a new project called “45 Villains.”

In his 45 paintings, Kahana takes some of pop culture’s most iconic villains from TV shows and films and replaces them with Trump.

There are some obvious villains, like Freddy Krueger and Hannibal Lecter, but also a few fantastic surprises, like Regina George from “Mean Girls,” Rita Repulsa from “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” (above), and Bill Lumbergh from the film “Office Space” (below).

Once the series is completed (he’s now at 39 of 45), Kahana said he hopes to sell all 45 paintings at a show to raise money for Democrats in the 2018 election cycle.

Here are some of Kahana’s other amazing watercolor pieces from the series. See the rest on his Instagram page. 

Donald Trump as Syndrome from “The Incredibles”

Donald Trump as Anton Chigurh from “No Country for Old Men”

Donald Trump as Pennywise from “It”

Donald Trump as the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz”

Donald Trump as one of Batman’s oldest foes, the Penguin.

Donald Trump as Mr. Burns from “The Simpsons”

You may think Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are couple goals, or that Prince Harry and fiancée Meghan Markle are straight out of a fairy tale. But there’s another royal couple who’s just as worthy of your interest: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.

The royal couple ― William and Harry’s grandparents ― aren’t the most expressive pair in public (you won’t see them engaging in PDA, like Meghan and Harry) but their love story is just about as romantic as they come.

They first met as children at a 1934 royal wedding. Then, in July 1939, a 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth encountered Philip Mountbatten, then 18, at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. Some time after, the pair became pen pals, Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of My Husband & I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage, said.

“He was different than all the aristocratic rich young men Elizabeth had met previously. He had no money and no estates, but had royal blood in abundance ― they were cousins through Elizabeth’s great-grandmother Queen Victoria,” Seward told HuffPost. (Philip was originally a prince of Greece and Denmark, though he’d go on to abandon his Greek and Danish royal titles to marry into Britain’s royal family.)

Elizabeth developed a bit of a crush.

“Philip was so handsome, he was almost beautiful,” Seward said. “From the moment Elizabeth saw him again when she was 13 years old and he was 18, she never looked at another man.”

They wed in November 1947 when Elizabeth was 21. The marriage that followed is chronicled in Netflix’s popular drama series “The Crown,” which includes some pretty juicy details: The second season implies that in the mid-1950s, Philip had a fling with renowned ballerina Galina Ulanova. 

Though Philip’s faithfulness has often been the subject of speculation, Seward said the ballerina plotline is more fiction than fact.

“Galina Ulanova did dance ‘Giselle’ for the queen on her first and only visit to the U.K., but the dancer was accompanied by her husband on the visit,” Seward said. “She never met Prince Philip, who left for his five-month tour a week after she arrived in the U.K.”

Seward noted that the real queen and her husband are far more interesting and nuanced than their on-screen characterizations on “The Crown.”

“The queen has much more humor than the character portrayed by Clarie Foy, and Prince Philip is far more determined, royal and masculine than the TV character,” she said. “They belong to an era that never showed emotion in public but in private, had many more laughs.”

What else is there to know about the queen and Philip’s private and public love story? Below, Seward and other royal experts take a look back on the royal couple’s biggest moments in 70 years of marriage.

Porn or #MeToo?

That’s the question two filmmakers recently asked a group of men for a new video project titled “Be Frank.” Created by Dutch natives Damayanti Dipayana and Camilla Borel-Rinkes, “Be Frank” is a seven-minute film featuring men discussing the recent #MeToo movement and the role men can play in combating sexual violence. 

“The project aims to close that gap and enables men to be part of the conversation and the solution,” Dipayana told HuffPost. “Additionally, being Dutch may have something to do with it ... we’re known to be quite frank about any and every topic.”

In the above “Be Frank” clip, Dipayana and Borel-Rinkes asked men to read different storylines and then guess whether the situation was from a pornography script or a #MeToo story. The #MeToo campaign, originally created by activist Tarana Burke, has recently sparked a cultural reckoning with how we deal with sexual violence around the world.

Although it’s revealed at the end of the clip that all of the stories are porn scripts, many of the guys have trouble discerning which ones are porn and which ones are sexual assault. 

The last still in the clip features a statistic that sums up the issue well: “88.2 percent of porn scenes contain some form of physical aggression against women.”

The depiction of violence against women in porn has long been a point of contention. Some people believe porn perpetuates rape culture and violence against women by repeatedly portraying women in demeaning or non-consensual sexual situations. Others believe porn can be a healthy and necessary sexual outlet for many viewers. 

Mostly, it comes down to the fact that porn serves as a stand-in for sexual education for many young men due to a glaring lack of comprehensive sex-ed programs in the U.S.

“The statistics and #MeToo stories are disheartening and overwhelming, but also resulted in my determination to speak up and help find solutions,” Borel-Rinkes told HuffPost. “Damayanti and I both firmly believe that this is not just a story for women to tell. There’s many concrete things ‘good guys’ can do to help improve the climate for the women around them, and the time has come for them to join the conversation.”

Watch the full version of the film below. 

The Kardashian family is (officially) expecting another new addition.

Khloé Kardashian put an end to speculation and rumor on Wednesday with a heartwarming Instagram post announcing her pregnancy to the world. Reports originally emerged in September that the reality star might be expecting with her boyfriend, NBA player Tristan Thompson, but the family refused to confirm or deny the news for months. 

A photo of the couple’s hands covering Kardashian’s baby bump has now answered that question. 

“My greatest dream realized! We are having a baby!” Kardashian wrote in her post. “I had been waiting and wondering but God had a plan all along. He knew what He was doing. I simply had to trust in Him and be patient. I still at times can’t believe that our love created life!” 

In the June season finale of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” the family’s reality TV show, Kardashian saw a fertility specialist and revealed that her earlier attempts to have a baby with then-husband Lamar Odom were faked. She and Odom separated in 2013 as his struggles with substance abuse came to light. Kardashian told the doctor on the show that she had known the marriage wasn’t healthy and “just kept pretending” that she was trying to have a baby. 

So it’s no wonder that she is overjoyed at the growing life inside her now. Kardashian’s post thanks Thompson for his support during the pregnancy and for making her feel loved. 

“Tristan, most of all, thank you for making me a MOMMY!!!” Kardashian wrote.
“You have made this experience even more magical than I could have envisioned! I will never forget how wonderful you’ve been to me during this time! Thank you for making me so happy my love!”

She also noted that they had been keeping the pregnancy secret as a way to “enjoy the first precious moments just us.”

“I know we’ve been keeping this quiet but we wanted to enjoy this between our family and close friends as long as we could privately,” Kardashian wrote. 

New Zealand has once again held a nationwide Secret Santa exchange via Twitter, as if you needed any more reason to move to the idyllic isle.

More than 3600 people took part in the NZ Twitter Secret Santa, signing up to give and receive gifts with total strangers from the internet. After beginning in 2010, the scheme has become a Kiwi Christmas tradition, with even Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern playing along.

Twitter users sign up to play through New Zealand’s postal system and are then sent the Twitter handle of the person to buy a gift for. The NZ Secret Santa website tells participants to “get your Twitter-Sleuth on” to try to work out what sort of gift to give, with the rules saying that they need to “find/make/buy them an awesome gift for about $10.” 

With just days until Christmas, the gifts have started arriving in excited New Zealanders’ mailboxes, and everyone seems too stoked to wait until Dec. 25 to open them. People are already sharing pictures of their gifts ― sweet treats, notebooks, mugs, jewelery, socks and other trinkets ― to the #NZSecretSanta hashtag.

Judging by the reactions from gift recipients, the Secret Santas actually took time and effort to research the person they were buying for and think of meaningful gifts, as well as writing personalized Christmas cards. 

Ardern, who was elected prime minister in October and is recognized as the world’s youngest female head of government, was unveiled as one woman’s Secret Santa after sending some lotions and soap as a gift.

Ardern herself received a handmade Christmas tree decoration from a Kiwi citizen.

If you need a bit of Christmas cheer, check out all the rest of the gifts shared on the NZ Secret Santa Twitter account.

With the #MeToo movement gaining in the world in which I am bringing up my teen and preteen daughters, they want answers I don’t always have.

Report it immediately, I tell them. Listen to your instincts. Fight back. But why should we have to develop these strategies at all? And why does reporting harassment often bring more injury than healing? These things are harder to explain.

What I haven’t told my daughters yet is that I stayed at my first “#MeToo” because I needed the job too much to quit, and I’d been taught that good girls are quiet and make nice.

I’d graduated college ― the first in my family to do so ― but I didn’t know what was next.

I’d grown up in a family pest control business, and my older brothers were already scuttling into crawl spaces in search of termites and baiting rodent stations as they fought for succession.

Dad offered office work suitable for a girl. “We’ll pay your car insurance for three months, until you get on your feet.”

It was a reasonable plan, but I was unreasonably in love. The year before, on a semester in Washington, D.C., I’d fallen for a boy who lived in Florida, a thousand miles from my Missouri home. The day after graduation, I packed my car to drive south.

My boyfriend’s family helped me get the interview. The small family business was much like my own: a front office with stained carpet and worn leather chairs. They made soups instead of insecticides. I already knew the rules: Do what needs done, cover for each other, the customer is always right. 

I sat at the front desk and directed incoming calls to the sales manager, or took messages for the factory foreman. I designed advertisements and package labels. I managed spreadsheets. I even took home their product recipes on the weekends, and gave feedback as an average grocery customer might. Joe and I were grateful for the pots of free soup, even as we choked down the least popular: lima bean.

We found an affordable apartment next to campus: “One bedroom. Light and airy. $400 per month.” I promised Joe I’d get Dursban for the roaches if I could have the sun-filled front room with built-in bookcases and a desk for my writing. We pretended our landlord was just quirky. I bought bright blue floral bed sheets and we made the bed with a white quilt handmade by my grandmother.

One month into the job, my boss invited me to his beach house while his wife was out of town. I couldn’t imagine he meant just me.

“Anytime,” he said. “Come by anytime. I’ll be there. The ads you did last week were very promising. We should talk brochures next for the trade show.”

It sounded friendly, fatherly even, in a way that made me homesick for late work nights that turned to family dinners, and weekends taking inventory in our company garage when Mom brought donuts.

“Joe loves the beach,” I said, but I never called, even though he’d tucked his phone number into my back pocket as I was leaving work on Friday ― a move my gut warned me about, but I dismissed.

The office manager, Barbara, was his daughter and we became friends. She taught me Excel and showed me how to calculate sales margins based on the price of spices. When she went north for a family wedding, I offered her my winter coat. She replaced the missing button, resewed the torn pocket, and brought me a tin of my favorite Earl Grey. “Maybe we could go out for tea some time,” she said, “you know, off the clock. I promise not to talk business.”

One afternoon at work, I mentioned that we were getting rid of a futon and my boss asked for the material. “You want our futon?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine what a 60-year-old man with his own company and two houses wanted with our discarded furniture.

“I use it for the canvas,” he said. “I strip the futon and stretch the fabric.” I’d been to his house for the holiday company party. Nude portraits he’d painted himself were on every wall. I assumed the model was his wife.

“I’ll pick it up,” he said, “what’s your address? I can even take your picture while I’m there. You’re such a pretty girl. Maybe I’ll paint you.”

I told Joe my boss would be stopping by for the futon, but I made sure I wasn’t home.

Our landlord got louder. She blamed us for more bugs and broke into our apartment to inspect our kitchen. She yelled at her kids and we could hear their crying through the walls. Joe applied for two part-time jobs at the mall in addition to his coursework so we could afford to break our lease.

Then my boss began leaving the door wide open when he peed. The bathroom was across from my desk, so several times a day I had to look away or pretend an errand in the factory to avoid his exposure. I told myself it was clumsy, the way families forget boundaries when they work together.

But if I returned to my desk too soon, he’d tease me about a tattoo he was sure I had. He leaned over me and pulled up my shirt sleeves, once my skirt, pretending he was looking and that I was simply hiding it. “We can’t have our front girl looking trashy,” he said. “Come on, let me see it.”

At first, I was too embarrassed to tell Joe. I cried too much after work and woke both of us with nightmares. “It’s just my boss’s way of joking,” I said, playing down the details. “But sometimes he takes it too far, you know?”

“You need to quit,” Joe said. “It isn’t worth this.”

“I can handle it,” I said, as if enduring harassment was a badge. “You can’t tell your parents. It’s not their fault.” We were young and neither of us really knew what to do.

Every morning as I dressed for work, I changed my outfits again and again and strategized how my clothes might protect me. Joe begged me not to go. “Just don’t show up. He’ll know why.”

“Where would we live? What would we eat?” I asked, calculating rent, utilities, food. “We’d have to sell my car. Then how would I get to my new job? How would I even get a new job?” I didn’t want to go back to Missouri and admit that my plan ― the one my parents doubted ― had failed.

Joe took on more hours, staying at the food court until closing, when he could barter CDs with other mall employees for leftover cinnamon rolls: our breakfast.

My parents surprised us with a visit. By the time I came home from work that day, they’d decided our living situation wasn’t suitable and shouldn’t involve bugs. They packed our few boxes and moved us. They’d found a vacant attic apartment in a building owned by their bed and breakfast host. My parents paid a month of our rent because we’d lost our deposit.

“Thank goodness you have a job,” Mom said, “it’s a blessing.” I was grateful, especially because my boss wouldn’t know our new address.

On the morning I told Barbara that her father had gone too far in his tattoo game, that he’d reached down the front of my blouse and touched my breasts, she said, “Please leave immediately,” not looking up from her screen. I offered her two-weeks’ notice, as my parents had taught me good employees do.

“I mean now,” she said. “You need to leave now.”

It stung; I thought that she’d be appalled and that she might want to protect me, as an older sister might, but her panic felt like blame. I manually punched my time card at the machine on my way out. Payroll was due the next day and I knew Barbara would need the numbers.

“What are you going to do now?” Mom asked, when I told her I’d quit. “I hope you have another plan.” I was too ashamed to tell her what had happened and too shocked to admit I didn’t.

It’s taken me 20 years and many more jobs to find my voice and write my truth. Speaking up, as the characters in my novel and stories can attest, isn’t always welcome and the consequences are often punitive. When my daughters read my #MeToo story, I’ll tell them I hope they never have one, but if they’re faced with fight or flight, run as fast as you can, even though neither might keep them safe.

Next to protecting others from sexual harassment, the most powerful thing I can do is to listen, empathize and put it on the page. My daughters see that the #MeToo rebellion is being led by the silence-breakers, but it’s an opportunity for the silence keepers ― men and women who protect perpetrators ― to do more and allow less. Our collective courage must be amplified so that our daughters and sons don’t have the same stories and the burden of telling them.

The period between Christmas and New Year’s Day could end up being the most popular time for streaming all year, according to Amazon and Netflix data shared with HuffPost.

Maybe you’re off work and in search of easy family bonding. Maybe it just lifts your spirits to watch the depressed, anthropomorphic main character of “Bojack Horseman” drink spirit after spirit after spirit.

In any case, there’s a good chance you could benefit from a few hacks to improve ― or vary the minimalist monotony of ― your experience with Netflix. 

Of course, HuffPost’s “Streamline” is itself a hack: Getting weekly suggestions for the best shows streaming services have to offer and keeping yourself from wasting time on mediocre TV is the best trick of all.

But for simple cosmetic changes and browser plug-ins that will improve your viewing experience even more, the list below should help.

1. Change your subtitles

Subtitles don’t have to be simple white with a hint of drop shadow. All sorts of options await you in your account’s subtitle preferences.

For journalistic integrity reasons, I tried this myself. My subtitles now have a bright pink window with green background and hint of blue drop shadow. The font is “casual” because I’m a casual person. I chose the font size that best represents the way I like to live my life.

Netflix has many expensively filmed original series where much care has been put into each and every detail you see on screen. The above subtitle choices complement such programs, like “The Crown” and “Godless,” very well. 

2. Switch to HD

Apparently Netflix doesn’t always automatically switch your account to high-definition, even if you’re paying for that option. You might be on a default setting that looks pretty bad and not even know it. Go to the HD toggle page and select the highest streaming quality available for your price point.

Of course, you could also select “low” quality if you wanted to, as I have to watch the above “Master of None” scene. The characters and “stuff” in the store appear super grainy.

3. Watch at weird times

This remains somewhat of a streaming urban legend without definitive verification, but apparently you get better video quality and faster load times if you watch Netflix at off-peak hours.

This means if you’re trying to stream “The Crown” for its visual beauty, you need to do so around 4 a.m. You might miss out on something if you’re a super fan watching at any other time. 

4. Download on your phone

You probably already know that Netflix lets you download shows and movies. But in case you’ve been unsure why you haven’t been able to do so on your Apple laptop, here’s the list of requirements for downloading, according to Netflix:

• An iPhone, iPad, or iPod running iOS 9.0 or later

• A phone or tablet running Android 4.4.2 or later

• A tablet or computer running Windows 10 Version 1607 (Anniversary Update) or later

• An internet connection*

• An active Netflix streaming account

• The latest version of the Netflix Apple iOS, Netflix Android, or Netflix Windows 10 app

Then look for the  icon next to the content you’re trying to download.

5. Play Netflix Roulette to find something random

There are a ton of amazing movies and television shows right now ― so many that you can’t possibly have enough time to watch them all. Also, movies and TV series are very long. It would take a true glutton for wasting time to just choose something at random to watch these days. Netflix Roulette lets you indulge that gluttony.

The website Reelgood created this tool. Thankfully, it has a few features that make it more useful than trusting pure random chaos. You can make sure the selection has a decent score on IMDb, choose your genre and pick whether you want a movie or television show. Using these toggles, this tool could be a good way to find an undiscovered gem.

I didn’t use any toggles when I tried out this feature. The movie “Antibirth,” which I had never heard of before, was suggested to me. It’s about a stoner who wakes up from a party with a mysterious illness that apparently isn’t a hangover. I will not be watching that.

6. Download Super Netflix to change video speed 

Super Netflix is available for free in the Chrome web store, and it gets updated fairly regularly. Many other Netflix plug-ins have come and gone over the last few years because developers have failed to update their product to keep with the streaming company’s constant changes. 

This plug-in allows you to do all sorts of things, including change the speed of your content. Do you want to know what happens on “The Crown” so you can talk about it with others but think it’s way too boring to actually watch? Just change the speed up to 4x faster, and that show might finally move along at a bearable pace.

Speeding up content has long been popular in the podcast realm, and Apple lets you change the speed right in the app. Personally, I find I can easily listen to podcast audio at 1.5x speed. But podcasts are also pretty much just conversations, and the creators typically don’t think too much about pacing.

You might be losing more by speeding up video, as directors and editors obsess over pacing. But if you don’t care about that, by all means, change the speed. Netflix tends to release a great new show or movie every week, and there’s no way you’re going to see it all unless you crank up the speed to as fast as possible.

Something else kind of cool: Super Netflix lets you change content into black-and-white. So when you’re watching the latest terrible Adam Sandler movie (not including “The Meyerowitz Stories”), you can really artsy-up the production and make it seem like you’re watching something by Jean-Luc Godard.

7. Delete everything

This is for all of you who don’t have your own Netflix account and do have bad taste. You might not want your friends or lovers finding out what you’ve been watching. To fix this, you can go to the viewing activity page and delete the shows that embarrass you. Click the “X” before you create an ex ... or something like that.

In researching this story, I found out that someone on my account has been watching “House of Cards,” despite the fact that there are now dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against star Kevin Spacey. Of course, the ethics are murky about whether the misdeeds of one can invalidate art that many others worked hard to produce. But the later seasons of “House of Cards” are simply terrible and shouldn’t be watched regardless. My friend really should have known better.

In any case, the friend could have scrubbed the streaming history and I would have been none the wiser. If they’d like to remedy the situation, they can also “report a problem” about the show on that same page and write “Kevin Spacey + it’s not good” in the comment section. 

Nayzia’ Thomas’ Twitter was still blowing up with interview requests and well wishes on Wednesday, because this young woman knows how to multitask.

Last week, a photo of the Kansas City student finishing a college final exam while she was in labor captivated the internet. “It’s the perfect explanation of my life,” she wrote in the Dec. 12 post. “Yes i’m about to have a baby, but final SZN ain’t over yet.”

Thomas, 19, delivered her son, Anthony, at 1:30 p.m. on the same day.

It seems neither Anthony nor the psych exam in dissociative identity disorder for Johnson County Community College could wait. And, yes, Thomas delivered the exam before her baby.

“It was hard to focus, but I had such a motivation to finish before I brought my son into the world, so that he could be my only focus,” Thomas told HuffPost on Wednesday.

Thomas told Yahoo earlier that she was working three jobs and going to school when she learned she was expecting. And when the big day arrived sooner than expected, she refused to take an incomplete in the course.

She described a post-delivery emergency on Dec. 14 ― and informed followers she pulled in a 3.5 GPA for the semester.

“My school reached out to congratulate me and make sure I was given resources and information about how I can receive extra help next semester being a new mother,” Thomas told HuffPost.

A woman was thrown out of a Starbucks in Walnut Creek, California, earlier this month after she berated two Asian customers with racist insults. 

The patron verbally attacked Annie An, a Korean international college student, after she heard An conversing in Korean with her tutor Sean Lee. An caught some video of the incident on her phone and shared it on Facebook. 

In her post, An said that before she began recording, the woman told her, “This is America. Use English only.” Later the woman allegedly added, “I don’t want to hear foreign language.” 

“... Oriental. I hate it,” the woman can be heard saying in the video. 

“I’m sorry, but they’re allowed to speak their language here,” a Starbucks employee is heard responding. 

“President Obama said that everyone in here in America ... should speak English,” the woman says

“They’re completely allowed to use their own language,” the employee reiterates. 

At one point, the woman types on her laptop keyboard and declares, “You’re going to be in trouble when I get this letter out” ― before another customer notes, “You’re pressing numbers over and over again.”

The Starbucks worker repeatedly asks the woman to leave and threatens to call the police. 

Eventually police officers arrived ― An wrote that they were called by Starbucks ― and escorted the woman out of the establishment.

The video of the incident has since gone viral with almost 900,000 views as of Tuesday and has been covered by multiple media outlets. 

Lee told local news station KRON that he had been discussing an essay with An when the other woman got worked up. 

“We didn’t provoke her,” Lee said. “We were just minding our own business. This lady just suddenly says, ‘Don’t you dare say that again.’”

Although the woman’s comments were far from pleasant, they did not stop the pair from continuing to chat in Korean. Lee wrote on Facebook that they “kept speaking in Korean between her freakout and cops arriving, which pissed her off even more.” 

Since the incident, people across social media have reached out to An and Lee, offering words of support and solidarity. Grateful for the messages, Lee said he hopes the video can show that bigotry is not a thing of the past. 

“In our day-to-day pursuits and responsibilities, it’s all too easy to forget that racism and anti-immigrant sentiments are a real thing in this country, even in the Bay Area that so often touts ‘diversity,’” Lee said on Facebook. 

“Imagine this happening to your family and friends. I’ve always cognized this issue, but my first, real-life encounter with racism has brought it to the forefront of my mind. I hope it does the same for you.”

Myanmar’s government rescinded access by a United Nations official who has been investigating human rights in the country, including the campaign of violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

“I am puzzled and disappointed by this decision by the Myanmar government,” special rapporteur Yanghee Lee said Wednesday in a statement. “This declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a strong indication that there must be something terribly awful happening in [the state of] Rakhine, as well as in the rest of the country.”

Lee said the Myanmar government had ensured her of its cooperation with her planned January visit only two weeks ago. But she said officials changed their mind due to a statement she released in July outlining the difficulties she had in working with the government to gain access to certain areas.

Lee has visited the country as part of her U.N. job six times since June 2014.

The decision to deny her continued access comes a day after authorities said they found 10 bodies buried in a mass grave in Rakhine, the heart of the violence against the Rohingya. The army said it’s investigating the site, but the chances of the government taking the blame for the killings are slim. An internal inquiry released by the military last month exonerated all soldiers from any wrongdoing in a crackdown against the Muslim group that began in late August. 

Still, evidence grows of the Burmese government’s systematic violence against the Rohingya. About 650,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh since the end of August. Aerial footage of entire villages burnt to the ground was released by Amnesty International in September. That same month, Doctors Without Borders reported that at least 9,000 Rohingya had died in Myanmar during a roughly 30-day period ― more than 22 times the official government estimate of 400 deaths. Hundreds of Rohingya were systematically killed and raped in the Rakhine village of Tula Toli as security forces trapped people along a riverbank in late August, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Tuesday.

Efforts to cover up the evidence have also mounted. Burmese officials arrested two Reuters journalists last week after the pair had been invited to meet with police officials in the city of Yangon. Reuters is one of the few news outlets that had gained entry to Rakhine, which is closed off to most journalists.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussain said this week that Myanmar leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Gen. Aung Min Hlaing, the head of the army, could be tried for genocide.

What a year it’s been.

From current events ― including political turmoil and high-profile allegations of sexual misconduct in several industries ― to regular life stressors, it’s been a loooong 365 days. 

If you’re overthinking everything and stressed beyond measure, you’re certainly not alone. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Say goodbye to 2017 ― and some of the negative emotions that came with it ― by adopting a few of these expert- and research-backed habits in the new year.

They certainly won’t solve everything, but they’ll help make you feel a little calmer and happier in the moment. Baby steps, right?

1. Take news breaks

Research shows that negative news can poorly affect your mental health. Simply put, it’s absolutely essential to take time away from the barrage of bad news stories. Experts recommend this to their patients, and do it themselves to keep their own stress under control. Here are some tips on how to take care of yourself during a chaotic news cycle.

2. Say ‘no’ more often

Make 2018 the year you admit to yourself that you can’t do it all ― and embrace it. Saying “yes” to every offer, even the ones you really don’t want to agree to, can have long-term consequences. Therapists say a people-pleasing habit can hurt your mental well-being. Here’s a guide on how to politely turn down invitations without feeling like a complete jerk.

3. Use social media to your advantage

Research shows that excessive social media use can be bad for your mental health, and it’s necessary to take a break from your newsfeed. But let’s be real: It’s impossible to expect to stay unplugged from those updates all the time.

Reframe the way you view posts on platforms like Facebook and Instagram so you can build a healthier relationship with them. Experts recommend unfollowing accounts that don’t bring you joy, subscribing to more positive content and reminding yourself that what you’re seeing in your feed only shows a small portion of someone’s life.

4. Indulge in a new show

Sometimes a mental escape from reality is just what you need to reset your brain.

Try watching something funny (studies show laughter really is the best medicine) whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed. It can help curb your stress, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, previously told HuffPost.

5. Get active

There’s no substitute for exercise. Research shows that regular movement can help improve mood and reduce symptoms of depression.

Make an effort to incorporate physical activity into your daily life, whether it’s going for a brief walk or trying a new fitness class. Here’s a guide on exercises you can do even if you lack fitness skills.

6. Lend your time to a cause you care about

Therapists say more of their patients reported feeling helpless after the 2016 election, and the stress surrounding the political climate has only increased.

Experts recommend getting involved in charities or causes you care about in order to offset these negative emotions. By getting active, you’re taking control ― and that can help relieve anxiety.

7. Learn to cook something new

Flex your creative muscles and give yourself a mental escape in the process. 

“When I feel stressed or distressed by the negative, unhappy news and/or politics, I go to the grocery store, buy food that I enjoy and I head home and make dinner,” Dan Reidenberg, executive director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, previously told HuffPost. “I can make what I want, what I like and how I like it to taste, and that helps me feel better.”

8. Spend money on experiences

Research shows that memories, not material possessions, make us happier when it comes to spending disposable income. Vacation, anyone?

9. And learn to budget everywhere else

No surprise here: Data suggests finances are one of the biggest stressors for Americans. Learning how to budget your income and finding ways to save are incredibly vital to your life, experts say. Check out this manual for tips on how to do it responsibly. 

10. Give journaling a try

Writing can help clear your mind, said Amy Poon, a psychiatrist at Stanford Health Care.

“A lot of people find it really helpful for sorting out thoughts, reflection and building more calm,” she told HuffPost. “It can be very cathartic.”

And you don’t need to write something every day to reap the benefits, Poon added. Try journaling once a month or once every few weeks if that seems like a more manageable schedule.

11. Adopt a positive mantra

Celebrities like Oprah swear by sticking to a mantra, which may give you a little boost when you need it. Pick something that inspires you (for example, “I am worthy”) and attach it to your mirror, your desk or wherever you’ll see it most. It sounds corny, but research shows it works.

12. Make a goal rather than a resolution

Smaller goals may be more attainable than an overall, lofty aim. Pick a few things you want to achieve this year, then be real with yourself about the progress, Poon advised.

“As with any habit, it can be really hard to maintain over the long term,” she said. “Check in every month and think about your goals and what you are trying to accomplish. Then reflect and re-evaluate if they are realistic.”

13. Turn your bed into a sanctuary

By now you know that sleep is vital to happiness and overall functioning. But do you ever think about where you’re sleeping and how you treat that space?

It can be easy to turn your bed into a catch-all for laundry or an extension of your office. However, your brain needs to associate it with sleep ― and experts say it might have difficulty doing so if you’re also using it for other activities. Keep your bed a place for sleep and sex, and see if it transforms your Zs. 

14. Set boundaries with your loved ones

When it comes to family, it can be hard to assert yourself and communicate your needs ― especially when tough topics come up, like politics or your dating life. But boundaries are incredibly important when it comes to self-care.

Experts say it’s critical to remember that you have a choice when it comes to these conversations: You don’t necessarily have to engage. Here are some ways to manage those anxiety-provoking conversations while still looking after your own mental health.

15. Tackle your imposter syndrome head-on

The idea that you’re “not good enough” can be largely fabricated by your own mind. The phenomenon is known as imposter syndrome, and it mostly pops up at work, like when you’ve been promoted or trusted with a new responsibility. And it can cause a lot of anxiety.

Experts recommend getting out of that fraudulent mindset by defining what success and failure actually look like to you. And take a look at these other professional-approved ways to tackle imposter syndrome.

16. Reframe your negative thoughts

“What if the country falls apart?” “What if I get laid off from my job?” Worrying about the state of the world or your life is natural, but there’s a point where it becomes unhealthy. Entertaining those automatic negative thoughts can take a toll on your mental health, according to Poon. 

Figure out what triggers these thoughts to appear, she said, then take the best course of action to help you manage them. Therapy may help give you the tools you need, or try following this guide for when you’re ruminating over anxious thoughts.

17. Learn to recognize toxic personalities in your life

Your squad has a profound impact on how you feel. Research shows stress is contagious ― and so is happiness. Check out this list of the different kinds of toxic people you may encounter and tips for how to deal with them. Cut out that negativity ASAP.

18. Put yourself first

It’s a fact of life that you can’t please everyone. The one person you can make happy, however? Yourself.

Vow to look inward in the coming year if you’re always putting others’ feelings above your own, Poon said. 

“Find the words to communicate what you need. You can say it in a way where you don’t feel bad for asking, or won’t get upset that the other person may be less happy with you,” she said. “You can’t make other people happy all the time, and it’s important to be OK with that.”

Ready to take on 2018?