Latest news with #strangers
ABC News
07-07-2025
- ABC News
12 strangers, one verdict, the hidden dynamics of jury deliberation
Twelve strangers, one life-altering decision. The so-called 'mushroom trial' underway in Victoria is a powerful reminder of just how intense jury duty can be. Strong voices can dominate, quieter ones fade, and the pressure to conform can silence doubt. It's a high-stakes exercise in group psychology where instinct, emotion, bias and the human urge to belong all collide in one deliberation room. Guest:
CBC
25-06-2025
- CBC
Winnipeg woman fears for her safety after brutal assault in Osborne Village
A woman who was walking from the bus stop to her apartment in Osborne Village says she was attacked by two strangers late Sunday night. The 23-year-old was beaten and stabbed multiple times, and robbed of her phone, credit cards and ID.
New York Times
22-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
The Joy of Swimming With Strangers
Swimming among strangers in a public pool is everything that I love about living in the city, but doing it underwater. Traversing a mile back and forth during lap swim in a New York public pool sometimes feels like walking down Broadway at midday or taking the 4 train uptown in the evening. It's meditative, but what each person does affects everyone else; ignoring the other pedestrians creates problems for you and them. As the city's outdoor pools get ready to open, I've been thinking more about this obvious but remarkable detail — this intense togetherness, these feelings of sympathy, of enmity, of forgiveness, even of competition with complete strangers. But swimming is different from strolling down a sidewalk in one critical way. Pushing yourself in exercise can mean working until you fail, visibly, and it's a particularly vulnerable thing to do among strangers, especially in open, democratic spaces like a crowded public pool. When you cry in public, those around you will probably leave you alone, but even the silence feels intimate. The act of looking away from someone has just as much a sense of companionship as the act of looking at them, and avoiding a stranger when swimming or walking might be just as companionable as walking or swimming together. New York City's public pools have long been palatial — neo-Romanesque, Art Deco or Beaux-Arts, some now a century old or more. The earliest were constructed as bathhouses for residents of poorer neighborhoods at a time before air-conditioning. Robert Moses, an obsessive open-water swimmer, built 11 huge public pools under the Works Progress Administration and started a free swim program to prevent drowning deaths. (The city's Department of Parks & Recreation continues to offer free swimming lessons.) A French academic once remarked that Los Angeles's banks recalled churches, stately and sacred. In New York City it's our pools, these majestic structures built as public amenities that now, often in dire need of repair yet still anchoring communities, seem incredibly humble. As of 2023, the last pool census I could find, New York City also has over 15,000 private pools. These pools, largely clustered in expensive neighborhoods, often feature in places like luxury residences, hotels and fancy gyms. Some are more affordable than others, but almost all curate their users. They have a reputation for being cleaner, but their utilization can be only as high as their accessibility. New York City's public pools, on the other hand, in addition to being clean and safe, enjoy mass utilization: According to the parks commissioner, the city's 50 or so outdoor pools serve about 1.5 million people during the 10-week stretch in the summer when they're open. When anyone can exercise with anyone, regardless of wealth — as should be the case — no one can control being seen in this state of vulnerability or by whom. For years, I organized my life around the adult swim hours at the Metropolitan Recreation Center in Williamsburg, home to one of the 12 indoor pools in the Parks Department system (though fewer than half are operating). When the pool closed — temporarily, I hoped — I reorganized my days around the lap swim hours in Crown Heights, Flushing and Manhattan and learned a whole set of manners at each pool, where swimmers have invented and are inventing rules to live (or at least swim) by. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
PETER HITCHENS: If any person acted like this Govenment, they'd be confined in a locked ward for delusions
If the British Government were a person, it would long ago have been sectioned and placed in a locked ward because of its severe delusions of grandeur. It is like a man who rushes into the street and picks fights with large strangers for no reason, or a man who offers to buy a generous round in the pub and turns out to have no money, just a few American nickels and a piece of string in his dusty pocket.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
They Meet for the First Time, Have Intimate Photo Shoot During Blind Date — and the Pictures Go Viral (Exclusive)
A photographer from Iowa is testing out photographing strangers in her area The 25-year-old hopes to push willing participants outside their comfort zones and show that connections can be found in the most unlikely of places So far, she has had two successful sessions with two pairs of spontaneous individualsIn a world where genuine human connection often feels out of reach, one photographer is challenging strangers to step outside their comfort zones – one photo at a time. Using Facebook as her platform, Anndee Jaelynn Clark invites individuals living in Indianola, Iowa, who are looking to meet someone new, to apply for her sessions. With just a few details, the 25-year-old carefully pairs people together, capturing the raw, unfiltered reactions of strangers meeting for the first time. While the idea of taking pictures of strangers isn't new, Clark wanted to branch out from typical photoshoots and offer something more unique and meaningful in her area. 'I decided it would be so fun to not only get out of my comfort zone but to help others get out of theirs,' she tells PEOPLE exclusively. After sharing her first post in late March, looking for willing participants, she was shocked at how many people expressed interest – and yes, Clark makes sure that they are all truly strangers. 'I make sure the matches don't know each other or have mutual friends,' she explains. 'I also used social media to find singles, whether through mutual or suggested friends, and I reached out to them to see if they would like to be in a shoot.' While the experience can be uncomfortable and sometimes awkward, most of Clark's participants come in excited to leap outside their comfort zone. Those interested in the unconventional dating experience can sign up for her $45 sessions by messaging her photography page, Anndee Jae Photography, where she asks for basic info, such as age, interests, hobbies, and what they look for in a partner. 'It was a new way for them to meet someone outside of dating apps,' she shares. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. So far, Clark has had two successful photoshoots, with the parties involved exchanging phone numbers in the end. 'A big thing is participants knowing that these sessions require no commitment afterwards. It's just for fun, or it can be all of that and more,' she emphasizes. Both of the stranger sessions she's done so far have been effortlessly fun and easy. The matches connected well, making the experience more comfortable and the shoots full of laughter. 'This project has made me realize that in the dating world, people are so quick to cut someone off when their first interaction is over their phones,' Clark explains. 'This has changed my own perspective on human connection, whether that be romantic or platonic, by seeing two complete strangers being able to let their guard down and connect with each other so quickly.' At a time when forming friendships or finding partners can feel more isolating than ever, Clark's project reminds participants of the magic that can happen when they dare to connect. 'The role photography plays in this is to capture their real emotional reactions to seeing each other for the very first time,' she says. 'In these shoots I wanted to reveal that even though getting out of your comfort zone can be scary and uncomfortable, it can also be rewarding and memorable.' Clark hopes to inspire others to take chances on new experiences, showing that unexpected connections with strangers can lead to meaningful relationships. 'You never know what you and another stranger may have in common, which is why I encourage doing something like this; whether it's a blind date or a stranger photo shoot,' she tells PEOPLE. 'You may even end up with a romantic partner or a great friendship.' Read the original article on People
