Unless you've been living under a rock, you know by now that there is an ongoing refugee crisis with thousands upon thousands of people fleeing a collapsing Syria (and Libya and Iraq and other regions) to any country that will admit them. This has become particularly divisive in certain European countries with a perfect storm of Islamophobia and proximity to the problem. Lots of people are campaigning against admitting refugees, while others are literally opening their doors to them. One such German Samaritan was Dirk Voltz, who had 24 Syrian guests stay with him and his partner, Mario. He wrote a post about the experience that has gone viral:

Here's what he wrote (as translated by BuzzFeed, not the insane automatic Facebook translator):

In bad times, one should consider their own balance sheet. Mine looks like this: Since July my partner and I have hosted approximately 24 people from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq in our place in Berlin. Our knives are still in the kitchen, precisely where I left them on the board. Before our guests from Syria and Iraq arrived. We never needed a key for our bedroom, except for one time a dear guest from Afghanistan needed it to play with our cats. Our four fat, old cats had as much fun as the young man.

But back to the knives: All that was stabbed with them in the weeks we hosted refugees in our home were onions, garlic and a looooot of meat.

Mario and I are still alive. Perhaps, even more intensively than before. Whether we´ll ever return to a “normal,” we do not know. How can I care about the luxury chatter from yesterday? Really, what the hell is happening here?

No Muslim who was there wanted to kill us in our sleep. No one insulted us because we are two men and share one bed. No one, by any means, said they prefer Sharia law over German Law. We did not meet one person who did not regret leaving their home. The only bad experience I can recall is that our new friends used a lot sugar and salt. So we bought it at the market and that was that.

Where is this Islamization that people in Germany have been so worried about past weeks? Maybe its stuck on the Balkan route somewhere. It’s there if you ask the so called “concerned citizens” of Germany… definitely. If not by now, then 2016, 2017, 2018…

The real disappointment that happened to us came in the form of ordinary text messages, death threats on the street, or insulting letters at the front door. Or simply by school friends, that rather cry and quote the AfD [Germany’s right-wing political party].

Instead of tackling the crisis, we act as if there is no tomorrow. Wake up finally!
As if one could stop this migration of people. As if we could personally influence which war will break out. As if we all don’t have a responsibility in the world’s happenings.

It may be that Islam does not belong to Germany. It’s also possible that the devil is part of every religion. Maybe I have to fight for my rights as a homosexual in ten years, more intensely than I have to do it now. It’s also possible that I realize at some point, I made mistakes. Everything is possible, nothing has to happen for sure!

Who knows? I mean, who knows what will be someday? Certainly I know that what happened this past summer and this fall have changed our lives. You can be there for other people. Or you can be scared. And if that happens, I’m sorry.

I’m sorry for those who live in fear.

Basically, Dirk had a great experience with all his Syrian guests, except for having to buy extra salt and sugar. Head-fake! It was a twist that played off headlines employed by xenophobic Germans trying to convince their countrymen 2015 should be the year hating people because of their religion makes its big comeback in Germany. In reality, the bad stuff was coming from people in his own country. Hopefully, Dirk's message will reach the people sending him hate mail. Even if they won't open up their doors, they can step the hell away from his.

When a Big Mac attack hits, it hits hard. Like a junkie craving their next fix, you gotta get yourself to a freakin' Mickey D's, no matter what it takes (or to a rehab center—Big Mac attacks are no laughing matter). This is a familiar feeling for Australian teenager Tamara Barker, who wasn't about to let a little flash flooding come between her and her beloved fast food. Undeterred by the 3 feet of water on the ground this week, the ingenious 18 year-old, jumped in a kayak and paddled her way to the closest McDonalds (or Macca's as they're called down-under.)  

Barker told Yahoo News Australia that the staff was quite impressed when she casually floated up to the window and ordered 4 cheeseburgers. 

"They all just sort of laughed and said `this is the best thing. No one thought a kayak would come through the drive-thru."

Never, ever underestimate a person's addiction to greasy fried goodness. 

Introducing SomeWeather, the only weather app you'll enjoy using even if you hate the weather forecast. It comes loaded with over 100 funny takes on weather conditions, and each forecast is done in a full-screen card format that can be shared from your iOS device. Don't wait until lunch to blast your opinions on social media! Start your day by sharing a card from SomeWeather. 

You can download the app here, and then delete all your other weather apps that are humorless and take up precious storage space on your phone.

Al and Dottie Fairhurst were together for 75 years, and in that time, they spent less than a day apart. Last week, Al peacefully passed away in his sleep at the age of 98. After a day of planning the funeral and prayers, Dottie passed away the next night, peacefully, less than 24 hours after the family lost Al. They passed away together, just like [SPOILER ALERT] the end of The Notebook. ("Do you think our love could take us away together?" Allie says, to which Noah replies, "I think our love can do anything you want it to.") [END OF SPOILERS, BEGINNING OF TEARS.]

Al was a World War II veteran, and Dottie founded and ran a children's arts and cultural center in their home of Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Virginia Wallace, says that it is hard losing both of her parents at once, but she knows that they are together.

"He would always tell her how pretty she looked, and she always said the same to him, how handsome he was," she Wallace says. "It's affirmation that love can work if you're devoted to each other," she continues, "The story's finished, and the ending is just an amazing ending." 

Prepare to cry:

Ella Fishbough is an eighth-grade student who received detention for giving her friend a hug before school. Ella attends Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo, Florida. Her friend was having a bad day, so Ella gave him a hug, which resulted in detention. That's it! As if junior high weren't difficult enough, kids keep getting in trouble for ridiculous stuff. The hug allegedly violated the student conduct and discipline code, which broadly prohibits "inappropriate touching":

Inappropriate or Obscene Act – the use of oral or written language, electronic messages, pictures, objects, gestures, or engaging in unwelcome or inappropriate touching, or any other physical act that is considered to be offensive, socially unacceptable, or not suitable for an educational setting.

It should be noted that she had been warned about a previous touching incident with her friend, who is a boy. The scandal deepens! The previous incident was when Ella's friend placed his hand on her head. Sinners. This is the biggest controversy Florida has seen since the recent tweet saga with Zola. They should know better than to flaunt such lurid interactions in public.

Ella's mom, Kathy Fishbough, agrees with the policy when it comes to kissing between couples. But she thinks the interpretation goes too far, because all hugs are banned.

I did ask the principal, if something happened in our family, and she needed to console her cousin or her cousin wanted to console her, would she get in trouble? She said, 'Yes, ma'am. She would get a PDA.'

Wow. The kids in Seminole County better make sure they don't have any family problems, because no hugs at school. No matter what. No touching!

A Starbucks barista left a customer a flirty message on her cup of coffee, and she disagrees with her mother as to whether it's creepy or cute. A few days ago, Laura Roberts ordered a drink at her local Starbucks and got this cup:

It has her name on it (albeit misspelled) and the hot liquid warning has been altered to read "Careful, you're extremely hot." Her mom, Alex Baine, posted about it on the Facebook group "S**t London" with the following message:

Creepy barista writing inappropriate messages on my daughter’s coffee. Looks like son in-law material.

Laura is fine with it, though. She's not into the barista—the 19-year-old is actually already engaged—but she told the Daily Mail that she thinks "he's lovely" and "always does it." She also refuses to tell people where he works, so as not to embarrass him.

Whether you think it's creepy or not, let's all agree that an engaged 19-year-old is more of an interesting news item than this coffee cup. 

Deport Racism, a new PAC devoted to fighting anti-Latino racism in the 2016 election, is making waves with a viral video of kids swearing their adorable little heads off about noted racist Donald Trump. The controversial clip is generating a lot of press with its shock tactics, which of course is exactly the point. Some are accusing the organization of exploiting children, while others think it's funny as f*ck. Decide for yourself:

Your opinion of the video will probably have more to do with how you feel about Donald Trump than how you feel about kids dropping F-bombs. He has that effect on people.

This guy was fired for liking a Facebook photo, and to add insult to injury, he was fired via text. His name is Troy Garrod, and he had been working at Bertrams Books in the U.K. for over four years. One day, he randomly liked a coworker's picture on Facebook—a picture that 70 other people also liked. The picture was poking fun at a wolf sweater the coworker had seen in the company's warehouse:

The picture was posted with the following caption:

OMG I’m f**king crying… I’m sure there’s a wolf fleece appreciation page pahahaha.

A few days later he got a text from his boss saying that he'd been fired. He was told that his liking the photo was an act of "bullying" against the worker who owned it, despite the fact that Garrod didn't even know who owned it. He was shocked, to say the least:

Being sacked by text and email is not right after four-and-a-half years of hard work. I put my heart and soul into that company and enjoyed going into work every day. [...] It just seems so unfair that clicking the ‘like’ button has caused me so much trouble.

He wants to warn people about the dangers of mixing Facebook with work:

When people go on their Facebook timeline they don’t view it professionally, you think it’s just your social time. I want to warn people to keep work and social divided on Facebook – be careful about befriending colleagues.

Bertrams Books has not commented on the matter.

Rebel Wilson is trying very, very gently to start a light feud with the Kardashians. She told Australian radio station KIIS FM about her opinion of the family. It was pretty harsh, even if it was nothing they haven't heard before. Many times, probably a bunch already today before lunch:

I got asked to present with Kendall and Kylie at the recent VMAs and said ‘no’. It’s not that you hate any of them individually, but it’s just that everything they stand for is against everything I stand for. And they’re not famous for talent. I worked really hard to get where I’ve gotten to.

She fails to mention that at those very same VMAs, she instead went on to do a solo comedy bit that a lot of people thought inappropriately made light of police brutality. But anyway, the Kardashians.

Wilson elaborated:

I mean how Kim Kardashian got famous from the sex tape and I just went to acting school and worked really hard.

Will the Kardashians respond, as they did when Amy Schumer joked about Khloé in her SNL monologue? Or is there not really enough new beef here for a feud? No one has even subtweeted anything.

Being a teenager is so awesome. It's all after prom parties, fast metabolisms and un-crushed dreams... that's why we adults have no other joy in our lives but to make them suffer. One teacher is doing her part with this ingeniously unwieldy bathroom pass. Reddit user bad_trip_ uploaded his school's life size (and judging by the walkie talkie, badly out-of-date) hall-pass/hall-monitor combo, and it's majorly crappy. Students here are forced to carry a life-size cardboard cut-out of a police officer with them to the bathroom. And if you're a student who uses the Officer Bathroom, urinal-lot of trouble if you don't bring it right back. Don't worry, the cop comes complete with a condescending note, because how dare kids have bodily functions? I mean really.

I can't imagine why teens don't like high school. Isn't it fun to lug around a huge embarrassing bathroom pass that alerts everyone (even your crush) you're about to drop a deuce? Thankfully, this isn't something we have to deal with during adulthood. We get to use the facilities whenever we want to take a sweet grown-up whizz.*

*Hide from our bosses and cry.

A private school called Foundation Christian College in Mandurah in Western Australia made life so uncomfortable for a 7-year-old girl that her dad, Brendan, had to un-enroll her from the school. The problem started when the girl revealed that her father is gay and lives with his partner. Consequently, she was told to keep her mouth shut about her family. Brendan's last name and image have been withheld to protect the identity of his daughter, who is now enrolled in a public primary school.

Brendan describes what happened to the Mandurah Mail:

[My daughter] got talking about Tony Abbott and gay marriage and mentioned that her dad is with [my partner] and she was shut down by her teacher and then the teacher had to explain to the class what ‘gay’ is.

We were asked to go into a meeting that we thought would be about her education and how she was going in class to be told that [my daughter] had mentioned I’m gay.

I was told that they don’t promote ‘gay’ at the school and [my daughter] was unable to talk about my life between [my partner] and me and general stuff about what a kid talks about with her parents.

She could mention my name, but she couldn’t talk about us being gay or relating to us as a couple, so pretty much to a seven-year-old, we were forced to say to [my daughter] that she wasn’t allowed to talk about Daddy or [my partner] at all.

When Brendan first enrolled his daughter at Foundation Christian College, he did it in conjunction with his ex-wife. Brendan claims the principal, Andrew Newhouse, told him that if he'd known Brendan was gay, he would never have admitted her. While Brendan insisted that his daughter should be allowed to talk to other children about her home life whenever it came up, Principal Newhouse said that if a parent complained, the girl would be expelled. Brendan decided it was too much of a risk and withdrew her.

To be clear, Foundation Christian College is a private school and thus enjoys some rights in establishing parameters and requirements for their students. For instance, when Brendan was enrolling his daughter, he signed an entry agreement that states: "We support the principle of Christian education for our child." This can mean a lot of things, though, like teaching your child to love their neighbor or help the poor. The subtext of this specific sentence was, it turned out, "We support the message that God hates gays." The school also accepts a fair amount of public funding, taking in $5.2 million Australian dollars in taxpayer funds in 2013. The money would leave them open to a discrimination suit, except Western Australia has an exception clause in its equal opportunity legislation for schools established for religious purposes.

Brendan can't do much more about the situation, but he's completely disgusted with all of them, saying, "You shouldn’t discriminate against me, full stop, but my daughter is innocent in all of this."

"Bangable" Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just did the one thing he could do to become even sexier: he made half of his new cabinet women. According to NBC News, this puts Canada in third place for having the most women represented in government—they're just behind Finland, Sweden, and Cape Verde; and tied with France and Liechtenstein in that third-place spot. (A quick Google search reveals that pretty much the only other place France, Liechtenstein, and Canada are tied is on bloggers' "places I want to visit someday" lists.)

But perhaps even better than creating gender parity in his cabinet was the response Trudeau, a self-proclaimed feminist, gave when a reporter asked him why he did it: "Because it's 2015." Which is wonderful, but does that mean that those of us in countries without governmental gender parity are living in 1958 and we had no idea? Crap. 

According to NBC News, "The female half of Trudeau's cabinet included Jody Wilson-Raybould, appointed justice minister and attorney general, Jane Philpott, the new health minister, and Catherine McKenna, who was given the role of environment and climate change minister."

It is time you were told about Parkour Dog. His full name is TreT, and the Staffordshire Terrier from the Ukraine has been training regularly and posting YouTube videos for over five years. He's been mildly Internet famous for awhile, but the past few months have seen his videos appearing more and more for some reason. Is it time for the only Internet-famous animal with real training and skills to jump ahead of all the other cute losers?

The Internet has known its fair share of meme animals over the years. To name just a ton: Grumpy Cat, that kitten who gets murdered every time you masturbate, Envious Pomeranian, Lil' Bub, Sharkie The Pit Bull And Roomba Cat, Rich Dogs of Instagram, Maru, Felines of New York, Ze Frank's cat videos, Balance Dog (there are a few of these), The Mighty Atchoum, Malo Gato, "I Should Buy A Boat" Cat, Trump Cats, Shower Cat, Backwards Walking Cat, TurboRoo, Scared-Of-Farts Dog, Colonel Meow (RIP), Bane Cat, T-Rex Cat, Barry The Bather, Elsa The Snow-Shoveler, Earl The Even Grumpier Dog, Sexy Pantyhose Dogs, Always-Worried Cat, Purin The Best Dog Goalie On Earth, Setsu-Chan The Handsome Cat Who Looks Weird When Asleep, Theremin Cat, (poor, sweet) Matilda The Alien Cat, Cowbell Dog, Wiggle Cat, Timo the Cat, Maymo the Lemon Beagle, The Cats Who Would Not Walk, Salsa-Dancing Mini Poodle, and The Dog Who Showed Everyone His Penis Because He Got A Bad Haircut. You know, the classics. They all had shticks. Only Tillman the Skateboarding Dog, may he rest in peace, got there with talent (and maybe this skateboarding cat). Until Parkour Dog, that is. Here's TreT all the way back in 2009, just to emphasize how long the 8-year-old athlete has been at this.

What do you think? Is it finally time for a good boy with more work ethic than 99% of humanity and more employable skills than at least half to become the new Grumpy Cat and make millions in web bucks?

This is probably a good time to mention that Parkour Cat exists.

Children don't always understand the nuances of language, like this kid who gave a very literal answer to a math problem. Well, maybe this kid didn't understand the nuances, or maybe he was just being a smartass. Either way, when Redditor irishchck14's kid answered a math question, he didn't exactly do what the teacher was hoping for (and it wasn't because the problem was super difficult):

It is technically a correct answer. The best part is the frown, so we all know that the kid is not happy to be thinking about math. It's OK, kid. Nobody is. 

Two original videos from Digg today combed through all the James Bond films to come to two startling conclusions: James Bond is a terrible employee, and he almost certainly has brain damage from on-the-job mishaps. This first video addresses the fact that although he may be good at his job, 007 is still a chronically late, wandering, unresponsive, sexist and disobedient worker who blows a lot up a lot of stuff, and not metaphorically like bureaucracy. He's still definitely good at his job, but maybe with what they pay out in damages and harassment lawsuits they could hire three OK spies who don't rack up therapy bills for everyone in HR.

There's a good reason for this, and maybe the biggest settlement lawsuit Bond will result in will be against his employers for massive work-related brain injuries:

Country music stars participated in one of the country's greatest traditions, Jimmy Kimmel's "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets" segment. Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and more are humbled by the experience. 

Carrie Underwood should d[ig] her key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four wheel drive, carve her name into the leather seats, take a Louisville slugger to both head lights, slash a hole in all four tires, so maybe next time he'll think before he tweets. 

41 years in, Saturday Night Live has its routine down pat, including a reel of promos aired midweek leading up to each Saturday's episode. Yesterday, a video was uploaded to SNL's YouTube channel which included 8 clips, a little more than usual, because it was the wrong file and included ones that were supposed to be cut. It was NBC's biggest "oopsie" since inviting Trump to host SNL after cutting ties with Miss Universe over his racist comments, if it was even an "oopsie" at all. 

That clip was salvaged via Vine, in which Trump calls rival Ben Carson "a complete and total loser."

"I discovered when I was in grade school that those tactics really are for grade school. And I've gone far beyond that now," Carson told CNN, in the only mature thing he's ever said. 

The ads that are making it to television are pretty cheesy and toothless. The only joke Trump delivers that could be perceived as self-deprecating or self-aware is using his catchphrase, "It's going to be yuuuuuuge." Tune in on Saturday to see America's Favorite Bigot get 90 minutes of free airtime. It's going to be an interesting ride.

There are many cool revelations in this video. First, there are Starbucks drive-thrus?! But more importantly, Starbucks is accessible and can accommodate people of different abilities! 

Rebecca King, a deaf woman from St. John's, Florida, stopped by a Starbucks to order some drinks, and was struggling to communicate before a barista popped up on screen to read her sign language and sign back. This video was recorded the next day, after they established a rapport. It's quickly gone viral, with other four million view to date. King was delighted, telling First Coast News:

"It is a big deal to (the) deaf community that Starbucks has one now. Nowhere else has that! We all want to have that at every drive-thru in the world."

The barista, Katie Wyble, began studying American Sign Language in grade school, and is continuing to study it at the University of North Florida. "I'm glad that there's more awareness for deaf culture and the deaf community. To see this come to light and actually be a part of it, I feel so blessed," she said.

Among the benefits of sign language is that Rebecca signs her name letter by letter, so there's no excuse for Starbucks to spell it incorrectly.