You don't have to know these people to smile at the news that they are expecting. Enjoy a collection of clever pregnancy announcements that involve puns, humor, baby shoes, pets, and siblings. Link
(Image credit: PB&J Stories)
Four years ago, nine-year old Daisy Morris found a strange object on the beach on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of Britain. It was the fossilized pelvic girdle of a previously unknown species of flying reptiles. Scientists recently named it Vectidraco daisymorrisae after its discoverer:
The Morris family, from Whitwell, approached Southampton University's 'Fossil Man' Mr Simpson with Daisy's finds in 2009.
"I knew I was looking at something very special. And I was right," said Mr Simpson.
The fossil turned out to be a new genus and species of small pterosaur; a flying reptile from the Lower Cretaceous period.
Link -via Samuel West | Image: BBC
Following up on the success of last year's hilarious parody, College Humor has filmed a three-part action movie parodying the children's TV show Dora the Explorer. Behold the first part of Dora the Explorer and the Destiny Medallion.
Content warning: some foul language and violence. My four-year old is mad that I won't let her watch it.
Working
parents rely on daycare facilities to take care of their children when
they work during the day, but what happens if your job is at night?
Not a problem in Sweden, where they have night nurseries:
"At first it was very hard to take my kids to sleep somewhere else and my heart was aching," says mother Maria Klytseroff, 39, a part-time care assistant for people with learning difficulties.
Her children spend about two or three nights a week at one of the preschools, which is more like a homely apartment than an education centre.
"I am a single mum and I wanted to go back to my job, which is at night," explains Maria.
"The children soon got used to it, they have friends and they adore the workers who look after them." [...]
The toddlers arrive in time to eat dinner, clean their teeth and then enjoy a bedtime story with a member of staff.
But not everyone is sold on the idea. Read more over at the BBC: Link
The definition of "cool" not only changes with the times, but means different things to different age groups. Rust Blazenhoff of Laughing Squid posted a three-page list of ways to be a cool person by her second-grade daughter. One thing never seems to change: "cool" for a young person involves contravening the wishes of authority. See the other two pages of this list at Laughing Squid. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Rusty Blazenhoff)
When Valerie Hunter Gordon developed a disposable diaper called the Paddi in 1947, consisting of flushable cellulose padding held inside a nylon shell, she made things easier for herself and her friends, but manufacturers didn't see the genius in the product. The executives probably didn't wash many diapers.
The Paddi was a major hit with her homemaker friends, and she wound up sewing over 400 sets for them at her kitchen table. Although the diapers proved popular, Gordon couldn’t convince a company to manufacture them because it was thought there was little market for them. Finally, in 1949, Gordon was able to sell the idea to Robinson and Sons, a company that was one of the first to make disposable sanitary napkins. After a slow start, Paddi’s became quite popular, which led other companies to tweak Gordon’s two-part design and release their own disposable diapers. In fact, it wasn’t until 1961, when Pampers were introduced, that the completely disposable diaper became the norm.
Read the rest of the story of the disposable diaper, plus the history of other baby products such as the pacifier, stroller, and baby monitor at mental_floss. Link
St. Patrick's Day is Sunday and green seems to be the theme this month. So, in honor of this pinch worthy holiday, I share with you my son's new favorite green treat: Green eggs, hold the ham.
Make the pudding according to box directions. Add green food coloring to the pudding. Plate the pudding and put a vanilla wafer cookie in the center. Yes, it's really that simple. The best part, the little kids can participate in every step of the process.
Don't go patting me on the back for this simple and kid friendly recipe just yet. I must sadly confess it was not really my idea. This recipe was taught to my son by some wonderful and creative preschool teachers. I am just the grateful recipient of my son's new found culinary expertise.
Happy family cooking! Oh, and my son would like me to wish you all a very, "Happy Green Leprechaun's Day."
Before my children were born, I held with Thomas Sowell's view that "Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late." Practical experience as a parent has only confirmed this view. Now a psychological study provides evidence that babies may look innocent, but aren't:
A University of B.C.-led psychology study found that infants as young as nine-months-old embrace those who pick on individuals who don’t share their preferences.
Study lead author Kiley Hamlin said the findings reveal that babies are constantly busy assessing their surroundings, trying to determine who their friends and enemies are. [...]
The youngsters were then shown a puppet show where the character demonstrated the same food preference as the baby. Another puppet demonstrated the opposite preference.
The puppets harmed, helped or acted neutrally towards the puppets with different or similar food preferences.
Results showed that the babies far preferred the puppets who harmed the puppet with the opposite food preferences to their own. One baby even planted a kiss on the puppet she liked. [...]
Hamlin said the findings suggest that babies feel something like schaudenfreude, a German term describing the pleasure experienced when someone you dislike or consider threatening experiences harm.
Link -via Dave Barry | Photo: Tom Check
The Yitzhak Rabin High School in Kfar Saba, Israel, collected information from teachers on junior class students, supposedly to identify troublemakers ahead of a field trip to Poland. The teacher collating the information on a spreadsheet accidentally emailed the internal document to the students who signed up for the trip.
Though some students were described as "pleasant" and "quiet," many others were given insulting labels such as "big baby," "sicko," and "not too bright."
One student was said to "have a voice like a 4-year-old girl," while another was flagged for having "a thing" for boys.
Students showed up at the school this morning with their individual put-downs taped to their shirts.
One of the students who found themselves on the infamous spreadsheet said she would have a hard time looking her teachers in the eye after this. "We are very angry," she told YNet.
Israel's Ministry of Education is launching an investigation into the incident. Link -via Daily of the Day
A clapping-type game called "cups" is spreading rapidly among young schoolgirls. The modern revival, with its accompanying song, is considered to have started with Lulu and the Lampshades' video You're Gonna Miss Me. Their routine was included in the movie Pitch Perfect, which was released on video in December. But why are cups and other clapping games so appealing?
The games are encoded with sociocultural significance, said Elizabeth Tucker, a folklorist and English professor at Binghamton University in New York.
They have existed since at least the late 19th century and their functions include teaching dexterity and serving as tools for forming friendships. And new research is showing that these primitive clapping and chanting games have endured around the world, despite competition from hand-held technology.
Kyra Gaunt, a social science professor at Baruch College in New York, researches hand games. There are so many distractions these days, Gaunt said, that hand games are harder for children to master. And as playtime has become more structured — soccer leagues and play dates — students are discovering the games in different ways, often through music classes, movies and, of course, on the Web.
The spread is easy to explain: you see it, and you say, "That's neat! I wanna learn to do that." Luisa Gerstein of Lulu and the Lampshades said she doesn't know who invented cups, as she had learned it years earlier in school. Some things never change. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
(Image credit: Matt McClain/Washington Post)
Two-year-old Oscar gets his first ride in a wind tunnel, the kind people use to train for skydiving. He sure does have fun! -via Daily of the Day
In a kids-division dance battle, 6-year-old Bgirl Terra owns the crowd at Chelles Battle Pro 2013 on Saturday. Her somewhat older opponent isn't bad, either. -via Viral Viral Videos
Raising Children of the Korn requires a daily dose of nu metal, which is thankfully captured for posterity in this YouTube clip by XxSassahmaxX. Here are 3-year-old Lukas Payne and his older sister Serene rocking out to Falling Away From Me while on a road trip.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] (Love that? Watch 'em rock out to TENSION) - via Daily Picks and Flicks
Barbie has a new dress embedded with LEDs! The "digital dress" has several pre-programmed patterns and an interactive mode with touch screen technology, plus a sound activated mode. Look for the Barbie doll with the digital dress for $50 in August. You glow, girl! -via Geekologie
How far would you go to have your husband's baby? Are you smart enough or brave enough to try to break through one of the toughest prison systems in the world?
Sure it sounds like a plot of some strange, future Oscar nominated movie, but according to NBC News savy Palestinian women are actually breaking their husband's sperm out of Israeli prisons in order to concieve. How are they smuggling sperm out of a prison where every visitor is subjected to several layers of security checks? They won't exactly tell. They don't want to stop the flow of sperm and baby dreams. What they will say is that is a very calculated and planned manuever that typical includes Mother-in-Laws and taxis waiting to speed them off to an IVF clinic.
The clinic won't confirm how procedures they have performed. Many of the Dads and Dads-to-be are servring multiple life sentences for terrorist acts. The clinic will only say that they are doing this to help the wives.
“We are doing this to help these ladies because we feel as doctors that the wives of prisoners pay a very high price,” Abu Khaizaran said without revealing how many other such procedures he had conducted. “She has to wait for her husband, sometimes she can spend her lovely youth just waiting. And by the time her husband is out, many of them will not be able to have babies.”
John Ray of NBC News has the story: Link
