He's got a lot more facial hair that Lynda Carter did in the role. But that's okay. This man spotted at WonderCon understands that a father shows his daughters how to be heroic.

Link -via io9 | WonderCon

Joanna Krzysztonek of Poland was pregnant with triplets. One of her babies died in a miscarriage, and the other two were in serious danger. Doctors had an idea about to save them, but it required Krzysztonek to hang upside down for two and a half months. She endured this great discomfort and successfully gave birth to the remaining baby boy and girl:

The head of the Wroclaw obstetrics and neo-natal clinic where Krzysztonek gave birth, Mariusz Zimmer, said doctors managed to ease Krzysztonek's contractions, but considered her to be in labor from the birth of the first child.

"This procedure - I mean giving birth - has a beginning and an ending. If the first baby was born that means the birth had started," Zimmer said.

Both babies, Iga and Ignacy, are doing well and doctors anticipate that they will be able to go home soon.

Link -via Oddity Central | Photo: Se.pl

Jennifer Perkins has a great idea for entertaining young children in the summer heat. Her toddler loves dinosaurs, so Perkins gave her a way to play junior paleontologist. Perkins froze toy dinosaurs in a tub of water, then gave her a spoon, a plastic shovel and a toothbrush to dig them out.

Link -via Craft

There are lots of reasons not to leave your keys in your car, but I bet you never really thought about the dangers of joyriding toddlers. Toddlers are a wiley group, especially when they are on a mission to visit their dear old Dad. Here's a story about a little Wisconsin boy who decided to take a car for a trip to see his Dad.

The boy's mother said she was taking care of her other child when the 3-year-old left the trailer and walked across the street.She said she saw the car moving and quickly went over and removed her son from the Dodge Intrepid, where it came to rest after striking the trailer.

(image: Road Signs - Wall Decal)

(YouTube link)

This couple worked for nine months to make the video birth announcement for Amelie Amaya. I think it came out just wonderful! -via Buzzfeed

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Call it a sign of these tough economic times. Round-the-clock childcare is not only a necessity for many working parents, it is quickly becoming a reality.  Daycare facilities like ABC & Me Childcare are now are operating 24-hours a day and open weekends.

If you have never heard of a 24-hour daycare facility before you should really check out this fascinating video featuring ABC & Me Childcare.

 

Randall and Sharon Porter make furniture that seems to leap out of a Dr. Seuss book. These are real, physical, functional pieces of furniture that are made for kids, including beds, dressers and nightstands. But really, if I had them, I'd put them in my bedroom.

Link -via Nag on the Lake

As a Ferengi dad of two kids, it warms my heart to see a child live out the Ninth Rule of Acquisition, "Opportunity plus instinct equals profit." Willow Tufano of Florida has the instinct to recognize profitable opportunities. She's only fourteen years old, but has already become a cunning and successful business owner. Willow started down the latinum road by offering to clean out foreclosed houses. She sold the furniture on Craigslist and has used the money to buy a house:

One day, Willow's mom, Shannon, saw a two-bedroom, concrete-block home on auction for $12,000 — down from $100,000 at the peak of the bubble. Shannon was telling her husband about the house, when Willow piped up.

"I was like, 'What if I bought a house? That would be crazy,' " Willow says.

Willow wound up splitting the house with her mom. Willow plans to buy her mom out in the next few years, and put her name on the title when she turns 18.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/03/09/148218539/this-14-year-old-girl-just-bought-a-house-in-florida -via Boing Boing| Photo: Chana Joffe-Walt/NPR

Virtue ethics is an approach to moral formulation that derives moral decisions from laudable character traits. When Brandon Watson, a professor of philosophy, teaches his students about virtue ethics, he uses the Care Bears as an analogy. Because each Care Bear reflects a character trait, the Bears tend to make moral decisions based on those traits:

Whenever I teach virtue ethics, I tell my students that one can see the strengths of virtue ethics in the Care Bears -- as well as the things usually criticized. For the Care Bears are virtue ethicists. Each Care Bear, and later each Care Bear cousin, reflects an aspect of the virtuous life, or of institutions or practices that contribute to, or have to be negotiated in, virtuous life. Tenderheart Bear represents sympathy, Friend Bear friendship, Cheer Bear good cheer, Grumpy Bear commiseration, Funshine Bear goodnatured play, Love-A-Lot Bear love, Champ Bear sportsmanship; we get things more indirectly with Bedtime Bear, as Care-A-Lot's night watchbear, makes sure people get a good night's sleep so that they can do good things during the day, Wish Bear helps people work towards making wishes come true, Good Luck Bear helps people take advantage of opportunities, Secret Bear looks after secrets among friends (hence the close link to Friend Bear), etc.

There are, however, limits to the analogy:

I always go on to say in class that the Care Bears, like all good virtue ethicists, are cute, cuddly, and preachy; unlike most virtue ethicists, however, they drive cloud cars and shoot rainbows out of symbols on their tummy. That's a highly classified level of virtue technology even Aristotle never managed to discover.

Deontologists can shoot rainbows out of their tummies, but only in straight lines.

Link -via @JoeCarter | Photo: Flickr user sunnraezplace

Welcome to Texas. We do things differently here. If you're a grown man and try to rob Girl Scouts, you'd better be ready for a fight. While Iravia Cotton and Rachel Johnson were selling cookies in front of a Walmart in Fort Bend County, two men grabbed their money jar:

Johnson reportedly said instead of buying cookies, the man grabbed the group's cash box and ran into the car to drive away. Johnson says she grabbed onto the car and her friend ran to help.

"Me and my friend, Rachel, went after the money and then they tried to hit me with the car. I started hitting the boy that was in the passenger seat, so I think he learned his lesson a little bit," Girl Scout Iravia Cotton said, reports KHOU. "And then they dragged my friend Rachel across the street driving off real fast."

The suspects, who were driving a black Toyota Camry, managed to escape with an estimated $200, KHOU reports. They remain on the loose.

Johnson, who sustained minor bumps and bruises, had a message for the cookie thieves.

"Who steals from a Girl Scout? I mean, seriously, it's like the worst thing ever," she reportedly said. "I hope your face hurts from when Iravia punched you -- jerks!"

Donations have poured in, more than making up for the lost cash.

Link -via The Mary Sue | Image: Girl Scouts of the USA

Aya's first birthday party was the biggest blast a baby could hope for. Her mother, Palwaha, arranged for Sesame Street-themed cupcakes, party favors, decorations and -- my favorite -- food trays that look like Elmo, Oscar, and Cookie Monster.

Link | Photo: Uzbin Photography

(YouTube link)

It's no wonder that she knows how to make coffee. Since this machine only makes one cup at a time, she probably sees Mommy makes it a lot! -via The Daily What

Have you ever looked at babies and wondered what they'll do for a living when they grow up? That's the premise behind One Day You Will Be My Child, a series by Paris-based photographer Malo. He shows one baby as a matador, a surfer, a boxer, the Pope and more. If my daughters grew up to be professional wrestlers...well, it would be an adjustment for me.

Link | Photographer's Website

Heather's design is simple and accessible for both kids and non-crafty adults -- like me. You can find her instructions at Dollar Store Crafts, which I think is a great concept for a blog.

Link -via Boing Boing

We tend to think of newborns as being helpless and needy, unable to survive on their own for a day, let alone a few days. But they are surprisingly resilient and you’d be surprised what some babes can make it through. Here are 8 stories of amazing things babies have actually managed to survive through, in most of the cases, completely unscathed.

Be warned: While the following stories are miraculous stories of survival, many of the tales are also quite depressing, particularly those not involving natural disasters. If you are at all sensitive to violence against children, do not continue reading.

Illustrative image via j2dread [Flickr]

A Bullet in the Chest

When one couple in Argentina decided the world was going to end due to global warming, they decided the best thing they could do to protect their children from such a terrible fate was to end their lives. To that point, Francisco Lotero and Miriam Coletti shot their two-year old in the back, their seven-month old in the chest and themselves in the head. Three days later, police showed up after a neighbor let them know about the terrible odor emitting from their apartment.

While the toddler and his parents were definitely deceased, the infant had not only survived a shot to the chest, but also going without food or water for three days. Amazingly, once it was taken to the hospital and treated, its condition started to improve almost immediately and he ended up being completely fine.

Source

A Seven-Story Fall

When an 18-month old fell from a seventh-story window, it almost certainly wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for a number of fortunate circumstances that left him safe and secure in the end. First, an off-duty doctor just happened to be across the street from the building where it occurred and happened to notice the child playing near an open window. Because he was able to see what was about to happen, he was able to run across the street and position himself in the perfect place to catch the flying babe.

The second lucky coincidence was that the awning of the café below the boy’s window just happened to break the day before, so it was still open, even though the café was close that day. Thanks to the awning, the baby was given a movie-esque landing, bouncing off the awning, right into the doctor’s arms. The doc checked him out and noticed he was totally fine despite still falling six stories before crashing onto an awning. As an extra precaution, the baby was taken to a hospital, but the doctor’s initial assessment was correct, the little tike was totally fine in spite of his ordeal.

Source

A Ten-Story Fall