Compared to their peers whose parents are born in the United States, almost universally, adult children of immigrants show more upward economic mobility. Economic ability is the ability of an individual or a family to improve (upward) or worsen (downward) their economic status.

Indeed, a new working paper by Stanford University’s Ran Abramitzky; Princeton University’s Leah Platt Boustan and Elisa Jácome; and the University of California Davis’ Santiago Pérez finds that this is especially true for the lowest-income immigrants and remains true for the most recent cohorts for which data is available.

Drawing from census data, publicly available administrative data, and federal income tax data, they traced the income levels of millions of fathers and sons over time dating back to 1880. The children of immigrants climbed higher in the income rankings than those born to US natives across history and in 44 of the 47 sending countries they studied.

The paper contradicts President Donald Trump’s rhetoric suggesting that immigrants drain the social safety net rather than pulling themselves up and that immigrants from a select few countries are more desirable than others. On that basis, the president has pursued numerous policies aimed at preventing low-income immigrants, particularly those from what he has referred to as “shithole countries,” from entering and settling in the US.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Have you ever seen a popcorn popping? Maybe you have, and it is a fun thing to watch. But have you seen a popcorn popping 1,250 times slower than real time? You probably haven’t. If I were to describe it, it’s not just a fun thing to watch; it is a magnificent experience.

See the video for yourself, and tell us your thoughts about it.

(Video Credit: Warped Perception/ YouTube)

Dogs love to ride in a car. This dog may not be knowledgable about infrastructure and highway standards, but he is incredibly aware of where he is and what's going on outside. Every time the car passes under a bridge, he ducks his head! -via Laughing Squid

I'm sorry, I don't have any dessert to offer you, how about a nice raw hamburger patty? Yeah, it looks straight out of the butcher shop, but they taste just like Rice Krispy treats- because that's what they are. Michel Devon cooked up this food illusion for Halloween, but there's no reason to restrict such a glorious prank to one day of the year! See the process of making these step-by-step in an imgur gallery. They may come in handy at Thanksgiving. -via Boing Boing

My kids think that we should definitely get a rocking couch, but my wife is less enthused. There are, I suppose, potential drawbacks once you're done using it as a seesaw.

Patrick Knoch of Extranorm, a design studio in Paris, calls this piece Équilibriste. He says that "It creates communication between people, a physical, lively and spontaneous communication." Surely you couldn't find a better use for the $5,269.28 price.

-via Core 77

By the end of the movie Carrie, Stephen King's character is covered with blood in a terrible prank. That's when she...cuts loose.

It's an iconic scene in American film and it makes for a pretty good costume. So, for Halloween, Sidney Wolfe of Ohio put on a white prom dress and covered herself with fake blood. Then, driving home from a Halloween party, she hit a deer and wrecked her car.

Wolfe has the presence of mind to realize that her appearance might distress first responders. NBC News reports:

She said she warned a 911 dispatcher that when police and medics arrived, she would look more mangled than she actually was. "I said to the responder that I am in full Halloween makeup and don't want them to be frightened," she said.

But the memo wasn't relayed.

Indeed not.

Wolfe wrote in a now-viral tweet that "everyone who was a first responder thought I was dead," adding an apology in all caps.

She said an additional officer who showed up later while she was "making conversation with people" came over to the group imploring, "I hate to interrupt but don’t you guys think she needs medical assistance?”

-via Dave Barry

Thomas Morton was a businessman, not a religious refugee. But he sailed to the Plymouth Colony in 1624 to settle in the New World. Morton didn't see eye-to-eye with the strict, isolationist Puritans, and they saw him as "a dandy and a playboy.” It wasn't long before Morton left Plymouth to start his own community, with like-minded individuals and Native Americans who enjoyed fun, freedom, and fellowship that they couldn't get with the Puritans.

The Puritan authorities didn’t see Merrymount as a free-wheeling annoyance; they saw an existential threat. The problem wasn’t only that Morton was taking goods and commerce away from Plymouth, but that he was giving that business to the Native Americans, including trading guns to the Algonquins. With Plymouth’s monopoly dissolved and its perceived enemies armed, Morton had perhaps done more than anyone else to undermine the Puritan project in Massachusetts. Worse yet, in the words of Plymouth’s governor William Bradford, Morton condoned “dancing and frisking together” with the Native Americans—activities that were banned even without Native American participation. It was basically an early colonial version of Footloose. Governor Bradford nicknamed Morton the “Lord of Misrule,” and it’s not hard to imagine him wearing that title like a crown.

There could be no greater symbol of such misrule than Morton’s maypole. Reaching 80 feet into the air, the structure conjured all the vile, virile vices of Merry England that the Puritans had hoped to leave behind.

The Puritans still held power, so they invaded Merrymount, arrested Morton, and banished him from the colonies. Morton retaliated by writing a three-volume book, New English Canaan, telling exactly what he thought of the Puritans. It was a scandalous expose that Puritans found slanderous. Read about Morton and his book at Atlas Obscura.

(Unrelated image credit: KenL)

You know someone is talented when he does an accurate impression of another person. But I believe there is something better than this one, and that is when a person can impersonate AND sing at the same time. Now that’s what I call extremely and incredibly talented person.

Check out Keegan-Michael Key’s Impression of Bob Marley, R.E.M, and Frank Sinatra, and be the one to judge.

What are your thoughts about this one? 

(Image Credit: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon/ YouTube)

Mister Rogers' Sticky Notes

Could it be yours? Would it be yours? Will you make it your Sticky Note Set?

Now you can leave neighborly notes for special coworkers, family, and friends with the Mister Rogers' Sticky Notes from the NeatoShop. This helpful little set features a selection of sticky notes with images from your favorite educational children's television series.

Can you spot some of your favorite neighborhood friends? It looks like Daniel Striped Tiger, King Friday XIII, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, X the Owl, Trolley, and of course Mr. Rogers and his iconic comfy sweater are all here to help give your messages some much needed cheer. 

The holidays are right around the corner. The Mister Rogers' Sticky Notes make a considerate stocking stuffer or a cordial office gift. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Office & Desk stuff. New items arriving all the time. 

Don't forget to stop by the store to see our large selection of customizable apparel and bags. We feature the work of amazing indie artists. We specialize curvy and Big and Tall sizes. We carry baby 6 months all the way to adult 10 XL shirts. We know that fun, fabulous, and neighborly people come in every size.

This is Hellvetica — a font that tells you to “kern in hell.” It’s a very bad, if not evil, version of the Helvetica typeface family. Created by Zack Roif and Matthew Woodward, the font has questionable kerning properties that will surely give any graphic designer nightmares.

Kerning, which adjusts the spaces between letters based on how they’re shaped, is usually applied to make the text more pleasing. However, Hellvetica uses it to distort words, making text difficult to read by randomizing the spaces between characters.

More details about this one over at DesignBoom.

Do you dare use this font?

(Image Credit: Zack Roif, Matthew Woodward/ DesignBoom)

Picture this scene for a moment. You just arrived home one afternoon, and you expect to have a relaxing evening. As you headed to your bedroom, you flick the light on, and then suddenly you get chills down your spine. There, on your bed, you find a 7-foot-long carpet python chilling on your bed. What would you do next?

This is what just happened to a woman in Nambour, Australia.

“Let’s just say there was a lot of yelling and screaming,” Stuart McKenzie, of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7, wrote on Facebook. 

The woman immediately ran out of the house and contacted McKenzie, and absolutely refused to go back inside until the snake was safely removed. When McKenzie arrived she was still outside, patiently waiting very far away from the door.

Thankfully, while the woman was obviously not a huge fan of snakes, McKenzie was, and he was able to get the snake out of the house and get it back outside where it would be “safer and more at home.”

With a little investigating, he was able to determine that the snake had gotten inside through a rip in the fly screen on the front door.

The woman doubtless set to work fixing the hole in her door right away — and will probably be checking under her bed before going to sleep for a while.

(Image Credit: Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7/ Facebook)

Before Momofuku Ando released his groundbreaking Cup Noodle in 1971, he first went on a fact-finding mission to America. In the foreign land, he found out that the Americans were taking his previous invention, the chicken noodle, breaking it in half, and putting it in a cup instead of a bowl. This is, or at least this is what’s said to be, where he got the inspiration to create Nissin’s Cup Noodle, which would be enjoyed by people all around the world. 

Now, almost exactly 48 years later, Nissin is once again releasing what may perhaps be another groundbreaking invention — a fork. But what’s so special about this fork?

Nissin teamed up with design firm nendo, who created an obsessively designed fork based on hours of user observation. Based on the angle of the arm and the shape of the Cup Noodle dish, nendo derived the optimal angle – 128 degrees – for scooping up noodles. But they didn’t stop there. The tip and sides of the fork are the exact same angle as the circular cup that holds the noodle. Small bumps along the teeth of the fork to help hook noodles. The fork itself is shaped like a small pocket to catch toppings and just the right amount of soup. The handle of the fork is not only ergonomically designed but it also has ribbed backside which acts as a clip to secure the lid while you’re waiting for the hot water to cook the noodles. Then they created one for both lefties and righties.

The limited edition of 3000 forks will come with any set of 3 or 5 cup noodles (625 – 726 yen) [$5.77 - $6.71] and will be available on Nissin’s website starting October 30, 2019 at 10:00 AM Japan time.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Video Credit: YouTube)

First off, we were supposed to learn as little children that you don't eat gum at all. You chew it, and eventually spit it out. But is chewing a 30-year-old piece of gum any safer than eating it? Brian VanHooker collects vintage baseball cards, which often came in a pack of gum. Baseball cards originated as a premium for buying another product, say, cigarettes, or gum for the kids. Eventually, the cards became more prized than the gum, and finally in 1991, Topps removed the gum from its packs of cards. Hooker usually threw away the gum from vintage packs he bought, but occasionally thought of biting into one.

I don’t really know why. While I fondly recall Big League Chew and Bubble Tape as some of the few bright spots in my embarrassingly bad, miserable days in Little League, I have no such regard for the gum I’d find in trading card packs. While I always ate it, I remember it being hard and brittle and the flavor never lasted nearly as long as I’d hoped. It’s like that shitty Bazooka bubble gum, only not as good. But for some reason, as I open up these trading card packs as a 33-year-old man, I’m tempted.

But first, he decided to contact some food safety experts about the idea. Read what he found out at Mel magazine. -via Damn Interesting

A bright full moon can be seen in the background as a songbird perches on a branch. Moments later, she starts singing and spreads her wings. In the next panel, a squirrel is seen to be observing the majestic singing of the songbird. The squirrel turns around, and it turns out that he is the conductor. He waves his hands, signalling the forest creatures. Turtles, frogs, hedgehogs, and even the fish, gather around him and they sing in unison.

The animation, titled Maestro, was created by Illogic.

In an interview with Vimeo, the team explained that they sought to balance imaginativeness with believability within the confines of their realistic universe. Illogic is based in Montpellier, France, where they recently opened an animation studio called Bloom Pictures.

See the full video over at Colossal.

(Image Credit: Bloom Pictures/ Colossal)

There are three types of dingos in Australia: tropical, inland, and alpine, not including dogs that are a mix of dingos and domestic breeds. The alpine dingo is the rarest, and the most threatened. So it's quite surprising to find one in a backyard in Wandiligong, Victoria. The residents who found him just considered him a lost puppy.  

At the time the residents thought the animal may have been a fox or dog, but after looking after the animal for 24 hours they took the pup to the Alpine Animal Hospital.

"He was a puppy when he was brought to us, so about eight to ten weeks [of age]," Veterinarian Dr Bec Day said.

"He had a mark on his back [from what is believed to be an eagle's claws] and there were no other pups nearby. The resident hadn't heard any [other dingos] calling. So he was just a lonely little soul sitting in a backyard.

The pup was named Wandi, after the town, although he should have been named Lucky after surviving a kidnapping by eagle and then the drop to the ground. A DNA test shows that Wandi is a purebred alpine dingo, which makes him valuable to the Australian Dingo Foundation. Wandi has a new home at their sanctuary, where he gets to live among other dingos and will become part of their breeding program. Read Wandi's story at ABC.  -via Metafilter