I have a hard time just getting my Christmas tree straight in its container, but, of course, Superman has no such issues. Just look at this lovely little elf (better known as Dizzytrist on Reddit) beside her super Christmas tree held up by a miniature Superman. 

Looking at the presents on the roof and the upside down stockings though, maybe I'm just misreading the whole situation and maybe the real magic is the woman, her dog and a pointsetta poised firmly on the ceiling. Either way, gravity seems to be a tricky thing in this photo.

Via Nerd Approved

(Photo: Nick Mattlock)

They look like ice shelves, but that's not what's happening in this photo. A wire fence stretches along the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland, UK. The wind blew straight at the fence from the right. Ice particles gradually built up along the wire. A spokesman for the Met Office, which is the UK's weather bureau, explained to the BBC:

There has to be a strong wind, temperatures have to be between plus one Celsius and minus one Celsius and there has to be plenty of moisture. This can either be from water vapour in the air, from snowfall or from freezing rain. The wind blows the moisture over the object, in this case the fence, and it freezes, building up a thick layer of ice on the windward side. This means that the wind was actually blowing from the right to the left of the photo.

-via Twisted Sifter

(Photo: Dac)

I've love to visit Denmark someday. I've heard that it's a beautiful country and that its capital, Copenhagen, is the crown jewel of Europe. Photos of architectural marvels like this one certainly encourage my ambition. This is the Cykelslagen--the Bicycle Snake. It's a 257 yard long bridge for bike riders that connects Islands Brygge and Vestbro, two neighborhoods in the city. The architecture firm Dissing+Weitling designed the Cykeslagen, which opened for traffic this year.

(Photo: Architzer)

This year a stunning breakthrough in reproductive health occurred: a woman was able to give birth with a transplanted uterus. The 36-year-old Swedish woman was born without a uterus, a condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. She was one of nine Swedish women who had uterine transplants from 2012-2013. The uterus was donated by a 61-year-old family friend of the patient. The birth gives hope to mothers without uteruses or those with damaged uteruses who desire to carry children.

Read more about the birth here. This story is only one of numerous astounding scientific breakthroughs in 2014. Read about others here. 

Image: The Lancet

The Milwaukee Recreation Department shared this photograph of some enterprising young men who figured out how to ride their bikes on ice -just replace to front wheel with a skate blade. What could possibly go wrong? The photo is uncaptioned, but appears to be from the 1930s. And here’s a snippet of film:

(YouTube link)

We don’t know for sure, but we imagine a good time was had by all ...but only until someone loses an eye! -Thanks, Brian Hoffer!

It's hard to pinpoint the factors that combine to become a lasting internet meme. But an engaging picture is usually part of the equation. In the case of the meme above, an adorable picture of Sammy Griner taken by his photographer mother Laney was the photo that launched a million "Success Kid" meme graphics. 

Sammy wasn't yet one year old when his mom snapped a picture of him on the beach, a handful of sand clenched tightly in his little hand. Laney posted the picture to Flickr in 2007, with the caption "Why I Oughta..." and, after years of making the internet rounds, a meme was born. Virgin Media has since purchased the rights to Sammy's picture to use it on UK billboards, and Vitamin Water used the photo in an advertisement. Success Kid sounds about right!

Read about other regular people who became memes at Mental Floss. 

Matt Bradley, 23, a chef from Warwickshire, England, asked his girlfriend Hannah to marry him. Hannah accepted, and the couple began to dream of their life together. When they visualized their future, Matt and Hannah realized that part of the picture included the two of them being fit and healthy. At the time, Matt weighed 258, and Hannah was overweight as well. 

Together, the couple began carefully planning their meals, incorporating more servings of vegetables. Matt, who had become inactive in recent years, took up running, eventually working up to a 10K. 
By the time their wedding date arrived, Matt had lost 92 pounds, and Hannah had dropped 41. Not only did they look stunning on their special day, but they worked together to achieve a goal that didn't come easily. It looks like Matt and Hannah have a great start on the teamwork required for a happy marriage. 

Via Elite Daily. Images Credit: Chris Fossey (except where watermarked).

This phenomenal athlete is Maibam Itomba Meitei of Imphal, India. For 14 years, he's trained for this task: doing more pinkie finger pull-ups than anyone else in the world. He weighs only 120 pounds, but that's muscle--especially in two of his fingers.

To earn his record, he had to start from a hanging position on the bar, then lift his chin over the bar, then fully extend his arms again. In 27 seconds, he did this 16 times!

(Video Link)

-via Technabob

(Photo via perc10)

How can you prevent your kid from spending too much time playing video games? Back in 1989, parents could physically lock down a gaming console with a combination lock built for that purpose. Tom Lowe, the president of Safe Care Products, invented it when the 14-year old son of one of his friends stayed up all night playing games. The company sold at least 25,000 of them.

(Photo via Nerd Farm)

But perhaps physically locking a gaming console isn't the right approach. If you want to raise your children to have a healthy attitude to work, play, and you, then consider this advice by redditor GumdropGoober.

-via Huffignton Post

(Photo: PeanutbutterPirate)

The Apple Watch, which premiered yesterday, is allegedly a revolution in wearable computing. But it seems really ordinary.

I can't get the WiFi to work. Maybe it was a bad idea for forego the protection plan.

-via Tastefully Offensive

Yoshio, a staff writer for the Japanese division of RocketNews24, visited a Target store in the United States. There, he found a technological marvel: an escalator built for hauling shopping carts up and down floors. It was right next to the step escalator. Just push your shopping cart in and it will ride up to the top.

(Video Link)

Yoshio was tremendously impressed as he has never seen anything like this in his home country.

And, honestly, neither have I. I've lived in the United States all of my life and I've never heard of one of these things, let alone seen one. Have I just not been going to the right stores?

The only big box retailers that I've been to have been built on a single level. Perhaps these shopping cart escalators are more common in densely-populated areas where it's necessary to build vertically rather than horizontally.

(Through Time t-shirt now on sale at the NeatoShop)

At Ask Reddit, nepat1248 asks:

What is a completely rational sentence you could speak today, that if you said 20 years ago, people would think you were insane?

This is a fun question! Many people offered references to how technology has changed our daily lives. AI0 writes:

I store my contacts in the cloud.

Saintarium comments on the dystopian horror that we currently live in:

"I can't wait for Disney to finish making the next Avengers and Star Wars movies!"

Who could have predicted that Facebook would exist? Not sp0rk_walker:

All those people from high school you never thought you would see again? Well you still won't talk to them but you will see pictures of their kids every day.

Bkvm96 is ready to lead a cult:

"I have 2000 followers!"

GalaxyAwesome clicked on the wrong button:

Aw man, I accidentally liked her photo.

TheMobHasSpoken points out that, culturally speaking, we've advanced in some ways:

"You know what really transcends the age and gender demographic it was designed for? My Little Pony."

What confusing sentences can you write?

Do you need to get in touch with your kids? There's an app for that.

One day, Texas mom* Sharon Standifird tried to call her teenage children who were gallivanting about away from home. They ignored her calls and texts. Stanifird became worried. Although her kids were okay, she had no reason to think that.

When her kids got back home, Stanifird decided to put an end to this problem. She worked with app developers to build an app that would lock her kids' phones until they called her and got a password from her verbally. They can call 911 and they can call her. But that's it.

The app is called Ignore No More. It's available for Android devices. Is it any good? Stanifird's son, Bradley, likes the idea--in theory:

Um, well I thought it was a good idea, but for other people, not me.

-via Gizmodo | Images: Phandroid

*After blogging for a few years, I've learned that Texas Mom is the opposite of Florida Man. Texas Mom news stories are always great.

(Photo of Vanessa DeLeon and her family by Malini Basu)

"At first I was like, oh my God. I can't believe I'm one of those ladies that has baby at one of those weird random places," said Vanessa DeLeon.

Yet this was Ms. DeLeon's fate. She is similar to the elementary school teacher who gave birth in her own classroom. But the mother in this story from Pasadena, Texas didn't work at the school. She went there to register her son Alexis for pre-kindergarten. While doing so, she went into labor.

Fortunately, the school nurse, Ashleigh Morris, was present. She was on her second day on the job. KHOU describes the event:

"This is our makeshift labor and delivery room for the day," said Moore. "She layed down right here. She was screaming."

With the help of the principal and school officer, they delivered the baby. Minutes later, little Geovani came into the world. They used a string to cut the umbilical cord.

With no towels or blankets in school, they needed something to wrap the baby in.

"Ashleigh is over there and she is saying I need t-shirts, we are just grabbing them and throwing to her," said Principal Libby Escalante.

Mommy and baby are healthy.

And Alexis even got a spot in pre-K.

-Thanks, Wifey!

(Photo: Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR)

When a child's father is sent to prison, it may be years before the child gets to see that man again. Traveling great distances for visits can be expensive. That's why Hope House was founded in 1998. It's an organization that conducts summer camps for the children of inmates. They do fun outdoor activities and crafts. And every day, they visit and reconnect with their fathers behind the prison walls.

(Photo: Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR)

Hope House operates two camps in Maryland, one in North Carolina, and partners with similar programs in California, Texas, and New Hampshire. Inmates can apply to participate after a year of good behavior and completing a parenting class.

Shereen Marisol of National Public Radio visited one of these camps in Maryland. You can listen to audio of her interviews with children and program directors here.

-via Lawrence E. Forbes