John Farrier's Blog Posts

Father Tries to Teach Baby to Laugh Diabolically, Fails


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If you're one of my Facebook friends, then you know that I've been trying to teach my toddler to laugh diabolically. It's not really working well. Oh, she's laughing. But not with that kind of deep-throated cackle that a well-rounded adult needs when she goes out into the world.

This father, being a responsible sort, is trying to get his baby started on this essential life skill at a very early age. The baby is displeased by his efforts. -via reddit

Superheroes Save Lost Child at Comic-Con



People ask me, "John, why do you prefer DC to Marvel?" Well, this. I mean, do you really think that Wolverine would bother?

This kid had lost his dad in the crowd, and freaked out until he saw the Flash and Wonder Woman. He went up to the Flash to ask for help, because he knows him


Now to be clear: these were just cosplayers, not the real Flash and Wonder Woman. Link -via Fanboy

Tooth Fairy Payout Drops Precipitously

According to a new study conducted by the credit card company Visa, even the Tooth Fairy has been impacted by the recession. The per tooth payout has dropped quite a bit:

The study found that the average price per tooth dropped to $2.60 this year from $3 in 2010.

On the East Coast, last year’s highest-paid children are now the lowest paid ones. The price of a tooth dropped 38 percent to $2.10. In the South, children also took a big hit to their piggy banks as the price was cut 21 percent to $2.60.

The price for teeth in the Midwest and West Coast remained stable. Children in the Midwest noticed a decline of 3 percent, or 10 cents, to $2.80. While West Coast youngsters actually saw the price edge up to $2.80 from last year’s $2.70.


Link -via Marketplace| Photo by Flickr user PinkStockPhotos!

Ripped 10-Year Old Kid Is a Professional Trainer

C.J. Senter is only ten years old, but he's already developed an amazing physique and an impressive football record. And beyond those accomplishments, he's teaching other kids to exercise effectively through classes that he conducts himself, as well as training DVDs:

C.J. started working out five years ago when his football coach told him and his teammates to go home over a weekend and get some exercise. He did some push-ups and sit-ups and loved it. Not too long after, he saw a P90X infomercial and loved that too. He's been working out ever since. C.J. does his own routines three times a week, after school and homework, and he's given new names to some old and boring moves, like the burpee, which involves a squat, push-up, and jump. C.J. calls that one the "shredder." He even teaches a class of (mostly older) kids at the gym near where he lives in Locust Grove, Ga.


You can see samples of his fitness videos at the link.

Link | Photo: The Post Game

Kid Infographics


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A Vancouver-based ad agency named Dare created this ad to promote child participation in sports. It makes clever use of the kids' bodies themselves to form infographics that express the dangers of childhood obesity. Agency Website -via Fubiz (Google Translate)

Bulldog Shares Bed with Sleeping Toddler


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This generous bulldog not only makes room for the little boy, but cuddles him, as well. Content warning: do not click the play button if you have a deficient cuteness gland, for it will be overloaded. -via Ace of Spades HQ

Study: Toddlers Can Tell if You're Stupid

A study conducted by Diane Poulin-Dubois of Concordia University has determined that children as young as fourteen months can determine whether or not an adult is a reliable source of information. Testers expressed delight that a toy was in a container, whether or not there really was one. Kids were eventually able to understand that certain testers could not be trusted to accurately report the presence of the toy:

"Infants seem to perceive reliable adults as capable of rational action, whose novel, unfamiliar behaviour is worth imitating," the researchers said. "In contrast, the same behaviour performed by a previously unreliable adult is interpreted as irrational or inefficient, thus not worthy of imitating."


Link -via Marginal Revolution | Photo by Flickr user xlordashx used under Creative Commons license

Milk Truck for Breastfeeding Moms on the Go



Jill Miller, a performance artist, doesn't care for restaurants and other public venues that are hostile to breastfeeding moms. So she has a fanciful Kickstarter project aimed at confronting them. The Milk Truck, when summoned by a mother, will go to the offending business, park outside, and set up a friendly area for women to nurse:

When a woman finds herself in a situation where she is discouraged, harassed, or unwelcome to breastfeed her baby in public, she summons The Milk Truck. The truck arrives to the location of the woman in need and provides her with a shelter for feeding her baby. The woman feeds her child, the shopkeeper who harassed her feels like a dweeb, and the truck does what it does best - creates a spectacle. (Which is, incidently, the very thing that the shopkeeper thought he was trying to avoid. Alas, some people have to learn the hard way.)


Link -via Boing Boing | Miller's Website

Guerrilla Classrooms



The COA (Children's Outing Association) Youth and Family Centers of Milwaukee wants to encourage parents to interact with their children, especially when it comes to learning. So it asked the ad agency Cramer-Krasselt to put together a campaign to do so. The result was a series of public signs and displays that feature puzzles, experiments, and stories. You can view four more at the link. Link -via NotCot | Photo: My Modern Met

Scientists: Whining May Be the World's Most Annoying Sound



Of course, parents have known this for years. But now science confirms that the sound of a whining person is almost impossible to ignore:

Psychologists from SUNY and Clark University put participants through the daft trial of trying to do maths problems while listening to a range of six sounds, including a screeching saw on wood, machine noise, a baby crying, motherese and whining, for a whole minute each. Weirdly, the whining sample actually came from an adult, as child actors could not “act out a sustained whining bout”. Previous research has shown adult and child whining to be similar enough to enable this substitution.

The study subjected both men and women, parents and non-parents, to the tests, who were rewarded for their troubles with either M&Ms or toy shop vouchers, depending on their childrearing experience.

After having looked at the maths results, the psychologists found that while all “attachment vocalisations” — meaning motherese, crying or whining — caused greater distraction than silence to the participants, a minute of whining resulted in a greater number of mistakes than machine noise or motherese. Furthermore, both parents and non-parents were affected similarly by whining.


Link | Photo by Flickr user emrank used under Creative Commons license

Babies Prefer Picasso to Monet



Researchers at the University of Zurich had twenty-four babies look at paintings by Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. The ones by Picasso usually held their interest longer:

Immediately afterward, the young participants (who were seated on caregivers’ laps) were shown side-by-side images of two paintings — one by each artist. Experimenters observed how much time they spent gazing at each.

Those who had been looking at Monets preferred the Picasso. This was not a surprise; it was something different and interesting. But those who had been looking at Picassos also focused on the Picasso, suggesting “a spontaneous preference” for his work overrode the appeal of novelty.

“This preference appeared to be highly robust,” the researchers write, “and was observed (in follow-up experiments) even in the absence of very obvious artistic features such as bold colors, sharp contrasts, and the presence of figurative object-like elements.”


http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture/everyones-a-critic-babies-prefer-picasso-32221/ -via The Hairpin | Images: Monterey Museum of Art, Cummer Museum of Art

Lion Tries, Fails to Eat Baby Through Viewing Glass


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It's funny, and even the kid's parents are laughing as the kitty cat futilely struggles against the thick glass at the zoo to get a snack. It's also...kinda weird. It's just about the weirdest cute cat YouTube video that I've ever seen.

via Doobybrain

Bert and Ernie Fruit Craft



I really like this kid/parent craft activity by Jill of Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons because, besides being neat, it looks quite achievable for the crafting-challenged. You'll just need to follow a few quite straight-forward directions:

For Ernie....cut a slit towards the bottom for his mouth. Roll up a fruit roll up tightly and then cut part of that for the nose. Cut a small piece for his tongue. Cut a mini marshmallow in half for his eyes. Cut a small raisin for the pupil on the eyes. Cut more of the raisins in half for his hair. Cut the reserved clementine peel for his ears.

For Bert...cut the reserved clementine peel for his nose. Cut the banana peel for his ears. Cut a mini marshmallow for his eyes. Cut a small raisin for the pupil on the eyes. Cut a slit for his mouth. Cut a small piece of fruit roll up for his tongue. Use 2 or 3 raisins for his eye brows. Cut raisins in half for his hair.


Link via Craft

Shrek Baby Beanie



Etsy seller crocheted this Shrek-style ogre (as opposed to, say, a Dungeons & Dragons-style ogre, which would be less cute but more awesome) baby beanie. She notes that it's from "a smoke and pet free home." I've never thought of it before, but that could be a critical selling point to many parents.

Link via Technabob

13-Year Old Invents Burglar Alarm

Laurence Rook, 13, was inspired by a TV show to design a burglar alarm that connects a home's intercom to a cell phone. This way, when a burglar rings the doorbell on a home while casing the area, the homeowner is notified and can speak from the outside intercom as though s/he is actually at home:

The device even produces a small amount of white noise to give any unexpected guest the impression they are speaking to someone inside the house on an intercom system.

The invention, which uses an inbuilt SIM card and existing mobile-phone technology, would also allow homeowners to give instructions to drivers making deliveries at their property.


Laurence has already sold 20,000 units to a telecommunications company.

Link via Blame It on the Voices | Photo: Craig Hibbert

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Profile for John Farrier

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