This three-year-old has read the manual: Deny, deny, deny, even when confronted with overwhelming evidence, deny again. Who are you gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes? His mom says:
After I filmed it we had a VERY long talk about the difference between telling the truth and not telling the truth. He has an amazing imagination and loves to tell us stories. I saw this as a sweet moment, something that every child goes through...where they try to push the boundaries to see how far they can go. And I thought I'd share it with my friends and family. And apparently, the world seems to enjoy it, too. We are currently working on the difference, and he is doing really well. :)
Smithsonian's Threaded blog is publishing a series on the flappers of the Roaring Twenties. The introduction post explains some of the reasons young women changed their style so dramatically as the 1920s dawned. Part two addresses the rise of makeup, which was not all that common earlier.
In the decades before the Roaring Twenties, nice girls didn’t wear makeup. But that changed when flappers began applying cosmetics that were meant to be noticed, a reaction to the subdued and feminine pre-war Victorian attitudes and styles typified by the classic Gibson girl.
Before the 1920s, makeup was a real pain to put on. It’s no wonder women kept it to a minimum. The tubes, brushes and compacts we take for granted today hadn’t yet been invented. Innovations in cosmetics in the ’20s made it much easier for women to experiment with new looks. And with the increasing popularity of movies, women could mimic the stars—like Joan Crawford, Mae Murray and Clara Bow, an American actress who epitomized the flapper’s spitfire attitude and heavily made-up appearance.
Read how technical innovations made different kinds of makeup convenient for women at Threaded. Link
And check back for future posts on flappers in the series. Link
Spencer Watson competes in the Open Individual Indoor Unlimited competition at the 12th Annual Windless Kite Festival. This is a new thing to me -sort of like dance mixed with puppetry, but it's mesmerizing to watch. -via Metafilter
Three days until the TV series The Walking Dead returns after a three-month absence! To get you ready, mental_floss presents a quiz that will clue you in on just how much you've already forgotten about seasons one and two. Here's the challenge: can you name all the named characters who died in seasons one and two? There are sixteen of them. I have to admit that I recall their deaths better than I recall the names, because I could only come up with eight. Maybe you'll do better: you have five minutes from the time you enter the first answer. The picture here won't help; it's from season three. Link
In the years before World War I, America faced a terrifying enemy on the home front: yoga.
On the morning of Tuesday, may 3, 1910, New York City's newspapers carried fresh headlines about a midnight police raid on an Upper West side yoga school. "He Says He's A Swami," the New York Herald wrote. "His Students in Tights," added a scandalized Tribune. That morning, Pierre Bernard, a yoga teacher from the Midwest, found himself behind bars, enmeshed in a scandal that would tarnish his name -and the practice of yoga- for decades. By the end of the week, the story of "the Great Oom" was national news.
Bernard was charged with abduction. In the legal language of 1910, he was said to have "inveigled and enticed" one of his students, 19-year-old Zelia Hopp. In truth, Bernard was the young lady's guru. With the blessing of Hopp's parents, he had been teaching her basic breath control and hatha yoga postures to help with her heart condition. Hopp was just one of dozens of wealthy disciples who were paying the mysterious stranger to impart secrets from the East -and perhaps a little extra. Was Bernard a doctor? A cad? An authentic guru? When he appeared in court after the raid, the first thing the puzzled judge wanted to know was, "What is this man?"
THE TEMPLE OF OOM
America's first yogi was born Perry Arnold Baker in Leon, Iowa, in 1876. As a boy, he loved reading, especially books about spirituality, hypnotism, and the occult. In 1889 he met a master of all these things, a Syrian-Indian teacher of Tantric yoga named Sylvais Hamati. Hamati believed that the body is divine, and the practice of hatha yoga is central to its sanctification. Along with postures and pranayama (proper breathing), his teachings included sex rites, magic, and the worship of the goddess Shakti.
You may be really happy that a friend is planning her wedding, and you might even have a gift picked out -but then comes the news: you didn't make the cut for the guest list. Trend-watchers are seeing more and more weddings that include the wedding planner sending out notices to friends to confirm that they are not expected to attend. The most likely reason is that smaller guest lists mean fewer costs.
“Nine out of 10 times, it’s because of lack of space – and the couple feels super guilty,” Tatiana Byron, founder of event planning service The Wedding Salon, told TODAY.com. “These are usually people they’re friendly with, but not close to.”
Tatiana’s clients have done everything from personally e-mailing and sending cards to acquaintances to having their wedding planner do the dirty work for them – call and apologize on the couple’s behalf. The response? An unsurprising mix of disappointment and anger.
“Some of their friends complain and criticize the couple, thinking the planner won’t tell the client,” explained Byron. As for those who deliver the bad news personally, it usually becomes a game of throwing the significant other under the bus. “The groom blames the bride, and the bride blames the groom.”
How about this idea: don't plan such an expensive wedding that you can't have all your friends there. Link -via Digg
It isn't the first time this joke has been made, but there's something very appealing about the image. Does anyone know who created it? Link -via Geeks Are Sexy
Hila Ben-Baruch parked her car on the street outside her home in Tel Aviv, Israel. Later the same day, she was shocked to find that her car had been towed away, and the parking spot was now designated as a handicapped parking space! Apparently, the lines had been painted while her car was still parked in the spot. When she called the municipal call center about it, they accused her of lying and said she would have to pay 350 shekels ($95) to get her car back, plus the fine for parking in a handicap space.
Ben-Baruch's Facebook post about the incident went viral. Refusing to give up, Ben-Baruch went to an office building overlooking the parking spot and obtained security camera footage.
In the footage, a pair of Tel Aviv municipal workers are seen painting the spot with Ben-Baruch's car still there. Shortly thereafter, a tow truck comes to take Ben-Baruch's car away.
Confronted with the evidence, city officials rescinded the fine and towing fee, and apologized. Link -via Arbroath
It's been three years since we first told you about Axe Cop, the collaboration between then-5-year-old Malachai Nicolle who made up the stories and his comic artist brother Ethan Nicolle. The idea went from webcomic to print to an internet animation series and soon it will be on TV. A new line of toys was unveiled at the New York Toy Fair in conjunction with the new Fox cartoon Axe Cop. The toy company Mezco will produce 3.75 inch figures and plush characters. Shown here is the T. rex with machine gun arms. See otehrs at Toys News International. Link -via Boing Boing
See what goes on at the Australian Bat Clinic and Wildlife Trauma Center. Trish Wimberley cares for orphaned baby bats that need 24-hour care. It's a tough job, but infinitely rewarding. Baby bats can be so cute! Link -via Viral Viral Videos
Supersleuth and Bathroom Reader Institute stalwart Jay Newman has a batch of simple yet compelling puzzles. See if you can figure them out before you peek at the answers!
Uncle John gave Amy this challenge: "In the hallway there are three light switches," he said. "And in the library there are three lamps. You may enter the library only once -the lamps must be turned off when you do. At no time until you enter can you can you open the door to see into the library. Your job is to figure out which switch corresponds to which lamp."
"Easy," said Amy.
How did she do it?
2. MYSTERY JOB
Brian works at a place with thousands of products, some of them very expensive. People take his products without paying for them -as many as they can carry- and then just walk out. All that Brian requests of his customers is that they keep their mouths shut.
Where does Brian woirk?
3. SIDE TO SIDE
Uncle John stood on one side of a river; his dog, Porter, stood on the opposite side. "Come here, Porter!" said Uncle John. Although there were no boats or bridges, Porter crossed the river without getting wet. How?
4. SPECIAL NUMBER
Math usually stumps Thom, but when Uncle John showed him this number, he knew right away what makes it unique. Do you?
8,549,176,320
5. TIME PIECES
"Everyone knows that the sundial is the timepiece with the fewest moving parts," Jay told Julia. "Do you know what timepiece has the most moving parts?" She did. Do you?
6. WORDPLAY
"Weird Nate sent me this list of words," said Uncle John. "He says there's something unusual about them. But what?" Jay figured it out. Can you?
It's been a few days, and you've been meaning to get around to watching all 50+ ads from the Super Bowl …but haven't yet. Luckily, the remix is here, featuring only the most outrageous clips from all the ads in one handy video by Jeremiah Warren. -Thanks, Jeremiah!
My disabled goldfish scooting around in her newly redesigned sling. She has trouble maintaining buoyancy on her own. She looks a little silly, but it is better than lying at the bottom of the tank all day!
I think it's sweet. And this goldfish is lucky to have an owner concerned with its quality of life instead of flushing a defective fish down the toilet. -via Arbroath
