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It is obvious that none of you has the faintest notion of the bitter disappointment each of you has in your own way dished out to us. We are seeing the miserable death throes of the fourth of your collective marriages at the same time we see the advent of a fifth.
— Email from the world’s most disappointed father goes viral(Source: theweek.com)
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In 1927, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade introduced its first balloon: Felix the Cat. Macy’s had no contingency plan for deflating the helium-filled balloon once the parade was over. So organizers decided to just let the balloon float away, expecting it to safely come down to earth after a few days. Instead, it exploded before clearing the city, injuring several New Yorkers.
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According to a new study, U.S. males are starting puberty two years younger than the previous national average age.
“This should perhaps set a standard going forward for being very attentive to puberty in boys and being mindful that they’re developing earlier,” says Dolores J. Lamb, a molecular endocrinologist at Baylor College of Medicine and president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, who wasn’t involved in the study. On the contrary, says lead author Marcia Herman-Giddens, a researcher at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The results shouldn’t be interpreted to establish a “new normal,” says Herman-Giddens. “Just because this is happening doesn’t mean this is normal or healthy.”
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In the first half of a new commercial from Luvs Diapers, a frazzled first-time mom sits alone in a restaurant, struggling to breastfeed her son under a blanket so as not to offend her fellow patrons. Cut to the second half of the clip, and a slightly older and wiser mom is in the same restaurant, this time breastfeeding her second baby in plain view while her firstborn, now a few years older, sits beside her. The shocked waiter can’t take his eyes off the woman’s chest, but the cool-headed and confident mom handles it like a pro, pointing to her face and saying, “Hey, up here.”
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Feel like some peace and quiet while traveling by plane? You’re in luck.
One low-cost airline, AirAsia, will soon offer an adults-only “Quiet Zone” on long-haul flights. Only passengers age 12 or older will be allowed to sit in the first seven rows of the airline’s economy class.
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After assessing years of life-altering injuries, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is urging pediatricians to discourage parents from setting up trampolines at their homes. Here, a look at the numbers behind this risky contraption:
111,851 — Trampoline-related injuries treated in the ER in 2004
97,908 — Trampoline-related injuries treated in 2009
3,100 — Those who were required to remain in the hospital in 2009
10,700 — Children in the U.S. hospitalized every year as a result of bicycle crashes
61,000 — Children in the U.S. injured every year because of skateboarding
75 — Percentage of trampoline-related injuries resulting from multiple people jumping on the mat at the same time
(Source: theweek.com)
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A new study by public health analyst Christine Jackson of the research institute RTI International, along with colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that an unexpectedly high number of mom and dads think they can avoid raising kids who become irresponsible drinkers by exposing them to small amounts of alcohol — a sip of beer, a little wine — at a young age. Is that really a good idea?
“Try and delay exposure to alcohol for as long as possible,” says Ralph Hingson, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research.
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In a stinging report, the Los Angeles Times charges that the Boy Scouts of America concealed the crimes of hundreds of child molesters in its ranks from 1970 to 1991.
In one 1982 case, a Michigan Boy Scout camp director said his bosses, learning of an abuse charge, told him to “keep it quiet” to protect the reputations of the Scouts and the staff member accused of the crime.
In a 1987 casein Milwaukee, local Scout leaders got the help of an influential board leader, a newspaper publisher, to keep the news quiet.
How extensive was the alleged cover-up, and what, if anything, should be done about it now? Read more.
(Source: theweek.com)
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“A cigarette — in a 4-year-old’s mouth?!?”
Toddlers & Tiaras mom Lisa Christian “sent her daughter sashaying on stage in a Grease-themed costume” — with a candy cigarette in her mouth as a prop! She coached the kid, saying, of all things, “Don’t forget to smoke!”
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Critics are buzzing over the dismal performance of The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, a G-rated family film that played in more than 2,000 nearly empty theaters over the holiday weekend. The film comes from writer/producer Kenn Viselman, who distributed the hit children’s series Teletubbies in the United States, and stars a cast of C-List actors seemingly picked at random, including Cloris Leachman, Cary Elwes, and Christopher Lloyd.
The film’s production and marketing costs reportedly exceeded $60 million, but Oogieloves still earned less than $500,000 over the weekend, which makes it the worst-performing wide-release film of all time.
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8-year-old Ashley's Hurricane Rules
Greg Taylor sent his family to Alabama to avoid Hurricane Isaac. He tells CNN he “went to feed the family fish and I found the enclosed scene where my daughter, Ashley, had given good instruction on how her stuffed animal friends should behave during the Hurricane.”
1. Noises: Scoot close to your buddy.
2. Bathroom: Take a buddy.
3. Rules: Follow these rules.
4. When I’m gone: Stay calm. No partys.
5. Fun: Have fun!(Source: CNN)
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Top: Mattel’s affectionately dubbed “Drag Queen” Barbie was made to resemble her cross-dressing designer, Phillipe Blond. She comes complete with a mini dress, a full-length faux fur, and a heavily made up face. “I can already hear the complaints” about this being “an abomination,” says Michele Zipp at The Stir. “Don’t like it? Don’t buy it.
Bottom: Mattel and Nabisco thought they hit marketing gold when they paired America’s favorite doll with its favorite cookie in 1994. Selling in both grocery stores and toy stores, the Caucasian Oreo fun Barbie doll flew off the shelves. When Mattel introduced a black version, it was clear that the company hadn’t given much thought to the fact that the word Oreo can be derogatory — it’s used to describe blacks who are accused of being sellouts to the race.
10 controversial Barbies (Featuring Pregnant Barbie, Busty Barbie and others) -
“There are those who are literally bullied to death, and now there are those kids who are getting the strange opportunity to erase the object of their peers’ taunting with plastic surgery.” —Doug Barry, Jezebel
Nadia Ilse is 14 years old. After years of bullying for her protruding ears, a nonprofit organization stepped in and gave her an otoplasty — plus bonus chin and nose jobs — free of charge.
Should bullying victims get free plastic surgery? Opinions and video of Nadia’s story here.
(Source: theweek.com)
