Saturday, April 30, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
Top 10 Ways Babies Are Really Weird
10. Some babies are really, really big.
Most babies will weigh between 5.5 and 10lbs, but some will truly tip the scales. The Guinness Book of World Records reports that Sig. Carmelina Fedele had a baby boy in Italy who weighed 22lbs and 8 oz. in September 1955. More recently, in 2013 a 16-pound baby was born in California to Mom Sosefina Tagalu. Sammy was the biggest baby born ever in California. Jealous your kid didn’t show up super-sized? You might want to reconsider: Sammie’s mom gained 110lbs during her pregnancy and at birth he was too big to wear any of the diapers the hospital had. Amazingly, also born in California was Andrew Jacob Cervantez. The bouncing baby boy weighed 15 pounds, 2 ounces on his January 2014 birthday. The most startling fact? He was almost half the size of his mother, who was a petite woman at 5 foot and 1 inch tall.9. Babies may (or may not) dream.
What is sweeter than the sight of a sleeping baby? Especially for worn out new parents! Many wonder, “What does our baby dream about?” There are differing opinions on the subject. Quite likely because the subjects are unable to communicate verbally about their dreams with the researchers once they have woken up. Jodi Mindell, Ph.D., the associate director of the Sleep Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia thinks that baby’s dreams are for the most part silent. It is also thought that babies spend nearly 50% of their time in REM sleep, whereas adults spend 25% of their time in it. So therefore, their dreams may be longer than Mom and Dad’s are. However, psychologist David Foulkes, a well-known expert on pediatric dreaming states that babies don’t dream. Foulkes and others think that babies are dreamless for the first few years of their life. We can’t ask the babies themselves and we aren’t going to ask you which expert to choose. As new parents, simply smile and be happy that your child is sleeping. For now!8. Some babies are born with teeth.
One in 3 thousand of all babies is born with teeth. It’s perfectly normal, but can certainly come as a shock to anyone. Getting a sweet smile for that next pic on Instagram is ideal, but no new parent expects to see a toothy grin! Neonatal teeth can put any Mom’s thoughts of breastfeeding on hold, but otherwise the tiny teeth are simply part of life and it is recommended that they stay in as long as they can. Sometimes they have to be removed. These newborn baby teeth are often a bit wobbly. They certainly make any baby’s smile look more unique, as they will be one of very few with these teeth!7. Love that blonde hair? It could be different pretty soon!
If family and friends compliment your sweet baby’s hair color or adorable curls, accept that it may all change in 6 months or so. This can be hard if the hair that comes in looks “just like” your Mother-in-Law and everyone has starting remarking on the great resemblance, so just be prepared. The hair a newborn baby has doesn’t always represent the color they will have as they grow. Sometimes the color can change drastically – from blonde to bright red or from dark brown to blonde. It may seem odd, but your baby can also have sweet curls and these can change as well. Have a few cute hats handy, as hair may likely fall out during the process of changing color or a different hair texture.6. One of every 2,500 babies is born with webbed fingers or toes
When a baby has webbing in their digits, it is also known as “syndactyly.” This makes a great Scrabble word, ideal for a triple word score by the way. It is thought to run in families. In a medical study of 3,000 patients, about 40% had family members who also had webbing in their hands or feet. Webbed fingers and toes may come as a bit of a surprise but are simply something which occur due to inherited family genes. It happens during the sixth or seventh week of pregnancy, when typically the hand would start to form fingers and instead becomes webbed. Webbed fingers and toes can be treated with surgery if needed.5. Babies poop a lot and in many, many different colors!
Everyone knows that babies poop. Not everyone expects them to poop a lot, though. Get ready to change diapers up to 8 to 10 times a day! It also comes in a wide spectrum of colors that seems a bit odd at first glance but is pretty normal most of the time. As a newborn, poops are usually dark green, because they are releasing built up substances from being in the womb. If your baby is breastfed or on formula will determine quite a bit what their poop looks like. Breastfed babies usually have yellow poop which has little seed-like specs in it. If your baby takes formula then peeking into the diaper might reveal yellow poop, but also could also be tan or even greenish colored poop. Babies can also surprise you by not pooping for 24 to 48 hours, but as long as they are eating, most often it is not a cause for any worries. So we hope we’ve answered some questions about baby poop you didn’t realize you had yet!4. When you say “No” they understand you but pretend they don’t
Ahh parenthood! You bring home this adorable, bundle of joy from the hospital and everyone coos and compliments your new blessing. Then he or she starts to get a little mischievous or simply too active. You say “No” and those big, doe eyes look at you but they keep doing whatever they were doing before. Do they understand you? It’s not going to seem odd at all to your parents – they actually can understand you at about 6 months, and choose to listen to you only when they reach ages 12 to 18 months. This is the type of odd fact that makes grandparents smile, knowing you finally understand what parenting is all about. But will babies listen? Experts say to use words to describe what you don’t want them to do, that they are listening to the tone in your voice and will respond to that more than the word “No.” Be sure not to laugh when they do something you don’t want them to do – even if spaghetti on the dog is totally adorable but really, really messy. They will pick up on the laughter and may try to repeat what they’ve done. Hopefully all of this will work, we have a feeling these same lessons will come in handy when they turn 16 too!3. More of them are picky eaters than you realize
It’s an exciting day for new Moms and Dads when their kids graduate to solid food. But when they discover they’ve got a picky eater on their hands, it is a whole new set of challenges to face. About 20 to 50% of children are picky eaters, according to their frustrated parents. Babies can be picky eaters for a variety of very valid reasons. Your baby may have a food allergy, be teething or have an infection. It can be a symptom of an immature digestive system, or your baby may not be quite ready for solid foods – some parents may have to wait to play “choo choo” train with the strained apricots. But if your baby is simply being choosy about what they eat – and there are no signs of teething or other issues – try introducing other, similar foods they might enjoy. So if the pears were a big hit, try another sweet fruit, like applesauce or mango.2. Breastfeeding zones your baby out, and more
This fact is both odd and amazing: by breastfeeding your baby they will often become sleepy and feel comforted. Any new parent is going to smile at the thought of having the power to soothe their young child, right at their err, finger, tips. If you want your baby to drift off to sleep, breastfeeding them a bit can be helpful. It is not just the act of being held by your Mom, but also hormones that are transferred through the breast milk. When babies are sick or fussy, they often will cry for breastfeeding. Babies instinctually know that breastfeeding is soothing and a safe, secure time with the person who loves them the most, their Mom. But not only does the baby know this is a special time, so does their Mom. This is because a large amount of ‘love hormone’ called oxytocin is released into a woman’s brain as she breastfeeds. A study in the journal Public Library of Science Computational Biology found that as the baby nurses, the mother’s brain’s neurons send out this hormone. Typically these neurons receive information, instead of sending it out – which is pretty amazing. It may seem a little odd how happy and blissed-out your baby can become simply by breastfeeding them. Mom does too while she does it!1. A few are born with a caul
The odds are against it but it does happen: 1 in 80 thousand babies is born with a caul. When a baby is born with a caul, they have part of the birth membrane on their head. It sounds a little messy and it is, but for those with a caul they were pleased that is made an appearance. In some cultures this is considered to be a good luck sign, such as Poland and Russia. During medieval times, it meant not only good luck but that this baby was meant for great things during their lifetime. While being born with a caul is rare, it is considered to be harmless and not something to worry about.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
10 American Sports Leagues You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
10. National Rugby Football League
In 2002, the Professional Inline Hockey Association was formed with the belief that inline hockey was the next big American sport. As the sport grew, and the league was taking steps to find its niche, a major rift occurred between warring owner factions. The result was 19 teams splitting off and forming the American Inline Hockey League. Now instead of one struggling inline league, there are two. Both leagues have pro and minor league divisions, with the PIHA’s 2014 championship winning Marple Gladiators taking home the Founders Cup. The AIHL’s last champion, the Long Island 495ers, took home the Champions Cup. Two champions about an hour and a half apart — nice job, inline skating.
7. Independent Women’s Football League, Women’s Football Alliance and Women’s Spring Football League
A U.S. based rugby league, its last champion was… Okay, there are no champions. There are combines being held across the United States in 2015 to identify and secure contracts with players for the 2016 season. The teams are… Wait, there are no teams either? Okay, here’s rugby’s free advertisement. If you love rugby, head on over to this website. And if you have a couple of million dollars to burn and access to an NFL stadium, feel free to contact RugbyLaw, LLC, a Minneapolis based Sports and Entertainment Company, and put your application in for a team. The Seattle TopTenz has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?9. United States Australian Football League
In the same way the NFL tries to plant seeds by playing games in London and Major League Baseball opens their season in Japan, the United States Australian Football League receives a small stipend from the Australian Football League. The New York Magpies won the 2014 Championships held in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, but it’s the Denver Bulldogs that have won half of the titles since the league’s inception in 1996. To cultivate its vision of the future, the Australian Football League also inspires US Footy Kids, the American version of the AFL’s youth developmental program, Auskick. If you’re a kid, what’s not to like about Australian Rules Football, with teams with cool nicknames like the Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids, the Atlanta Kookaburras and the Nashville Kangaroos?8. Professional Inline Hockey Association and American Inline Hockey League
In 2002, the Professional Inline Hockey Association was formed with the belief that inline hockey was the next big American sport. As the sport grew, and the league was taking steps to find its niche, a major rift occurred between warring owner factions. The result was 19 teams splitting off and forming the American Inline Hockey League. Now instead of one struggling inline league, there are two. Both leagues have pro and minor league divisions, with the PIHA’s 2014 championship winning Marple Gladiators taking home the Founders Cup. The AIHL’s last champion, the Long Island 495ers, took home the Champions Cup. Two champions about an hour and a half apart — nice job, inline skating.
7. Independent Women’s Football League, Women’s Football Alliance and Women’s Spring Football League
In the same way you’d think that inline skating would get its act together, there are actually three women’s football leagues in America. (Real football, not the Lingerie Football League. Wait, that’s still around? Re-branded the Legends Football League? Never mind, we’re not talking about that.) The Independent Women’s Football League began in the year 2000 and has 35 teams across three tiers. In 2014, the Pittsburgh Passion won the Tier I championship 41-7 over the Houston Energy. Despite being the oldest of the three leagues, a number of teams from the IWFL have defected to the WFA. The Women’s Football Alliance is the largest league, with its champion being the Boston Militia. With 45 teams, the WFA formed in 2008, and a number of its teams over the years have defected to the WSFL. The Women’s Spring Football League started in 2009 and has 11 and eight a-side divisions. Its latest champion is the Memphis Dynasty, with a number of its teams having defected to the IWFL over the past few years. (Seriously?)6. American Ultimate Disc League and Major League Ultimate
The American Ultimate Disc League is played on a standard American football field. With an inaugural season of 2012 the league has quickly ballooned to 26 teams, with the San Jose Spiders being their most recent champions. The rules of Ultimate disc are… who cares, just watch this amazing video. So you watched it and want to know more? Well, the AUDL is already looking to expand! If you have passion and a big pile of money lying in the corner of your home, you too can be an owner of a franchise! The competing Major League Ultimate would argue that their eight teams are the epitome of quality over quantity, with the DC Current being its current champion, having beaten the Vancouver Nighthawks last year. Look for the leagues to merge, sue each other or both fold and re-emerge as a separate entity in the next few years.5. World Team Tennis
One of these leagues is not like the others. The WTT will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary and is a fairly stable sports entity. Formed in 1973 (it went on hiatus for a few years), one of the founders was Larry King, whose wife at the time, Billie Jean King, was one of the greatest tennis players in history. By 1983, King had become the oldest woman to win a singles tournament (at the time). She then retired from singles play and promptly became the Commissioner of the WTT from 1984 to 2001. The WTT is one of the few co-ed leagues out there, with the Washington Kastles having won the past four championships. Even those with a cursory knowledge of tennis know the Kastles’ two biggest stars: Venus Williams and Martina Hingis. Besides King, Williams and Hingis, some of the top players in the history of tennis — Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Serena Williams, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Lindsay Davenport — have all participated in the league. And to show how influential Billie Jean King remains in the sport, King’s partner Ilana Kloss took over as Commissioner of the WTT in 2001 and continues in that role today.4. Women’s Flat Track Derby Association
The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association isn’t so much a league as it is a confederacy of roller derby entities. There are over 300 Full Member Leagues, mostly in America, and nearly 100 Apprentice Leagues. There are three dozen teams in Division 1, the highest level of roller derby. New York City’s Gotham Girls Roller Derby have been the champions of the WFTDA for the past four years. The WFTDA Championships have crowned the queens of roller derby since 2006, with the 2014 WFTDA Championship Tournament being held in Nashville in November. The Nashville Municipal Auditorium has a capacity of 9,000, but attendance figures for specific games are sketchy. For those who worry that this incarnation of roller derby isn’t as good as the International Roller Skating League that lasted from 1977 to 1987, fear not. With recent Championship MVPs such as Bloody Mary, Sassy, Whipity Pow and Miss Fortune, it’s clear that the spirit of the sport has remained intact.3. Major Arena Soccer League
For all your hardcore indoor soccer fans reading this, we’re going to try our darnedest to sort out this mess. The MASL is the Major Arena Soccer League. It’s in its first year of existence and has 23 teams. Oh wait, Hidalgo La Fiera dropped out in December 2014? Make that 22. Wait, the Seattle Impact dropped out in January 2015? Make that 21. Wait, the Tacoma Stars are replacing the Impact? Make it 22 again. That, in a nutshell, is the problem plaguing MASL. In 2008 the Professional Arena Soccer League spun off from the Premier Arena Soccer League, the largest amateur indoor soccer league in North America. The PASL wobbled along, averaging under a thousand fans per game for five of the past six years. Then in 2014, the Major Indoor Soccer League folded and six teams joined PASL. With a renewed optimism for the future and a new name, the merged leagues had a 100% increase in attendance in one year, with the 2014 Ron Newman Cup drawing 3,969 fans. If the MISL name sounds familiar to you, that’s because MISL I existed from 1978 to 1992, and MISL II existed from 2001 to 2008. And, if you weren’t confused enough, those leagues weren’t the only pro indoor soccer leagues. Don’t forget the NPSL (1984-2001), AISL (2003-2008), CISL (1993-1997) or even the XSL (2008-2009). Returning to the MASL, its current defending champion is the Chicago Mustangs, who defeated the Cleveland Freeze (folded) to reach the finals, then defeated Hidalgo La Fiera (also folded) in the 2014 Newman Cup final 14-5. Apparently if you lose a key game you can kiss your franchise goodbye.2. National Women’s Soccer League
The National Women’s Soccer League opened for business in 2013. There are currently eight teams in the league, with FC Kansas City being its current champion, beating the Seattle Reign FC 2-1 in front of 4,252 fans. A majority of the league’s games are available for viewing on YouTube, which shows the NWSL has some forward thinkers in the head office. But here’s the NWSL’s problem: it replaced the Women’s Professional Soccer league, which ran from 2007 to 2012 but collapsed under financial strain. The WPS replaced WUSA, which ran from 2000 to 2003, but also collapsed under financial strain. What the NWSL needs to do is find a business model like Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, which has operated since 1988, or France’s Division 1 Feminine, which has operated since 1974.1. Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse started in 2001, and every once in a while the games pop up on ESPN. Well, not usually ESPN, but ESPN3 or the CBS Sports Network. And despite national contracts with these channels, MLL doesn’t receive money, but rather exposure. The problems with MLL can be summed up by arguably their most successful franchise in league history, the Philadelphia Barrage. In 2007 the Barrage won their third MLL title in four years, but was forced to play its 2008 season as a travel team with no home games, only away games and games at sites of potential suitors. The Barrage folded in 2008. Despite growing pains, over 8,000 fans witnessed the Denver Outlaws squeak by the Rochester Rattlers 12-11 in the 2014 Steinfeld Cup. The 2015 season is slated to start in April with eight teams, seven in the Eastern Time Zone and the aforementioned Denver franchise.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
10 Reasons Buster Keaton Was a Badass
10. He Was Used as a Human Missile
Before he was a famous actor, director and owner of a butt that just wouldn’t quit, Buster Keaton was a pint-sized child performer who called himself “the human mop.” Keaton’s act went as follows: his father would walk on stage and perform a variety of simple tasks while Buster copied his movements in a mocking manner. After a few minutes of becoming increasingly frustrated, Buster’s father would pick him up using a secret handle sewn into his tiny overcoat and throw him several feet through the air into a piece of scenery, all while Keaton wore a blank expression. Keaton would then stand up, revealing to the audience that he was completely unharmed. While that may sound cruel, Keaton himself has always defended his father and insisted that at no point was he badly hurt. What can we say? It was a different time back then. A different, child-throwing time. Because Keaton had performed this routine since he was able to walk, his father had no qualms about using him as a makeshift weapon when people in the audience wouldn’t shut the hell up. As we’ve mentioned before, one time Keaton was actually thrown at an unsuspecting audience member so hard that he broke the viewer’s nose. And if you can’t crack a smile at the image of a small child flying through the air with a stoney expression seconds away from headbutting a loud-mouthed idiot in the face, you’re in serious need of a sense of humor.9. He Could Be Pushed Down a Flight of Stairs Without Injury
Keaton enjoys a reputation as one of the finest physical comedians the world has ever known, and his ability to take a beating without it affecting his performance is so impressive Nokia 3210 phones worship him as a god. There are many amazing stories about Keaton’s seemingly inhuman ability to survive falls and accidents that would kill lesser men, and they began when he was just an infant. Babies aren’t really known for being sturdy, but Keaton wasn’t your average infant. According to Keaton, at the age of just six months he fell down a huge flight of presumably pointy stairs, much to the horror of his mother. Less concerned was Harry Houdini, who just so happened to be visiting the family. Houdini noticed that not only was Keaton unhurt, he actually appeared to be smiling at the idea that something as trivial as a 20 foot drop could damage his supple yet amazingly toned baby-flesh. After witnessing Keaton’s fall, Houdini exclaimed “that was a real buster!” (buster being slang for a bad fall). From that point on, Keaton was referred to by everyone he knew as “Buster,” a nickname so inherently awesome that few people are aware his actual name was Joseph. Which is understandable, because that name is hardly befitting of a man who could be picked up by the legs and used as a human billy club.8. He Took Apart the First Camera He Saw to See How it Worked
Along with his ability to walk off injuries that would cripple a horse wearing shin pads, Keaton was quite handy when it came to all things film related — he spent decades kicking ass both in front of and behind the camera. What separates Keaton from most other people to accomplish this feat is that his formal education was incredibly limited. That didn’t stop Keaton from being curious about most of the things he encountered, including a newfangled film camera he was able to get his hands on after a chance encounter with Fatty Arbuckle. Arbuckle thought Keaton had potential and wanted the young comedian to work with him on some films. Keaton — who had never seen a camera in his life — agreed, and literally the first thing he did was take the camera apart to see how it worked. Keaton then put it back together without any instructions and turned up to work the next day boasting that he now understood the “basic mechanics” of the moving picture, and was thus ready to start making movies. Which would be considered cocky and almost certainly “kind of dickish” if anyone but Buster Keaton did it.7. He Inspired Jackie Chan
We’re just going to jump straight into this one. If it wasn’t for Buster Keaton we wouldn’t have Jackie Chan, and if we had our way there would be a Kickstarter campaign to have a high five machine attached to Keaton’s tombstone for that gift to the world alone. Chan has repeatedly professed his love for Keaton in numerous interviews, citing his jaw dropping and incredibly dangerous stunts as one of the reasons he got into movies. So technically Keaton is responsible for all three Rush Hour movies and that one amazing scene where Chan insisted on doing 2900 takes to get it right. A legacy any man would be proud of, and many would kill to have.6. He Fractured His Neck Without Realizing It
If you could plot the various injuries it’s possible to sustain on a sliding scale of intensity, “fractured neck” would appear somewhere near the upper end, just before “third degree burns to the colon.” So what do you think Buster Keaton’s reaction was when his face was smashed into a metal railing with enough force to fracture his neck? If you answered “he did nothing,” congratulations — Keaton didn’t notice that he’d suffered what would normally be considered a crippling injury because he was just that much of a baller. The injury occurred during a stunt for the epic silent film Sherlock Jr., and it called for Keaton to be hit in the face with a burst of water from a huge waterspout. Both the crew and Keaton had sorely underestimated the pressure in the spout, and the water ended up hitting Keaton with enough force to push him to the ground and fracture his neck. Ever the perfectionist, Keaton shook off the injury and finished the scene, only complaining of a mild headache which supposedly faded after a few days. It wasn’t until a few years later that Keaton discovered the torrent of water and the resulting fall had actually fractured his neck. Before you ask, yes, the take that made it into the final movie is the one in which his neck was fractured.5. He Was His Own Stunt Double
Due to the fact he was often the only person on set physically capable of doing the things his scripts required, up until he signed with MGM Buster Keaton did all of his own stunts — often without any safety equipment, or “coward’s paraphernalia” as he almost certainly referred to it. The only reason he stopped was because MGM insisted on protecting their investment by hiring a stunt double who was almost certainly less qualified that Keaton to do any of his stunts. But prior to that Keaton performed all of his own stunts and then some, by which we mean along with performing all of his own stunts Keaton was a stunt double for other people. In some cases he played multiple people in a single scene because he was the only one with the balls and know-how to do the stunt without catching on fire or something. For example, in Sherlock Jr. there’s a scene where Keaton’s character sits on the front handlebars of a motorcycle while it drives itself after the rider falls off. During that scene Keaton, along with doing his own part, acted as a stunt double for the rider. We don’t know why MGM even bothered to hire a stunt double for Keaton when he was already good enough at his job to be a stunt double himself. Hell, if we were at MGM at the time Keaton was working there, we’d have petitioned to just pay him double and let him appear in every scene twice.4. He Once Escaped From a Straightjacket In a Mental Hospital
While we’d certainly like to believe that Buster Keaton’s life was a consistently awesome, never-ending party, we know that just isn’t true for him (or anyone in history). The great man spent a great deal of his time depressed and angry, and it reached a head in 1934 when Keaton was forced to spend a night in a sanitarium in an ill-conceived attempt to stop him drinking. Keaton didn’t respond well to this, and five minutes after he was left alone he escaped his straightjacket using a technique taught to him by Houdini. He walked out the front door intent on defeating his alcoholism on his own by strangling it to death with his own two hands. Just let that stew in your mind for a moment. Even at the lowest point in his entire life, Buster Keaton was as capable and resourceful as MacGyver armed with Batman’s utility belt.3. His Stunts Were So Dangerous Film Crews Couldn’t Watch Them
According to the many people who worked with him over the years, Buster Keaton was a genuinely warm and friendly guy who most people liked and secretly wanted to high five. This made many of his stunts hard for members of the crew to watch, because there was more often than not a very real chance of Keaton dying while attempting them. The most extreme example of this came during the filming of Keaton’s most famous stunt, a scene in Steamboat Bill Jr. where a damn house falls on his head. We’re not going to describe it more than that, because even if you don’t think you’ve seen it it’s been parodied so many times that you’ve definitely seen it. When the time came for Keaton to film the scene, 50% of the crew refused to turn up for work. Of those who did turn up, it’s reported than none of them, including the guys operating the camera, were able to bring themselves to watch the stunt. It wasn’t until after the dust settled that people realized Keaton had survived. What makes this even more amazing is that if you watch the scene you can see that the building brushed Keaton’s arm and he didn’t even flinch. We once flailed and lost a glove at the thought of a bee flying near our ear. Keaton was just on another level.2. He Gave Away Priceless Works of Film for Free
As we’ve mentioned, film and tape is pretty hardy stuff, but it doesn’t last forever. That’s a big problem for archivists who want to preserve really old and really kick-ass films, and over the years countless films have been lost as the tape they’re recorded on has degraded beyond repair. Thankfully, this shouldn’t happen to Keaton’s films, because the man himself gave away some of the last remaining copies to a fan in the ’60s. Here’s the kicker. Keaton literally gave the copies away for nothing because, to quote him, they were “valueless” to him because he “didn’t own the rights” anymore. So rather than hold onto the copies, which he could have sold for a small fortune or swapped for someone’s liver, he gave them away just to annoy the people who did own the rights to them. Those would be the same people who wouldn’t let him do his own stunts or have creative control over his movies. We can’t help but feel that if they’d just let Buster do what he wanted, he would have been way less trouble for them in his later life.1. He Could Float In Mid-air
We started this article with a story about Keaton’s prat-falling abilities at a young age, so we’re going to end with a story about how in his ’50s Keaton was still able to float. Early in his performing days one of Keaton’s favorite tricks was to prop one of his legs on a table and then grab his other leg. He’d then count to three and awkwardly place his grounded leg onto the table, leaving him floating in the air for a moment before he crashed to ground. Which, as you’ve probably guessed, didn’t hurt him at all. According to his family and friends, Keaton was still able to do this trick well into his 60s, a feat that we can only describe as Jack LaLanne-esque. And that’s the image of Buster Keaton we want to leave you with, a 60 year-old man who could fly for a split second and then walk away uninjured from a fall that would break the hips of most other old people if they heard about it over the phone.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
10 Short But Inspirational Lives
10. Edmund Thomas Clint
Born in 1976 in Kochi, India, Edmund Thomas Clint was a talented and prolific self-taught painter. He often painted Hindu festivals and was known for his strong use of color. He painted over 25,000 pictures in many different mediums including watercolors, oils, chalk and even crayons, all in a lifetime of just six years and 11 months. At the age of three, Edmund had been diagnosed with a kidney disease that eventually took his life. He won a number of awards during his lifetime, and since his death he’s had a number of books written about him and one documentary filmed. The latter was seen by Clint Eastwood, whom Edmund was named after.9. Stephen Sutton
When Stephen Sutton was 15 he was told that he had terminal cancer. After learning of his diagnosis, Stephen started helping out with events run by the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity that supports young people with cancer. In January 2013, with the goal of trying to raise £10,000 ($15,500), Stephen launched a website with a blog where he wrote about his “bucket list.” Items on his list included skydiving, getting a tattoo and playing drums in front of a big group of people. And one-by-one, Stephen went down the list. He went skydiving, he got a tattoo of a scarred Troll doll and he played drums in front of 90,000 people at the Union of European Football Associations League Finals in 2013. Stephen was also raising a lot of money for the Cancer Trust. He changed his goal to £100,000 and once he reached that he aimed for £1 million, all within one year. By the time Stephen died on May 14, 2014 he had raised £3.4 million, just 15 months after he started his blog. In the wake of his death, that number surpassed £5 million ($7.8 million).8. Sadako Sasaki
Sadako Sasaki put a face on the horrors of the atomic bomb and its long-term effects. She was two years old and living in Hiroshima just under two miles away from where the bomb went off. Nine years after the bombing, Sadako developed lumps on her legs and neck. Children who survived the bombing were found to be more susceptible to contracting leukemia, and Sadako was diagnosed. While in the hospital, Sadako learned about an old Japanese legend that said if a person were to fold 1000 paper cranes they would be granted one wish. In the three months that she was in the hospital, she managed to fold well over 1000 before she passed away on October 25, 1955 at the age of 12. Her story was adapted into a children’s novel, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr. In 1958 a statue was unveiled of Sadako holding a golden crane outside of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Her cranes can be found at the Tribute WTC Visitor Center located beside Ground Zero in New York City, the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, and Pearl Harbor.7. Sam Berns
Progeria is a very rare disease that causes young children to age rapidly. Those will the illness only live to around their mid-teens, when they die from cardiac arrest or a stroke. Currently there’s no cure, although there have only been about 200 known cases in the world. One of these cases was Sam Berns, who lived in Foxborough, Massachusetts and was featured in an HBO documentary called Life According to Sam, which started following him around when he was 13 and documented his life for the next three years. In the opening he explains he was doing the documentary because he wanted people to get to know him, and definitely didn’t want anyone’s pity. Sam also didn’t have time to feel sorry for himself, saying, “I surround myself with people that I want to be with. And I keep moving forward.” Sam had a number of different passions in his short life, including the drums and Boston sports teams. Sam wanted to play in his school’s marching band, but he only weighed 50 pounds and the drum harness weighed 40. So Sam and his parents worked with an engineer to make a drum he could use, which was a good analogy for how he looked at his life. He didn’t focus on obstacles and kept pushing forward, which was the message of his Tedx talk on his philosophy for a happy life. On January 11, 2014, Sam was supposed to be the honorary captain when his beloved New England Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts. Instead, there was a moment of silence for Sam. He passed away the night before at the age of 17.6. Samantha Smith
One of the most terrifying aspects of the Cold War was the fear of not knowing if the world would be there tomorrow. This was on the mind of 10 year old Samantha Smith, who wrote to the new leader of the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov, in November 1982. Her letter read:
Dear Mr. Andropov, My name is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren’t please tell me how you are going to help to not have a war. This question you do not have to answer, but I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country. God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight. Sincerely, Samantha Smith
Relations between the United States and Soviet Union were bleak at the time, yet Andropov actually wrote back to the young girl living Manchester, Maine. In his letter, Andropov said that the Soviet Union had no desire to go to war and was busy building their infrastructure. He also invited her to visit his country, which she accepted. When she was in the Soviet Union from July 7-21, 1983, television crews followed her around and the two superpowers got a little glimpse into the lives of people on the other side of the Cold War, making her famous in both countries. After she returned home she was considered an unofficial Goodwill Ambassador, and she continued to travel around the world to promote peace. Two years after her visit, Samantha was acting in a TV show called Lime Street when the small plane that her and her father were travelling in crashed, killing them both on August 25, 1985. After her death, then-leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and American President Ronald Reagan sent letters of condolences to Samantha’s mother. Samantha made such an impact on the Soviet Union that her face was featured on a stamp. Her mother started the Samantha Smith Foundation, which gets people from different cultures to share their experiences.5. Anne Frank
Annelies Marie Frank was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt to an average, upper-middle class Jewish family. Her father had served in the German army during World War I, but by the time Anne was born the political climate of Germany was changing, and they moved to Amsterdam. There, they lived a typical family life until 1940 when the Nazis invaded. The Franks had to go into hiding in the back of Anne’s father’s business, which he signed over to two Christians, when Anne was 13. The four Franks and three members of another family hid for two years, while Anne wrote the diary that would make her famous. On August 4, 1944, an anonymous tip led to their hideout being raided. They were sent to a concentration camp in the Netherlands, where they spent less than a month before being shipped off to Auschwitz. Finally, Anne and her sister were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where both died. Only Anne’s father, Otto, survived the concentration camps. He returned to Amsterdam, where he discovered that someone had saved Anne’s diary. Otto sought to get it published, and selections of the diary were printed in 1952 in English under the title The Diary of a Young Girl. It has since gone to be published in 67 languages. Anne Frank has been considered one of the most inspirational women of the last century, although she only lived to the age of 15.4. Nkosi Johnson
Since the emergence of HIV/AIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa has been ravished by the horrible diseases. Out of all HIV related deaths in the world, 70% are attributed to the continent. One victim was South African Nkosi Johnson, who was born with AIDS on February 4, 1989. When he was two, his mother left him at a care center for people infected with HIV. He was adopted by a woman working there, but when they tried to enroll Nkosi in school they found a lot of roadblocks. Schools simply didn’t want a boy with HIV. Nkosi’s adopted mother started to fight in the courts, and her struggle made headlines across the world. This led to new policies that allowed children with HIV or AIDS to attend school. Nkoski had become the face of the approximately 200 children born every day with HIV. Without proper treatment, they only have a 25% chance of living past the age of two. In 2000, at the age of 11, Nkoski was invited to speak at the International Aids Conference where he had this heartbreaking message: “Care for us and accept us – we are all human beings, we are normal, we have hands, we have feet, we can walk, we can talk, we have needs just like everyone else. Don’t be afraid of us – we are all the same.” Nkoski passed away on June 1, 2001. Nelson Mandela called him an “icon of the struggle for life.”3. Sophie Scholl
Born May 9, 1921, Sophie Scholl was a German student and one of the six core members of the non-violent anti-Nazi protest group the White Rose. Formed in June 1942, Scholl and the five other members anonymously distributed flyers and pamphlets that asked people to oppose the Third Reich. The group was formed after Scholl’s boyfriend wrote from the Eastern Front detailing the atrocities committed by the Nazis. One day, Scholl and her brother were seen throwing out White Rose pamphlets by a custodian at the University of Munich, who reported their actions. Sophie, her 25 year old brother Hans, and another member, 25 year old Christoph Probst, were all arrested on February 18, 1943. Four days later they were tried and convicted of treason, and within hours they were led to the guillotine. Sophie’s last words were: “How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” One of their pamphlets was smuggled out of the country and given to the Allies, who airdropped millions of copies over Germany. Today, Scholl and the other members of the White Rose are considered heroes in Germany.2. Iqbal Masih
Born to a poor family just outside of Lahore, Pakistan in 1982, Iqbal was sold into child slavery at the age of four. He was forced to work on a carpet loom, and at times was chained to it. He was beaten and barely fed, leaving him malnourished, as he worked for up to 12 hours a day for the next six years. It wasn’t until 1992 that he escaped from the factory. He managed to get into school and learned to read and write. From there, he became active in campaigns to free hundreds of other children from slavery. He traveled to different countries where he spoke to schools and other groups about the horrors of child labor. He won the Reebok Human Rights Award and planned to use the $15,000 prize to go to university and become a lawyer. Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, offered him a full scholarship. Sadly, a few months after returning to his home in Pakistan, the 12 year old was assassinated on April 16, 1995. No one was convicted of his murder, but it drastically hurt sales of Pakistani rugs, with sales dropping by $10 million in just one month. Iqbal’s life and death brought new attention to the plight of child laborers. Iqbal was also the inspiration for other charities like Free the Children, which was started by a 12 year old Canadian boy named Craig Kielburger in 1995.1. Terry Fox
In March 1977, 18 year old Canadian Terry Fox was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer. The cancer was so bad that his right leg had to be amputated, after which he’d have to undergo chemotherapy in the hopes that he would beat the 50% survival odds. The night before the amputation he was given an article about Dick Traum, who ran the New York Marathon with a prosthetic leg. The article inspired Terry, because he was bothered by the lack of attention and funding that his cancer got despite the fact that it could strike anyone. So when he got out of the hospital he decided he was going to run across Canada, and try to raise $1 from every Canadian in the process. Fox wrote to corporations telling them his plan, and companies like Ford gave him a camper van while Adidas gave him shoes. He started on April 12, 1980, in St. John’s, Newfoundland and planned to finish on the west coast of Vancouver Island on September 10. The Marathon of Hope started slowly, but more and more people cheered him on as he progressed. He was greeted in towns by local mayors, and he even met Prime Minster Pierre Trudeau. But weeks after passing the halfway mark, Fox’s health got worse. The cancer had spread to his lungs. He had to end the Marathon of Hope at 3339 miles and $11.4 million raised. He died a month shy of his 23 birthday on June 28, 1981. Terry’s fundraising wouldn’t stop there — ever since his death, there have been annual Terry Fox Runs in Canada and another 60 countries. His foundation has raised over $650 million for cancer treatment.
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