If you’ve ever babysat, you know that parents—especially first-timers—can leave you with some incredibly detailed instructions. From how to put the baby to sleep to exactly what to feed them, these lists can feel like reading a novel of child-rearing advice.
Pexels | Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
But one parent took a different approach. Instead of the usual exhaustive checklist, they left their babysitter with a hilariously unexpected list that turned all the typical rules on their head. It was either comedy gold… or the mark of the world’s most "chill" parent.
The babysitter sent the list to her boyfriend, a popular YouTuber named Leek, and he posted it to social media.
In the letter, the chill parent tells the sitter to let the kid watch TV, eat sugar, and avoid a creepy neighbor named David.
1. I encourage the kids to watch as much TV as possible, so they leave me the hell alone. Feel free to do the same. 2. Don’t waste your valuable time cooking or providing healthy snacks. Just give them the pizza and snacks I leave. 3. They still breastfeed on demand. Just download a video on youtube. It’s not hard or I wouldn’t not do it. 4. Do not take any kittens/candy/ puppies from David. Or take a ride in his van. 5. If any of my neighbors come to the door, treat them like Jehovah’s Witness’s. Don’t lend them any eggs/milk/cigarettes. they know where the store is. And-no-, you don't know want to babysit for them. 6. Let the kids have as much sugar as they want, as long as they will go away. They take pills to sleep anyway. 7. If you bring any boys over just make sure they have an uncle/dad/brother/friend that I can call later. 8. Don’t answer the house phone unless you feel like paying bills. 9. If you look through my drawers, please throw away any overdue bills and gum wrappers. 10. Do not believe ANYTHING the kids tell you.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 13, 2018. It has since been updated.
When the Moon formed around 4.5 billion years ago, probably due to Earth’s collision with a Mars-sized planet called Theia, Earth used to spin at a much faster rate. One day at this time was just 10 hours long. Back then, the Moon was roughly 14,000 miles away from Earth, 17 times closer than it is today. As the Moon kept moving farther away from its host planet, the angular momentum and speed of Earth’s rotation kept on slowing down, resulting in longer days. Today, one day equals 24 hours. However, given these billions of years, one day today should be around 60 hours or longer. In a study published in the journal Science Advances, astrophysicists reveal the reason behind this: for a billion-year period in Earth’s history, its rotation rate remained steady, which kept a day at a constant length of 19.5 hours.
If Earth’s rotation hadn’t remained steady for these billion years, the current 24-hour day would be a 60-hour day or so. According to the astrophysicists at the University of Toronto, “approximately two billion years ago until 600 million years ago, an atmospheric tide driven by the sun countered the effect of the moon, keeping Earth’s rotational rate steady and the length of a day at a constant 19.5 hours.”
Some scientists like to refer to this period as “boring billion,” as nothing much happened during this time. Oxygen in the atmosphere was stuck at a level much lower than it is today. And devoid of oxygen-rich life, the stagnant oceans stunk with iron and hydrogen sulfide. One scientist even went on to say that “never in the course of Earth’s history did so little happen to so much for so long.” However, perhaps the most remarkable thing of this period is the steadiness of Earth’s rotation rate.
When scientists investigated the cause behind this billion-year-long steadiness, they found that the answer lay in a balance of tidal pulls created by the Sun’s gravity and tidal pulls created by the Moon’s gravity. The gravitational force of the Moon is known to slow down Earth’s spinning as it pulls its oceans, triggering tides that rise and fall. Adding to this, the friction of these tides with the ocean floor acts like a “brake” on Earth’s rotation. The same happens with the Sun’s gravity, except that instead of slowing down the rotation, it speeds it up.
“Sunlight also produces an atmospheric tide with the same type of bulges,” astrophysicist Norman Murray said in the university press release. “The sun's gravity pulls on these atmospheric bulges, producing a torque on the Earth. But instead of slowing down Earth’s rotation like the moon, it speeds it up.” For most of Earth’s history, the tidal force of the Moon has overpowered the tidal force of the Sun, causing the gradual slowing down of Earth’s rotation.
During this billion-year period, when a day on Earth had reached the length of 19.5 hours, the Sun’s tidal force suddenly became stronger than the lunar tidal pull. Due to factors like warmer temperatures and atmospheric resonance, the Sun’s pull was speeding up Earth’s rotation at the same rate that the Moon’s pull was slowing it down. The result was a consistency of a day’s length for a billion years.
But around 600 million years ago, the two tidal forces got out of sync once again. Once again, the Moon’s pull became stronger than the Sun’s pull, which led to the gradual slowing down of Earth’s rotation. Today, while a day is 24 hours long, the thermal tides produced by the Sun take 22.8 hours to reverberate around the planet. Ultimately, it’s the Moon’s gravity once again, that decides how long a day will last on Earth, while the Sun just governs other factors.
The whole scenario makes us wonder whether that time will come again when the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon align again. According to Murray, it won’t anytime soon. The rate at which global warming is affecting the planet will only increase the dissonance between the two forces. “As we increase Earth's temperature with global warming, we’re also making the resonant frequency move higher — we’re moving our atmosphere farther away from resonance,” said Murray. “As a result, there's less torque from the sun, and therefore, the length of the day is going to get longer, sooner than it would otherwise.”
Twenty years ago, inside a maternity ward at Sutter Maternity Center in Santa Cruz, California,
Philippe Kahn’s Toshiba laptop computer sat on a desk alongside a C-section operating table where his wife was going to deliver their baby. Kahn, a French software engineer, also had a Motorola flip phone and a Casio digital camera stacked in his bag. He was nervous as he hadn’t been able to build the prototype he desired. He couldn’t find a way to connect the three things: camera, laptop, and web server. But while his wife, Sonia Lee, spent 18 hours in labor, she gave him an idea. The idea changed the photographic scene of the world forever. That day, on June 11, 1997, Kahn witnessed two births – one of his daughter Sophie and the other of the “world’s first camera phone,” a revolutionary beginning of instant photography, reported IEEE Spectrum.
Kahn had been working on his web-based photo technology for over a year. He called this technology by the name “Picture Mail.” The concept of Picture Mail was akin to what is today known as “sharing.” Users who wanted to share a picture and text with their friends and family were required to upload the picture on this web-based server. After the picture is uploaded, the server automatically creates a link to it on the web and sends it to all the people in the list through email alerts. The technology worked like a digital update system, quite similar to the social media notifications people receive today on platforms like X, Instagram, and Facebook.
But that day, as his wife got into labor, Kahn was running short on time. He hadn’t been able to complete this technology’s prototype. He couldn’t find a way to connect his laptop to the camera. But then his wife said something about a “cable” and “soldering iron.” That’s when Kahn’s engineering brain fathomed a trick. Excited, he rushed to the hospital’s parking and ripped up his car’s speakerphone. Using its cable, he connected the camera to the laptop which was further connected to a computer server that sat in his home’s kitchen a few miles away.
As a nurse transferred his newborn daughter into his arms, he instantly snapped a picture of the lovely face by holding the camera in his other hand. In another moment, the picture was uploaded to the server and over 2,000 people received email alerts with the link to Sophie’s photo. Owing to no Wi-Fi and low internet connectivity, the picture’s resolution was limited to
320x240 pixels. The resolution was limited, but not the emotion. “I'm holding the baby in my left hand and the camera in the other. It changed society and the way people evolve," Kahn said in a film by Conscious Minds, shared by National Geographic.
— (@)
Kahn said that his instant photo-sharing technology worked like “Point, Shoot, Share Instantly!” As his family and friends received the email alerts, they were enchanted by both the baby’s picture as well as by Kahn’s innovative photosystem. However, Kahn confessed that if it wasn’t for the last-minute rush, he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this feat with his jerry-rigged system. “It’s always the case that if it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done,” Kahn told IEEE Spectrum. Call it a new dad’s love that inspired him to do something.
Also, Kahn didn’t credit himself for inventing this instant-photo-sharing technology. He told IEEE Spectrum that other people had put photo sensors in their phones previously. Yet, it was indeed the first time when a photo was shared with hundreds of people in an instant after it got snapped. After this remarkable moment, Kahn kept working on improving and assembling his prototype. “After the baby,” he told IEEE Spectrum, “I spent the next month integrating the design, using a microcontroller, a CMOS sensor, and a phone.” In early 1998, he founded a company around the technology, Lightsurf, and is currently the holder of 235+ issued patents. He also took his project to companies like Kodak, Docomo, and Polaroid who were working on similar wireless camera products.
In 2016, Time magazine named his iconic 1997 photo of Sophie, one of the 100 most influential photos of all time. Looking back, Kahn always had the belief that his camera phone technology was going to change the way people documented the world around them. “There’s going to be a profound impact of instant imagery and sharing imagery that is going to change society and the way people evolve,” he said in the film. Nowadays, little do people know that the backstory of all their selfies and instant Instagram reels is held in a heartwarming moment when a dad held his newborn daughter for the first time.
Growing up with parents who have disabilities isn't easy for anyone and kids in such households grow up faster as they have more responsibilities at a young age. Zach and Courtney's young daughter Madison is one such child, and her life is often seen in posts on the family's Instagram account @oursignedworld. While the mom Courtney and daughter Madison are able-bodied, the father Zach is hearing impaired. In a popular video that gained over 9 million views on Instagram, Zach and Madison are seen at a drive-thru.
In the clip, Madison can be seen ordering for herself even though she is only 4 years old. The caption of the video clarified how Madison was only ordering for herself and how Zach usually places his orders. "As a Deaf person, I usually type out my order on my phone and show it at the window when I go through the drive-thru. But honestly, it doesn’t always go smoothly. However, Madison wanted to try ordering for herself this time, so I let her—and she loved it! She felt so proud of herself and like such a big girl," the caption read.
**FYI Madison is ordering food for herself not for me. However, as a Deaf person, I usually type out my order on my phone and show it at the window when I go through the drive-thru. But honestly, it doesn’t always go smoothly. However, Madison wanted to try ordering for herself this time, so I let her—and she loved it! She felt so proud of herself and like such a big girl 🙌🏼 #asl #signlanguage #deaf #deafdad #fatherdaughter #deafcommunity #deafawareness #coda #sign #toddlersigning #dadlife #drivethru #cute #sweetvideo #love@El Pollo Loco
As the father-daughter duo reach the intercom to place the order, Madison speaks loud and clear for a small portion of Mac and cheese. Then she requests for a spoon as well. Throughout this whole process, Zach continues to communicate with his daughter using sign language to figure out what she ordered and how much it cost. The worker taking Madison's order asks if she wants anything else and when Madison is done ordering, she signals her dad to drive to the next window to get the food. Since Zach is deaf he didn't realize when the woman at the drive-thru stopped speaking.
Madison used sign language to tell him that she had finished ordering.
When they reach the next window to get the food, the man handing over the meal to Zach wonders if the little girl is the one who placed the order. Madison confirms that her dad is deaf so she is ordering. Zach appreciates his daughter for making her first successful drive-thru order before they pay $5.79 for the meal and drive away. The people in the comment section appreciated how Zach and Courtney taught their daughter sign language and encouraged her to build social skills and become self-reliant.
@lenoreeronel wrote, "I think this is an amazing opportunity for her to build self-confidence and social skills and get real-life practice for things she will have to do independently later on." @patriciab_in_la commented, "Honestly I’m 49 years old (and hearing) and I get anxiety ordering at drive-thrus. Madison did amazing! I’d like to have her order for me next time." @worl_dsocole shared, "I’m learning ASL right now, only for the purpose of being able to speak to random strangers. I’m a people person and I love talking." @_prettaymarie added, "One thing about kids that came from us? They are gonna ADVOCATE for us! I love this. I’m not deaf but I see firsthand how my son and daughter have my back in public."
You can follow @oursignedworld on Instagram for more videos on family and disability awareness.
This article originally appeared last year.
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A couple struggling with loss had a great idea after seeing someone who looked like their son.
Police officers are supposed to keep people safe in the streets but some cops go out of their way to help them cope with grief and trauma as well. One such police officer is Jiang Jingwei, who selflessly continued to play the part of a grieving couple's deceased son for more than a decade for a special reason. According to the South China Morning Post, Xia Zhanhai and his wife Liang Qiaoying lost their son after a gas leak in 2003. The couple from the Shanxi province of northern China were affected terribly by their son's death.
A Chinese elderly woman at the window (Image source: Pamela Jo McFarlane for Getty Images)
The trauma left Liang paralyzed and cognitively impaired with the mental capacity of a 5-year-old kid. Her husband came up with a lie that their son was working in a distant city to soothe Liang's trauma. Xia then encountered the police officer Jiang who was in Shanghai and realized that the police officer had a striking resemblance to his deceased son. Xia contacted Jiang through a reality show in late 2013 to seek his help.
— (@)
Jiang agreed to the idea and met the couple on the show, posing as Xia and Liang's son as the ailing mother tearfully embraced him. Jiang was dedicated to his role as their son and in 2016 he even invited the couple to a sightseeing trip to Shanghai. He took a break from work in 2018 and traveled to Shanxi to celebrate the Lunar New Year with his new family. Jiang kept in touch with the couple through video calls for the next 11 years as their bond became stronger.
Xia also penned down an emotional letter to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau to thank Jiang for all he had done and expressed his gratitude for being their "son." "Thank you for training such a kind, compassionate, and responsible police officer. For over a decade, Jiang has quietly taken on the role of a son, bringing new life to our once grief-stricken family,” he wrote in his letter. On the other hand, Jiang never felt that caring for his "parents" was ever a burden to him. “As a community police officer, I also extend the same care and compassion to the elderly in my community,” Jiang mentioned to the outlet.
An elderly woman happy with her son in the park (Image source: hxyume for Getty Images)
He made another video call during the Chinese Chung Yeung Festival on October 11, 2024, and wished Xia and Liang good health. The news left people on social media emotional and they couldn't stop praising the police officer's efforts to protect the couple from grief. “Thank you, Jiang, for your kindness. The relationship you share with the couple has long transcended blood ties," one user on WeChat wrote, according to the South China Morning Post. “I was moved to tears. Even in a world filled with conflict and disasters, stories like this bring warmth and hope,” added another netizen. Jiang selflessly being there for more than a decade has brought happiness into the life of the couple who were left heartbroken after their son passed away.
It's not every day that a homeowner in the Bay Area's Piedmont neighborhood opens up the doors of their home to the needy. However, in 2019, property developer Terry McGrath did just that. He offered a homeless couple, Greg Dunston and his wife Marie McKinzie, a place to live in his $4 million mansion in California, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
Representative Image Source: Pexels I Photo by Pixabay
McGrath had read about the couple's plight back in January 2019. Greg and Marie had a difficult life and lived on the streets for almost a decade. Both of them faced physical disabilities. Before 2019, they were hopeful of winning of two-decade battle for disability income that would have resulted in several years’ worth of back pay. However, their claim was denied and they were back to sleeping in the doorway of an Alameda County building. After reading about the couple's difficulties, McGrath was inspired to get in touch with them and offer a space in his hilltop mansion.
Otis Taylor, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle who covers homelessness in the Bay Area, met McGrath and the couple in a cafe. McGrath, who had ample space on his property and in his heart, was immediately moved to help them. The thing that struck him was the love between Greg and Marie and how "it was able to survive in probably one of the harshest environments on earth," per ABC.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Timur Weber
Taylor talked about the situation and said, "There was no decision, there was no thought, there was no judgment. I was just like 'This is done'," He continued, "I didn't vet them. These are human beings and they're not serial killers. They want to get out of the weather. They want a roof over their head. They want to be warm."
McGrath is hopeful that society will see people living on the streets as human beings before anything else. He said, "I don't think there's any other issue that is more symbolic about who we are as a society than this issue." He further added, "It's an absolute reflection of us. There is no other way to see it. Just because it's there doesn't make it right or make it acceptable."
While there were many positive responses as the couple moved into the upper-class neighborhood, there was also no shortage of negative responses. Shortly after their arrival, one neighbor who was unaware of the situation called 911 and told dispatchers, "I just pulled into the driveway and there's some strange folks hanging around the house." Someone even called the Piedmont Police and Fire Dispatch, saying, "I just wanted to notify you that this woman is sitting at Lexford and Hampton ... She's smoking a cigarette... could be drugs." But McGrath always stoop up for the couple and gave them the respect they deserved.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Alex Green
After all the difficulties, the couple lived with McGrath for over a year and as of now, the homeowner has no plans of asking them to leave. He has clarified saying, "They're like family. There's no way I'm going to let them go back to the street," He added, "Most people who know me well know it's easy to start and it's hard to finish. And I'm never not going to finish."
While strolling through a quiet neighborhood, you might do a double take if you spotted this majestic sight. Concerned for the welfare of a dog perched on a roof, you’d likely approach the house and say, “Uh, I’m not sure if you know, but there’s...a dog on your ROOF."
To put passersby at ease and ebb the parade of concerned parties knocking on their door, Huckleberry's human put up a note explaining the whole weird scenario to those interested:
Reddit
It reads:
"Huckleberry is living up to his name and learned how to jump onto our roof from the backyard. We never leave him in the backyard without someone being at home. He will not jump off unless you entice him with food or a ball!" "We appreciate your concern but please do not knock on our door... we know he's up there! But please feel free to take pictures of him and share with the world! #hucktheroofdog."
Of course, they ended it with a hashtag for photos shared on social media. Also, it seems a little strange that the owners mention that Huck is willing to jump 10 feet off a roof to chase food or a ball, but do nothing to suggest that people refrain from urging their dog to make that (seemingly dangerous) leap. Maybe Huck's got the whole process down to the point it's just not a concern.
This may seem like a pretty odd phenomenon, but not so odd that there isn't a whole corner of Reddit devoted to dogs who just seem to really, really enjoy roofs. It's called r/dogsonroofs, and boy does it ever deliver on that name.
This article originally appeared last year.
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The "dancing plague" remains a mystery 500 years later
Engraving by Hendrik Hondius portraying three people affected by the plague. Work based on original drawing by Pieter Brueghel.
Her name was Frau Troffea, and she lived in Strasbourg. One day, in July of 1518, she simply started to dance. There was reportedly no music. No drumbeat. Just a woman dancing in the middle of a street for days on end. She, according to an article in Historyfacts.com, "danced alone and continuously for an entire week before several dozen others found themselves overcome by the urge to dance as well."
Days later, more than 30 people had joined her, consumed by choreomania (dance madness), some with such mania that , as writer Ned pennant-Rea described, "only death would have the power to intervene.". By August, more than 400 people had been overtaken by this "dancing plague," as it came to be called. Didn't matter if they were women, men, poor or wealthy. Big, small, older, younger…they had the dancing bug. And word is, some of them even danced themselves to death.
Apparently, it wasn't the first time this happened. Historyfacts.com continued, "There had been numerous reported outbreaks of 'dancing plagues' around the Holy Roman Empire in the preceding 500 years, including a significant one in 1374." Though some of the facts/stats of the matter, having not been physically recorded, remain a bit foggy.
To this day, we don't really know why. Here are a few theories.
Taking the fun out of fungi
Decomposing Fungi - Muir Woods National Monument (U.S. National ...www.nps.gov
One popular belief is that the people of this town got straight-up food poisoning. The ergot fungus, a mold that often grew in grain used to bake bread, might have contaminated the food supply, which could account for the convulsions and possible psychosis. And fun fact: it's similar in structure to LSD, which, sure, could make one want to trip the light fantastic. But for months? Not a great trip!
Author of A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518, John Waller, pushed back on this theory, however. He didn't believe it was the most likely, according to his piece in the scientific journal The Lancet. "It is unlikely that those poisoned by ergot could have danced for days at a time. Nor would so many people have reacted to its psychotropic chemicals in the same way."
We'll get to his theory in a minute.
The devil made me do it
The Devil with a Sceptre (with candle) - Halloween 2023 | Flickrwww.flickr.com
Don’t you hate when you get cursed? Don’t you hate it even more when it’s the patron saint of dancing, Saint Vitus, who does the cursing? That's what many believed caused this affliction. For whatever reason, Saint Vitus was angry, and the only cure would be prayer at his shrine.
Back to John Waller, who posited that there may have been a few things at play. Due to the stress of the times (various disease outbreaks, lack of funds) and the quick jumping to conclusions that this MUST be some kind of divine or demonic possession, people just got stressed out. The more stressed they got, the more likely they were to just…kinda…join IN. It was a strange combination of superstition meets hunger/disease…hence, ya know, DANCING?
To this day, as mentioned, the mystery is really not solved. But then, neither is the mystery of why socks always get lost in dryers. Some things, we just may never know.
Pexels | Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
A Chinese elderly woman at the window (Image source: Pamela Jo McFarlane for Getty Images)
An elderly woman happy with her son in the park (Image source: hxyume for Getty Images)
Representative Image Source: Pexels I Photo by Pixabay
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Timur Weber
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Alex Green
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The Devil with a Sceptre (with candle) - Halloween 2023 | Flickr
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