Articles

Nice! New York City has mandated sex ed in their schools.

In the vein of Peter Diamandis, this African cell phone magnate has just offered a $5 million dollar prize to the best leader of an African nation. Do we think the leader of Sudan lies awake at night thinking they might still have a chance?Via Boing Boing.

Culture

15 100-Year-Old Photos That Prove Beauty is Timeless

Vintage post cards and erotica from the turn of the century

photos, vintage, postcards

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Luzon Woman c. 1909

A vintage post-card collector on Flickr who goes by the username Post Man has kindly allowed GOOD to share his wonderful collection of vintage postcards and erotica from the turn of the century.

This album is full of exquisite photographs of women from around the world dressed in beautiful clothing in exotic settings. In an era well before the internet, these photographs would be one of the only ways you could could see how people in other countries looked and dressed.

Take a look at PostMan’s gallery of over 90 vintage postcards on Flickr.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Vintage erotica c. 1920

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Japanese woman c. 1913

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden an American stage actress c. 1895

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Cambodian girl c. 1906

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Vintage erotica c. 1913

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Beduinin woman c. 1919

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Japanese woman c. 1920

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Gypsy girl with Mandolin c. 1911

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Luzon Woman c. 1909

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Nepalese lady c. 1905

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Vietnamese woman c. 1908

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Vintage erotica c.1919

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Actress Anna May Wong c. 1927

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

English actress Lily Elsie c. 1909

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Post Man.

Two women from Bou-Saâda c. 1911


Article originally appeared on 09.19.17

Culture

Controversial Photo Series Explores The Lack Of Boundaries Women Feel In Everyday Life

The photos depict what it feels like for the average young female professional engaging in daily activities like going to yoga or being at work.

After recently attending the Young Photographers Alliance Mentoring Program, Pittsburgh-based photographer Allaire Bartel was inspired by the theme of “boundaries" to create this photo series that's designed to capture the oppressiveness of male entitlement that women feel on a daily basis in everyday life.

She explains on her website: “I was particularly determined to express the idea that oppression of women does not just occur in extreme isolated incidents (violent rape and physical abuse) but can also be felt in lesser forms during the day to day."

The photos are of an average young female professional engaging in her daily routines, like going to yoga or being at work.

“The concept of male entitlement is represented by male arms and hands performing a variety of actions that are overwhelming intrusive on her body and her life," she wrote. “In each situation she maintains a blank expression, a visual choice that demonstrates how conditioned we as women have become to accept this atmosphere as excusable and even normal.”

On the street

At the bar

During exercise

Making breakfast

At the office

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This article originally appeared on 09.25.17

Bill Gates sure is strict on how his children use the very technology he helped bring to the masses.

In a recent interview with the Mirror, the tech mogul said his children were not allowed to own their own cellphone until the age of 14. “We often set a time after which there is no screen time, and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour," he said. Gates added that the children are not allowed to have cellphones at the table, but are allowed to use them for homework or studying.

The Gates children, now 20, 17 and 14, are all above the minimum age requirement to own a phone, but they are still banned from having any Apple products in the house—thanks to Gates' longtime rivalry with Apple founder Steve Jobs.

While the parenting choice may seem harsh, the Gates may be onto something with delaying childhood smartphone ownership. According to the 2016 “Kids & Tech: The Evolution of Today's Digital Natives"report, the average age that a child gets their first smartphone is now 10.3 years.

“I think that age is going to trend even younger, because parents are getting tired of handing their smartphones to their kids," Stacy DeBroff, chief executive of Influence Central, told The New York Times.

James P. Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that reviews content and products for families, additionally told the Times that he too has one strict rule for his children when it comes to cellphones: They get one when they start high school and only when they've proven they have restraint. “No two kids are the same, and there's no magic number," he said. “A kid's age is not as important as his or her own responsibility or maturity level."

PBS Parents also provided a list of questions parents should answer before giving their child their first phone. Check out the entire list below:

  • How independent are your kids?
  • Do your children "need" to be in touch for safety reasons—or social ones?
  • How responsible are they?
  • Can they get behind the concept of limits for minutes talked and apps downloaded?
  • Can they be trusted not to text during class, disturb others with their conversations, and to use the text, photo, and video functions responsibly (and not to embarrass or harass others)?
  • Do they really need a smartphone that is also their music device, a portable movie and game player, and portal to the internet?
  • Do they need something that gives their location information to their friends—and maybe some strangers, too—as some of the new apps allow?
  • And do you want to add all the expense of new data plans? (Try keeping your temper when they announce that their new smart phone got dropped in the toilet...)

This article originally appeared on 05.01.17


Articles

11 Struggles That Only Left-Handed People Understand

Being left-handed can be hazardous to your health but it’s great if you’re running for president.

Photo from Pixabay.
The complexities behind living left-handed.

For the past 42 years, August 13 has been International Left-handers Day.

It was first observed by Dean R. Campbell, founder of the Lefthanders International, Inc., to celebrate their uniqueness and highlight the health and educational issues they face.

It’s also a day to honor left-handed people who overcame their struggles to achieve great things, including: Bill Gates, Marie Curie, Oprah Winfrey, Babe Ruth, Napoleon Bonaparte, Leonardo da Vinci, and Jimi Hendrix.

As well as the long list of left-handed presidents that have graced the oval office since the dawn of the 20th century: James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

www.flickr.com

Obama-fistbump

Photo by Joe Loong/Flickr/Creative Commons.

And, of course, the greatest lefty-rights advocate of our times, Ned Flanders.

Ned Flanders GIF from Giphy

Ned Flanders celebrates on The Simpsons.

So, to help spread awareness about the unique issues affecting left-handed people, here’s GOOD’s list of the 11 struggles that only left-handed people understand.

1. Scissors

Most left-handed people don’t truly realize they’re different until they reach pre-school and realize it’s impossible to use right-handed scissors. If the teacher doesn’t have a left-handed pair, they’re forced to either cut righty and slash their artwork to bits or turn the scissors upside down and get premature arthritis.

2. Ink

Life is tough for lefties who write in a language that reads left to right. Especially if they’re writing in ink. If a lefty uses a pen with slow-drying ink, they’re bound to smear it with the palm on their left hand.

3. Playing sports

Physical education class can be tough for left-handed people. They better hope their teacher has enough left-handed baseball gloves or they’re stuck on the sideline. Plus, most coaches are righties, so left-handed people have to learn to do everything in reverse.

4. Can openers

If it wasn’t for the advent of left-handed can openers, most of them would have starved.

5. Guitars

For a left-handed person to play a right-handed guitar they have to flip the thing over and then restring it the opposite way. The left-handed god of living in a right-handed world has to be Jimi Hendrix. He became one of the greatest guitar players ever by playing a right-handed guitar upside down.

6. Cameras

Left-handed photographers and videographers are at a great disadvantage because the shutter button is always on the right-hand side.

7. Lower pay

According to a study published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, lefties make about 10 to 12% percent less than righties. Joshua Goodman, an economist at Harvard’s Kennedy School, claims the wage gap is because left-handed people “have more emotional and behavioral problems, have more learning disabilities such as dyslexia, complete less schooling, and work in occupations requiring less cognitive skill.”

8. Poor health

According to ABC, left-handed people are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities. This dark fact shows that left-handed people not only have to put up with minor annoyances, but they’re more likely to get a serious illness.

9. Tools

The labels, handles, and switches are always on the right-hand side of any tool or machine. While it seems like a minor nuisance, this puts lefties who use dangerous equipment in peril.

10. Dinner tables

Left-handed people aren’t free to sit wherever they like at the dinner table. They have to find a spot where they’re not bumping elbows with the person sitting next to them. Which means they’re sometimes stuck sitting next to the person no one wants to eat beside.

11. Spiral notebooks

It’s amazing more left-handed people don’t have calluses on the palms of their left hands after rubbing them against the edge of spiral notebooks during school. The only alternative is turning the notebook upside down so the pages look funny or buying an overpriced left-handed notebook.


Article originally appeared on 08.13.18.


Culture

George Harrison's elaborate prank on Phil Collins may be the funniest joke in rock history

George Harrison wasn't just a great musician, he was hilarious.

via Philippe Roos / Flickr and Wikimedia Commons

Phil Collins 1981 and George Harrison in Vrindavan.

Beatle George Harrison was pigeon-holed as the "Quiet Beatle," but the youngest member of the Fab Four had an acerbic, dry sense of humor that was as sharp as the rest of his bandmates.

He gave great performances in the musical comedy classics, "A Hard Days Night" and "Help!" while holding his own during The Beatles' notoriously anarchic press conferences. After he left the band in 1970, in addition to his musical career, he would produce the 1979 Monty Python classic, "The Life of Brian."

Harrison clearly didn't lose his sense of humor for the rest of his life. Shortly before his death in 2001, he played an elaborate prank on Phil Collins that shows how the "Here Comes the Sun" singer would go the extra mile for a laugh.

GIF from media2.giphy.com.

The Beatles Love GIF

In 1970, Harrison was recording his first solo record and arguably the best by a Beatle, "All things Must Pass." The session for the song, "The Art of Dying" featured former Beatle Ringo Starr on drums, keyboard legend Billy Preston on keys, virtuoso Eric Clapton on guitar, and was produced by the notorious Phil Spector.

Harrison wanted a conga player for the session, so Ringo's chauffeur reached out to Phil Collins' manager. At the time, Collins was a relative unknown who was about to join Genesis, a band that would bring him worldwide stardom.

The 18-year-old Collins was starstruck playing on a session with two former Beatles, so he played extra hard in rehearsals, resulting in blood blisters on both hands.

Gif from media3.giphy.com.

Phil Collins 80s GIF.

"Anyway, after about two hours of this, Phil Spector says, 'Okay congas, you play this time.' And I'd had my mic off, so everybody laughed, but my hands were shot," Collins told Express.

"And just after that they all disappeared – someone said they were watching TV or something – and I was told I could go," after that, Collins was relieved of his duties and told to go home. A few months later, Collins bought the massive triple album in the record shop and was devastated to learn he'd been edited out of the song.

"There must be some mistake! Collins thought. "But it's a different version of the song, and I'm not on it."

Some thirty years later, Collins bought the home of Formula One driver Jackie Stewart, a close friend of Harrison. Stewart mentioned to Collins that Harrison was remixing "All Things Must Pass" for a rerelease.

"And he said, 'You were on it, weren't you?' And I said, 'Well I was there,"' Collins recalled.

GIF from media0.giphy.com.

George Harrison Animated Album Cover GIF.

Two days later, a tape was delivered from Harrison to Collins with a note that read: "Could this be you?" Collins continued: "I rush off and listen to it, and straight away I recognize it." It was a recording of "The Art of Dying."

"Suddenly the congas come in – too loud and just awful," Collins was devastated, then as the end of the take, Harrison can be heard saying, "Hey, Phil, can we try another without the conga player?"

Collins was devastated, to say the least.

A while later, Stewart calls Collins and puts Harrison on the line. "'Did you get the tape?' Harrison asked. "I now realize I was fired by a Beatle," Collins sighed. The two changed the subject, but a few minutes later, Harrison couldn't stop laughing.

"Don't worry, it was a piss-take. I got Ray Cooper to play really badly and we dubbed it on," Harrison admitted. "Thought you'd like it!" So, Harrison had an entire recording session with a conga player who he asked to play poorly, just to pull one over on Collins.

GIF from media3.giphy.com.

The Beatles Smile GIF.

If you're in the mood for another of rock's greatest pranks. The story of "The Ring" told by Beastie Boys' Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz shared in "Beastie Boys Story" is another great example of someone going to incredible lengths just for a laugh.

The story revolves around the late Beasties' rapper Adam "MCA" Yach, his bandmate Horovitz, and a very creepy ring given to him by a fan backstage at a concert.

youtu.be

“The Ring” from Beastie Boys Story (Original Original Cut)

“The Ring" from Beastie Boys Story (Original Original Cut)


This article originally appeared on 02.11.21

Articles

Alanis Morissette updated 'Ironic' for today's problems and it's hilarious

"It's like Amazon but your package never came..."

Alanis Morissette's 1995 song “Ironic" was a massive hit, making the top five in Australia, Canada, the U.S., and Norway.

It would go on to be nominated for two Grammys and its video featuring Morissette singing in a large automobile would be nominated for six MTV video music awards. But the song has drawn more than a few raised eyebrows from pedants across the English-speaking world for being about coincidences, not irony. But who cares? It's still a good song.

Twenty years later, Morissette updated her song with the help of “The Late Late Show" host James Corden to reflect modern problems, including Facebook, vaping, Netflix, and Southwest flights. She even made fun of her original song singing, “It's singing 'Ironic,' but there are no ironies / And who would've thought it figures?"

An old friend sends you a Facebook request

You only find out they're racist after you accept
There's free office cake on the first day of your diet
It's like they announce a new iPhone the day after you buy it
And isn't it ironic, don't you think?
It's like swiping left on your future soulmate
It's a Snapchat that you wish you had saved
It's a funny tweet that nobody faves
And who would've thought it figures

It's a traffic jam when you try to use Waze

A no-smoking sign when you brought your vape
It's 10,000 male late-night hosts when all you want is just one woman, seriously!
It's singing the duet of your dreams, and then Alanis Morissette shouting at you
And isn't it ironic, don't you think?
A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think

It's like you're first class on a Southwest plane

Then you realize that every seat is the same
It's like Amazon but your package never came
And who would've thought it figures

It's like Netflix but you own DVDs

It's a free ride but your Uber's down the street
It's singing “Ironic," but there are no ironies
And who would've thought it figures

Watch the hilarious video from “The Late Late Show" below:

youtu.be

Alanis Morissette Updates 'Ironic' Lyrics

You can also watch the original music video from 1995 here:

www.youtube.com

Alanis Morissette - Ironic (Official 4K Music Video)

This article was originally published on January 31, 2019.

Recent polls suggest that Republicans and Democrats have slightly different tastes that have nothing to do with politics. If you like cats, The Beatles, and Starbucks, you tend to vote Democrat. If you're into Toby Keith, Budweiser, and Dunkin' Donuts, you tend to vote Republican. But an interesting new quiz claims to be 98 percent effective at determining people's political affiliations by asking questions that have zero to do with politics.

So how does it work? (Don't read the answer if you haven't taken the quiz yet.)

According to ChartsMe, recent studies have found that people who were more prone to disgust are more conservative. This leads them to more closely align with the Republican Party. Some scientists believe it's ancestral and that the adverse reactions to conditions we'd label “disgusting" were used to protect primitive ancestors from contamination and disease. This way a person wouldn't confuse drinking water with dirty pond scum. But if the test told you that you're a Republican, you probably won't accept that explanation because studies show you probably don't believe in evolution.

Click to take the quiz.

Click to take the quiz.

This article originally appeared on 10.30.17

When you have important questions, where better to go for answers than a free-for-all website where literally anyone with a Wifi signal can sign up? Google is sooooooo early 2000’s.

In 2017, we get all our info from Twitter. Where could that possible go wrong???

18-year-old Twitter user Aimee recently took to the trusty website to ask something most of us have probably wondered about without even realizing it:

Photo from Twitter @TaylorRaee23.

Language people.

“Serious question, what the fuck is this for?" she asked, next to a photo of that handle on the ceiling of every car that we all knew about and probably wondered about but never thought to even ask for some reason?!?!?!?!?!?

People immediately started sharing their theories, like this one:

twitter.com

None

And this one:

twitter.com

None

All seem valid. But then one woman provided an answer so undeniably and universally real, it blew all the other theories out of the water:

twitter.com

None

“For my mom to dramatically grab when I'm going 26 in a 25," wrote Taylor Myers, a college student from Pittsburgh.

IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. MY MIND IS BLOWN.

Her response immediately blew up, wracking up over 118,000 retweets in three days. And Twitter could not agree with her theory more:

twitter.com

None

Others pointed out that the handle even has a name to match its function:

twitter.com

None

The “oh shit bar." Apparently this is old news in Texas, which is living in 3017 while the rest of us are stranded in 2017 (come rescue us, Texas!):

twitter.com

None

And for those of you who aren't potty mouths, don't worry, there's also a more pious name for it: “the Jesus bar."

twitter.com

None

But whatever you want to call it, I think we can all agree, now that we know what it is, our lives will never, ever be the same.


Article originally appeared on 06.25.21.