When Environmentalists Attack

Oftentimes, as the officer walks up to your window, he or she will pat your back tail light with their finger.

There are two reasons why they do this.

Reason one: To leave behind evidence

These days, most police cars are equipped with dash cams to record the interaction, but back in the day, there was little physical evidence of the encounter. So an officer would tap a finger on a tail light to leave a fingerprint.

“In case the officer found himself in a dangerous situation while pulling over the subject vehicle, fingerprint evidence would prove that he or she was present at the scene,” The Law Dictionary says. “The fingerprints would only be utilized if the interaction between the driver and the cop led to a criminal investigation.”

Reason two: To startle the driver

Whenever an officer approaches a stopped car, they have to be ready for a potentially dangerous situation. The person they’ve pulled over may have a firearm or dangerous drugs in their car, so a tap on the tail light can distract them while attempting to hide any contraband.

“The driver is likely not expecting the noise of the tap – which typically causes him or her to stop for a moment, giving the police officer additional time to witness what the driver is trying to hide (if there is anything),” The Law Dictionary says.

Now that police officers have body cams and dash cams, the era of the tail light tap is quickly coming to an end. So these days, if you hear a tap, “it’s likely out of habit rather than necessity,” The Law Dictionary says.

Article originally appeared on 04.11.19

Williamson posted a photo of her daughter Salem in the shirt on Facebook and it quickly went viral.

The shirt that was delivered looked exactly like the one in the online store, just without the caustic N.W.A. lyric.

While it seems utterly bizarre that someone would create a shirt with “FUCK THE POLICE" written beneath a picture of Frog and Toad — a duo who've never been known to harbor ill will against law enforcement — there's a good reason.

Memes featuring Frog and Toad are so popular they have their own subreddit. The shirtmaker, who probably doesn't have a license to use Frog and Toad, must have got the photo from a Google search. The person who made the shirt was most likely Chinese and either didn't speak English or has a very poor eye for detail.

After Williamson received the shirt, she Facetimed her husband and they screamed together. “We both just lost it, dying of laughter," she told Buzzfeed. “All he could say was 'Oh shit.'"

“I've told [Salem], 'People really like your frog shirt!'" Williamson said. But she's not letting her child wear the offensive shirt to preschool. “It's going in her baby box so we can bring it up when she's older."

Unfortunately, the incident has been all laughs for Williamson. She's received messages from people who've fat-shamed her daughter.

“People were actually messaging me just to say mean things about her," she said. “A ton of people calling her fat, asking me what I feed her to make her so big, telling me the shirt I bought was too small."

But Williamson has remained strong and fought back against the shamers. She edited her post to address her daughter's weight but refuses to take it down. “SHE SEES SPECIALISTS FOR HER WEIGHT. SHE CANT HELP IT. I CANT HELP IT. MY HUSBAND CANT HELP IT. IT IS OUT OF OUR CONTROL. JUST LAUGH AT THE FUNNY SHIRT," Williamson wrote on Facebook.

That's right people, just laugh at the funny shirt, and stay out of people's business.

This article originally appeared on 06.01.19

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

Article originally appeared on 09.19.17

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.”

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This article originally appeared on 09.25.17

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

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.

Photo by Joe Loong/Flickr/Creative Commons.

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

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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

This article originally appeared on 02.11.21

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:

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

This article was originally published on January 31, 2019.