children

4 Children Who Changed the World

June 1, 2014 By Fred Mitchell Leave a Comment

Today is Children’s Day, so Happy Children’s Day, children all over the world! This day is also a reminder that children are our future. We must educate them and offer them the best start in life we can. There are so many schools for children all over the world that have awful conditions, but education must be available to all. Today, we pay tribute to all the children who helped change the world. We’re going to present you four children who changed the world we live in and made it better.

Louis Braille (1809-1852)

Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, a little village in France. His father had a crafts shop. When Louis was three, he tried to cut a piece of leather with a sharp tool and injured himself. He lost his right eye and soon after, his left eye became inflamed. At the age of 5, Louis Braille was blind. Back then, blindness meant total social exclusion, but his father taught him how to read by guiding his fingers on wood with nails. He became the best child in his class and, in 1821, he learned the night writing system which was used by the French Army. The system was made up of raised points and dots, but it was a complicated system which Braille simplified. Louis Braille presented his brand new code at the ripe age of 15 and published the first version of the Braille system in 1829.

Nkosi Johnson (1989-2001)

Nkosi was a South-African child who changed the world through his HIV/AIDS campaigning. He was born seropositive in a village close to DAnnhauser. He never met his father and his mother died the year he started going to school. The boy was adopted by Gail Johnson, a PR specialist, after his mother could no longer care for him. After he was refused by a primary school in a suburb of Johannesburg because of his illness, his voice was heard throughout the country and the constitution of South Africa banned medical discrimination. At the time of his death, Nkosi was the oldest living child born with the disease.

Malala Yousafzai (1997-present)

Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan. When she was 11, she wrote to the BBC about her life under the Taliban regime and how the girls in her community are denied an education. In 2011, she was awarded a Peace Prize for her courage to speak up about her problems. This drew the Taliban’s attention who shot her in the head in October 2012. Surprisingly, Malala survived and is now living in the UK. She held a speech for the UN and said that she wouldn’t let the terrorists intimidate her.

Iqbal Masih (1983-1995)

Iqbal was born in 1983 in a little village outside Lahore, Pakistan. When he was four, his family forced him to start working in the rug industry, so that the family could pay back a debt of 16 dollars. He was working in chains, with other children, for 14 hours a day, six days a week. He only had a 30 minute break each day and weighed 27 kilograms and measured 1,2 meters. When Iqbal was 10, his slavery ended after forced child labor was declared illegal by Pakistan’s Supreme Court. He joined a front of forber forced labor victims and helped over 3,000 children regain their freedom. He started giving speeches thrgouhout the world about forced labor, but after he returned from a trip to the US, he was mistakenly shot by a farmer. He was 12 and many believe he was assassinated.

Say My Name! 5 Children Who Are Going to Hate Their Life When They Grow Up

December 23, 2013 By Fred Mitchell Leave a Comment

Every year, some very curious people start making surveys to measure up people’s imagination, sick sense of humor, passive – aggressive tendencies and their well dissimulated desire of taking revenge with the world. No, it’s not about psychological testing en masse, although it would not be such a bad idea, but the annual “How did you named your new-born this year” research. This has been going on for a while and besides the names that sound pretty normal and even mainstream, so to speak, every year these studies reveal that some parents actually managed to screw their children’s lives in a manner that would make Sigmund Freud jealous for not thinking about this first: pick a name that will not only haunt the child for the rest of his or her life, but turn the child into a constant subject of mockery, abuse and nervous breakdowns.

To be fair to our cause, this is not about some celebrities’ children names, as we all know how Kal – El (son of Cage) will develop, or how little miss Apple (daughter of Poltrow) will face at some point some trademark infringement law case in the unfortunate circumstance of ever wanting to sell phones. We are talking about those anonymous mothers and fathers everywhere in the country who are so cool, naming their children James or Diana was too little, they had to come up with better than this. So we picked up five contenders among the children who are going to hate their life when they grow up, solely based on their names.

1. Google – You feel lucky, punk?

Imagine this conversation in school:

“Teacher, where do I find some reliable references on Mark Twain’s works for my essay?”

“Ask Google”

Imagine this conversation in adulthood

“Google, google me the recipe for roasted turkey, please”

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine being asked questions all the time and being a constant subject of interminable mockery. He will end up changing his name into Jon Doe and flee the country.

2. Lovelle – Shake it like you mean it

You know how they say a name pretty much pre-defines and pre-determins your entire destiny? Now tell me you don’t read this name and see it in neon lights next to a dancing pole. Maybe I am the crazy one, but Danielle was just right and I hope dear little angel Lovelle will become a neuroscientist.

3. Hurricane. Definitely one of the children who are going to hate their life

In the Lord’s year 2013, some parents decided to name their new-born son Hurricane. Now if the boy’s first cries sounded exactly like the Scorpions band lead vocalist, everything is just dandy, as the boy will become the next superstar in rock music. But if you called your child like this just because he was born during the hurricane, survived the hurricane or was conceived during the hurricane, this token of “remember the time” is quite cruel.

4. Shoog. Because 2012 was a shoog year for girls

Why give the child a name which might turn ugly if mocked in a nickname, when you can cut the BS from the start and name her (because Shoog is a her) directly odd, just so you cut everybody’s wings before they start finding name alternatives in high school? Little miss Shoog, we truly hope you won’t become one of those children who hate their life and none of your future friends and colleagues will ever ask you how on Earth did your parents come with this… sound… of a name.

5. Leviathan

Seriously people? It’s 2013 and you name your boy Leviathan? There are so many ways this kid’s life is going to be screwed up, we can’t even begin to count them. He’ll go around by the name of Levi, identify himself as a descendant of the Levi Strauss genealogical tree and wear denim for the rest of his life. There’s no other possible way to beat his parents’ creativity.

There you have my personal selection of children who are going to hate their life because of their names. There are so many more out there. So many and so weird, one might come to believe that Kal – El isn’t that bad after all.

Kristin and Kayla: Adorable Sisters in Amazing Photos

July 11, 2012 By Vernon Gadson Leave a Comment

Here’s something guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Jason Lee, a California-based American wedding photographer of eight years, has become something of an internet sensation thanks to funny and imaginative pictures taken by Lee of his two adorable young girls, Kristin (8) and Kayla (5). The photos, uploaded onto Lee’s wildly popular Flickr account, see the lively little siblings snapped as they partake in weird and wacky situations, which vary from daily chores to werewolf-hunting, ceiling fan-riding to playing Super Mario Bros. – in full-scale.

The photos of Kristin and Kayla began when Lee’s mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2006. As Kristin and Kayla were constantly sick with colds and coughs at the time, they couldn’t see their grandmother for fear that she catch their kid germs. Lee decided to start an online photo blog wherein his mother could see her granddaughters and what was going on in their lives. As time went by, the photos of Kristin and Kayla became more and more inventive and fantastical, and Lee and the girls’ internet fame was set in motion.

“Most of the ideas come from the girls,” says Lee of his creative process. “From observing them play, or hearing the funny and outrageous things they say. Their day to day life also plays a big role for my inspiration.” On his shooting technique: “After coming up with an idea, I then ‘set up’ the scene, and often use artificial lighting to enhance the images. It helps to plan out the shoot before hand, so at most, I only have them in the shoot for a minute or two.”

Below are some of the stunning, rib-tickling and heartwarming photos in Lee’s collection. If you want to see more (and why wouldn’t you?), head over to his Flickr page or his official blog. [Read more…]

50 Pictures of Cats in Hats

June 29, 2012 By Vernon Gadson 2 Comments

We all know of Dr. Seuss’ classic children’s book “The Cat in the Hat.” Featuring a mischievous cat clad in a red and white-striped hat, it is and always has been a widely cherished piece of family-friendly literature, beloved since its first publication in 1957 and turned into a full-length feature film in 2003 starring Mike Myers as the titular feline. Did you know that Myers was nominated for Worst Actor at the Razzies for the film? The film itself was nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Supporting Actress, Worst On-Screen Couple and Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie. It only won the last one. You’d think it’d win all of them, really. God, that movie was lousy…

Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, cats in hats. So, I’ve collected 50 (that’s right – fifty!) images of cats in hats from all four corners of the silly part of the interwebs. We’ve got all kinds of hats here: bowler hats, top hats, cowboy hats and wizard hats. All sorts of cats too: Siamese cats, ginger cats, pussycats, erm, those black ones… So, scroll down, look at the pictures, observe them, soak them in and possibly even laugh at them (y’know, if you’re into that kinda thing). Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go throw darts at a picture of Mike Myers’ stupid face. You ruined my childhood, Myers! You ruined it… [Read more…]

Mind-Bending Playground Designs by Monstrum

May 2, 2012 By Vernon Gadson Leave a Comment

Here are some playgrounds that will make you want to be a kid again, or at least make you wish there wasn’t a social stigma against grown adults gleefully frolicking around a children’s play area sans one’s children. Designed by Monstrum, a Danish firm founded by Ole B. Nielsen and Christian Jensen, these playscapes are by far the most remarkable I’ve ever seen. Located all across Europe, their stunningly imaginative features range from the fantastical (a spider web netscape strung up below a giant spider) to the dreamlike (a blue-and-red-striped playscape seemingly designed by Dr. Seuss) and also to the slightly creepy (the bendy playhouse pictured above looks a bit haunted and/or hungry).

They’re practically art installations just as much as they are play areas, and Monstrum is certainly very enthusiastic about them. “MONSTRUM believes that playground design should be a reflection of the world surrounding us,” says their official website. “We see the world as a place full of colour. We meet boys that like pink and girls that likes trees, so why only play on a monkey frame and a sandbox, when you can play in a moon crater or a submarine or a giant spider or an enormous snail or a Trojan horse or a rocket or an ant or a princess castle. The fantasy is infinite.” [Read more…]