26 Moments That Restored Our Faith In Humanity This Year

No More Steubenvilles: How To Raise Boys to be Kind Men When Max was just a few months old, I sat cross-legged on the floor with him in a circle of other mothers. The facilitator for our “Mommy and Me” playgroup would throw a question out to the group, and we would each volley back an answer. “What quality do you want to instill in your child? What personality characteristic would you most like for your son to be known for?” she asked. One by one, the mothers answered.

Footballers are smarter than PhD students, claims survey THE OLD stereotype of the stupid footballer may have to be consigned to history after a new study claimed that players have better cognitive skills than undergraduates and even PhD students. Research by Canadian academic Jocelyn Faubert, of the University of Montreal, found that sports stars were able to "hyper-focus" when doing tests, thanks to physical differences in their brains. Footballers from Manchester United took part in the study along with NHL ice hockey players in Canada and French Super 14 rugby players. Amateur athletes and students were also involved. All the volunteers were set complex visual challenges on a machine called a Neurotracker, such as following 3D balls as they moved around a screen, to test their perceptual and cognitive abilities.

Facebook is Becoming a Rotting Pile of Garbage – A Rant I joined Facebook when it was still open to just college students. I was happy when it finally opened its walled garden to anyone – it allowed me to connect with friends who didn’t go to school and, eventually, with family members. I’ve used the social network a lot over the years, and I still check it every day to see what my high school friends, college buddies and families are up to. THE SUN WILL COME OUT TOMORROW Well it looks like that furry rodent, Punxsutawney Phil, and his cousin may have it gotten it right, this time. The almost 6 feet of snow that we received since the 1st of the year is starting to melt, and this morning we woke to the Sun blazing through our windows. I even saw a few birds zipping back and forth in the barren trees, as I drank my morning coffee.

A Moment Frozen: Harold Whittles Hears It’s weird that even in the age of the internet, sometimes it’s difficult to find information. Take, for example, this very famous photo of Harold Whittles. Captured by Jack Bradley, the photo shows Whittles at the moment he had been fitted with a hearing aid, and was hearing for the first time. Other than that, there’s not much out there to tell us about the photo or how it came about – even though this photo shows up all around the internet every day and millions of people are familiar with the image, all that’s really available in terms of background is that the photo appeared in Reader’s Digest in 1974, but the magazine did not offer any additional details. While this could be frustrating for anyone trying to do research, it’s interesting to note that sometimes an photo says everything it needs to on its own, and that additional explanation is not necessary in order for the image to tell the story.

$500 Million Powerball Jackpot: The Tragic Stories of the Lottery’s Unluckiest Winners Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot is now expected to be an unimaginable $500 million, the second-biggest jackpot in history behind March’s $656 Mega Millions pot. But winning the lottery can have its pitfalls. Distant relatives and fair-weather friends can come clamoring for their share; spouse can turn on spouse; kidnapping and murder can suddenly become very real threats. Renting a storage unit is almost like renting an apartment or house When a prospective tenant comes into the facility wanting to rent a storage unit they have to fill out an application (a very brief one) just to let us know a little about themselves. Their name, current address, phone #’s, employer. We initially make a copy of their driver’s license and keep the copy in our files along with their application. We also ask for e-mail address, as this is how monthly invoices are sent out and always remind them that if they don’t receive the invoice in regular e-mail to be sure to look in their spam. Sometimes, and we don’t know why, the invoice winds up in spam. We also ask for an alternate contact person.

Summer Climbing in Lochaber Ben Nevis provides some of the finest mountaineering and rock climbing routes in the British Isles. On the north-east side there are routes of all lengths and grades from two pitch Very Difficult climbs to E grade routes nearly 300 metres in length. At 420 metres, 'The Long Climb' (Very Severe) is one of the longest rock climbs in Britain. A climb up one of the classic ridges of 'The Ben' can give a mountaineering adventure which is second to none in quality and situation. The most popular of the ridges is probably Tower Ridge, a stupendous 600 metres of superb scrambling and climbing at Difficult standard. The north side of Ben Nevis is not the place to practise elementary mountaineering and climbing skills, and beginners wishing to venture up this side of the mountain should go with an experienced mountaineer or mountain guide (see also 'the ascent of Ben Nevis').