A refresher in crabs
"A film of a man being attacked by a crab has gone viral on video-sharing websites," Orange.co.uk reports. "The clip shows the man, wearing a Russian soldier's cap, following a group of crabs as they walk alongside the curb of a rural road. The man catches one of the crabs and holds it up to his face – presumably forgetting what a crab has pincers for. The crab clips onto the man's nostril, making him scream out in pain, but that doesn't stop the crab. It continues to clamp down as the man's nose starts to turn white from the pressure."
There's an app for that
– "About 40 per cent of two- to four-year-olds (and 10 per cent of kids younger than that) have used a smart phone, tablet or video iPod, according to a new study by the non-profit group Common Sense Media," Associated Press reports. "… There are thousands of apps targeted specifically to babies and toddlers – interactive games that name body parts, for example, or sing nursery rhymes. It has become commonplace to see little ones flicking through photos on their parents' phones during church or playing games on a tablet during a bus, train or plane ride. … In fact, toy maker Fisher-Price has just released a new hard case for the iPhone and iPod touch, framed by a colourful rattle, which allows babies to play while promising protection from 'dribbles, drool and unwanted call-making.' "
– "So I got a press release the other day about a new app that lets bosses and workers praise a colleague – without having to go through the un-fun process of face-to-face communication," writes Rex Huppke for the Chicago Tribune. "The app, developed by WorkSimple, rewards hard workers with 'a series of colourful badges.' … According to the release, the app, called Praise, is 'designed for high engagement by being a lightweight and colourful way to quickly add positive performance feedback.' … The company claims 65 per cent of Americans received no recognition in the workplace last year. What better way to solve that problem than to create an electronic tool for delivering praise that is impersonal and valueless."
He writes handsome, too
"Good looks sell themselves, but are guys with good looks also good at selling themselves?" asks The Boston Globe. "According to a study by psychologists at Villanova [University, in Pennsylvania] the answer would appear to be yes. Women rated photos – and, separately, self-descriptions – of men from a dating website. Men with attractive photos also tended to have attractive self-descriptions, characterized by self-confidence. The authors of the study figure that attractive people recognize their value, or become accustomed to extra attention, and gain extra confidence as a result."
Frugal festive season?
"With Black Friday still weeks away, roughly 39 per cent of Americans have already started their holiday shopping, according to the National Retail Federation," reports The Wall Street Journal. "This is almost two percentage points more than last year, which is a big jump for a statistic that usually shifts a few tenths of a point a year. But this year, with no must-have new toy or gadget on the December horizon, frugal consumers are looking to save money by shopping early. They are finding plenty of deals on fall clearance racks and at pre-holiday sales events."
Go easy on yourself
From a Daily Beast review of 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans, by gerontologist Karl Pillemer: "If you don't get it right the first time, don't wallow in regrets. Make like the legendary Kitty Carlisle Hart, who adhered to a daily ritual. As soon as she woke up, she looked squarely into the mirror and said out loud: 'Kitty, I forgive you.' She lived to be 96."
Hands, a part of speech
"There are cultural differences in the size and frequency of our gestures – falling, more often than not, along stereotypical lines (want to hazard a guess about whether the Italians or the Japanese gesture more boisterously?) – but we all gesture," writes Jessica Love in The American Scholar. "The blind even gesture to the blind. As both artifact and facilitator, gestures may prove to be as much a part of speaking as speech itself."
Thought du jour
"One of the many things that nobody ever tells you about middle age is that it's such a nice change from being young."
- William Feather (1889-1981), American author and publisher