Hooray for unstructured play time for children! On a related note, boo for homework for those same children.
Reading this - about why it's so hard to take an original photo in Tehran - reminded me of all the challenges we face when trying to take pictures in certain countries. I've become quite skilled at the inconspicuous snap but there are so, so many photos I haven't been able to take that I regret to this day (like the armed guards standing outside the McDonald's in Beirut - we tried to get a clandestine shot, couldn't, then asked them if we could take a picture, and they said no).
This is one of those things I heard about from three sources all within about two minutes of each other. Social media is like that sometimes. GUY ON A BUFFALO. [The first HT award goes to Miss Nemesis]
Good for this personal trainer for making himself obese on purpose so he can understand later what it's like for his client to lose a lot of weight. Also, crazy! [HT Kathy]
It's just as well I don't have a lot of links today, because this one is GOLDEN and can take up a lot of your time if you let it: The Many Faces of Fear. Personally, I've had it open in a background tab for days now and every once in a while I click through a few. There is so much to love about this feature. I love seeing how many of the guys are holding their ladies' purses. I love seeing who is trying to make a break for it and who is trying to climb inside the wall and who is frozen in fear. I love seeing how it seems to be a common impulse to hold on to other people when you are scared. I was also fascinated by the clothes these people are wearing. I've been away from North America for over a year now and seriously, is that how people there dress these days? Isn't this haunted house in Canada, and isn't it October? Why are everyone's shorts so short? Anyway, the website is a little glitchy but I promise you will want to look at every single one of the 147 photos, one click at a time. [HT Sarah Olson]