Show of hands who's ever held up their child at a zoo to get a better view of the animals? Well, after reading about the Pittsburgh toddler who was mauled to death by wild African dogs, I vow to never do it again.
According to an article in the Star, the 34-year-old unidentified mother placed her two-year-old son on top of a railing "at the edge of a viewing deck" when he reportedly lost his footing and fell into the pit of endangered painted dogs.
Though it's unclear whether the boy died from the fall—said to be between 11-14 feet— or the attack by almost a dozen dogs, the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium has since been closed.
While most of the dogs were called off by zookeepers, police shot the last dog, which had become aggressive. The incident was the first at the zoo in at least forty years, yet it is not the first time fatal attacks have occurred at zoos in the States. Other incidents call into question the safety of exhibits, after a tiger jumped a wall at the San Francisco zoo, killing one person, in 2007. This past September a man was badly injured after jumping off a viewing platform into a tiger pit at New York's Bronx Zoo.
The 1.5-acre exhibit called the Painted Dog Bush Camp also housed elephants, lions and other animals. Though the deck was glassed on the sides, the front section featured just a four-foot railing.
Do you think Canadian zoos take enough safety precautions when it comes to enclosures?
So it's election day in the US. As if you needed reminding. After all, it seems celebrity after celebrity—from Madonna to Samuel L. Jackson—has gone public with their adulation for President Obama. Even the American-born half of Montreal indie rockers, Arcade Fire, have deemed it necessary to declare their love for Obama.
But do pop music and movies truly mix with politics? Should they? Do celebrity endorsements actually influence voters?
As much as I love the music of Grammy-winners, Arcade Fire, their political views aren't exactly relevant or sought after. But perhaps they are for some of the voting contingent. I tend to like Obama for other reasons...
According to an article in the Huffington Post, the Texan brothers Win and Will Butler declared a litany of reasons for supporting Obama's re-election on the site 90 Days, 90 Reasons.
Many of the aforesaid reasons are basically reasons not to support Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, because "he's prone to terrible gaffes that could jeopardize relationships with our allies -- delicate relations where a few misplaced words can do great harm." True enough.
Win added that he wants Obama to win the race for purely selfish reason: "I want four more sweet years of Canadians liking Americans... I felt so proud—as an American citizen living in a socially progressive country like Canada—that our president understands that there are global moral imperatives that unite us all."
I guess the boys are hoping to get back to a place where their birth country isn't mistrusted or disliked by foreign countries.
The 90 blog includes pro-Obama endorsements from 90 big names, including members of bands R.E.M., Pearl Jam, The Decemberists and film players, Ben Stiller and David Lynch.
All well and good, but would you be swayed by the political views of artists whose work you admire?
PS: for some relevant news: Arcade Fire is said to be in the studio working on new album slated for release "sometime in 2013."
Speaking of outrageous notes left on restaurant receipts, do you buy the viral tip-less bill signed 'Single mom, sorry'?
The internet was seeing red at the cheek of the anonymous cheapskate mom. But an article on Mommyish questions the authenticity of the bill.
Having read about the stunt, writer Lindsay Cross, herself once a single mom, claims she "simply couldn’t believe that it was real. 'No one would ever do such a thing,' I thought to myself. 'No one has this sense of entitlement.'”
Cross, like many, refused to believe a genuine single mom would stoop so low as to consume a $140 meal without giving the server a single cent in recognition for the service, which was by her own account "great.”
It does smell a little fishy to me, having grown up under the care of a single mom who never would have dreamed of indulging in a meal that could have covered a week's worth of groceries, let alone foregoing a tip. And if the mom really was that selfish, why would she both scrawling an apology?
Of course not all single moms are selfless and hard working. There are A-holes everywhere. But this bill is an anathema worthy of Mulder and Scully of yore. If she wasn't a bona fide single mom—and the bill was fraudulent—then whoever left the note was a jerk of epic proportions.
As Cross rightly points out, the waitress could well have been a single mom herself. "And we’re normally pretty quick to help out others who are working hard." We don't want to believe the bill is genuine either, as it paints single parents with the same awful, broad brush.
Consider that your server is likely struggling to make ends meet, too. Single mom or not, there's no good excuse for that kind of stinginess.
Think the bill was genuinely from a single mom, or a genuine sham?
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