The good news: Lego finally included a figure with a disability in their latest product line.
The Duplo Community People Set would have been the perfect opportunity to represent someone in society with a disability. Any form of disability, really. We aren't that picky.
The bad: Lego offered up a person in a wheelchair - and he's an elderly man being pushed by a young figure. Cue slow clap.
While I don't have stats at my fingertips, I'm willing to wager that the vast majority of those in wheelchairs aren't elderly at all. Many aren't even adults.
Co-founder of the Toy Like Me campaign, Rebecca Atkinson, put it far more diplomatically than me.
“We applaud Lego for producing a wheelchair-using Duplo figure,” said Atkinson in a press release. "But it’s so disappointing that the only wheelchair-using figure across all Lego products is an elderly person being pushed along by a younger figure. What does this say to children about disability? That it only exists in the over 65?”
Mercifully, the beauty with Duplo and Lego products is that kids can be more open minded than the makers, and interchange the chair with other figures, both young and old, male and female.
After all, kids need to know that disability doesn't come in a single package.
So far, Toy Like Me's Change.org petition to the likes of Lego and Hasbro has racked up some 18,300 signatures.
Thanks for coming to bat, Lego. It may be too little, but it's never too late. You have no idea how big a difference a few small plastic blocks make in the grand scheme.
Image Source: Lego.com
Damn, concerts are expensive these days. At least Swedish concert goers got some bang for their buck when Lenny Kravitz performed the other night.
The 51 year-old singer was partway through his version of “American Woman” when his leather pants split at the crotch (call it an occupational rocker hazard), exposing his legions of fans to Lenny Jr.
Let me introduce you to my little friend... Goes without saying, it's NSFW, because Lenny Kravitz's penis.
Yes, his full junk was on view. But like the trouper he is, Kravitz took one for the team and finished the song using his hand as makeshift lotus leaf. You see, he was commando and he was also pierced. It was, er, interesting.
Of course cameras were at the ready during that Stockholm gig. If you thought your dad was embarrassing, spare a thought for Lenny's 26-year-old daughter, Zoe. Bet she's already swearing off social media for the next week or so, until this whole #penisgate thing blows over.
Imagine, even Steven Tyler had to comment on seeing his buddy's big reveal. (For the record, count your chickens that Steven Tyler doesn't wear leather pants.)
Also for the record, it's highly unlikely that Kravitz could have orchestrated the wardrobe malfunction on purpose - though I must say it's a refreshing change to see someone other than Madonna popping a boob or Britney flashing her flower while inelegantly stepping out of a car.
I guess there's no such thing as bad exposure in the music biz.
Image Source: WikiCommons
RELATED: One More Reason to Love Adam Levine
An infographic from The Renegade Pharmacist breaking down what happens in your body up to one hour after guzzling a can of Coca Cola has gone viral. Not only can the iconic caramel soda drink keep your coins in mint shape, just 10 minutes after drinking it, you will feel its effects, claims Niraj Naik, a self-described "ex-community pharmacist" turned holistic health hack.
It starts with the smack of those 10 teaspoons of sugar hitting your system. Literally, smack (yes Naik draws that comparison.) Your entire daily sugar intake down the hatch, closely followed by a blood sugar spike and insulin burst that converts the sugar into fat. Forty minutes later, the caffeine works its magic: dilating pupils, elevating blood pressure and blocking the drowsy adenosine receptors in your brain.
A few minutes later comes the rush of dopamine, which Naik likens to the heroin high. An hour later - thanks to the caffeine's diuretic component - and you're rushing for the little girls' room to relieve yourself, effectively draining away the calcium, magnesium, zinc and any other goodness that was "headed to your bones."
As the finale, Naik promises a sugar crash "as the rave inside of you dies down" and you've now "literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke."
Printer-friendly version