Struggling to get into the spirit of things this year? Enter Adam Bojelian. Even though the 12 year old with cerebral palsy can only move his eyelids, he has produced a catchy carol with a little help from his friends.
Although Adam lost movement in his limbs at ten months old, he manages to communicate with his family by blinking as his mother Zoe points out the letters of the alphabet.
According to an article in the UK Sun, she then painstakingly transcribed her son's Christmas poem, which has since been accompanied with music and a fun video.
“Once he had all the words he needed he put them in order. It took him a week to write all the words for the poem,” says Zoe.
When it became clear that Adam wanted his poem—about Santa delivering presents with a crew of monkeys instead of elves—turned into a song for Make a Wish, his mother enlisted the help of a Hollywood musician. Tom Harrison, who composes music for the TV series CSI, jumped at the chance to make the remarkable boy's dream come true.
“[Adam’s] really inspiring," says Harrison. "Despite all his difficulties, Adam was able to create something so wonderful. Because Adam’s poem was so beautifully written and rhymed well, it only took me about three hours to compose the music to go with the words."
Animator Nikki Godley then got involved, creating a video to accompany the single, which is currently sold to raise funds for CHAS, a charity in support of children’s hospices in Scotland.
Click here to buy The Christmas Gibbons.
In the latest gotcha news is the viral video of what appeared to be a golden eagle snatching up a tot in a Montreal park. Those dang Montrealers. When they aren't taking monkeys shopping at IKEA, they are honing their animation skills.
Turns out the video, which according to an article in Gawker, has now been claimed as the handiwork of students at animation and design school Centre NAD. Bar a few doubters, for the most part the Internet was fooled by the hoax.
Suspicions were cast after the incident failed to ignite Canadian media sources, and the computer-generated images were flawed at particular intervals: the bird's shadow momentarily disappearing and the tot's "ragdoll-like" fall. Seems like a story someone would cover.
But even some ornithologists were fooled, it seems. Renowed bird man Kenn Kaufman states that the video is an obvious dud: "using a falconer's bird, and probably a fake toddler for the distant scene. With all the ignorance about nature that's out there already, the last thing we need is this kind of stupid garbage."
Stupid garbage is a little harsh, maybe. Yet does make you wonder if you can truly trust anything you see on the internet.
CBC's This is That radio show spoofed listeners last week with a made up story about a bylaw requiring dogs to follow commands in both English and French.
I thought that, following the whole Kate crank call ordeal, we were done with such spoofs. Guess not.
Watch it again. Were you fooled?
Who knew that cinnamon, nutmeg, and marshmallows could be dangerous? But parents are being warned that the household staples could actually be fatal as kids seek out new, legal highs.
"The envelope is always being pushed to create something new that will get attention, potentially create a drug-like effect and can pass under the radar of law enforcers," says Department of Emergency Medicine at Loyola University Health System toxicologist, Dr. Christina Hantsch.
The former medical director of Illinois Poison Control Loyola described how the emergency room treated a dozen tweens playing a game known as the Cinnamon Challenge went awry.
The 'challenge' is to swallow a tablespoon of ground cinnamon without water. "The dry, loose cinnamon triggers a violent coughing effect and also a burning sensation that actually can lead to breathing and choking hazards," said Hantsch.
Unfortunately with the accessibility of YouTube, there are hundreds of posting for such risky games, with kids daring each other to try experiments using common items.
Another challenge known as Chubby Bunny involves stuffing your mouth with as many marshmallows as possible, then trying to say the words 'Chubby Bunny.' Sounds cute. But two children have already choked to death playing it.
In the first three months of 2012 alone, poison centres fielded 139 calls involving cinnamon, 30 of which required medial intervention. Kids have also found that cupboard staples such as ground nutmeg can produce a "marijuana-like high" as it contains a hallucinogenic called myristicin.
According to an article in Science Daily, a synthetic form of marijuana known as Spice or K2 is exceedingly popular because it's legal and can't be detected in standard drug tests. However, it's said to be more dangerous than cannabis—with documented side effects such as respiratory, cardiac and nerve damage.
"Seemingly silly games can have sinister effects and the holidays are the worst time for this to happen," said Hantsch. "Kids have more free time, greater access to the Internet and more opportunities to get together during vacations. And at Christmas, the kitchen pantry is loaded for holiday baking. Adults are wise to keep an eye on their children to make sure they are using the ingredients for their proper use."
Time to lock up the cinnamon and nutmeg? Or time to teach your kids that even cooking spices can be dangerous?
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