Abetrujillo

Grant Snider of Incidental Comics continues to enjoy and share the intricacies of life with a toddler. It’s astonishing to watch them develop and become distinct personalities, and so many of them follow the same path that other parents can remember and relate. The process of seeing them learn about the world around them and discover their ability to manipulate it is almost magical, but at the same time chaotic and exhausting for parents.   

To celebrate the upcoming 20th anniversary of popular Japanese racing series Initial D, LEGO enthusiast Denil Oh created quite a unique set on LEGO Ideas. It's an awesome miniature replica of the iconic Toyota Trueno, the main character Takumi Fujiwara, and his family's tofu shop.

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Around my house, the best thing about a Lego kit is building it. When it’s finished, it’s fun to admire for a few minutes, but by the next day, my daughter and I have lost interest. We just want to build another kit, but they are too expensive to buy every couple of days.

Pley is a Lego kit subscription service that focuses on the fun part – the building. It’s like NetFlix. Pley costs $15 a month. You make a queue from over 250 kits, and Pley sends you the kit at the top of your queue. When you are done, take the pieces apart and put them in the supplied shipping box. Pley pays shipping in both directions. If you lose a couple of pieces, you won’t be charged.

Pley will then send you the next kit in your queue. Each kit is cleaned and sanitized before you receive it.

-- Mark Frauenfelder

Pley
$15/month

Why Go To Church
One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it
was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, "I'm not going."
"Why not?" she asked.
I'll give you two good reasons," he said: "(1) They don't like me --
And (2) I don't like them."
His mother replied, "I'll give you two good reasons why you SHOULD go
to church: (1) You're 59 years old – And (2) you're the pastor!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Picnic
A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest met at the town's annual 4th of
July picnic. Old friends, they began their usual banter.
"This baked ham is really delicious," the priest teased the rabbi.
"You really ought to try it. I know it's against your religion,

but I can't understand why such a wonderful food should be
forbidden! You don't know what you're missing.
You just haven't lived until you've tried Mrs. Hall's prized Virginia
Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?"
The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, "At your wedding."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Show and Tell
A kindergarten teacher gave her class a 'Show And Tell' assignment.
Each student was instructed to bring in an object that represented

their religion to share with the class.
The first student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is
Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is a Star of David."
The second student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is
Mary. I'm a Catholic and this is a Rosary."
The third student got in up front of the class and said, "My name is
Tommy. I am Baptist, and this is a casserole."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Pray
A priest, a minister and a guru sat discussing the best positions for
prayer, while a telephone repairman worked nearby.
"Kneeling is definitely the best way to pray," the priest said.
"No," said the minister, "I get the best results standing with my
hands outstretched to Heaven."
"You're both wrong," the guru said, "The most effective prayer
position is lying down on the floor."
The repairman could contain himself no longer. "Hey, fellas," he
interrupted. "The best prayin' I ever did was when I was hangin'

upside down from a telephone pole."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Twenty and the One
A well-worn one-dollar bill and a similarly distressed twenty-dollar
bill arrived at a Federal Reserve Bank to be retired. As they moved

along the conveyor belt to be burned, they struck up a conversation.
The twenty-dollar bill reminisced about its travels all over the
country. "I've had a pretty good life," the twenty proclaimed.

"Why I've been to Las Vegas and Atlantic City, the finest
restaurants in New York, performances on Broadway,

and even a cruise to the Caribbean ."
"Wow!" said the one-dollar bill. "You've really had an exciting life!"
"So, tell me," says the twenty, "Where have you been throughout your lifetime?"
The one dollar bill replies, "Oh, I've been to the Methodist Church,
the Baptist Church, and the Lutheran Church."
The twenty-dollar bill interrupts, "What's a church?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Goat for Dinner
The young couple invited their elderly pastor for Sunday dinner.

While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister

asked their son what they were having for dinner.
"Goat," the little boy replied.
"Goat?" replied the startled man of the cloth, "Are you sure about that?"
"Yep," said the youngster. "I heard Dad say to Mom -- 'Today is just as
good as any to have the old goat for dinner'."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh Lord, please keep Your Aarm around my shoulder and Your Hand over my mouth!

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of life. As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to
play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country.
As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.
I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played "Amazing Grace", the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head was hung low, my heart was full.
As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothing like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."
Apparently I'm still lost....it's a man thing.

I have been using this for 7 months, since my daughter was 16 months old. I love it! She was constantly wanting to either sit on the counter or have me hold her while I was prepping meals/snacks/drinks. This enables her to climb up and be counter level in the kitchen and I have both of my arms and hands free. It also comes with accessories (like a chalkboard and castle stuff) which I have not purchased, but likely will. What I love about this, versus other products, is it gives her the independence she so desires but is safe (compared to a step ladder or stool of some type).

-- Katie Lee

Little Partners Learning Tower Kids Step Stool
$200

Available from Amazon

Apple announced a couple of new phones yesterday, triggering a Pavlovian response in some consumers that can only be eased by the acquisition of one of these new phones. It also pits the four national wireless carriers against each other in a battle for Apple-hungry customers.

Verizon
In order to lock customers into two-year contracts, Verizon is offering a “free” 16GB iPhone 6 to people who trade in a working, eligible older iPhone (anything from the iPhone 4 or newer) and are willing to agree to a two-year contract with the provider.

You’ll notice that we say “free” because it’s actually a $200 gift card that can be used to pay the $199 subsidized cost of the device. The offer does not apply to the iPhone 6 Plus.

AT&T
The Death Star is making its own push to lure in customers, especially to its AT&T Next plan, which charges you full price for the phone but spaces it out over the course of 12-24 months, depending on when or if they choose to upgrade.

Anyone who activates a line of service on AT&T Next will receive a $100 bill credit with the purchase of any iPhone.

AT&T is also pushing its trade-in pricing for existing models of the iPhone. An iPhone 5S starts at $300 in trade-in credit, while you’ll get at least $200 in trade-in credit for iPhone 4, 4S, 5 and 5C.

SPRINT
Sprint, which is all about giving away access to its painfully slow network, will be introducing a $50 “Simply Unlimited” plan with, you guessed it, unlimited, talk, text, and data for customers who buy an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

But in order to get that plan, much like the recently announced $60/month unlimited plan from Sprint, customers have to order their phone through Sprint’s Easy Pay installment program, meaning they will pay significantly more than the $199 price for people at other carriers willing to agree to a two-year contract.

Sprint is trying to ease that pain with the “iPhone for Life” program that cuts the monthly installment from $30 to $20 for the iPhone 6, and from $35 down to $25 for the 6 Plus. What’s the catch? At the end of 24 months, you trade in your now outdated and embarrassingly old iPhone. It’s unclear if you are on the hook for the balance of the money (at least $240) if you choose to not upgrade after 24 months.

T-MOBILE
T-Mobile got the head start on the iPhone-related announcements earlier this week when it claimed that it would match any trade-in offer made by the other three national providers. It also sweetened the deal by guaranteeing that if you trade in a phone with T-Mobile and subsequently find out (within 7 days) that you could have gotten a better trade-in deal elsewhere, T-Mo will match the deal and throw in $50 of bill credit.

While the T-Mobile trade-in match is obviously timed and targeted at potential iPhone 6 customers, the match guarantee applies to all phones.

However, T-Mobile has completely stopped subsidizing phone sales, so it looks like anyone wishing to get their service through T-Mo will end up paying the full price (which appears to start around $650 for the iPhone 6 and $750 for the 6 Plus) in monthly installments.

Photographer Angelina Castillo, taking photographs for the Nashville Scene, shot images of fathers who accompanied their daughters to a concert by boy band One Direction late last month.

The expressions that Castillo captured tell the angsty truth. The gut wrenching, existential pain that only the boy band du jour— onstage, armed with microphones and soundmixed with thousands of screaming tweens — can cause. The fathers' souls are bared; this is the extreme discomfort and musical revulsion that only the love a father feels for his daughter can balance. Someone give these men medals of honor!

See more of Castillo's series at the Nashville Scene. ViaTwisted Sifter. 

There are two ways of thinking about foods we used to hate. First, regret — for missing so many years of oysters or chunky peanut butter or what have you. Second, gratitude that there is still something new to be discovered at the table, foods that were waiting in the wings to come on stage and take us by surprise. I take the second path with sweet potatoes, the tragic victim of marshmallow-topped sludge in my impressionable childhood, but now one of my chief food loves.

There's nothing of childhood casseroles in this colorful and satisfying sweet potato platter of simple roasted rounds topped with a chutney-inspired pesto of cilantro, coconut, and garlic.

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If my young daughters send me Facebook friend requests, is it okay if I click on "Ignore"? I really don't need this kind of drama in my life. Rob Fee's assessment of what a toddler's Facebook news feed would look like is just about right.

-via How to Be a Dad

The angle: Simple (French!) recipes for small hands.

Recipes for right now: Zucchini Fritters, Cold Cucumber Soup, Raspberry Pie, Grape Juice, Apples with Speculoos, Mushroom Omelette, Orange Cake

Who would enjoy this book? Food-loving parents with food-loving youngsters.

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Look around you — are you surrounded by cheddar cheese? Ranch dressing? Or is every menu you see overflowing with hoagies? What’s on many of the menus in your state sets it apart, whether it’s chocolate, ahi tuna or cheesesteaks.

FastCoDesign worked up a map with a food industry analytics firm, combing 88,000 menus with 59 million food items to find out which ingredients and kinds of food make each state distinct.

The interactive map shows the top 5 food terms in each state, with each “score” coming from the difference between the percentage of menus that include that item and how often it appears on menus around the U.s.

So for example, while cheddar cheese is beloved in Wisconsin and is unsurprisingly included on 56% of menus in the Cheesehead state, it’s pretty popular elsewhere, showing up on 36% of menus countrywide. That gives it a only a 16% distinctiveness edge, if you want to call it that.

On the other hand, for example, the green chile is king in New Mexico, where it pops up on 52% of menus, but only appears on 2% of menus elsewhere.

It’s a fun interactive, even if just to see how widely adored and loved ranch dressing really is across the country. Mmm, with melted cheddar cheese, maybe…

The Weirdest Eating Patterns Of Each U.S. State [FastCoDesign]

If you're looking for a hearty pasta sauce that is both vegan and gluten-free, this recipe is your gal. This simple walnut "bolognese" seems almost too easy to be true! Just a few pulses of walnuts in the food processor creates a satisfying and no-meat bolognese sauce to twirl with your pasta.

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