enjoy your life: 2008-09-28

Mothers admit: we do have a favourite child

Parents see it as a secret betrayal, but a survey shows it is common to love one above the rest

Sixteen per cent of mothers said they loved one child more than their others.

One in six mothers has a favourite child - but would never admit to it, according to a survey by Netmums, one of the most popular parenting websites in the UK.

More than 1,000 mothers responded to the survey, with 16 per cent admitting that they love one child more than the others. One third said that they love their children in exactly the same way, while just over half said they love their children differently - but equally.

'I do have a favourite child: my second youngest and my last daughter,' admitted Polly, a mother of four. 'It's almost like a secret love affair. When she walks into a room with my other children, she stands out to me more than the rest. I would die for all my kids, but I have to admit I would fight more strongly and fiercely for her.'
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Bucketball

20 levels to test your skills of aim and timing. Get each colored ball into the same color bucket.

The mouse controls everything. When you bring the pointer near a ball, a little arrow appears. Hold the mouse button to build up power, and release to fire the ball in the direction of the arrow.

Bucketball

The supersized squash

“Two British farmers have grown Europe’s largest-ever vegetable - a mammoth 1,341lb pumpkin. The supersized squash took a staggering 80 gallons of water a day to grow and is 100 times heavier than an average supermarket pumpkin. It was planted in a purpose-built polytunnel in April by father and son farmers Mark and Frank Baggs and needed six tonnes of manure to reach its current size.”

Kelley Ryden Photography

Kelley Ryden is a baby & child photographer. She specializes in newborns, babies, children, and family photography using natural light only:
Kelley Ryden Photography.

Without a doubt, newborns are my favorite age to photograph. My best days with my camera, are the days that I get to photograph a fresh newborn. This age can be the most difficult to photograph, but as a Mommy, the newborn images of my own give me the most joy. Remembering their tiny features, fuzzy hair, and all that is new about them, brings back those amazing memories of when we first met. These days should be captured and always remembered.

Painting

one hand . how many eggs ?

find me a boy (francoise hardy)

So many friends that I happen to see
Have been steadily falling in love
Oh how I wish it could happen to me
And I'm asking the stars up above

Won't you find me a boy, just a nice looking boy
Who will show me the way, who will teach me to say
"I love you, yes I do", and who'll promise me too
That he'll always be true, so that I'll never be blue

I just wish for a gentle boy
Someone who's sweet and kind
Just a nice sentimental boy
That's all that I'm really longing to find

So many friends that I happen to see
Have been telling me all about love
Oh how I wish it could happen to me
Is the only thing I'm thinking of

So I'll find me a boy, just a nice looking boy
Who will show me the way, who will teach me to say
"I love you, yes I do", and who'll promise me too
That he'll always be true, so that I'll never be blue

So I'll find me a boy, just a nice looking boy
Who will show me the way, who will teach me to say
"I love you, yes I do", and who'll promise me too
That he'll always be true, so that I'll never be blue

Photoshop Mistake

Interesting poll table trick

Bilharminó @ Yahoo! Video

It is, of course, a trick of the light, but the photographer of this resplendent sight was not mistaken - it really is an upside down rainbow.

This rare spectacle - which curves up rather than down - was caught on camera at the weekend by an astronomer near her home in Cambridge.
The "smiling" band of brilliant colours is known as a circumzenithal arc. It occurs when sunlight bounces off ice crystals high in the atmosphere, sending the light rays back up towards the sky.

It differs from a normal rainbow where light penetrates raindrops and re-emerges on the other side heading towards earth, causing a drooping effect.

Upside down rainbows are rarely seen outside the polar regions and need a particular set of atmospheric conditions in order to occur.

Dr Jacqueline Mitton, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society who has written astronomy books for children, spotted the phenomenon near her home.

Aspiring chef dies hours after making ultra-hot sauce for chilli-eating contest

An aspiring cook who challenged his friend to a chilli-eating contest died just hours later.

Andrew Lee, 33, had used a bag of home-grown red chillies to make a super-hot sauce.

The forklift truck driver, who had recently passed a medical at work, dared his girlfriend's brother to eat a spoonful - then ate a plateful himself. Shortly after he had a heart attack and died.