Taylor Kerby is a beloved psychology teacher at Edgewood High School in West Covina, California. So beloved, in fact, that all of the students in one of his classes chipped into buy him a pair of red Vans sneakers, the same shoes Kerby had complimented a student for wearing earlier in the school year.
Dyani Heredia, the 17-year-old student who tweeted the video above, told BuzzFeed News that after complimenting the student’s shoes, Kerby said he was unlikely to buy a pair for himself. That gave Heredia and other students the idea to buy him the shoes as a gift.
It took the class about two weeks to raise the cash for the shoes. “There were about 25 of us and we pitched in $2 each,” Heredia told BuzzFeed. As you can see form the video above, the end result was clearly worth it.
“Oh my gosh,” Kerby says in the video. “They’re red Vans! You guys this is so sweet. I love them!…I’m like the coolest kid on the block right now.”
“So this is why you asked for my shoe size,” he says later. “I was weirded out! But this is so nice!”
In another edition of “How Is This A Thing?” we now introduce you to this German Carponizer calendar. It features the world’s favorite calendar for monthly image choice: naked, sexy carp.
This monthly tracker displays 12 very scantily clad, very steaming carp in different shapes and sizes. Maybe you thought a fish was just a fish—but you would be mistaken, good sir or madam. Fish deserve your reverence and what better way to celebrate the fine fish of our world than with this German calendar?
The erotic Carponizer Carp Calendar 2017 is definitely one of the most extraordinary ideas to present this magnificent fish in an attractive setting. Carponizer has also succeeded this year, every month of the year with courage to create the extraordinary. Twelve magnificent carp will be presented in 2017 with no less attractive women according to the theme.
Oh yeah, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, some gorgeous women are also included in the pictures. But wait there’s more:
The calendar is a real “must have” for every passionate angler and fish lover. The erotic moments are set aesthetically and artistically in the carp calendar 2017 and give not only the angler tent a special charm. The individual motifs are just as perfect as a purposeful wall decoration. Whether you choose it yourself or as a tasteful gift: the Carponizer Carp Calendar 2017 does not just make men’s hearts beat faster.
Though I am a man, and seeing those carp does make my heart beat quickly, I can’t imagine how this isn’t the perfect gift for the carp lover in your life. Viewing those carp should give you daily inspiration that anything in this world is possible—even a silly ass German calendar full of fish.
Sorry everybody, it’s time to stop using your devout faith in Jediism for getting you out of work on May the 4th. And if you decided you’d spend your holiday charitable giving dollars on the good work of the Jedi Order, you might want to think again: the Charity Commission has ruled that the The Temple of the Jedi Order doesn’t qualify for charitable status in England and Wales.
The BBC reports that although the Jedi Order is the seventh most popular religion, with 177,000 people identifying as Jedi in the 2011 census, the religion doesn’t have the “cogency, cohesion, or seriousness” that would be required for a religion to be recognized.
The Temple of the Jedi Order — which has a rather bland website for a religion based on the greatest space opera of our time or any other, but perhaps fighting the Empire is more important than web design — defines Jediism as “the religion of those who regard their Jedi practice as a religious vocation. Jedi observe a metaphysical entity called the Force and often practise meditation. Jedi beliefs at this Temple are outlined by our Doctrine and developed through participation in our training programmes.”
Their doctrine is outlined in three tenets: Focus, knowledge, and wisdom. It states:
“Wisdom is the sound application of accrued knowledge and experience through patient, good judgment. Knowledge can be acquired by focusing on the task at hand. Focus is the art of pruning the irrelevant and pouring the best of your mind into what you are doing.”
Sounds pretty legit, but apparently not good enough for the Charity Commission.
If you’re feeling inspired, however, the TotJO has a major holiday coming up: December 25. The purpose of the day is “to honour the Temple and its founding.” You might not be able to make a tax-deductible donation to the Order, but you can still be a Jedi yourself. There are 16 Teachings and 21 Maxims involved in abiding by the faith, so get to studying, young Padawan.
Every year, Santa Claus has to travel from east to west in order to account for time differences—Christmas begins earlier in, say, Germany than it does in Iowa—which means he’s always flying against the jet stream, adding delays to his already very long trip. But this year, Jolly Ol’ St. Nick will face additional problems because of the cold-ass winter weather we’re currently dealing with in the United States.
As Sky News reports, cold air moving through the southern U.S. has made the weather unseasonably challenging in the U.K., which could pose challenges for an overweight man being pulled through the sky by magical reindeer.
“A wet and windy Christmas weekend is on the cards,” Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said. “In fact, most of this week there will be severe gales and spells of rain, particularly across the northwest of the UK and Ireland.”
Ghaffar added that wind gusts of up to 90 mph are expected off the coast of Scotland, with gusts of up to 60 mph possible through the rest of the U.K.
So will this be the year Santa fails to make it across the Atlantic? If so, what happens then? Will Christmas be canceled? These are all good questions. If you’re mumbling to yourself that all of this seems far-fetched, remember all the other insane and improbable things that have occurred this year. Santa drowning in the ocean because of high winds would barely crack the top 5 strangest things that took place in 2016.
Please be advised: Do not attempt to go to Six Flags if you happen to be the doppelganger of a very famous old man in a red hat.
No, not that one. The one that’s meant to spread joy and cheer around Christmastime. When Gary Henderson and his wife tried to spend a day at the amusement park, they were kicked out when children started approaching them to take photos, thinking he was Santa Claus.
Henderson swears it “ain’t a costume,” and that this is his look the other 364 days of the year, too. He says he just likes to make kids smile, and around Christmas, Old Saint Nick is on their minds.
He recounted the experience to World News Report: “[I] knelt down, put mу arms аrоund them, аnd afterward I reached іn mу wife’s walker, pulled оut twо candy canes, handed іt tо them.” Big mistake, buddy. When park staff noticed that he was handing candy out to children, they asked him to leave, citing their “No Costume” policy.
Henderson was indignant. “I said, ‘For whаt reason?’ Hе said, ‘You lооk tоо muсh lіkе Santa Claus.’ And I’m like, ‘Are уоu kidding me?’ I dо nоt approach kids. Thе parents соmе tо me.”
Six Flags had this statement to give about the incident:
“We apologize thаt Mr. Henderson wаѕ inconvenienced, but thе safety оf оur guests іѕ аlwауѕ оur highest priority. Wе саnnоt knowingly аllоw individuals whо аrе nоt approved bу thе park tо interact wіth small children іn thіѕ capacity. Mr Henderson wаѕ handing оut candy tо оur younger guests аnd wаѕ dressed uр аѕ Santa whісh іѕ іn violation оf оur Nо Costume policy. Whеn asked tо change hе refused аnd аt thаt point wаѕ asked tо leave.”
He is not having it. “Not fоr you, Sіx Flags, оr аnуbоdу else, аm I shaving mу beard off.”
Pop culture loves its sandwiches. The sandwich, as an entity, is an American touchstone on par with football, film, and white-picket fences.
A quick jog of the memory reminds one of that time Larry David’s favorite shop named a sandwich after him on Curb Your Enthusiasm. In true Curb fashion, Larry David hated it and tried to pawn it off on Ted Danson. Or there’s the classic Seinfeld episode where George Costanza combined pastrami and sex. And who could forget when Ross’ boss ate his sandwich on Friends?
So perhaps it was inevitable someone would combine pop culture and sandwiches in a more direct way. If you’re like us, and love sandwiches and celebrities equally, then @CelebsonSandwiches is about to be your new favorite Instagram account.
The man behind the account is Jeff McCarthy, a Los Angeles-based artist and director. McCarthy pairs a sandwich to a celebrity either based on an artist’s particular relationship with that sandwich, or what he thinks best represents each celebrity.
“The idea originally came to me, naturally, while eating a sandwich,” McCarthy explained to InStyle. “Our culture has a pretty serious love for celebrities and food, so pairing the two together just made sense. Instagram always felt like the perfect venue, so I posted the first painting and the series was born soon after.”
Each post is an original 8×10 watercolor painting that usually takes McCarthy anywhere from four to six hours to complete. Some of his favorites have included Notorious B.I.G., George Contanza, John Goodman, and Betty White. If one painting becomes your favorite, you can head over to Celebs on Sandwiches website where the originals are available for purchase.
Guaranteed this will be the most Canadian sentence featured on this website: An Albertan man drove to Tim Horton’s on a Zamboni. I know you think you read that sentence and kind of sort of understood its meaning as a well to-do American. Just some Canadians being goofy, “sawry!” Canucks. Right?
How do I explain this? It’s like if a West Texas rancher rode his bull into a BBQ Pitmasters challenge. It’s like if a mustached Brooklyn hipster rode a unicycle into the city while drinking green juice to attend an Andy Warhol Guggenheim exhibit and blasting out Björk on his portable Bluetooth speakers. It’s like if a Decatur man tried to ride the Marta to his Buckhead destination, but since public transportation doesn’t take you anywhere worth going in Atlanta except the Hawks arena (the airport doesn’t count), he hopped aboard a garbage truck stuck in I-75/85 traffic, rode that to Follies, all so he could order the afternoon lemon pepper wing special.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOQpdtjlAcR/
This Instagram displays a satire of a parody. It’s humorous, but then you grasp it’s real, questioning how a Canadian man such as this exists in our world? Surely he is not a millennial, because any millennial fears the conclusion of this man’s current status, which is becoming a meme, the butt of a quick-fire internet joke in 2016.
With half my family hailing from Canada, I must admit a sympathy, if not an understanding, to this man’s Timmy’s journey. To our American readers: Imagine the pinnacle of blue-collar coffee brewing (get those frilly lattes out my face, eh?) combined with the tasty pastry delights of a Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme, whichever you prefer. If this man was hungover (considering the details—Alberta, on a Zamboni, Timmy’s drive-thru—my guess is yes), an Iced Capp with a box of Timbits or a Fruit Explosion muffin is absolute necessity. Maybe add a Double-Double to that order. He will die without any of those. Or just have a really crappy headache.
So while this document warrants a requisite shaking of the head, I’d just like to say, I get it, Alberta man. Just please share your Timbits with me.
Amateur photographer Karim Bouchetata was in the right desert at the right time to catch the historic snowfall: The small Saharan desert town of Ain Sefra, Algeria, on December 19. He tells the Telegraph:
“Everyone was stunned to see snow falling in the desert; it is such a rare occurrence. It looked amazing as the snow settled on the sand and made a great set of photos. The snow stayed for about a day and has now melted away.”
The Sahara desert, the world’s largest hot desert, stretches across 6.6 million square miles. The area where this snow fell, Ain Safra, is known as the “The Gateway to the Desert.” In the summer, Ain Safra can get as hot as over 120 degrees fahrenheit, but it’s just as extreme in the winter, when it dips to 13 degrees.
The Inquisitr points out that the snow might cause some to wonder what this means for climate change:
“Somewhat predictably, the desert snowfall has caused a slew of social media commentary claiming that this event proves global warming is a hoax. However, according to NASA, nearly all climate scientists agree that man-made climate change is currently threatening the planet.”
While it’s a beautiful, surreal sight, it’s not reason for armchair skeptics to put climate change up for debate.
Boston is predicted to be become the marijuana capital of the world within the next few years, according to market analysts.
A new report published by Arcview Market Research and New Frontier Data suggests that Massachusetts’s move to bring an end to marijuana prohibition will contribute to a marketplace worth an estimated $1 billion by 2020.
Industry experts believe legal weed is destined to become a rampant East Coast trend, complete with a newfound tourism trade, which will undoubtedly put Boston on the map as the reining champion in nationwide pot sales.
“Unlike other places where cannabis is legal, Boston is within driving distance of many of the most populous places in America. This will make Boston the cannabis capital of the world in short order,” Troy Dayton, CEO of The Arcview Group, said in a statement. “This cannabis tourism will drive significant revenue, tax dollars, and job growth which will make legalization very attractive to neighboring states.”
What is mostly likely to happen, according to the masterminds behind the latest report, is Massachusetts will experience a 113 percent annual growth rate that will begin somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 million in sales during the first year and skyrocket into an impressive, almost obscene $1.17 billion industry in its third year of operation.
Looking to Colorado, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that these handicapping tactics with respect to the Massachusetts marijuana market are relatively on target. Some of the latest statistics coming out of the Centennial State’s Department of Revenue show that legal marijuana generated around $996 million last year – not a bad haul considering 2015 was only the second year legal weed was part of the state’s economy.
Giadha Aguirre DeCarcer, founder and CEO of New Frontier, says the language of the Massachusetts marijuana law is the reason the state is poised to become the largest retail pot market in the United States.
“Massachusetts represents a significant opportunity for business owners and entrepreneurs in the space,” he said. “The law does not limit product forms nor does it cap retail dispensary licenses, which are both factors that will positively contribute toward the billion dollars in sales projected by 2020.”
Massachusetts is already on its way to raking in the big bucks from the sale of legal weed. The medical marijuana market is expected to take down somewhere around $79 million before the end of this year.
Market analysts predicted the whole of the nationwide cannabis industry could come close to $22 billion by 2020.
‘Twas The Night Before Christmas’ is a classic, delicate holiday tale that helps explains to children just how or why all those presents showed up underneath the tree overnight. It’s also a clever trick to keep the kids silent and contained within their rooms as parents and families scramble Christmas Eve.
Well it looks like the story is receiving a reboot from none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who also happens to be the Sexiest Man Alive. The Rock is no stranger to reinvigorating reboots with his star and marketing power—looking at you Baywatch, Jumanji, and Big Trouble in Little China—so why not the Christmas tale?
The Rock and his team twist the story to include some classic story beats for Mr. Johnson: “bad ass” Ford trucks, beating baddies, and Kevin Hart. It sees Dwanta Claus defeating an evil team of mutated versions from The Rock’s past roles (and Seth Rogen for some reason). As is expected, Dwanta Claus finds a way to save the (Christmas) day.
