Why Children In Japan Are So Independent

It’s a common sight on Japanese mass transit: children troop through train cars looking for seats. Kids as young as 6 or 7 are on their way to and from school, and there’s not a guardian in sight. That’s because parents in Japan regularly send their kids out into the world at a very young age. In fact, a popular television show called Hajimete no Otsukai (My First Errand) features children as young as 2 or 3 being sent out to do a task for their family. As they tentatively make their way to the grocery store or bakery, their progress is secretly filmed by a camera crew. The show has been on the air for more than 25 years. What accounts for this unusual degree of independence? According to Dwayne Dixon, a cultural anthropologist, it’s not self-sufficiency but “group reliance." Japanese youth learn early on that any member of the community can be called on to help others. This assumption is reinforced at school, where children take turns cleaning and serving lunch, instead of relying on staff to do it. Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. By giving them this freedom, parents are placing significant trust not only in their kids, but in the whole community.

Continue Reading...

Woman Shocked When Her Pupils Turn Fluorescent Green

What was supposed to be a routine doctor’s appointment turned into a strange experience for a woman when her eyes unexpectedly turned bright green following the consultation. Artist and photographer Margerita B. Wargola said she “blinked and everything went yellow.” She explained that the nurse who examined her was surprised and admitted that she had made a mistake during the eye exam. Where the nurse made an error was when she forgot to ask Margerita whether she was wearing contact lenses. Fluorescein is a dye applied to the outer surface of the eye to diagnose certain conditions. The substance is also used as a contrast dye for retinal angiography, an imaging test of the retina, the layer of tissue at the back of the eye. The fluorescent dye is injected directly into a vein in the arm and then travels to the blood vessels in the retina, highlighting them so doctors can look for conditions that might affect the patient’s vision. In Margerita’s case, the nurse used it as an eye drop to check to see if there was any erosion on the surface of the cornea, which can occur with the use of contacts. Asked whether Margerita would experience any harmful side effects after the incident, ophthalmologist Mark Gillies said, “Usually, the lenses would be removed before fluorescein, but I doubt she will come to any great harm.” Unfortunately, Margerita will have to throw away her stained contact lenses. Fortunately, she laughed off the accident, which she said caused her to temporarily see everything “with a kind of green tint.”

Continue Reading...

How 4 Ohio Kids Ended Pay Toilets In America

The next time you step into a public restroom, say a quiet thank you to Dayton natives Michael and Ira Gessel, Steve Froikin and Natalie Precker. After all, it was their efforts nearly 50 years ago that allowed Americans to pee for free. The high school students founded the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America in late 1968 and launched what would be a tenacious, bold national campaign to get rid of the hated pay toilets. For readers under the age of 50, thousands of public restrooms across the country had locking mechanisms on stall doors that required a dime or more to open. The idea for changing the world came on a Gessel family road trip along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in December 1968 when the brothers encountered pay toilets at a Howard Johnson Restaurant. They saw it as an affront to human dignity, and ending pay toilets became their number one priority. The committee's logo was a fist clenching chains rising from a toilet bowl. Membership dues were 25¢, and some 1,800 people across the country promptly joined. In May 1976, Ohio Gov. James Rhodes signed the toilet bill into law. It put a lid on the problem by requiring an equal number of free toilets for every pay one. A $1,000 penalty was tacked on for non-compliance.

Continue Reading...

Conan O’Brien Baffles Fans By Ditching His Signature Hairstyle

Conan O’Brien’s signature pompadour was nowhere to be found during his latest podcast episode — and viewers are baffled. The 63-year-old’s hair was slicked back instead of in its usual towering wave on Monday. O’Brien shared the inspiration behind his hair in a 2010 60 Minutes interview, explaining that he invented the pompadour look when he was in high school. After joking that his hair is crafted by a “Belgian dessert company that makes a whipped topping,” O’Brien praised the structurally sound style. “If there’s an earthquake and you’re in the Pacific Northwest, get under my hair,” he said at the time. “It’s the safest place here.” During the COVID quarantine, O’Brien posted on social media that his pompadour was collapsing. “It’s crumbling as it grows, crumbling under its own weight,” he said. “I have consulted with a structural engineer. He said there’s too much on top and the pompadour can’t sustain the gravitational pull.” The former talk show host predicted then that the wave would “eventually collapse completely and crush my skull.” So far, O’Brien has completely ignored the comments about his new slicked-back hairstyle, refusing to provide an explanation for the change.

Continue Reading...