So, I sincerely hope that this is a real thing, because I am honestly beginning to think that it may be the last hope for **Name Redacted**.

Step 5: Disappoint your parents, but in a way that is likely to be different from any of the myriad ways you have disappointed them in the past.

Supposedly launching soon. They have a place where you can enter your e-mail, because, as they explain: “Due to high demand we are only able to accommodate a limited number of users to the site. Register early to get in line.”

Personally, I put it at 50/50 as to whether or not this is real, or just a setup for some sort of phishing scam. Either way, I’m almost certain that that giving them your e-mail will set you up for an ungodly amount of spam. So, unless you are having trouble finding anyone on the internet who is willing to sell you viagra, I would recommend against signing up at this stage.

How about this. If you heed my advice, and refrain from giving them your e-mail, but then find that when the service launches, they’ve already filled up, I will send you an message once a week asking if these jeans make me look fat.

via Geekologie

Update: My wife is worried that the last bit there might come of as misogynistic, although I would argue that it is meta. As in, I assume that this is the sort of cliche, misogynistic message that would constitute the bulk of the communications from a virtual girlfriend service.

Also, she says that yes, these jeans do make me look fat.

So, here’s the latest must-have Christmas gift for the parents who want to raise their daughters to believe that their only value to society is their ability to breed. Introducing Bebé Glotón. I’m going to deliberately refrain from employing Google Translate here and just say that it means “Gluttonous Baby” in, let’s say, Provençal.

Now, I should say that I’ve got no horse in the breastfeeding race. And, to be fair, as far as sex-role stereotypes that get reinforced by children’s toys go, this at least has a reasonable physiological basis.

The thing that really strikes me is how much this toy would . . . er . . . suck. Just look at the girl’s face as she is demonstrating feeding and then burping Gluttonous Baby. That look in her eyes is her pleading with her overbearing stage parents to please, please let her go play with a more entertaining toy, like maybe that stick on the ground that they walked by on the way to the studio.

So, now we know what tragedy really unfolds when you don’t cut up those plastic six-pack holders before you throw them out. They are shipped to Japan, soldered together, and sold as dubious weight-loss products.

If you’re having a flashback to the Play-Doh Fun Factory you had as a kid, you’re not alone.

Apparently, it “works” by dividing your fat into “easily manageable blobs,” which “raises the propensity for increased blood-flow values.”

Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly what happens.

As if Japan did not have enough to deal with right now.

Slate has an article with a couple of tips for donating to help out with Japan’s other National catastrophes. Please check it out, and, if you’re in a position to do so, give generously.

via Gizmodo