Photographer Peter Menzel was curious about the world's eating habits and decided to document them in a unique way. His "What the World Eats" series (from a book that he published) features families from all over the globe including Africa, Europe, North America, South America and more, standing in their respective homes with all of the foods that they consume. The results are remarkable in terms of consumption differences, especially the diet difference between the modernized and more traditional/rural/indigenous families.

Health Nuts presents an awesome look into the world of Encinitas local, Isabelle Baril-Ortley, and how she keeps her small army of sons healthy and well fed. The French-Canadian "outdoorsmom" shows us how she cans seasonal produce, saving her money and piece of mind. When you know what's going in you definitely know what's coming out. Much respect to this knowledgeable and sustainable momma!

BPS Research Digest reports on how a study by Dr. Gail Heyman discovered that parents do indeed lie to their children in order to teach or control their behavior. What her and her team did was present a group of both American and Chinese parents with a list of "instrumental lies". They then had to identify which they had used on their children. Results showed that many of them, eighty-four per cent of US parents and 98 percent of Chinese parents to be exact, admitted to telling at least one of the 16 instrumental lies to their kids. According to those strong statistics, it's safe to say that we do indeed lie to our kids when we want them to learn or know specific things!

Young Urban Moms (YUM), a New York City-based organization rooted in empowering mothers in the city, is hosting its very-first conference this coming Saturday, September 8th. The group will be presenting a series of speakers (Gloria Feldt, Eileen Fuentes, Geneva Sparrow, Riquelmy Sosa)  and workshops centered around topics like: Finding Quality Child Care in NYC, How to Make Working From Home Work for You, Empowerment, Education and Exercise for moms! Attendees can check out the full agenda here.

Yale law school graduate and mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker, is no stranger to adversity and challenge. Not only did he decided to take on one of the most notoriously poor and crime-ridden cities in his state, but he's also managed to forge a successful political career (and series) based on a rolling-up-your-sleeves-and-get-involved work ethic. The following is a commencement speech that Mayor Booker recently delivered at Bard College. It is probably one of the most relevant and powerful speeches we've heard in a long time! He breaks down what he dubs as The Conspiracy Of Love, a theory about how many unnamed and faceless heroes and forces have "conspired" to selflessly help us, about how our power to transform our exterior reality begins with radically transforming our internal reality. Please take the time to listen and apply this one. Amazing!

Oh, and Cory, if you happen to read this, get at us, we would love to do a profile piece on you brotha' because we believe, we believe!

The following is a compilation of videos of children hearing for the first time thanks to the magic of cochlear implants. Hats off to THNKR for putting us on to these. It's amazing to see how inate reactions to sound and vibration truly are. Look at how excited these kiddies get:

Our New York City readers interested in supporting arts for the kids (especially now that public education spending for it is in significant decline) should come out and support the following Scribble Art Workshop exhibit taking place this coming Saturday, June 9th at APT 78 (4447 Broadway). The show is brought to you in conjunction with Bread And Yoga and The Sound Of Art.

Aside from the publicity, we really can't wrap our heads around why a recent Kardashian family outing to the Dominican Republic turned into a wacky Hip-Hop minstrel show. The celebrity siblings (Kim included) went out of their way to shoot an entire mock home video to the tune of the Notorious B.I.G.'s Hypnotize. Some terrible lip-synching, ass-shaking, and straight up buffoonery takes place. All in good fun we guess...

Who would've thought? As taboo as Planned Parenthood (a resource for sexual and reproductive health information) can be, they sure do know how to rock an awesome Tumblr page that balances facts and quirks. Serious info in a not-so-serious fashion, we can dig it!

The Original Home of Afro-House + Latin Soul (WEPA) hits Brooklyn, New York City this weekend with the first in a series of open market jams at the Dekalb Market. Expect food, art, goods and tunes!

Saturday May 19th, 6-10PM [FREE] 

138 Willoughby Street (Flatbush Ave.) Brooklyn, NY 11201