Babies can't talk. This isn't something that needs to be studied and researched, it's a pretty common fact that humans have. The reasons babies cry is because they can't talk to tell us what they need, at least that's what the general understanding has been for centuries. But what if some babies could talk and we simply haven't been exposed to them because the world is so big?Thanks to social media, the world has gotten a whole lot smaller when it comes to being able to take a peek into other people's lives. This means we get to be exposed to things that may otherwise gone unseen. Mekeia, a mom of two recently uploaded a video of her 3-month-old son talking. Not the cute baby babble that we like to call talking, but repeating actual short sentences. Mekeia was recording her daughter playing with the baby when they captured the moment on video. The little girl holds the baby's face and says, "say I am two months," before Mekeia corrects her, "say I am three months," the little girl pipes back up. Clearly the baby was trying to join in the conversation with what was expected to be baby babble when the mom instructed the older child to let the baby have a chance to "talk." It was then that the baby shocked everyone by sounding like he repeated the same phrase.The two are visibly and audibly shocked not wanting to believe the baby actually repeats what the other child says. Mekeia is on the phone with a friend when the entire thing happens. Presumably thinking this is a fluke, the mom attempts to put the phone up to the baby's mouth. When he just babbles, she tells the baby, "say hey Bam." Nothing. Just more babble and drool.Just when you think your ears were playing tricks on you, the baby does it again when the mom tells him to say, "hey Quintin." Clearly the baby still sounds like a baby but you can clearly hear him repeating the sound and cadence of the words so much so that it sounds like he's fully saying the words. His older sister is overwhelmed with emotion and begins to cry while Mekeia seems to be so shocked that she begins to laugh while the person on the phone is just stunned into confusion. @foxondemand Watch until the end ?omg??!! ♬ original sound - Mekeia ? People in the comments were eager to jump in with exclaiming the baby is a genius with one person writing, "he is a baby genius start showing him math problems."Another person jokes, "next thing he's writing emails and making appointments.""Talking so clear would scare me sooo bad he's so intelligent," someone writes.Others explain the phenomenon with a condition called echolalia. "Echolalia is a normal part of child development. As children learn to talk and understand words, they imitate, copy or echo the sounds and words they hear. Over time, a child usually learns to talk by connecting new words together to make unique little phrases or sentences,” according to Speech and Language Advisor Claire Smith when interviewed by the BBC.While echolalia can be a sign of autism, that's not always the case. Many kids grow out of it by the age of three and continue their typical development.

What do you get when you mix artificial intelligence with editing software?Mind-blowing images, apparently. Brazilian digital artist Hidreley Leli Dião creates ultra realistic portraits of beloved cartoon characters as well as historical figures. The magic is in a unique blend of Photoshop, FaceApp, Gradiente and Remini, according to his contributing article on Bored Panda. Using this formula, even The Simpsons characters feel like real people you would pass on the street.Some of Dião’s latest works include the characters of Disney’s “Encanto,” like:Mirabel See on Instagram The face shape! The hair! The smile! He nailed it. Luisa See on Instagram To no one’s surprise, Luisa was highly sought after by fans. Bruno See on Instagram I think the song will change to “Everybody Is Talking About Bruno” after seeing this picture. Isabela See on Instagram A portrait perfect enough for Miss Perfect herself. Camilo See on Instagram It’s like he could hop out of the frame and start shapeshifting in real life. Wow. Pepa See on Instagram As a fellow redhead constantly trying to keep emotions at bay, this one was my personal favorite.Julieta See on Instagram Here is Mirabel’s mother Julieta, giving off major Aunt Voula vibes from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” And, of course,  Abuela Madrigal See on Instagram I think it’s safe to say even if Dião doesn’t have a magic door like the Madrigal family, he’s got superpower: digital wizardry. But of course, this is not Dião’s first Disney deep dive. Feast your eyes on some of these:Carl Fredrickson from “Up” See on Instagram Moana from “Moana” See on Instagram Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” See on Instagram Also Prince Eric See on Instagram Pocahontas from “Pocahontas” See on Instagram Joe Gardner from “Soul” See on Instagram Hans From “Frozen” See on Instagram Another long lost Hemsworth brother, rediscovered? Are you more of a history buff than a Disney nerd? Never fear. Dião’s work has something for everyone. One collection includes what certain celebrities that met an early death might look like today, such as:Amy Winehouse See on Instagram Bruce Lee See on Instagram John Candy See on Instagram Janis Joplin See on Instagram Prince See on Instagram Marilyn Monroe See on Instagram Another reimagines what historical figures might have look like in modern times: George WashingtonHidreley Diao uses AI to capture what historical figures would look like if they were modern people. George Washington: pic.twitter.com/Wh5bi9FAgL— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Benjamin FranklinBen Franklin pic.twitter.com/7p5U61olrl— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Napoleon Napoleon pic.twitter.com/lDmWpYs5KX— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci pic.twitter.com/lpFzsZDMun— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 MozartMozart pic.twitter.com/rAc2wZwgYP— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 BeethovenBeethoven pic.twitter.com/A5dpNfVilV— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Sir Isaac NewtonNewton pic.twitter.com/Ah6EBBorrF— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 William ShakespeareShakespeare pic.twitter.com/qPKWICC1EY— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Vincent Van GoghVan Gogh pic.twitter.com/h0QR4Uy41y— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette pic.twitter.com/PY6SmIvJiV— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 CleopatraCleopatra pic.twitter.com/r21AbkRHFF— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Alexander the GreatAlexander the Great pic.twitter.com/DXxjbpBlXR— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 And just for fun, here’s what the Statue of Liberty might look like as a real person: The Statue of Liberty pic.twitter.com/m9dY8VEvt0— Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) February 20, 2022 Thank you Hidreley for giving us some genuine wonder to peruse through on the internet. If you’d like to see more of Hidreley's work, you can follow his Instagram here. This article originally appeared on 04.25.22

Have you ever gotten a new TV and tried to watch a movie, only to find that your fancy, high-definition television makes movies look like soap operas? Or maybe you've been at a friends house and noticed that their television makes movies look weird—somehow less real and yet more real at the same time—totally ruining the movie-watching experience?Those of us who are fans of cinema-quality film can find ourselves driven mad trying to figure out what settings to change to make movies look normal. We're not the problem, though. Television manufacturers have made it notoriously hard and completely unintuitive to figure out how to change the default setting that creates the "soap opera effect."Actor Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie created a PSA in 2018 explaining what causes movies to look so strange on newer TVs and how to change the settings to fix it. It comes down to "video interpolation" and "motion smoothing," but that doesn't mean much when you're looking through the settings of your TV to try make movies look like movies. — (@) They offer a simple solution: Just Google "Turn off motion smoothing [insert your TV brand here]." The reason they can't just give a blanket solution is because every TV manufacturer—Samsung, LG, Vizio, Sony, etc.—has a different name for the setting (TruMotion, Auto Motion Plus and so on), and the setting is found under different menus on different TVs. Splendid. Why no one who manufactures and tests televisions noticed that the feature made movies look weird and why no one realized that turning the feature on as the default and then making it hard to find and change would be a problem are questions for the ages. The default settings might be great for sports viewing but for TV shows and movies, yuck. If you're confused or curious about what exactly is happening to create the soap opera effect, Vulture has a brief but excellent explainer video: - YouTube www.youtube.com As the video explains, it has to do with frames per second and the way televisions process the images at various frame rates. The motion smoothing feature is actually inserting extra frames in order to "smooth" the way motion looks on the screen, but the effect on movies just feels "wrong." Having an example can help, but even in a side-by-side of a normal movie-watching experience vs. one with motion smoothing, the difference is hard to see, especially if you're on a mobile or computer screen. It's when you're experiencing the full larger screen movie experience that the difference is obvious, but here's a side-by-side comparison: - YouTube www.youtube.com Oddly enough, people might assume that because the motion-smoothing effect seems to have a better "quality" and higher resolution that it's somehow better. For movies, it's really not. The way movies are created, they are designed to be viewed without that feature. Some people might prefer it, but for some of us watching a movie with motion smoothing is like the visual equivalent of fingernails across a chalkboard. Thank you, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie for verifying that new TVs make movies look weird and attempting to save us from the abomination of it all.

On May 28, 2014, 13-year-old Athena Orchard of Leicester, England, died of bone cancer. The disease began as a tumor in her head and eventually spread to her spine and left shoulder. After her passing, Athena's parents and six siblings were completely devastated. In the days following her death, her father, Dean, had the difficult task of going through her belongings. But the spirits of the entire Orchard family got a huge boost when he uncovered a secret message written by Athena on the backside of a full-length mirror.After removing the mirror from the wall, Dean discovered a 3,000-word letter written all the way down its backside in black pen. "She never mentioned it, but it's the kind of thing she'd do," her father told People magazine. "She was a very spiritual person, she'd go on about stuff that I could never understand – she was so clever." The moving letter revealed her deepest feelings about her fight with the dreaded disease. "Every day is special, so make the most of it, you could get a life-ending illness tomorrow so make the most of every day," she wrote. "Life is only bad if you make it bad."Although Athena is gone, the mirror now serves as a powerful memory of her undying spirit. "We're keeping the mirror forever, it is a part of her we can keep in the house, it will always be in her room," her mother, Caroline, said. "Just reading her words felt like she was still here with us, she had such an incredible spirit."Athena's full message:"Happiness depends upon ourselves. Maybe it's not about the happy ending, maybe it's about the story. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. Happiness is a direction not a destination. Thank you for existing. Be happy, be free, believe, forever young. You know my name, not my story.You have heard what I've done, but not what I've been through. Love is like glass, looks so lovely but it's easy to shatter.Love is rare, life is strange, nothing lasts and people change. Every day is special, so make the most of it, you could get a life ending illness tomorrow so make the most of every day. Life is only bad if you make it bad. If someone loves you, then they wouldn't let you slip away no matter how hard the situation is. Remember that life is full of ups and downs.Never give up on something you can't go a day without thinking about. I want to be that girl who makes the bad days better and the one that makes you say my life has changed since I met her!Love is not about how much you say I love you – it's about how much you can prove it's true. Love is like the wind, you can feel it but you can't see it. I'm waiting to fall in love with someone I can open my heart to. Love is not about who you can see spending your future with, it's about who you can't see spending your life without… Life is a game for everyone but love is the prize. Only I can judge me.Sometimes love hurts. Now I'm fighting myself. Baby I can feel your pain. Dreams are my reality. It hurts but it's okay, I'm used to it. Don't be quick to judge me, you only see what I choose to show you… you don't know the truth. I just want to have fun and be happy without being judged.This is my life, not yours, don't worry about what I do. People gonna hate you, rate you, break you, but how strong you stand, that's what makes you… you!There's no need to cry because I know you'll be by my side."This article originally appeared on 04.15.19

Self proclaimed feminist killjoy Rebecca Cohen is a cartoonist based in Berkeley, California.Here’s what she has to say about her role as an artist taken from her Patreon page.She says:"In these trying times, the world needs a hero to resist the forces of tyranny.That hero is definitely not me.I just draw funny pictures and like to share my opinions. I'm Rebecca, also known as @gynostar."Enjoy one of her comics below.This article originally appeared on 10.19.16

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Nebraska-born Democratic vice presidential nominee and current Minnesota governor Tim Walz stays true to his Midwestern roots - down to his choice of soda.