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"So embarrassing": Tourist slammed for "stupid" stunt in Bali

A British tourist has gone viral for all the wrong reasons after his "stupid" stunt in a Bali resort left him red-faced. The British traveller was believed to be staying at the 5-star Apurva Kempinski hotel in Nusa Dua, considered the island’s most luxurious location, when he came across a large decorative bowl filled with water and flower petals. The man was then filmed and egged on by a friend who can be heard saying "Okay now put your face in it", before he followed the instruction. When he went to submerge himself, he proceeded to accidentally tip over the bowl sending water and rose petals flying through the lobby of the resort, and all over himself too. The video, which has amassed a whopping 41 million views, was quickly subject to a wave of backlash online, with many slamming the tourist's "stupid" actions. <div class="embed" style="font-size: 16px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: currentcolor !important;"><iframe class="embedly-embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; border-style: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 100%; outline: currentcolor !important;" title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7380708475237666081&display_name=tiktok&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40milzo09%2Fvideo%2F7380708475237666081&image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign-useast2a.tiktokcdn.com%2Fobj%2Ftos-useast2a-p-0037-euttp%2F9eff1d6040b74f98b167ccb18b4559ef_1718455117%3Fx-expires%3D1718924400%26x-signature%3DIcusEtP7QnSZKUZGZe5cGhO6cFg%253D&key=59e3ae3acaa649a5a98672932445e203&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> “You come to Bali without bringing your brain? Why do you have to destroy everything in someone else’s country?” one person wrote. “Omg money can’t buy brains. So stupid and embarrassing.” said another. A third added sarcastically, “Well that’s just lovely isn’t it, so careful and respectful and cultured.” Despite the thousands of comments sharing their condemnation of the tourist's actions, others were quick to leap to his defence, saying it was clearly an accident. “I mean it’s just a bowl of water and flowers. Nothing broke it’ll be OK. Just say you’re sorry,” one person said. “Am I the only one who feels bad for him,” another wrote .Other viewers admitted they would be “mortified” if it had happened to them. “I would just lay on the floor like I passed out,” one joked. “I would leave the country,” another wrote. It’s not clear what happened afterwards but many were hopeful the tourist helped staff clean up the mess. Image credits: TikTok

Travel Trouble

"Embarrassing" travel pillow frequent flyers swear by

When it comes to travelling in economy, looking glamorous usually takes a back seat, with many people prioritising comfort over anything else. Travelling in cattle class presents its own issues with getting comfy on a plane, especially when sitting in the middle seat. However, a committed frequent flyer has discovered the "travel hack of the year" with an unusual looking travel pillow that means you can get comfy anywhere. “When you got the middle seat for a 13-hour plane ride,” wrote adventurer Annie Wright, 23, in the captions of a viral TikTok testimonial dedicated to the strange-looking, yet in-demand inflatable travel pillow. In the video, which has racked in a whopping 26.6 million views, Ms Wright, a law student in the US, shared footage of herself puffing into the plushy prop that’s offered by <a href="https://www.kmart.com.au/product/inflatable-front-travel-pillow-43238989/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon</a>. For Aussies, you can snag the innovative travel pillow from <a href="https://www.kmart.com.au/product/inflatable-front-travel-pillow-43238989/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kmart</a> for a breezy $18. “I wasn’t sure if I’d like it and omg SO worth it!” cheered Ms Wright in the clip’s caption. “Total upgrade.” This new pillow puts the round-the-neck pillows to shame, as the expandable cushion, designed with an ergonomic 45-degree angle, offers support to the head and neck and inflates in just seconds. Once inflated, users are meant to position the pillow — created with a face cutout at its apex and two arm holes on its sides — on their passenger tray tables and lean forward into a relaxed position. The hot commodity’s details also noted that it can “help you stay away from injury and insomnia, make you rest more comfortable during the journey, easier to fall asleep, and sleep longer,” according to Amazon. According to the online Kmart reviews of the product, one traveller said it was “awkward looking” but “really comfortable” and perfect for long-haul flights. Folks under the #InflatableTravelPillow TikTok hashtag have hailed the headrest the “travel hack of the year.” However, haters of the portable bedding have deemed it an “embarrassment.” “My back just hurts watching this,” said one commenter beneath Ms Wright’s post. “Yeah I have social anxiety I would be too embarrassed to use it,” penned another. But in response to the criticisms, Ms Wright wrote, “People keep saying this [pillow] is embarrassing, but what’s more embarrassing is being caught with your mouth open just knocked out.” Image credits: TikTok

Travel Tips

How ‘dad jokes’ may prepare your kids for a lifetime of embarrassment, according to psychology

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shane-rogers-575838">Shane Rogers</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marc-hye-knudsen-1466723">Marc Hye-Knudsen</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/aarhus-university-967">Aarhus University</a> This Father’s Day you may be rolling out your best “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dad%20joke">dad jokes</a>” and watching your children laugh (or groan). Maybe you’ll hear your own father, partner or friend crack a dad joke or two. You know the ones: "What is the most condescending animal? A pan-DUH!" "Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything!" Yes, dad jokes can be fun. They play an important role in how we interact with our kids. But dad jokes may also help prepare them to handle embarrassment later in life. <h2>What are dad jokes?</h2> Dad jokes are a distinct style of humour consisting of puns that are simple, wholesome and often involve a cheesy delivery. These jokes usually feature obvious wordplay and a straightforward punchline that leaves listeners either chuckling or emitting an exaggerated groan. This corny brand of humour is popular. There are hundreds of <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a34437277/best-dad-jokes/">websites</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAgYiERRDPY&t=248s">YouTube videos</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mmmjoemele/video/7207443872232770858">TikToks</a> dedicated to them. You can even play around with <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/06/us/dad-joke-generator-trnd/">dad joke generators</a> if you need some inspiration. <h2>Why are dad jokes so popular?</h2> People seem to love dad jokes, partly because of the puns. A <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0191886922005025">study</a> published earlier this year found people enjoy puns more than most other types of jokes. The authors also suggested that if you groan in response to a pun, this can be a sign you enjoy the joke, rather than find it displeasing. Other research shows dad jokes work on at least <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.5.2.248/html">three levels</a>: 1. As tame puns Humour typically <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797610376073">violates</a> a kind of boundary. At the most basic level, dad jokes only violate <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315731162-7/puns-tacit-linguistic-knowledge-debra-aarons">a language norm</a>. They require specific knowledge of the language to “get” them, in a way a fart joke does not. The fact that dad jokes are wholesome and inoffensive means dads can tell them around their children. But this also potentially makes them tame, which other people might call unfunny. 2. As anti-humour Telling someone a pun that’s too tame to deserve being told out loud is itself a violation of the norms of joke-telling. That violation can in turn make a dad joke funny. In other words, a dad joke can be so unfunny this makes it funny – a type of <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-dubious-art-of-the-dad-joke/">anti-humour</a>. 3. As weaponised anti-humour Sometimes, the purpose of a dad joke is not to make people laugh but to make them groan and roll their eyes. When people tell dad jokes to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0033-2909.127.2.229">teasingly</a> annoy someone else for fun, dad jokes work as a kind of <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.5.2.248/html">weaponised</a> anti-humour. The stereotypical scenario associated with dad jokes is exactly this: a dad telling a pun and then his kids rolling their eyes out of annoyance or cringing from embarrassment. <h2>Dad jokes help dads be dads</h2> Dad jokes are part of a father’s toolkit for engaging with his loved ones, a way to connect through laughter. But as children grow older, the way they receive puns change. <a href="https://psychcentral.com/lib/humor-as-a-key-to-child-development#1">Children</a> at around six years old enjoy hearing and telling puns. These are generally innocent ones such as: "Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine!" As children age and their language and reasoning abilities develop, their understanding of humour becomes more complex. In adolescence, they may start to view puns as unfunny. This, however, doesn’t stop their fathers from telling them. Instead, fathers can revel in the embarrassment their dad jokes can produce around their image-conscious and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/202203/adolescence-and-the-age-painful-embarrassment">sensitive</a> adolescent children. In fact, in a study, one of us (Marc) <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.5.2.248/html">suggests</a> the playful teasing that comes with dad jokes may be partly why they are such a widespread cultural phenomenon. This playful and safe teasing serves a dual role in father-child bonding in adolescence. Not only is it playful and fun, it can also be used to help <a href="https://www.dadsuggests.com/home/the-best-dad-jokes">educate</a> the young person how to handle feeling embarrassed. Helping children learn how to deal with embarrassment is no laughing matter. Getting better at this is a very important part of learning how to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01650250143000535">regulate emotions</a> and develop <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.980104/full">resilience</a>. Modelling the use of humour also has benefits. Jokes can be a useful <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-019-00296-9">coping strategy</a> during <a href="https://psychcentral.com/lib/humor-as-weapon-shield-and-psychological-salve">awkward situations</a> – for instance, after someone says <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuRnsrHEQFg">something awkward</a> or to make someone laugh who has <a href="https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships-communication/managing-conflicts-with-humor.htm">become upset</a>. <h2>Dad jokes are more than punchlines</h2> So, the next time you hear your father unleash a cringe-worthy dad joke, remember it’s not just about the punchline. It’s about creating connections and lightening the mood. So go ahead, let out that groan, and share a smile with the one who proudly delivers the dad jokes. It’s all part of the fun.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212109/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shane-rogers-575838">Shane Rogers</a>, Lecturer in Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marc-hye-knudsen-1466723">Marc Hye-Knudsen</a>, Cognition and Behavior Lab, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/aarhus-university-967">Aarhus University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dad-jokes-may-prepare-your-kids-for-a-lifetime-of-embarrassment-according-to-psychology-212109">original article</a>.

Family & Pets

"Embarrassed": Andy Murray's hilarious daughter revelation

It seems that while the world showers him with praise at Wimbledon, UK tennis great Andy Murray's own flesh and blood knows just how to bring him back down to earth. In a pre-Wimbledon press conference, the former champ shared a delightful tale about his seven-year-old daughter, Sophia. Brace yourself for cuteness overload. “My eldest daughter is aware, now, of what I do, but I don’t think she really sees it as a good thing,” he said, according to talkSPORT. “I think she gets more embarrassed by it, to be honest. We went to pick her up from school on Friday, and she will never properly acknowledge me at the school gates or around the other kids at school." Naturally, Andy was baffled by little Sophia's reaction and demanded an explanation later that evening. “I asked her that night, ‘Why wouldn't you give me a hug at school today?’ She said, ‘Because people know you. You’re number 39 in tennis or something!’ “She doesn’t see it as a cool thing. It is more embarrassing.” It seems little Sophia doesn't see her dad's tennis prowess as cool or impressive. Quite the opposite. She finds it utterly cringeworthy. To add to the hilarity, Sophia has adopted a rather unconventional approach when referring to her dad in front of her friends. Instead of a simple "dad," she nonchalantly drops the name "Andy Murray" like it's the punchline of a joke. Moving on to more serious matters, Murray faced a monumental challenge in his second-round match against Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas (at least, at the time of writing, it was still going, with the match suspended due to curfew). But let's not forget Murray's triumphant first-round victory over fellow Brit Ryan Peniston. In a display of dominance, he dispatched his compatriot in straight sets, all while being observed by the illustrious Princess of Wales and the legendary Roger Federer from the Royal Box. With his daughter keeping him grounded and his tennis skills on display, Murray is surely experiencing quite the rollercoaster at Wimbledon. Who knows what other humorous anecdotes will come to light during his epic journey? One thing's for certain: Sophia won't let him forget how "embarrassing" he can be, even as a global tennis star. Images: Instagram / Resurfacing

Family & Pets

“That was the first time I felt embarrassed”: Baz Luhrmann's daughter opens up on rumours

Baz Luhrmann’s daughter Lilly has opened up about what it was like going through school with famous parents. The 19-year-old daughter of the globally-renowned Elvis director and his four-time Oscar winning wife, costume designer Catherine Martin, has been educated in both Australia and Manhattan. Speaking on an episode of the Under the Gloss podcast, Lilly said it was much harder growing up in Australia as her surname sparked more interest down under. She mentioned a time when she was being driven to school, and a story had emerged on the radio that her father was “gay”, citing a report that he and his wife slept in different bedrooms. “I did get followed to school by a truck that was paparazzi … They were bullying my dad there for a little bit there. I specifically remember I was driving in the car, on the radio, this guy was like, “Today we’re going to be discussing, is Baz Luhrmann gay? Breaking news, they sleep in two different bedrooms”,” Lilly said. “And I went to school, and the kids were like, “Is your dad gay?” “That was the first time I felt embarrassed … Not embarrassed, but more like, “Why are these people talking about my dad? Why are they making fun?” I’m like, “They just have different sleeping schedules". The 19-year-old didn’t specify when the incident happened but mentioned it was the “first time” she felt her upbringing wasn’t entirely normal. “I mean, I’m not traumatised for life by it. I’ve gotten over it. There’s worse things to go through. But it was the first time I was aware something was a bit amiss,” she said. “It was pretty intense in Australia, then we moved to New York, and no one cared. So that was really good.” After relocating to the states and changing schools, Lilly, who also has a younger brother, William, admitted she told students that her dad was in marketing because she was concerned about “friendships being in-genuine”. “For the first year, I lied about it. I made friends, and I had to tell them about my life … I was going to Paris, I’m from Australia, and they were like, “beep, beep, beep” this is not adding up, girl,” she said. “My best friend, who’s still my best friend, Chris, thought I was a compulsive liar. He started a whole rumour about me that I was making up my Aussie accent.” Soon after The Great Gatsby was released in 2013, the New York Times reported that Luhrmann and Martin, who have been married for over two decades, sleep on separate floors of their townhouse in New York. In an interview a few months after the release, Luhrmann told The Daily Telegraph that it was not just the case in New York but in all their homes, including their iconic Iona in Sydney. “For a very simple reason: just because we’re constantly surrounded by people,” he said. “And you know the Baz team and the CM team – they’re large teams, and they’re great, and we get together, but they all live different hours because they do completely different jobs. “But our rule is, no matter where we are and what we do – and I said it in passing, and I’m not sure I should have because it used to be our secret – every Saturday night, we stay in a hotel. “We have done that, I think, since we first realised public life would become a holiday you never come home from, and that was around the time of Strictly Ballroom (1992).” Image credit: Instagram

Family & Pets

TV host humiliated live on air by 9-year-old daughter

A TV host has been left mortified after her 9-year-old daughter embarrassed her live on air. Jenna Hager Bush, one of the hosts of the US morning show Today with Hoda & Jenna, had her daughter Mila on the show to chat about fashion. The 9-year-old then shocked her mum by telling viewers that Hager “never wears underwear.” She continued, “She is not wearing it right now! I saw her change!” The little one’s confession came one month after the journalist first confessed that she often skips underwear for a “more pretty silhouette” after co-host Hoda Kotb called her out. Hager, who also shares daughter Poppy, 7, and son Hal, 3, with husband Henry Hager, explained that her controversial wardrobe choice makes her life “easier.” “You don’t have to pack as much,” she pointed out last month. “There [are] a lot of pros to it.” While Mila wasn’t the first to out her mother’s lack of underwear, she did continue to embarrass Hager with another story on Tuesday. “One time she was laughing in our living room and she peed her pants!” Mila said, noting that Hager had to “change [her] pyjamas” at the time. Hager was a good sport, sarcastically thanking Mila before saying, “I think Hoda is trying to get the truth bombs out [of you] but no more.” <div id="ad-hybrid-banner-1" data-type="unruly" data-ad-size="4x4" data-device-type="web"> <div> </div> </div> When Mila showed no signs of keeping quiet, Hager abruptly concluded, “OK, goodbye! Goodbye, I love you!” As Mila exited the stage, Kotb gushed, “What a great kid. … You and her are very similar because you’re both just exactly who you are.” Image credits: Today with Hoda & Jenna

Mike Tindall's mortifying moment

Mike Tindall, the husband of the late Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips, has shared the deeply embarrassing mistake he made at wife Zara's 30th birthday party. Tindall who is currently appearing on the popular British TV show I’m a celebrity …. Get Me Out of Here!, recalled the infamous blunder where he “slut dropped” at his wife’s 30th birthday party,. The birthday bash was ‘70s-themed, he recalled: “I was dancing on the dance floor, I had like flares on, full outfit but it was quite tight, nothing ever fits – rugby player’s bum and legs – so I was dancing with my mother-in-law and I did a sl*t drop in front of my mother-in-law,” he said. “Ripped my trousers, straight in front of her. It happened to be that the boxers that I had on at that time said ‘nibble my nuts’.” “As I’ve turned round, she’s gone, ‘I’d rather not.’ I’ve gone, ‘I’m going,’ and walked off,” he added. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dnx-fDxStI0" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Mike married Zara in 2011 and the couple have three children together. Zara is 20th in line for the British throne, being the only daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips. Image: YouTube

Family & Pets

Why do I remember embarrassing things I’ve said or done in the past and feel ashamed all over again?

We’ve all done it – you’re walking around going about your business and suddenly you’re thinking about that time in high school you said something really stupid you would never say now. Or that time a few years ago when you made a social gaffe. You cringe and just want to die of shame. Why do these negative memories seem to just pop into our heads? And why do we feel so embarrassed still, when the occasion is long past? How do memories come into our awareness? The current thinking is there are two ways in which we recall experiences from our past. One way is purposeful and voluntary. For example, if you try to remember what you did at work yesterday, or what you had for lunch last Saturday. This involves a deliberate and effortful process during which we search for the memory in our minds. The second way is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721410370301" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unintended and spontaneous</a>. These are memories that just seem to “pop” into our minds and can even be unwanted or intrusive. So, where does this second type of memory come from? Part of the answer lays in how memories are connected to each other. The current understanding is our past experiences are represented in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661318300652?casa_token=SSFCzEsOjMkAAAAA:dYMJ2aVZpSCs9JCD9-iXsTMMnkyqnNtlcOoxA3lLzs8sNRrA8SXqb5LYamz25ZcMrsYxLoftp3A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">connected networks of cells</a> that reside in our brain, called neurons. These neurons grow physical connections with each other through the overlapping information in these representations. For example, memories might share a type of context (different beaches you’ve been to, restaurants you’ve eaten at), occur at similar periods of life (childhood, high school years), or have emotional and thematic overlap (times we have loved or argued with others). <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493440/original/file-20221104-13-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A bakery window" /></a><figcaption>Memories can be triggered by internal stimuli (thoughts, feelings) or external stimuli (something we see, hear, smell). Yeh Xintong/Unsplash, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CC BY</a></figcaption></figure> An initial activation of a memory could be triggered by an external stimuli from the environment (sights, sounds, tastes, smells) or internal stimuli (thoughts, feelings, physical sensations). Once neurons containing these memories are activated, associated memories are then <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-020-01792-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more likely to be recalled into conscious awareness</a>. An example might be walking past a bakery, smelling fresh bread, and having a spontaneous thought of last weekend when you cooked a meal for a friend. This might then lead to a memory of when toast was burned and there was smoke in the house. Not all activation will lead to a conscious memory, and at times the associations between memories might not be entirely clear to us. Why do memories make us feel? When memories come to mind, we often experience <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0720(199610)10:5%3C435::AID-ACP408%3E3.0.CO;2-L" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emotional responses to them</a>. In fact, involuntary memories tend to be <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2019.0693" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more negative than voluntary memories</a>. Negative memories also tend to have a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stronger emotional tone</a> than positive memories. Humans are more motivated to avoid bad outcomes, bad situations, and bad definitions of ourselves than to seek out good ones. This is likely due to the pressing need for survival in the world: physically, mentally, and socially. So involuntary memories can make us feel acutely sad, anxious, and even ashamed of ourselves. For example, a memory involving embarrassment or shame might indicate to us we have done something others might find to be distasteful or negative, or in some way we have violated social norms. These emotions are important for us to feel, and we learn from our memories and these emotional responses to manage future situations differently. Does this happen to some people more than others? This is all well and good, and mostly we’re able to remember our past and experience the emotions without too much distress. But it may happen for some people more than others, and with stronger emotions attached. One clue as to why comes from research on <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2023-06108-001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mood-congruent memory</a>. This is the tendency to be more likely to recall memories which are consistent with our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0720(199610)10:5%3C435::AID-ACP408%3E3.0.CO;2-L" target="_blank" rel="noopener">current mood</a>. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493442/original/file-20221104-13-e9jr5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Man at desk thinking" /></a><figcaption>Ruminating is often unhelpful. pexels/olia danilevich, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CC BY</a></figcaption></figure> So, if you’re feeling sad, well, you’re more likely to recall memories related to disappointments, loss or shame. Feeling anxious or bad about yourself? You’re more likely to recall times when you felt scared or unsure. In some mental health disorders, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735817303914?casa_token=k0OOX1ybROYAAAAA:UXy5KQk-_8h37dwSCDJqkoFebDn3b5atTodeeF0eYGeHjgtimUUcznPX9_Sxmq-5QsYx5gcUFQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major depression</a>, people more often recall memories that evoke negative feelings, the negative feelings are relatively stronger, and these feelings of shame or sadness are perceived as facts about themselves. That is, feelings become facts. Another thing that is more likely in some mental health disorders is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005796720300243?casa_token=eaQkokETnM8AAAAA:WjFF1oStuF9VUm7KWdP1zwd7CluYm9M5YZKTotYEV8v0ijZDJ2eDSLdv_Di6kICGw7h59kmW4y4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rumination</a>. When we ruminate, we repetitively think about negative past experiences and how we feel or felt about them. On the surface, the function of rumination is to try and “work out” what happened and learn something or problem-solve so these experiences do not happen again. While this is good idea in theory, when we ruminate we become stuck in the past and re-experience negative emotions <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005796720300243?casa_token=eaQkokETnM8AAAAA:WjFF1oStuF9VUm7KWdP1zwd7CluYm9M5YZKTotYEV8v0ijZDJ2eDSLdv_Di6kICGw7h59kmW4y4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">without much benefit</a>. Not only that, but it means those memories in our neural networks become more strongly connected with other information, and are even more likely to then be <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1800006115" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recalled involuntarily</a>. Can we stop the negative feelings? The good news is memories are very adaptable. When we recall a memory we can elaborate on it and change our thoughts, feelings, and appraisals of past experiences. In a process referred to as “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2018-24701-001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reconsolidation</a>”, changes can be made so the next time that memory is recalled it is different to what it once was and has a changed emotional tone. For example, we might remember a time when we felt anxious about a test or a job interview that didn’t go so well and feel sad or ashamed. Reflecting, elaborating and reframing that memory might involve remembering some aspects of it that did go well, integrating it with the idea that you stepped up to a challenge even though it was hard, and reminding yourself it’s okay to feel anxious or disappointed about difficult things and it does not make us a failure or a bad person. Through this process of rewriting experiences in a way that is reasonable and self-compassionate, their prominence in our life and self-concept can be reduced, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13607863.2011.651434" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our well-being can improve</a>. As for rumination, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735813001207?casa_token=arG_36s8na4AAAAA:Wrlcppj451P7mZlxg44UyooaM25GpoEwTFtx5gfHFc-k2M2cWCXXO75JYC9P7DnMKF7vw7SlcA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one evidenced-based strategy</a> is to recognise when it is happening and try to shift attention onto something absorbing and sensorial (for example doing something with your hands or focusing on sights or sounds). This attention shifting can short circuit rumination and get you doing something more valued. Overall, remember that even though our brain will give us little reminders of our experiences, we don’t have to be stuck in the past.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190535/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Writen by David John Hallford. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-i-remember-embarrassing-things-ive-said-or-done-in-the-past-and-feel-ashamed-all-over-again-190535" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Getty Images

Mind

“An embarrassment”: Ben Fordham weighs in on Will Smith drama

Will Smith has publicly apologised to Chris Rock for <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/the-slap-heard-around-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slapping him</a> on-stage at the Oscars over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behaviour at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable,” Smith wrote in a screenshot shared on Instagram on Tuesday. “Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally. “I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.” <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbqmaY1p7Pz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbqmaY1p7Pz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)</a> </div> </blockquote> The apology comes after the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, the organisation that awards the Oscars, <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/movies/could-will-smith-lose-his-oscar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemned</a> Smith’s behaviour and said they would investigate the incident. Others have also been quick to weigh in on the situation, with radio host Ben Fordham questioning how Smith was able to stay in the audience and go on to receive an award. Speaking on 2GB, Fordham questioned why Smith hadn’t faced any repercussions after he “belted (Rock) in the face”. “The best the Academy could do was send out a pathetic tweet … You absolutely condoned it. You let him return to his seat. You didn’t kick him out and you then handed him an award,” Fordham <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/awards/oscars/double-standards-ben-fordham-lashes-out-over-will-smiths-oscars-slap/news-story/ab86b57d23709fc4e9da0b9a7801af56" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “The double standards are extraordinary. “They lecture everyone else about how to behave, but when the bad behaviour happened on their stage it was a case of see no evil, hear no evil. “The Academy Awards are an embarrassment. They preach one thing and they do the opposite.” The radio host and journalist acknowledged why Smith would have been upset, while also pointing out that Smith initially laughed at the joke until he saw his wife’s reaction. “If that was said about my wife, I would have struggled to stay in my seat,” Fordham admitted. “I wouldn’t have belted anyone, but I can understand how rage could build when you see something like this happen to someone you love.” The slap has also prompted the resurfacing of footage showing Smith behaving similarly and slapping a ‘reporter’ in 2012. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Y’all must’ve forgot <a href="https://t.co/OhGHFCOAbT">pic.twitter.com/OhGHFCOAbT</a> — Jiles (@Jiles) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jiles/status/1508276702258024452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2022</a></blockquote> The star <a href="https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertainment/oscar-2022-will-smith-slapped-reporter-for-kissing-him-old-video/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> slapped Ukrainian prankster Vitali Sediuk, who was posing as a reporter when he attempted to kiss Smith. Luckily, the 2012 incident ended in apologies from the prankster - who went on to repeat the stunt with other celebrities - but the run-in between Rock and Smith hasn’t gone as smoothly. Rock’s joke during the awards ceremony referred to Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head. She was diagnosed with alopecia (the medical term for baldness) in 2018 and has since spoken out about her experience losing her hair. Image: Getty Images

News

"So embarrassed": Bono's startling confessions

Image: Getty They've been one of the world's biggest rock bands for over 40 years – but U2 frontman Bono is still a tough critic about the group's output. In a surprising new interview with The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, Bono admits he's often "embarrassed" by the band's early music and he still doesn't like their band name. Fellow band member ‘The Edge’ revealed he wasn't a fan of the band's name at first. Bono then responded, "I still don't. I really don't. I was late into some kind of dyslexia – I didn't realise that The Beatles was a bad pun either." "In our head, it was like the spy plane, it was … a U-boat, it was futuristic. But then, as it turned out to imply this kind of acquiescence, no, I don't like that name. I still don't really like the name," he said. To this day he has shared that he struggles to listen to U2's earlier albums, such as their 1980 debut Boy. While the band sound "incredible" on the record, Bono said his voice in U2's early years was "very strained" and "not macho". "I've been in a car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I've been the colour of … scarlet. I'm just so embarrassed. I do think U2 pushes out the boat on embarrassment quite a lot," he said. It turns out Bono wasn't the only one who had that same critique of his own voice. He recounted an anecdote in which late Addicted To Love singer Robert Palmer had a quiet word with U2 bassist Adam Clayton in the 1980s. According to Bono, the crooner said, "God, would you ever tell your singer to just take down the keys a little bit? He'd do himself a favour, his voice a favour, and he'd do us all a favour who have to listen to him." The Irish rock legend said that he feels like he "only became a singer recently" and that "maybe it hasn't happened yet for some people's ears". Perhaps, but with 175 million records sold worldwide, clearly a lot of their listeners do not agree!

Music

Man slammed online after blaming wife for “embarrassing” state of house

A man has been judged unworthy by the online community after complaining that his wife, a stay-at-home mother, didn’t clean the house well enough prior to the last-minute arrival of his guests. The 36-year-old <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/s25jy2/aita_for_telling_my_wife_that_it_was_embarrassing/" target="_blank">took to Reddit’s ‘AmIthe**hole’ section</a> to ask whether he was in the wrong for telling his wife their house was “embarrassing” after inviting guests over at short notice. To provide some context, the man wrote that he was the breadwinner of the family, while his wife stayed home and looked after their three children, all of whom are under ten. “My wife does her best to keep up with the cleaning and keeping the house tidy and I feel for her, I really do, so I told her she doesn’t have to clean up all the time since the kids are running up and down all day and making huge messes,” he wrote. He continued to say that the only caveat to their deal was that she had to ensure the house was clean when they had guests visiting, “and she agreed with me”. “Well, the other day I brought over some friends from work and when I opened the door all I could see was an utter mess, food and toys and clutter everywhere,” he recounted. “I was shocked, I was embarrassed and just mortified that my friends saw my home looking like this. “Also I have a couple of guys who came over for the first time so the first impression must’ve been horrible to them.” The man said he took his friends to the “least messy” part of the house, but they kept “making indirect comments about the state of the home” and giving him “weird looks” during their visit. “I was livid, I waited til they left then went into the bedroom to see that my wife was actually sleeping, I woke her up to ask why she didn’t tidy up the house knowing I was going to bring friends over,” he continued. “She said she didn’t know but I sent her a text letting her know and she said she didn’t see it. I told her it seemed like she did see the text but decided to ignore it? She said no but she wasn’t feeling well and had a headache so she thought of getting an hour-long nap. “I told her that it was so, so embarrassing that the house looked like this when my friends came over and that this was avoidable had she cleaned up and prepared the house for the guests.” His wife said the kids had caused the mess and that he should have double-checked with her about the guests visiting, which he said was blaming him for “her own actions (or lack of)”. He continued to say she was partly to blame for the house being “out of control” and in an “embarrassing” state. His wife then called him a “jerk” and left the room, and continued not to speak to him about the situation. Many users were quick to share their judgement that he was in the wrong for multiple reasons. However, moderators were forced to lock the thread after commentors violated Reddit’s ‘Be Civil’ clause. <img style="width: 500px; height:84.13461538461539px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846873/reddit.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/c14c1dfebd0c4645bb1dafc6f07f8400" /> The Reddit thread was eventually locked to prevent more people from commenting after the site’s ‘Be Civil’ rule was violated multiple times. Image: Reddit “You basically spring this upon her, didn’t check to see if she happened to see the one (1) text where you just casually decided to spontaneously bring home people that day, and showed literally zero care that she wasn’t feeling well,” one user wrote. “SAHM stands for stay at home mum, not stay at home maid. Her priority is the children. Not to be on call to make the house look unrealistically tidy in an hour’s time.” The man later clarified that they usually communicate via text, and that it was unusual for her not to check her phone. "Even if she saw the text, who's to say that was enough time to do all the cleaning needed? Or that she didn't have another obstacle like being out of the house for the afternoon or being sick, like she was," another user said. "[You're the a--hole] for assuming she generally has tons of time to clean while parenting, for giving her inadequate notice about guests, for telling her about guests, not asking if it was okay to have guests over, for not feeling any responsibility to help clean the house the night before if you're planning on asking people over and for generally treating her like your maid and not working to come up with other solutions to keep the house to your desired cleanliness." Image: Getty Images

Relationships

Young tradie’s “embarrassing” blunder

A Melbourne tradie learned he had arrived for a job at the wrong house, after he had just finished ripping up the unknown owner’s backyard pavers. The tradesman arrived at the Cranbourne West home, in Melbourne’s southeast, before his boss on Monday, May 18 and got straight to work. But little did he know, there was another house with the exact same number just three doors down the road. He shared his “embarrassing” error on <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dafishaaa">TikTok</a> the following day, writing: “When you go to prep a pour and end up going to the wrong house.” “What a way to start the day,” he says in the clip that has since been watched over 165,000 times. “I get a text to say the address is 37, I word up the client that we’ll come in with the excavator, waited for Tyler, pulled up the pavers, only to find out, there’s a 37 all the way down there too,” he said. “I’ve just gone to a complete stranger’s house, got them to open up the shed, pulled out their pavers, waited for my boss, just to find out it’s the wrong house.” His boss also made a video recording the blunder. “Get a load of this,” he says in the clip before panning across to the house where the work had been done. “I’m running late, so he comes in and starts moving things and ripping up pavers, but what he didn’t know was that’s actually the wrong house,” he said. “And he started ripping up someone else’s pavers, ready for a job that’s not going to happen at their house. “He doesn’t know what to do. So now we have to put back the pavers and apologise to whoever it is.” The mix-up happened as both homes had planned renovations that morning and were both numbered 37 but had different street names, so the owners had let him in assuming he was their builder. The owners were extremely understanding, with the tradie saying “they always seem to get parcels that belong to the actual 37”.

Home & Garden

Meghan "embarrassed" Prince Harry by committing faux pas

Meghan Markle "embarrassed" Prince Harry by announcing that she was pregnant on Princess Eugenie's wedding day in new claims in this fiery book. The Duchess of Sussex allegedly told the Royal Family that she was pregnant with the pair's first child at the wedding in October 2018, according to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11984341/meghan-markle-embarrassed-prince-harry-by-announcing-pregnancy/" target="_blank" class="_e75a791d-denali-editor-page-rtflink">The Sun</a>. The Duke of Sussex was reportedly left reeling when his wife announced the pregnancy at the wedding. In the new book Royals at War, authors Andy Tillett and Dylan Howard claimed that Eugenie and her mother Sarah Ferguson were "furious" at Meghan's decision. “Meghan put her foot in it when she decided that it would be the ideal moment to announce that she and Harry were expecting their first child,” the pair wrote. “This was a huge social gaffe, even if you were not a royal – stealing the limelight from Eugenie, who was furious, as was her mother, Sarah.” Royal insiders have previously denied this claim. According to Bazaar.com, The Sussex's told the Queen and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank before the wedding. However, the public announcement of Meghan's pregnancy on social media as Twitter users noticed that Sarah Ferguson posted a picture of Eugenie's wedding at the same time. The book also claims that Prince Harry is "secretly tortured" over his decision to leave the Royal Family, with his feelings made worse as his father, Prince Charles, tested positive for coronavirus. “On top of it all, he’s got cabin fever," an insider claimed. “It was far from an ideal situation. Harry’s gone from feeling excited about the move to feeling secretly tortured.”

Family & Pets

Royal lock-out: Embarrassing blunder leaves Queen waiting

Queen Elizabeth has undergone an embarrassing security blunder after being locked outside the gates of her home. The monarch and her security team were unable to enter the Windsor Castle premises in two Range Rovers on Thursday afternoon. The rare blunder occurred while Her Majesty was sat wearing a headscarf sitting in the backseat, while she and her team were left waiting outside the Nelson’s Gate entrance. Reports say a member of staff forget to let her inside. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7835020/queen.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/dbaf58b0dc7740caa4f521851cec08b6" /> Pictures taken of the royal mistake show a female bodyguard attempting to open the heavy wooden gate blocking their entrance. The error was made apparent when the two vehicles performed a U-turn and drove through a remote-controlled gate in a second approach. The Windsor Estate is the Queen's favourite residence and she usually arrives there on Thursday afternoons and leaves again on Tuesday. One onlooker told the Daily Mail they had "never seen anything like it in 30 years". "I'm not sure if someone was sleeping on the job or simply that they were not expecting her, but it's unheard of," the source said. "And it's not often you get to see a queen locked out of her own castle."

Travel Trouble

Royal Family’s embarrassing x-rated blunder

Visitors to the Royal Family’s official website were accidentally redirected to Chinese porn. In a massive blunder, the site featured an incorrect link to a charity which takes users to a web page which features a click-through to “rape incest porn” and “live sex shows”. The dodgy platform also manages to block child-lock filters, which means anyone can end up viewing the inappropriate content. The official website, royal.uk, says it is the “home of the Royal Family” and features a photo of the Queen and Prince Philip. The site contains news and information about the royals and highlights charities they have links with. It should have a link to the Welsh charity Dolen Cymru’s official website waleslesotholink.org, which at first glance, seems to look quite normal; but then it included another link – which directed users to the graphic images. But when users click on the link, they are faced with hardcore porn content and flashing adverts for betting websites. The Sun has notified the Palace and Dolen Cymru after they learnt of the embarrassing mistake.

Travel Trouble

Prince Andrew’s embarrassing blunder on Princess Beatrice’s birthday tribute

Princess Beatrice turned 31 on August 8 and her family took to social media to wish her well. Her father, Prince Andrew, made a sweet post on Twitter where he shared a collection of photos with his oldest daughter, but fans were quick to notice something embarrassing. In the original tweet that has since been deleted, the doting father had shared a photo of Princess Beatrice’s sister Eugenie on her wedding day instead of the birthday girl. Naturally, the mistake was pointed out and it was swiftly rectified. You can see the updated tweet below. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> Happy Birthday Princess Beatrice🎉 Thank you everyone for the lovely birthday wishes!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HappyBirthdayHRH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HappyBirthdayHRH</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/yorkiebea?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@yorkiebea</a> <a href="https://t.co/WrBBbfaRG2">pic.twitter.com/WrBBbfaRG2</a> — The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDukeOfYork/status/1159383428204322817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">8 August 2019</a></blockquote> There were four photos with the caption, “Happy Birthday Princess Beatrice. Thank you to everyone for the lovely birthday wishes!" Duchess of York and Beatrice’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, wished her a happy birthday via Instagram, sharing photos that many royal fans have not seen before. The tribute read, “Happy birthday dearest Beatrice” and had a variety of photos that showed Beatrice as a child with her mother and father, Beatrice playing in a sandpit as a child, as well as sitting outside with the family’s Norfolk terriers as an adult. The last photo in the Instagram post is a sweet one of the Duchess of York holding Beatrice in the snow. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B05dv09F-3s/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B05dv09F-3s/" target="_blank">Happy Birthday dearest Beatrice 🥳🥳 xx</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/sarahferguson15/" target="_blank"> Sarah Ferguson</a> (@sarahferguson15) on Aug 8, 2019 at 2:25am PDT </div> </blockquote> Not to be outdone, her younger sister Eugenie added six photos of Beatrice and revealed the sweet nickname for her older sister in the caption. "You have been bossing it since before I was born and continue to be the most wonderful person, friend and big sister," she wrote. "Happy Birthday to you Beabea!! Xx" <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B05gM4HlMi1/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B05gM4HlMi1/" target="_blank">You have been bossing it since before I was born and continue to be the most wonderful person, friend and big sister... Happy Birthday to you Beabea!! Xx 😘 🎉🎊🥳</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/princesseugenie/" target="_blank"> Princess Eugenie</a> (@princesseugenie) on Aug 8, 2019 at 2:46am PDT </div> </blockquote> The photos shared by her immediate family gave royal fans an insight into how Princess Beatrice spends her time as she doesn’t have a public Instagram account. As Beatrice has a unique birth date, as she was born on 8:18 pm on August 8th, 1988 or 8/8/88, many royal fans had remembered the unique date and flooded her family’s social media pages with well wishes. Beatrice was also given a birthday tribute from the official account for the Queen and Prince Philip. The tweet read, "Princess Beatrice is the first child of @hrhthedukeofyork and Sarah, Duchess of York, and fifth grandchild of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. #HappyBirthdayHRH." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> Wishing Princess Beatrice of York a Happy Birthday! 🎂🎉 Her Royal Highness is the first child of <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDukeOfYork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheDukeOfYork</a> and Sarah, Duchess of York and fifth grandchild of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HappyBirthdayHRH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HappyBirthdayHRH</a> <a href="https://t.co/s903A3oW7D">pic.twitter.com/s903A3oW7D</a> — The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1159363100967145472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">8 August 2019</a></blockquote>

Technology

Donald Trump mocked over embarrassing gaffe about Prince Charles

Last year, Donald Trump made headlines for <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/president-trump-committed-a-royal-faux-pas-during-his-visit-with-the-queen/" target="_blank">his gaffe when visiting Queen Elizabeth II</a> at Windsor Castle. Now the US president has made another faux pas with a British royal. Trump misspelt Prince Charles’s official title in a Twitter post on Thursday, calling him the “Prince of Whales”. He mentioned Charles and the Queen as part of his argument that he should not be obliged to divulge details of discussions with foreign parties to the FBI. “I meet and talk to ‘foreign governments’ every day. I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales, the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland. We talked about ‘Everything!’” he wrote. “Should I immediately call the FBI about these calls and meetings? How ridiculous!” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> The Internet remembers things better than you do. <a href="https://t.co/P9hb3bOYwq">pic.twitter.com/P9hb3bOYwq</a> — Doktor Zoom (@DoktorZoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/DoktorZoom/status/1139161824161517568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2019</a></blockquote> The president immediately removed the post and replaced it with the correct spelling, but Twitter users had caught wind of the typo. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> The Prince of Whales, pictured earlier today <a href="https://t.co/GmnAiQuzwx">pic.twitter.com/GmnAiQuzwx</a> — Graeme Demianyk (@GraemeDemianyk) <a href="https://twitter.com/GraemeDemianyk/status/1139158896789065729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2019</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"> 😂 <a href="https://t.co/qGtuHxddSh">pic.twitter.com/qGtuHxddSh</a> — Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) <a href="https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1139157866252787712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2019</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> "I DEMAND TO SPEAK TO THE PRINCE OF WHALES!" <a href="https://t.co/gGrXNF6wa1">pic.twitter.com/gGrXNF6wa1</a> — Born Miserable (@bornmiserable) <a href="https://twitter.com/bornmiserable/status/1139227322773463040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2019</a></blockquote> Trump’s Twitter post came after his interview with <a rel="noopener" href="https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_156047124889410&key=a426d7531bff1ca375d5930dea560b93&libId=jwvc0jue0102i8oq000DLbltkki33&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F2019%2F06%2F12%2Fpolitics%2Fdonald-trump-abc-political-dirt-foreign-country-rivals%2Findex.html&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FPolitics%2Fid-exclusive-interview-trump-listen-foreigners-offered-dirt%2Fstory%3Fid%3D63669304%26cid%3Dclicksource_4380645_null&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&title=ABC%20interview%3A%20Trump%20says%20he%20would%20accept%20foreign%20dirt%20on%20rivals%20-%20CNNPolitics&txt=Trump%20said%20in%20an%20interview%20with%20ABC%20News" target="_blank">ABC News</a>, where he said he would accept damaging information on a political rival from a foreign government. “I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening,” said Trump. “If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’, I think I’d want to hear it.” He denied that such foreign assistance would amount to election interference. “It’s not an interference, they have information – I think I'd take it," Trump said. “If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI.” The current <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-is-open-to-accepting-dirt-on-his-opponents-from-foreign-governments-is-that-against-the-law/" target="_blank">US campaign finance law</a> prohibits political candidates from receiving campaign contributions from another country, which may include sensitive information “of value”. Trump’s statement has been criticised by politicians across the board. “Foreign influence in our elections is growing, not lessening, and we don’t want to send a signal to encourage it,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. “Donald Trump has made it clear that he will engage in any action, no matter how unethical or unpatriotic, that he will go right up to the line of what’s legal and indeed it looks like he crossed that line many times,” said House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff.

Technology

There is an embarrassing mistake in the Australian citizenship test

An English expat has found a mistake on the Australian citizenship test and was left stumped when she came across a question that had three incorrect answers. <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/" target="_blank">DailyMail reports</a> the woman has been studying the Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond booklet in anticipation of the quiz, when she came across a misleading question regarding the size of the country’s population. “The three options were '18 million', '22 million' and '30 million',” she told SBS. “It made me think, ''well, I know 22 million is wrong, I know 18 million is wrong, should I just put 30 million?'” “I told the examiner, 'I think there's a mistake in the exam'... He said ''22 million is the right one'.” But, as DailyMail reports, 22 million is the incorrect answer as Australia’s population surpassed that mark back in 2011. The test includes 20 questions and requires 15 correct answers to pass. The Department of Home Affairs released a statement regarding the test: “To maintain the integrity of the citizenship test, all questions and answers are confidential. It would be inappropriate for the Department of Home Affairs to comment further on the contents of the citizenship test. “The Common Bond Booklet contains 20 sample test questions to assist applicants in preparing for the test. “For clients who sat the citizenship test from 1 July 2017 to 30 April 2018, the failure rate was 2.9 per cent. “A person is allowed to attempt to pass the test on three occasions on the one day. They may attempt the test a number of times.” What are your thoughts?

Legal

Why reading children’s literature is not "embarrassing"

When the Harry Potter series became a global phenomenon, adult editions were published that replaced the brightly illustrated covers with dignified photographs of inanimate objects on a black background. Publishers presumed there was a need to cater to adults who wanted to read a fantasy series about a boy wizard, but who didn’t want fellow train commuters to judge them as juvenile or unintelligent. A recent <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.html">Slate article</a> suggests that adults should be embarrassed to read books marketed as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-adult-fictions-dark-themes-give-the-hope-to-cope-27335">young adult</a>” fiction. Regardless of the problems with the suggestion that any kind of reading should be embarrassing, why should the intended age of a book’s readership determine whether reading it is “shameful”? For one, just how do we distinguish between books for young people and books for adults? Many popular classics for young adult readers, such as J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, were originally written for adult audiences. While canonical works in their own right, including Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, have attracted young readers since their publication in the Victorian era. Children’s literature evolved to fulfil didactic aims. John Newbery, a pioneering publisher of children’s books in the early 18th century, aimed to provide “instruction with delight” in the books he published. (He’s responsible for Goody Two-Shoes.) Education was seen as integral to reading as a leisure activity for children. The concession to entertainment or “delight” was relatively recent. Much early children’s literature is tedious to the modern reader because of its moral and educative focus. From the “golden age” of children’s literature in the second half of the 19th century, didacticism decreased and the boundary between books for adults and books for children became permeable. Books – and plays, such as J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan – often satisfied a dual audience of children and adults. While Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was originally presented by Lewis Carroll to 12-year-old Alice Liddell as a gift, on publication it found a lasting audience with both adults and children. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Kidnapped were first published in Young Folks magazine and were seen as “boy’s books”. Yet both Henry James and Arthur Conan Doyle published reviews or commentary on both novels, in a way that the dismissal of children’s books would probably preclude today. In 1905, two of Mark Twain’s novels were challenged as inappropriate for child library patrons. In response, Twain claimed that he wrote “Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for adults exclusively”. Yet he pointed out that the unexpurgated Bible should also be removed from the children’s room lest it “soil” young minds, mocking the very notion of shielding children from literature that features characters “no better than Solomon, David, Satan”. If a book “for adults exclusively” is a faintly ridiculous concept, then so too is a book “for children exclusively”. Adults are the authors of children’s books and quite often they write to please and entertain adults too. The possibility of a dual audience is readily accepted in successful children’s animated films in which jokes and references that only adult viewers would understand punctuate the storyline. Adults are now buying young adult fiction in such great numbers that the primary readership for these books might not actually be young people. Yet at the same time as adults are reading The Fault in Our Stars, Twilight and The Hunger Games, there remains incredulity at the idea that young people and adults can both be entertained and satisfied by the same book. Instead there is guilt associated with reading children’s literature. This shaming is baseless when literature for young people that is well-written and intellectually challenging, such as the work of Philip Pullman and Sonya Hartnett, is dismissed wholesale. Yet cliched, formulaic and poorly written “adult” fiction does not carry the same weight of embarrassment. Arguments against adults reading children’s or young adult titles often present life as an opportunity to absorb a limited number of books, with time spent on “lesser” literature destroying the chance to read Proust or defiantly finish Ulysses. Yet this claim about time being wasted in reading children’s books is infrequently applied to popular bestsellers such as Fifty Shades of Grey or The Da Vinci Code. The truth is that a sophisticated reader will want to sample the most compelling, imaginative and lasting books of the past and the present. Some of these will be difficult and full of complex allusions. Others will be pleasurable genre fiction that follow a predictable, but satisfying, formula. But there should always be a place for Alice, Peter, Dorothy, Anne, Holden, Katniss, and the March sisters alongside them. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28102/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michelle-smith-128">Michelle Smith</a>, Research Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/reading-childrens-literature-is-not-embarrassing-28102">The Conversation</a>.

Books

Coca-Cola's embarrassing vending machine blunder

It’s a pitfall marketing departments must come across regularly, the risk of a message painfully missing the mark, lost in translation. Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand is currently feeling the heat over that very pitfall, with some vending machines in the country causing much mirth on social media. The offending slogan on the machines reads: “Kia ora, Mate”. ‘Kia ora’ is a greeting you’ll often hear in New Zealand, but “mate” in te reo Māori means “death”. So the slogan essentially reads “Hello, death.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> When the languages don't mix well. <a href="https://t.co/3piZIoptAE">pic.twitter.com/3piZIoptAE</a> — Waikato Reo (@waikatoreo) <a href="https://twitter.com/waikatoreo/status/1051264259089264640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2018</a></blockquote> One of the machines is at Auckland International Airport and is where Gareth Seymour spotted the vending machine. "I read with Māori language eyes and thought, ‘They haven't had this checked by a Māori,” he told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2018/10/15/kia-ora-death-vending-machine-slogan-gets-lost-translation" target="_blank">NITV News</a>. He suggested the slogan should have read “Kia ora e hoa” or “hello friend”. The response on social media after a shot of the vending machine was posted was merciless. “This reminds me of being back in uni and learning marketing 101,” said one Facebook user. “The coca cola company gains self-awareness?” tweeted another detractor, referencing the potentially dire health effects of Coca-Cola. But the commentary became serious with this comment on social media: “Totally spot on, it does mean death for a lot of Indigenous people.” There are some that have argued that the Māori native tongue and English language commonly mix, and that’s the line Coca-Cola Amatil NZ has taken. "In no way was the ‘mate’ in reference to any Māori word, that would have been inappropriate and unacceptable,” the company said in a statement to NITV News. It said that by merging the two words, it "only meant to bring Maori and English together". "Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand is proudly Kiwi and respects and embraces all aspects of Maori culture and any other culture." The company wouldn’t say, however, whether the Māori community had been consulted on the marketing campaign. Seymour said that, “Even a Māori-speaking school kid would notice the mistake. The moral of [the] story is – if you use it there are ways of doing it right.” What "lost in translation" blunders have you seen? Let us know in the comments section.

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Coca-Cola's embarrassing vending machine blunder

News

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Catalogues

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Entertainment

Property

Information

Keep up to date

Search

"So embarrassing": Tourist slammed for "stupid" stunt in Bali

"Embarrassing" travel pillow frequent flyers swear by

How ‘dad jokes’ may prepare your kids for a lifetime of embarrassment, according to psychology

"Embarrassed": Andy Murray's hilarious daughter revelation

“That was the first time I felt embarrassed”: Baz Luhrmann's daughter opens up on rumours

TV host humiliated live on air by 9-year-old daughter

Mike Tindall's mortifying moment

Why do I remember embarrassing things I’ve said or done in the past and feel ashamed all over again?

“An embarrassment”: Ben Fordham weighs in on Will Smith drama

"So embarrassed": Bono's startling confessions

Man slammed online after blaming wife for “embarrassing” state of house

Young tradie’s “embarrassing” blunder

Meghan "embarrassed" Prince Harry by committing faux pas

​Royal lock-out: Embarrassing blunder leaves Queen waiting

Royal Family’s embarrassing x-rated blunder

Prince Andrew’s embarrassing blunder on Princess Beatrice’s birthday tribute

Donald Trump mocked over embarrassing gaffe about Prince Charles

There is an embarrassing mistake in the Australian citizenship test

Why reading children’s literature is not "embarrassing"

Coca-Cola's embarrassing vending machine blunder

Royal lock-out: Embarrassing blunder leaves Queen waiting