A mother was left fuming after her daughter was rejected for her school choir. Writing on Mumsnet, the mother said the choir was "harsh" and that children should be allowed to participate regardless of their ability. She explained her daughter told her she was "sad about how she is a bad singer and she doesn't want to see her music teacher as she is too embarrassed" after an unsuccessful audition with the choir. "I do think rejecting a year 7 into something they are interested in trying is harsh, especially when it's hard enough for year 7s," she added. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "When kids are all singing in a group they do sound the same anyway! Obviously maybe solos could be kept for the particularly talented but I'm honestly just a bit sad and even annoyed," she said. But responding in the comments, people didn't exactly sympathise with the mother. "Auditions are to pick the best singers," one said. "Sorry but it's a life lesson. She can't be good at everything." Another wrote: "Rejection is a part of life, and it's a very valuable lesson. We can't always get what we want because we want it. "This is when we learn to accept defeat or decide to try again. Your daughter could take vocal lessons or practice on her own until auditions come around again." And a third said: "Of course you can’t be in a choir if you can’t sing." Mumsnet mums can be pretty blunt... Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

These two triangles are both made up of four coloured shapes. But in the second triangle there is a missing square This gif confuses things even more So how does the missing square puzzle work? The missing square comes about because the slopes on the two triangles are not actually straight In fact, the shape of the puzzle is not even technically a triangle - it's a quadrilateral - because the "hypotenuse" (the longest side of the "triangle") is bent. As Brightside explains: "In reality, this is not an optical illusion, but a really interesting task. The areas of the colored pieces are of course equal (32 cells), but even if both figures look like triangles of 13×5, it isn’t so. In fact, they have different areas (S 13×5 = 32.5 cells). So the mystery of the puzzle is that the first figure called a triangle is, in fact, a concave quadrangle." This picture of the red and blue triangles helps to highlight the illusion. As does this gif from the Russian website Novate:

One man’s ingenuity is another man’s pettiness, according to a debate that has been raging on social media. The dispute centres on the drastic measures taken by one office worker to protect a treasured belonging from thieving colleagues. We all know the pain of gasping for a cuppa, or making a bowl of cereal, only to find there’s no milk left in the fridge. So to avoid such torture, the worker fixed a lock onto their bottle of Tesco semi-skimmed. We can only imagine the resulting whispers in the communal kitchen, but most internet commentators condoned the move. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter A photo of the clever fortress was shared to Reddit last week under the headline: “Peak pettiness or justifiable security in the office kitchen?” It racked up 15,000 upvotes and 2,100 comments in five days, as users shared their tales of workplace food swipes. “It's kind of both at once,” one commentator wrote in response to the caption’s question. “If people didn't take what's not theirs there would be no need. I wouldn't go that far with milk but people lost food at the last place I was at. 12-hour shift with no food ain't a joke.” Another reminisced: “[I] worked at the Transport for London HQ for 5 years. I was f**king amazed at how many people's lunches went missing from the fridge.” A third recalled: “I once worked in a factory where the boss said if you want tea/coffee you gotta supply your own. Not a happy workforce. A week later I caught the t**t red-handed taking the foil off my milk.” A fourth said: “As someone who used to buy a 2 pints of milk every week, only for it to be completely empty by Wednesday morning, I totally understand the rationale.” And a fifth wrote: “I'm always happy to share my milk in the office, but the amount of times I have found that MY milk which I bought is completely empty with no replacement offered/available makes me feel this is completely justified. Nothing worse than making a cuppa only to find that someone finished the milk and left you high and dry (of milk).” Others suggested defending your milk from thieves is no different to locking up any other personal items. “It's not any more petty than using a locker to store your belongings, or locking up your bike. It's not petty to stop people from stealing your stuff,” said one. “Exactly. We really need some people to have a change of attitude about stuff like this,” agreed another. “ It's not ‘petty’ to lock your stuff away to prevent it being stolen. I think this c**py attitude comes from a lot of people who are annoyed they can't just steal stuff any more.” Meanwhile, others admitted to going to similar lengths themselves. “I bought an Udderlok for my milk at work and it worked fine for a few weeks,” one said. “But then I think some thief took it as a challenge and pretty much ripped the carton apart to steal the milk.” All this is enough to make anyone want to just work from home. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

An influencer on Snapchat has opened up about her experiences of making AI versions of herself, revealing that she’s now trying to stop subscribers from having “sexual conversations” with them. Caryn Marjorie created AI versions of herself and had the idea of charging people $1 per minute to chat. The “immersive AI experience” was designed to feel like “you’re talking directly to Caryn herself” and took around 2,000 hours to code and design it. The idea of the “AI Girlfriend” took a turn she did not expect though. Now, Marjorie has revealed that the AI has “gone rogue” and begun having sexual conversations. Speaking to Insider, the 23-year-old said: “The AI was not programmed to do this and has seemed to go rogue. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “My team and I are working around the clock to prevent this from happening again.” Marjorie wrote on Twitter: “CarynAI is the first step in the right direction to cure loneliness. Men are told to suppress their emotions, hide their masculinity, and to not talk about issues they are having. I vow to fix this with CarynAI. “I have worked with the world’s leading psychologists to seamlessly add CBT and DBT within chats. This will help undo trauma, rebuild physical and emotional confidence, and rebuild what has been taken away by the pandemic.” It’s not the first time that the worlds of Snapchat and artificial intelligence has combined in 2023. Snapchat recently featured a new AI feature called "My AI," and users are having a field day trying to trick the chatbot as part of a new TikTok trend going round. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

From optical illusions to world puzzles like Wordle, the internet is full of different method to put our brains to the test - and this "I'm sure you can't find the 4th object" picture is putting people to the test. The picture itself shows three people at the toilets, with one woman sat down while the two are stood over their own respective toilets. At the side of the image are the objects to find: an egg, a glove, an envelope and a crutch. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter @e.ugh Let me know when you see it ?#greenscreensticker For those who want to try and figure out where those things are - the answers are ahead... Given the beige colours of each object, they may be difficult to spot initially, but the brown glove is on the skirt of the person standing in the middle of the image. Next, the egg can be found on the nose of the person on the left-hand side and then the envelope has been can tilted at 90 degrees in order to blend in with the bathroom tiles on the wall. But what about the crutch? Well, no matter how much you scan and analyse the picture, you will not find a crutch hidden in there. In the creator's profile image, it suggests a way to figure out the last part by doing the following: "Tap the + to see it." Though this will only mean you follow this account, and still you won't be able to see a crutch as there isn't one in the picture. This is a popular method to gain followers, so next time you're scratching you head over a TikTok puzzle this is something to always keep an eye out for. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A speaker at a Trump hotel went on a bizarre rant about highly technological mermaids and water people spreading “wickedness” and advocated for hand-to-hand combat with them. The unhinged speech was delivered by so-called "Prophet" Amanda Grace at an American far-right and Christian nationalist ReAwaken America event held at the Trump National Doral hotel in Miami. Grace and her husband Chris are the founders of Ark of Grace Ministries and both delivered speeches at the right-wing event that has previously platformed QAnon conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. In her strange but clearly passionate speech, Grace attempted to warn of the “wickedness” and “perversion” of “seductive, seducing spirits” and claimed imagery of mermaids was proof of that. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Grace said: “I have never seen more images of mermaids and water people in my life. That’s a division in the kingdom of darkness and they’re highly technologically advanced. “And we have to understand what we’re dealing with. And we have to understand the rules of engagement in spiritual warfare. And we are meant for hand-to-hand combat.” She continued, claiming: “Darkness has completely eclipsed the White House of this nation.” Her unhinged rant about mermaids sparked confusion, mockery and plenty of memes online. One tweet read: “Hand to hand combat with mermaids was not on my 2023 bingo card.” Another joked: “Ngl this is pretty much the exact insane s**t I’d say if you gave me a live mic at a Republican event.” Someone else suggested: “This is why you don't drop acid after your family drags you into seeing Avatar: The Way of Water during Christmas Vacation…” “Stop prophesying a good time,” another mocked. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Who doesn't love a good ol' optical illusion? Well apparently, if you can spot the second tiger in this trippy image, you're in the top one per cent of intelligent people – and it's much more difficult than you think. Asides from the obvious striped cat in the middle of the jungle, there's another "hidden tiger" that's left people scratching their heads. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Take a look: @thecardguy Can you find it? ? Found it yet? If you've spotted the hidden tiger in this image, then (apparently) you're smarter than most people. Discussing the importance of optical illusions to better understand our brains, scientists Kim Ransley and Alex O. Holcombe, of the University of Sydney told The Conversation: “Visual illusions show us that we do not have direct access to reality,” “They can also provide an inkling of the mental processing that delivers our experience of the viewable world. “Indeed, it is the processing happening inside our brains that is the basis for many illusions. “Rather than delivering information from our eyes in nearly raw form as a camera would, the brain tries to determine what is actually out there. “When the information entering the eye is ambiguous, the brain must make educated guesses.” Still need help? Take a closer look at the tiger itself. More specifically, its torso. The reason the optical illusion is so difficult to crack is because there is no image of a second tiger. In fact, it's the three words: "THE HIDDEN TIGER" stretched across its stomach and back leg. For the most part, optical illusions are a bit of fun, but they also hold real value for scientists. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Who doesn't love a good ol' optical illusion? Well apparently, if you can spot the second tiger in this trippy image, you're in the top one per cent of intelligent people – and it's much more difficult than you think. Asides from the obvious striped cat in the middle of the jungle, there's another "hidden tiger" that's left people scratching their heads. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Take a look: Found it yet? If you've spotted the hidden tiger in this image, then (apparently) you're smarter than most people. Discussing the importance of optical illusions to better understand our brains, scientists Kim Ransley and Alex O. Holcombe, of the University of Sydney told The Conversation: “Visual illusions show us that we do not have direct access to reality,” “They can also provide an inkling of the mental processing that delivers our experience of the viewable world. “Indeed, it is the processing happening inside our brains that is the basis for many illusions. “Rather than delivering information from our eyes in nearly raw form as a camera would, the brain tries to determine what is actually out there. “When the information entering the eye is ambiguous, the brain must make educated guesses.” Still need help? Take a closer look at the tiger itself. More specifically, its torso. The reason the optical illusion is so difficult to crack is because there is no image of a second tiger. In fact, it's the three words: "THE HIDDEN TIGER" stretched across its stomach and back leg. For the most part, optical illusions are a bit of fun, but they also hold real value for scientists. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

An irate woman was forced to ask her neighbours to move their bed due to their noisy romps. She confessed she had no choice but to leave an awkward note after realising their shared wall was too thin. The woman, called Ali, explained how she’d had so many sleepless nights due to her noisy neighbours. She suggested the noise was interrupting her sleep schedule and making her lose her mind. She tweeted: “I think I’m finally going to leave my neighbours a note about them f*cking all day every day. “I can’t do it anymore I’m losing my mind I literally can’t enter my bedroom without hearing them f*cking. “They are keeping me up at night and waking me up in the morning, it’s insane.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Ali, of Yukon, Canada, then plucked up the courage to leave her noisy neighbours a note. It read “Congrats to you guys for your apparently very healthy sex life, seriously, good for you.” “However, I would prefer not to be a part of it and I’m sure you’d prefer that as well.” She applauded the couple on their “stamina”, but she went on to inform them that their robust sex life had started interfering with her sleep. Alongside the note, Ali left the couple two Corona beers. She added: “Please accept these beers as a peace offering or bargaining chip. “I was hoping they might be enough to persuade you to maybe move your bed to the other side of the room.” At first she thought the neighbours had taken her advice and moved their bed. However, just five hours later, she went back on herself, believing that the couple may have set an alarm for 6am to romp. She said “The girl dramatically fake moaned twice SO loud at exactly 6am on the dot and now the bed is currently slamming against the wall. “Happy Saturday folks, don’t assume the best in people”. Many users were quick to comment on the steamy situation. Bobby Lavender said “If I received this note I’d stick it to my fridge.. and obviously take your request seriously and oblige, of course. But definitely keeping the trophy.” Another called Erin said “Sounds like you needed those beers a lot more than they did.” Randy Treibel remarked “Focus on your own mental health instead of being a Karen.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

JAFFA, Israel An endangered Mediterranean monk seal swam onto a beach in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, to

A number of different puzzles have been circulating on social media - for example the egg, glove, envelope and crutch picture. Now the latest one to capture people's attention is all to do with an odd image of what appears to be Disney princess Pocahontas sitting on the toilet in a bathroom. “I’m sure you can’t find the 4th object,” the puzzle instruct and has a list of four different items to look out for in the image: A whistle, egg, brush and flower. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Sounds pretty straight forward right? @larry2k23 #CapCut #cocofun Well it is (at least for the first three objects) as the whistle is the toilet handle, the egg is on Pocahontas's necklace and brush is part of the princess's underwear. After this, you may have spent some time feeling impatient since finding the flower appears to be a trickier task. Though it turns out there isn’t actually a flower in the image at all. Following a similar pattern to other fourth object challenges, this is a silly social media prank to entice people in a bid to improve or boost their engagement on their social media profiles. Often this involves someone going live on TikTok and displaying the puzzle and then proceeding to change their profile picture to read “Tap the + to see it”. This is to try and encourage you to click to find the answer, but instead of providing answers, you are actually taken to their profile. Elsewhere, people cannot find the french fries in this image. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Twitter users have been known to debate all manner of topics, but the most recent viral question saw users split over who they thought was hotter – young Robert De Niro or young Al Pacino. It was a question posed by Twitter user Ashely Reese who took to the social media platform to settle a debate at a wedding she was attending. Reese probably wasn’t anticipating that the tweet would go viral, drawing 277,372 votes and over 28 million views. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter She created a poll, explaining, “At a wedding and having a big debate rn. Please vote. Who was hotter?” with the two options being the American actors “Young Al Pacino” and “Young Robert De Niro”. In the comments, people made their arguments and posted pictures to support them. Despite Reese herself arguing for young Al Pacino to take the crown, not everyone was as convinced. Someone argued: “LOVE LOVE PACINO DOWN! But Mr. Bobby D eats him up EVERY TIME. He’s actively doing it right here.” Another urged: “The only right answer.” “This is the best a man has looked,” one Twitter user wrote of young De Niro. Others, however, vehemently agreed with the OP. One person wrote: “This is the correct answer, are half of you having some kind of episode, what on Earth.” “I’m sorry but all you saying De Niro are out of your actual minds, look at this gorgeous man,” someone else argued. Another wrote: “70s Al Pacino was one of the most beautiful people to ever exist on this earth.” In the end, the two acting legends could not be separated as the poll ended with a 50/50 percentage split of the votes. So, we'll probably never know the true answer to this question. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.