On Thursday, the Brazil Open in São Paulo used four former stray dogs taken in by a shelter as "ball dogs" to retrieve tennis balls from the court during a match between Spain’s Roberto Carbelles Baena and Portugal’s Gastao Elias.

The four lucky dogs were Frida, Mel, Isabelle and Costela (the Portugese word for "rib," so named because of how skinny he was when he was found in an abandoned lot).

Andrea Beckert, a trainer from the Association of Animal Wellbeing, which currently shelters about 1,200 dogs, hopes the stunt helped raise awareness of the plight of shelter dogs. In an interview with CNN she said, "We want to show that abandoned dogs can be adopted and trained. After all, it's not easy to get a dog to only pick up the lost balls, and then to give them up!"

Looks like the retrieving part went great, while the returning them to the players or trainers part, maybe not as much. Still—sports has never been so cute.

A couple returning home to Austin, Texas stopped at an IHOP to grab a late-night to-go meal (which, somehow, didn't include pancakes) and were incredibly displeased when they discovered their receipt labeled them by race, Fox 7 reported. The couple, Arainia Brown and Rolman Sparkman, spoke with the local news outlet to express their displeasure that their receipt had "BLACK PPL" printed at the top. 

An additional layer to the incident was that their server, Dwayne Williams, was a black man. 

"I feel upset, I'm sad, I'm angry. Like this, it makes no sense," Brown told KVUE. Brown herself has worked as a waitress and pointed out that there are plenty of other ways to identify customers, such as their shirt color. "You could have asked me my name," Brown said. "[D]on't label me. I don't label you."

Williams has since apologized on Facebook.

He writes:

So this is Dwayne W from the viral IHOP incident. All I want to say is, next Tuesday for National Pancake Day, and any other time as well, go to IHOP and get a delicious meal.

A slip up by me in a rush to get to-go orders to guests should not be held against an en entire establishment. I apologize if I offended anyone because that wasn't my intention.

As a proud black prince myself, my sisters and brothers, I have no doubt that we will continue discussions about this and learn how to deal with out feelings of hurt in a more positive way that doesn't take away from some else.

Once again, go get some pancakes people. Thats why you go to IHOP!

IHOP has spoken out by firing Williams and releasing a statement.

This was a poor choice made by our franchisee's team member, and is not in keeping with policies and procedures. We recognize that it could be offensive and sincerely apologize. Everyone is welcome in our restaurants​and our franchisee is using this as a teachable moment for the entire team so that it will not reoccur.

In addition to quickly realizing his error in labeling customers by their race, Williams did get another thing right: Tuesday March 8 is National Pancakes Day, which is when IHOP gives away free stacks.

Brown and Sparkman will likely not be attending.

According to People, the judge presiding over Guy Ritchie and Madonna's custody battle for their 15-year-old son Rocco reportedly told them yesterday that their constant squabbling is hurting their son, the person whom they are supposed to be trying hardest to protect. Great job, parents!

"I'm encouraging the parents to continue to resolve this matter in the best way possible for the child to take this tremendous pressure off their son," said the judge.

In December, Rocco moved in with his father Ritchie in the U.K., and he stayed there even after a judge ordered Ritchie to return him to Madonna in New York on December 23. Madonna's lawyer Eleanor Alter argued that "[Ritchie] taught his son that obeying court orders . . . is not necessarily important. That is one of the most serious things that has happened in this court."

During yesterday's hearing, which Madonna and her ex-husband Ritchie did not physically attend, but rather listened in to via conference call, New York Supreme Court judge Deborah Kaplan and attorneys for both parents agreed that Rocco will remain in London with his father for now. He'll continue attending a school mutually agreed upon by both Madonna and Ritchie.

TMZ states that Rocco's court-appointed attorney said the uncertainty of the situation is having a negative effect on Rocco. According to People, the attorney claimed, "In almost every conversation, he has stressed to me how stressful [the very public custody battle is]."

Judge Kaplan also allegedly blamed the "inability of the parents to come up with a solution" as Rocco's real difficulty. Jesus, get it together already, guys!​

The new film about slime-spewing ghosts that many people are weirdly upset about finally has a trailer. Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth, the Ghostbusters reboot shows off a (slightly) more serious tone than the original films in this first look.

Ghostbusters will officially drop in theaters on July 15th.

Jared Fogle—that dude who showed off his pants to America and was convicted for 15 years in prison for child pornography and "crossing state lines to pay for sex with minors"—is gaining weight at a rapid pace, InTouch Weekly reported. The InTouch tipster has shared Jared's prison diet, which is much more indulgent than one would think.

Jared’s breakfast is usually Frosted Flakes with fruit or oatmeal with cake. He loves ‘cake day’ in the dining hall twice a week and he buys Honey Buns by the box, as well as other pastries, in the commissary on his weekly shopping day. He’s been known to eat an entire box of eight at one sitting!

Likely contributing to his sweets cravings is the open hatred his fellow inmates have for him. InTouch's insider described one incident where an inmate "called Jared a ‘dirty child rapist’ and told him to ‘get the f--k out’ and not come back." Then the guy slapped Fogle "several times." Other inmates showed their support by chanting "Chomo," an abbreviation for child molester that's become Fogle's nickname.

It's estimated that Fogle, who for 15 years made money as a Subway weight-loss spokesman, has gained about 30 pounds in three months of eating his feelings. If he keeps it up, Fogle will gain about 1,800 pounds by the time he's done with his sentence.

Ben Affleck will be donning the Batsuit very soon, and as all actors who portray Batman will tell you, it's hard to please the fans. While promoting Knight of Cups, Christian Bale admitted to Yahoo! Movies that he felt he 'didn't quite nail' playing Batman in Christopher Nolan's trilogy. Bale explains.

Batman, he’s just this very, very, very, dark messed-up character. When I put on the suit…I went, “I just feel like a bloody idiot if I don’t use this as a means of, kind of, it’s his true monstrous self that he allows to come out in that moment.

Heath turned up, and just kind of completely ruined all my plans. Because I went, "He’s so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing."

Here's the full interview:

Bale's being too hard on himself. Anyone would've looked gentle next to Heath Ledger's Joker. Plus, his interpretation of Batman's voice was plenty horrifying.

What do you think?

On Thursday morning, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney took the stage at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to deliver a dire warning to the Republican Party about the dangers of nominating Donald Trump for president. Good old Handsome Mitt didn't hold back, insulting Trump's record, his failed businesses, and every aspect of his personality. To paraphrase, Romney suggested that nominating Trump would be a disaster of Romneyesque proportions.

As usual, comedians and commentators on Twitter were watching the speech, hunched over their keyboards with anticipation to make fun of both of these extremely mockable politicians. Here are the best reactions they came up with:

Of course, Trump had his own reaction before the speech even started:

He has truly turned trolling into an art form.

Welp, looks like it's time to pack it in and move to space, because strains of drug-resistant super lice have now been reported in 25 states in the U.S, according to a study by the American Chemical Society.

Head lice, parasitic insects that feed on blood and can live anywhere on your head where there's hair, including scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes, have been dreaded by parents and kids since before time. But now, thanks to a genetic mutation, we have "super lice."

Super lice may sound like lice wearing capes and fighting crime, but they are actually strains of the insect that have evolved to become resistant to pyrethroids, the over-the-counter insecticides commonly used to kill them. Hooray! Thanks, science!

First, should you worry? OH HELL YES, why not, you know you're going to anyway. Second, exactly how much should you worry? Well, even if you do live in one of the states where they've been reported, maybe don't completely panic just yet.

Kyong Yoon, assistant professor at Southern Illinois University—Edwardsvillle, explained that these new super lice aren't entirely immune to pyrethroids, they just require a higher dose. Also bear in mind, head lice move by crawling—they can't hop or fly. They can be spread by sharing clothing or hair accessories, like barrettes and combs, worn or used by a person with lice, but this isn't as common as direct contact. And unlike fleas, your pets cannot spread head lice.

Pediatric dermatologist Dr. Robin Gehris told Today that she believes the OTC pyrethroid treatments can still work much of the time, just maybe not quite as well.

One reason they might be less effective is that parents aren't always using the treatments exactly as directed. Treatments need to be reapplied a second time five to seven days after the first application—any eggs that may not have been killed in the initial application will hatch about a week later, starting the infestation all over again. Another problem is parents not leaving the treatments on for a long enough period of time. Gehris recommends leaving the treatment on overnight with a shower cap, no matter how much it stinks or your kid complains.

If over-the-counter treatments do fail, parents can take their kids to a pediatrician to get a prescription for a drug treatment that lice haven't yet developed a resistance to, along with maybe a sedative, just to take the edge off the whole situation. Okay, the doctor will not give you a sedative—but it can't hurt to ask, right?

And if all else fails, you can always just shave your kid's head. Even the most resistant lice can't survive having their entire habitat destroyed. Problem solved!

Taylor Crozier, of Corpus Christi, TX, is apparently not an 11-year-old who buckles under pressure. Crozier got to take the first ever shot played at The Playgrounds at Bluejack National, Tiger Woods' brand new golf course, which ended up being a casual hole-in-one.

The crowd went absolutely wild for Crozier, who was "one of two junior golfers representing the South Texas PGA who earned the right to play alongside Woods."

Hey, that's pretty impressive, kid! But nothing Tiger Woods hasn't done before.

Or even this robot.

If Crozier should be proud of anything, it's that he made Tiger Woods nervous to follow up an 11-year-old boy at the opening of his own golf course.

Has an 11 year-old boy ever upstaged you?

For those who feel proud of executing a half-decent French braid, this Melbourne mom will put you to shame. In a Bored Panda post, Shelley Gifford shared how she takes the time to braid her daughter Grace's hair every day.

Gifford, who posts her work on her Pretty Little Braids Instagram, weaves young Grace's hair in ways that look like she just jumped out of an aristocratic Renaissance portrait.

Common motifs in Gifford's work are hearts and impossible patterns.

"I only have approx 15-20 minutes on a school morning so if it can’t be done in this time I leave it for weekend," Gifford wrote on Bored Panda. That means she can do these braids in about the same time it takes most people to get out of bed:

Grace, who her mom said "is more than happy to sit there​" while having her hair pulled at, has become known around her area for her insane braids. "We’ve had people approach us in streets saying I know that girl, based solely on her having an unusual braid​," Gifford wrote.

If Grace isn't already into it, she should seriously consider taking up figure skating. Her mom's hair skills are perfect for the sport.

Fuller House finally arrived on Netflix to make your heart full again, but it was more like Full House: The Next Generation. With Danny, Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey only stopping by sporadically, you wonder what the grown men have been up to all this time.

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, Bob Saget,John Stamos and Dave Coulier revealed that there is, in fact, an answer to that question and it's best to explore it in a grittier, True Detective-style reboot. Stamos explains,  "After the Tanner kids go to sleep, the full house Daddies... go to the mean streets of San Francisco and solve crimes." Plus, the cover of "Everywhere You Look" is even better than Carly Rae Jepsen's. 

As Saget says, all the "drugs, sex, murder, murder, murder, sex" you can dream of.  

An intimate photo of a gay Canadian couple cuddling their newborn son moments after he was born has been stolen by a conservative Italian political party to use in an anti-gay adoption campaign poster. Fratelli d’Italia, which translates to "Brothers of Italy," used the photo without the photographer's permission.

The poster reads: “He’ll never have the right to be called mum. Children have the right to be defended.” 

Lindsay Foster snapped the photo of proud parents BJ Barone and Frank Nelson back in 2014. She shared the pic on social media to show support for LGBT parents.

Foster's original caption read: 

They are two compassionate people who felt all the emotions that every new parent feels. They asked all appropriate questions of the birthing mom and the midwife and educated themselves as best as they could for their son’s arrival. I am so proud of these two dads.

Now, Foster feels her "work is being misrepresented for something I don’t believe in." According to BuzzFeed, Barone found out about the photo being stolen when a cousin in Italy alerted him.

The Brothers of Italy aren't the only overly self-righteous people not following best practices for photo attribution. This February, right-wing Irish parliamentary candidate Mary Fitzgibbon posted the photo in an anti-gay tweet and on her Facebook page, where she used the hashtag #no2surrogacy, News.com.au reported. 

This week, the couple fought back, asking people to tweet at Fitzgibbon with the hashtag #WeAreFamily. Fitzgibbon was overwhelmed with tweets and ended up making her account private. Barone told the CBC, "We were interviewed in an Irish newspaper, and I said thank you to this woman because she’s giving us an opportunity to teach our son that there is intolerance, and that you can do something about it."

LGBT couples and allies took to Twitter to let Barone and his partner know they are not alone:

Hashtags always triumph over hate. 

A hallmark of good acting is the ability to transform into another person, even if that person (real or fake) is younger than the actor is in real life. Like, way, way younger. Take, for example, all of these actors, who played characters at least 10 years younger than their actual ages. They may not all have pulled it off convincingly (spoiler: some of them definitely didn't), but hey, at least they gave it the ol' college try. Or the ol' high school try, as in most of these instances.

1. Minka Kelly (26) as Lyla Garrity (15) in Friday Night Lights

Minka Kelly was 26 when she played 15-year-old Lyla Garrity on Friday Night Lights, and thus probably the oldest high school cheerleader on record.

2. Taylor Kitsch (28) as Tim Riggins (18) on Friday Night Lights

Good thing her love interest on the show, Tim Riggins, was 28. Well, the character Tim Riggins was supposed to be about 17 or 18, but Taylor Kitsch was actually ten years older than that.

3. Stockard Channing (33) as Betty Rizzo (17) in Grease

Then there's Grease, where the character Rizzo, who was supposed to be 17, was played by 33-year-old Stockard Channing, who was already on her third husband.

4. Olivia Newton-John (28) as Sandy Dumbrowski (17) in Grease

Grease, again: Olivia Newton-John looks pretty torn up over a dumb high school boy for a 28-year-old. But the character she was playing, Sandy, was only supposed to be 17.

5. Audrey Hepburn (31) as Holly Golightly (17) in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Audrey Hepburn was actually 31 when she played everyone's favorite dorm room poster, 17- or 18-year-old Holly Golightly.

7. Stacey Dash (29) as Dionne "Dee" Davenport (17) in Clueless

Stacey Dash was 29 when she played 17-year-old Dee in Clueless. That makes it a little weird that she was just learning to drive.

8. Alan Ruck (30) as Cameron Frye (18) in Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Cameron Frye was pretty neurotic for an 18-year-old high school kid, but that's probably because actor Alan Ruck was already 30 by the time he played him.

13. Leonardo DiCaprio (28) as Frank Abagnale Jr. (16) in Catch Me If You Can

Baby-faced Leonardo DiCaprio was 28 when he played con artist Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can, who is supposed to be 16 at the start of the movie. Not a bad con, in and of itself.

9. Carey Mulligan (28) as Daisy Buchanan (18) in The Great Gatsby

Carey Mulligan was 28 when she played 18-year-old Daisy Fay Buchanan in Baz Luhrman's version of The Great Gatsby in 2013 (which also featured a 38-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio playing 27-year-old Jay Gatsby—still got it, Leo!).

10. Shirley Henderson (37) as Moaning Myrtle (15) in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Shirley Henderson was 37 when she portrayed 15-year-old bathroom ghost, Myrtle Warren, making her officially the oldest teenager at Hogwarts. Being blurry and see-through probably helps keep one young.

11. Kevin Spacey (45) as Bobby Darin (22) in Beyond the Sea

Kevin Spacey really, really wanted to play Bobby Darin, so he wasn't about to let his age (45) keep him from the role, even though there are parts of the movie where he's portraying the singer at 22.

12. Jennifer Grey (27) as Frances "Baby" Houseman (17) in Dirty Dancing

No wonder 17-year-old Baby was so ready to try something new that summer at Kellerman's—Jennifer Grey was already 27.

15. Charisma Carpenter (27) as Cordelia Chase (16) in Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Charisma Carpenter was 27 when she played a 16-year-old on Buffy, and you know what? You could tell.

16. Gabrielle Carteris (29) as Andrea Zuckerman (16) on Beverly Hills, 90210

Gabrielle Carteris was 29 in 1990 when she was cast as 16-year-old Andrea on 90210. She stuck out so bad the wardrobe department should have just given her a walker.

17. Michael J. Fox (29) as Marty McFly (17) in Back To The Future Part III

Michael J. Fox was only 21 in Back To The Future, but by the time they got to the third installment of the film he was 29, still playing the same 17-year-old character Marty McFly, and looking a little worse for wear.

18. Jason Earles (29) as Jackson Stewart (16) on Hannah Montana

Miley's older brother Jackson was supposed to be 16 on the show, making him thirteen years younger than Jason Earles' real age.

20. Parminder Nagra (27) as Jesminder "Jess" Kaur Bhamra (17) in Bend It Like Beckham

Parminder Nagra was 27 when she played 17-year-old soccer lover Jess in Bend It Like Beckham. Good thing her knees held out.

21. Sissy Spacek (27) as Carrie White (17) in Carrie

Sissy Spacek definitely looked young for her age, maybe even "pass for 17 at the age of 27" young.

22. Bianca Lawson (34) as Maya St. Germain (17) on Pretty Little Liars

Bianca Lawson apparently loved high school so much that after portraying a teenager on Saved by the Bell: The New Class for two seasons starting in 1993, she stuck around to play another teenager at the age of 34.

24. Emily Kinney (27) as Beth Greene (16) on The Walking Dead

Emily Kinney was, in reality, 27 when she played the 16-year-old on the AMC show The Walking Dead. To a teenager, 27 probably IS the walking dead.

25. Emilia Clark (28) as Daenerys Targaryen (16) on Game of Thrones

Eating horse hearts just might be the key to eternal youth. Take it from Emila Clarke, who was 28 when she started playing 16-year-old Mother of Dragons Daenerys.

26. Jerry Levine (28) as Stiles Stilinksi (17) in Teen Wolf.

Jerry Levine played Stiles Stilinski, Scott Howard's (Michael J. Fox) best friend in the 1985 film Teen Wolf. They both played high school students, but Fox was 24 at the time, and Levine was 28. Reminder: surfing a movie vehicle is unsafe at any age.

27. Leslie Howard (43) as Romeo Montague (16) in Romeo and Juliette

Not only did Leslie Howard have a woman's name, he also played a lovestruck 16-year-old at the age of 43. With an age gap of 27 years, he was officially the oldest teenager in the world.

When there's no good Kanye West tweets to make fun of, Sam Smith has acted as a comfortable target to fill the ridicule void. That's why it's so disturbing to hear he's hitting the "log out" button for good. Or at least for now.

But before saying goodbye to the rewriter of Tom Petty's 1989 song, "I Won't Back Down," it's important you understand the beautiful moments that culminated in his sign-off.   

Here's to the time he told Twitter about discovering racism, and Twitter destroyed him. 

Here's to the time he claimed to be the first openly gay winner in his Oscars speech, and Twitter destroyed him.

And here's to the time he responded to a prominent hater about the above incident and about supposedly "texting" that man's fiancée. Twitter...well, Twitter didn't really care that time.

Good bye Sam Smith, it's been delightful to mock you these past few weeks. 

If you're on a hunt for a giant sea monster, a good place to look would be in the notoriously disgusting Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York. Two years ago, photographer Steven Hirsch happened on the canal. He didn't find a horrible sea beast, but he did find oil sludge rising from the waste-ridden waters. It was disgusting, but Hirsch couldn't let go of his impulse to snap some pics. To his surprise, the polluted waters made for some trippy, beautiful photographs which are in his new book, Gowanus Waters.

"Beauty can be found anywhere, even in the last place you’d think you could find it," Hirsch told Someecards. Take a look at his photos named after Greek mythological figures, below.

When asked if he faced any difficulties while shooting the series, Hirsch said: "Other then risking arrest from sneaking into private property around the canal, twisting my ankle, almost falling in the canal and getting rashes and ill from the fumes, it was a piece of cake." This is a fine recipe for anyone looking to capture some stunning photographs of murky waters—minus the falling part. Yuck.

This isn't Hirsch's first project; the photographer's career has spanned over 50 years. He is now working on a project called "Splat" which features images "of minutiae that live on the surface of anything." You know, like, flesh-eating super lice that can live anywhere on your precious head.

If you want to view more of Hirsch's photography, check out his site here.