Strollerderby : new york times

Morning News - Astronauts Watch Star Trek In Space

Brett Singer — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:01:00 GMT

You are either tired of hearing me talking about "Star Trek", or you can't get enough of it. It's like Kirk vs. Spock in "The Apple", a classic episode of the original series. Actually, it's not really like that very much at all, but saying that it was allowed me to get in another "Trek" mention. Sorry.

Anyway, even if you don't care about "Star Trek", you may still think that this is cool -- Real Live Astronauts are Watching ‘Star Trek’ in Outer Space - Right Now. Actually, it happened on Friday, but perhaps due to a singularity created by red matter, it's possible that the astroanuts are, in fact, watching the movie as you read this. Unlikely. But possible.

Moving on to a topic I don't really understand, how about some international economic news? The Motley Fool tells us Why China's Stimulus Plan Will Change the World. Um, OK. Remember when you thought putting 20 bucks a week into your savings account was a solid method of planning for the future?

Barack Obama spoke at Notre Dame, which was a big deal because he is pro-choice. MSNBC says that he called "for 'fair-minded' abortion debate." So they booed him. Not everybody, of course.

David Geffen may want to buy the New York Times. I hope someone does. The idea of the Times going under is something I have trouble with. It's not just the paper, it's the reporters behind it. Sure, they may have made mistakes. But it's a great institution that should live on. So if selling it to a massively successful music and movie mogul is the way to do that, I say "whoo-hoo."

Swine flu, or H1N1, is still here. CNN reports that a "New York middle school assistant principal who was hospitalized with the H1N1 virus died Sunday. BUT he might not have died of swine flu. They won't tell us. Fun. Keep sanitizing the children, and yourself.

David Wells, who has both pitched a perfect game and attacked someone at a diner while drunk (allegedly), says that any home runs that Alex Rodriguez -- aka "The Rod" -- hit while he was taking steroids shouldn't count. Wells was a great pitcher when he was sober (allegedly) but he's got a big mouth. I never liked The Rod, but Wells just rubs me the wrong way.

OK, getting back to movie news, "Angels & Demons" took the number one spot at the box office this week with $48 million, despite generally bad reviews and a complete lack of facial expressions from Tom Hanks. "Star Trek" was close behind ( like a Klingon Bird of Prey) with $43 million, and "Wolverine" dropped to third with only $14.8 million. I saw "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" this weekend, mostly beacuse it was playing nearby at a convenient time. It wasn't as good as it should have been. It's sort of a real-life "This Is Spinal Tap", except that when you watch actual 50-year-olds who never made it in the music business still trying to make it, it can get a little depressing. Also, the film itself was too long (even though it was only 90 minutes) and didn't dig deep enough to hold my interest. Oh well. At least I got to see a movie in a theater with my wife, which happens far too infrequently. And the sushi we had before the film was really good. So there's that.

More tomorrow...

Image: Wikipedia

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Blended Family Works With Therapy

Brett Singer — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:30:00 GMT

Here's the story / of a lovely lady / who was living with three very lovely girls…

And so on. You know it, don't you? If not, here's a refresher:

And here's Jamie Foxx singing it, just because it's funny.

For the Bradys, it looked so easy. Real life is rarely that simple. So Claudia Gryvatz Copquin and her boyfriend Glen Ames decided to move in together, they sought help from a therapist.

In general, I'm a believer in therapy. I find that it helps me, and I've known many people who benefited from talking things over with a professional. But when someone says, "I wish the therapist could move in with us," my eyebrows go up like Mr. Spock when Doctor McCoy says something particularly illogical. (Except that I can't raise just the one brow the way Spock does. Must be a Vulcan thing.)

But things like who sleeps in which bed? That's too much. Seriously, what happened to, "This is what we're doing, deal with it"? If that seems harsh, or unrealistic, OK, maybe. Still, where do you draw the line? Do you call the therapist every time?

Apparently this couple does. In fact /They didn’t commit to living together until receiving a go-ahead from the therapist. “It gave us confidence,” Mr. Ames said./ And Ms. Copquin told the therapist "I wish you could move in with us."

I'm sure the therapist is thrilled. Mo' money! But I think that's too much dependance on outside help. If each person had their own shrink, I might feel differently. I'm not sure why but that seems more productive. If you trek the whole family over to the office whenever there's a fight over the remote control, what kind of life is that?

Source: NY Times

Image: Wikipedia

Husband Loses Job, Wife Loses Respect For Him

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New Baby Boom

Madeline Holler — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:04:00 GMT

Did you have a baby in 2007? Probably. Because that year saw more births than ever recorded in American history, the New York Times reports. And yes, that's more births than the post-war Baby Boom.

(Don't blame Octomom -- she only gave birth to one baby that year.)

Just how many babies are we talking about?

There were 4,317,000 births in 2007, just slightly more than in 1957 which was the height of the baby boom, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

So who is having all these babies?

Well, teens for one. After years of decline, 2007 saw a rise in births for teen moms. Also, unmarried women are having a larger share of the babies born. Today, the average woman has 2.1 children.

Know what else hit a record high that year, despite talk of efforts to cut back the number? Ceasarean births. They made up 32 percent of all births, 2 percent more than the previous year.

Photo: timesonline.co.uk

Fun Stuff To Do When The Kids Get Older

Brett Singer — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:30:00 GMT

Pictured here are a mother and her son. What's happening in this photo? Have they just received horrible news about a family member? Are they watching Joaquin Phoenix's Letterman interview, or Hugh Jackman's opening number at the Oscars? Or is it something far more sinister?

Give up? They're just trying to figure out college financial aid forms. Something to look forward to when the kids grow up.

I must admit that I did not at all appreciate what my mother had to deal with financially when I went to college. Unless you have a dump truck full of money lying around, it's not that easy to just write a check and forget about it. With college costs going up and up and up, and our savings going down down down, filling out those forms is something that we all might have to do when the time comes.

Source: NY Times

Heath Ledger's Daughter Gets His Oscar

Kid Forced To Stand In Public Square For Bad Grades

Brett Singer — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The amusingly named General parents (Don and Tanyeil) couldn't get their son Trenton to pay better attention to his schoolwork. So they tried something different.

"His parents were about to take the cell phone away — again — recently when they offered their son a choice. 'His cell-phone for two weeks or a corner for two hours,' Don said. 'He chose the corner.'
"'The corner' was not a quiet spot in his room, but rather a very public intersection in the middle of town. There Trenton held a hand-lettered sign that listed his grades — an E in English and math, a C in science and an A in phys ed. At the bottom of the list the sign said, 'My future = shaky!'"

Pretty rough punishment. It's not physical abuse, but isn't it mental abuse? Commenters on ParentDish seem to think that the punishment is OK, with one saying that "public humiliation is quite effective…the parents [did] the right thing." Child Protective Services has visited the family, so they must not agree.

I was a horror in high school, but since I transferred from private to public school, the work wasn't terribly difficult so I was able to get away with not working very hard. In college, however, I stumbled badly my first year. I clearly recall a phone conversation with my mother where she informed me that she "was not going to pay for C's", and that if I wanted to get grades like this I could live at home and go to a community college, one I could pay for with the job I would need to have. She wasn't joking. Guess what? I got my act together.

The problem with threats is that they don't work on all kids. "If you do this we'll take your cell phone away" sets up a benefit/reward structure that doesn't really speak to the value of school, or the fact that you are supposed to do your best regardless of reward. Of course, sometimes nothing works, and in that case, maybe a seemingly crazy punishment like the General's could have some results. Until CPS finds out of course.

Were the Generals wrong? Or should CPS leave them alone?

Source: NY Times

Image

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Special Court Says Vaccines Don't Cause Autism

Brett Singer — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:15:00 GMT

In a decision that will infuriate many parents (including readers of this web site), a special court has ruled that the MMR vaccine did not cause autism in three children.

Special Master George Hastings of the Department of Justice wrote that, "The evidence does not support the general proposition that thimerosal-containing vaccines can damage infants' immune systems." The ruling comes from The Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceeding. (Aside: "Special Master"? "Omnibus"? It sounds like a comic book.)

Addressing one of the children whose parents say became autistic after receiving the MMR vaccine, Hastings said, "I further conclude that while Michelle Cedillo has tragically suffered from autism and other severe conditions, the petitioners have also failed to demonstrate that her vaccinations played any role at all in causing those problems."

There have been over 5,000 cases filed by parents seeking compensation from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a $2.5 billion fund that was created through a "75-cent-per-dose tax on vaccines," according to Reuters.

Everyone's least favorite vaccine guy Dr. Paul Offit hailed the decision, saying, "it's a great day for America's children when the court rules in favor of science." I think there are a few parents out there who will disagree with him.

Does this put the issue to rest? I doubt it. I myself am highly skeptical of the notion that vaccines "cause" autism, mostly because so far the studies that I have read about can't find a link between the vaccines and autism. Of course, it doesn't help the anti-vaccine movement's case that the doctor who conducted a landmark study on the matter faked his data.

I know that many of you have strong feelings on this issue. Does this court ruling change your opinion at all?

Source: Reuters

Image: USA Today via Babble

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Pregnant Tenant Evicted For Criticizing Landlord Online?

Brett Singer — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:54:00 GMT

David Griffiths, whose wife Katy is pregnant, was told that the lease on his Queens apartment would not be renewed. As a result, the couple moved from a "luxury tower" to a "Brooklyn walkup," according to the New York Times.

No matter how luxurious the tower, I bet it has an elevator, which beats the heck out of a walkup. Especially when you are pregnant. Oh, and after you have the baby. Ever try getting a stroller, a kid AND groceries up five flights of stairs? It's really fun. And by "really fun" I mean "a recipe for back injury."

So why was the couple tossed out, with the landlord requesting that they… never… return? Because Mr. Griffiths said unkind things online about the landlord, Rockrose Development Corporation. (Allegedly. He was evicted for this reason allegedly.)

Griffiths claims that a Rockrose employee told him, "Dave, we understand that you’re not happy living here, so we made the decision for you." Rockrose denies this, although they do admit that they decline to renew about 10 tenants every year for being, well, annoying. Rockrose's senior vice president for marketing, Sofia Estevez, uses the words "hothead and a troublemaker." (Non-rent regulated apartment dwellers do not have to be offered lease renewals; it's only the person paying $300/month for an Upper West Side two bedroom that can't be thrown out – but I digress.) Estevez told that Times that there was no evidence that Griffiths had been a troublemaker, but – and here's the kicker – "that a Rockrose employee does monitor tenant complaints on the Web."

Monitoring customer complaints can be a good thing. For example, Comcast employee Frank Eliason is, as one blogger put it, "helping Comcast suck a little bit less" by responding to complaints via Twitter. But if Rockrose actually declined to renew a lease because of something someone wrote about them online, that's a really bad idea. An even worse idea is telling the tenant that.

There's another part of this, of course, which is that perhaps it's not such a good idea to be posting comments about your landlord online. It may be legal but why bother?

The issue with the wife being pregnant makes it more interesting, since that will probably help the couple get some sympathy votes that they might not otherwise receive. It's one thing for a landlord to tell some dopey 23-year-old to get lost. But a mom-to-be? Watch out. (Note: that is, obviously, not a legal opinion.)

Source: NY Times

Morning News - Obama, Limbaugh, Cheese

Sarah Palin Says Leave My Kids Alone

Ann Coulter Says Single Moms Are Bad For Society

New Pro Vaccine Book Author Getting Death Threats

Kid Named Hitler Taken From His Parents By Family Services

Bronx Students Question Obama Through Poetry

Brett Singer — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:16:00 GMT

It's one thing when Rush Limbaugh attacks the idea that Obama is going to bring "change" to our country. Of course Limbaugh doesn't want change – as far as he's concerned, everything is fine. But it's a little different when high school students from the Bronx wonder whether or not our new President is really going to be all that different from those who held the office before he did.

These kids are a little bit older than those we usually talk about on Babble, but this video kept my attention from beginning to end. The poetry the students recite is pretty raw; to put it mildly, this isn't exactly Robert Frost territory:

Calling Mr. Obama, Calling Mr. Obama
Please Mr. President
Come In
…
Do you understand where I'm coming from Mr. President?

When one student says this in an interview:

"Just because your skin is dark doesn't mean your morality, your ethics are different from any other person."

That got to me. It's not cynicism, it's reality. When life isn't good, and everyone is talking about "change" this and "change" that, it's not unreasonable to wonder whether or not the problems in your life are going to get some of that "change." Combine that feeling with the general angst of being a teenager, and you get some pretty strong words.

The video isn't embeddable, so click here to watch it. If nothing else, it's certainly a different perspective on Obama's election.

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New Pro Vaccine Book Author Getting Death Threats

Brett Singer — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

A lot of parents feel very strongly that vaccines cause autism. And they are very vocal about their feelings. So Dr. Paul A. Offit, author of "Autism’s False Prophets", probably expected a certain amount of resistance to a book that posits a different theory.

What he might not have anticipated are death threats.

According to the New York Times, Dr. Offit has in fact received death threats. Some members of the antivaccine movement dispute this, however. One of them is J. B. Handley, the founder of Generation Rescue (although a Google search calls it "Jenny McCarthy's Autism Organization"). Handley told the Times: "We have hundreds of fully recovered children. I’m very frustrated that Dr. Offit, who’s never treated an autistic child, is spending his time trying to refute the reality of biomedical recovery."

Offit is called "Dr. Proffit" because he created a vaccine himself and receives "millions in royalties" from it.

I have no idea if the vaccine that Dr. Offit helped create is one that is given to all children, or how much money he makes from it. If Generation Rescue's members believe that Offit's book is just self-promotion, they have a right to question his motives.

It's the fervor that I find disturbing. When you attack anyone who disagrees with you with name-calling and insults, it becomes difficult to convert anyone to your way of thinking. Numerous scientists and doctors feel that autism is a genetic condition, and there is evidence to back this up. It's not possible that there is a similar body of evidence to support the notion that vaccines are a cause of autism simply because the concept hasn't been around long enough to be studied as much as genetic causes. That isn't to say that it's impossible, or that the antivaccine crusaders are wrong. I'm only pointing out that the body of evidence isn't there.

Another reason could be the conspiracy theory version – that vaccine makers work to keep such studies from happening. Personally, I'm more inclined to believe that than I am to believe that vaccines cause autism. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but our dependence on foreign oil is partly fueled (no pun intended) by an automobile industry that doesn't want to make electric cars. (That's an oversimplification; my point is that sometimes even the weirdest-sounding conspiracy theories can be at least partly true.)

There was a time when doctors told us that smoking was healthy. Or that eating lots and lots of red meat was a great idea. So yes, sometimes doctors and the entire medical industry make mistakes. And Dr. Offit does sound a tad smarmy in the Times article: "I’ll speak at a conference, say, to nurses. But I wouldn’t go into a bookstore and sign books. It can get nasty. There are parents who really believe that vaccines hurt their children, and to them, I’m incredibly evil. They hate me." And, referring to the vaccine he helped create: "When Jonas Salk invented polio vaccine, he was a hero — and I’m a terrorist?" he jokes, referring to a placard denouncing him at a recent demonstration by antivaccine activists outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Well, polio was a bigger disease. Also, you're not funny. But maybe that's doctor humor.

I suppose its possible that Dr. Offit is lying about the death threats, but I doubt it. As Dr. Gregory A. Poland, chief of vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic, says in the Times piece, "a few years ago this ceased to be a civil scientific discourse and became about crucifying individuals." The key word there is "civil". Parents can get very emotional when their children are involved; I know I can get a little crazy when anyone is doing something that I feel is harmful to my kid. But I've learned that I get better results when I calm down and try to figure out the best way to solve whatever the problem is. It's not about expressing my anger or frustration. It's about getting something done. If someone really and truly feels that vaccines, which are given to millions of babies every single day, are a cause of autism, that is a very serious charge. It should be taken seriously by those making the claim. If you want to convince someone that what you believe is true, calling them names and making threats is not a good way to do it.

Source: NY Times

Image: Amazon

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Should Smoking Be Banned In Cars With Kids?

Brett Singer — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

So. We have third-hand smoke. It's bad. And so on. More fuel for anti-smoking activists. And when someone says, "We're protecting helpless children!" that makes it harder to argue that they are intruding into our personal lives. Right?

A town in Washington State (can't ban smoking in D.C. – Obama's a smoker!) is considering a bill that would ban smoking in cars with children.
From the AP: "A member of the Tobacco Advisory Board of Pierce County, Leonard Sanderson, told The Olympian the proposal would make it a secondary offense, meaning smoking drivers could be ticketed if they were pulled over for another offense, such as speeding."

I was surprised to learn that California, Arkansas, Louisiana and Maine have all made smoking in cars that have kids in them against the law.

Here's the problem. There's no doubt that smoking around children is bad for their health. I get it. But unless you make smoking illegal (not gonna happen), how is this not a privacy violation? You can't drink and drive, but that's all the time, not just around children. Talking on a cell phone while driving has been deemed dangerous, so most states have laws that say you have to wear a headset. Driving without a seatbelt is dangerous, so if you don't wear a seatbelt, you get a ticket. And so on. None of those laws, however, are specific to children.

Does the law apply to your own children? What about other people's kids? Can you smoke in the car when there are no kids there? Now that we know about third-hand smoke, won't the little tykes be at risk anyway if they ride in a car that was, at one time or another, smoked in? And at what age is it safe to be exposed to second-hand smoke?

And how about bacon, or other smoked meats? Those aren't good for children, right? I mean, come on.

(In case you were wondering, most of that was me going off the deep end for comic effect. Thank you. Tip your waitresses.)

I think it would be great if nobody smoked. It's unhealthy, creates enormous costs for health insurers as those smokers age, and there's the second-hand, third-hand, and fourth-hand (just wait, it'll happen) smoke to contend with. It's a bad habit. But it's still legal. Until it isn't, this seems like an unreasonable law, like the one about smokers not being allowed foster children (which, considering that some kids are writing letters to woo potential foster parents, seems like an unfair restriction).

What do you think? Is this too much of an invasion of privacy? Or does it not matter if it's to "protect our children"?

Source: AP via nwsource.com

Image: Church Times

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Third Hand Smoke Can Harm Your Kids

Brett Singer — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Do you smoke, or do you know someone who smokes? Do you think your kids will be OK as long as they don't smoke around them?

Well, you're wrong.

Everyone knows about second-hand smoke. It's easy to avoid – just don't spend time with smokers when they are, in fact, smoking. However, there's a new danger – third-hand smoke. This new term, coined by doctors from Boston's MassGeneral Hospital for Children, describes, "the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after smoke has cleared from a room."

And it gets even more fun: "The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that young children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if they’re crawling or playing on the floor." Cuz kids never play on the floor.

Dr. Philip Landrigan of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York added, "simply closing the kitchen door to take a smoke is not protecting the kids from the effects of that smoke." See, that much I think people knew. But that gross lingering scent that clings to your clothes and hair after you spend time at a bar that still allows people to puff away freely? Who knew that was dangerous too?

So what to do? Avoid smokers? Avoid rooms where smokers have been? Don't go anywhere that smokers congregate? Live in a literal bubble?

I've found that avoiding smoke is fairly easy, but I do know people who smoke. And they smell like it. The fact that's more than just gross might make me think twice before I let them in my house to sit on my furniture. That should be a fun conversation.

Source: NYTimes

Image: MSNBC

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Two Pictures Of Kids In Gaza

Brett Singer — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Warning: These shots will probably make you want to hug your kids immediately.

For me, the hardest part of any war/conflict/disaster is the human side. Now that I'm a parent, if that human face belongs to a child, it's that much harder to see.

This photo was on the front page of the New York Times today. Here's the caption: "A Palestinian boy with Russian citizenship was among the foreigners whom Israel allowed to leave Gaza on Friday." (source)

Here's another shot of kids leaving Gaza. (source)

MSNBC is reporting that Israeli ground troops are crossing the Gaza border (source, breaking news). Regardless of how you feel about the situation, seeing these photos of kids caught up in the whole thing should make you wish for a speedy resolution to it all. Or at least one that lets the kids get out while they still can. I never really understood the idea of "women and children first", something that I remember hearing a lot on old cartoons and disaster movies (and cartoons that were parodies of disaster movies). These pictures definitely drive that point home.

Photos: New York Times

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Grieving Chinese Parents Not Allowed To Sue

Brett Singer — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

A Chinese court has officially refused to hear the lawsuit filed by 57 parents whose children were killed in the earthquake earlier this year, according to the AP.

The New York Times had confirmed this morning that the lawsuit had in fact been filed. 127 students in the town of Deyang lost their lives on May 12; some, but not all, of their parents are involved in the suit. Many parents blamed shoddy construction at the school buildings they were in when the quake occurred; in total, 88,000 people were killed, 10,000 were schoolchildren. The Chinese government has said that they plan to investigate the disaster and promised to punish anyone found guilty of not making the school buildings as safe as they could be; so far nothing has been done, despite an admission by a Chinese official that, "a rush to build schools in recent years likely led to construction flaws causing so many of them to collapse," according to the AP report. The Chinese government has actively tried to stop anyone from talking about the earthquake, offering grieving parents "the equivalent of $8,800 in cash and several thousand more dollars in post-retirement pension payments if they agreed to drop the issue of the collapsed schools," according to the New York Times.

Now the parents and the lawyer who agreed to represent them may be in danger of being charged with treason. Despite this, more parents are expected to join the lawsuit. So this isn't over yet.

In other news, a Chinese court did allow someone to sue KFC – yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken – because she ate potato chips that had "black and silk-like things" in them. Priorities, people, priorities. Sheesh.

Sources: chinacsr.com

AP via Google News

New York Times (also image)

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Case Made In Defense of Teasing

Kelly Mills — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:32:00 GMT

Fears of bullying and violence and discrimination have led many schools to adopt very strong policies against teasing. And lord knows most of us could probably dredge up a painful school year or two when the taunts of classmates made our lives hell. In our important relationships, we are encouraged to avoid poking and instead honestly share our feelings. And don't even get me started on the workplace... I mean, you'd be hard-pressed to defend teasing, right?

Hmm, during a difficult discussion with my sister about some serious tension between us, I said, "I think at least we can both agree the real problem here is you are a bitch." She laughed.

This is part of the point of a great New York Times article in defense of teasing. The arguement is that while bullying and harassment are acts of aggression, other forms of teasing can actually serve to build bonds between people, alleviate tension, and allow us to deliver messages to each other in a less direct form. For example, couples who teased each other during discussions about loaded issues came away from the conversation feeling closer than couples who engaged in only direct discussion. And teasing can also help signal what behaviors are okay, and help establish social status. By prohibiting kids from teasing, we are discouraging an important kind of social interaction, one that can even help teach us not to take ourselves too seriously.

At least that's the case made here, and me and my bitch sister would probably agree. But what do you think?

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NY Times (and I) Post Crap Study on Bullying

Kelly Mills — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:31:00 GMT

I'm a big fan of digging deep when it comes to science reporting. It generally isn't that hard to find some serious flaws: Small samples, questionable methodology, and conclusions that stretch far are sometimes par for the course. But when I posted about a study showing bullies may actually enjoy inflicting pain on others, I didn't poke into it much at all.

At least I'm in venerable company, because the New York Times did the same thing.

At Slate they point out some very serious problems with the study, which used MRIs to study the response of "bullies" to images of pain inflicted on others. For example, the study didn't image brains during actual bullying, so the results have more to do with how subjects responded as observers than perpetrators. And teh sample was made up of people who could probably be more accurately characterized as sociopaths than just bullies. The results of the scans themselves are open to pretty wide interpretation.

Slate uses this story to show how the Times reporter just drew from the press release with very little independent reporting. I'm on this one because it was a good reminder to me to think critically when looking at studies getting a pass in the press. Especially when I'm adding to the chorus.

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World Famous Atheist To Write Children's Book

Brett Singer — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Richard Dawkins hates fairies. That's not a homosexual slur. He also hates "wizards and magic wands and things turning into other things." And he's not sure if children should be exposed to such ideas.

From the New York Times:

Having sufficiently inflamed the passions of his adult readers with “The God Delusion,” his treatise on rationalism and atheism, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins…is writing a book for children. Dr. Dawkins said [the] book that would explore children’s relationships with fairy tales and encourage them to think about the world scientifically rather than mythologically. “I would like to know whether there’s any evidence that bringing children up to believe in spells and wizards and magic wands and things turning into other things — it is unscientific, I think it’s antiscientific…Whether that has a pernicious effect, I don’t know.”

It's important to note that the book does not have a publisher or release date, according to the New York Times. But Dawkins' "The God Delusion" has sold quite well, so if he does pen something along the lines of, "Stop Believing in Wizards You Dopey Kid" or "The Harry Potter Delusion", he'll probably find someone willing to print it.

The blog GBG Atheist News (GBG stands for "god be gone") has a post from 2007 that quotes Dawkins as saying, "i might try to do a children's book about how to think for yourself and how to ask questions about interesting topics and how you might go about answering them, Which might be subversive to religion but i don't think would be explicit about that" (apologies for punctuation; apparently this particular group of atheists don't capitalize the letter "I" and do whatever they feel like doing with commas). Dawkins recently said that Harry Potter and other stories "could have a 'pernicious' effect on children." (dailymail)

Interestingly, there are some people who dislike the Potter books because they feel they are anti-religious -- those who think it promotes witchcraft and/or Satanism and/or other evil things. (Like these fun folks who burned a pile of Potter books.)

Obviously if a child is 14 and still believes firmly that fairies exist, that might be a bit odd. But I think it's a parent's job to dispel any "delusions" before they become problematic. Heck, I believed in Santa Claus for the first few years of my life, and I'm Jewish. I turned out OK.

Source: nytimes
Image: dailymail

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Is Barack Obama Anti-Video Games?

Brett Singer — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Not everyone is overjoyed that Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States last week. (Was it only last week?)

Of course there are people who voted for John McCain. They're not too thrilled. But some hardcore video game players are concerned that our new President-elect may not be so friendly to their favorite pastime.

From the New York Times:

"Blog posts scoring Mr. Obama’s positions on video games have received hundreds of comments, with some readers worrying that his admonitions during the campaign to 'put the video games away' signaled new regulations or restrictions on the industry."

Here's what our new prez said:

"We’re going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children."

Whoa. If that isn't a call to arms, I don't know what is.

In reality, I would imagine that Barack Obama is more likely than any other President to be friendly to the gaming industry as a whole. First of all, his campaign made extensive use of the Internet and other technological tools, including advertising in video games. Plus there is ample evidence that he is at least a little bit geeky. For example, he collects comic books, and made a pretty nerdy Superman reference at the Alfred E. Smith charity dinner (video is below):

In reality, I don't think any politician really wants to "ban" video games. Titles like Grand Theft Auto and other violent or sexually explicit games make "a convenient scapegoat", as the Times quotes a commenter from 1up.com. Just because a guy doesn't spend 12 hours blasting zombies every day doesn't mean he wants to stop other people from doing it. Besides, I think he might have one or two (or a hundred) more important things to worry about come January. Somewhat like the earlier concern that he had stopped telling supporters that he loved them, I think we might be expecting a little bit too much from the guy.

Source: New York Times, Image: Newser

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Obama doesn't say I love you anymore

Brett Singer — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:00:00 GMT

An article in the New York Times talks about how Barack Obama has changed over the course of his campaign. Before, he was an inspirational speaker. Now, he is "keeping his tone not exactly monotone but not exactly soaring."

"Bottom-up growth" has replaced "fierce urgency of now". That sort of thing.

This is the kicker:

The Obama of the campaign trail is at once more prosaic and perhaps more proficient. Early this year, when his appearances were more happening than rally, one could count on a constant: Someone would scream, “I love you, Obama!”

And Mr. Obama would, almost without looking up, answer quickly, “I love you back.”

Then the McCain campaign began running commercials portraying Mr. Obama as a separated-at-birth celebrity brother of Paris Hilton.

Shouts of “I love you” went unrequited this past weekend.

OMG, what's next? He won't bring me flowers? Will he – NO! – leave the toilet seat up???

I have no idea how much Obama has consciously pulled back from his vocal declarations of love for his supporters, but it does seem that he has. But so what?

It seems like this is a bit of President-as-parent, or maybe spouse. We're not marrying the guy (or gal -- hey, it'll happen one of these days), we're electing him to do a job. Do you want a President who loves you, or who "feels your pain" as Bill Clinton used to say? Does it affect how you vote?

Source: NYTimes

Image: Wikipedia

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New York Times Anthrax Update

Brett Singer — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:33:00 GMT

We have a source inside the building. Here are a couple of quotes of what it's like inside.

"They just sealed off the lobby... nobody but emergency workers in or
out of the bldg...Counted four hazmat-style trucks down stairs."

"For people that really need to leave, they're telling us to take the
freight elevator to the basement, then exit through one of the garage
doors."

I think I'd be one of those people that "really needed to leave" but who knows. This isn't one of those situations that calls for heroism in my opinion.

The original post is below:

One of the weird aftershocks of 9/11 was when anthrax-tainted letters started showing up across the country. The New York Times got a few of them, which led to the company microwaving all of their mail as a precaution. After awhile, the fear subsided and things went back to (sort of) normal.

This morning, Times employees received the following email warning them of a suspicious package:

From: NYTIMES MAIL
Date: Oct 22, 2008 12:24 PM
Subject: Note from Dennis Stern re the Building
To: NY TIMES NOTES

Folks,

At about 11:30 a.m. today an employee on the 13th floor of our headquarters building in New York opened an envelope addressed to The New York Times. A white granular substance was in the envelope. The New York City police were called and are now on site investigating. The 41st Street side of the lobby is closed but people are able to get in and out of the building. We will keep you updated on any developments.

Gawker reports that, "The cops are there and the lobby is closed." A source in the building says that the NYPD Hazmat trucks are arriving as I type this.

Without making light of the situation, I will say that using postal mail to create terror can't possibly be as effective as it was 6 or 7 years ago since there's just less paper mail that gets used. That said, I know I still get a ton of it every day, so maybe I'm wrong.

Scary stuff. Hopefully everyone is OK, and I hope it's a false alarm.

Source: Gawker

Image

In Hard Economic Times, Bonnie Fuller Knows What Women Want

Kelly Mills — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:36:00 GMT

Lots of people have been saying that in this election, women finally matter. At last our concerns and issues are being heard and addressed as though we, you know, made up half the population or something. And clearly one of the issues that matters to women is the economy, what with how it affects all our lives and all. So it makes sense that Bonnie Fuller, in her NY Times blog post, would want to examine what matters to women in these troubled and uncertain financial times. Is it health care costs? Job security? The high price of food and gas? Planning for our retirements (ha!) or trying to save in case the kids want to go to college?

Uh, no. According to Fuller, what matters to us is... our looks.

Yes, while we may feel the wolf at the door, we apparently still shell out money for our pricey hair stylists and our Botox. Oh, but let's clarify: By "women" she means women who live in New York. And she knows what they all want, because she "canvassed" some stylists, plastic surgeons, cosmetic companies, and "even" body waxers. (What's up with that, Bonnie? Don't minimize the importance of the waxers.) Do my frequent quotation marks indicate that I think her ideas are about as helpful as an untreatable rash? Here's her closer: "Time will tell, I guess, but the anecdotal evidence suggests that New York women may end up living in a box on the West Side Highway, but we’ll still have fabulous highlights and perfectly shaped eyebrows!"

Cough.

So we could debate the ideas that spring to mind here, whether women are vain or held to a higher aesthetic standard that relates to their employment prospects, but this piece proves the trend of women clinging to Botox as much as it proves fairies exist, so it ain't worth it. Maybe I'll canvas some women and ask if during a time when people are worried about being able to provide for their children, if Fuller actually makes women look bad or if she's just more like a really annoying gnat, and we'd be better off ignoring her and hoping she finds an open window somewhere.

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Santa Claus says: Smoke More

Brett Singer — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:45:00 GMT

Well, that's what he used to say. Check out some of these vintage cigarette ads that were recently profiled in the New York Times.

Of the numerous cancer stick advertisements that now look completely ridiculous, my favorite are these two.

First, the baby:

Yes, I wish my kids would tell me to smoke more.

And of course, there's Santa Claus:

Clearly Santa's throat was scratchy from spending all that time in chimneys. Not the Pall Malls.

Source/images: NYTimes

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Mill This Over: Babies Can Eat What You Eat

Amy Kuras — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:02:00 GMT

We’re right in the baby food stage again, and while my daughter enthusiastically ate whatever we spooned into her cute little mouth, my son is a little more picky, even doing the “clamp the lips shut and go un-unhhh” thing.

He’s really all about the big people food. He’ll reject his gooey little pureed meals and then practically knock the fork right out of my hand in an interception attempt if I am eating something that seems to appeal to him. Since he’s only seven months and just had his first two teeth break through just this week, though, I am not ready to give him even very mushy teensy morsels of grownup food no matter how much he might want it. “Get some teeth, then we’ll talk,” I tell him as I fend off his advances on my dinner with one hand and balance him on my lap with the other.

In today’s New York Times, father Keith Dixon talks about how he and his wife got around the baby food issue and raised a pretty adventurous eater in the process – a food mill. They’d simply grind up whatever they happened to be eating and served it to their daughter. Now while some of this just comes across as bragging – cannelli beans with garlic confit? Really? – it’s a great idea.

Of course, if you have worries about food allergies this might not be the wisest course. After a few minor allergic reactions with my daughter, I have been overly cautious about her food, even waiting to give her peanuts until she was well older than three. My son benefits both from showing no signs of sensitivities yet and from being the second child, so his worrywart of a mother has learned to chill as much as I ever will.

It’s long been known that limiting babies to a bland diet is not necessary, but it’s such an ingrained part of my learning about baby care it’s going to take me some time to get over. Still, sending the collard greens cooked with onions and garlic we had last night through the Cusinart might be fun for both of us.

Kurt Warner, family quarterback

Brett Singer — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:00:00 GMT

We hear a lot about football players who behave badly, so it's always nice to read about those that don't. Kurt Warner, the Super Bowl winning quarterback who is currently having a late-career resurgence in Arizona (he's 37, which is old for the NFL) is also a father. A father of seven. Two of the seven were from his wife Brenda's previous marriage; one of those two has special needs (not mentioned in the Times article).

Warner is a great sports success story; he was stocking shelves at a supermarket before joining the Rams and leading them to a Super Bowl. He's living proof that NFL players don't have to be highly touted, heavily recruited college athletes in order to play well. If the Times article is to be believed, he and his wife Brenda are also pretty good parents.

Kurt and Brenda (a former Marine) have a list they call, "Eight Rules for Being a Warner Daughter or Son." Some highlights:

1. Everyone has to agree on which strangers’ meal to pay for when dining at a restaurant.

The Times describes a situation where the Warners pick someone and pay their tab, without their knowledge. In other words, if you see Kurt and Co. at a restaurant, you might get a free meal.

4. After ordering at a restaurant, be able to tell Mom the server’s eye color.

5. Throw away your trash at the movie theater and stack plates for the server at restaurants.

I like these a lot, especially the eye color thing, since I've never heard it before. I see people treat those in the service industry (waiters, waitresses, taxi drivers, etc.) like crap all the time, and I see kids do it as well. Forcing your children to pay attention to these folks and treat them with respect is important, and knowing their eye color is an interesting way to do it.

This isn't to say that I plan on tacking a copy of Warner's Rules on our door, but it's food for thought.

Source/Image: NYTimes

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Muppet Op-Art

Brett Singer — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:20:00 GMT

In a piece in the NY Times today called "Puppet Government", beloved balcony boys Statler and Waldorf trade quips about the Presidential debates. The jokes, written by Hugh Fink, Scott Ganz and Andrew Samson, were obviously written before McCain threatened not to show up, so I'll add one: "John McCain says he won't show up for the debate until Democrats and Republicans stop arguing." "Guess there won't be a debate!"

I wonder if this is part of Disney's Muppet Master Plan. I would say no because it's a political topic. But the jokes are non-partisan and The Mouse House doesn't exactly have a track record of allowing writers to do whatever they like with Disney-owned properties.

Source: NYTimes
Image: Muppet Wiki

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Just to Totally Freak You Out – Little Patients = Big Mistakes.

SunnyChanel — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:45:00 GMT

You know what I hate? Hospitals. The only time going to one is a joyful occasion is when your there to have a baby. All other times you’re there is because something is wrong or your trying to keep something from going wrong. When you have kids, their health is of the utmost importance and in the forefront of your mind, so just to totally freak you out, the New York Times published a piece called Small Patients, Big Consequences in Medical Errors. Yeah, like you don’t have enough to worry about.

Medical mistakes, which can be pretty common with us grown ups, when they occur with kids they have “more serious consequences”. They site the ultra scary example of the actor Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins getting 1,000 times the amount of heparin, the blood thinner, than they were supposed to get. They survived but less famous offspring have died from the same mistake. Studies have found that there are issues with medications in 11% of children in the hospital. A big issue is the dosage amounts, which must be calculated from adult doses to include the child’s weight and occasionally height, “it’s easy to misplace a decimal point”. Plus “children are also the victims of diagnostic errors, incorrect procedures or tests, infections and injuries.” And misdiagnosis is also common occurrence with meningitis, appendicitis and broken arms the most frequent errors.

Like we didn’t have enough to worry about right? So keep those kids healthy and out of the hospital! But if you do find yourself there here are 11 tips from the New York Times to keep in mind when in the there.

ID BRACELETS If your child is in the hospital, make sure the identification bracelet is worn at all times.

HYGIENE Ask all health care providers to wash their hands before approaching your child.

INFORMATION Before a procedure, ask the surgery team’s members if they know exactly what the procedure is.

KNOWLEDGE Schedule a time every day to review with the physician and nurses the medications your child is taking and any other information about his care.

AWARENESS Keep an eye on catheters and incisions, looking for redness and swelling.

ASK QUESTIONS If your child is very sick, make sure a pediatric specialist is involved, and ask whether your child should be moved to a children’s hospital.

TALK ABOUT IT Express your concerns about a missed diagnosis.

BE PREPARED Carry a list of the medications your child is taking and remind doctors about any allergies your child has.

DOUBLE-CHECK Understand why medications are being ordered, and don’t be afraid to ask the doctor to double-check that he used your child’s correct weight and height in calculating the dose.

MEDICINES Familiarize yourself with the medications so that you can recognize if your child is given the wrong pill or liquid. Ask about potential complications and whom to contact if your child has a reaction.

VIGILANCE Be especially watchful if your child is taking multiple medications or is on high-risk medications like chemotherapy drugs, insulin or heparin, or if your child has a compromised immune or organ function.

For the entire article click here.