Them’s The Tech Rules, Kiddo
I recently spotted an article from The Spectrum called “Keeping Tabs on Kid’s Tech” and was impressed with what one family did when it came to their children and the techy gadgets they used. The Ruesch family essentially established some commonsense ground rules for their kids. The children who were old enough for cell phones […]
It Won’t Mean a Thing
OK, admit it. Most of us have used our TV as a makeshift babysitter. When the time-crunch is on and there’s not a spare minute to read another kiddie book or play another game of princess puppets, it’s OK to snap on the set and let the little ‘uns veg out a bit. You know, […]
What’s That Worm in Your Ear?
Quick now, what’s the catchiest tune put out in the last 70 years? OK, OK, don’t hurt yourself. According to a research group at the University of Amsterdam, it’s unequivocally a tune by the Spice Girls called “Wannabe.” Now, when I first heard that tidbit of news, I rolled my eyes. Bing Crosby’s “Swinging On […]
The Music on the Bus Goes Bleep, Bleep, Bleep
Today’s hit tunes aren’t all that bad, it’s just their words that are a problem. And that’s particularly true if you have kids and want to play something other than the Frozen soundtrack in the car (for the 400th time). Well, there’s an app for that, as the old saying goes. A new free app called […]
Shh! I’m Tingling Here
Have you ever heard of “Tingleheads?” No? Frankly, neither had I. Apparently, though, there are a sizable number of them all around us—people who get a stress-relaxing tingling sensation that starts on their scalp and spreads down their back when they hear whispered voices, tapping fingernails, crinkling paper and the like. And many of the […]
We Want to Be Like Them, They Want to Be Like Us
The “I wanna be famous!” craze has been around forever and we all recognize it. Sure, sure, everybody wants to be beautiful and well liked, but let’s face it, there’s something extra going on with the fascination with fame these days. Call it our present day natural selection or status evaluation or some anthropological whatever, […]
The Vault is Finally Empty
You may have heard this rumored, but the pieces are falling into place (ba-dump-chuck) for a live-action … Tetris movie. You heard that right, Tetris. Threshold Entertainment and the Tetris Company have announced that they’ve come up with an incredible script that will help transform the classic ’80s video game into box office gold. “It’s […]
Ginger or Mary Ann?
Batman or Superman? Coke or Pepsi? Star Wars or Star Trek? Chocolate or Vanilla? Those are some pop-psychological choices that seem to be ever present throughout the ages. But how about, Ginger or Mary Ann? Now there’s a question from my youth that I thought was long forgotten. But it turns out that deep philosophical […]
Regardless of the Scoreboard
Every day it seems that we hear more and more bad news about the worsening of our culture and the scary indicators for the future. If it’s not another depressing study about teens and drugs, or kids and videogames, it’s a report about teachers or sports heroes—the people kids tend to look up to—doing some […]
Like the Internet, Only With Comfy Chairs
I love the library. Ever since I was a kid, the library has been a wonderland of knowledge, art and hardcover-bound literary adventure. It was like the Internet, only with relatively comfortable chairs and acres of shhh-worthy silence. (Oh, and no pornographic schmutz if you accidentally Dewey Decimaled the wrong title.) However, according to a […]