Devon and I are watching the Hitchcock thriller, "Suspicion." I've never seen Cary Grant in a role like this.

"When people care for you they can straighten out your soul."
~Langston Hughes


American children aged 2 - 11 are watching more television than they have in years. New findings from the Nielsen Company show children aged 2-5 now spend more than 32 hours a week on average in front of a TV screen.

In a related development, the Walt Disney Company is now offering refunds for all those “Baby Einstein” videos that did not make children into geniuses. According the New York Times <http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/3845> , these videos.... "... may have been great electronic baby sitters, but the unusual refunds appear to be a tacit admission that they did not increase infant intellect."

"'We see it as an acknowledgment by the leading baby video company that baby videos are not educational, and we hope other baby media companies will follow suit by offering refu nds,' said Susan Linn, director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which has been pushing the issue for years.

"Baby Einstein, founded in 1997, was one of the earliest players in what became a huge electronic media market for babies and toddlers. Acquired by Disney in 2001, the company expanded to a full line of books, toys, flashcards and apparel, along with DVDs including 'Baby Mozart,' 'Baby Shakespeare' and 'Baby Galileo.'

"The videos — simple productions featuring music, puppets, bright colors, and not many words — became a staple of baby life: According to a 2003 study, a third of all American babies from 6 months to 2 years old had at least one 'Baby Einstein' video.

"Despite their ubiquity, and the fact that many babies are transfixed by the videos, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time at all for children under 2."

Devon and I are currently crossing the Bay Bridge; we're hoping to not end up on the 8 o'clock evening news.

Stopped off in Japantown on the way out of SF. I saw three gals that appeared to be embracing the Goth Lolita look.

I ought to be done eating for the week.

I'm standing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, listening to the traffic and watching the sun reflect on the waves.

I just found the opportunity to quote Samuel L. Jackson. I think that makes this a good day.

I feel disinclined to follow the laws as they are dictated to me by Oingo Boingo.

I just saw a red hawk!

The Alliance for Childhood just recently released a new report on how vital play in the early childhood classroom is: A New Report on the Disappearance of Play.

Golden eagles have been filmed hunting and attempting to kill reindeer calves.


Thanks to palecur for linking me to this.

OMG! Why don't I remember hearing about this before?!

The Dominican archaeologist Kathleen Martinez Wednesday affirmed to have found 27 tombs and 10 mummies, two of them wrapped in gold, during the excavation she conducts in Egypt in search of Cleopatra’s resting place.

Thirty-two planets have been discovered outside Earth's solar system through the use of a high-precision instrument installed at a Chilean telescope, an international team announced Monday.

The existence of the so-called exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system -- was announced at the European Southern Observatory/Center for Astrophysics, University of Porto conference in Porto, Portugal, according to a statement issued by the observatory.


Thank you to palecur for linking me to this.

I meant to post something about this some time ago:

An amateur treasure hunter prowling English farmland with a metal detector stumbled upon the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found, a massive seventh-century hoard of gold and silver sword decorations, crosses and other items.