Perfect Shorties

Please won’t anybody think of the Children??? Monday’s report was that Children who spend time in daycare are more apt to have behavioral problems. Now, as I read the article it occured to me that “child care was defined as care by anyone other than the child’s mother who was regularly scheduled for at least 10 hours per week” means that Dad watching the kids was considered “child care.” And frankly, I wondered if the observed effects were in fact statistically significant. Or whether the results took into account any of the other reasons a child might act out. But in any event, by Tuesday the same news was totally revamped to say that the effects of daycare don’t last into the teenage years. Oh, and that “problem behavior” included such problems as “argues a lot.” By that standard, I was a bad, bad kid in school.

Near Sandy Forest Walruses? Susie Bright has a few words about “NSFW” (which, by the way, really means “Not Safe For Work” except, as Susie notes, if you make enough money).

A fitting new home for the Department of Homeland Security: a former psychaitric hospital.

Kafka shook his head and walked away in disgust…. The Washington Post points out how easy it is to push Joe Average into the underground economy just by using government terror watchlists:

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

Because the penalties for doing business with people on the list is so high, most businesses would rather not deal with them at all. And since nobody really knows how someone gets on one of these lists, nobody has a clue how to get off the lists either.

Global Warming: The Christian Science Monitor brings us the latest on polar cap melt predictions, and the International Herald Tribune tells us about vanishing high desert oases in peril.

Oh yeah: reasonably priced custom made jeans!

The article may be 7 years old, but it’s still relevant: It may be more relevant than it was when it was written! E.D. Hirsch on standardized testing. This man is The Guy who can tell you what Joe Average should know, whether Joe is in Kindergarten or Grad School. The article predates “No Child Left Behind”, but the fundamental issues have changed little.

For the Children!! Somebody actually ran a study that shows “In a child’s buffet of food commercials, more than 40 percent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood.” Now, setting aside for a moment that 40% isn’t even close to “most” (could the reporter have gotten things mixed up and means that 40% of all ads aimed at kids are for junk food?), let’s remember that we are talking about food ads aimed at kids. You don’t have to sell Mom on the idea that fruits and vegetables are good for you and she should buy more of them. But you do have to work at making her think it’s a good idea to buy lots of candy, cookies, sugary cereals, and snacks. The other part of the equation is who pays for the ads: the makers of those “candy, snacks, and fast food”! Listen folks, there is a quick way to deal with these commercials: turn off the TV. Failing that, talk with your kids about what they’ve just seen. Say things like “Did you notice that ‘complete breakfast’ was a balanced meal without the cereal?”

The judge was dissapointed he couldn’t throw the book at him: A civil lawsuit stemming from torture allegations has been dropped against Donny Rumsfeld. The judge had to do so based on the law, but he called the situation “lamentable.” On an only sort of related note, the Australian man who pled guilty at Guantanamo did so just so he could get out of there.

Can’t tell the players without a scorecard: Having trouble keeping up with this early bumper crop of Democratic Presidential hopefuls? Here’s a handy article about where they all stand on healthcare. It is worth noting that not one of them has a stance on the expensive class/race war we usually just refer to as the “War on Drugs.”

Come Home: The Senate has joined the House in saying “Ok, Mr. Bush, you can have some money to run your war, but you need to start cleaning up and putting your toys away!” The only reason I mention this is that factions within some groups like Move On think this is a cop-out position (you can learn things listening to the radio). They feel the voters strongly told Congress “We want our soldiers home and we want them home now!” and that these deadlines months out are meaningless. I think many of us would prefer a more prompt withdrawal (particularly the Iraqis), but let’s not let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.” Anything that gets us closer to gone is progress at this point; let’s not forget it.

Millions of Peaches: these nice folks ask If organic food is so popular, why are so few farms transitioning their land?”

And finally: the truth about R2-D2.