Author Archive
Fox News Says Obama Admits To Being An “Imperfect Father”
With typical spintastic use of the English language, Fox News managed to find a way to say something ever-so-slightly negative about President Barack Obama’s terrific Father’s Day essay in Parade Magazine. Read more »
Bizarre Japanese Ad – Rubberduckzilla
Check out the not at all subtle sexual imagery at the beginning. Or maybe I just have a filthy mind.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gUDibEz5dM] Read more »
Policing Versus Judging
A point needs to be made, and this post on Babble gives me the chance to do it.
Judging people is different from policing.
Think about it. The police actually go out and arrest those who they think have committed a crime. Then a judge… passes judgment. (Yes, it’s more complicated than that. Dammit Jim, I’m a blogger, not an attorney!)
In the case of parenting, we all, whether we want to admit it or not, have opinions about how others conduct themselves, particularly when it comes to children. Do some of us (me) have stronger opinions than others? Of course. But I’m highly suspicious of anyone who says that they never, ever judge anyone else and how they choose to live their lives. Read more »
DaddyTips Show and Tell – Holistic Living Edition
We are nothing if not holistic in our house. Wait, I thought “holistic” was the name of a new Wii game. No?
OK, I’m not all that holistic or spiritual or whatever. But I appreciate those who are. And I do eat organic stuff, and just joined a farm share. So maybe we’re a little more ho-ho than I think.
Anyway, here are some links:
- Gorgeous, Healthy Recipes & My Favorite Salad: by Valerie Reiss, via BeliefNet’s FreshLiving blog. I’ll need to do a better job of actually collecting recipes once the farm share food starts coming in. I don’t think the family will be content with my bacheloresque method of cooking vegetables, which is (a) steam, (b) add olive oil, (c) eat. Yawn. I could do it because taste isn’t as important to me as convenience. When you cook for other people, though, you need to pay attention to what they care about. And frankly, there’s nothing inherently evil about following a recipe. I need to remember that. Maybe I’ll make a sign or something.
- How to Be Persuasive (and Not Get Persuaded): also by by Valerie Reiss from BeliefNet’s FreshLiving blog. (She’s a friend.) It’s not “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (although I’ve been told that’s a good book to read, despite the cringe/cliche factor). It has more to do with advertising and the things they (THEY) use to get us (YOU! ME! YOUR CHILDREN!) to buy stuff (CRAP! It’s all CRAP!). Valerie takes a couple of the items to another level, such as this one: “Giving someting away makes it less desirable. (This might be a good one to apply to our relationships–if we over-give, we can be under-valued.)” Indeed. This one, “Admitting you’re wrong makes people trust you more,” might be true for everyone except the President of the United States.
- Intent.com is a strange site. There’s a lot of “I intend to” do whatever. Usually it’s positive, as in “I intend on making today my best possible day,” rather than, oh I don’t know, “I intend to transport a hooker across state lines despite the fact that I’m married and am Governor of New York.” Then there’s this one: “My Intent is to breathe in and out all day :)” I should hope so! I see these “intend” statements and it makes me think of Yoda. “Do, or do not. There is no try.” (Here’s video if you, for some strange reason, don’t know what I’m talking about.) I mean, who INTENDS to do something bad? Or stupid? Or immoral? I guess the idea is something of a “think positive and good things will happen”/”The Secret” type thing. Whatever gets you through the night is all right, I suppose, but at some point doesn’t it make sense to, like, think in terms of actually DOING something?
- Deepak Chopra would like us to “Intend the Return of Laura Ling and Euna Lee.” I mean, sure. That would be nice. I’m guessing diplomacy would work better, though.
- Let’s close out with another Deepak post, this one about what the proper age is to teach children meditation. Best advice in there is this: “It’s important that they don’t feel pressured to meditate because the parents want them to.” Can you imagine? “Dammit Jimmy, I gave you a friggin’ mantra! Now close your eyes and chant! CHANT, DAMN YOU!”
Image: Amazon
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DaddyTips Show And Tell – News and Links
Tip of the Day – Exercising Parental Restraint
There are many things that we want to say but don’t. This is true of everyone but it is particularly true of parents.
For example:
My son says, “I wish you could walk two puffles at once.”
What I want to say:
“I don’t give a crap about Club Penguin. Please stop talking to me about it. I would rather discuss almost any other topic. Stop. STOP!”
What I actually say:
“Oh yeah?”
Sometimes it’s more difficult to keep composure, but it’s worth the effort of course. Still, there will come a day — perhaps five minutes from now — when Club Penguin will be put to bed and I won’t have to hear about it. At least not until tomorrow.
Image: Amazon
(Note: The image has nothing to do with this post, except that it has the word “restraint” in it. I’ve never seen the movie. It looks quite awful.)
DaddyTips Show And Tell – News and Links
New feature here on DaddyTips.com — Show and Tell.
What is it, you ask? A list of things we’ve read that we think you’ll like, both dad-related and not.
Here we go:
- The Onion AV Club (whom I write reviews for from time to time) gives the new Wii version of the classic game “Punch-Out!!” a B, which is pretty good if you consider the fact that it does not contain Mike Tyson. (AVClub.com)
- A father and son pastor team have been accused of stealing $3.1 million dollars to buy “luxury cars, time shares and golf club memberships.” Well, at least they didn’t molest anyone. As far as we know, of course. (L.A. Times)
- I don’t even watch most of the Adult Swim shows, especially now that “Harvey Birdman” is off the air. But I will probably watch all of the clips on this page. Why? Because they all reference “Star Trek.” Duh. (AdultSwim.com)
- Um, hi. This is a levitating toy display. It’s called the Levitron Revolution Series. Only holds “up to 4 ounces” according to Aaron Burgess at Droolicious, but it LEVITATES. I want one. For my son. My son. Right. (Droolicious)
- I love this headline: “Gwyneth Paltrow Finds Noted Music-maker William Joel Just Delightful.” Actually, the whole post is great. (AVClub.com’s The Hater)
Laurie Berkner is Stuck in my Head
For reasons I cannot explain, I have the song “Me and My Energy” by Laurie Berkner stuck in my head. (Note: the actual title appears to be “My Energy.” See? I don’t even know what the damn thing is called.)
It’s been there for three days.
The only lyrics I know are these:
“This is me. This iiis me. This is me, and my ehhhnergeee. This is me. This IIIS me. This is ME and my ehn-ER-gee.”
That’s it. There’s more I think, but I don’t know it. My kids don’t even like Laurie Berkner. I don’t think I know any other songs by Laurie Berkner.
I have nothing against her, I suppose. I think she’s vastly over-rated. She’s not even better than Raffi, although I guess she’s not Canadian, and is therefore at least a little less annoying. And the idea that she’s “hot” is almost disturbing. Dads who think that need to get out more. Or watch some TV that isn’t for kids. She’s not ugly, she’s nice looking. But “hot”? Really?
No matter what else I can say about Laurie, having a song of hers stuck in my head is not something I would choose. Especially not a part of a song. Over and over and over again.
Image: Amazon
