Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category:
Interview With Wisconsin Parent Involved in Protests
Here is my interview with Jen, a Wisconsin parent who has been involved in the growing protest movement.
Some of the points that Jen made were:
– The protests have been peaceful and non-violent. According to her, the police have actually thanked protesters for behaving so politely. On Saturday, there were no arrests.
– The crowds have been getting bigger. News reports put the number at 100,000, which she says is “the largest gathering in Wisconsin state history”, and may even be the largest labor rally in United States history. “Even Fox News” said there were 100,000 people there on Saturday, she said. Jen questioned why the Tea Party rallies, which were not as well attended, received non-stop news coverage.
– According to Jen, the protests are being attended by people of all ages and social classes. The farmer’s union drove tractors to the Wisconsin State Capital building on Saturday. The police and firefighters have expressed support for their fellow public workers, despite the fact that Governor Walker made them exempt from the new “no collective bargaining” bill.
Jen is a parent who started going to the Wisconsin State Capitol building protests to support her kids’ teachers, who are, of course, public workers. According to her, the protests will continue every day, and the big rallies are usually on Saturday.
You can listen to the interview here, or subscribe to the Brett Singer podcast via iTunes. We hope to be able to talk to Jen again to get an idea of what’s happening on the ground in Wisconsin.
Getting Kids To Exercise While Being Afraid To Let Them Out Alone
Is there anything more important than teaching kids to exercise? Well, yes, technically there is. But in an age when there are an endless number of screens that children are exposed to, it’s more important than ever to teach kids that it’s important to GET OUTSIDE and run around.
This link is to the American Heart Association web site. Of course, most kids don’t spend a lot of time perusing sites like that. So people come up with cutesy ways to convince them to do it.
I like the NFL’s Play 60 program; I don’t know how effective it is but the idea is certainly a good one. Here’s a video report I did for AOL ParentDish about it. Read more »
Kids And Old Arcade Games
I’ve already espoused on the greatness of GeekDad at Wired.com. This article about an exhibit of older arcade games and why kids should learn about them continues to prove that I am right.
Despite being sometimes graphically challenged, a lot of older video games are better for kids than the new ones. First of all, they’re easier to understand. Pac-Man? You move in four directions. There are also a lot of hidden gems, such as the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2, which has games like Captain Commando, a side-scrolling fighter with great characters, including a baby in a mecha robot suit. When he does his special attack he says “Baby Head.”
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uMf6XKEK5w&t=2m8s]
All of the games in the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2 disc were originally arcade games, meaning that you can continue if you keep feeding the machine quarters. But with the PS2 or XBox versions, you don’t need quarters. You can just keep on playing. Kids like that because they can just dive in, shoot, punch, kick, and not worry about the game ending in four seconds.
The exhibit sounds fun. If you can’t make it, and you want to try out some fun older games with your kids, try the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2 and its other versions. These kids today need to know that things weren’t so bad back in the day.
The Arcade Experience at eGame Revolution | GeekDad | Wired.com.
Fart Cop 4 – The Origin Of Snow Cop
In Fart Cop #4, we learn the origin of Snow Cop. Interestingly, it is vaguely reminiscent of Robocop, which as far as I know neither of my children have ever seen.
Enough talking! Here it Fart Cop #4.
Elton John’s Father Never Heard Him Play [Elton John’s Daddy Issues]
Imagine your son was a great musician. You’d be proud of him, right? Now imagine that your son was not only a great musician, but an insanely successful one. Like, oh, I don’t know, Elton John. Odds are you’d show up to hear him play, right?
Not if you were Elton John’s father. According to a story posted on TimesLive.co.za, Sir Elton’s father never heard him play piano.
This little tidbit comes at the end of a story about how “flamboyant musician” (their words) Elton John and his husband David Furnish are dressing their adopted son in hand-me-down clothes from friends (“All you need is a couple of Babygros and a lot of muslin,” says David; I’ve raised two kids and have no idea what that means). According to TimesLive, Elton John told the Sunday Times magazine that “my father never came to hear me play. Not ever. He was a tough and emotional man. … He was dismissive, disappointed and finally absent. I just wanted him to acknowledge what I’d done.”
If that’s not enough, Elton adds that he doesn’t think his father “didn’t know how to relate to kids. He left us, remarried and had another family, and by all accounts was a great dad to them. It wasn’t children, it was me.”
Read that last sentence again. OK, I’ll do it for you.
“It wasn’t children, it was me.”
Again, these quotes are from an outside source. I didn’t speak to Sir Elton personally. If I had, I’m not sure I would have been able to restrain myself from saying, “Dude! It wasn’t you! He was a prick!” Or maybe crying. Hell, I’m getting a little teary-eyed now.
Granted, things have worked out pretty well for Sir Elton. He’s worth at least a couple of hundred million dollars, has sold a bajillion albums (that’s a rough estimate) and by all accounts lives about as nice a life as one could hope to live. But if the quote, “It wasn’t children, it was me,” is accurate, that’s sad. I’ve still got a pile of issues that I’m dealing with relating to the fact that my father died when I was 10 (details to come if I decide I can share them publicly; it’s fairly depressing stuff). Elton is older than I, and also a bajillion times more successful in his chosen career (again, rough estimate on the exact multiple). I guess it’s fair to say that when it comes to kids dealing with daddy issues, I think it’s gonna be a long long time.
Elton John’s son wears ‘hand-me-downs’ – Times LIVE.
Image via Amazon
Is Ke$ha Lying About Not Knowing Who Her Father Is?
Ke$ha annoys me for several reasons. Guess what? I’ve found another one. According to published reports, Ke$ha may be lying about not knowing who her father is.
Ke$ha is one of the pop stars that make me glad I don’t have daughters. I’m not a fan of her music (and I use the term loosely), and I find her image inappropriate. Do I sound like a cranky old man? Sure. But (a) I sort of am (cranky, although not THAT old yet) and (b) I’m right. Her song (again, using the term loosely) “Tik Tok” begins with her explaining that she “brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack.” As in Daniels. Charming.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP6XpLQM2Cs&ob=av3el]
Anyway, to the matter at hand. According to the blog Allie Is Wired, Ke$ha told Rolling Stone magazine that she doesn’t know who her father is. She says that her mother “went through the necessary ways of having a child” and “didn’t want a man telling her what and what not to do. She just wanted a baby. It’s an interesting topic of conversation to other people more so than it is to myself. I don’t obsess about it.”
It could be that Ke$ha’s doesn’t obsess about not knowing who her father is because it isn’t true. (Note: this is all according to published reports, but they are from sources that most people consider reliable in terms of celebrity news.) Star Magazine interviewed Bob Chamberlain, who claims that he is spelling challenged pop tart’s father, and that both she and her mom are quite aware of his identity. Chamberlain tells Star: “I was in her life from the time she was born until she was 19 years old… [then] The contact ended, and I have no idea why.” The articles describes the dad as “devastated” by the whole she-bang, and quotes him thusly: “Maybe someone around her thought it would be better to perpetuate those myths; I don’t know.”
Gee, ya think? A manufactured image is one thing. I’m not a fan of that sort of thing, but I get it. For example, the “Avril Lavigne is a punk rocker” routine was a big pile of poop from the first time it was mentioned. Annoying, but whatever. But why would someone tell Ke$ha to pretend that she doesn’t know who her father is? Is that supposed to make her seem “edgier”, like brushing her teeth with Jack Daniels thing? Whatever the reason, it’s stupid.
Here’s an idea. Write and record good songs. Then you won’t have to worry so much about your image.
Ke$ha’s Father… Denied! | Allie is Wired.
Fart Cop Meets Fat Cop, Visits Pet Store
In the latest episode of Fart Cop, he and Snow Cop meet Fat Cop. They also visit a pet store. Read on, true believers…
By the way, there are many more episodes to come and they appear to be increasingly awesome. One involves a disappearing pirate ship, and something about the heroes entering a video game world. My kids are really fun.
