That’s a shock. I’ve always found Cookie to be so aspirational as to be useless and depressing, but I’m still sorry to see it go because it did provide a platform for a lot of small company products that got some good PR out of it.

WIth Child gone, that leaves only Parents as a big real-life magazine on the stands, with a some little guys, as well as a whole slew of online parenting sites (including GreatDad.com).

Conde Nast To Close Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride

[From Conde Nast To Close Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride]

People Magazine reports that the former Saturday Night Live star and his wife, Viveca Paulin, are expecting a third child.

The star, 42 and Ms. Paulin, 40, already have two sons, Magnus, 5 ½, and Mattias, 2 ½. The third child is expected to be a boy.

You’ve got to hand it to the mom. Jumping around with Will Ferrell alone has to be exhausting. I can’t imagine a house full of four of him.

The new baby is in January 2010, according to Ferrell’s representative.

Ferrell starred in last summer’s Land of the Lost. He also had a Broadway show early in 2009, featuring his George W. Bush impersonation that was nominated for a Tony Award.

I used to do stand up comedy as a hobby. (I know you couldn’t guess that by the seriousness of my posts but it’s true). In one of my bits, I proposed that my wife and I (she is black and I am white) walk into a restaurant in a particularly racist pocket of America; she dressed in traditional African clothing and I in a Klan robe. We would sit in a booth and just start making out heavily - just to get a reaction.

Racism exists all over this country and the world. The seemingly unanswerable question is “how do we fight it?”

In my previous post (Unintentional Prejudice) I pointed out a relatively innocuous example of a questionable situation at my daughter’s school where there may or may not have been racism involved. In that post I expressed frustration with a lack of recourse or action that might shed light on it without having adverse consequences for my daughter. Since then I have been thinking quite a bit about the subject. Certainly, in some ways racism has been quite diluted today compared to the levels it once was and this should be celebrated as we move to eradicate it further. However, in other ways is has become even more concentrated and harmful. One example of this is something I came across recently that illustrated how prejudice and hatred of all kinds (racism, homophobia, sexism, etc.) has evolved into the insidious and extremely dangerous bigotry that masquerades as honest scientific inquiry. This convinced me that I really must do something.

I was going to write about a particular study and how it was totally twisted by a white supremacist group to try and show, scientifically, that mixed-race people are biologically inferior. I had dissected their argument and provided proof and statistics to show how idiotic their bastardization of the study was. But, the community to whom this post is directed is one of intelligent individuals who don’t need the case made for equality and mutual respect. Plus, to argue with nonsense would be to give it validity it does not deserve. So, I decided I wanted to focus on the question I asked above; what can be done?

One reason hatred continues to exist is because it is instilled in us as youth and humans have trouble extricating ourselves from what we are taught when we are young, nonsense or not. It is the same reason that if you are brought up in a certain religion, you will most likely follow that religion as an adult, logical or not. This is why it is SO important that kids be taught tolerance for all. We need to not necessarily always write letters to teachers or argue with hate groups. We need to personally inculcate our youth with ideals that teach love and acceptance so that future generations will not experience prejudice and, supremacists of any color or ilk, hate as they may, will be rendered impotent.

I finally realized what I should be doing is what I am already doing, talking to my kids rather than just writing to their teachers. But, I also concluded that I must take a step further and communicate with my daughter’s teachers about what I expect to be taught in school and even go into the classroom and participate in discussions. To that end, I would like to provide a great resource to parents who are interested in helping their kids’ schools build tolerance curriculum. There is an amazing group called the Southern Poverty Law Center that fights all forms of discrimination. They have a teaching arm called Teaching Tolerance which provides award winning resources to educators, including a magazine, DVDs, curriculum, books and much more. I recently contacted the principal of Sosie’s school about introducing their yearly Mix It Up at Lunch program that helps develop inclusive school communities.

I am not going to complain about Sosie being moved to a different class in what may or may not have been a decision motivated even unintentionally by racism. I am going to talk to my kids even more about what I believe and make sure their school has the resources and is using them to teach kids acceptance of and respect for all.

The Giant Timeline is a new book out by a new publisher, Charlie’s Playhouse, which makes books and toys to teach kids about evolution and natural selection. The Giant Timeline is an 18 foot long unfolding book that takes the reader through the past 600 million years of history of life on this planet. The book is big, big, big, like its subject matter, but makes the story compelling to kids 4+ with colorful illustrations, comic book-like thought bubbles from the funny creatures, and lots and lots of strange looking monsters who have the distinction of being our ancestors.

Dads will find a lot to love about this book. It’s a perfect length for a before bedtime read, but also fills in tons of knowledge gaps for the non-scientists among us who haven’t studied the evolution since high school (where my teacher scoffed at it by the way). My son and I both read the book together and enjoyed the colorful illustrations. The book also contains page after page of explanatory material which provides background information and even games for the deeper involvement in the timeline, with ideas for kids, parents, and teachers. I’ve never seen such an in-depth study guide in a book of this type.

The Giant Timeline has taken the coveted “favorite book” of my five year old son. He loves is so much that he immediately took it to school to show his kindergarten friends.

The publisher of the book, mom and scientist Kate Miller, admits that evolution can be controversial. Charlie’s Playhouse, however, believes that the majority of Americans find the study of evolution consistent with their own beliefs and that the issue if over-politicized. “Why should this majority be deprived of educational fun stuff for their kids because the few who politicize the issue. It’s basic cultural literacy.” To this end, Charlie’s Playhouse has teamed up with The Clery Letter Project which gathers signatures from clergy affirming their belief that evolutionary study is consistent with their religious beliefs.

Find this book and other toys of an evolutionary nature at Charlie’sPlayhouse.com.

One last thing, while the book smells a bit like plastic out of its packaging, it’s actually made out of a earth-friendly synthetic paper called Polylith.

This time it’s Farrell and his Polish girlfriend, Alicja Bachleda-Curus. Farrell already has a six-year-old son, James, with Canadian model and ex-girlfriend Kim Bordenave. But this time, he says he’s playing for

keeps and is ready to commit. The couple, or at least Farrell, has bought a 1.5 Million pound house in Poland where they are spending all their time. Farrell has joint custody of his first son.

Farrell met Alicja during the filming of Ondine. Ondine, one of two films Farrell has premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall, tells the story of Syracuse. Farrell plays Syracuse, an Irish fisherman whose life is changed when he nets a beautiful woman (Alicja Bachleda).

These guys are too geeky to believe, but it puts my great dad credentials to shame when I see guys building custom stuff like this for little kids. Add this to the list of home projects I know would add immeasurably to children’s memories, but which I lack the competence, or motivation, to ever bring to completion.

This is one tiny video game machine.

We’ve been using these

Planet Wise wet bags for about a year to tote wet bathing suits around after every swimming lesson or pool event. The voting is unanimous. My wife, who usually doesn’t like more “stuff” thinks they are great. They are reusable and long lasting, and come in 14 color styles

Since these came out, there are many other companies getting into the game, all with fashion forward colors and designs, which make this item a good gift and accessory. I just got an 11X14 bag from Itzy Ritzy which is big enough to handle my suit and sun shirt.

There are now a lot of manufacturers making these, but these are two we’ve used and they are worth the $12-15 for storing wet suits, diapers, even leaky food items.

Both of these are well-made with PVC-free waterproof liners and locking zippers. I even saw a demo with the Planet Wise filled with water and it didn’t even leak through the zipper.

I’m a skeptic, but in the interest of equal time, here is the other side of the story. And, it’s one we’ve heard over and over from apologists: sample sizes used in research studies are so much more than human consumption that the results aren’t trustworthy. This is an argument that sounds logical, but would mostly discount most food and drug research over the past 50 years. Our recommendation here at GreatDad is still to keep plastic of all types away from food as much as you can. Yes, it is possible that there is no risk from plastics, but why risk it when there are now many other options that are also better for the environment. There is just no reason to continue using plastic with food.

[From Is plastic dangerous for children and in baby bottles? - 1/14/09 - San Francisco News - abc7news.com]

Wellington crib from Delta has hardware for crib, child bed, day bed and single bed. At $169 for ahigh quality bed.

Spa Baby European-style baby tub let’s you large baby in a natural way for the baby. Covers the baby with water rather than allowing baby to get cold while water is spread over baby.

$45 for translucent and new Eco version made out of recycled plastic.

Features fill line to control water level for baby.

I was skeptical about this category but after seeing this and Tummy Tub, this looks like a better alternative to the horizontal bath tub.