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Note to marketers: If you want your line of dog treats to sell,...

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:24:55 -0400

Note to marketers: If you want your line of dog treats to sell, it might be best not to have the word “pooh” anywhere on the box.

Congrats Loyola! One win away from a lacrosse national...

Sat, 26 May 2012 17:18:17 -0400

Congrats Loyola!

One win away from a lacrosse national championship. Go Hounds!

Maybe the best game-saving catch ever? Context here.

Sat, 26 May 2012 11:19:24 -0400

Maybe the best game-saving catch ever?

Context here.

Photo

Sat, 26 May 2012 09:49:34 -0400

"Along with TA, Barry popularized the concept of “roof hits”: when they were chooming in the car all..."

Fri, 25 May 2012 19:25:23 -0400

“Along with TA, Barry popularized the concept of “roof hits”: when they were chooming in the car all the windows had to be rolled up so no smoke blew out and went to waste; when the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling.”

- Now that’s what I call fiscal responsibility.

A User’s Guide To Smoking Pot With Barack Obama

(via felixsalmon)

It is amazing anyone over 15 can even walk straight...

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:38:06 -0400

… growing up, as we did, in a world without pediatric occupational therapists around every corner.

From the New York Times…

These days, many little fingers are being drilled. Twenty-five years ago, pediatric occupational therapists primarily served children with severe disabilities likespina bifida,autismorcerebral palsy. Nowadays, these therapists are just as focused on helping children without obvious disabilities to hold a pencil.

In affluent neighborhoods in and around New York, occupational therapists have taken their place next to academic tutors,psychologists, private coaches and personal trainers — the army that often stands behind academically successful students.

Tim Nanof, legislative manager for the American Occupational Therapy Association, which has 38,000 members, said it’s hard to know exactly how many children are receiving these services. But parents, pediatricians, educators and early childhood experts agree that plenty of able-bodied children are receiving occupational therapy.

This is a situation we know well, burdened as we are by a little one who’s handrwriting was deemed not up to snuff. Kiddo was caught by a screener on a bad day and was deemed all but unable to walk. And so it was that your brain begins to believe that the child you have seen do ballet and soccer and climb trees and ride a bike and etc. etc. might need serious and costly medical help to one day function in society. Because therapy, of course, is always the answer. For when your only tool is a hammer…

Part of this is parents’ fault. The last generation has demanded so much from our kindergartens that the schools are fighting back by demanding more of the kids. It used to be that kindergarten was where you go to learn how to learn, and if the only thing you got out of it was an understanding of what is expected of you a year later that was fine. No more. So kids are required to grow up faster, have better handwriting sooner, etc., etc. And for that we parents have ourselves to blame.

It is also certainly a product of the environment. Kids schedules are more tightly planned these days, and we have lots of planned activities. Gone for too many are the childhood days of self play and exploring the world, which naturally motivates you to use more muscles and become more coordinated than planned play can hope to do. (Nothing like walking creek-side to learn balance.)

But the therapy also betrays a simple truth that most of us, even the parents paying thousands for OT on otherwise healthy kids, know deep inside: Child development is rocky, and 99.9% of the kids who are behind according to an assessment at any given moment will be caught up in a year or two’s time. Some of them will end up clumsy, some of them will end up star athletes, but they will be fine. We know that because even in a world without OT most of us managed to mature into functional adults.

Kids mature at different speeds, but as they do they make up for lost time and erase any perceived previous disadvantage. Don’t believe me? I dare you to walk into an eighth grade classroom and pick out, based on their behavior as 8th graders, who were the last five to potty train as toddlers. Good luck.

But in the ultra-competitive world of parenting, attempting to mold our little loved ones into uber-kids, OT seems more a mandate than a luxury as the parents push the schools and the schools push the parents in a vicious cycle. And the only real loser, I guess, is the pocketbook.

Just don’t give up faith in your kid. You may be able to tell by the age of 5 that junior is not bound to be an Olympian. But chances are very strong that, OT or not, they will be just fine.

motherjones: shortformblog: Today in Anderson Cooper making...

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:16:53 -0400

motherjones:

shortformblog:

Today in Anderson Cooper making people look stupid simply by asking questions: This lady. It may be the best entry in this subgenre of news since this video. (via pbump)

Everybody should always be watching all of this clip all the time.

My word this country’s in trouble.

Hey Warren Buffett, please by the Times-Pic

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:56:42 -0400

Buffett:

we will favor towns and cities with a strong sense of community, comparable to the 26 in which we will soon operate.

Sounds like Nawlins to me.

Paid maternity leave

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:27:10 -0400

Paid maternity leave :

United States: zero. Compared with below.

Want to call yourself “pro life”? You can’t ignore this.

other-stuff:

Afghanistan 90 days Algeria 14 weeks Angola 90 days Argentina 90 days Australia 0 weeks Austria 16 weeks Bahamas, The 8 weeks Bahrain 45 days Bangladesh 12 weeks Barbados 12 weeks Belarus 126 days Belgium 15 weeks Belize 12 weeks Benin 14 weeks Bolivia 60 days Botswana 12 weeks Brazil 120 days Bulgaria 120-180 days Burkina Faso 14 weeks Burma 12 weeks Burundi 12 weeks Cambodia 90 days Cameroon 14 weeks Canada 55% up to $413/week for 50 weeks (15 weeks maternity + 35 weeks parental leave shared with father) Central African Republic 14 weeks Chad 14 weeks Chile 18 weeks China 90 days Colombia 12 weeks Comoros 14 weeks Congo, Democratic Republic of the 14 weeks Costa Rica 4 months Cuba 18 weeks Cyprus 16 weeks Côte d’Ivoire 14 weeks Denmark 18 weeks Djibouti 14 weeks Dominica 12 weeks Dominican Republic 12 weeks Ecuador 12 weeks Egypt 50 days El Salvador 12 weeks Equatorial Guinea 12 weeks Estonia 455 calendar days (100%) Ethiopia 90 days Fiji 84 days Finland 105 days France 16 weeks (100%) rising to 26 weeks (100%) for third child Gabon 14 weeks Gambia, The 12 weeks Germany 14 weeks (100%) 6 before birth Ghana 12 weeks Greece 16 weeks Grenada 3 months Guatemala 12 weeks Guinea 14 weeks Guinea-Bissau 60 days Guyana 13 weeks Haiti 12 weeks Honduras 10 weeks Hungary 24 weeks Iceland 90 days 80% up to a ceiling of Íkr480,000 (€5,300, $6,700) monthly (minimum monthly payment Íkr 91,200 (€1000, $1,275) + 90 days to be shared between the parents India 135 days (Central Government) 90 days or 12 weeks in State Governments Indonesia 3 months Iran 90 days Iraq 62 days Ireland 22 weeks (26 weeks from March 2007) Israel 12 weeks Italy 22 weeks (5 months) (80%) 2 before birth Jamaica 12 weeks Japan 14 weeks Jordan 10 weeks Kenya 2 months Korea, South 60 days Kuwait 70 days Laos 90 days Lebanon 40 days Libya 50 days Liechtenstein 8 weeks Luxembourg 16 weeks Madagascar 14 weeks Malaysia 60 days Mali 14 weeks Malta 13 weeks Mauritania 14 weeks Mauritius 12 weeks Mexico 12 weeks Mongolia 101 days Morocco 12 weeks Mozambique 60 days Namibia 12 weeks Nepal 52 days Netherlands 16 weeks New Zealand 14 weeks Nicaragua 12 weeks Niger 14 weeks Nigeria 12 weeks Norway 54 weeks (12.5 months) (80%) or 44 weeks (10 months) (100%) - mother must take at least 3 weeks immediately before birth and 6 weeks immediately after birth, father must take at least 6 weeks - the rest can be shared between mother and father. Pakistan 12 weeks Panama 14 weeks Paraguay 12 weeks Peru 90 days Philippines 60 days Poland 16-18 weeks Portugal 120 days Qatar 40-60 days Romania 112 days Russia 140 days Rwanda 12 weeks Saint Lucia 13 weeks Saudi Arabia 10 weeks Senegal 14 weeks Seychelles 14 weeks Singapore 12 weeks Solomon Islands 12 weeks Somalia 14 weeks South Africa 12 weeks Spain 16 weeks Sri Lanka 12 weeks Sudan 8 weeks Sweden 480 days (16 months) (80% up to a ceiling the first 390 days, 90 days at flat rate) - shared with father (minimum 60 days) Switzerland 16 weeks (100%), 8 weeks mandatory Syria 75 days Tanzania 12 weeks Thailand 90 days Togo 14 weeks Tunisia 30 days Turkey 12 weeks Uganda 4 weeks Ukraine 126 days United Arab Emirates 45 days United Kingdom 6 weeks (90%) 20 weeks at a fixed amount (as of March 2006 = £108.85) United States 0 weeks Uruguay 12 weeks Venezuela 18 weeks Vietnam 4-6 months Yemen 60 days Zambia 12 weeks Zimbabwe 90 days

Bill Clinton posing with porn stars? Bill Clinton posing with...

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:25:00 -0400

Bill Clinton posing with porn stars?

Bill Clinton posing with porn stars.

Politics-shomlotics. I miss Bill Clinton.

That’s the “guilty” look.

Wed, 23 May 2012 17:13:30 -0400

That’s the “guilty” look.

The Baltimore Bohs are the greatest thing going in sports right...

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:48:25 -0400

The Baltimore Bohs are the greatest thing going in sports right now.

“Hoosiers” revisited. I have to admit: This is my...

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:26:31 -0400

“Hoosiers” revisited.

I have to admit: This is my version of porn.

Photo

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:52:16 -0400

Storm cloud at sunset over Atlanta. (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 22 May 2012 20:19:30 -0400

Storm cloud at sunset over Atlanta. (Taken with instagram)

"Do we believe, even for a second, that if Obama had been busted for marijuana — under the laws..."

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:46:46 -0400

“Do we believe, even for a second, that if Obama had been busted for marijuana — under the laws that he condones — would his life have been better? If Obama had been caught with the marijuana that he says he uses, and ‘maybe a little blow’… if he had been busted under his laws, he would have done hard fucking time. And if he had done time in prison, time in federal prison, time for his ‘weed’ and ‘a little blow,’ he would not be President of the United States of America. He would not have gone to his fancy-ass college, he would not have sold books that sold millions and millions of copies and made millions and millions of dollars, he would not have a beautiful, smart wife, he would not have a great job. He would have been in fucking prison, and it’s not a goddamn joke. People who smoke marijuana must be set free. It is insane to lock people up.”

- Penn Jillette

Word.

Miami hardware store follows Canada in banning the penny

Tue, 22 May 2012 13:48:52 -0400

Miami hardware store follows Canada in banning the penny:

If only the rest of the U.S. would follow.

wnyc: Census figures suggest tens of thousands people FLY to...

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:01:36 -0400

wnyc:

Census figures suggest tens of thousands people FLY to work each week. Check out Transportation Nation’s interactive map of the top routes to the biggest “super commuter” cities.

I’d bet a significant percentage of these people are pilots, flight attendants and others in the aviation business. Getting the airfare cheap is the easiest way to make this affordable and for most occupations, affordable is the only way to make it possible.

Photo

Tue, 22 May 2012 08:29:14 -0400

The top five baseball teams in terms of payroll are a combined seven games under .500

Mon, 21 May 2012 17:22:25 -0400

The top five baseball teams in terms of payroll are a combined seven games under .500:

As the article says, for how long TBD. But sure is interesting to watch for now…

Yankees: 21-20 [$197 million payroll]
Phillies: 21-21 [$174 million]
Red Sox: 20-21 [$173 million]
Angels: 18-24 [$154 million]
Tigers: 20-21 [$132 million