Here we go again, alienating everyone
August 29, 2006
Umm… so it’s been quite here at the Philosopher Dad (online not in real life). In an effort to alienate and confuse anyone who ever read this blog… we are moving back to blogger.
philosopherdad.blogspot.com
See you there (please)
I guess all that tarry goop is good for something….
July 20, 2006
Fetal alcohol exposure is usually determined through self-reported maternal consumption. Self-reported drinking, however, is often an unreliable measure. Researchers have found that the presence of certain fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium may provide a dependable biomarker of fetal alcohol exposure.
The test involves taking small samples of meconium and doing a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. This techniques separates different chemicals based on their mass. The data from the analysis can be interpreted to show how much of a given chemical is present. In this case the FAEE ethyl linoleate (formed when ethanol – alcohol – reacts with the fat linoleaic acid) concentration in the meconium is an accurate indicator of how much alcohol a mother has consumed during pregancy.
Although it is not discussed in the article, I imagine that this technique could be used to determine whether or not there is a “safe” level of alcohol consumption for pregnant women.
That’s why there’s wine at the bris, nudnick
July 20, 2006
ScienceDaily: Doctors Treating Pain From Circumcision More Seriously
One of the first things most little boys in the U.S. experience is something they’ll never remember – circumcision – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a painful experience. The debate over whether infants feel pain has ended, and the positive conclusion is catching up with obstetrical, pediatric and family physician training programs, 97 percent of which now learn effective pain relief techniques for circumcision. Just 10 years ago, only 71 percent learned how to ease pain during the brief surgical procedure.
Ummm, about freakin’ time.
Technorati Tags: circumcision, pain
Doesn’t everyone take naked pictures of their kids?
July 19, 2006
They called me a child pornographer | Salon Life
As someone who loves to take pictures of my son, this is definitely a scary story. Does this sort of thing enter your mind when you are photographing your children?
Technorati Tags: photography, parenting,
families
pornography
Still Smoking Mom?
July 19, 2006
ScienceDaily: Nicotine Exposure During Development Leads To Hearing Problems
Scientists know that children of women who smoke during pregnancy can develop hearing-related cognitive deficits. For the first time, researchers believe they have evidence that not only implicates nicotine as the culprit, but also shows what the substance does to the brain to cause these deficits.
Technorati Tags: pregnancy, smoking, hearing, development
Who Killed The Electric Car
July 14, 2006
YouTube – Who Killed The Electric Car?
A new documentary takes a long hard look at what happened to the EV1 from GM.
I know a lot of daddies are looking at things like fuel efficiency when it comes to buying a car, so this should be an interesting watch.
What comes after three? Four!
July 14, 2006
CNN.com – What comes after three? Four! – Jul 13, 2006
After delivering triplets three years ago, Angela Magdaleno thought she was done having babies. She was wrong four times over.
Magdaleno gave birth to quadruplets on July 6 by Caesarean section. She now has nine children.
Mama mia. I have trouble with one… imagine seven! The striking thing about this story (aside from the two multiple births) is that although her first pregnancy, which resulted in triplets was achieved with IVF, this one was completely natural.
Late Talking Toddler: New Research Debunks The Myth
July 14, 2006
New research findings from the world’s largest study predicting children’s late language emergence has revealed that parents are not to blame for late talking toddlers.
Seems as though a wide range of factors, some genetic, some environmental are the source of late talking. Boys are more likely to talk late than girls. A mother’s education and income had no bearing.
Wired: Son, Call Me Big Brother
July 12, 2006
While the issue of what the Philosopher Kids see and do online is a few years away, this short article is an important reminder that we need to keep tabs on what our kids and teens do on the web.
Mr. Know-It-All remembers when all his parents had to worry about was his pen-and-paper diary. It would have been tough to read in any case – it was hidden under a stack of Green Lantern comics and written in secret code. But that was a gentler time.
Now things are more complicated. Odds are you’re worried about the public implications of your kid’s behavior online – such as whether your tween is passing herself off as a sultry 19-year-old on MySpace, or he’s nursing an outta-control Internet poker and porn habit. Or maybe you’re concerned that Google’s cache will cough up their explicit blog to a prospective employer in 2016. “In a teenage brain, impulse control is still under construction,” psychologist David Walsh says. “The job of the parent is to act as the surrogate prefrontal cortex.”
It is important to understand the technologies that kids are using to find information and to express themselves online. Parents need to know how MySpace, Flickr and MSN Messenger work. As with many things, the most important thing is to work at keeping an open dialogue with your kids.
Ban on gay marriage denies justice to children
July 11, 2006
The N.Y. court says marriage is good for kids. Then why doesn’t my daughter deserve the same legal protection as the children of opposite-sex parents?
Although some keep pushing for a free vote in parliament in the hopes of repealing bill C-38, the issue is essentially settled here in Canada. When will you guys catch up to the rest of the world?
