8 Excellent Reasons to Let Your Kids Watch TV

zaterdag 14 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Jeanne Sager 11 hours ago

Are you a TV mom? You know what I'm talking about: one of those parents who prays to the cable gods and has taught her 2-year-old how to work the remote because, OMG, this modern technology thing is a LIFESAVER?

Me too. Funny thing too, I was raised in a TV-free household as a kid. I considered going that way. I really did. And then I got wise to all the glories parking your kid in front of the boob tube has to offer. Yes, it's true, there are marvelous reasons to let your kids watch TV; don't let that woman who reeks of patchouli dissaude you. Just look:

1. Mommy needs to have a sex life.

2. Dinner isn't going to make itself.

3. How else will they know they absolutely NEED a light up blender that sings you to sleep for Christmas?

4. Knowing how to say backpack in Spanish will coming in handy when they want to go backpacking through Europe after high school. Probably?

5. The teenager down the street thinks she can charge $15 an hour? Pshaw.

6. Two kids staring at a TV = two kids who are not beating the crap out of each other. Sibling rivalry, schmibling rivalry.

7. Have you tried tracking down a good sitter lately? Ain't nobody got time for that.

8. They're leaving the darn dog alone.

Come on, spill -- why do YOU let the kids watch TV?

Image via .reid./Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

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Facebook Ads You Have to Watch Will Have People Dropping Like Flies

dinsdag 6 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Nicole Fabian-Weber 14 hours ago

I know there are tons of great things about Facebook -- it helps people keep in touch with those they love who are far away, etc. -- but let's be honest here, there are also a lot of annoying things about it. In fact, it seems like the more time that goes on, the more annoying Facebook gets. And I'm not talking about the users here. I'm talking about Facebook itself. The privacy issues that we can never quite get a clear answer on; the constant changing of format (and having to reset privacy settings); and now the video ads.

There's talk that video ads may be making their way to Facebook some time in the near future. Video ads you can't skip. Video ads you have to watch if you want to see photos of your friend's dinner or cousin's baby.

Not cool, Facebook, not cool at all.

To me, there are few things more annoying about the Internet than video ads you can't skip. They do it on YouTube all the time, and other random sites, but there's something ... I don't know ... a little different about doing it on Facebook.

Facebook is personal. Your Facebook feed is made up of your friends and family members. You created it. Something seems wrong about having to sit through an annoying video ad in order to see what the people in your life are up to.

I understand why unskippable video ads online exist from an advertiser's standpoint -- everyone fast-forwards through their commercials on their DVRs -- but from a Facebook standpoint, I think it's a really bad idea. I'm sure Zuckerberg et al. will rake in a ton o' cash from video ads, but I honestly think that this could be the beginning of the end for Facebook.

I was talking to someone over the weekend when the subject of this was brought up. She said, "Oh, I'd definitely leave Facebook if I had to watch a video every time I logged on. I check it when I'm in line at the grocery store!" And I think most will have the same mentality. Why spend 30 seconds of the minute you have to look through your feed on an obnoxious video ad? No thanks. It kind of defeats the point of site altogether. There isn't anything remotely personal about a video ad smack dab in the middle of your newsfeed.

What do you think of video ads on Facebook?

Image via gordontarpley/Flickr

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Rape Victim Forced to Watch Video of Her Own Rape

maandag 29 juli 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Adriana Velez 1 hour ago

I don't even understand why this was necessary. A man is on trial for a rape that was apparently caught by a security camera. So what does the judge do? He forces the rape victim to watch the video of her own attack so she can be cross-examined by the defense. Mohammed Azim was accused of smashing a bottle over a woman's head, dragging her by the hair into a factory, and raping her for 25 minutes. He was convicted. But did the victim really have to go through this in order for Azim to be found guilty?

I think Rape Crisis chief executive Yvonne Traynor speaks for most of us when she says, "I am appalled this woman had been through enough and then to be shown this in court to torture her again shows an appalling lack of consideration and common sense." Lack of consideration, ya think? Maybe I'd put it this way: Just plain cruel.

And lack of common sense -- can someone please explain why the victim needed to sit there in court and watch her own goddamn 25-minute-long rape? What questions did the defense need to ask about that? "Is that you in the video?" "Was this excruciatingly long attack done against your will?" "Are we a bunch of insensitive assholes?" Yes to all three. I would think the video is there as evidence more for the jury's consideration, and they could watch it with the victim out of the room.

And if, for whatever reason, the defense truly needed to question the victim on details in the video, couldn't the victim at least view the video in private, and not in court with everyone else?

Not to mention, how useful is the victim's testimony even going to be after she's gone through the emotional turmoil of watching her own rape? Wouldn't she be a more reliable witness if she were in a calmer, more emotionally neutral state? I think so.

Anyway, like I said, Azim was convicted, so I suppose this story could be worse. He faces 16 years in prison, which seems a little short to me. The judge said something about "you're lucky you didn't get mandatory life," and I'm kind of thinking, Yeah, why didn't he get life? What is with this judge?!?

Do you think a rape victim should ever have to watch a video of her own attack in court?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adriana Velez

is a staff writer who dabbles in food, parenting, news, entertainment, molecular biology, and anything else that that pops into her head. She lives with her elementary school-aged son in Brooklyn, land of urban farms and artisan everything.  

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Lady Gaga's Nose Piercing Video Is Painful to Watch

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AppId is over the quota
by Mary Fischer 1 hour ago

The fact that Lady Gaga got her nose pierced really isn't even remotely shocking -- but I should probably mention that her makeup artist, Tara Savelo, filmed the whole thing and put in on YouTube. Yep, she calls the vid "haus life," and it's even set to music.

I mean, who doesn't want to see Lady Gaga lying on a table with some dude hovering over her sticking a fat needle (or whatever the heck they use) through her septum?

She got the new bling this past Monday at MasterMind Ink Custom Tattoo Studio in Chicago, and you can see Gaga proudly showing off her new circular nose ring in the photo at left, which the studio posted on their Facebook page.

Ok, so are you ready to watch the whole thing go down? If you're at all squeamish, this video might freak you out a little bit. I definitely had to cover my eyes a time or two while viewing it.

Ahhhh! Well, at least it was over pretty quick, right? And can you believe how still and relaxed Gaga was the entire time? She's a braver soul than most of us, that's for sure.

What do you think of Lady Gaga's new nose ring?

Image via Facebook

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mary Fischer

is the writer behind The Mommyologist, and the mom of a future famous comedian. Her current loves include cosmopolitans, reality TV, and shoes that don't pinch her feet.

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Kate Middleton Baby Watch on Hold While the Queen Changes England Forever

donderdag 18 juli 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Maressa Brown 10 hours ago

Just when we thought the big news out of the U.K. this week would be the birth of Kate Middleton and Prince William's little Prince or Princess, the Queen Elizabeth II had to go and upstage the royal baby watch by making her own history! Her Royal Highness signed a bill making gay marriage legal throughout England and Wales. Whoohoo!

The signing was a formality, after the bill cleared its final hurdle in the lower house of the country's parliament yesterday. Scotland and Ireland still aren't all caught up -- Scotland may make gay marriage legal by 2015, but Protestant parties defeated a marriage equality law in Northern Ireland earlier this year -- but still, what an awesome, BOLD move for England and Wales! So bold that the Telegraph calls it "one of the most radical pieces of social legislation of her reign." 

Radical, perhaps, but also so progressive and so about-damn-time! 

England and Wales clearly have a lot to celebrate today, but this is also a lesson for those of us on this side of the pond. That despite our recent victories -- doing away with DOMA and legalizing same-sex marriage in various states -- we should be a little bit ashamed of ourselves that we can't get a sweeping measure passed at the federal level.

If sweeping measures like DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell that stood in the way of equality could be passed 20 years ago, we can figure out a way to pass legislation that does the opposite today. After all, we pride ourselves on being pretty forward-thinking, cutting-edge, right? But today, looking at what the British government has done, we're not nearly as progressive as we fancy ourselves.

What do you think of the legalization of same-sex marriage in England? What do you think it will take to accomplish the same here?

Image via Wikimedia

Click "Like" for more on issues that are important to moms. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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