Recently, I have been included in a Beta-testing group of SocialSpark (SS) which is the new child of IZEA who seem to be in the process of letting go of PayPerPost (PPP), which is their first child. SocialSpark is a different format then PPP system. Sure you can get paid for posting articles about different products or services, but SocialSpark promotes healthy blogger networking and an intriguing cross-pollination between advertisers and bloggers. There are many “carrots” to be won on both sides of the fence.

Carrots meaning, props, positive or constructive comments and of course the ability to build endless “friends” (think MySpace or MyBlogLog). Like eBay and Amazon, it promotes a positive feedback system from the rest of the SocialSpark community to maintain a sense of equilibrium and integrity amongst its members. Sure there will some “bad seeds” but they will probably rise to the top of the pile and get plucked (banned/benched), but I sense this system will work. It’s clear this is their focus, based on their Code of Ethics;

• 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
• 100% Transparency
• 100% Real Opinions
• 100% Search Engine Friendly

And like all massive social networking sites everybody is in it for different reasons. If I can do that and earn a few pennies at the end of the day, I will put them in a piggy bank to help my boys when it’s time for them to go to college. Case in point, this post is earning me five and half bucks, just enough for my son to buy himself a Coke when he’s in college (which will be around 2021). And, if I’m still around to see him drink it, I will consider myself blessed. And if I make a few friends along the way, two thumbs up.

   

Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is about to release his first children’s book, George’s Secret Key to the Universe. The first book in a planned trilogy, explains the workings of the Solar System, asteroids, black holes – one of Hawking’s favourite topics – and other celestial bodies with the help of a set of young heroes.

(Via Cosmos.Com)

   

News Flash - toys that are made cheaply may fall apart and pose choking hazard, or may contain lead (get this) because they are made - cheaply. That’s right folks. If you are buying toys at a discount store or dollar store (maybe a cute little impulse buy for the kid, niece, cousin, etc.) you may want to pause for a moment and think why the toy is so cheap.

Perhaps you should ask yourself, “how are they able to make a remote control formula one racing car and sell it for a dollar and still turn a profit?” And the answer is - because the manufacture it the cheapest way possible and perhaps by turning a blind eye to how much lead is in the paint and how well the small pieces are secured.

The four recent recalls listed below represent millions of units of these cheap $1 dollar toys. If I were to venture a guess about why products like this continue to show up on the shelves of stores around the country, it’s because people still buy them. So the lesson of the day for us, the Consumer is, don’t buy these cheap little toys for the young ones.

Follow the links below and check your kid’s toy bin for any questionable toys.

Related Links;
Toy Airplanes, Cars, and Motorcycles Recalled…
Toy Racing Cars Recalled by OKK Trading Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard
Plush Insect Toys Recalled by Dollar Tree Stores Due to Choking Hazard
Magnetic Dart Boards Recalled By Henry Gordy Int’l…

   

Zid Zid Kids has delightful costumes will inspire flights of fancy and hours of fun!

Beautifully crafted and stitched, the capes themselves are a work of art - abstracted forms and the fantastic zid zid palette create a peacock and giraffe. don a printed paper mask for full effect!

(ZidZidKids Vis A Vis Romp.Com)

   

Consider this the latest in ethical and politically-correct products; these sports products are green (either made from sustained resources or recycled) and are manufactured by adult union workers as stipulated by the rules of the Fair Labor Organization (FLO). As an example these soccer balls are eco-certified (certified Fair Trade), union-made and vegan.

The folks at Fair Trade Sports have a number of athletic equipment in their catalog. Their catalog includes rugby, soccer, football, basketball and volleyball equipment as well as apparel and accessories.

(Via FairTradeSports.Com)

   

National Account Balance estimates from the CIA World Fact Book (published 12th February 2008)

• 1st: China $363,300,000,000
• 5th: Russia $74,000,000,000
• 14th: Canada $28,460,000,000
• 161st: United Kingdom $-111,000,000,000
• 163rd (last place): United States $-747,100,000,000

Not on this list but notable is Iraq ($7.802 billion - 2007 est.), Iran ($19 billion - 2007 est.) and Cuba (-$750 million - 2007 est.).

   

I know the title sounds like dialog ripped from a Woody Allen film but really I’m waiting for the day my kid’s become privy to my blogging efforts. But after re-reading David Hochman’s ever-pertinent (2005) Article, “Mommy (and Me),“ from the New York Times, it has me thinking about why I still do this and more importantly why I started in the first place.

I started blogging as a way to learn more about the things that concern me about my kids’ health; not really a personal journal because (to me) that would be boring. Rather, it would be a heavily referenced and indexed pile of notes that I (and of course everyone else) could take advantage of. I chose to take the somewhat academic route not because of some strange lust for expository writing but because I have a hard time believing the sources I come across. What I have discovered along the way is the most important thing to me about my own writing is to share with you my references and be sure the sites and articles I references are fully transparent to you. There is a lot of dubious information out there that is conjecture and misguided or incomplete at best.

Hochman’s article is interesting because even though it was written over three years ago it still rings true with regards to the landscape of parent blogging - for better or worse. I don’t have the money to quote the article directly but the gist of it is summed up quite succinctly by a LA psychiatrist sited in the article who basically says it is (our) drive to rise above the invisibility and the banality of parenting and be seen and heard by the rest of world.

Parts of the article tend to feel a bit acrid but upon closer examination he is merely raising a mirror to some and if his words make us cringe a little (or perhaps laugh nervously), then that’s your dish to deal with. David is a neighbor and I happen to know he is a dad, himself. He seems like a nice guy and a good dad. Upon writing this simple observation about the guy adds another dimension to the said article, there is probably a self-reflexive aspect to his article and that is in my mind what makes the article most poignant.

Sited Links:
New York Times | Mommy (and Me)

Related Links:
Details Magazine | Are You Raising A Douchebag?

   

My family lives in a neighborhood that was built in the early 1950’s and evidently there were no laws forcing developers to include streetlights in these areas. So over the years, no doubt after much kvetching, the utilities company has retro-fitted a lot of these neighborhoods (not ours, mind you) with streetlights but with minimal coverage. When we initially moved into the neighborhood, I looked into what it would take to get additional streetlights installed by the city (and without giving you the long and sorted story) it is very expensive (something like $3,400 dollars per light and an annual upkeep fee of $100) and there’s a long wait (average three year waiting list).

So I have opted for the other route — lighting up my house and landscape with low cost and energy efficient lights. What I have found is the solar lights can be a hit-or-miss venture depending on the attached panel and battery technology. But what I have found is the LED landscape lights itself is much more efficient compared to halogen.

Halogen technology creates light as a bi-product of heat. This lighting process causes damage to the components of the lights which causes them to “burn-out” very quickly. Additionally, because halogen lights must create heat to produce light they require a lot of energy. A LED lamp uses approximately 90% less energy than a halogen lamp so utility costs will be lower and they last 50 times as long as halogen bulbs. So even if you get a non-solar LED system they will be rated closer to a night light rather than a refrigerator when it comes to how much wattage it is drawing annually.