Louis middle school face punishment for allegedly hitting Jewish classmates during what they called ‘ Hit a Jew Day . Sadly, it progressed to include “hit a tall person day” and, ultimately, “hit a Jew day”. No need to call me a moron, if I were a tall person and I got hit on “hit a tall person day” I would also like to see these children suspended. I’m not sure if this was a real case of Jew hatred, it might just have well been “hit a black person” or “hit a muslim” day if that would have sprung up in their mind at that moment. I think you’re right — “hit a tall person” is just as bad as “hit a Jew”. read more

I was 2 cm for awhile and by the time they checked on me, I was 8cm and they said that they couldn’t give me an epidural but gave me an intrathecal which lasts for 2 hours. With the birth of my first daughter I should say that I requested one at 3 cm because I was in full labor (contractions every 3-5) and was not even dilated yet. I think anesthesiologists just get busy and may not have the time to administer the epidural if too many women need it at the same time, especially if one still hasn’t decided whether to get one or not. I was 4 cm when I got to the hospital, and the first thing I said to my L&D nurse was, “I’d like my epidural as soon as possible, please. We do our best to keep you from the hardest transitional labor if that is what you want but we cannot see the future and we have to make an educated guess about when the best time for you to receive your IV pain med or epidural. With both of my kids, I did an epidural interview at the hospital a couple of weeks before actually going into labor. read more

Available in values from $25 to $100, the certificates are good toward all clinic services including annual exams, pap smears, birth control and yes, abortions. In defense of the unusual idea, Planned Parenthood of Indiana’s president and CEO, Betty Cockrum, says that this is a gift of health for women in tough economic times. Currently the gift certificates are only available Indiana, but Planned Parenthood chapters in Illinois, New York, Alaska and Michigan are considering similar programs. I think the idea of gift certificates is a FANTASTIC idea, and cannot wait for them to reach my state. Plenty of other places that offer gift certificates place limitations on them, so can PP. read more

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 25, is Make a Difference Day . Last year, 3 million people participated in Make a Difference Day, making it the nation’s largest single day of volunteering. From helping an elderly neighbor rake leaves to recycling toys for needy children to collecting eyeglasses for Lions Club, every act of kindness truly does make a difference. If you are participating and want to make an even bigger difference, submit your Make a Difference Day project to USA Weekend by November 17th. We have a lot going on this weekend, but we are going to make time to go shopping for donations to our local food bank. If you want to make a difference tomorrow but aren’t sure what to do, check out the Make a Difference Day Website for inspiration or use the handy idea generator . read more

According to The Guinness Book of Records, Bao Xishun is officially the world’s tallest man. The 7′9″ Chinese man earned that title by default as the actual tallest man in the world, 8′ 9″ Ukranian Leonid Stadnyk, has shunned all publicity and refuses to be measured. While Stadnyk is so distressed about his appearance that he refuses to even look in a mirror, 60-year-old Xishun has used his notoriety to find a wife. After broadcasting his desire to marry with advertisements around the world, Xishun eventually found true love with a girl from his own hometown. read more

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith may be tiny, but she’s tough. She tells People magazine that despite hubby Will Smith’s action hero status, she’s the stricter parent . Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. When you enter your name and email address, you’ll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted â” no need to use <p> or <br /> tags. read more

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Usually a school prank is a harmless trick or a clever gag designed to get attention and hopefully some laughs. That would be the case with the prank 19-year-old Myles Frost pulled at Glenbard East High School near Chicago last year. Frost has just been convicted of misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty and criminal defacement after scattering mutilated mice and a decapitated rat around his school campus in 2007. During the trial, Frost’s attorney denied that his client was responsible for the disgusting prank, but a school official and the police say that Frost confessed to them. read more

A new small study has found that television, even when only on as background noise, has a “small but real” affect on the way young children play. Researchers found that when playing in a room with a TV on — they used Jeopardy, a program they thought the children would have little interest in — children tended to stop playing and watch the TV now and then, shortening the intensity and length of their play. This finding is in conflict with former studies that found that young children don’t pay attention to TV that they don’t understand. A lot of parents really like to have television on as background noise during the day, however, to listen to as they go about their activities. This study isn’t broad enough to prove that, but plenty of research has gone into how TV affects children. Heh, I knew from the time my daughter was 8 months old that kids pay attention to TV even if it’s boring or they don’t understand it. read more

They were just kids playing with dolls, doing what kids do, even if those kids had diagnoses that other children didn’t — Down’s syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy. With the best of intentions, I believe, they made dolls with Down’s syndrome, including a heart surgery scar, dolls who have been through chemo, bald and with a catheter port, dolls in wheelchairs, dolls with leg braces. Other parents think that the dolls are a good idea, but need a little tweaking — fashion dolls who have special needs but still wear trendy clothing or action heroes who still save lives despite their own personal hurdles, for instance. The parent who posted that children play however they choose with their dolls, using imagination etc, so it isn’t really all that necessary that the dolls be made to portray special needs– was very eloquent. I remember reading a while ago that they did a study where they put a bunch of dolls of different races in a room and then looked at whether children would play with a doll of their own race or a doll of a different race, the argument being that most dolls are caucasian and therefore kids of different races are feeling left out. I know that American girl dolls do make wheel chairs and crutches for their dolls, but I am not aware of a company that makes accessory for their dolls that may need braces, orthotics, hearing aids or prosthetic limbs. read more

When I was a teenager, I would have done just about anything to get one of these — a footbag for playing hackysack that you soak in paraffin oil and light on fire. I suck at hackysack, but that wouldn’t have made a difference — this thing is actually made to be set on fire. Apparently a little too cool — or maybe not cool enough — for South Australia. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. When you enter your name and email address, you’ll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. read more