Jan 01 2017

Don’t Let Kids Eat Lithium Batteries

It may sound obvious but apparently the website Hackaday received a press release about kids eating coin cell batteries, which are made with lithium. Eating said batteries is extremely dangerous. The message is “Don’t let kids eat lithium batteries.” That’s todays DaddyTip.

At first I said “duh”. But then I looked at the little batts. They are EXACTLY the kind of thing a kid might pop into their mouth. Round, small, easy to swallow… frankly, if you’re a little kid and don’t know better, they could easily be mistaken for candy. Now, hopefully you teach your children not to put stuff in their mouths, and/or you keep an eye on them to make sure this doesn’t happen. Still, it’s always good to be reminded.

I do NOT recommend that you show your kids this video, a Canadian PSA about “eating things that don’t belong inside you.” Ah, Canada.

As with most things, the key is to talk to your children and when they are little, and keep an eye on ’em. Better yet, keep the batteries out of reach. Like, don’t leave a box of coin cell batteries next to a dish of candy. There’s the tip.

Happy new year!

Source: PSA: Don’t Let Kids Eat Lithium Batteries | Hackaday


Aug 28 2012

Duck Fetus Eating Contest Grosses Us Out

This story about a duck fetus eating contest in Brooklyn makes us nauseous.

We were about to write “But it shouldn’t because we eat eggs so what’s the difference?”

Then we read more of the story.

A word of clarification: they don’t call this food item a “duck fetus” because odds are nobody would eat it. Well, not as many people. The word used is balut.

And now we will explain what a balut is. And why we are, in fact, grossed out by the contest, despite the fact that we eat eggs.

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Mar 23 2012

Another Reason To Become a Vegan—Pink Slime

Supermarkets That Sell Pink Slime

So, ew.

I missed this story about “pink slime.” What is pink slime? According to ABC News, “‘Pink slime’ is beef trimmings.” Oh! That’s OK, right? Well, no. “Once only used in dog food and cooking oil, the trimmings are now sprayed with ammonia so they are safe to eat and added to most ground beef as a cheaper filler.” For added fun, ABC says that pink slime is in 70 percent of the ground beef sold at supermarkets.

Now you might be saying, Brett. That’s just supermarket ground beef. That’s not enough of a reason to become a vegan. What are you, one of those commie pinko Occupy Everything buttheads? Seriously—do you have, like, a butt for a head?

No! I do not have a butt for a head. I do, however, think that you are unlikely to find ammonia in your kale. And kale is healthier for you anyway. So why not just avoid meat altogether?

But Brett! What about fish? Or chicken? Huh? What about tasty, delicious chicken? You like chicken, don’t you? Read more »


Jun 15 2009

DaddyTips Show and Tell – Holistic Living Edition

The Love Guru soundtrackWe are nothing if not holistic in our house. Wait, I thought “holistic” was the name of a new Wii game. No?

OK, I’m not all that holistic or spiritual or whatever. But I appreciate those who are. And I do eat organic stuff, and just joined a farm share. So maybe we’re a little more ho-ho than I think.

Anyway, here are some links:

  • Gorgeous, Healthy Recipes & My Favorite Salad: by Valerie Reiss, via BeliefNet’s FreshLiving blog. I’ll need to do a better job of actually collecting recipes once the farm share food starts coming in. I don’t think the family will be content with my bacheloresque method of cooking vegetables, which is (a) steam, (b) add olive oil, (c) eat. Yawn. I could do it because taste isn’t as important to me as convenience. When you cook for other people, though, you need to pay attention to what they care about. And frankly, there’s nothing inherently evil about following a recipe. I need to remember that. Maybe I’ll make a sign or something.
  • How to Be Persuasive (and Not Get Persuaded): also by by Valerie Reiss from BeliefNet’s FreshLiving blog. (She’s a friend.) It’s not “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (although I’ve been told that’s a good book to read, despite the cringe/cliche factor). It has more to do with advertising and the things they (THEY) use to get us (YOU! ME! YOUR CHILDREN!) to buy stuff (CRAP! It’s all CRAP!). Valerie takes a couple of the items to another level, such as this one: “Giving someting away makes it less desirable. (This might be a good one to apply to our relationships–if we over-give, we can be under-valued.)” Indeed. This one, “Admitting you’re wrong makes people trust you more,” might be true for everyone except the President of the United States.
  • Intent.com is a strange site. There’s a lot of “I intend to” do whatever. Usually it’s positive, as in “I intend on making today my best possible day,” rather than, oh I don’t know, “I intend to transport a hooker across state lines despite the fact that I’m married and am Governor of New York.” Then there’s this one: “My Intent is to breathe in and out all day :)” I should hope so! I see these “intend” statements and it makes me think of Yoda. “Do, or do not. There is no try.” (Here’s video if you, for some strange reason, don’t know what I’m talking about.) I mean, who INTENDS to do something bad? Or stupid? Or immoral? I guess the idea is something of a “think positive and good things will happen”/”The Secret” type thing. Whatever gets you through the night is all right, I suppose, but at some point doesn’t it make sense to, like, think in terms of actually DOING something?
  • Deepak Chopra would like us to “Intend the Return of Laura Ling and Euna Lee.” I mean, sure. That would be nice. I’m guessing diplomacy would work better, though.
  • Let’s close out with another Deepak post, this one about what the proper age is to teach children meditation. Best advice in there is this: “It’s important that they don’t feel pressured to meditate because the parents want them to.” Can you imagine? “Dammit Jimmy, I gave you a friggin’ mantra! Now close your eyes and chant! CHANT, DAMN YOU!”

Image: Amazon

Read more:

DaddyTips Show And Tell – News and Links


Apr 27 2009

Clean Plate Club Question

Clean Plate Club – does telling kids to finish their meal no matter what encourage overeating?


Nov 26 2008

Tryptophan Doesn’t Make You Tired, It’s All Those Carbs

I stumbled onto this little tidbit from HowStuffWorks. Basically, it says that while tryptophan (an amino acid not naturally found in the human body) can act as a “calming agent” and is present in turkey, that’s not why you feel like taking a long winter’s nap after your third drumstick. “Most likely, it’s the whole traditional Thanksgiving meal that can produce that after-dinner lethargy.”
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