My son is much like any boy and is attracted to violence in movies and games, perhaps even more than normal.  He loves the “ninja fighting” and such.  With that in mind, he is always asking to watch movies like Superman Returns and Spiderman 2.  He is almost 8, so when a movie is PG-13, we just simply say no.  Think on those movies.  You would think that either would be fine, they are based on comic book characters, right?  I point out in Superman Returns the extreme beating Superman takes when his powers are temporarily lost on the island…not just a typical comic book fight.  Spiderman 2 I point out the “surgery scene,” need I say more?  That was a lot closer to a horror movie than I was expecting.

So how do we really know the content of a movie prior to viewing when we have just a generalized rating system in place.  PG and PG-13 really don’t tell me much.  My family doesn’t view R and above anyway, so I leave those out.  Even for my wife and I, we would like to know the contents of a movie to know if it is something to avoid even with a PG-13 rating.  There are options out there.  See the following sites:

Kids-In-Mind.com

ScreenIt.com

There are others out there, but both of these sites do a great job covering current movies and giving you the nitty gritty of what really is displayed and said in the movie.  This may be a bit extreme for some viewers, but some of us really would like to know the details.  Both sites push for you to subscribe for all the features, but the free features have covered my needs.

Check ‘em out and feel more educated before heading to the theater or renting that DVD.

link: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/FirstAidIndex/FirstAidIndex

I think most parents should become eligible for some level of nursing certification by the time their first child reaches the age of 10.  By then I think we have all seen a variety of cuts, bruises, scrapes, black eyes, swollen or cut lips and broken bones to put us through our pre-med paces.  Of course, some parents deal with these situations better than others!

I feel bad for the later kids in families with more than one or two children.  The first child gets the immediate attention, sympathy and action of their parents no matter how small the medical “emergency” is.  With later kids, parents are much more experienced – read that callous and uncaring from a kids perspective – when cuts and bruises take place.  I try to make sure I don’t brush it off too bad when my little girl thinks her world is coming to and end when she scrapes her knee.  Even though I have seen this too many times already, this is a big deal to her!

The list above is a great resource for not only common things, but situations you may not have thought you would deal with.  A good example is right at the top, Anaphylaxis.  I don’t have any kids that are wildly allergic to anything, so this situation doesn’t really cross my mind.  I have neighbor kids now though that are, and because they play with my kids, I could very well be faced with a situation where I need to know what to do.

Give it a look over, and perhaps book mark it to read regularly until you make it through the list.  Someday you might be very happy you did!

Have you heard of a demodicid or even have any idea what it is. Read all about it. I remember learning about this at one point, but it has been so long it was very cool to learn it again. The article is fun to look at, interesting to read, and disgusting to think about all at the same time. Don’t let that sway you from checking it out! This photo is from the site linked above, so all credit there as they do not include a reference as to where it was from.

Science has been an interesting ride for me. Early on I loved it like every elementary school kid because science meant the cool demonstrations and experiments we could do. How could that not be fun?! Later on I hated it because I had a few bad teachers in high school that made science equate to something difficult to understand, a required chore and failed to make science interesting. My college experience was like many who wander from major to major trying to decide what to do in life. I ended up in the sciences and later with teaching because I rediscovered my fascination with the natural world and wanted to help kids discover this as well.

Sites like the Worsley School do a great job displaying and explaining the natural world in a way that kids are intrigued and compelled to learn more. There are many sources out there, but I found this one a great resource that explains things on a level that kids can enjoy. There are photos in every article which as a visual learner myself consider a must. Of course there is more than “just” the sciences represented here, but of course that is the area that first caught my eye. I will be showing this site to my kids today, and hopefully you have someone to share it with as well.

I came across this site today and immediately I love it. MAKE is apparently a magazine (never heard of it previously) but they have been publishing a video podcast weekly on small projects you can do yourself. Most of these projects are fun or goofy, but emphasis on fun. I have already noted a few that I would like to do with my kids in the coming weeks or this summer.

Check them out, I enjoy the practical, explanatory approach of the videos. They guys cut from the same grain as the Mythbuster duo, which is a good thing to me. I can’t get enough of this kind of stuff.

link: MAKE Magazine Weekend Project Video Podcasts

Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.

Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be ‘taken off the list.’

One click, and poof? the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That’s right? no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.

You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”

Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.

Pretty cool, huh?

That is cool! Umm? What the heck is RSS?

Alright! Now we’re ready to get to that part.

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed, you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

What the heck is a feed reader?

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like Google Home, My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with. Newer and growing fast is Google Reader, which is what I personally use. I recommend you check it out both because it is easy and you can even access it via your mobile phone browser if you are really savvy.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The new version of Internet Explorer (IE7) now has this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.

Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a Feed?

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon:

Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.

Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it. RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.

If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!

Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.

Dumb Little Man is a great site that does exactly as it’s tagline suggest, giving you tips for life. Much like Get Rich Slowly that I previously recommended, this site offers great little ideas for improving your daily life. In this case, the ideas are not financially focused, in fact they are all across the board. Just a quick glance at the home page today has posts ranging from saving money on booking airline tickets to keeping your brain sharp to stretching techniques while seated at your desk. The lack of focus might keep some people away, but I like it because I feel like I am more prone to come across a gem in any variety of subjects.

link: http://dumblittleman.blogspot.com/

Give a look over and see if you would like to add it to your bookmarks or RSS reader. It’s on both of mine.

As part of this, I read a lot of things online in search of new knowledge.  I came across this site listing out their personal list of the 50 of the best personal development blogs that I plan to work my way through over the next few days.  I am sure there will be keepers and others that don’t match my interests, but I have high hopes in what I might find.  Take a look, who knows what you could find that might change your life.

link: 50 of the best personal development blogs

P.S.  I really like the the layout of his blog (same as mine) and his choice of photo used at the top.  Very nice.

GetRichSlowly.com is a site written by a guy out of Portland, Oregon that shares great tips on every day things you can do to save money.  Along with these tips he shares investment advice to help you make use of these new found dollars and cents.  Unlike other sites that try to tell you the latest craze to get rich quick, this site’s philosophy is exactly the opposite and I feel much more realistic.

Give the site a read through on current articles, and don’t be surprised if you end up reading it with regularity.

I highly recommend wading you way through some of the different categories, if nothing else to see some great photos of people looking to get better. There are some real pros there (as in actual professionals as well as people just plain good) and their photos are often a site to behold. Most people have a link in their profile to their online gallery of photos as well, which you can click over too for even more viewing pleasure. If you are looking to become a better photographer, you can often pick up some great tips and ideas from the discussion in each thread.

Some of the regulars and moderators of the forum will compile links to the “best of” threads where people have put together short tutorials on how they have accomplished their photos. Often these are Photoshop how tos, but some times it will be on setting up lighting and other ideas. Here is one such page that SmugMug has hosted of some great info. These techniques are a bit advanced when it comes to using Photoshop, but if you are so inclined, give them a try. I have found that you learn best in the doing, and then you have a new technique available in your “arsenal.”

I happen to know the makers of these sites, and they are “good people.” They live a couple of blocks from my in-laws, so I have had plenty of occasions to visit with them. I have a SmugMug pro account because I like supporting people I know, and those I know to be trying to do good business.

There are lots of photo sharing sites out there, but most have ads, limited features and try hard to sell you back your own photos. SmugMug is designed with the real photographer in mind. You get unlimited storage (that means all the photos you want, even at full size, full control on how your gallery is displayed, password protection and watermark options, and even the ability to set pricing to sell your photos. Quite a set up.

Take a moment to check them out. If you happen to sign up for an account with them, using my coupon code for a discount: MxWSTbxzgrIqg

I think what first intrigued me about Lifehacker was my expectation that it was a pure “techie” blog that appeared to have frequent if not daily reviews of helpful free software. Though this is the case, I quickly learned that the overall theme was things you could change/add in life to “hack” it for better productivity. The entire concept is to present you with possible ways, ideas and articles that focus on improving your daily life. Not a bad theme if you ask me.

Most blogs seem focused on being flippant, sarcastic and often just negative (including our own alter-ego What’s Gotta Go, even if in jest), Lifehacker seems only to have positive to say. I guess if they don’t find something worthwhile, it just doesn’t make the cut.

You may not find something every day, but finding that little gem even once a week or month can be well worth it. Plus, the reading is fun and the titles make it a quick glance to see if anything is worth pursuing.

I don’t think this site is for everyone, but if you are all like me and always interested in ways to squeeze just a little more time or efficiency out of your day, then give Lifehacker a try.