Daily Scoop

China Forces Girl To Lip Sync During Opening Ceremonies

During the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games a sweetly-faced girl from China by the name of Lin Miaoke sang the song "Ode To the Motherland." Well, she didn't really sing it, she lip-synced it! After weeks if not months of practice, pudgy-faced 7 year-old Yang Peiyi, the true voice behind the song, was told she was not the right face to portray China on global television mere hours before the ceremony. They swapped her for the cuter Miaoke instead, who is apparently a child actress who already appears in commercials.

Mister Roger's Neighborhood Saying Farewell

After 40 wonderful years of airing Mister Roger's Neighborhood, PBS has decided to remove the favorite children's television program from it's weekday schedule. Oh no! Many children, including I, started our days watching Mr. Rogers put on his shoes, follow the Trolley to the Neighborhood of Make Believe and learn from video clips that always caught our attention. What now? What will our children watch? Well, it's not too late. Head over to savemisterrogers.com and help save Mr. Rogers!

Stay At Home Moms: Improve Gas Mileage

It's a motto for many women: If I have kids I'm going to be the one raising them and keeping my eye on them 24 hours of the day. But a recent report by CNN tells the story of how stay-at-home moms are having to literally stay at home because of the economy.

A stay-at-home mom myself I find it hard to stay locked in a house with a rambunctious toddler, so for my sanity I hop in the car and drive to the playgrounds, a friend's house, the mall and my favorite spot, Target. But I, and many moms like me, have had to rethink these trips due to the rise in fuel prices.

Our Honda Pilot typically gets about 12-14 miles per gallon with pure city driving, so a trip to the mall costs me about $4. Before gas prices really started to sky-rocket I usually planned my errands pretty well  but my errand routine as well as my driving habits are very strict now so I save some money on gas. Here are my tips.

Crocs Bitten With Decrease In Sales

The famous Crocs company, founded in 2002, has seen a drastic decline in sales over the past couple months as parents get over the idea of colorful over functional. They've received complaints of Crocs getting caught in escalators and as the U.S. economy goes down inch by inch, consumers are leaving the non-essentials at the store. The flurry of Crocs knock-offs doesn't help the company either while they fight for their patent with the U.S. board of patents (who have turned them down).  In the midst of lawsuits their shares have gone down by 87%. Yikes.

I never understood the functionality of Crocs. Living in the northwest we experience a lot of rainful during the year and I always knew how flustered I would be if I took my son out on a what seemed like a sunny day with Crocs on to find out there would be puddles in the following hour. I also witnessed a few children slipping and tripping wearing Crocs because their ankle straps wouldn't stay on properly.

Preventing Spills With New Milk Jugs

Seen the new milk jugs yet? We came across them a couple weeks ago and immediately noticed they're hard to pour without spilling. The new jugs are supposed to be more environmentally friendly because they don't require crates to be stacked, saving consumers money. To prevent too much spilling, touch the lip of your cup right under the spout and hold still. One or two drops might slip away if the jug is at its fullest but it's better than having several drops dribbling down the jug.

New Safety Measure: Child Resistant Gasoline Cans

Children and gasoline don't mix. With the passage of the Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, an additional layer of fire safety and burn protection has been added for families across the country.

President George W. Bush signed the Act into law which requires portable gasoline containers manufactured for sale in the U.S. on or after January 17, 2009 to conform to child resistance safety requirements.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends these safety tips for consumers:

Buy a gasoline container that is child resistant.

Place a gasoline container in a well ventilated, cool area.

Never store gasoline or other fuel inside the house, in the basement, or near a fuel-burning appliance, open flames, pilot lights, stoves, heaters, electric mowers, or any other sources of ignition.

Never smoke near gasoline.

Never carry gasoline in the trunk of the car. Escaping vapors can easily ignite.

Keep gasoline, kerosene and other fuels out of the reach of children.

Never permit children to play with matches or fuel.

List of 90 Banks On FDIC Watch List

With the break of IndyMac bank going out of business, King 5 reported Seattle's local WAMU is on the FDIC financial risk list. This list contains 90 banks (up from 53 a few months ago). I've looked around the web and cannot find the exact list because the FDIC doesn't publish the list to the public. If they did, people would withdraw their money big time.

FDIC insures only deposits UP TO $100,000. So if you have over $100,000 in an account and the bank closes, you might be in trouble depending on how they handle it. You are also not safe if you have $100,000 in separate accounts at the same bank.

Update: We dug around some more and found 4 more potentially delinquent banks; UCBH Holdings Inc, a San Francisco-based bank, Colonial BancGroup, based in Montgomery, Ala, and Sterling Financial Corp., headquartered in Spokane, WA

 

Serotonin Imbalance Linked To SIDS

Scientists suggest a chemical imbalance with serotonin (a neurotransmitter that helps brain cells to communicate) may be linked to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Researchers from Italy have engineered mice born with serotonin that goes haywire and found the brain disfunction is enough to trigger sudden death. Researchers are now working on a test that would allow doctors to test babies from SIDS before it happens.

SIDS causes 2,000 U.S. death a year. SIDS triggers those who are between 1 month and 1 year old. Babies are usually healthy and have no other symptoms before death.

Laundry Detergent & Pampers Cost Going Up By 16%

It's going to be a never ending story with the soaring price of well, everything. Proctor and Gamble have announced they're raising prices of their household products by 16%! Proctor & Gamble carries everything from laundry detergent, diapers, and deodorant to pet food. Their brands include Pampers, Old Spice, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essence, Puffs, Dreft, Charmin, Cheer, Bounce, Dawn, Vicks, Always and many more. Stock-up now if you can, and it never hurts to shop in bulk from Costco if you have room to store items.

Two New Combo Vaccines Approved

Two new combination vaccines designed to reduce the number of needle pokes children must suffer to get the recommended immunizations has been recently approved by a USDA. A four-in-one shot made by GlaxoSmithKline offers protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio and costs $45 and is adminstered to preschool-aged children once.

The second combo shot is Sanofi Pasteur's five-in-one shot for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and illness due to Haemophilus influenzae type b, or HiB. It costs about $69. Toddlers will get 4 doses by age 2.

These combo shots do not change the recommended vaccine schedule, just the number of pokes a toddler receives.