| [watch out for webcreepz]
[W]hen Gail Devery's 9-year old daughter received a $29.95 membership in the Miley Cyrus Fan Club as a gift, Devery figured online access to the MileyWorld.com site that came with the membership would allow Dani to watch music videos of the Hannah Montana star or play games.What she didn't know was that MileyWorld also features an interactive chat room, and there's no way to know who is lurking in there."I wasn't very happy about that. I told her I was going to limit what she would be allowed to do," said Devery, who lives in Bloomington. Her concern grew after she learned that when Dani registered as a member, she used her own name plus a five-digit number. "The first time I heard this voice say 'Hi, Dani' when she logged on, it really scared me," Devery said. With fun names like MileyWorld, Club Penguin, Webkinz and Neopets, social networking sites specifically targeting elementary- and middle-school kids are exploding.
September 2007
Alice L. Baumann, 86, of Watertown, died Thursday afternoon, Sept. 27, 2007, at the Watertown Memorial Hospital, from pneumonia, following a major stroke. She was proud to have survived two courageous bouts with cancer.Funeral services will be held on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Hafemeister Funeral Home in Watertown with the Rev. Ray Bezanson of the Advent Christian Church of Watertown, presiding. Burial will be at the River Road Cemetery in Ixonia.Family and friends may call to pay their respects on Monday at the Hafemeister Funeral Home in Watertown from 5 to 8 p.m. and on Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service. Memorials may be given to the Advent Christian Church or to the charity of choice.Alice was born in Watertown on June 13, 1921, daughter of the late John and Edna (Schroeder) Fredrich.
Adults seek to restore bond between kids and nature
On any given Saturday, if you want to find Alex and Matthew Weber, you'd better put on hiking boots. Alex, 9, and Matthew, 7, aren't going to be at soccer practice, watching TV or playing computer games. They're probably going to be exploring the woods or tromping around a nearby creek. And it's not just on weekends. After school, the kids play in the stick teepee in their woodsy south Charlotte backyard. When darkness falls, they walk with their parents to hear night sounds. Many Americans recall a kind of feral existence as a kid, scrambling down ravines, building forts and climbing trees, returning home only when the street lights blinked on. But ask these adults what their own kids' lives are like and you hear something else. Homework, sports, music lessons, video games and TV cram most corners of their lives, and if they're outside it's often on a playground or sports field.
Simple fun with simple toys
Guitar Hero blasts a Lynyrd Skynyrd riff on the Xbox. Infant gyms in psychedelic plastic flash and beep and play "Yankee Doodle." Diego has a talking rescue centre. Santa's elves must be getting more than their share of headaches at the workshop these days, judging from the sensory overload induced by this season's hot toys. But amid the din of Bratz handbag-boomboxes, crashing Transformers and the chirping of the High School Musical crowd, there's a peaceful oasis forming in toyland. A small but growing group of toymakers and parents is harkening back to a time when toys were more about the wonder of kids than the wonders of technology. At The Toy Space in Toronto, owner Randal Lee stocks toys made with all-natural and sustainable materials like reclaimable rubberwood, organic textiles and vegetable dye.
Disney's Hannah Montana doll beats Barbie as 'Most Desired Toy'
New York, Nov 21 (ANI): Disney's Hannah Montana doll, based on the popular TV series, has emerged as the most wanted toy among young girls. The doll has overtaken Barbie and Bratz as the most desired toy for young girls. Hannah Montana is an American Emmy Award-nominated teen television series focusing on Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cyrus), who lives a double life as an average teenage girl at school during the day and a famous pop singer at night, concealing her real identity from the public other than her close friends and family. "It's everything Hannah. She's the hot property, from the doll to the play sets and everything that goes along with it," the New York Daily News quoted Jim Silver, editor in chief of Toy Wishes magazine, which features Cyrus' character on its current cover and includes the singing doll in its coveted "Hot Dozen" holiday toy list, as saying.
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