“From a chemical manufacturing perspective it’s a cheap stream of plastics and, on the surface, recycling sounds like a good thing,” Pamela Miller, co-chair of the International Persistent Organic Pollutants Elimination Network, explains. “But if you have toxic chemicals in the recycling stream and you’re putting them in children’s products…. I don’t want parents to be alarmed unnecessarily, but I believe they have a right to know.” Miller and others are sounding an alarm, going so far as to caution parents against purchasing plastic baby toys....

Devorah Heitner, author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in their Digital World and the blog RaisingDigitalNatives.com, says it’s totally possible to teach young kids how to apologize to someone without emoji, deal with cyberbullies, and find a better use for YouTube than creepy unboxing videos. Here’s some of the practical screen etiquette for plugged-in youth that she’s been preaching in paper books and IRL seminars. RELATED: New Data Points to Benefits of Moderate Screen Time...

RELATED: The Best Camping Gear And Equipment For Your Next Family Adventure Made of a single piece of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, the 13-foot by 5.25-foot Sealander weighs in around 1,100 lbs. and can be towed by most vehicles. The six-person camper boasts a convertible roll-up roof and large picture windows that let in plenty of light. There are two bench seats that convert into a bed and the whole space can be customized in terms of amenities: table, toilet, and shower are all optional, as is a fridge/stove, electricity, and LEDs....

Sitting in the stands with her dad, Alexis Ohanian, the 4-year-old girl was pictured wearing an outfit that matched what her mom was wearing on the court. Both wore a sparkly Nike dress, but Olympia had another touch that paid tribute to her mom’s long tennis career. Sporting braids and white beads, Olympia twinned with the hairstyle her mom had sported when she walked onto the tennis court for her professional debut in 1999 — and won her very first US Open....

Pour-over coffee means you — wait for it — pour hot water over coffee grounds in a filter over a cup or carafe. Doing it directly by hand ensures that the water permeates all the grounds, best releasing the full flavor and antioxidants stored in society’s favorite stimulating bean. It also doesn’t over-saturate the grounds, which other brewing methods can do and which makes the coffee more bitter or acidic....

The bill, known as “Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust,” is designed to add a few more years’ of funds to stabilize Social Security. When you pay your Social Security taxes out of your income, that money goes into these funds — helping make sure everyone eligible gets their benefits. The problem is that those funds are shrinking over time as more people retire and tax rates remain low. Currently, Social Security funds are expected to run out by 2034, just 13 years from now, according to the Social Security Administration....

“Long have we waited…to complete our Skywalker saga collection,” the official Star Wars site claimed while confirming that they have settled on a release date for Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, which has already earned more than a billion dollars worldwide even if the reviews were a little…eh. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives digitally in HD and 4K Ultra HD on March 17, and two weeks later, you can get your hands on a hardcopy of either 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray or on DVD on March 31....

Sierra Designs A staple among the outdoors community, Sierra Designs is throwing down some huge deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. From November 18 through the 29th, they’re offering 25% off the entire site. All day on Black Friday, they’re giving a 40% discount on this excellent backpacking setup: the Meteor Lite tent, Nitro Quilt, and the entire lineup of Flex Capacitor Backpacks. On Cyber Monday, they’re offering 40% off their sleeping bags, including the Shut Eye, Get Down, and the versatile Mobile Mummy....

At first, Netflix and other streaming services were uniquely qualified to continue pumping out programming despite the pandemic, as they had more content saved up than the networks, which struggled to put out new shows once productions were shut down. However, What’s on Netflix’s Kasey Moore wrote that the beginning of 2021 has shown that there has been a decrease in new shows. “The number of originals Netflix has released so far this year has declined 12% from a year ago,” Moore wrote....

The study focused on the water consumption habits of Barcelona and found that a water bottle is 3,500 times more harmful to the environment than drinking water from the tap. How is that even possible? There are a variety of factors, but the single biggest reason that plastic bottled water is so bad for the environment is the sheer number of resources required to make the bottles themselves. Add that to the fact that plastic water bottles are primarily used once and then discarded — that’s sort of the point of the design....

The first Super Nintendo World will open in Osaka, Japan this summer, with California and Florida to follow in 2021 and 2023. Specifics on the U.S. parks are scarce, but if the details on attractions and experiences at the Japanese version are any indication, there will be plenty for Mario maniacs to get excited about. Heavy Mario theming: While Nintendo isn’t calling the place “Mario World,” it seems the name would fit....

A just-released Pew Research Center survey found that huge majorities believe that the political, economic, and health care systems in the United States need “major changes or complete reform.” While Americans are far from alone in their desire for change, they are also certainly among the most aggrieved of the 17 countries with “advanced economies” included in the survey. Italy, Spain, Greece, France, and Japan were the only other countries where “discontent with the status quo is especially high....

But a new survey actually shows the opposite: that many small business owners, particularly those with direct experience with a state-run program, actually support paid family leave. In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper on small companies in New York and New Jersey, two states that do have paid family leave policies, 71 percent said they were very or somewhat supportive of paid family leave. That’s up 11 points from the last time the survey was conducted, before the pandemic, with increases larger among firms that had an employee use their state’s paid family leave benefit....

“If you would have asked me the way I felt when I found out we were having six babies, I guess I just thought it was going to be an impossible situation,” Eric told TODAY. “I’m not saying it’s not hard, but you just kind of adapt and make it work. It’s the new normal, how crazy it is, and I just jump right in after I come home from work and before you know it, it’s midnight....

DealA wanted to find out what companies and brands had some of the most-tattooed logos in the world. To do this, the company put together a list of 70 popular brands across a wide range of industries and then dug into the data of what brand-inspired tattoos were the most common on the popular app Instagram. So while it’s not the most scientific study on the planet, it’s definitely an interesting peek into what people will choose to get inked on their skin for life… and what they (or their tattoo artists) will proudly share on social media....

Screen time is a subject of much debate these days, and I’d never tell any dad where or how to draw the line. But what I know for sure is that technology is a reality, and it’s changing the way we interact as families. READ MORE: The Fatherly Guide to Keeping Kids Safe Online Kids are teaching their parents more about the digital age than the other way around, and I find it delightful....

For those of you who did not grow up consuming obscure nineties cartoons, Johnny Bravo was a cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network from 1999-2004. The show centered around the titular Johnny Bravo, a vain, dim-witted man who has the voice of a low-quality Elvis impersonator and loves nothing more than showing off his muscular physique pompadour hair-do. Johnny falsely believes himself to be a gift to women everywhere and constantly makes life more difficult for his family and friends....

title: “The 12 Most Fearsome Nerf Blasters Of All Time” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-11” author: “Robert Mesa”

25. Frozen: Size Doesn’t Matter When Kristoff discovers Anna is engaged to someone she just met, he works a subtle but effective size joke into his interrogation of how well the princess really knows her betrothed. 24. Cars: Flashing Lights After a big win, hot-shot Lightning McQueen meets a couple of female fans, who show their adoration by “flashing” him. Get it? 23. Emperor’s New Groove: Pitching a Tent When Yzma’s hapless henchman Kronk is forced to spend the night out in the woods, he pitches a literal tent right over his man-parts....

Named after a family dog that had a habit of stealing the ball while the originators were developing the game, Pickleball is a lower-impact version of tennis, which makes it an ideal family activity, especially with younger children. The ball’s design is closer to a whiffle ball than a tennis ball for slower, more manageable play, overhead volleys are forbidden, and the area closest to the net is called the “non-volley” zone to prevent smashes within the zone....