Bedtime Stories Going Away?

Not in my house they aren't!

This evening I came across an article about an immense decline in the reading of bedtime stories to today's youth.  This is a HUGE travesty to me.  This is why vocabulary and grammar has taken such a huge decline in recent years.  The article I found lists an alarming rate of only 13 percent of British mom's who say that they read their child a bedtime story every night to their children (with children under the age of 7).  Americans weren't much better with a rate of 33 percent saying that they read to their children every night. 





The last part of the bedtime ritual (besides looking out the window to see the moon and stars) is bedtime stories.  We even read them before nap time.  2 books for nap time and 3 books for night time.  Although Liam is always trying to bargain for more books or reading a book half way through deciding he wants a different book and then wanting to exchange it. 

Reading is so ritualistic that I may even miss it more than Liam if it were to end.  It is our time to snuggle in together, sometimes he reads to me, and sometimes I read to him.  Some books we take turns reading different parts, or pointing out what we see in the book.  Liam loves to find books that have the same sort of picture or topic so that he can match them up.  If he has a book about a firetruck he is always running to get his firetruck so show me that they are both firetrucks.  This is a precious time that is devoted to just focusing on Liam and winding down before he goes to sleep.  I value this time greatly and am sorry to anyone that does not take this time to share with their children.  It is a part of my nightly schedule and it is something that NEVER gets cut out.

I think that missing out on story time is missing out on such a huge time of bonding with your child.  I urge any parent that does not already read to their children to take even 5-10 minutes a day to read a book to their child.  You are doing SO much more than just reading to them.  You are showing them attention, teaching them so many things, passing on so many valuable things that will shape them forever in their life.  How many of us can remember being read or not being read to and feeling left out because of it.  I was fortunate enough to definitely have had stories read to me that helped establish my love for books that never left me and I will be forever grateful for the quality time that was spent on bedtime stories.  



Link to the story: Sweet Dreams, Bedtime Stories

Incriminating Themselves: Dumb Criminals Part 1

Many criminals end up self incriminating themselves.  The other day I read about a gang member that was caught due to the intricate detail of a tattoo on his own body about a murder he has committed that had been unsolved for years.  Now there is another man whose rap lyrics led to an arrest.... A girl who posted a YouTube video bragging about robbing a bank... Are these people too over-confident or too ignorant to keep from getting caught?  Or are they just ready to be caught?  Not that I don't want criminals to pay for their crimes, but these people are one short cry from the Darwin awards?  *The Darwin awards are presented each year about people who die or come close to death due to their own stupidity.

First I am going to go over the rap lyrics that lead to an arrest in an unsolved murder in Virginia.  Police were able to solve a double murder from 2007 due to rap lyrics, within these lyrics the rapper Twain Gotti aka Antwain Steward made a song describing the murder.  The song was called "Ride Out" and lyrics are as follows: “Listen, walk to your boy and I approached him, 12 midnight on his traphouse porch and everybody saw when I [expletive] smoked him, roped him, sharpened up the shank then I poked him, 357 Smith & Wesson [unintelligible] scoped him,” Police believe that this was a gang related killing and Mr. Steward was already considered a subject but until he incriminated himself in the song there was not enough evidence to tie him to the murder.   I also want to point out the fact that the gang he was affiliated with was called Wickzoo....  Need I say more?  For the full story you can follow the link: Rap lyrics lead to arrest in unsolved murder

 

News video featuring part of the song "Ride Out"

Now let's talk about stupid criminals and tattoos.  Recently a gang member was picked up on a minor offense and had his tattoos photographed for record.  He was apparently so proud and confident of his work in the unsolved murder that he had many details unreleased to the public graphically depicted within his tattoo.  Unfortunately for him a detective that had worked on the original unsolved case happened to now be working in the department that had photographed his tattoos and came across the incriminating evidence.   This man was in a Los-Angeles gang called Rivera-13(affiliated with MS-13?)  The murder occurred in 2004 at a liquor store and the tattoo graphically showed specific lighting around the store and depicted a peanut being killed (peanuts are routinely used to represent rival gang members).  The tattoo also shows a chopper gunning down the peanut.  The man Anthony Garcia went by the name Chopper in his gang. 

"Each key detail was right there: the Christmas lights that lined the roof of the liquor store where 23-year-old John Juarez was gunned down, the direction his body fell, the bowed street lamp across the way and the street sign — all under the chilling banner of RIVERA KILLS, a reference to the gang Rivera-13.
As if to seal the deal, below the collarbone of the gang member known by the alias "Chopper" was a miniature helicopter raining down bullets on the scene." Shortly after being picked up and taken to the police station he confessed to the killing.  For the full story you can see: gang tattoo leads to arrest or also los angeles gang member convicted on tattoo

Moving on to a Nebraska teen who was convicted of robbing a bank thanks to a YouTube video she uploaded about it.  She titled the video "Chick Bank Robbery."   In the video she brags about stealing a car as well as robbing the bank.  To further self incriminate herself she shows off the money that she got from the bank (over $6K) as well as showing her smoking a full bowl of weed in the video.  She must have made the video right away because apparently she is wearing the same clothes in the YouTube video that she wore when she robbed the bank.  The video is a written confession to the crime and claims to be a victim of the government.  In the written confession she decides to mention "fun facts" about herself including the facts that she is married, pregnant, and has AIDS. 
You can read the full story here: Chick Bank Robber

"Chick Bank Robber"

Man Parts in the News....

This evening I was going through news stories and came across the one from Monday about the subway employees.  One who would freeze his pee at work and the other one who was putting his penis on the bread.  First of all WHY oh WHY would you do either of these things, especially at work.  Where there are cameras to catch you, and if that wasn't enough, why don't you take your own pictures and spread them all over the web thanks to social networking sites!  Why do people always have to do disgusting things with food.  Why is it not enough to leave someone's food alone, make it and give it to them cleanly.  I never understood the whole messing this people's food in any dirty manner.  This is very juvenile and unacceptable to me.  Probably another big reason why I prefer to cook my own food.  I am picky and want to have control over as much of my food cooking process as possible. 

subway-employee-puts-penis-on-bread

Of course curiosity took over and I decided (mainly for blog purposes) to search through other recent news to see what I could find.  I also came across an article talking about famous men and their sexed up selfies.  Weiner made the news again.  I guess with a name like that he can't help but live up to the hype haha.  If you are going to send anything through any sort of digital medium.  You must always know that it is always out there for the world to see no matter how careful you are.  Just make sure that you can stand up next to that picture with a "Hell yes that is me and I look amazing" kind of attitude and you should be fine.

guys-we-dont-want-see-your-sexed-selfies 

Next I came across "The Gothamist" a New York online publication that seems to have a plethora of penile stories.  Of course the top story right now is a supposed "smallest penis in Brooklyn" contest that is being held.   I guess someone out there is trying to prove that he doesn't have the smallest penis?  I don't know why anyone would want to enter this contest especially if you thought that you had a chance to win....  You are more than welcome to read other great penis related news by following the link haha. 

 http://gothamist.com

And then of course I came across this gem of a story in today's news about a news reporter who was from a local station in Saginaw Michigan and giving a report on live television.  During this time she is indicating areas on a street map where road construction is taking place.  During this drawing phase, she accidentally draws a penis, while on live television.  That poor reporter will never live this one down haha.  It is quite hilarious to watch!

 

sometimes-you-draw-a-penis-by-accident-on-tv 

 I definitely wouldn't want to leave the women out, although this is somewhat unrelated, I came across an  energy drink website called "pussybythecase.com"  The headlines and testimonials are enough to leave you with tears in your eyes, of course that is assuming your mind is as dirty as mine is.....   Such as "Pussy Preferred "Compared to a cup of coffee, Pussy gives me mental energy and focus for a tough workout without keeping me awake at night later on."-A Devoted Fan"  This one kills me "Make sure you have plenty of PUSSY around the house for your next party or when friends drop by. There never seems to be enough Pussy to go around. Order yours today!"   And finally at the bottom of the page you will see  "Looking for Pussy?  Have it discreetly delivered to your door!"  This statement makes me wonder if this is really JUST an energy drink, why does it need to be discreetly delivered to your door.  Is this some sort of code for sex???  Supposedly, this is a legitimate energy drink product made by a British man, but who really knows for sure.....

http://pussybythecase.com/ 

And last but not least, you know how I love to cook, so I leave you with "11 Ways to Make Food Shaped Like Penises!"  This goes through everything from penis shaped eggs to start your morning out right to Penis pasta, to children's cakes made from phallic shaped cake pans, and of course the fully effective penis jello shots!  Enjoy! 

11-ways-to-make-foods-shaped-like-penises