The Evil Plan That Backfired: China Fears Baby Bust

Disastrous. So now Beijing is begging women to have babies. Who could have guessed that its cruel one-child policy of social engineering would have resulted in chaos, misery, human rights abuses, and now a feared "demographic time bomb"?  Who indeed, except anybody with any sense at all.

China to End One-Child Policy

Well, good, because it was a stupid, evil, destructive policy in both the short and long term that has caused untold amounts of human misery and social damage.

Mamma Mia! 30 Best Fictional Parents

Atticus Finch et al!

Haters Gonna Hate, Plus Your Quote of the Day

Hey, remember the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter campaign? 14,000 more people have joined since my post, and everyone's getting really pumped! 

So of course this must bring out the haters.  Now usually I wouldn't bother linking to their stuff, but I can't resist noting this ignorant, misleading, borderline slanderous, and egregiously terrible (and terribly written) nonsense that appeared in the WaPo because - for once in Internet history - the comments are worth reading.

Hey, if you're going to dump on Reading Rainbow, you better get ready for pushback from Reading Rainbow fans who - because they love reading - will be able to write some articulate, truly sharp zingers in response.

My favorite comment is also my pick for the quote of the day:

Stephen4315/28/2014 7:44 PM EDT 

Levar could spend my pledge on cocaine & hookers for all I care. The guy helped teach me a lifelong love of reading, and I owe him back for that.   

However, I really don't expect he'll spend it all on cocaine & hookers. I expect that given the amount of time he's pledged to record video messages and to visit school assemblies for elementary school kids, he'll be doing exactly what he said he'll do. I hope he makes a profit. I hope he makes a billion dollars teaching kids to love reading. I hope this kicks off a gold-rush/tech-boom/real-estate-bubble where people are getting rich teaching kids worthwhile and mind expanding activities.  

Either way, our pledge is getting us an autographed copy of his new children's book which I intend to read to our first child, due this fall. I'm happy knowing Reading Rainbow will exist in his world.

Disgustingly Cute: Baby's First LOL

Disgustingly Cute: The Littlest Fashionista

Did you have this much style when you were 4 years old?

Nerd Notes: 3 Thoughts About Education

Take a look:

1. The high school achievements arms race
2. Kindergarten done horribly wrong
3. "My students don't know how to have a conversation."

Perverse Consequences and China's One-Child Policy

The entire policy is a barbarous atrocity.  

I Would Have Totally Named Him "Higgs." Or "Hadron."

I'm not even kidding.  Here's a snapshot of the proud papa.  Congrats!

Nerd News: Idiotic Opinion Is Idiotic

This opinion is aggressively stupid.  James Taranto explains why.  You know, I'm getting sick of people mouthing off about public education and being self-righteous, bullying idiots about it.  This latest ... effluence reminds me of how pretty-faced Hollywood numbskull Matt Damon went on and on about how we need to support public schools and then promptly (of course) put his own kids in some posh private school (quelle surprise).

Disgustingly Cute: Musical Dad

Massive Tantrum Interrupts Kindergarten Graduation

What makes this news is the fact that it was a temper tantrum thrown by parents.  8 adults were arrested and charged with inciting a riot.  Bonus stupidity: the altercation apparently began over some spilled punch.  Way to set an example for the little ones, you idiots!

Headline of the Day: Latest "Zero Tolerance" Idiocy

Here's the (gratifyingly snarky) headline: "6-year-old has Lego-sized toy gun on bus, everyone loses their minds."

You may recall my previous post about this sort of nonsense.

Mommie Dearest: Holiday Fun

It's Mother's Day, the holiday that raises mommy issues and familial guilt to a commercialized art form!  I have to say, though, that there's only so much I can take of seeing saccharine-sweet greeting cards, pastel bouquets, and recipes for "breakfast in bed."  (Of course, I'm a childless unmarried monster, so what do I know?  There's no holiday for us, haha.)

Anyway, since mom-child relationships are almost certainly a little conflicted, here's some hilarious perspective.  As complicated as those ties might be, they could have been a lot worse (language warning for one clip):

The Worst Movie Moms Ever from Flavorwire on Vimeo.

Disgustingly Cute: I've Got You Covered

Take a look at this charming photo of two Indonesian schoolboys and their makeshift umbrella, a giant banana leaf. Look at those smiles!  Click image for full cuteness.

Headline of the Day: "It's a Crime for 12-Year-Olds to Read The New York Times Online"

Seriously.  Oh, there's a crime here all right. It's called felony stupidity.

Kids and Toys: A Global Tour

Take a look at this intriguing collection of photos from around the world.  Goodness, doesn't it make you think back to your favorite toys when you were little?  I remember loving teddy bears but not really liking Barbie dolls.

Forgotten History: the Canadian Candy Bar Strike of 1947

Children's crusade.

Beijingoism for Babies: Chinese Nationalist Indoctrination and a Tale of Two Little Cousins

One encounter as an example of a much bigger problem.  As I recently had to explain to a student, racism, prejudice, nationalistic chauvinism, general tribalistic hostility to "the Other," and cynical state-sponsored scapegoating of people are by no means character flaws confined to the West (i.e., let's be honest, "white people"). I should point out too that while Beijing might get its kicks whipping up anti-Japanese hatred, it is clearly playing with fire.

Hello Kitty Monstrosity of the Day: 5-Year-Old Girl Criminal

I yield to nobody in my hatred of the mouthless cartoon cat, but this news item is insane.  The monstrosity this time isn't a Hello Kitty-themed object but the behavior of "adults" who should know better.  Headline: "Pennsylvania kindergartener uses Hello Kitty bubble-gun at school, suspended for 'terrorist threat.'"  

A threat? It's a pink plastic toy that makes soap bubbles, for goodness sake!  The little girl's parents are considering a lawsuit.