The Silent I Speaks

Staples Presents: Fun With Personal Security!

I mentioned previously that I went to an event for bloggers sponsored by the nice people at Staples, featuring Bill Stanton, Today Show personality and security expert. I've been meaning to share the information that we learned there, but have been caught up with all the political stuff going on got distracted.

It was a fun event, and I enjoyed getting to hang out with some of my favorite bloggers, like CityMama, TechMama, Bad Kitty, Momma to LG, and Not Just A Working Mom.  Some of us carpooled up together, and it was great to catch up.  I also met some new people, like Lesley of Your TV 20.

I went in expecting something on tightening up your on-line identity, but the talk was much more focused on personal security and identity theft.  Bill gave some good tips on protecting your home and property, and illustrated it with stories of staged crimes that he had set up on the Today Show and Dateline to see how people react. He has staged burglaries in the middle of the day, child abductions, and other crimes and amazingly, no one really batted an eyelash to help.  This isn't news exactly, but still makes you wonder what you would do in this situation.  I think most people are concerned that if they get involved, they might get injured themselves or something might happen to their kids.  I'd like to think that if I saw a child being harmed in someway, I'd step in.

Zula Patrol: Science for Kids

I received a copy of The Zula Patrol:  Explore Space DVD from my friends at Parent Bloggers Network  to review.  I hadn't actually heard of this show before the DVD arrived, but since we love all things science-y in our house, I thought we'd give it a whirl.

I sat down last night with the house expert on TV shows for kids, Alex, who at seven has quite a discerning palate for television.  He first harumphed that he didn't like this show because it was Rated G, which meant it was "for babies." 

"I like PG," he stated very matter-of-factly.  I told him he needed to just keep on watching and ignore the fact that it was rated G.

The show features a cast of fanciful CGI images that are round, smooth, and non-threatening aliens, and a host of talking planets.  The one bad guy is more comical than scary, so I don't think this would frighten smaller kids. They intersperse lessons on science (in this case, space) with little cartoon vignettes. The lesson in the first one was an explaination of how the moon reflects light on the earth.  Each segment is followed by a "Multo Moment," which is a review quiz on what was learned at the begining."

I learned a couple of things that I didn't know about the solar system from the show.  For example, did you know that Jupiter has 11 moons?  One of them, Io, has the most active volcanoes in the solar system.  Did you know that the moons of Mars are not round, but sort of lumpy, like potatoes?  I thought that was cool.

My critic-in-training was not as impressed.  Alex said,  "That orange alien is always trying to be Mr. Smartypants.  I don't like the talking planets."

On the plus side, Alex did remark at the end, "I like these shows on the DVD more than the ones I saw on TV.   I like that you get to learn stuff.  I learned about the planets, Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter, Mars, Earth.  OK, Pluto is not a planet, but maybe it will be in the future."

Maybe they should explain that Pluto is not going to grow up to be a planet someday.  Otherwise, I'd say the show was a hit, even for a jaded seven year old.