When you were in school, how often did you miss classes? If you were anything like me, you would probably have had a couple of weeks or so missed every school year. But dig this, Stefanie Zaner is only 18 years old but she is going on her 2,340th straight day of public school!

This girl has been dubbed the Iron Kid as in her 13 years of going to school, she has never once been absent. She has not gone missing due to a cold, a fever, or any other ailment. Neither has she been absent for a vacation, a trip, or anything else! Well, she went on a school trip to Shanghai for her marching band but prior to that, she got a written letter from the principal that the trip would not be counted as an absence.

As you may already know, this is quite a feat for any student. Perfect attendance even for a single school year is not that easy to achieve, especially in these days when all sorts of viruses and illnesses abound.

So what factors contributed to Stefanie’s excellent performance? For one, she said that she never really intended on making this record. It just sort of happened. I guess she has Darnestown Elementary School principal, Larry Chep, to thank as he gave out awards to those who had perfect attendance for each school year. This got Stefanie started out.

And mind you, all these years, she was not only present in school but she has gotten straight As as well!

Everyone loves Coke, or at least a ginormous number of people do. That, however, does not exempt the company from being reprimanded for less than honest ads, at least in the eyes of the advertising watchdogs in Australia. Last year, the soda giant ran an advertising campaign dubbed Motherhood & Myth-Busting. The main idea of the campaign was to promote Coca-cola as being safe for children. The claims include the ideas that Coke will not make children fat, and that it would not cause one’s teeth to rot – common concerns for children. The company even got popular Australian actress Kerry Armstrong to be its spokesperson.

This did not sit well with the consumer watchdogs, however, and the main governing body has commanded Coke to correct its advertisement. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which is tasked with watching over cases like these, has declared that Coke should do something about it claims. According to Chairman Graeme Samuel, “Coke’s messages were totally unacceptable, creating an impression which is likely to mislead that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay.” He went on to say that “They also had the potential to mislead parents about the potential consequences of consuming Coca-Cola.”

While the Commission does have a point, I dare ask this question: What kind of parent will totally believe that drinking soda all the time is good for his or her child? Interestingly enough, Coke has agreed to publish corrective statements regarding their campaign. I guess there is no excuse for any parent to rely on Coke as his or her child’s refreshment of choice!

News about the woman giving birth to octuplets made the headlines about a week ago. Since then, people have been giving their own points of view regarding the matter. There have been supportive people while there have been people who criticized the woman for choosing be artificially inseminated with so many babies at once – especially since she already has 6 children. No matter how much noise was made about the multiple births, the mother kept mum for a while.

Now, she has come out into the open and spoken her piece. Nadya Suleman, the mother of 8 newborns and 6 other children, was interviewed today by Ann Curry of NBC. In the interview, she acknowledged that she had 6 embryos implanted – more than the standard recommendations of the fertility industry. However, she said that she was aware that multiple births were a possibility and that she wanted them all.

Nadya, together with the medical professionals involved, has been severely criticized for her decision. This is taking into consideration the fact that she is a single mother and unemployed at that. She stands by her decision however, and said that it has always been her dream to have a HUGE family, being an only child. She also said that her childhood was pretty dysfunctional and that she has always wanted to become a mom.

Octuplets being born – and living this long – are very very rare. In fact, multiple births are considered a rarity and usually attract a lot of attention, including sponsorships.

Photo courtesy of www.blahmerica.com/

14-year-old Gets The Best Of Chicago CopsPicture this. A 14-year-old boy walks into a police station in Chicago wearing a cop get up. He not only was not found out to be what he really was, he also managed to get an assignment – to patrol in a squad car for a whole 5 hours! It was not till the end of this period that he was found out to be a boy and not a cop.

So how was his real identity discovered? At the end of his “shift,” some officers noticed that the boy’s uniform lacked a star. Apparently, this star comes with the regulation police uniform. One thing led to another and the disguise was uncovered.

What happens to the boy now? He has been charged with impersonating a police officer – something that is as grave as grave can be, we all know that. However, since he is only 14 years old, he was charged as a juvenile and his name has not been released as well.

What do police officers have to say about the whole thing? First, that they are conducting an investigation as it is a serious security breach (Heck, yeah! A 14-year-old being able to pose as a police officer, you think?). Second, that the boy did it because he has aspirations of being a police officer and not because of malicious intent (I wonder, will he still have the chance of becoming a real one?).

At the end of the day, the responsibility falls back in the cops’ court – they have to make sure that they have proper authentication procedures in place.

Talk about having belated Christmas presents – not only multiplied twice but five times! First time parents Jamie and Kevin Ferrante gazed upon their first child, or rather, first children when the mother gave birth to the quintuplets on Saturday at the Staten Island University Hospital.

The Associated Press has this report:

The babies — all delivered within 6 minutes by Caesarean section — ranged in weight from 1 pound, 8 ounces, to about 2 pounds, 4 ounces, the newspaper said. It gave their names as Allesia Louise, Amanda Frances, Ella Lilliana, Emily Ann and Matthew Sabatino.

Saturday’s quintuplet birth was a first for the Staten Island hospital, Preston said.

As you may already know, giving birth to quintuplets is not that common of an occurrence. Looking at those statistics presented above, isn’t it beyond amazing how many quintuplet births have occurred in this year alone? Think about it – I don’t think that I even know someone personally who has had triplets, much less quintuplets. One thing I know for sure – the family of these children are going to have a big celebration for the New Year and for many years to come.

Who would name his kid Adolf Hitler? Heath and Deborah Campbell of Hunterdon County, New Jersey would – and did. Their son, Adolf Hitler Campbell, celebrated his 3rd birthday and his mom ordered a birthday cake from ShopRite for the event. Everything was routine and going on well until the ShopRite employee asked the mother to spell out the name to be inscribed on the cake. The employee then called her supervisor, who informed Mrs. Campbell that they had to deny her request.

The supermarket, by way of spokeswoman Karen Meleta states “We reserve the right not to print anything on the cake that we deem to be inappropriate. We considered this inappropriate.” Apparently, the parents have made the same request two years in a row and have been denied as well.

This incident has been much publicized and has gotten a lot of attention, especially on the Internet. What does the father have to say about the whole thing? USA Today writes:

Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because “no one else in the world would have that name.”

“Say he grows up and hangs out with black people. That’s fine, I don’t really care,” he said. “That’s his choice.”

Oh, they eventually got him a cake – from Wal-mart, no less.

Without wanting to turn this blog into a National Enquirer of sorts, I just had to share this story about Sharon Stone, in which a judge denies her custody of her 8-year-old son Roan.

Its a terrible thing for any parent, but the things that this legal document speak of, make the old Shazza look very Joan Crawford-esque indeed. Of course she later denied the allegations of wanting to get botox injections for her son’s feet because they were smelly, but the damage was done (who wouldn’t be afraid to leave any child with this woman?), and the judge ruled that Roan stay with his dad, Phil Bronstein, in San Fransisco, and not in L.A. as Sharon wished.

The document, known as the Tentative Statement of Decision, was obtained by TMZ, and said:

“Mother appears to overreact to many medical issues involving Roan…..

Despite his young age, Ms Stone’s alleged over-reactions were “painfully real” to the boy….

….Another example of an overreaction is that Mother suggested that Roan should have Botox injections in his feet to resolve a problem he had with foot odour……As Father appropriately noted, the simple and common sense approach of making sure Roan wore socks with his shoes and used foot deodorant corrected the odour problem without the need for any invasive procedure on this young child.”

…..Father has championed for Roan’s well-being out of, what appears to this court, nothing less than the unconditional love for his son.

……Unfortunately, and for unexplained reasons, it appears that Mother did not involve herself to the extent she could or should have in this process … Mother has attempted to put up roadblocks to Roan’s getting help, or has decided against participating in his care.”

But for me, the clincher was this:

“If Mother has, in fact, limited her career to make herself available for Roan, she has done little to make this evident to Roan, his school or this court.”

Sharon has 2 more adopted kids, I wonder how they’re doing?

As much as I love Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, am an advocate of breastfeeding, and staunchly oppose animal abuse, I was quite stupefied when I saw an article on the Associated Press about the animal rights advocacy group PETA, asking the ice cream kings to use breast milk to replace cow in producing their ice cream.

Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of PETA, argued the dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies and obesity, saying:

“If Ben and Jerry’s replaced the cow’s milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers — and cows — would reap the benefits”

Ashley Byrne, a campaign coordinator for PETA added:

“We’re aware this idea is somewhat absurd, and that putting it into practice is a stretch. At the time same, it’s pretty absurd for us to be drinking the milk of cows…”

Its not surprising that the folks at Ben and Jerry’s responded without much enthusiasm. I just can’t help feeling that the PETA people are not doing a favour for themselves or their worthy cause by making statements like this. You don’t need to do a nationwide poll to find out what people (aside from babies) will think of this – and thats creepy, I’m afraid.

Whether or not its absurd for humans to be drinking the milk of cows is not really the issue. Its what generations of us have been used to. Besides, what I find more important is the logistical problems it would face – it takes 12 lbs or 1 1/2 gallons of milk to make a gallon of ice cream. When I was nursing, it took at least half an hour to express 6 or 7 oz. Can you imagine how long poor Mothers would have to be strapped to pumping machines just to meet the demand? Thats an even scarier thought.

It has been routine to find the morning paper at the doorsteps and bring it in to the house while breakfast meals are being prepared. First thing that people would check out is of course the front page, usually focusing on current events locally and the world. It is important for people to know what is going on in the world today mainly because it affects everyone today. The impact that published news provide is really something that will surely gather various reactions and opinions for current events and issues.

The relevance of such issues does have quite an impact today. News is not something that people can simply shed away and not be aware off. Regardless if they are students, businessmen or house people, the impact is sure to affect each person in their daily manner of living. All matters ranging from politics to economy have a bearing in today�s way of living.

People love to dress up. Its a fact. And its not just kids. Come Halloween, grown-ups and kids alike take to the streets in decked out from the simple to the outrageous, delighting in every moment of day where you can actually get away with dressing up crazy and not being thought of as a loon.

And in the UK the Brits, who adore “fancy dress”, get dressed up for occassions throughout the year, a “tarts and vicars” party proving to be one of the most popular.

But back to the holiday around the corner, which is Halloween. How did this tradition of dressing up in costumes come about? According to the History Channel:

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has European and Celtic roots that go back hundreds of years. In the beginning, it was believed that ghosts came back to the earth and people would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by spirits, people would wear masks so ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits.

Wearing costumes to ask for food or money, popularly known as ?trick-or-treat,? became popular in the 19th Century as Irish immigrants brought their traditions to America. Since then, costumes have ranged from cut-up sheets to elaborate dresses and suits.