Now, with these firmly implanted in my brain, it seems only right that I add to the list.. but which show?  Both BusyMom and Liz so properly pointed out about how creepy in retrospect some of these shows were that we so loved as kids… and I had two of them bounding around in my head (well, actually much more than 2, but two “finalists”) and ultimately I could not decide… So I will leave it to you to tell me, which of these is the creepier of shows…

Entrant One:  The Banana Splits

Entrant 2: The Banana Splits

So… creepy or what?  What show do you remember fondly, but looking back on it… think… “that was just a bit creepy?”

Well, I can not hide the fact (especially since I mentioned it last week) that I was really looking forward to seeing the latest Pixar Studio creation, Wall-E. This is of course, a double edge sword. On the one hand (and I have no problem admitting it), I am a Pixar fan. They have completely redone animation, and made it not about creating a cartoon, but about using the animated medium to tell real stories, with solid plotlines (much to the chagrin of some that can’t seem to get past the fact that the story is animated and I guess would prefer a mindless slapstick piece instead.)

On the other hand with high expectations, comes the potential for a monumental disappointment. I mean, Pixar hasn’t thrown a clunker (in my opinion) since A Bug’s Life.

So, this weekend I piled the family into the car and we headed off to see the latest installment.  The one thing that concerned me, and I did not fill in TheWife and LatteGirl in on ahead of time, was that the first 1/2 hour or so of the film has absolutely no dialog, and I wasn’t sure how this would play out.   We also had the issue that LatteGirl was uncertain about going to see this movie.  Her friends had already tagged this a “boys film” because it deals with space and robots.  So, she was leery to begin with, and was the complete opposite of my “highly anticipated” vantage point, and I thought would or could pose an interesting alternate views of the movie.

I won’t hold out any longer to let you know.. I loved this movie.  Pixar once again showed, that not only are they masters at animation, they are excellent story tellers.  But what did the skeptical 8 year old think?  She loved it even more than I did.  How much?  Well, before we actually got home from the theater, she asked if we could go see it again next week, and even offered to use her birthday money to pay for everyone to go again.

It really didn’t take long for me to get past my original complaint about how Wall-E looked like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit.  I completely forgot about it very quickly and just saw the new character.  The graphics in this film looked a bit more… I don’t know… “cartoony” than some other Pixar films, but that was probably a conscience decision as it really fit the scenery and futuristic theme and feel of the movie quite well.

There were some message’s in this film that people who are so dead set against having a clean planet that any message along those lines is a battle cry of  “subversive,” “anti-consumer,” “anti-corporation” and other such non-sense.  It is true, there is certainly a stance being shown, how we need to care for our planet and care for ourselves.  But, only if you are so hell bent on being “anti-human” does it really affect your movie experience.  (I could go on about this for some time, but this is about the movie, so I will stop here on this particular matter… for now)

I am not going to try and break this film down.  One, I never do “spoilers” and two, there is just no way (without the spoilers) I could do this any justice, other than to say this.  For those with “boys”  (I put that in quotes, because I am sure there are some girls that enjoy this stuff as well) there is space and robots and slap-stick comedy.  For the “girls,” there is the pre-adolescent sort of “chick flick” love story angle.  For everybody, there is a good time to be had.  Load up the family and take ‘em all to see Wall-E.

BabyPlays – I heard this described as the “Netflix of Baby Toys.” I dunno, to me this sounds like an idea that would have (and perhaps should have) come (and more importantly GONE) during the dotBomb era of bad business plans. Let you child play with toys that come in the mail, play with them, then send them back and get new toys. Oh sure, at a marketing meeting this sounds great, it is a great pitch story. Keeps parents from having too many toys around the house, and reduces clutter, of toys that have a limited life in a child’s world. Marketing. But it starts to fall apart in practice as I see it, especially with infant and small child toys where you would think this makes the most sense.

Toys from small kids are generally soft and contain lots of foam. It doesn’t take much to immediately think about every child that has drooled, chewed and spit up on that toy before it arrives in your mailbox. Of course the company says that they sanitize the toys, but how becomes the big issue. Too little santizing, the surface is clean but everything that is caught in the foam remains behind only to be reconstituted when your child’s wet drooling mouth comes in contact with it. Too much santizing and the foam breaks down, and the toy rendered less that appealing. $36/month gets you 4 toys per month (and plans go up from there). I don’t know about you, but with a minimum plan of 3 months or $108 total, I can get an awful lot of toys (especially baby toys) for that price. Again, I guess there is a market of some sort for this type of service, but the thought of rental toys just doesn’t work for me.

Scan-It Operation Checkpoint Toy XRay – Sure there are toys for kids that want to play doctor, be a veternarian, or be a princess, or a knight.   You can be a fireman (excuse me fire person), you can pretend to be many great things.  But up until now, if your child’s imagination had them in a place where they wanted to be an underpaid screener at the airport, there were no toys for them to simulate this career path… until now.  The Scan-It Operation Checkpoint allows you child to check for metal in their toys as the Scan-It will beep when metal passes through.  Who knows, perhaps with these kinds of toys, in another 10 or 15 years, maybe we will have people at the scanners that can actually do their job, and not slow you down.  But I doubt it.

Photobucket Faux Pas – The photo sharing site Photobucket ran into a heap of trouble with users, when they deleted pictures of diaper clad babies by Good Mama Diapers, as claimed it was because the pictures depicted ‘nudity’  They have since,  backed down and admitted it was their mistake.

Seen a dumb product (or an awesome one) that you think should be highlighted on TechParent (look for the new separate blog coming soon), e-mail it to me at jaymonster at the gmail dot com.

WhatTheyPlay tells you in plain English what the ESRB categories are (for those that don’t already know), and some of the explainations that go along with it, so that you can get enough unbiased information to make your own decision, because honestly, while the ESRB ratings are generally a good guideline, there are some areas that are a bit murky, such as some of the warnings about things like “Alcohol References.”

What exactly does “Alcohol References” mean? After all, you may not want you kids playing a game that glorifies drinking, right? And based solely on the box, with other point of reference, even though the rating may be right, that “Alcohol Reference” may give you pause, because there is no way of knowing. And this is where WhatTheyPlay comes in. Now a couple of examples from the site that I have seen include the games, DiRT a rally game, and Cooking Mama: Cook Off. Both of these games have “Alcohol Reference” listed on the box. But according to the site, DiRT’s only alcohol reference is your passenger mentioning “cracking open the champagne” when you win, and Cooking Mama mentions cooking with wine. Obviously not what most people thing of as “Alcohol References” in a game.

There is also an “Ask GamerDad” column, where you ca read questions and answers from other parents, or you can ask GamerDad a question of your own. The Site not only covers the PS3, Xbox360 and Wii, it also covers the PS2, Gamecube, PC and Macintosh as well as the handheld games like GameBoy Advanced, Nintendo DS, and the Playstation Portable. If you want to find out “What is hot and what is not” go to someplace like 1up.com. But for information to make your own decision on titles you may or may not wish your children to play. Don’t depend on gossip around the water cooler about who got there kids what game, and whether or not it was appropriate, check out WhatTheyPlay.com and get the facts you need to decide for yourself.

While, this came off more like an advertisement than I intended, this is not some PayPerPost type promotion. Matter of fact, there is no advertising here at all from WhatTheyPlay at all. I was just that impressed with the whole idea, it is an excellent tool for parents.

I can make no guaratees as time (as previously mentioned) has been at a premium, but it has been my long standing (and hopefully now coming to fruition) idea to start a Tech Tuesday for Parents. Next Tuesday, I am currently looking at posting some information and doing some research on Blu Ray now that the format war is over. If you have any questions you would like answered, or information on a particular Blu Ray product, drop me a note over at JayMonster and that is at Google’s Gmail with a dot com ending (just let me see a screen scraper try to harvest that!)

Also, tomorrow (Feb 20th), will be the final Lunar Eclipse until December 21, 2010.  It should be fully visible according to Space.com for virtually all of the US (Alaska, Hawaii, and Western Oregon may miss various amounts of the beginning), and Western Europe (although western Europe would have to rise early Thursday morning to see it).  More details can be found at the Luna Eclipse information page on Space.com.

You don’t need a telescope or any special equipment to see these events.  As a matter of fact, since the satellite is in such low orbit, it will probably move across the horizon too fast to really enjoy (or get a good lock on) through the telescope (though it would certainly be fun with the Lunar Eclipse).

There are already of course some worthwhile programs out there like NetNanny, and they are even built in to some Anti-Virus packages these days (I know Symantec has it in their Suite, and I am pretty sure McAfee does as well).  But they all have costs.

For those either economically challenged, or just don’t need another expense (or just want another, possibly better) program, Crawler Parental Control software just might be worth taking a look at.  It does what the other programs do, prevents your children from visiting sites they should not be looking at, and prevents them from installing software (as an option) so that they can’t inadvertently install a virus.

What made me look at this originally was the other additional features that the package had, including ability to schedule time.  You can create pre-set periods of time that the computer can be used, both online and offline.  So, say if you want to limit you child to 1 hour of Web Surfing, but don’t mind if they are on the computer for 2 hours doing homework, you can set that up.  When time expires, they can not access anything any longer (without you entering a password to override it to allow more time).

This program is probably useless for teenagers and older that can find ways to circumvent the application, and there are some bugs and few things that are quirky, but for free it is worth checking out.  I put this on LatteGirl’s computer, and so far have been quite satisfied with the results.

You can see a more complete review of the product at Confessions of a freeware junkie.

Me on the other hand… well… I opted out. Not solely out of fear of another injury (but I will admit it was part… conditions, granular but icy, were just too similar for my comfort.  I may have even had a flashback as I stood there looking up at the mountain.), but also so I could play a supporting role in ensuring that LatteGirl and TheWife’s first trip skiing was a pleasant experience. So, I played pack mule, and arranger, and of course photograher, so all they had to worry about was enjoying themselves. And they did.
I have to admit, by the end of the day, part of me (the part that was fearful earlier) was regretting not getting up the nerve to get back on those skis. The part of me that was exhausted just from trying to ensure everything went right with this excursion however, was glad that I didn’t try to do all of the little things that I had to do and try to ski on top of it.

So how much fun did the two of them have?  Well, let me put it this way.  Next Monday, while I am at work, and they are enjoying a day off (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) they are planning to hit the slopes again without me.  I guess they don’t want me and my nerves dragging down their mood.  But who knows, as enthusiatic as they are about it right now, they just might be able to get me back on the slopes yet.

Go there on Christmas Eve to download a file that will enable you… errrr…  your kids to track Santa’s travels.

Source: Official Google Blog 

How do you properly answer that?  Do you provide a list of items for them to choose from?  And if so, how do you go about finding out what they decide to do?  I mean, how many “lists” can you provide with distinctly different items to avoid overlap?  And then what about items you want to make sure you want to get, you need to know what they are going to do, so you can plan accordingly.  If you go the other way and tell them an item, how do you decide what to tell them?  I don’t want to push somebody into a position for a gift that is more expensive than they intended to spend.

Something so simple, and in actuality probably quite helpful, so it prevents having to return items, or having LatteGirl disappointed when somebody gave her a third copy of the same toy that year, on the other hand, and yet one that drives me insane in coordinating.  How do you handle your gift coordination?

First of all, she asks the question(s),”Is your tot a gamer yet? Ever? Never?” and in there is I think some of the problem. Commenters also played along and went with the same language and theory. However, “gamer” certainly draws a certain connotation to it (whether you believe that connotation is good or bad is wholly dependant on your POV) that I don’t think applies to kids. They play a game. In the case of some games like V.Smile or Leapster, they even LEARN while they are “playing” (not “gaming”).

I think the fear that every kid that knows how to use a computer is going to turn into some sort of computer zombie slayer is quite overblown. If anything, my bet would be that the exact opposite would often play out to be the truth.  Much the same way that kids that are completely denied sugar are the ones that often hit the candy racks the hardest when they are able to do so, the kid that is denied the opportunity to use computers, whether purely for learning, or even for some amount of entertainment, would be the ones that I would be on to become gaming addicts later as they attempt to make up for lost time.   Not to mention the fact that in this day and age, you are putting your child at a distinct disadvantage if you do not introduce them to technology in a society that whether you like it or not is technology driven.

Of course, like everything else, there needs to be limits.  Limits on the amount of time spent on the computer.  Limits to what they are allowed to play or use, and other common sense rules apply here as well as with anything else.  The fact of the matter is, if you keep it age appropriate, at a young age, whether they realize it or not, while they are playing these games they are learning something… colors, numbers, associations… there is learning going on there, interactive, touch and work with it learning.  Even Seasame Street can’t compete with that, let alone anything else that they might happen to watch on the “idiot box.”

Of course, TV has been outed for the most part as not necessarily the best baby sitter in the world, but most parents do employ it as least once in a while in an effort to get something done, or to find a couple of minutes to get in the shower, maybe get dinner ready without somebody hanging at your heels crying “I booooored.”  And to be honest, again if you keep it smart, and within limits I don’t thing there is anything wrong with that.  And “computer time” could simply be used as another way to not only teach but entertain.  Given a choice, I would rather my daughter grab her Reader Rabbit game, or log on to Playhouse Disney and play some games that teach her something that to give in to another hour or even half hour in front of the TV.

In the second grade, this has already paid off dividends for me and LatteGirl.  She had a science project last week (Don’t get me started on already having week long projects in the second grade), where she needed to look up different types of animals and find out facts about them.  With no help (but WITH supervision), she logged into Encarta, pulled up facts on each animal, and even copy and pasted the URL for each animal and pasted it into notepad so she could print out her bibliography.  I don’t know if I tasked TheWife with this project, if she could have completed the reseach any better or any faster than our seven year old.  That is not a knock on TheWife, but it is a telling scenario of just how proficient LatteGirl has gotten at using her PC.

Sure, when we were in school, we had to walk uphill both ways in the snow, get permission from Mrs. Shushman to go and dust off a seventy pound Encycolpedia to do our research.  But those days are gone.  Your not protecting anybody by keeping technology out of your kids hands.  If anything, you may be hurting them.  If they are going to turn into a gamer (not that there is anything wrong with that), they are going to do it whether or not you let them play an interactive game when they are young.  Our society is to technologically advanced to sit back and try and deny it is there.

But I happened across a blog post (I unfortunately forgot where), telling about how cute this movie was.  So, I decided to give it a spin on DVD.  Me, LatteGirl, and a tub of popcorn.  Now I will not kid you and say that this is another Disney Classic.  It isn’t.  It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to anything that has come out of Pixar in terms of storyline or graphics quality.

But what this movie is good for is fun.  (And some people will be happy since it doesn’t use the word “hell”) It carries the moral of the story along without being so blatantly obvious.  The characters are whimsical and likable, the gags are simple enough for kids to get, and solid enough for adults to appreciate.  IN short, I was sort of sad that I didn’t have an opportunity to see it in the theaters… and so was LatteGirl by the time it was over.  Does it NEED the big screen?  No, but some things like the time machine and the dinosaur probably would have been a lot more entertaining in that format.

So what is it about?  Lewis an orphan wants to see what his mother looked like. So he invents a machine that looks through your brain so you can see your memories. But this weird kid says he’s from the future and warns him about a guy in a bowler hat. The bowler hat guy messes with his invention and it fails. He decides that he’s a failure and no one wants him. But the kid that warned him about the guy is here on a mission to find the bowler hat guy that wants to destroy Lewis. To prove he’s from the future he takes lewis to the future. But the time machine breaks and he’s stuck in the future until he fixes it. In the meantime he spends quality time with the family. But the bowler hat guy is about to alter time and it’s up to Lewis to save the future.

Now the first, is the question of is there an age limit for Trick or Treating?  Personally I don’t hold it against older kids to go trick or treating.  I do sort of have my own personal “rules” on it though.  I will usually indulge them less (one piece of candy whereas I tend to give the little ones a bit more since they will not be walking as much, and hence not getting to as many houses), and secondly, I “expect” a costume.  Walking around in your street clothes and carrying a pillow case doesn’t cut it for me.  If you want the spoils of the holiday, you have to at least make an effort.  So do you have an age limit for trick-or-treaters?

The second point was raised, as sort of an aside where Chris ranted “about parents who let their kids run wild on Halloween night with no supervision.”  Now this one I really have to admit struck me as odd.  I guess because my thinking is  virtually opposite.  In a way, I feel sorry for kids today.  When I was a wee lad (granted this was quite some time ago), I think I was six the last time my mother took “the walk” with me to go trick or treating.  After that, she decided it was entirely too much walking, and I was off on my own to go trick or treating from the time I got out of school until dinnertime, and then (when I was a bit older) again for another couple of hours after dinner.

Today, it is so much different.  Going trick ‘o treating after school is a virtually fruitless endevour (at least around these parts) as most people are in work, and even half (or more) of the kids are in some sort of aftercare program.  So the time to gather goodies has become relegated to an after dinner event.  And then after a long day of work, preparing dinner, etc.  a parent has to then waltz their kid around the neighborhood, and they more often (except for the littlest of frolickers) worn out and tired first.  Thus limiting how much time the child has to “make the rounds”

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand WHY parents do it.  I do it as well.  We worked out a bit of a plan, where TheWife takes LatteGirl out first, and I stay at home to give out the candy, and then we switch roles, this ensures we are home for those looking for candy, while allowing LatteGirl to get her fill of Halloween fun without one of us getting too worn out to continue.  But I still feel sad that I don’t feel safe to let her just traipse around the neighborhood on her own.  And if you live in an area where you feel comfortable with that sort of arrangement, I must admit, I am a bit jealous.  Halloween is about candy, but it is also about a bit of mischeif, mindless frolicking about.  And these days, that is completely lost.

Now, since we are all Kim Possible fans here, we are both excited about the marathon and sad at the same time.  The reasons for excitement are obvious of course.  But the sadness stretches in two directions.

The first of course being that at the end of the marathon is the series finale.  It felt like such a long hard battle that was waged to get the fouth season out of Disney, and suddenly it is here and already gone.  There are those that are striving to get a 5th season out of the folks at Disney, however according to rumors  on SaveDisneyShows.org, the creators of Kim Possible are leaving (or have left) Disney World.  So the chances of that happening are slim.

The second reason for sadness?  What brain trust a Disney runs a kids show from Noon to 6 am during the first week (at least around here) of back to school?  I mean do these people not have children?  Do they not know how hard it is to get kids back on a school friendly sleep schedule?  And even if it wasn’t… what KID is going to be watching this throughout the night?  Or are they hoping (as LatteGirl was) that I would just blow away everything on my Tivo in order to record every episode that would be missed?

Kim, I will miss you when you are gone, but just understand when bedtime comes around tonight, I am not going to be your biggest fan.

Well, today LatteGirl returns to school.  Yesterday she was of course lamenting the end of summer vacation as we were going through the checklist of back to school items to pack in her backpack.  So, as we were doing this she complained, “I can’t believe that summer is over already.  I mean, we didn’t even get to do anything yet.”

After retreiving my jaw back off the floor where is landed, I asked her to explain.  Now I should point out that last summer, she went to Day Camp 4 days a week, and Fridays she and TheWife would do something together (usually).  This year however, she requested to go to camp 5 days a week because she felt that she had missed out on so many things that her friends got to do on that day that she wasn’t there.  So, she felt that there were a lot more trips that should have been made.

That being said, this was a rather expensive and busy summer around here.  Since school got out we have made trips to Buskill Falls, Disney World, a couple of trips to the beach, Chestnut Grove Resort in the Poconos, Mountain Creek Waterpark and Six Flags Great Adventure (where we will also be returning this weekend as well).  She has visited Adventure Aquarium, Turtleback Zoo, and the Bronx Zoo.  With camp she has gone swimming at 4 different lakes, been ice skating, bowling, roller skating, and more.

Hell, as we slip into September, I am starting to regret the purchase of the new pool, because between feeling like we were always on our way somewhere, LatteGirl being “all swimmed out” from trips to the lake, and weather that kept the pool a little cooler than we had hoped most of the year, the amount of use pool saw this year was nominal.  I spent more time keeping the pool clean than anybody spent actually in the pool.

Now I know that when back to school time arrives, no kid is happy about it, and summer always is “too fast” and the knee jerk reaction is to say they did “nut in’” all summer.  But park of me is thinking, if she felt she was bored this year.  I better get a second job to start paying for next year, because what the heck are we going to do for an encore to try and improve on this summer?

But that has never stopped me before, particularly when I like something. And I have to say that we all loved Ratatouille.  It is proof positive to me that Disney made the right decision with the acquisition of Pixar.  It can be tiring and seem almost contrite after a while to constantly keep saying that Pixar, yet again raises the bar of animated films, and yet they seem to continue to do so.

The characters  are as well developed (if not more so) than in just about any recent “live” film.  The imagery of Paris almost makes me want to visit there someday (almost), and while you never leave the animated world, you can almost at times forget that you are watching an animated film.

The storyline is complex enough to keep the adults entertained, and simple enough to keep the children fixated for the entire time (though I am sure there are some things they do not quite get, much like we didn’t see all the double meaning in the cartoons we used to watch as kids, it was not so confusing as to distract kids or make them ask a lot of questions).

It is not often that I feel that a film is a must see in theaters, but with some of the scenery and action sequences in the film, I believe you would be missing out if you simply waited for the DVD.

Load up the family and take ‘em out for a serving of Ratatouille.

As it turns out, I didn’t have to worry about the little one getting hooked on the Pins. Nope, she wasn’t interested in the least. I however got reeled in hook, line and sinker. I actually did very little trading, but started looking through, and buying various pins at all of the parks, as well as the Downtown Disney marketplace.

I started off solely with Lilo & Stitch pins, but TheWife and LatteGirl decided I needed to expand a bit, and purchased a couple of pins for me for Father’s Day from Cars as well as High School Musical.

As hobbies go, it is not a bad one. And since the pins are small, they are easy to collect without needing to take up a lot of space. Heck, you could collect several hundred and not need any more space than you would need for a photo album.  I suspect that this is the reason TheWife did not mind me getting hooked on this as a hobby, it is one that can be kept “out of her sight” and not have to worry about shelf space for.

However, at $7 to $14 for the majority of the pins, the cost can spiral up real quickly if you aren’t careful.  Don’t say you weren’t warned.

I mean she once she got over her initial fear of reading (which was more about fear of not reading “perfectly”) she has enjoyed reading, even things that are a bit tough for her. But she would tire with a story easily. She is just eating this up, and I have to force her to put it down to go to sleep.

These are great little “chapter books” that have far more story and detail than the basic children’s books we have had up until now, but not so hard or complicated as to confuse or cause a loss of interest.  I see a lot more Junie B in our future.

So, why the big secret?  I’m sure some of you have run across these books before, right?  If not, what is (or did) you child read once they started to get beyond the single chapter books?

So when an article appeared recently in Good Housekeeping (shut up, my wife showed it to me) about the dangers of CCA Lumber, I was disappointed in myself for not knowing about this. However, in researching it further now, I have noticed something that I consider not only disturbing but downright wrong. Yes, I can find some information out there. Some of it actually fairly old, including this excellent article from Parents’ Press, that give a broad overview of the problem, focusing primarily on children’s wooden playsets. Although they do not go much further than repeating the EPA’s suggestion of make sure your children wash their hands after exposure, and to retreat the wood. Which is of course correct, but really de-emphasizes the problems and risks involved, and seems to take them too lightly.

Let me go back a bit for those that like me, may have been a bit lacking on information on this. CCA treated lumber (known as Chromated Copper Arsenate or “Pressure Treated” Lumber) up until 2003, was treated with a chemical compound of Chromium Copper and Arsenic (the phase out began at the end of 2003, but already existing lumber, playsets, etc were allowed to continue to be sold well into 2004 and beyond). CCA lumber is identifiable by its green (when new) or dull gray (older) coloring. When you see green coloring leeching out of the wood (as you can see at the bottom of the fence post in the picture), that is the toxic compound leeching out of the wood. Despite the deal between the EPA and the lumber industry that ultimately led to the “voluntary” removal of CCA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission REFUSED to ban the sale of CCA treated playsets. Of course these are the same people that did not think lead in children’s lunch boxes was a big deal.

This lumber, besides being the lumber that makes up wooden swingsets and playsets. It is also the foundation of many backyard fences and outdoor decks, and picnic tables. Now I am not saying that if you have any of these things that you need to throw them out or replace them immediately. But if you are going to use them and allow your child to play and or eat on or near these things, please make sure you have treated them with penetrating stains. Not paints, not top coatings, but penetrating stains (One that comes to mind is Thompson’s Water Sealer and Stain, but I am not advocating any particular brand, so long as it is the type that penetrates and seals the wood to keep the toxic compounds in the wood). Previously it had been suggested you usually only needed to do this “every few years”, but to be safe should probably be done annually. Understand Arsenic can be absorbed through the skin, inhaled or ingested. One-tenth of a gram accumulated over a two month period can produce death, and arsenic is carcinogenic at much lower levels.

To make this story even a bit more disconcerting that it already is, while reading up on this, I found two more stories that made the situation potentially worse. The first being that, while most of the focus on CCA lumber has been focused on the arsenic, it turns out the chromium may also cause lung cancer. And worse that that, the chromium industry knew and withheld that information. The second adds something else to the list to worry about. It seems that many mulches, used to decorate your landscaping, since it is usually made from recycled lumber is also showing a problem of Arsenic Leaching.

You would think that a something this significant wold have garnered much more attention than it has up until now, and probably would have if the CPSC was doing their job of protecting consumers. But in the meantime, if you have some of this wood used in your yard or around your house, please take the time to ensure it is sealed.

Update: As one commenter pointed out, there is an excellent gathering of information available at http://www.bancca.org, which has quite a list of information and articles (including mainstream media articles and news stories on it), and some awful stories of people that were victims of CCA poisoning.

Update II: Check out Ten safety steps to reduce your family’s exposure to arsenic from arsenic-treated wood. (Hat Tip to Dr. Lynne Eldridge M.D. author of “Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time”)

For example I stubled across this site while looking for information on creating a bird feeder out of an old milk container.  (The “science projects” this year my daughters first grade class has to be done by “recycling” a used product to a new use).  It is a great website to make enviromental issues and concerns interesting for kids.