Strollerderby : Daily Telegraph

Protesters and journalists arrested in China (video)

Brett Singer — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

While we wonder whether or not the Chinese gymnasts are the age the government says they are, there's some other stuff happening over in China.

First up, British protesters were arrested for unfurling a "Free Tibet" banner (video below):

Second, and perhaps more disturbing, is this video of a British journalist being detained for covering said protest (video below):

But hey, what about that Michael Phelps? He won another medal, right?

Source/image: Daily Telegraph

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Mega-Families Aren't Just for Crazy Americans

Madeline Holler — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:34:00 GMT

Seems the Duggars, that RV-driving Christian family with 17+kids, aren't the only ones who can't -- and won't -- stop having babies. Enter, the Watsons and their mother of 13 who is, again, pregnant.

What's interesting to note is that the Watsons aren't American. They're British. I guess the U.S. doesn't have a monopoly on extreme family (non-)planning.

The Watsons children range in age from 19 to 7 months old. Ten of the kids are girls.

This Daily Mail article spends quite a bit of time celebrating the fact that Joanne, 37, slipped right back in to her size 0 jeans just five days after her most recent birth. Well, then, she's clearly qualified to have lots of kids.

Not only does the mother of this mega-family wear jeans (as opposed to Mrs. Duggar's prairie dresses), she allows for a variety of initials for her children's names (you'll recall, the Duggars are obsessed with the letter "j").

Here's a rundown of the names:

With ten sisters and three brothers, baby number 14 will have plenty of siblings to play with at the family's four-bedroom home, including Natasha, 19, Bradley, 18, Shanice, 16, Mariah, 13, Georgia,11, Caitlin, nine, Brittany, eight, Febrianne, seven, Charlie, six, Lillyarna, four, Nerilly-Jade, three, and two-year-old Arnie and seven-month-old Tallulah.

Sadly, the couple's fourth baby, Augustina, was born prematurely and died when she was less than a day old.

I always think families with four kids are ginormous. The Watsons and Duggars must just laugh at people like me.

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Photo: DailyMail.co.uk

Not So Hot - Male Strip Tease Teach Suspended

Brett Singer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

If you heard that a teacher did a strip tease in front of their class, you probably would think of a Van Halen-esque scene ("I got my pencil -- give me something to write on." Ah, the 80's.) At least that's what I would think of.

But, once again, I would be wrong. An English teacher at the Sudbury Upper School in the U.K. was trying to get his students to calm down. They wouldn't, so he threatened to take his clothes off. The teacher is not, shall we say, in the best physical condition. When the wild rumpus continued, he made good on his promise, "whipping off his shirt…before flexing his muscles…topless for a few seconds then spending half a minute getting his shirt back on."

A student filmed Mr. Rose Lee (not his real name, I just made that up) with her cellphone and posted the footage to YouTube. Unlike R. Kelly, he was unable to convince anyone that it wasn't him, and was promptly "sacked" as they say in Britain.

Bizarrely, some people actually seem to think this was an extreme punishment. Over at the Daily Mail, one commenter said, "I just think it's sick to take a bloke's job away for that. At least he got the pupils' attention." Another weighed in with, "I suppose this was a bit of fun, he never really hurt anyone, things like this make school life all a bit more fun."

The video is gone from YouTube, but some screenshots survived. For comparison, here is the classic Van Halen "Hot For Teacher" video. Even if the teacher looked more like the Van Halen girl and less like Fatty Arbuckle (actually, he kind of looks like Rob Reiner), I still think a firing isn't exactly unwarranted. Maybe he should hook up with this guy and start a day care center.

images: DailyMail

How to Get Into a Good School: Dunk the Babies

Amy Kuras — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:30:00 GMT

How far would you go to get your kid in the right school? Would you espouse a religion you don’t actually believe in?

Apparently, it's happening in the UK, where lapsed Catholic parents are rushing to get their children baptized so they can enroll in overcrowded state-run Catholic school.

As a formerly-lapsed and now practicing Catholic, I'm of a couple minds about this. On the one hand, I don’t think you should join a church, or anything, if you don’t intend to really participate and make it a part of your life. Catholics consider baptism a sacrament.

On the other hand, what brought me back to the church of my childhood and, a few years later, caused my husband to convert was another life change -- that we were looking to get married in a church.

In my city, Catholic schools are closing all over the place and there is only one Catholic high school left and not very many grade schools. And since parents pay the tuition and bring the students that keep the schools going, local schools don’t ask much of them with regard to their faith other than refraining from jumping up and down yelling "ALL LIES" during religion class. Even ages ago, my best friend from my Catholic school high school wasn't Catholic. So it seems funny that there exists a Catholic school system that tries to screen non-Catholics out.

We serve on our church's baptism preparation team, made up of young families, to help people feel more welcome, make a connection, and maybe decide they want to participate fully in our community. It hasn’t worked as well as we'd hoped, but I'd rather be approaching people in welcoming when they brign their children for baptism, however old they are, and giving them a good impression of the church than holding the door shut until they prove themselves.

The church in the UK is declining, much as it is here, and if it's going to survive we need to be much more open to sort of our founding idea, that we're all equally deserving of love and redemption. Whether you can get your butt out of bed on Sunday morning or not.

What Kind of Helicopter Are You?

Amy Kuras — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:35:00 GMT

It's something we hear all the time –"helicopter parent." While it's mostly used for parents of young adults who just can’t seem to let go already, the traits are seen in parents of little kids as well. I took a music class with my daughter last winter, one of those Mommy and Me type things with lame songs and cutesy dances that little kids just love and parents typically grit their teeth through.

I actually met some cool parents in that class, what with the tooth-gritting factor, but then there was Her. She was nice enough, but would make condescending suggestions to the teacher about how she should run the class to give the kids "a more free-form, creative experience" and continue to sing along and dance enthusiastically well after her daughter had lost interest. Mind you, I am sure she disapproved of me as well as my daughter's favorite use of class time was to run around banging on a drum and shrieking, but still.

I'm sure we've all run into our own versions anytime we've gotten our kids into any sort of group situation. Maybe the heliparent might even be you. I know with my own unpleasant control-freak tendencies, I have to fight with myself to just let her be and do things her own way, even if there are bumps, bruises, or a few precious "enrichment opportunities" lost along the way.

I found this article from the Daily Telegraph in the UK rather funny, for that reason; instead of asking if you are a helicopter parent, it asks what type you are, because let's face it, we all have a little helicopter in us. I'm hoping to grow up to be a traffic helicopter, personally….

Illustration by Steve Brodner for Duke Magazine