Strollerderby : forbes

Suri Cruise: Most Powerful Child On The Planet

Brett Singer — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:10:00 GMT

This is such an odd piece of news.

Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom "Who Needs Doctors When You Can Take Vitamins" Cruise and Katie "Is She Being Held Prisoner" Holmes has been declared "most influential celebrity kid". Now what is the source of this important ranking? Us Magazine perhaps? The National Enquirer?

No. Forbes magazine. Malcolm must be spinning in his grave.

What method did they use? According to MyHollywood.com, "financial investigators studied Internet presence and press clippings for more than 50 A-list offspring aged five years younger over the course of the last year…used a market research company to gauge the awareness of the kids and consumer-appeal of their celebrity parents." Suri won, with appearances in "more than 2,000 articles over the course of the year."

Here's the top ten if you're curious:

1. Suri Cruise
2. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt
3. Zahara Jolie-Pitt
4. Pax Jolie-Pitt
5. Sam Alexis Woods
6. Cruz Beckham
7. Matilda Rose Ledger
8. David Banda
9. Sean Preston Federline
10. Sam Sheen

By the way, I had to look up Sam Sheen (that's the offspring of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen). So I feel slightly better about myself.

I have a thought. Why would a celebrity parent want their child to get this much exposure? Is it at all possible to keep kids out of the papers when you're this famous? In the case of a Suri Cruise or any of the Jolie-Pitts, wouldn't it be safer to lay low a little bit? Or does it matter in the age of social networking, photo sharing, and MyFaceSpaceBook?

Plus, this idea of "influential" seems questionable. Would you buy something because Suri Cruise endorsed it?

She is a cute little girl though. Maybe she could do Gap ads or something.

Last thought: How would you handle this sort of thing if you were mega-famous? I'm not sure what I would do, although it's not likely to be a problem in my life. My movie career began and ended when I auditioned for "Adventures in Babysitting" in the 80's.

Source/Images: MyHollywood, Famecrawler

Matt Lauer Talks To Sarah Palin In The Kitchen

World Famous Atheist To Write Children's Book

How do we love Michelle Obama? Let us count the ways!

Rocco Ritchie wears Yankee shirt, Guy Ritchie weeps

Top Hollywood Tot: Miss Suri Cruise

Disney Pulls Hannah Montana Diabetes Episode

Comedians From The Past Weigh In On The First Black President

Do You Live in America's Best Place to Raise a Family?

Jen Chaney — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:33:00 GMT

If you live in Hamilton County, Ind., then the answer to that question is yes, at least according to Forbes Magazine. Forbes recently releas ed its list of the best places to raise a family, another of those classic magazine rankings destined to either make you angry (how could my alma mater not be on the U.S. News list of best colleges?) or unjustifiably proud (my high school made the Newsweek list!).

As you look at the various counties that landed in the Forbes top 20 -- including Marin County, Calif., Howard County, Md., and Johnson County, Kan. -- you might wonder how, exactly, the magazine's editors decided which places deserved such high marks. Schools were a major factor, in terms of the quality of the districts, graduation rates and SAT scores. (Any place where the average scores fell below 1,050 was eliminated.) Among the other factors considered: cost of living, home prices, crime rate, air quality and commuting time.

Of course, there are plenty of other issues that, for me, contribute to the quality of life for families, including access to top medical care, the presence of arts and cultural opportunities and ethnic diversity. That's why lists like these, while fun to read, don't really reflect everything that makes a city or county a wonderful place to live.

In other words, if your home isn't on the list, don't feel like you're raising your kids in Craptown, USA.

P.S. If you do happen to live in one of the places mentioned on the Forbes list, by all means, feel free to gloat unjustifiably) in the comments below.

Image: Forbes.com

Fear of plastic + timing = big bucks

Brett Singer — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Interesting article over on Forbes.com about the BornFree people. Turns out they not only make the bottles, they help make sure that people know how dangerous the BPA-filled versions are.

Apparently, when BornFree began back in 2006, very few people cared about BPA. So what does a dadpreneur (that's a dad entepreneur – see how dumb it sounds?) do? Make sure that everyone knows how bad plastic is. According to Forbes, BornFree's President Ron Vigdor "sometimes exaggerates when comparing bisphenol A-free bottles to polycarbonate versions. 'One is with arsenic, one without. Which one would you like to buy?'"

So what's wrong with that?

It makes me wonder how many supposedly dangerous things are the result of hype rather than fact. I'm not saying BPA-free bottles are a bad thing, or that Bisphenol-A isn't harmful. I have no idea. I'm not taking a side, and if people would rather use BPA-free bottles, I think it's great that they have the opportunity to do so. But think about it this way: if you have a product that you think meets a need, and nobody seems to care, how far do you go to create that need? Are you doing the world a favor or just making a quick buck? Or both? Does anyone have a problem with that? How many question marks can I use in a single post?

image: Amazon.com

Strollerderby : forbes

Suri Cruise: Most Powerful Child On The Planet

Alex Rodriguez Writing Love Poems To Madonna

Matt Lauer Talks To Sarah Palin In The Kitchen

World Famous Atheist To Write Children's Book

How do we love Michelle Obama? Let us count the ways!

Rocco Ritchie wears Yankee shirt, Guy Ritchie weeps

Top Hollywood Tot: Miss Suri Cruise

Disney Pulls Hannah Montana Diabetes Episode

Comedians From The Past Weigh In On The First Black President

Do You Live in America's Best Place to Raise a Family?

Fear of plastic + timing = big bucks

They Say: 40 Percent of Babies Need More Vitamin D

Words Have Many Meanings, Part 2

Lingo-watch: Manimony

BPA-Free? Not So Much

Wee*Go's Soft-Shelled Glass Bottle Defies Toxins, Breakage Alike

A Cheap* Plastic Cup That Won't Kill or Maim You