Wonder Years....

Danica McKellar, better known as Winnie Cooper on the Wonder Years has come out with a new book entitled, "Math Doesn't Suck". She majored in math at UCLA and envisions girls to continue in the subject. After all the things celebrities talk about these days it's nice to see that she's doing something productive with her status and trying to get girls more interested in a field that continues to be male dominated.

Webkinz

They're everywhere. These little stuffed animals are no longer just stuffed animals, it's a key into a new and fun world for children. When you purchase one of thse stuffed animals, your child has the ability to log on to the child-safe website called webkinz. They can take care of their stuffed animal and buy different things for them, such as plants, furniture, entertainment things, etc. They are able to buy these items by playing somewhat educational games and receiving points they can collect and use. It's like a virtual Chuck E. Cheese for kids. I was so impressed to see this as I babysat a couple weekends ago that I went out and bought one. The site is great, and completely kid-friendly. They do have a chat room, but have a restricted word list, that eliminates any proper names, numbers, and certain words, such as call or even punch. Great site to check out, just take the tour!

Mystery Illness

Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

America Remembers

6 years after 9/11/2001, we still remember this day exactly how it occured. Everyone can remember where they were, who they were with, what they did the entire day. Now, six years later we see on Google trends that out of the top 100 searches, 65 of them deal with 9/11, a remarkable percentage. I am honored and proud to be in a country where we will not let this event go unnoticed.

Oh, Mr. Wagner

It was announced yesterday that the 1909 American Tobacco Company Honus Wagner card was sold for a record $2.8 million. This card is why many of guys my age started collecting in the first place. Sure, we'd get a pack or two for Christmas or our birthday, but the only reason we'd go buy a pack was hoping for the next rare card that would allow us to strike it rich. The incredible thing about this card is that in 1991 it was bought for 490,000 and today a mere 16 years later it is selling for 2.8 million despite the fact that card collecting and prices of baseball cards has gone down dramatically in that time span. For those of you unaware of this card and its value, there were very few made and it is believed that Wagner asked the American Tobacco Company to withdraw his card either because he wasn't getting paid enough from them for producing his card or because he had an issue with the tobacco company selling to kids. I like to think it was the latter, just because it makes it a better story, however money always seems to play into things, so I assume it was for that reason. Either way, this is THE card to have and for 2.8 million I'm going to say that this is one valuable that might not be worth it.