Durable Human (2 book series)

Cellphones More Important Than Kids?

To a new and tragic degree, people are keeping better track of their phones than they are of their kids, particularly the little ones.

An average of two to three children die every week during the summer, left behind in a car. In 2016, three times as many kids died than the year before (most of them 3 years old or younger), even before the summer heat began. A one-year-old recently died when the outside temperature was only 68 degrees.

In every season, know the facts:

  • Your child gets hot faster than you do – up to five times faster.
  • A closed car can reach a broiling 125 degrees in only minutes.
  • Cracking the windows does not slow the heating.

Experts suggest this as a top countermeasure: Continue reading

Playing it Safe with Cell Phones

I’ve been skeptical about reports that body contact with cell phones can cause problems, but a strange sensation and a new book have changed my attitude. I first noticed the whooshing sound in my right ear after I spent a few days in October visiting my parents.

I’d talked a half hour or so each night with my husband, the phone nestled between my ear and a pillow. I took a decongestant to see if it was a sinus problem, but the strange sound has continued since I’ve been home: when it’s quiet, I can hear the blood pulsing on the right side of my head.

Then, a few weeks ago, I came across a review in the Washington Post. A new book claims there is definitive proof that radiation from cell phones, cordless phones and even blue tooth devices can be harmful over time. In Disconnect, author and epidemiologist Devra Davis reviews four decades of research, explaining complicated technical concepts in clear and simple language.

She concludes there are enough disturbing findings and unanswered questions that we should actually pay attention to the warnings manufacturers stuff into the box with their wireless products – not to press them directly onto the body.   Continue reading

Disney’s Active New Attraction

Tess and the Kimmunicator

Tess and the Kimmunicator

The humble flip phone may revolutionize the way we experience theme parks. It’s all happening at Disney World’s Epcot, courtesy of a girl named Kim.

The Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure simply gives guests something that they want. People want to be active, physically and mentally,” Jonathan Ackley – who directs Walt Disney Imagineering’s Interactive Division – told The Durable Human.

My 8-year-old cousin, Tess – like many girls of a certain age – loves Kim Possible.  Kim stars in her own Disney Channel animated series as a high school cheerleader who turns secret agent. On our recent trip to Disney World, Tess heard on the bus from the airport that there was Something Kim at Epcot and I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it until we found her. Continue reading

Bike to Work and School Week 2010

Lots of American kids are following the lead of their parents this week by riding their bikes to work.  Schoolwork, that is.

Take it from Wolftrap Elementary in Vienna, Virginia, which issued a “BikeWalk Challenge” to see how many families would give their kids a chance to walk and roll.

Jeff Anderson, bike aficionado and Wolftrap parent, turned pied piper on wheels by leading a “bike bus” through the neighborhoods. Continue reading

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