First came Wii Sports and about fifteen minutes late, the first reports of damage from Wiimotes flying out of gamers hands in the heat of competition or because the safety strap broke. (If your Wii was purchased before December 31st, 2006, contact Nintendo for a free strap replacement kit.) According to the blog Wii Damage, a site dedicated to damaged inflicted by the Wii, the most common target for the Wiimote is a television screen.

With the release of Wii Fit, there's a new danger to household objects, and it's not due to Wiimote projectiles. According to The Daily Telegraph, who polled 1,000 women in the U.K., 20% of the respondents reported having accidents such as tripping over pets, banging their heads, and knocking over household objects (such as lamps) while exercising with Wii Fit.

While Nintendo took action to correct the weak strap issue, there's not a whole lot the company can do for people who don't use common sense and heed the repeated warnings to make sure users of the system have plenty of room to move around before using the games. Be careful out there, folks!

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State employees in Utah are about to get an extra day off -- sort of. The state government is switching to a four-by-ten work week, beginning in August. Instead of working eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, about 17,000 workers will put in ten hours a day, Monday through Thursday. This will save on heating and electrical bills for buildings that will be mostly unused on Fridays, as well as saving money on gas for state vehicles.

While they will have to work longer days, there are a lot of benefits for the employees. First, and most obvious, every weekend becomes a three-day weekend. Second, there is the savings on commute costs -- gas isn't cheap these days, in case you hadn't noticed. And, of course, there is the convenience of not having to work on a day when other businesses are still open -- I imagine that pediatricians will be pretty booked up on Fridays over the next year. I suspect, too, that schools will be getting a lot more classroom volunteers on Fridays -- always a good thing.

I applaud the state of Utah for working to save energy (and to save money) and hope it works out for them. Having worked both a four-by-eight and four-by-ten work week in the past, I have to say I really liked the freedom that an extra day off -- especially one during the week -- gave me.

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You may not recognize the name Larry Harmon. But if you were a kid twenty to thirty years ago and you spent some time in front of the television you probably saw him and didn't even know it. Harmon was Bozo the Clown. Now, at 83, the man who brought us one of the few entertaining and not frightening clowns has passed away.

Harmon, who died last Thursday of congestive heart failure, was not the original Bozo, but bought the rights to the character and made Bozo what he is to us today. He also trained over 200 other Bozos to carry on his work of delighting children and letting them try to win cool toys like bikes with that ball in the buckets game. Remember that one???

Harmon gave Bozo his distinctive look with the large organge hair and large shoes. He will be missed!

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When we last left the Friends crew, Rachel and Ross had reunited, and Monica and Chandler had just learned they were about to become adoptive parents -- to twins. Phoebe got married, and Joey was... well... still being Joey. It seemed like a good ending to the decade long series, but with the recent success of Sex and the City's big screen debut, rumors are swirling that the Friends cast may be reuniting.

When we met them, they were all 20-something singles trying to get a handle on life and love. But by the time the finale came along, though, there were marriages and babies and a focus on a more domesticated life. I'm curious what angle they will take. Will they pick up where they left off? Or will it be a Friends: Four Years Later sort of thing?

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Apparently, a 13-year old boy with an interest in law enforcement was trying to get a little head start on his career when he helped himself to a police cruiser and took it out on patrol. The Dillon, South Carolina boy did this not once, but twice, and has now been charged with larceny and second-degree burglary.

You may be asking yourself just how a kid (or anyone else for that matter) manages to steal a police car. In this case, the kid employed some sneaky, peaky spying and managed to learn the door code for the police department building. Armed with the combination, he simply let himself in the building, got the keys to the car and took off on his self-appointed rounds.

Police Sgt. Jason Turner says the jig was up when local residents saw the boy driving the police car. Interestingly, the police themselves were unaware that the car was missing. Sounds like maybe they could use a good man on the force.

Of course, the kid should have known better and hopefully will learn a lesson from all this. But I would say there is a good chance he won't. His mother, Patricia Gillespie, was aware that her son was helping himself to police cars and didn't see anything wrong with it. She was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and released on $5,000 bond.

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Every now and then, my husband sees a little pig-tailed cutie holding someone's hand and sighs and says, "You never gave me a daughter." He's kidding, of course, but wondering what raising a child of the opposite sex would be like is a fact of life for families blessed with kids of the same sex.

However, for 77 year-old Charan Singh Panwar of India, not having a son weighed on him so heavily, he mortgaged his land, sold his buffaloes, spent his life savings and took out a credit card loan to finance fertility treatments so his seventy-year-old wife could bear him a male heir.

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Former boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield hasn't fought a match in a while, but he is still making the newspapers. Unfortunately, he's in the legal notices section and the news isn't good. Holyfield's $10 million estate in Atlanta, Georgia is facing foreclosure and is about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

If that wasn't enough to make the champ want to punch someone, he is also facing deadbeat dad charges from one of the mothers of his children. Holyfield has been married just twice, but admits to at least nine children fathered out of wedlock. One of those children is a 10-year-old son with Toi Jenese Irvin. Irvin has gone to court claiming Holyfield is behind on his child support payments and now owes her $9000. She also says that Holyfield hasn't maintained a health insurance policy on their child despite a judge's order to do so.

It sounds like Holyfield is having some serious financial issues and the foreclosure and the child support issue may just be the beginning of things. Irvin's lawyer is aware of this and wants to make sure his client is at the top of the list when what's left of Holyfield's money is disbursed. "My concern is there may be a lot of other mothers not be getting paid, and I would like my client to be at front of the line," says her lawyer, Randy Kessler. And Kessler means business. If Holyfield doesn't pay up, the lawyer wants him tossed in jail. "This is such a small amount given the scope of what he has," Kessler said. "If Evander Holyfield can get away with it, anybody can. There are guys making $15,000 a year who go to jail for missing a $100 payment." Yeah, he's got a point there. I don't know what happened to the reported $200 million Holyfield has earned over the years, but perhaps he should have set a little of it aside to take care of all his kids.

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School shopping is just around the corner. If you're looking to dress your daughters in long prairie dresses and long underwear, then I have just the site for you.

When the 400-plus children of the Yearning for Zion ranch were removed by child protective services earlier this year, the sect's clothing was a major topic of conversation in the media. The enterprising women of the FLDS are building on that attention and have started their own website, where parents can buy princess dresses, overalls, and long underwear for the whole family.

The website started as a way for child protective services to clothe the children in their custody, but is now being turned into a business to help mothers pay bills related to their legal battles. Many have been advised not to return to the ranch, and are having to pay for rent and utilities.

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The story of little Madeleine McCann, taken from her bed in the middle of the night while her parents dined at a restaurant nearby, reached every corner of the globe after her parents launched a massive publicity campaign in their attempts to find her.

Sadly, however, despite their efforts and the efforts of Portugal police, Madeline is still missing a year later. The Portuguese police have filed their final police report, and once that goes to the prosecutors office, the case may be closed.

Though I know very little about police work, I have to imagine that authorities giving up the search for their daughter has to be a devastating blow for the McCanns. Sources close to the family say that the McCanns will never give up looking and hope that, if the case is officially closed, the police will hand over the vast amounts of information they have gathered to private investigators.

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If you spent your life shunning fruits and vegetables, you might want to seriously reassess that stance on healthy foods before becoming pregnant. According to British researchers, a mother's diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding directly affects the child's risk of obesity, elevated cholesterol, and blood sugar levels for the rest of their life.

In the study, researchers fed one group of rats a diet of donuts, muffins, cookies, chips and sweets while they were pregnant and nursing their young. Another group was fed a regular, healthy diet. When comparing the two groups, researchers found the babies from the junk food momma rats had higher levels of cholesterol, triglycerides,glucose, and insulin and were fatter through adolescence and adulthood that the rats born of mothers who ate healthily.

And while it's true that rats aren't human (although some humans can be rats!) according to Neil Stickland, the study's co-author, "Humans share a number of fundamental biological systems with rats, so there is good reason to assume the effects we see in rats may be repeated in humans. Our research certainly tallies with epidemiological studies linking children's weight to that of their parents."

Does this mean pregnant woman stress over a couple chocolate chip cookies and an occasional hamburger? Of course not! But knowing the constant craving for deep fried Snickers bars isn't exactly doing the wee one any favors might be the push needed to choose a juicy orange or calcium-building serving of yogurt instead.

I've never been much of a fan of reality TV. Putting ordinary people (who are always prettier or meaner or whinier than anyone person I've ever met) in weird circumstances to show what happens just isn't entertaining to me. I've got kids, I deal with weird circumstances ALL DAY LONG!

Apparently, I'm not the only one who isn't crazy about at least one reality TV show. The Washington D.C. based nonprofit group Zero to Three is upset with the new NBC television series "Baby Borrowers". The group's spokesperson told Page Six, "We're concerned about the fact that these babies are being separated from their parents and placed with strangers. On the first episode, the babies were separated for about 12 hours and were clearly in distress. Typically they will cry and cling and search for their parents, which they were doing. They should be with someone they've had the opportunity to get to know."

I'm all for educating teens on child care getting rid of the notion that parenting is one big ball of baby powdery fun, but there ARE better ways than dumping a baby off with complete strangers for a television show. Working at a childcare center, volunteering at a church nursery or preschool, or even babysitting are all good ways to get a small idea of what life as a parent is like.

There is no way I'd ever, ever, ever have agreed to let my babies be on a television show like this, even with a nanny stationed nearby in case she's needed. What exactly is going on with our society that makes babies fair game for a reality series, anyway?

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Diplomats in Geneva recently set new limits on the amount of certain kinds of bacteria allowable in baby formula as well as the level of natural toxins in some types of nuts. They also tackled the amount of gluten permissible in products labeled 'gluten-free.' The safety standards will apply to all internationally shipped foods.

The outcome of the standards is to hopefully affect hygiene practices and therefore reduce the amount of contamination of two kinds of bacteria in powdered formulas which have been known to cause illness and death in infants. Foods labeled gluten-free would not be able to contain more than 20 milligrams of gluten per kilogram, nor could they contain wheat, rye, barley or oats. Regulations were also set for the amounts of aflotoxins in almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios. Aflotoxins are known carcinogens in lab animals.

Over 170 countries claim membership to The Codex Alimentarius Commission responsible for making these decision, which also includes the European Union. Other topics for consideration are frozen foods, flavoring, tomatoes (no surprise there given the United States' recent issues with them) and mineral water.

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I'm one of those moms that cares a lot about the food my family eats. Even as food costs rise, we've cut back in other areas in our budget so that we can continue to buy organic and locally grown meat and produce.

But by far, the most important thing I do to ensure that my family eats healthy, well-balanced meals is to COOK. That is why I found myself particularly peeved as I read a Time Magazine cover story entitled "How America's Children Packed on the Pounds."

In summing up the answer to the dilemma presented in the cover story title, the author describes "a long multifront war" on childhood obesity as such: "Parents are fighting it in the home....... Policymakers are fighting it as they study the growing body of research..... Doctors are fighting it as they deal daily with the ills associated with childhood obesity. And perhaps most important, teachers, mentors, and public role models are fighting it as they help kids navigate a culture that fosters fat but idealizes thin....".

Teachers, mentors, and public role models are the most important front in this war??!! I have a serious problem with the assigned hierarchy. In fact, this mentality, which inevitably leads to millions of wasted tax dollars, makes my blood boil!

A child's food preferences, habits, and his/her relationship with food are determined at HOME. Teachers, mentors, and public role models (whatever that means) can do precious little once the mold is set.

If America thinks that real solutions to childhood obesity lie in government campaigns such as the $125 million "VERB" campaign aimed at preteens and featuring Miley Cyrus, they are either grossly naive or, more likely, in serious denial. The campaign's budget was eventually slashed, which Time Magazine described as the government "dropping the ball."

Actually, parents are the ones "dropping the ball." We don't need another million-dollar government study to figure out that childhood obesity increased at about the same time that the once sacred family meal became optional and even non-existent in some homes.

If your child is a latch-key kid who heats up his dinner in the microwave or if eating take-out in the car on the way to soccer practice has replaced good food and conversation around the family table, you may have a genuinely good reason for your family's meal arrangements. And that's fine by me.

My problem is not with your particular arrangement (to each his own), but rather with our national denial. We blame McDonalds, school lunches, commercials, video games, the government -- the list goes on.

To combat childhood obesity, kids don't need government funded celebrity campaigns or mentors as much as they need parents who take the time to plan and cook nutritious meals that family members are expected to attend.

Why do we insist on complicating things so much? It's the family meal, stupid.

For more information about Rachel, visit her website at www.rachelcamposduffy.com.

Would you use the new milk jug? Or, are you wedded to the cardboard cartons of what is soon to be the past? I remember when I was a kid and we got milk delivered to our house every week in a glass bottle. Nothing tasted more refreshing. By the time I was a teen those days were gone and we got cartons. Now, those cartons are being replaced by something less expensive to produce and more environmentally sound.

Sound good? It is. Still, the new concept has some consumers fuming, or at least perplexed. The problem with the new milk jug is that it SPILLS. Kids drink more milk than anybody, and this new design, being favored by places like Wal-Mart and Costco, which is becoming more available by the day, is not easy to use.

Kids have trouble pouring anyway, but the new milk jug, so foreign in its design to many, makes that simple task more manageable. Some sellers have taken it upon themselves to educate consumers on the how-to, to make pouring from the jug easier. Folks still are a little unnerved by the square shape of the jug--and they're not convinced the same old milk is in there. I had the same problem with Parmalat. Now I love it, but it was hard getting used to it at first.

What about you? Had any experience with the new milk? And???

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This chilling incident luckily had a (mostly) happy ending. A fourteen-year-old girl was attacked by a bear during a bike race in Alaska but was saved by her 911 phone call. The teenager, who remains unnamed as of press-time, was participating in a 24-hour long mountain bike race in Anchorage when she was mauled.

The girl was able to make a call to 911, wherein all she was able to say was the word "bear." She later underwent surgery at a local hospital. Experts say the bear was probably a sow grizzly, and some speculate it was the same bear that went after two joggers earlier thew past week.

Dispatchers called the girl back as part of regular procedure, and another biker heard the ringing and went onto the darkened trail to investigate, discovering the teenager. Another biker remained with her until help arrived, despite the knowledge of the bear attack. Although little information has been released about the teen's condition, Police Lieutenant. Paul Honeman said the girl was in a fight for her life.

Grizzly pic by Ber'Zophus.

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