NonToxicReviews.comNonToxicReviews.com
HomePage Reviews Store Podcast

January 31st, 2009 by Stinkhead


CPSC votes to delay CPSIA for one year – this is great news, perhaps this will give the CPSC some time to figure out the best way to provide safety for our children, without banning them from libaries. Read on.

And according to this article on Consumerist.com, there are groups pleading with Obama for new leadership at CPSC.

I have to agree that this situation has been terrible, and created a lot of undue panic. I want our (collective) children to be safe, but banning all consignment sales is ridiculous.


Posted in article, baby, CPSIA, crafts, linky, news | 1 Comment »

January 30th, 2009 by Stinkhead


Vaccines and autism: Many hypotheses, but no correlation Click to read the report from the February 15, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

I don’t like to get preachy on here… so I’m just going to point out this article, and this can help you the next time you come across a parent that refues vaccines for their children.


Posted in article, baby, kids, linky, news | 1 Comment »

January 26th, 2009 by Stinkhead


My 17 month old son likes to come up and randomly hit keys on my laptop, hoping to start a song or video or hear a system beep. This past weekend, he hit some key combination that rotated my desktop by 180° He couldn’t tell me what he hit, and I had no idea how to switch it back. Not only was the screen upside down (see pic) but the touchpad moved the cursor in the opposite direction than what I was doing. I was able to hold the laptop upside down (typing upside down) and google how to rotate my desktop display. I found it pretty easily. (Most results were in response to people in a similar situation) For future help, (or a sweet prank to play on an sunspecting victim) hit Crtl + Alt + (arrow key) (note, this is for at least XP, not any older)


Posted in baby, cringe, gripe, kids, picture, toddler | Comments Off on Baby flips my laptop display

January 24th, 2009 by Stinkhead


This guy decorated his expected child’s nursery with a Mario Bros theme. Check out the step-by-step pics
Mario Mural


Posted in baby, crafts, cringe, linky | Comments Off on Mario Mural

January 24th, 2009 by Stinkhead



Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

I saw this game, Crayon Physics where you draw simple shapes on screen to affect other objects on the screen. When I spell it out like that, it’s not nearly as cool sounding. Watch the above video. It’s pretty sweet. If my little guy were older, I could see dropping the $20 on the game right there.
Visit Crayon Physics


Posted in 3&up, gadgets, kids, linky, video | Comments Off on Check out Crayon Physics

January 22nd, 2009 by Stinkhead


firefly phoneToday only on 1saleaday.com you can get the Firefly, (cell phone for kids) for $5… all you need to do is add a SIM card… meaning buy this phone for $5, add a line to your existing cell plan, and then pop in that sim card, without buying a phone from your provider. This phone is typically $100, but today it’s $5. I can’t stress enough that this is one day only. Check 1saleaday.com in the future for more one day deals.
This is the cellphone that is perfect for very little kids. You can call them, and they can easily call Mom, Dad, or up to 20 numbers you program into it. But they can’t go all willy nilly calling random people. Great for peace of mind. Others think giving a cellphone to a young child is ridiculous. Either way, you can be safe or be ridiculous for $5.


Posted in 5&up, cringe, gadgets, good deals, kids, linky, news | Comments Off on Thur Only: $5 for a Firefly cellphone

January 19th, 2009 by Stinkhead


wingstreet boneless wingsWhen you have a baby and the two of you are on your own, your dinner options are limited to begin with –and every now and then you need buffalo wings. It doesn’t help that my wife isn’t a big wing fanatic to begin with, so most of the opportunities to have wings are when I am flying solo. (That was a terrible wing pun) As you know, it’s tough packing the little one in the car to go get food, and then come right back home (much less feeding and tending to a baby when you’re up to your elbows in that sweet, sweet BBQ sauce).

Two of my favorite wing places are Wing Stop and B-dubs, and they don’t deliver. (and don’t get me started about how the DC area is in sore need of their own B-Dubs)

So I started exploring these places that deliver wings. I know what you’re thinking, but there is good news and bad news.

I’ve had some success and some failure, but now I’m on a real mission. Here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to invite some guys over and order wings from a few places and get a consensus to see who delivers the best. Some may be local, so I’d love to hear from you, which are the best in your neck of the woods (and who to avoid)

This isn’t part of my official trials but here are two findings so far:
Armands Chicago Style Pizzeria (with locations in DC-MD-VA and one in DE) has great deep-dish style pizza, but their wings are the best I’ve had delivered so far. The trick is that they arrive hot. Really hot. The first time I ordered their wings, I had to wait a minute or two to dig in. This is not the experience with other places. The wings are also huge… they don’t skimp ya. I’ve ordered their wings a few times now, and other guests of mine have said they were top notch as well.

nice warningWing Street (a division of Pizza Hut) was not too good. To be fair, I ordered their boneless wings, and they were pretty crummy, I should try traditional style wings from each place to see, but these were just like chicken nuggets from McDonalds. On top of that they didn’t include any ranch or bleu cheese or anything. That’s a crime. The ordering process was difficult too… the minimum order for delivery is $10, but 10 wings is $8. (20 wings is $15, but too many wings for one guy) so I ordered some bread sticks. Those were also sub-par.

This is my second lousy experience with Wing Street… the first was when I originally tried to order from them, but because there was a Pizza Hut in closer vicinity to my house, they would not deliver to me. However that Pizza Hut didn’t have the Wing Street menu… so that’s when I went to Armands…

So anyway, let’s be scientific… I’ll order Medium and Hot wings from several locations (I might have to throw in a carry-out from Wing Stop just for control group purposes) but I’ll stick to traditional style bone wings, to be fair.

Then I’ll report on the findings.

But please chime in with your own experiences and local favorites… help another dad out there who’s looking to fulfill a wing fix when his arms are full.


Posted in advice, article, cooking, cringe, gripe, review, wings | 1 Comment »

January 12th, 2009 by Stinkhead



(be gentle… I’m still working on improving my green screen techniques)
Here’s my son’s first interstellar flight, thanks to Radio Fliers Retro Rocket. He got this for his 1 year birthday from Lando da Pimp from MillionairePlayboy.com. Though the package recommends 10 months and up my son really enjoyed it once he was able to climb on and off of it. Now he loves zooming up and down the hallway, (and through space) Check out my sorry attempt at special effects in the quick video above.

We also review Art Asylum / Diamond Select Toys’ Star Trek Communicator and Phaser replicas from the Original Series. These high quality replicas features lights and sound from the show, are fully “functional” (parts move, you can really have fun with these), and aren’t prohibitively expensive (about $25 a pop). The best part is , they were specially designed to take standard batteries… none of that having to track down weird watch battery sizes. Though there is video of my son playing with this, these are collectibles intended for ages 14 & up. You can get an exclusive two pack at BigBadToyStore.com

In this review I reference our Back to the Future themed Flux Capacitor review (also by Diamond Select Toys) also laden with special effects.


Posted in baby, Boys, cringe, Girls, kids, Movies, podcast, review, toddler, toys, video | Comments Off on Retro Rocket Video Review (with Special Effects!)

January 8th, 2009 by Stinkhead


This is the first I’ve heard of this one, and remember, if your child has one, please take it away immediately!
Plush Uterus Recall


Posted in advice, cringe, kids, linky, news | 1 Comment »

January 8th, 2009 by Stinkhead


UPDATE: 3:40pm on Thursday January 8, 2009

I just received Good News, regarding the future of Thrift Stores, eBay, consignment sales, Salvation Army etc. They’re going to be fine, as long as they don’t sell recalled items…


Click below for The Official Word from CPSC

Washington, D.C. – In February 2009, new requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) take effect. Manufacturers, importers and retailers are expected to comply with the new Congressionally-mandated laws. Beginning February 10, 2009, children’s products cannot be sold if they contain more than 600 parts per million (ppm) total lead. Certain children’s products manufactured on or after February 10, 2009 cannot be sold if they contain more that 0.1% of certain specific phthalates or if they fail to meet new mandatory standards for toys.
Under the new law, children’s products with more than 600 ppm total lead cannot lawfully be sold in the United States on or after February 10, 2009, even if they were manufactured before that date. The total lead limit drops to 300 ppm on August 14, 2009.
The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards.
The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties. When the CPSIA was signed into law on August 14, 2008, it became unlawful to sell recalled products. All resellers should check the CPSC Web site (www.cpsc.gov) for information on recalled products before taking into inventory or selling a product. The selling of recalled products also could carry civil and/or criminal penalties.
The agency intends to focus its enforcement efforts on products of greatest risk and largest exposure. While CPSC expects every company to comply fully with the new laws resellers should pay special attention to certain product categories. Among these are recalled children’s products, particularly cribs and play yards; children’s products that may contain lead, such as children’s jewelry and painted wooden or metal toys; flimsily made toys that are easily breakable into small parts; toys that lack the required age warnings; and dolls and stuffed toys that have buttons, eyes, noses or other small parts that are not securely fastened and could present a choking hazard for young children.
The agency has underway a number of rulemaking proposals intended to provide guidance on the new lead limit requirements. Please visit the CPSC website at www.cpsc.gov for more information.


Posted in article, baby, CPSIA, cringe, gripe, kids, linky | 1 Comment »

Next page

NonToxicReviews.com

Contact us:
Editor AT NonToxicReviews.com


Join our Facebook group

AddThis Feed Button

Categories

Archives


click here to give me advice


Wordpress Theme powered by AgeOwns.com | ©AgeOwns Productions