Why would a toy manufacturer ever use lead paint?

THANK YOU Christopher Beam of Slate magazine for an answer to this question. It has been bugging me every time I heard about the recent toy recall because no one would ever explain in their reporting what would motivate someone to intentionally put children at risk of lead poisoning. The basic answer is that it is “…bright, durable, flexible, fast-drying, and cheap,” and the most surprising part of the article is that the yellow stripes on our roads are loaded with the stuff.

BooksForKidsBlog: Family Flicks: The Best Old Movies for Families

BooksForKidsBlog: Family Flicks: The Best Old Movies for Families

Here is a useful post for parents who are looking for some good ideas of what to add to their movie rental cue. The post is a book review, but don’t miss the comments where people have added their own favorite movies.

Joe and Steve

In an episode we haven't seen, Joe replaces Steve as the human on the series Blue's Clues. We don't get cable, so we watch Blue's Clues on old discount VHS tapes, and we only own a few. We have the episode where Joe first appears on the show as a guest, but it is still a mystery how Steve, the first green striped host, escaped, er I mean left the show.

So we are speculating on how they transitioned this role:

1. Did Joe poison Steve with Mrs. Pepper and Mr. Salt?
2. Did he booby trap Mailbox?
3. Did he hook ticky tock up as a countdown timer to an explosive?

Of course it wasn't any of these, fortunately confirmed by this article at the Cincinatti Enquirer.

Some things I learned:

• In real life Joe is not actually Steve's brother
• Joe alternates between colors because mothers were complaining that their children wouldn't change their green rugby shirts.
• Joe's previous appearances included Shakespeare plays in New York
• They have to act in front of a blue screen. I'm sure they could take on any weatherman's job after this show.

And if you would like to catch up on what Steve is now doing, he has his own web page now, and appears to still have his sanity: http://www.steveswebpage.com/