| STATEHOUSE: Rep. Jones pushes Internet safety policies for public ...
BOSTON — You can lock the doors and windows, hold their hand at the mall and buy training wheels for bicycles. But a major danger facing kids today is right above the keyboard. "The Internet is one of the biggest risks we have for kids safety right now," said Lawrence Lt. Sean Burke, who is president of a national school safety group. And, a North of Boston lawmaker wants to make sure the time kids spend on school computers is safer. Rep. Bradley H. Jones Jr., R-North Reading, is pushing legislation to require every school district to have a policy for making the Internet safe for minors and make the policy known to parents and legal guardians. "It's important that any parent be able to know what (the school system's) policy is, and even if there is no policy in particular," Jones said.
Is there a European Islam?
Please don't hold me to the highest standards of BBC accuracy on this one. A Muslim saint, a Muslim portrait, acknowledging a Christian brother? Well, yes, Albania is the headquarters of the Bektashi, a Sufi group. Sunni Muslim Muslims are said to make up 70% of the population in Albania, and most of them are not Bektashi, who are Shia, but Sunni. It's mildly curious to me that while some people argue Turkey shouldn't join the European Union because most of its population is Muslim, I have never heard the same argument applied to Kosovo or Albania. Perhaps it's because they are so small. Perhaps it's because, for many, the religion is only nominal. As I write this, in Albania's capital Tirana , I can hear the call to prayer but the approach to religion seems much more European than the more profound attachments one may find in other parts of the world.
Big Idea: Vermont inventor uses brain to save knees
Vehicles stream past the white clapboard building on the Mountain Road en route to Stowe Ski Resort. Inside, in a room dominated by a sophisticated contraption that nevertheless looks like a giant erector set, Rick Howell refines his design for a ski binding he predicts will reduce today's most common ski injury -- strained and ruptured knee ligaments.
He's working around the clock these days to produce sales samples, connect with potential buyers and lock in orders for production during the summer. By next winter the 54-year-old inventor expects skiers will be able to swoop or bump their way down slopes with a ski binding by KneeBinding Inc. that will release before they "blow out a knee."
Ski bindings release now, of course. Heels pop up and out of their clamps under certain conditions, and toe pieces allow boots to slide out sideways to prevent injuries.
Trouble in Toyland!
From Aqua Dots to Big Red Wagons, hundreds of toys have been recalled this year. With one of the biggest shopping days of the year coming up this week, most parents are wondering if the presents they plan to put under the tree are safe for their children. Today the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, known as WISPIRG announced results of their annual toy safety survey. The safety survey focused on three main concerns with childrens toys this year: toys with small pieces that could be choking hazards, those with powerful magnets, and toys that contain lead should all be left on the shelves. Half of all toy related deaths are caused by choking. So, before buying your childrens favorite little figurine you want to make sure there are no tiny pieces that could easily fall off and be swallowed.
Campaigning in hard times
Even though the economy teetered on recession, GDP growth didn't go negative until the third quarter - too late to alter the intoxicated zeitgeist of the '90s. As a result, during that campaign we heard a lot about other things, like a "lockbox" for Social Security (Gore) and "compassionate conservatism" (Bush), but almost nil about the wavering economy that the new President was about to inherit - and voters didn't seem to mind. But studying the calendar only goes so far. That's because there's a lag between economic reality and public perception of economic reality that's tricky to gauge - and it can be lethal to candidates, as President George H.W. Bush learned in 1992. The economy was steaming along at a healthy 4%-plus clip in the third and fourth quarters, but voters ejected him anyway, locked in a mindset from six months earlier when the economy was struggling to emerge from recession.
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