We created the Bulletin Buzz to keep you, as parents, informed about current events and things that involve your children. We know kids have their own grapevine for gossip, but are they learning all the things they should know? Probably not. Here, you can get the latest buzz about timely events or catch up on what you may need to know or be reminded of - things from safety matters such as GPS tracking devices to educational matters. We include fun items for your kids, too. Here's the latest ...
Bulletin Buzz
Arts, Crafts, and Hobbies
KidsBuzz takes a walk! We just had this drawing of KidsBuzz made walking her guinea pig. (See our logo under the menu on the right). It was drawn by Nemo, the artist who does perfect hand-drawn circles with a pencil. Note: Reducing the art to this small size has distorted the circles. To appreciate the real effect of Nemo's artistic talent you need to see the drawing full-size in our blog which we just posted.
Educational Matters
New Pi Computation Record Using a Desktop PC
Fabrice Bellard has calculated Pi to about 2.7 trillion decimal digits, besting the previous record by over 120 billion digits...an outstanding achievement because only a single desktop PC, costing less than $3,000, was used — instead of a multi-million dollar supercomputer as in the previous records. slashdot
Environmental Matters
Save the Planet, Eat Your Dog?
New Zealand's Dominion Post reports on a new book just released, Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living...In this book, they compare the environmental footprint of our housepets to other things that we own. Like that German Shepherd? It consumes more resources than two Toyota SUVs. Cats are a little less than a Volkswagen Golf. Two hamsters are about the same as a plasma TV. Their suggestions? Chickens, rabbits, and pigs. But only if you eat them. [Yeah, right; we don't think so!] slashdot
Fun and Entertainment
Survival Guide to Comic and Manga Conventions
Basic Con Survival Guide: Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.
Bring a bag and/or backpack.
Bring water and snacks.
Check out the area before going.
Bring something to do while in line.
Parents Taking Kids: If 0-5 years - don't take them.
6-7 years - good age to start taking them.
8-12 years - take portable video games:
Nintendo Gameboy Color and/or Advanced Used Nintendo DS for IMing with PictoChat, MP3 player, iPhone/iPod Touch, Blackberry
Kids Going Alone (13+) If it's their first con, only go for a day.
Have older friend or sibling go along.
Arrange a specific meeting place before going.
Make sure they have a way to contact you.
Go with your child up to registration.
If you go, too, let them take the lead.
Don't be afraid to let your child attend.
For details, see Lori Henderson'sfull article.
March & April 2010 Convention Schedule
is listed on separate page.
Games and Toys
Game Difficulty As a Virtue
The Wii and various mobile gaming platforms have done wonders for the trend toward casual or "easy" games. A little frustration can be seen as a good thing; but has the pendulum has swung too far? For example, GameSpot's Game of the Year for 2009: Atlus' PS3 RPG Demon's Souls, which received widespread critical acclaim, failed to include a mention of the game's steep challenge. GameSpot called it 'ruthlessly, unforgivingly difficult.' Demon's Souls was a sleeper hit, an anomaly in the era of accessibility. So is a game's difficulty a challenge or brutality to their players?
Free-To-Play Switch going well for D&D Online
Dungeons and Dragons Online is enjoying a second life in terms of player count and buzz, all thanks to its new business strategy: Giving the game away. Turbine is making their MMO as accessible as possible, and that includes making players who don't pay anything as happy as possible. Subscriptions are up 40 percent. slashdot
Gizmos and Gadgets
WHAT? Toy train used to calibrate a reactor?!
Physicists and engineers at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory built tracks inside a fusion reactor and ran a toy train for three days to help them with their calibrations. From the article: The modified model of a diesel train engine was carrying a small chunk of californium-252, a radioactive element that spews neutrons as it falls apart. slashdot
Medical and Science
Kids, did you know dragonflies can migrate over oceans? This one can!
While living and working as a marine biologist in Maldives, Charles Anderson noticed sudden explosions of dragonflies at certain times of year. He explains how he carefully tracked the path of a plain, little dragonfly called the Globe Skimmer, Pantala flavescens, only to discover that it had the longest migratory journey of any insect in the world. slashdot
Parents and Children
Texting Toddlers, How Young is Too Young?
Toddlers may not need to be texting... but since they have always had toy typewriters and toy telephones, why not toy Blackberrys so your little tyke as young as three can talk with their thumbs...The question: When is a child old enough for their own cell phone' has been replaced with the question of, 'what type of texting gadget is appropriate for which age group'. But don't forget to lay down the law: One parent says: Our 13-year-old got a phone with an unlimited plan as a reward for good grades but had to turn it in each night at 10pm. It was given back first thing in the morning.slashdot
Safety and Security Matters - Caution, Please!
Emergency Technology
Mobile Emergencies The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and terestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.
Hidden Battery Power Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.
Free Cell Directory Service Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all.
Tracking Thieves With 'Find my iPhone' -An anonymous reader wrote in to say "A friend of mine who just got an iPhone 3GS and has Mobile Me just used the "Find my iPhone" feature to track down his lost and subsequently stolen iPhone. This story involves three nerds wandering sketchy streets with a MacBook, and ends with a confrontation at a bus stop." slashdot Location Services Track Cell Phones - In Korea, 20,000 parents pay $10 a month for alerts sent to them if their children stray from the route between school and home. Such services are thriving in Britain and Japan. More than 4 million people have signed on to various services that use this technology to track family when traveling or friends who are within one block from each other while moving around ... At 29 cents a day, another service will send a message if a person isn't at a specified place at a certain time. It allows the tracker to see the person's movements over the previous five hours, say Business Week analysts ... In the U.S., a company called Teen Arrive Alive offers parents a $20-a-month tracking service for teens. But Nextel is the only cellphone carrier. About 20 percent of Americans say they would pay for such services; and that number is growing. slashdot
Check the Bulletin Buzz often for updates!
We subscribe to several news publications that are related to the topics covered in this website ... all in an effort to keep you up–to-date on what’s new and what’s old, what's in and what's out, what's hot and what's not. Occasionally we will publish the lists that make for a fun and interesting read; such as the one we put up in our Buzz Blog. Check it out when you get a chance.
The Bulletin Buzz is a great way to teach your kids about current events and why keeping up with the news is important even at their young age. You could bring up these topics at the dinner table to promote family interaction and teach them the art of conversation. And it's another way for you and your kids to get some insight into each other's thinking about different subjects in a buzzing kids world.
If you know of something that should be included, let us know.
KidsBuzz takes a walk! 
slashdot
Save the Planet, Eat Your Dog? 
Free-To-Play Switch going well for D&D Online
Kids, did you know dragonflies can migrate over oceans? This one can!
Texting Toddlers, How Young is Too Young?
