Jul
31
2012

RECALL: Youth Orange T-shirt with "John Deere" Logo

Lead Content

RECALL: Youth Orange T-shirt with "John Deere" Logo

Health Canada has recalled the Youth Texas orange T-shirt. The "John Deere" logo on the T-shirts were found to contain lead in excess of legal limits, which can pose serious health effects to children when ingested.

The following sizes (with respective barcodes) are included in this recall:

  • Small        627931004886
  • Medium    627931004855
  • Large        627931004848
  • Extra Large       627931004862

While neither Health Canada nor The Michael Walker Advertising Company Limited has received any reports of incidents relating to the use of the T-shirts, customers are advised to return the product to The Michael Walker Advertising Company Limited for a full refund.

For further information, customers can contact The Michael Walker Advertising Company Limited toll-free at 1-800-668-6693, by email at [email protected] or by visiting the company's website.

From May 2010 to April 2012, approximately 121 of recalled T-shirts were sold at various John Deere dealers and at the John Deere head office in Canada.

Jul
31
2012

Girl Gets Free Plastic Surgery to Silence Bullies

Curing Facial Deformities

Girl Gets Free Plastic Surgery to Silence Bullies

It all started with Dumbo. Everyone knows kids are cruel and will hone in differences. But rather than ignoring taunts, one girl went under the knife to silence her bullies.

Now 14, Nadia Isle had always been teased for having “elephant ears.” Her mom took matters in her own hands when her daughter begged to have surgery on her ears. At age ten, she enlisted the help of a non-profit called the Little Baby Face Foundation, which pays for plastic surgery for kids with “facial deformities.” 

Questionable whether Nadia's ears qualified as a "deformity." Still, the surgeon then decided she needed even more work and took it upon himself to make some other corrections. 

“I love thin chins, but I don’t want it as pointy as that chin,” said head of the organization, Dr. Thomas Romo III. He threw in a nose job for good measure. All in all, it's estimated that the four-hour surgery cost around USD$40,000.

Nadia was elated and looks forward to facing her bullies at school in September. “I look beautiful. This is exactly what I wanted. I love it.” 

But is surgery really the solution to bullying? One dad compared it to any other back-to-school self-improvement ritual: braces, new shoes... Teen plastic surgery is on the rise, particularly in the U.S. where an estimated 219,000 procedures were performed on teens in 2010. And the kids going under the knife are getting younger and younger.

South Dakota Samantha Shaw also had her ears pinned back. She was just seven. 

Ironically Nadia's suggestions for parents of bullied teens is to give them "a lot of love and affection and tell them that they’re beautiful every single day.” Seems her own wisdom wasn't enough for her. 

Whatever happened to accepting yourself as you are, 'flaws' and all? At least that's what Erica was taught. Does this advice no longer apply in an age when appearance, especially for young girls, means everything? 

 
Jul
31
2012

Social Media: A Cautionary Tale

TMI for Employers, Admissions Officers

Social Media: A Cautionary Tale

Watch what you tweet should be the mantra of today’s young people. And Laura Gonzalez certainly does. She’s a rarity among her peers, if only for her discretion. After all, more and more employers are on social media site, too, scouting for the dirty on prospective recruits.

So you won’t catch Gonzalez 'statusing' about her wild weekend or her latest breakup any time soon.

"Facebook has become more of a branding tool more than anything else," said Gonzalez, a Wake Forest University senior who regularly shares on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. "Using social media is one way of putting out who you are, what your interests are, and showing how you can benefit the work force. But I always ask myself, 'What would a future employer think of this?'''

And it’s not just employers perusing Facebook, either. Higher education is having a look in, too. Nearly a quarter of admissions officers in the U.S. claim to use Facebook to help evaluate applicants, and 20 percent use Google.

Martha Allman, Wake Forest's Dean of Admissions, claims the process is not just about snooping and playing Big Brother. "Anything negative we find typically confirms other suspicions we have already.”

Because the majority of young people are active on social media sites, Allman has the following advice for managing what she calls their "digital personae:"

  • Be careful what you put online - Don't post anything that you don't want an admissions officer to see.
  • Know your privacy options - Privacy settings can change frequently, especially on Facebook. If you're tagged in a friend's photo, people in both of your networks can now see those. Instagram is even more open; default settings mean anyone can view your photos.
  • Talk to your friends - Set ground rules about what types of status updates, photos and location based service updates you want to be tagged in. Chances are if they're applying to schools, they should think about their own profiles as well.
  • Be yourself - Whether it's an essay, an interview or a Tweet, admissions officers are looking for the real you in all your communications.”

Bottom line (which goes for grown-ups, too): don’t post or share anything on Facebook or Twitter that you wouldn’t want your granny to read.

Ever had a cringe-worthy social media moment? Spill it.