Health Canada, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (US CPSC), and Fred & Friends have jointly recalled the above baby rattles with UPC 728987019098. The end of the rattles may disconnect, exposing small pellets, which may pose a choking hazard.
Though no injuries occurred, two incidents in which the end cap became dislodged were reported—one in Canada, one in the US.
Customers should remove the rattles immediately and contact Fred & Friends customer service toll-free safety recall line at 1-877-647-8644, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, visit the company's website or email for instructions on how to return the product.
For every returned rattle affected by the recall, customers will receive a refund of $10.00 USD.
From October 2011 to June 2013, approximately 9,337 of the rattles were sold in Canada, and 47,503 in the United States, via Amazon.com and various specialty retailers.
Could you do away with makeup, hair products, and fashionable clothes for a day? How about nine months? A former New York City receptionist did just that, having grown weary of the relentless beauty routine and what she dubbed her “Grown-up Suit.”
According to an article in Salon, Lauren Shields looked longingly at Hasidic, Quaker, and Muslim women who dressed modestly in headscarves and long skirts, and yet looked good in spite of their simplicity. "How nice would it be not to have to think about stupid crap like the latest accessories and whether my hair had gone limp?" she wrote.
She eventually decided to try it for herself. Not the religions per se, but their modest fashion requirements.
What she discovered foremost was her own hypocrisy. Although she assumed she was 'above' dwelling on her appearance, she spent just as much time and money into putting herself together as the next young woman.
So for nine months she did away with "all those security blankets" and embarked on the Modesty Experiment, blogging about her experience along the way.
Shields sobbed as she gave away clothes that were too short or too tight—in effect, "more than a third of my clothes"—along with all of her makeup. She covered her hair and exposed her knees or shoulders only while at home. The result: "It was kind of brutal, and really liberating."
Some other lessons she gleaned from going modest: you get a lot more done "when you’re not obsessed with your shoes," but you still need to look good in order to feel confident.
People will look past you, until you open your mouth. Then they will really listen to what you have to say (and if they don't, these aren't people you yearn to impress anyway). Ditching the Grown-up Suit also affected her relationships in all kinds of interesting ways.
Oh, and she saved a lot of cash.
Would you ever consider going modest?
Image credit: The Modesty Experiment
Ever wonder what the world would be like if men were the ones who gave birth? Well, thanks to a bunch of Dutch scientists, we now have a rough idea. And it isn't pretty.
According to an article in the Belfast Telegraph, Newstalk radio presenter Henry McKean took part in a birthing experiment in which he was attached to electrodes designed to simulate labour pains at Amsterdam's The Birth Hotel.
Just two hours in, though, the 34-year-old became the proud daddy of a plastic doll named David. Other men who've undergone false labour also gave in around the two-hour mark.
The experience, which McKean described as "really, really tough," gave him a new understanding of what women go through in childbirth.
"It made me broody and appreciate what women do and appreciate babies. I feel I know what life is all about," said McKean, who claims he still feels "phantom pains."
Though he refrained from crying at the time, McKean did swear at his birthing partner, Hayley O'Connor. Now he knows how this man feels.
He claimed the video of his labour as "humiliating." Now that's what I call empathy.
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