According to this article  from Reuters, the American Academy of Pediatrics is crying foul over the pilot episode of ABC’s Eli Stone.  It centers on a case in which Eli, a lawyer, wins a large settlement for his client to the tune of five mil or so.

The case is a fictional one that finds the makers of a vaccine for children, which apparently contains trace amounts of thimoseral, (a mercury-based preservative) liable for a child’s autism.  Various studies, including those conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, have failed to find a conclusive link between thimoseral and autism.

The AAP sent ABC a letter (strongly worded, no doubt) asking them to cancel the show’s premiere. Riiiight, like that was going to happen.

Have they not heard of a litle thing called the writer’s strike?  Did they actually think they were going to stop ABC from airing one of the only fresh, scripted shows on televsion?

After the uproarious laughter died down in the ABC headquarters, they apparently conceded to place a disclaimer at the beginning of the show that the story is you know, made up, as well as something at the end about the CDC and their website.

I don’t know what scares me more, that the AAP thought they had enough power to ask ABC to cancel it, or that they thought people would actually pay attention to a fictional case and make their health decisions based on a series with a really unfortunate name.  Because we all know that a man who envisions George Michael singing in his living room is the expert on childhood vaccinations. Don’t we?

ABC could only dream of having such power.

At least, let’s hope they could only dream of having such power.

A childhood classic, never to be forgotten:

Let us pause in our busy blogging day to commemorate the truly iconic Richard Knerr, founder of the archetypal toy company Wham-O, maker of those childhood classics the Frisbee and the Hula-Hoop, who died today at the age of 82. The world may never see his like again.

Or get rid of all this damn plastic, neither.

With his boyhood best friend, Arthur “Spud” Melin, Knerr started the company in 1948 in Pasadena. They named the enterprise Wham-O for the sound that their first product, a slingshot, made when it hit its target.

A treasure chest of dozens of toys followed that often bore playful names: Superball, so bouncy it seemed to defy gravity; Slip ‘N Slide and its giggle-inducing cousin the Water Wiggle; and Silly String, which was much harder to get out of hair than advertised.

When a friend told Knerr and Melin about a bamboo ring used for exercise in Australia, they devised their own version without seeing the original.

They ran an early test of the product in 1958 at a Pasadena elementary school and enticed their test subjects by telling them they could keep the hoops if they mastered them.

They seeded the market, giving hoops away in neighborhoods to create a buzz and required Wham-O executives to take hoops with them on planes so people would ask about them.

Wham-O soon was producing 20,000 hoops a day at plants in at least seven countries, while other companies made knockoffs. Within four months, 25 million of the hoops had been sold, according to Wham-O.

In the 1985 book “American Fads,” Richard A. Johnson wrote that “no sensation has ever swept the country like the Hula Hoop.”

Ah, but 1985? That was before Beanie Babies, wasn’t it? All they had back then were bloody Pet Rocks!

Okay, to tell the truth I never mastered the use of either of these damn things, and my dog was the only one in the park chasing an old-skool ball rather than a Frisbee. I am still in therapy dealing with the time I was in a fitness class and my friend laughed at me saying, “If you can have sex you can use a Hula Hoop!”

Which may be true, for all I know.

To be sure, the Hula Hoop is a delightful toy, but can someone explain to me why Amazon is offering them for $162.00? Are they made from mammoth ivory and sprinkled with authentic pixie dust? I’m thinking back to what my friend said and wondering if Hula Hooping is not perhaps a whole lot more fun than I was led to believe? For that you could charge this much…

Doing it wrong: the Gillette razor…

Doing it right: the Razor scooter!

The original story happened quite a while ago, but it was around Christmas and I just didn’t feel right posting about questionable teen undies at Christmas.  I don’t know, call me old-fashioned.  But hey, Christmas is over and now everything is fair game!

The above panties were found in the teen section of a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, as reported originally by Feministing.  Apparently, what the article did not report was that on the back, the panties stated, “When You Have Santa.”

Yeah, like that makes it so much better.

After some grass-roots internet outrage, Wal-Mart pulled the panties.  Fine, kudos to them.  Although really, how long are three dollar panties going to last anyway?  Most of the ones that sold are probably already falling apart.  Maybe they thought that the panties were fine because only the girl would know what her panties said.  At least, I certainly hope she would remain the only one.

So are these panties just harmless fun?  Does the saying on the back make it acceptable? 

And perhaps this is the biggest question, when did underwear become reading material?