I know what you’re thinking, “SNHParents is about southern New Hampshire families, what would interest someone from WY? Nothing.”

And I would agree with you, except for one thing: in 2008 we’ve had visitors from every other state in the US. If someone in Alaska, or Hawaii found something interesting enough to follow a link to us, why not Wyoming? Not to mention the visitors from the Canada, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, or the other nine countries that have sent visitors this year. But not Wyoming. Was it something we said? Have we somehow offended Wyomingites?

Ok, I don’t really think that’s the case, but it is odd that WY is the only state we haven’t had a visit from, making it the only state not one of several shades of green on the map in our website statistics.

So I’m reaching out to SNHParents, both those who live in Southern New Hampshire and those who visit online and asking you for help. If you know someone who lives in Wyoming, ask them to visit the SNHParents blog so Wyoming can take its place alongside the 49 other green states who have “visited” this website.

Thanks!

The site is funded by the advertisers whose banners appear on each page, you don’t have to do. Now 20 grains of rice may not sound like a lot, but it quickly adds up. So the more you play, the more you donate (and learn).

Each correct answer also increases the difficulty of the words you’re given and there are plenty of levels so players of all ages should find it challenging Level 1 words included “ocean,” “say,” and “last” while Level 40 features “alveolate,” “lunker,” and “drub.”

So what do you have to lose? Head on over and start clicking. And don’t forget to share your totals in the comments.

(Thanks to everyone who shared this!)

I can’t even begin to imagine how long these must have taken. Maybe I need to dust off my camcorder and editing software…

One Step Ahead Baby (www.onestepahead.com) has come up with the first step: a “soft, thickly-padded head covering” (no, not a helmet). There are a few positive comments on the site, but it still seems a bit odd to me. Maybe it’s because our little girl isn’t crawling around bumping her head yet so I don’t know what a serious issue this is. Or because she’s not a big fan of normal hats, much less something this large. It could also be that I’m holding out for the baby-sized gerbil ball. Now that’s something that will protect a baby!

There’s only room for three numerals next to the icons. Bringing up the details screen shows things are much, much worse:

5242960 degrees! And that’s today’s forecasted low!

Obviously a bit of an error with the source data, but it was enough to make me laugh on a sticky Friday.

Apparently I could learn a lot from the five-year-old in this video. As kids today say, “he’s got mad skillz.” (do they still say that?)

I look forward to the day when my daughter is old enough to play games like this, or the Sony EyeToy games, with her dad. Of course, as I get older, maybe one of those “old fashioned” video games that just use gamepads will be all I can handle.

We just returned from a week-long trip with our 3-month old daughter. Although she did great on the planes, we did use the pacifier a few times to keep her calm. While I might consider upgrading her Gerber NUK, if we had a spare $17K around I think it would be going to her college fund.

Of course, in all fairness, itsmybinky.com does state that “…we do not recommend actual use…” For that, they sell normal pacifiers (available plain or personalized with an expression or your baby’s name).

[itsmybinky.com via Gizmodo]

This is a great way to take a trip back to the late 70s and early 80s and share classics like “Conjunction Junction” and “I’m Just a Bill” with your kids.

A word of caution: I’m sure these files aren’t authorized by Disney, so there’s no telling how long they’ll be on YouTube. However, if you miss them, or just can’t get enough, you can always buy the Schoolhouse Rock! 30th Anniversary DVD, the Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks CD, or the many other Schoolhouse Rock! products on Amazon.

For even more information on Schoolhouse Rocks!, check out the Unofficial Schoolhouse Rock Website.

[YouTube via Daddy Types]

The lists for 2005 are:

The SSA database also has lists of the 1000 most popular names from every year since 1880, with the option to sort by percent of total births or number of births. You can also see the top five names in each state or view how a name’s popularity has changed over time.

Whether you’re an expectant parent trying to find the perfect name, or just someone who’s curious, the site is worth a look.

If you’re not really getting into your movies, despite the huge HDTV and 7.1 channel sound, you need the Armed Chair from Sybaris. Basically it’s an amusement park motion simulator in your living room that reacts to the plot of the movie your watching. And not just action titles. You know how easily you can be startled watching a good thriller? Yep, you guessed it: this chair can do that too, with effects “ranging from subtly detectable to extremely dynamic.” This baby is preprogrammed to move in response to almost 500 popular DVD movies. Of course, at a starting price of $12,000 (yes, you read that right) it’s probably more expensive than most home theater set-ups. Of course, Father’s Day is coming up, and I’m sure this chair would be the perfect setting for a late night feeding…

[Sybaris (via Gizmodo]

It’s definitely worth checking out. Now I know why our daughter likes white shirts.

[daddytypes.com]