Artist's depiction of what happens to Harry Potter fans when they grow up
-How Harry Potter's destroying American youth-
It seems like an innocent enough toy -- the "Harry Potter Nimbus 2000", a toy broomstick from the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. According to the blurb at Amazon.com, "Enhancing the excitement are the vibrating effects and magical swooping and whooshing sounds the broom makes when on."
It's not so much the "magical swooping and whooshing sounds" that are the problem, so much as the excitement enhancing "vibrating effects." A vibrating toy you put between your legs doesn't seem very age-appropriate to a lot of people. The Amazon reviews are freakin' hilarious, but here's my fave:
When my 12 year old daughter asked for this for her birthday, I kind of wondered if she was too old for it, but she seems to LOVE it. Her friends love it too! They play for hours in her bedroom with this great toy. They really seem to like the special effects it offers (the sound effects and vibrating). My oldest daughter (17) really likes it too! I reccomend this for all children.
I guess it's cheaper than a pony. But when your seventeen year old daughter's playing with a toy you think a twelve year old might be a little too old for, something's up.
Amazon.com has since pulled the item and its page, so we have to make do with the Google cache. The upside of all of this is that, for once, Concerned Women for America's concerns seem legit and not completely, batshit crazy. (Google)
-Headline of the day-
"Duncan Hunter: No time to 'experiment' with gays in military." Someone should ask him if he can make the time. Keep in mind though, it's only an "experiment" if you do it just once in college. (Raw Story)
-Problem solved-
I've always said that the term "strip mall" made these places seem a lot more exciting than they really are. One community has taken up this issue of false advertising and solved it -- by putting a strip club in the local mall.
"[Boulder, CO's] Pearl Street mall is known for stores that market environmental items, things from Tibet and bohemian gifts," reads to the report. "But if you go down a stairway behind Old Chicago you can find a new and different kind of business -- a strip club."
Good job folks. I can hardly wait to see how you address "strip mining" -- does the hard hat stay on or come off? (CBS4Denver.com)
