Just because the world needs to know, these creatures are suspected of doing away with the remains of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.

A team of researchers recently set out for a remote atoll where previous explorers had found traces of an old camp and one or two fragments that could have come from Earhart’s plane.

The new team brought, among other things, pork ribs. They want to lay them out in a clearing just to see where the crabs drag them - the idea being that the crabs might just take them to the same place where Earhart and Noonan were taken.

Their claws are also strong enough to husk a coconut. There’s a good chance readers from northerly climes won’t know what that means, but it’s darn strong.

Oh, God.

They have photos of them devouring a lamb shoulder….

I am totally looking forward to the odd parenting article popping up here. The BigCityBaby article was interesting. I live in a 900 sq ft 2.5 bedroom apt with my wife and 5 year old. That works great, we’ve almost go too much room, but I hear about some of these teensy tiny NYC places people are starting families in and I always wonder if it works. I wish that article had more about how they deal with privacy and cabin fever. At least in the big city you don’t have to worry about giant crabs stealing your baby.

There’s two things people tend to not cover in mentioning first baby.

1. Your IQ drops about 10 points per kid. This is just a fact of life, after about three you stop noticing and it’s kind of pleasant really.

2. And now there’s one kid in the house, the entire planet will start (almost immediately) with ‘ah, you’ll go again…’. And going again is pretty good in all, they have a playmate etc. But what you have to watch out for is when they outnumber you…If you go more than two… that’s the biggie, there’s three of them and you and Mom are easier to back into a corner.

But hey, having three in any major metropolitan area is probably against several city ordinances, so you’re probably good there.

Oh there’s one more thing….

You’re never going to be more in love in your life….

Hi, Merlin! I just cannot help myself but adding my observation about the “death” of music industry. You see, I want to call myself a music “enthusiast” rather than a lover. I even know some not so-familiar songs. This is because I love the composers rather than the artists. You might be surprised if I told you that “revival” of songs here in the Philippines is like a contagious decease. Almost 95% of music here now is revival, and 4.8% new music is JUNK! Filipino artists are very good, there’s no question about it. Have you watched KYLA who sang the Philippine national anthem in the recent Pacquiao-Barrera bout?, she’s one of the best here.

But here’s my observation about “revival” music:

I don’t personally believe that it’s just the trend of this generation. This is because there are already revivals during my “time”. But the thing is, you will not notice that it is a revival because it has a different “version, unlike today.

I also believe that there are still GOOD composers today, just waiting for the chance.

Another thing, PIRACY is everywhere. I think it is not justifiable to buy cheap JUNKS. If you want good music, pay good money for it.

Lastly, I am wondering how much does the recording company, singers and composers receive as royalty fee when we download their music, if there’s any?

So to sum it up, revival music is good, but new good ideas will sound better. I just hope when I hear a new good song, it will also be like a contagious decease…

Long post: sorry.

Definitely shop around, those bottles he recommended looked really overly complicated. We’ve had nothing but good times with Avent bottles from birth.

I agree with the Carter’s recommendation, though in the SF Bay Area they never seem to have the proper clothes for the proper climate. I assume that’s because they stock their store at a national level but don’t take into account that our “seasons” here are off by up to six months or so (read: you can’t find a long-sleeve onesie in the summer when you really need it).

Also check out Old Navy, the big one on Market downtown SF. Top floor, great toddler clothes, better girls’ selection but what are you gonna do?

He mentions that he has a “decent” carseat… buy the safest carseat, naturally. For toddlers (or when the infant prematurely outgrows the infant car seat, like mine) buy one that is not only FAA approved but will actually fit in the seats of your chosen airline.

My son hated slings, Bjorns, swaddling (fought his way out every time, still hates arms being pinned to this day), and oh, I guess sleeping.

As for the Bugaboo steer-clear warning: the McLaren is great and we are about to change to one, but the Bugaboo has large inflated rear tires which won’t get gouged and chipped like standard solid-rubber wheels.

SUV-stroller? Maybe. Foldable? Barely. Ridiculously easy to use and to push one-handed. Definitely. Worth $700? Only if you aren’t the one who buys it.

We have the same diaper bag. Go for it.

Skip any sleep advice you get from anyone else in the world, but listen to it all. Read all the books you can but forget it all. It is all absolutely guaranteed to not apply to YOUR baby. Combine the best advice from everyone and everywhere and then throw it out the window.

Or you’re the guy with the baby that sleeps through the night from birth and I hate you.

The rest of the article looked satisfactory.

Hey Merlin, glad you found my article about having a baby in the city useful. While I had been mulling over writing it for several months your announcement was the motivation I finally needed to get going.

dancemonkey: I think all your points are excellent. I want to emphasis that my article is based purely on my personal experiences and a sample set of one baby. Everyone should defintely take my advice with a grain of salt. There are probably better products and ways to do things out there that I just haven’t found.

benbr: privacy hasn’t really been an issue yet because our son is only six months old now so we are still totally absorbed in the day-to-day child rearing activities without a lot of free time to feel cramped. I guess if you are the kind of person who likes living in the city then you are probably less sensitive to cabin fever anyway. However we realize that we are going to have to move to a bigger apartment some time in the next year or so when our son is more mobile.