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With so many horror stories in the news about the tragic events that stem from bullying, many are wondering what else could be done to prevent problems earlier. Bullying can take many forms, and while many school districts are making great progress towards prevention there is still a long way to go.

With the internet, bullies now have a digital wall to hide behind. That wall may even potentially make the bullying worse that it ever was before, studies done (and that are still being done) have shown that email can push people to be crueler than they would face to face. In addition, the victim isn’t just facing ridicule among their immediate peers, but an entire network.

While the progress is great, and it’s a sign that steps are being taken in the right direction preventing bullying is a difficult task. Much of prevention can lie in what makes a bully, and finding the cause to maybe assure that kids who may show the signs don’t progress into bullying others. There is no clear cut, one size fits all answer to why some kids become the aggressor. The reasons can be anything from home problems to ‘just being mean’.

Prevention however, can take on other forms. Parents can help by talking to their children, and even if they aren’t directly being bullied you can encourage them to stick up for those that are by either telling  a teacher, or another adult about it.

By working with kids, administration, and each other bullying can be lessened and stopped.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Divorce and custody disputes are full of emotion and it really isn’t surprising that there are so many split couples that just cannot get along While nobody would argue that they should try, it is a rough circumstance for all involved. While  celebs aren’t any stranger to divorce, when that divorce involves children in addition to the public, there are times when you just with one partner (or at times both) would just stop talking.

Kate and Jon Gosselin’s marriage fell apart dramatically in front of the world, and before the ink was even on the divorce decree Jon was repeatedly snapped traveling around the world with women. It’s understandable for her to be hurt, but with the latest feud between the couples, one wants to just tell her (and him)  to just let it go already.

While interviewing on Regis and Kelly, Kate kept making cracks at her ex saying:

“It’s… you know. I do try to keep it as peaceful as possible. [It] depends on the day,” she explained.

“I basically wait for the phone call from how many of them want to come home.”

She added: “[His place] is not [their] home; it doesn’t feel like home to them… they want to be at home – in their house.”

Then again, they both should take the age old parenting advice (granted, usually told to children) and remember, two wrongs don’t make a right. He responded to both the media and Kate via his twitter account, saying:

As much as I want to respond to numerous LIES recently claimed on Regis and Kelly, I will refrain. I have learned from the past that it’s a waste of my time and energy. I am “rising above”, and refuse to engage in any sort of public argument that could potentially harm or upset my children. My children and the people in my life know the truth, and that is what’s important.

Read More: The Gosselins Breaking News and Gossip | PerezHilton.com

Ironically, while it can be hard not to say something by giving any attention to what was said he isn’t ‘rising above’. This really seems to be one of those things (especially among the public disputes) that there is no ‘winner’.

Yet, the couple’s eight kids are certainly at the losing end of all this.

We all want to be a little greener, it can be hard to find the right budget friendly and design friendly goodies for your home. Although, getting safer products for children and finding them can be hard. It usually is more hassle than it should be, especially with gas prices what they are lately.

MightyNest.com is an innovative and to be honest rather nifty idea.  They handpick eco-friendly goodies for your home.  Taking the hassle out of green shopping and living.

Started by parents who went through the same troubles we all have in having a new child, in finding the solutions they also are looking towards helping other parents.

From the Mighty Nest about page:

It all started when Chris and I had our daughter, Ayla. The reality that our decisions impacted another human being forced us to take a closer look at the products we were using in our home. We were startled to find that many of the products we used every day contained potentially harmful chemicals and had unnecessary risks associated with them.  Upon learning this, we were determined to find out all we could about bottles, toys, mattresses, cleaning supplies, diapers…you name it.  Unfortunately, the process of scouring the Web and separating fact from fiction was frustrating, discouraging and nearly impossible between diaper changes and midnight feedings.

They have so many fabulous articles on the website, all full of information and fabulous products.  They definitely deserve a good look.

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The popular names of 2009 aren’t exactly a surprising.  The trend of oddly-spelled names seems to be behind us, as all the most common names last year are all the ‘go-to’ classics.  Although, they usually seem to be.

Names of ‘08It seems that trend of taking common names, and generally being creative with the spelling are over. While that isn’t to say that Gertrude will be making a comeback anytime soon, it does seem to suggest that people are now going for the classical feel of the names that were popular in the years past.

Granted, Emma has never really been an all together unpopular name (always at minimum in the top 100), and in addition the top names generally stay almost the same (as you can see from the lists above).

I would like to take this time to ask two general questions, do you or someone you know use these lists to find a baby name?  How likely are these to influence a name for you?

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One of the largest issues with greener living is facing the inherent problems associated with waste removal and management.

The Earthmaker Composter promises to solve this issue by making the process both far easier and more efficient.  The Earthmaker Composter makes composting so much easier and more efficient, so efficient in fact- even the color works harder.

The Earthmaker Composter’s  black shell allows the heat outdoors to mix with the natural heat from the compost process time itself to improve compost time.  Taken with it’s large124 gallons of storage and it’s  30″ D x 47″H size, 30″ D by 47″H overall size the Earthmaker can produce up to of 10 gallons eco-friendly compost in one month.

The Earthmaker has so many intuitive and fantastic features packed into it.

One of the many real standout features of Earthmaker Composter is the patented separation based on the maturity of the waste, which also improves the compost by letting gravity itself take over.    It sports a three chamber design with shelves to allow for both more space inside and more efficiency overall.

The chambers keep the fresh compost separate in order to reduce the time needed for everything to break down.  Due to the Earthmaker’s aerobic action you also avoid most of the flies and greenhouse gasses normally involved in  composting.

The Earthmaker is very easy to put together and start using right away.

Why get the Earthmaker and why compost?

Composting is a very ecologically friendly way to both dispose of certain kinds of waste material so it isn’t taking up space in a landfill, but it’s also one of the hands down best ways to feed a garden.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) even states:

Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That’s a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead! You can read more about the benefits of composting by reading the EPA’s website found here.

Composting alone cleans up landfills by simply keeping a good potion of the waste that usually winds up there out.  Instead, it gets turned into incredibly nutrient rich mulch.

More important information on about the benefits to the Earth from simply composting from another government website:

Composting reduces the amount of waste each of us sends to the landfill.  In fact, up to 30% of the material we send to landfill is organic and could be composted at home.  Composting has other benefits too. Applying finished compost returns nutrients to the land, holds moisture in gardens and on lawns, contributes to watershed health by controlling run-off and naturally fertilizes and provides structure to the soil.

From the Government of Alberta Canada.

The Earthmaker Composter makes the whole process of composting far easier than the usual ways.  For the benefits that it will provide, the considerably low price is more than worth every penny.

We all want to be a bit greener, especially with the Earth under threat.  Keeping yourself ecologically friendly, and  clean by using the Earthmaker Composter just makes that need a lot easier.