Monday, November 19, 2007
Smart Kids Deserve an Education, Too
Deborah Robson and Judy Fort Brenneman, co-authors of High IQ Kids, will be signing copies of the book and answering questions at Boulder's PlayFair Toys on Friday, November 23rd, from 5-6:30 PM. This landmark book is the first ever collection of information and stories on profoundly gifted children. These children often struggle getting help in school, and they challenge both their educators and their parents. PlayFair Toys is located at the west gateway of Boulder's 29th Street center, at the corner of 28th and Canyon. Information is also available at www.playfairtoys.com.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Buying American Made Toys is About More Than Safety
Yesterday, November 9, we started what is definitely a big project for a small company - listing all the toys we can find that are Made in the USA. We carry toys made all over the world, and I am certain that there are excellent toys made in every country. But the movement of more and more toy factories to China has always pained me deeply and personally. 80% of the toys sold in the US are now made in China. There is so much more to this story than toy safety. It's time to talk about it.
The recent toy recalls have had little direct impact on us (the total toys from our shelves was less than a dozen pieces, and I am not talking 12 different types of toys I mean less than 12 total, all various Thomas Train pieces), but they have had an indirect impact in terms of customer confidence. Although our best customers know they can count on us for great information, those who have not shopped with us before may be afraid to even walk in the door of a toy store these days. When the first recalls were announced, an article in our local paper quoted a consumer saying that they were going to cruise the toy aisles at Target, turning over boxes at one at a time. What's wrong with this picture?
The move toward the current dominance of Chinese-made toys in American stores has been driven by big box stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, and others that have touted the values of everyone having more cheap stuff - lots and lots of stuff. Although Target has positioned itself as being an "upscale" discount store by being a cut or two above Wal-Mart, and although they do apparently manage to pay a living wage to their employees, in the end they fundamentally have the same business model - buy stuff made as cheaply as possible and encourage people to buy mass quantities of it.
The layers of issues that exist with this situation are many. First, there is the mass marketing of toys that are basically offensive. Barbie, for heaven's sake, is quite the role model for young girls! (I hope you can recognize the sarcasm in that last comment.) But that's a personal opinion, and not a hard fact. Barbie is a very thin crust on what has been happening to the toy industry for a while.
Toys are a huge industry - US industry sales in 2006 were $22.3 billion. If that number sounds large consider this - the US population is currently 300 million people - that is only $74/person, or $270 per person age 19 and younger. It's a big country, and it's a big industry, with $1.3 billion spent on television advertising aimed at children. Who is spending that $1.3 billion? You can bet that it's not small US toy manufacturers with 10-100 employees.
I have watched many companies that prided themselves on being purely US or European made move some or all of their production to China, because without doing so they felt that they simply could not compete in this somewhat brutal marketplace. And I know that all of these companies, many of whom I know personally, all of whom I have spoken with, are maintaining a high degree of control over the manufacturing process there. However they will now be hurt by the practices of larger companies that have not maintained such good controls.
The debates going on are extraordinarily confusing for the consumer, and even so for me, a toy store owner. It seems that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon with an opinion, informed or otherwise. The Democrats (and for the record, I am a strong Democratic supporter) are having a political heyday with this one. I have heard two very disturbing and alarmist comments from leading Democratic politicians about toy safety. Moving away from the sound bites that they are forced to live within, what is the real story here?
The leader of the drive toward lots of cheap toys is definitely Wal-Mart, who is now the number one toy seller in the country. More than one out of very $4 spent on toys is spent at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart works hard to influence and control its suppliers, and the bigger they get, the more clout they have. But it is somewhat ironic that really, Wal-Mart just does what other mass marketers do, only better - seek to dominate marketplaces by using deep pockets to undercut competition.
Maybe it's time to ask ourselves what we are really paying for these less expensive toys. It costs more to produce goods in the US than in China for a multitude of reasons. Labor costs are higher here because we have legislation that guarantees workers at least a very minimal wage (I will not go so far as to call it a living wage). Other protections that US workers have include limiting the maximum number of hours someone can be required to work at a particular job. Why are we supporting an economy that does not insist upon these same rights? Where do the materials come from that are in these toys?
There is much more here than toy safety. There are human rights issue, environmental issues, and macroeconomic issues around balance of trade and our own economic well being. An extensive and well written discussion of the truth about Chinese-made toys was written by one of our suppliers, Vermont-based Maple Landmark. I highly recommend this article to anyone interested in this issue.
Another issue is the cost of transport - not from a purely economic standpoint (clearly these toys can be transported across the globe and still sold cheaply), but from an energy and CO2 emissions standpoint. We are running out of fossil fuels. They will not last forever. Should we be using the precious resources left to move toys across the globe, when the exact same toys could be manufactured locally? Have we figured out the real costs to this lifestyle?
There are no easy answers to living in this day and age. PlayFair Toys does sell toys made in China. Although we have not assessed it on a percentage basis, my guess is that when we do, we'll learn that most of the toys we carry are made in China. PlayFair Toys does not carry Mattel or Fisher Price products, the manufacturers associated with the largest recalls.
I care deeply about the safety of your children. I know that you do, too. I encourage you to ask questions and to look at the overall picture. There have always been toy recalls, thanks to stringest legislation intended to protect US consumers. US-made toys have been recalled in the past, for all sorts of reasons. But nothing has ever happened on this scale before. And therefore this really is a different sort of recall.
There is never any guarantee of the absolute safety of every product in every product in every situation. However buying American-made toys is about more than safety, and that's why we are working to get this information to you in a timely fashion. We hope that you have a wonderful, safe, happy holiday season. We are your partners in helping you select toys.
The recent toy recalls have had little direct impact on us (the total toys from our shelves was less than a dozen pieces, and I am not talking 12 different types of toys I mean less than 12 total, all various Thomas Train pieces), but they have had an indirect impact in terms of customer confidence. Although our best customers know they can count on us for great information, those who have not shopped with us before may be afraid to even walk in the door of a toy store these days. When the first recalls were announced, an article in our local paper quoted a consumer saying that they were going to cruise the toy aisles at Target, turning over boxes at one at a time. What's wrong with this picture?
The move toward the current dominance of Chinese-made toys in American stores has been driven by big box stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, and others that have touted the values of everyone having more cheap stuff - lots and lots of stuff. Although Target has positioned itself as being an "upscale" discount store by being a cut or two above Wal-Mart, and although they do apparently manage to pay a living wage to their employees, in the end they fundamentally have the same business model - buy stuff made as cheaply as possible and encourage people to buy mass quantities of it.
The layers of issues that exist with this situation are many. First, there is the mass marketing of toys that are basically offensive. Barbie, for heaven's sake, is quite the role model for young girls! (I hope you can recognize the sarcasm in that last comment.) But that's a personal opinion, and not a hard fact. Barbie is a very thin crust on what has been happening to the toy industry for a while.
Toys are a huge industry - US industry sales in 2006 were $22.3 billion. If that number sounds large consider this - the US population is currently 300 million people - that is only $74/person, or $270 per person age 19 and younger. It's a big country, and it's a big industry, with $1.3 billion spent on television advertising aimed at children. Who is spending that $1.3 billion? You can bet that it's not small US toy manufacturers with 10-100 employees.
I have watched many companies that prided themselves on being purely US or European made move some or all of their production to China, because without doing so they felt that they simply could not compete in this somewhat brutal marketplace. And I know that all of these companies, many of whom I know personally, all of whom I have spoken with, are maintaining a high degree of control over the manufacturing process there. However they will now be hurt by the practices of larger companies that have not maintained such good controls.
The debates going on are extraordinarily confusing for the consumer, and even so for me, a toy store owner. It seems that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon with an opinion, informed or otherwise. The Democrats (and for the record, I am a strong Democratic supporter) are having a political heyday with this one. I have heard two very disturbing and alarmist comments from leading Democratic politicians about toy safety. Moving away from the sound bites that they are forced to live within, what is the real story here?
The leader of the drive toward lots of cheap toys is definitely Wal-Mart, who is now the number one toy seller in the country. More than one out of very $4 spent on toys is spent at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart works hard to influence and control its suppliers, and the bigger they get, the more clout they have. But it is somewhat ironic that really, Wal-Mart just does what other mass marketers do, only better - seek to dominate marketplaces by using deep pockets to undercut competition.
Maybe it's time to ask ourselves what we are really paying for these less expensive toys. It costs more to produce goods in the US than in China for a multitude of reasons. Labor costs are higher here because we have legislation that guarantees workers at least a very minimal wage (I will not go so far as to call it a living wage). Other protections that US workers have include limiting the maximum number of hours someone can be required to work at a particular job. Why are we supporting an economy that does not insist upon these same rights? Where do the materials come from that are in these toys?
There is much more here than toy safety. There are human rights issue, environmental issues, and macroeconomic issues around balance of trade and our own economic well being. An extensive and well written discussion of the truth about Chinese-made toys was written by one of our suppliers, Vermont-based Maple Landmark. I highly recommend this article to anyone interested in this issue.
Another issue is the cost of transport - not from a purely economic standpoint (clearly these toys can be transported across the globe and still sold cheaply), but from an energy and CO2 emissions standpoint. We are running out of fossil fuels. They will not last forever. Should we be using the precious resources left to move toys across the globe, when the exact same toys could be manufactured locally? Have we figured out the real costs to this lifestyle?
There are no easy answers to living in this day and age. PlayFair Toys does sell toys made in China. Although we have not assessed it on a percentage basis, my guess is that when we do, we'll learn that most of the toys we carry are made in China. PlayFair Toys does not carry Mattel or Fisher Price products, the manufacturers associated with the largest recalls.
I care deeply about the safety of your children. I know that you do, too. I encourage you to ask questions and to look at the overall picture. There have always been toy recalls, thanks to stringest legislation intended to protect US consumers. US-made toys have been recalled in the past, for all sorts of reasons. But nothing has ever happened on this scale before. And therefore this really is a different sort of recall.
There is never any guarantee of the absolute safety of every product in every product in every situation. However buying American-made toys is about more than safety, and that's why we are working to get this information to you in a timely fashion. We hope that you have a wonderful, safe, happy holiday season. We are your partners in helping you select toys.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Great Scot! They've named a street after me!
OK, well, it's not really a street, just a set of steps in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. And the truth is that once again it's named after one of the "other" Professor PlayFairs - Professor William PlayFair. Still, it's quite thrilling to see the historic PlayFair Steps. Glad to see that we have roots that stretch so far back!
Friday, October 5, 2007
The Vanishing Arctic
Tundra is the name given to the vast expanses of land without trees that exist in the northernmost areas of the world. I love the tundra. I've spent much of my life in this land of wild beauty. I used to study the ways in which the tiny arctic plants were changing as our climate warmed. Although from one year to the next they appeared to be pretty much the same, the data and measurements that my students and I collected told another tale - things were changing, and fast.
Now our beautiful is north is truly in peril, as the climate is warming so quickly that the even the arctic ocean ice is disappearing. This is more than just sad. This is a tragedy that will impact us in ways we have not yet imagined. Polar bears, one of the most majestic (and OK, sure, having worked in their world for a while I can say that they are definitely SCARY, too) and beloved animals of the earth, are truly in peril. Do you understand why this is? Because polar bears live, basically, on the ice. Although they sometimes come ashore for awhile, to rest, or some even may live along the coast, their main food source are the seals and fish that live under the ice.
This is not so independent of you, dear reader, as you may think! Here's a story for you:
This is a house. This a kid who lives in the house. This is the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the the electric switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the coal (made of an element called "carbon") that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. These are the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the heat that is trapped in the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the arctic ice that melts from the heat that is trapped in the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. These are the polar bears that (used to?) live on the arctic ice that melts from the heat that is trapped in the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives.
So you see - maybe you and those polar bears are not so far apart, after all. Think about that the next time you think it's just too hard to turn off that light switch.
Here's a fabulous new book to read, and I promise that it isn't about anything so sad as polar bears in peril. Jan Brett, the amazingly gifted children's author and illustrator, serves up a scrumptious treat with The Three Snow Bears, a retelling of the classic Goldilocks tale set, where else, but on an ice floe, in the Arctic Ocean.
With that, Professor PlayFair is done for the day.
Now our beautiful is north is truly in peril, as the climate is warming so quickly that the even the arctic ocean ice is disappearing. This is more than just sad. This is a tragedy that will impact us in ways we have not yet imagined. Polar bears, one of the most majestic (and OK, sure, having worked in their world for a while I can say that they are definitely SCARY, too) and beloved animals of the earth, are truly in peril. Do you understand why this is? Because polar bears live, basically, on the ice. Although they sometimes come ashore for awhile, to rest, or some even may live along the coast, their main food source are the seals and fish that live under the ice.
This is not so independent of you, dear reader, as you may think! Here's a story for you:
This is a house. This a kid who lives in the house. This is the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the the electric switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the coal (made of an element called "carbon") that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. These are the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the heat that is trapped in the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. This is the arctic ice that melts from the heat that is trapped in the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives. These are the polar bears that (used to?) live on the arctic ice that melts from the heat that is trapped in the atmosphere that accumulates the carbon dioxide molecules that escape when the coal burns that generates the electricity that flows through the switch that turns on the light that lights up the house where the kid lives.
So you see - maybe you and those polar bears are not so far apart, after all. Think about that the next time you think it's just too hard to turn off that light switch.
Here's a fabulous new book to read, and I promise that it isn't about anything so sad as polar bears in peril. Jan Brett, the amazingly gifted children's author and illustrator, serves up a scrumptious treat with The Three Snow Bears, a retelling of the classic Goldilocks tale set, where else, but on an ice floe, in the Arctic Ocean.
With that, Professor PlayFair is done for the day.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Will the real Professor PlayFair please stand up?
Believe it or not (and I just know that you will find this very hard to believe), I am actually not the first or only Professor PlayFair. This did indeed come as a bit of a shock to me, but then once I read more about John PlayFair, I thought that I'd rather have enjoyed meeting him.
Professor John PlayFair was a professor mathematics and then natural history at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. This was quite a ways ago - the grand professor passed away in 1819 at the age of 69. During his lifetime he made two quite significant additions to scientific and mathematical thinking.
The first of these was a summary of the work of scientist James Hutton, entitled Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth. That's a lot of big words! What were they trying to say? That the same things shaping the earth and the universe now are the same things that have always shaped it. Another name for this idea is uniformitarianism. It sounds like the study of people in uniform, but in fact it's the longer name for this same idea. PlayFair's book was illustrating examples of uniformitarianism, and this was a key idea that shaped how we study the earth today. We'll talk more about this idea in tomorrow's post.
John PlayFair's second major contribution, and the one he is most famous for, is known as PlayFair's axiom (= a self evident truth that requires no proof). PlayFair's axiom states;
Exactly one line can be drawn through any point not on a given line parallel to the given line.
Say what? Is this so evident it doesn't require a proof? What the heck is a proof anyway?
I also promise we'll talk more about logical thinking, axioms, and how to have fun with logic. Meanwhile, I part with this suggestion. One of the forces that shapes the earth's surface is volcanism. Hard to believe that we stand on a thin crust floating over rocks so hot they are liquid, but we are. One toy that has been enjoyed for decades is the "make your own home volcano". They can erupt again and again, nobody gets burned, and it's also an introduction to basic chemistry.
You can make your own volcano out of paper mache, or our Mega Volcano kit contains everything you need to make your own repeated eruptions. It's an easy way to get started, and it's truly a "blast". (You'll hear me make that joke a lot... sorry...)
Until next time - don't let the uniformitarianists get you down! Be spontaneous!
Professor PlayFair
Professor John PlayFair was a professor mathematics and then natural history at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. This was quite a ways ago - the grand professor passed away in 1819 at the age of 69. During his lifetime he made two quite significant additions to scientific and mathematical thinking.
The first of these was a summary of the work of scientist James Hutton, entitled Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth. That's a lot of big words! What were they trying to say? That the same things shaping the earth and the universe now are the same things that have always shaped it. Another name for this idea is uniformitarianism. It sounds like the study of people in uniform, but in fact it's the longer name for this same idea. PlayFair's book was illustrating examples of uniformitarianism, and this was a key idea that shaped how we study the earth today. We'll talk more about this idea in tomorrow's post.
John PlayFair's second major contribution, and the one he is most famous for, is known as PlayFair's axiom (= a self evident truth that requires no proof). PlayFair's axiom states;
Exactly one line can be drawn through any point not on a given line parallel to the given line.
Say what? Is this so evident it doesn't require a proof? What the heck is a proof anyway?
I also promise we'll talk more about logical thinking, axioms, and how to have fun with logic. Meanwhile, I part with this suggestion. One of the forces that shapes the earth's surface is volcanism. Hard to believe that we stand on a thin crust floating over rocks so hot they are liquid, but we are. One toy that has been enjoyed for decades is the "make your own home volcano". They can erupt again and again, nobody gets burned, and it's also an introduction to basic chemistry.
You can make your own volcano out of paper mache, or our Mega Volcano kit contains everything you need to make your own repeated eruptions. It's an easy way to get started, and it's truly a "blast". (You'll hear me make that joke a lot... sorry...)
Until next time - don't let the uniformitarianists get you down! Be spontaneous!
Professor PlayFair
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Professor PlayFair Welcomes You!
Welcome folks! I'm Professor PlayFair, purveyor of toys, games, and fun for perfectly curious children. I'm also the owner of PlayFair Toys in Boulder, Colorado, mother of two sons, and lover of the environment. And yes, I'm a real professor! I have a Ph.D. in environmental biology from the University of Colorado, and before I had the store I taught at the University of Colorado and then the University of Alaska. I've been doing research on the environment for over 20 years.
So I know a thing or two about science. But I also love to have fun, and I love to help kids who are trying to do the same thing. My hope with this blog is to share that love of science and the natural world.
I want to help you explore the world and learn to ask good questions. Did you know that some of the best questions have no definite answer? Hmm... Now how can that be?
Write and share your thoughts. What's your favorite question?
Professor PlayFair, Ph.D.
So I know a thing or two about science. But I also love to have fun, and I love to help kids who are trying to do the same thing. My hope with this blog is to share that love of science and the natural world.
I want to help you explore the world and learn to ask good questions. Did you know that some of the best questions have no definite answer? Hmm... Now how can that be?
Write and share your thoughts. What's your favorite question?
Professor PlayFair, Ph.D.
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