Video games for young children

President Barack Obama urged a reluctant Congress to ban both military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and require background checks for all gun sales in an emotion-laden plea to curb gun violence in America, though he acknowledged he’s in for an uphill battle. In a sharp pushback against any new gun regulations, the National Rifle Association posted a Web video that labels Mr. Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for allowing his daughters to be protected by armed Secret Service agents while not embracing armed guards for schools. “Are the President’s kids more important than yours,” a male narrator asks in the video. “Then why is he sceptical of putting armed security in schools, when his kids are protected by armed guards in their school?” The President’s sweeping, $500 million plan, coming one month after the school massacre in Connecticut, marks the most comprehensive effort to tighten gun laws in nearly two decades. But his proposals, most of which are … [Read more...] about Obama plan draws sharp attack from gun lobby

Love, it turns out, has always been a lot of work. While every generation will lament anew the fact that finding love is hard, history seems to indicate that this particular social ritual never gets any easier or less exciting. In Labor of Love , a new book documenting the history of dating in America, Moira Weigel, a Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature at Yale University, confirms this lament: Since dating was “invented,” it has always been an activity that required a lot of effort. As part of her research, Weigel read dating-advice books from the 1800s and hundreds of articles on dating from teen and women’s magazines over the years, and she found two common themes: First, there is usually an older part of the population that perceives dating to be “dying,” or, at least, as not being done “appropriately.” Second, Weigel found that the way people date has almost always been tied to the market forces of their era. I recently spoke with Weigel about her book, and a lightly … [Read more...] about Dating Has Always Been Like Work

close Video This American gave us Pepperidge Farm and far more — here's her story Margaret Rudkin, a NYC-born wife and mother, brought delicious baked goods to U.S. consumers. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Margaret Rudkin was a force of nature on the farm, in the bakery and in the boardroom. You may not know her name. But you’ve certainly enjoyed delicious breads and snacks inspired by her idyllic Connecticut estate. Pepperidge Farm. Yes, it’s a real place. The Pepperidge Farm brand today is a powerhouse of the American food industry. It produces many of the nation's most beloved products, from breads and layer cakes to Milano cookies and Goldfish crackers — the latter of which Americans consume by the billions every year. MEET THE AMERICAN WHO INVENTED THE MOTOR HOME Pretty remarkable for a city girl who, when she started cooking at her farmstead, couldn’t even bake bread. "My first loaf should … [Read more...] about Meet the American baker and businesswoman who founded Pepperidge Farm

Once Tina Sloan Green took over the lacrosse program at Temple University in the years after the passage of Title IX, the landmark gender-equity law, she never stopped thinking about the girls who weren't playing. At practices during the 1970s, Sloan Green, the first Black woman to coach a college lacrosse team, noticed neighborhood kids peering through the fences at her players as guards kept them out. And when high school athletes were welcomed on the university's fields for training camps, most were white and from predominantly white suburban schools. “That was very, very disturbing to me to see that," she said. "And that was — that was the reality that I had to face ... Title IX was a complete help for women in sports but in my mind, there were still disparities.” For girls of color, some women's college sports, such as lacrosse, equestrian, rowing or even softball, are ones they are unlikely to be exposed to in grade school. The reasons vary, though … [Read more...] about Title IX: Strides for women of color in sports lag under law

L egend says the diver drowned retrieving the pearl. Trapped in a giant Tridacna clam, his body was brought to the surface by his fellow tribesmen in Palawan, a province of the Philippines, in May 1934. When the clam was pried open, and the meat scraped out, the local chief beheld something marvelous: a massive pearl, its sheen like satin. In its surface, the chief discerned the face of the Prophet Muhammad. He named it the Pearl of Allah. At 14 pounds, one ounce, it was the largest pearl ever discovered. To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app. A Filipino American, Wilburn Dowell Cobb, was visiting the island at the time and offered to buy the jewel. In a 1939 article that appeared in Natural History magazine, he recounted the chief’s refusal to sell: “A pearl with the image of Mohammed, the Prophet of Allah, is earned by devotion, by sacrifice, not bought with money.” But when the chief’s son fell ill with malaria, Cobb used … [Read more...] about Chasing the Pearl of Lao Tzu