A particular family favourite of ours is Wii Party.  Here’s a taste why…

Board Game Island game (1-4 players) Players throw dice to move round the virtual board game, having to compete in various mini games along the way! (This takes approximately 45 minutes.)






Statistics are shown at the end to illustrate each players progress.

If you don’t want to play a structured contest, then you can just use free play to select your favourite mini games from 1 versus 1 to 4 Player Battles.

Wii Party

Games include:
• Hide ‘n’ Hunt (2-4 players)
• Animal Tracker (2-4 players)
• Time Bomb (2-4 players)
• Word Bomb (2-4 players)
• Buddy Quiz (3-4 players)
• Board Game Island (1-4 players)
• Globe Trot (1-4 players)
• Swap Meet (1-4 players)
• Spin Off (1-4 players)
• Balance Boat (1-2 players)
• Friend Connection (2 players)
• Match-Up (1-2 players)

Wii Party available at Toys R Us for £24.97.

Controller sold separately.

“After 90 years, one of Canada’s oldest magazines, The Beaver, is changing its name.

Its publishers say it was only natural that a Canadian history journal should have been named in honour of the industrious dam-building creature which is the country’s national emblem.

But in recent times the magazine’s attempts to reach a new online audience kept falling foul of spam filters – particularly in schools – because beaver is also a slang term for female genitalia.”
(Source: BBC News website 29 March 2010)

Read more of this article here.

The tips below come from the Thinkuknow website.  

Thinkuknow is the education programme delivered by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (www.ceop.police.uk) which is a national law enforcement agency dedicated to tackling child sexual abuse. 

If you would like further information on internet safety then have a look at the think u know website which is packed full of useful tips and advice on a wide range of internet activities.   Their website address is:  www.thinkuknow.co.uk 

1. Know what your children are doing online and who they are talking to. Ask them to teach you to use any applications you have never used.
2. Help your children to understand that they should never give out personal details to online friends.
3. Personal information includes their messenger id, email address, mobile number and any pictures of themselves, their family or friends.
4. If your child publishes a picture or video online—anyone can change it or share it.
5. If your child receives spam / junk email & texts, remind them never to believe them, reply to them or use them.
6. It’s not a good idea for your child to open files that are from people they don’t know. They won’t know what they contain—it could be a virus, or worse – an inappropriate image or film.
7. Help your child to understand that some people lie online and that therefore it’s better to keep online mates online. They should never meet up with any strangers without an adult they trust.
8. Always keep communication open for a child to know that it’s never too late to tell someone if something makes them feel uncomfortable.
9. Teach young people how to block someone online and report them if they feel uncomfortable.
10. There are people who can help. To report online child abuse go to www.ceop.police.uk or for more advice and support go to www.thinkuknow.co.uk

The BBC News Website reported that it had seen a list of more than 10,000 e-mail accounts, predominantly originating from Europe, and passwords which were posted online.

Microsoft have confirmed that their web-based email system Hotmail has been compromised in the attack.

More recent news reports state that the scale of a phishing attack may be larger than previously thought. The BBC have now seen a list of more than 20,000 e-mail addresses and passwords from Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and other service providers.

A spokesperson for Microsoft said phishing was an “industry-wide problem”.

“Our guidance to customers is to exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited attachments and links from both known and unknown sources, and that they install and regularly update their anti-virus software.”

You can read more on the BBC News website.

I read an article on the BBC News website today, which opens up debate on whether or not one should leave the Caps Lock off, when typing email correspondence. The article reports that ProCare Health worker Vicki Walker from Auckland, was sacked for “spreading disharmony at work” by sending colleagues emails in capital letters. Some emails also contained “provocative” text in bold or red.

However, Paul Luna, director of the department of typography and graphic communication at the University of Reading, describes complaints that capital letters are harder to read as “nonsense”. He points to new research that has found capitals and lower-case letters make no real difference. Instead, the caps-lock key has become a tool for writers. “It’s a great aid to articulating a message, really,” he says. “And if that means the occasional CAPITAL e-mail, then so be it.”

Much as I am irritated by receiving emails in the offending capital letters, I do not feel that it is a sacking offence. I get equally irritated by emails that are entirely in lower case with no punctuation. Such emails are even harder to decipher than the offending “Caps Lock” ones.

While there is no strict etiquette regarding the writing of emails, I think it’s only fair to try to make your emails ‘reader-friendly’.

What do you think? Do you get as irritated by indecipherable emails as I do? Or are you one of the offenders, with a permanent Caps Lock?