Episode 041: It Can Only Go Up From Here

This week’s episode covers the following stories on 8BitDad.com and around the internets for the month leading up to October 16th, 2012: Viral: Colin Furze, Maker of ‘World’s Fastest Pram’, Talks to 8BitDad / Chad Sapieha’s Ten Female Video Game Characters He’s Not Ashamed To Show His Daughter / Watch Dads Singing Little Mermaid Classic Anthem / Buying Boys Underwear for My Daughter: Gender Disparity in Kids’ Character Undies / 8BD Review: Taken 2 / 5 Year Old Narrates Bike Trail Ride With Dad / One Father Tells 8BitDad the Price of Going Viral / NickMom Insults Dads / Man Points Gun At Pregnant Smoker

BELLINGHAM, Wash., September 12th, 2012 – A man was arrested on suspicion of taking healthcare into his own hands (literally) by pointing a firearm at a pregnant woman because she was smoking a cigarette near downtown Bellingham, single-handedly proving that happiness is, indeed, a warm gun.

According to the Bellingham Herald, the man rolled up in a blue Dodge pickup at 12:08 p.m. in the 700 block of East Holly Street, with the passenger window down. A 28-year-old woman, who later told police she’s about eight months pregnant, was walking on the sidewalk and smoking a cigarette.

We’re not sure where this “Parenting Techniques: Moms vs. Dads” originated, but NickMom wasn’t shy about slapping their logo at the bottom of this stock photo dad-hating comparison. The image runs through most of the prime examples of painful fatherhood stereotypes where mom is a God and dad is a f*cking idiot child.

There are some hilarious images out there that poke fun at both mothers and fathers.

This one is simply biased and insulting.

A dog can be more than a man’s best friend. Sometimes, a cat, too.

A recent study shows that having pets in a household can actually help babies get a jump-start on good health.

The study published in The Journal of Pediatrics finds that children who lived with dogs or cats during their first year of life got sick less frequently than kids from pet-free zones.

Kelly Davis was watching his 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters slide down the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, located in Chicago, when he saw a man rushing toward Myla, the youngest girl, last Saturday evening. The man grabbed the girl’s arm, muttering “This is my daughter, Goldilocks,” but Davis said he wrestled him away and then chased him through alleys and building lobbies before finally flagging down police.

If only we had an award for Badass Father of the Year.

Nils Pickert’s 5-year-old son likes to wear dresses and skirts. In show of solidarity, Pickert started wearing them too. “Yes, I am one of those fathers who are trying to raise his children with gender equality. I’m not one of those pseudo-intellectual daddies that rambles on about studying gender justice, and then, as soon as the child is born, falls back into the comfortable and clichéd gender roles.”

That’s pretty badass.

Serge Bielanko, friend of the show, got some internet heat recently over this photo he posted back in July. It was one of many in a gallery for an article called Old Work Boots & Camouflage Cargos: How NOT To Let Your Man Fall Out Of Fashion. Not long after his article was published, the photo was featured on Babble’s Facebook page where MOMS ATTACKED.

Serge is a caring writer and loving father. The initial comments were prejudice, hateful and dug into his soul. ”What the heck were these people so upset about? Did they not read my article? I’m HER DAD!”, he wrote in a followup piece. Is it fair to judge a person because of a single picture? Absolutely not. But it is a photo… on the internet.