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How to tame a princess or not
Tame a Princess
Even as a baby, she was telling me what to do. - photo by David Griffin
Becky Blackburn
Deseret News National
Updated: Jul 8, 2014, 11:00 AM
Published: Jul 7, 2014, 12:13 PM

My daughter wants to be a princess, but she acts like Margaret Thatcher. I don’t know which is worse.

Sure, there are broken wands and the Cinderella dresses on the floor, but the girl can filibuster like you wouldn’t believe. You should hear her go on for hours about why her cousin can’t be Snow White.

“Josie has yellow hair and Snow White has black hair. Josie wears swimming suits and Snow White wears dresses. Josie won’t eat a poisonous apple ….”

This morning, my princess told me I was lazy and I needed to make her some breakfast.

At dinner she told her older brother to quit touching her balloon.

And before bed she asked me about the Falkland Islands.

It’s not fair. I was the oldest of eight children and a good baby sitter. I got the grime out from underneath the bathroom faucets and vacuumed all the corners of the closets. I was actually the perfect Cinderella before the prince showed up. So how did I get a girl who’s ready to rule a country?

I asked my husband what I had done to deserve this. I asked him if she was just a force of nature or if I had created this Iron Lady.

“Uh — both,” he said.

“What?!” I asked.

“Well,” he said, kind of carefully, “It’s probably 80 percent nature and 20 percent you.”

"But I put her in timeout at least once a day!"

He wisely said nothing.

So maybe I’m a small part of the problem. Maybe I buy her too many clothes and give her hugs and kisses and tell her how brilliant she is all the time, but then you really can’t blame me. The girl is adorable in a tiara.

Still, I’m rethinking everything after watching Jane Austen’s "Mansfield Park." Little Fanny Price was the heroine of Austen's novel. Little Fanny Price gets scolded and doesn’t talk back. Fanny never has an opinion. Fanny is quiet at the dinner table. Never mind that Fanny was created in 1813.

Fanny would never turn her nose up at my taco salad and an hour later say, “I’m hungry! Get me my food now!”

Fanny would never stomp her feet if I mumbled, “Oh, go get a carrot.”

Fanny would never complain that "Downton Abbey" was too boring and that she needed some "Phineas and Ferb."

I’m thinking about starting a Fanny Price obedience school for children, and I’m sure we’ll be all full by next weekend. I don’t know if I’m up to whipping a bunch of princesses into shape, but I know a 4-year-old girl who certainly is.

Becky Blackburn is the mother of five children. She graduated from the J. Reuben Clark Law School. Contact her at beckyblackburnwrites@gmail.com
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Aug 13, 2018, 1:39 PM
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.