Einstein Bros. Bagels - New Twist N' Dip: The Most Fun Bagel Ever

** A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free **

I recently swung by my neighborhood Einstein Bros. Bagels location to try out their new TWIST N' DIP BAGEL.  Now you can get a classic plain bagel perforated so that it easily twists apart into pieces that are the perfect size to conveniently dip into a container of shmear. Why didn't someone think of doing this sooner?!  No hassle, no mess! An easy, fun and convenient way to enjoy a bagel.

No need to worry about cutting apart bagels or spreading on shmear using a knife with the new TWIST N' DIP BAGEL which makes this perfect for serving at morning business meetings, providing as an afternoon snack for the kids, or enjoying yourself as a personal treat when you may be out and about.  Each of the new TWIST N' DIP BAGELS tears into bite size pieces and comes with two of Einstein's 16 flavors of signature shmear.

While mom always told us not to play with our food, Einstein Bros. says it is alright to have some fun with this new twist on eating a bagel.  In fact they are encouraging it by hosting a contest on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram encouraging people to show off their best Twist 'N Dip moves. Post a photo or video between now and July 31, 2016 capturing how you Twist 'N Dip your Einstein Bros. bagel using the hashtag #TwistNDip for the chance to win some fun prizes.  Einstein Bros. will select weekly winners to receive cool prizes such as Six Flags prize packs, summer swag, and even FREE bagels for a year!

Visit EinsteinBros.com/twistndip for a buy-one-get-one-FREE coupon for a TWIST N' DIP BAGEL plus for every one sold this summer Einstein Bros will donate a bagel to someone in need.



Speaking of twisting and dipping enjoy the ones that the rides at Six Flags Amusement Parks provide with this discount coupon for A Geek Daddy readers courtesy of our friends at Einstein Bros.Bagels.



I find cutting and tearing apart traditional bagels to be a real pain so this new TWIST N' DIP BAGEL was very appealing to me.  In addition to having the same great taste Einstein Bros' bagels are known for, the pieces you twist off also make for perfect brushes to paint a  nice shmear mustache on a spouse, friend, or child's face. When has seeing someone wearing a shmear mustache not put a smile on your face?! Have fun twisting and dipping this summer my friends!

HE NAMED ME MALALA

As a father I want my daughter to have limitless potential to excel at whatever goals she wants to pursue in life.  Fortunately we live in a country where females can attain an education and have societal freedoms which don't restrict her ability to engage in the life she wants to lead.  The ability to get an education is so important for opening opportunities for both professional and personal development, yet even in today's day and age more than 60 million girls are not able to attend school around the world because of societal restrictions or safety concerns.  In my view that is unacceptable!

Ziauddin (Zia)Yousafzai believed in the merits of every female getting the same education as a male would get and opened a chain of schools that allowed girls to attend in rural Pakistan even though there was societal undertones against such things.  Then the Taliban invaded their valley and things got worse.  Yet Zia still encouraged his daughter Malala to attend school and stand up against repression.  She began to blog against the societal restrictions against women dictated by the Taliban and advocate for girls to have the right to go to school.  At the age of 11, Malala was writing a blog for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban occupation, their attempts to take control of the area where she lived, and promoting education for girls living in the Swat Valley.  After a few years her public profile expanded from the blog to doing local, national, and international print and television interviews advocating for peace in her community and women's rights.  Malala's advocacy began to get attention not just in her own community but throughout her country drawing the wraith of the Taliban upon her.

On October 9, 2012, while her father was out of town advocating for more local assistance from the Pakistani government against Taliban repression, 15 year old Malala boarded a bus after school to head home.  A Taliban gunman boarded the bus, asked for Malala by name, then fired three shots at her.  The attack left her in critical condition.  She was eventually able to be be transported to England for treatment and after intensive rehabilitation has made an incredible recovery.  In 2014, Malala was named as a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle against suppression and work in promoting the right of all children to get an education making her the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate at 17 years old.  With her family now permanently residing in the United Kingdom, Malala and Zia continue to advocate for access to a good education for every girl around the world.

Having just returned from the annual DAD 2.0 SUMMIT conference where more than 400 fathers from across the United States and Canada met to discuss the changing voice and perceptions of modern fatherhood, Malala's story reminded me that while there have been great gains over the last decade by men like Zia to promote equality for our daughters there is still so much more work to be done.  A common denominator between conversations I have with other dads in my hometown and the fathers who attended the DAD 2.0 SUMMIT is a desire for our daughters to excel in school and use that education to achieve whatever personal and professional dreams they may have.  I've noticed a growing trend in the last decade of more fathers across the U.S., U.K. and Canada becoming more active in the parenting responsibilities of family life and an uptick in stay-at-home dads being children's primary care-gives while their wives are working moms financially supporting the household.  As gender roles and stereotypes continue to dissolve in the future, I believe that men will be more relatable to women having experienced a more in-depth relationship through the parenting of their daughters.  This hopefully will lead to more opportunities for equality among the sexes when it comes to the freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just in the United State but across the globe.

How do you think the role fathers play in raising and inspiring their children, as Zia did, has changed in the past decade?  How do you think this role will continue to change?

To help Malala and Zia raise awareness of the plight of girls being excluded from obtaining an education and advocate for every child to have the right to attend a safe school, the National Geographic Channel and 21st Century Fox are engaging in a social media initiative to garner attention and raise money for the Malala Fund.  Timed to the exclusive global broadcast television premiere of Academy Award® winner Davis Guggenheim's feature documentary HE NAMED ME MALALA on the National Geographic Channel, 21st Century Fox has committed to donating up to $50,000 in response to people standing #withMalala through social media.

From February 18 - March 10, 2016, 21st Century Fox will donate $1 to the Malala Fund for every tweet on Twitter using the hashtag #withMalala up to $50,000.  Additionally, Facebook users can utilize a custom application that allows profile pictures to be transformed into a yearbook photo.  The yearbook photo then adds animation that dissolves female users' photos from the page as a powerful metaphor that sheds light on the 60 million girls out of school worldwide and meant to further inspire people to learn about Malala's mission.  For more information about engaging in this social media campaign, visit www.supportmalala.com.

HE NAMED ME MALALA will premiere commercial free on Monday, February 29, 2016 at 8pm ET/PT on National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo MUNDO in the United States with a global roll out following shortly afterward involving 171 countries and 45 languages.



Tune in to the National Geographic Channel's showing of HE NAMED ME MALALA on February 29th, tweet out, and stand #withMalala against the subjugation and repression that too many of our world's daughters face everyday.

A Celebration of the Caped Crusader - BATMAN DAY is Saturday September 26, 2015

Saturday, September 26th is BATMAN DAY where bookstores, comic shops, and other retailers will be celebrating this iconic character with fun promotional giveaways and special deals on Batman products.  Kids and kids-at-heart can also have some fun at home on BATMAN DAY too by enjoying these activity sheets, coloring pages, and mask cutouts from DC Comics:



If you are heading out on Saturday make sure to stop by a  comic shop, book store, or participating retailer to receive a FREE copy of BATMAN ENDGAME SPECIAL EDITION #1 with an 8-page preview of the upcoming BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL.  Comic book stores will all have one cover for this free comic book but other retailers including Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Books a Million, FYE, Gamestop, Hot Topics and Spencers will be handing out comics with exclusive variant covers.  Digital isn't being left out of the party either with free downloads, also featuring exclusive covers, being available from Apple iTunes, Comixology, Google Play and Nook.

BATMAN DAY partners include Warner Bros. Consumer Products with licensees Bendon, Capstone, Penguin Random House, Scholastic, and DK Publishing, as well as DC Collectibles, WaterTower Music, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Partners will provide unique retail and digital promotional tie-ins to celebrate the world-renowned Caped Crusader.

Signings and meet-and-greets with top Batman talent from DC Comics will also be taking place on BATMAN DAY including an all star line-up at Baltimore Comic-Con with Scott Snyder, Greg Pak, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Peter Tomasi, Cully Hammer, and Klaus Janson. Additional BATMAN DAY signing events featuring comic book talent will take place around the United States and Canada include acclaimed artist and DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee (Los Angeles), Greg Capullo (Guilderland, NY), Tom King (Baltimore), Paul Dini (Los Angeles), Tim Seeley (Chicago), Dan Jurgens (St. Paul), Brenden Fletcher (Toronto, ON), Sean Murphy (Brooklyn) Len Wein (Los Angeles), Chris Burnham (Burbank), Ray Fawkes (Toronto, ON), Pat Gleason (St. Paul), Brian Buccellato (Los Angeles), Kyle Higgins (Los Angeles), Matt Manning (Asheville, NC), Daniel Wallace (Eden Prarie, MN), with  more to be announced.

To help fans get in the spirit for #BATMANDAY the various DC Comics Facebook pages have been updated with themed banners.

But wait! take a closer look! In addition to their being a Batman logo on the banner could there be something else lurking in the shadows?

It's Batman!  They've added an image of the dark knight in the main banner of these nine Facebook pages as Easter eggs for fans to look for in a great caped crusader hunt:  Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman,  The Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League, Harley Quinn, Green Arrow, and Vertigo Comics.  Did you find all the hidden Batman images in the artwork?  Some are pretty easy to spot and others are really difficult.

As Robin would say Holy Armadillo Batman there sure is going to be a lot of Batmania going on September 26th!