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Monday, 26 July 2010
» It seems that humans do a simple moral calculation whenever faced with a choice: "Have I done something good recently?" Those who have (or who have just thought about it) tend to give themselves more leeway in other areas.
University of Toronto behavioral marketing professor Nina Mazar showed in a recent study that people who bought green products were more likely to cheat and steal than those who bought conventional products. One of Mazar's experiments invited participants to shop either at online stores that carry mainly green products or mainly conventional products. Then they played a game that allowed them to cheat to make more money. The shoppers from the green store were more dishonest than those at the conventional store, which brought them higher earnings in the game.
From a practical standpoint, this behavior offsets any gains the "good" behavior might otherwise have engendered. I'd like to see some research on the subset of people who bought from the green store and didn't cheat. How do they see the world differently than everyone else?
/ 3 Comments / [ 07.23.10 ]
» Long-time readers know how impatient I am with the idea that creativity belongs to a small subset of people. Recent research supports what I've known all along - that creativity is the birthright of every human being. More importantly, it uncovers the formula for teaching creativity to children (and to you, adult reader) even in schools tied to standardized testing.
So what does this mean for America's standards-obsessed schools? The key is in how kids work through the vast catalog of information. Consider the National Inventors Hall of Fame School, a new public middle school in Akron, Ohio. Mindful of Ohio's curriculum requirements, the school's teachers came up with a project for the fifth graders: figure out how to reduce the noise in the library. Its windows faced a public space and, even when closed, let through too much noise. The students had four weeks to design proposals. [...]
Along the way, kids demonstrated the very definition of creativity: alternating between divergent and convergent thinking, they arrived at original and useful ideas. And they'd unwittingly mastered Ohio's required fifth-grade curriculum--from understanding sound waves to per-unit cost calculations to the art of persuasive writing. "You never see our kids saying, 'I'll never use this so I don't need to learn it,'" says school administrator Maryann Wolowiec. "Instead, kids ask, 'Do we have to leave school now?'"
/ 0 Comments / [ 07.22.10 ]
» Is bizarro fiction the most awesome literary genre ever conceived? Consider the evidence:
Jeff Burk's Shatnerquake is the story of William Shatner. [...] All of the characters he has ever played are suddenly sucked into our world on a mission to hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner.
I rest my case. (And this described as "a comparatively mild example".) [ 07.21.10 ]
» Educational games are notoriously dreary, but here's a model that more studios should emulate: Game developer Adam Saltsman retooled his popular platformer to require players to use a changing set of letters in order to win. The result is a FUN touch-typing tutorial, Canabalt: Typing Tutor Edition. (thanks, jjg!) [ 07.20.10 ]
» Oh, awesome. I write like H.P. Lovecraft or David Foster Wallace, depending on which essay you choose. (via w.o.l) [ 07.15.10 ]
» A $50-a-year program that works as well as summer school? Just wow. Combine this with a lunch program and you would have a low-cost and effective program that nearly any school district could afford.
In a study that compares students who received free books over the summer with students who didn't, Richard Allington, an education professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, found encouraging results. He tracked low-income first- and second-graders in Florida who chose a dozen free books at their reading level for three summers in a row.
"The effect was equal to the effect of summer school," Professor Allington says. "Spending roughly $40 to $50 a year on free books for [each kid] began to alleviate the achievement gap that occurs in the summer."
(via bp)
/ 1 Comments / [ 07.14.10 ]
» NYT: What We Still Don't Know About Sunscreens.
A yearlong study by the Food and Drug Administration has produced sobering data indicating that a form of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, may accelerate development of skin tumors and lesions when applied in the presence of sunlight. That wouldn't be a problem if the substance weren't an active ingredient in more than 40 percent of all sunscreens available in the United States.
[ 07.09.10 ]
» Smithsonian Magazine: How Our Brains Make Memories
For those of us who cherish our memories and like to think they are an accurate record of our history, the idea that memory is fundamentally malleable is more than a little disturbing. [..] But if he is right, it may not be an entirely bad thing. It might even be possible to put the phenomenon to good use to reduce the suffering of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, who are plagued by recurring memories of events they wish they could put behind them.
(via br) [ 07.07.10 ]
» The Museum of Animal Perspectives features films made with animal-borne cameras, giving you an armadillo, sea turtle, or scorpion-eye view of the world. (via gtw) [ 07.02.10 ]
» If these Q&As (Part 2 and Part 3) with Italy for the Gourmet Traveler author Fred Plotkin don't make you dream of traveling to Italy (and eating!), nothing in the world will. [ 07.01.10 ]
» Book publishers Ballantine Books and Harlequin Teen are planning to electronically publish inexpensive "bridge" stories for two of their authors, both to build buzz among current fans, and (hopefully) to attract new readers. [ 06.30.10 ]
» Oil reaches Pensacola Beach in Florida. These pictures are just devastating. [ 06.29.10 ]
» Chefs Resources is a "culinary wikipedia" designed to be a collaborative culinary resource for professional chefs. I share it here for those, like me, with a passion for cooking and food culture. [ 06.25.10 ]
» Why I Returned My iPad. It's all true. One of my goals as a parent will be to ensure that my children are bored part of the time. That's when children invent games, write stories, learn new skills, or read an unfamiliar book. Just as the eye needs space to make sense of words on a page, the mind needs space to make sense of its thoughts, intentions, and emotions. (thanks, jjg!) [ 06.24.10 ]
» Jim Emerson has written a thoughtful post on the ways in which the experience and social element of film-watching have changed, not disappeared--and why that points to a brighter future (and present) than the past. It's a terrific piece, well worth reading for that alone.
Embedded deep in the article is a tangential and thought-provoking idea that is also worth your consideration:
[W]e need a Slow Internet Movement along the lines of Slow Food and Slow Cinema, if we're really going to take advantage of the archival nature of the Web. It's not just about being first and fast and superficial; it's an opportunity to consider a spectrum of arguments and evidence.
As you know, the blogging mainstream has veered 180 degrees from anything resembling a Slow Internet aesthetic[*]. But Jim's phrase "the archival nature of the Web" hits the nail on the head. With so much analysis, reflection, and imagination collected on the Internet, why are there not more writers curating, collating, and synthesizing this vast repository with measured deliberation?
Most popular bloggers will tell you that this is exactly what they do--but they do it at lightning speed. The popular Web most closely resembles a hyper-paced newspaper, with Extra editions required for every new development, regardless of its importance. Publish (and publish and publish) or perish is the credo--and in fact the reality--of any Internet publication that desires mindshare and/or advertising revenue.
The Slow Web would be more like a book, retaining many of the elements of the Popular Web, but unhurried, re-considered, additive. Research would no longer be restricted to rapid responders. Conclusions would be intentionally postponed until sufficiently noodled-with. Writers could budget sufficient dream-time before setting pixel to page. Fresh thinking would no longer have to happen in real time.
I love the Fast Web, and I value the work that is done there. But no matter how informed, intelligent, and talented a writer may be, an idea that has been returned to and then turned away from, repeatedly, is simply different from one that is formed in a few hours, based on that afternoon's best available facts. (via @ebertchigago)
[*] Obviously there are exceptions, but on the Web in general and on blogs specifically, to the "first and fast" belong the spoils traffic. [ 06.23.10 ]
» 10 artists who are creating sublime art with the barest of resources, using the Internet, video, and...sand. [ 06.22.10 ]
» The New Yorker: Fresh Hell. What's behind the boom in dystopian fiction for young readers? Heck, I think it's because they already live in dystopia: their parents' homes. [ 06.15.10 ]
» Now you can support Rebecca's Pocket by making your summer book purchases at Amazon's Summer Reading Store!
This week's summer reading installment includes books on soccer, the best science fiction of 1912, books that have captured and shaped the experiences of African-Americans, 10 recommended writers over the age of 80, and a lesbian mystery roundup. Plus picture books, chapter books, and other books for kids.
Adults:
NPR: Fiction, Long And Short, For Summertime Escape
NPR: To Market, To Market: 10 Top Summer Cookbooks
NPR: Historical Fiction: The Ultimate Summer Getaway
NPR: Booksellers' Picks: 15 Soaring Summer Reads
NPR: Fiction, Long And Short, For Summertime Escapes
NPR: Vampire Stories: Two New Twists On An Old Nemesis
Guardian: Carlos Ruiz Zafón's top 10 20th-century gothic novels
Guardian: Mihir Bose's top 10 football books
Vancouver Sun: Prep for the World Cup with these books about soccer
Bradenton.com: 10 hot new summer books
Lambda Literary: Lesbian Mystery Roundup: May 2010
Publishers Weekly: The Books on Foodies' Beach Blankets
Essence: 40th Anniversary Portfolio: 40 Summer Books 40 books that have captured and shaped the experiences of African-Americans
Forbes: Twenty-One Women Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Favorite Business Books
The Orange Prize for Fiction 2010 shortlist [longlist]
The Nebula Awards
Independent Book Publishers Association: Benjamin Franklin Award Finalists 2010
Gospel Music Channel: Summer Reading 2010: The Best of the Best
No Tells: Recommended Summer Reading (Poetry)
Shelflife: Short short stories
The Reader's Advisor: Under the Radar: Thrillers to Read While You Wait for the New Stieg Larsson
Ward Six: Ten Over 80: Writers To Go Back And Read
io9: The Best Year of Science Fiction Ever: 1912
Goodreads: Summer
Goodreads: Summer Reading
Goodreads: Summer Books
Children and Young Adults:
Shelflife: Summer Reads for Tweens
Shelflife: Children's Summer Reads: Picture Books
Shelflife: Children's Summer Reads: Chapter Books
Shelflife: Ship Ahoy!: Sail Into the Sunset with a Picture Book
Shelflife: Can You Feel the Beat? Picture Books that Boogie!
[ 06.14.10 ]
» The rise of the Historical Mystery from niche to award-winning, best-selling genre. I'd never even heard of Uncle Abner before, or indeed, most of these protagonists. [ 06.03.10 ]
» Happy Summer, and welcome to the inaugural 2010 Summer Reading List of Lists. Check the Pocket once a week for updates, or just bookmark the 2010 Summer Reading List and refer back when your bookshelf runs dry.
Adults:
Journal of Opinion, 1934: Good Books That Almost Nobody Has Read
USA Today: Hot summer books: Titles worth reading in every genre
USA Today Summer Books Calendar
NYT: Beach-Chair-Worthy Books
WSJ: Summer's Best Reads
WSJ: Great Expectations Sixteen reads the book world is betting on, from literary debuts to scientific adventures
NPR: Sizzling Summer Picks From Indie Booksellers
CSM: Summer 2010 reading guide
CSM: 5 mysteries that sizzle make cool summer reading
CSM: 8 (smart) books for the beach
CSM: 10 great books for Father's Day
CSM: 5 gripping real-life adventure stories
LA Times: 'Lost' reading list: the show's creators discuss literary influences, from Stephen King to Flannery O'Connor
The Arizona Republic: Summer Books: Fiction
BusinessWeek: Business School Summer Reading Lists 2010
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Summer books: Hornets, vampires, terrorists are coming
by
Lincoln Journal Star: Summer reads: Books to keep you reading all summer long
Bloomberg: Top 50 Business Books, 'Animal Spirits' to 'What the Dog Saw'
Newsday: Beachy keen: 10 hot new summer books
O Magazine: 10 Books to Read Right Now
Entertainment Weekly: 18 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Summer
Details: Your Essential Summer Reading List
Westchester Magazine: Summer Reading
2010 James Beard Foundation Media and Book Award Winners
2010 Edgar Nominees
Agatha Award Winners
2010 Caine Prize for African Writing Shortlist
Library Journal: Short Takes: Summer Men's Fiction
Library Journal: Short Takes: Summer Women's Fiction
Top 10 Welsh underground novels
Desert Island Books (ones that actually take place on a desert island)
Arabic Writer's Union: The Best 100 Arabic Books
The Best True Crime Books
National One Book+One Parish+One Summer 2010 Begins
Summer Reading Ideas: Victorian Literature and the Novel
Children and Young Adults:
Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1960: "200 Great Books for Young Americans," ages 14 to 18
The Summer 2010 Children's Indie Next List
Guardian UK: The best children's books ever
CSM: 5 books for kids of all ages
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Reading for a Summer of Fun
Salon: Your daughters' summer vacation reading list Ages 4-12
The Statesman: Children's books: Summer titles for every age
Arizona Daily Sun: Summer reading: All in the family
The E.B. White Read Aloud Awards
Writers Against Racism: Ira Socol's DIVERSE Summer Reading List (secondary level)
About.com: Top 10 Summer Reading Lists For Kids and Teens: 2010 (scroll past the ads to get to the bulk of the list)
Summer reading for antsy little boys
Summer Reading: 52 Picks for the Hols (Bonus: adult titles, too!)
[ 06.02.10 ]
» What does a poor person look like? Engineers Without Borders member Duncan McNicholl found himself frustrated with media depictions of "poor Africans", so he has begun photographing his African hosts in 2 sets of clothes: the decrepit clothing usually depicted, and his subjects' very best clothes. The results are fun and enlightening, a lesson in themselves on media literacy and the ways in which typical media depictions of poverty tell only one part of the story. (via @anildash) [ 05.27.10 ]
» The Demographics of Fast Food in America analyzes Twitter and other social media for mentions of fast food restaurants and then maps regional preferences.
The maps actually denote the places in which residents post sigificantly more than others about food chains, so the McDonald's map shows little difference between states. There are some striking differences, though for Krispy Kreme, In-N-Out Burger, Dunkin Donuts, and others. [ 05.26.10 ]
» New research shows that babies have an innate understanding of meanness and fairness - the building blocks of adult morality. [ 05.07.10 ]
» It's true: What if the Teabaggers Weren't White?
Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters - the black protesters - spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn't like were enforced by the government? Would these protester- these black protesters with guns - be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that's what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation's capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country's political leaders if the need arose.
Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington. [...]
In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?
To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark "other" does so, however, it isn't viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and "American-ness" of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.
If I know any white people who are waxing eloquent about the Tea Baggers, they aren't doing it to me. So I have no sense of how widespread this sentiment really is. But I doubt if any of them - or their parents - were going on about the Patriotism of the Black Panthers in the Sixties. (via @ebertchigago) [ 05.06.10 ]
» Looking for some novelty in your bourbon-drinking? Join a growing group of enthusiasts and small distileries and have some artisanal white whiskey, or as you might better know it, hooch.
The "you should sell this" moment for Death's Door's founder, Brian Ellison, came in early 2008 when he was preparing to age some red-winter-wheat-based distillate. A small Chicago distributor thought the raw liquor was so good he asked for 50 cases as is, and quickly found buyers.
"I always thought at some point people would get tired of it," Mr. Ellison said. Instead, Death's Door has sold more white whiskey in the first quarter of this year than it did in all of last year.
[ 05.06.10 ]
» So far up my alley. If I had the time (and the bankroll) I'd create a restaurant like this. I'm tempted by the annual subscription. [ 05.04.10 ]
» Good news! If you're middle-aged, your brain works better than it did when you were 25. Bonus: Maximize those advantages in one simple step.
There's a lot of hype in this field in terms of brain improvement. I did set out to find out what actually works and what we know. What we do with our bodies has a huge impact on our brains. Our brains are more like our hearts in that everything you do for your heart is thought to be equally as good or better for your brain. Exercise is the best studied thing you can do to your brain. It increases brain volume, produces new baby brain cells in grownup brains. Even when our muscles contract, it produces growth chemicals. Using your body can help your brain.
[ 05.03.10 ]
» In a perfect confluence of my interests, Merel Karhof has created the Wind Knitting Factory, in which a manual spool knitting machine, powered by the wind, creates knitted tubes that are periodically harvested as scarves. (thanks, jjg!) [ 04.30.10 ]
» Publish or Perish is a particularly smart article on the state of the book publishing business and the effect the iPad and Kindle hope to have on the future of books. Chock full of things I didn't know, and thoughtful observations from those on all sides. [ 04.28.10 ]
» You know you baby was born near-sighted, but do you ever wonder how your newborn, month-old, or 6-month old baby actually sees the world? Now you can see for yourself with Tiny Eyes. [ 04.27.10 ]
» Want to avoid hip or knee replacement surgery? Here's how. [ 04.26.10 ]
»
In spite of child-development theorist Jean Piaget's assertion that children under 12 are not capable of abstract reasoning, some philosophers are using children's books to introduce children to the major philosophical concepts - and inspiring some very thoughtful discussions. Consider The Giving Tree:
Most of the young philosophers had no problem with the boy using the tree's shade. But they were divided on the apples, which the boy sold, the branches, which he used to build a house, and the trunk, which he carved into a boat. [...]
Some reasoned that even if the tree wanted the boy to have its apples and branches, there might be unforeseen consequences.
"If they take the tree's trunk, um, the tree's not going to live," said Nyasia.
Isaiah was among only a few pupils who said they would treat an inanimate object differently from a human friend.
"Say me and a rock was a friend," he said. "It would be different, because a rock can't move. And it can't look around."
This gave his classmates pause.
[ 04.19.10 ]
» Associated Press finally catches up with me! They asked two chefs and a magazine food editor to create one week of tasty menus within the monetary limits of a food stamp budget. One of the chefs was unable to stay within budget, and I don't think any of them actually prepared the meals - they just planned and budgeted them. If you want to see how we ate well for an entire month using organic ingredients (and enjoying a drink with dinner) on the same budget, you can read about my 30-day Organic Food Stamp Challenge. (via @kathrynyu) [ 04.16.10 ]
» Why do we enjoy reading (and other narrative forms)? Psychologists and English professors are working together to explore how the brain processes literature - and why we enjoy it so much - or as one of them puts it, "mapping wonderland." [ 04.08.10 ]
» This year, create brightly colored Easter eggs using cabbage, turmeric, beets for dye. It's easier than you think, and the results are stunning. [ 04.02.10 ]
» This really makes me wish I had a dog. (via jmff)
/ 1 Comments / [ 03.31.10 ]
» Lovely - A new tradition in the White House: Seder. [ 03.29.10 ]
» What is the foodshed of a typical San Francisco Taco? Recent research by the California College of the Arts "reconfigures the idea of a Mission taco" from a local food to one with global origins - but it took weeks of research and persistence to source all the ingredients.
"It was very difficult to trace the origins of these foods," said John Bela, a director at Rebar and an instructor for the class. "There was an intentional obfuscation of food origins that we didn't anticipate. We were stonewalled by corporations. So we had to use subterfuge, like having our Puerto Rican aunt call to ask."
[ 03.19.10 ]
» Xavier University's 1991 basketball MVP and inductee to the Xavier athletic hall of fame? A 5-foot-4-inch, 77-year-old nun. [ 03.18.10 ]
» Two book lists for you: Steampunk: 20 Core Titles which ranges from Steampunk precursors through the classics that defined the genre to newer titles worth reading. And Top 10 Graphic Novels: 2010.
/ 1 Comments / [ 03.17.10 ]
» German teenager Helene Hegemann's book, which includes unattributed passages from other writers, has been selected as a finalist for the prize of The Leipzig Book Fair. When a blogger noticed his own work in her book,
[Ms. Hegemann] presented herself as a writer whose birthright is the remix, the use of anything at hand she feels suits her purposes, an idea of communal creativity that certainly wasn't shared by those from whom she borrowed.
After exploring the historical precedents of allusion and mashups, the article gets to the heart of the matter:
You could argue, of course, that Warhol's use of a soup can or Danger Mouse's use of the Beatles and Jay-Z on the Grey Album represent one thing, a re-contextualizing of cultural artifacts so well known they are a kind of shorthand. But does lifting from an obscure blogger -- or even importing a description of a sunset by Steinbeck or a suburban tableau from Updike -- accomplish the same thing?
[ 03.17.10 ]
» Reading: Harvard Views of Readers, Readership, and Reading History s an online exploration of the intellectual, cultural, and political history of reading as reflected in the historical holdings of the Harvard Libraries. (via tra) [ 03.17.10 ]
» For the Dishwasher's Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent and other tips for optimum efficiency when using your dishwasher and clothes washer. Pre-rinsing wastes water! [ 03.16.10 ]
» The biggest winner at the Vancouver Winter Olympics? Local hotdog stand, Japa Dog.
People are standing outside in cool wet weather for the popular Japanese hot dogs, waiting an hour and up to 90 minutes for a taste. Instead of the standard beef wiener with ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, and sauerkraut, the flavors include mayonnaise, seaweed, bonita flakes, fried cabbage, plum sauce, and grated radish.
[ 03.15.10 ]
» Read about Nestle's brilliant strategies for building a deep following in Japan for Kit Kats: limited-edition and regionally specific flavors, sales points in the Post Office, and wacky, whimsical flavors like strawberry-cheesecake, wasabi-flavored white chocolate, and their best-seller, soy sauce. [ 03.10.10 ]
» Have you heard of Pandora? You select a song and it will program a stream of "more like this" music based on its musical "genome". Now the company is poised for success as it positions itself to be as ubiquitous as FM radio.
My problem with Pandora? My ideal radio station would be based on two or three favorite songs.
/ 2 Comments / [ 03.09.10 ]
» Are extreme couponers practicing a time-honored form of augmented reality gaming? That's not quite what it is, of course. But when you assemble a 6-foot tower of Jello and post it to a coupon forum, clearly it isn't about saving money. It's about the game itself. [ 03.09.10 ]
» Fascinating. A new study suggests that subsidizing healthy food at the supermarket results in the purchase of more junk food! Taxing junk food had the opposite effect. I would have predicted the opposite outcome. [ 03.08.10 ]
» Chart of the day: Payday lenders' lobbying expenditures.
The meat of the story, though, from Keith Epstein of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, is well worth reading: it shows an astonishingly effective lobbying organization which has persuaded lawmakers around the country that payday lenders are both popular in their local communities and not particularly profitable.
One of the biggest payday-lender lobbyists calls itself the Community Financial Services Association; it increased its spending by 74 percent over the past year, to $2.56 million. That helps pay for people like Steven Schlein, who goes around saying things like "Who's going to make that kind of credit available to working people besides us?". (Answer: banks, community development credit unions, non-profit lenders, etc. And if "that kind of credit" is being extended at 650% APRs, then maybe it shouldn't be made available at all.)
Are lawmakers really this stupid? Corrupt? It's shameful. [ 03.05.10 ]
» We live in wondrous times: A machine that prints organs is coming to market - for about $200,000. My dentist has an in-office machine that produces a crown in about half an hour from a scanned image of your tooth. When I saw that, I felt like I was in the future. But the prospect of creating on-demand custom organs is straight out of Star Trek. [ 03.04.10 ]
» New science shows that film directors have become more adept at structuring their films to produce pink noise - the natural rhythm of the brain. Bonus: the scientist studying film editing patterns is named "James Cutting". [ 03.03.10 ]
» Get your baby some earmuffs to protect their hearing!
Hearing loss from exposure to loud noises is cumulative and irreversible; if such exposure starts in infancy, children can live "half their lives with hearing loss," said Brian Fligor, director of diagnostic audiology at Children's Hospital Boston.
Because a young child's ear canal is much smaller than an older child's or an adult's...the sound pressure entering the ear is greater. An infant might perceive a sound as 20 decibels louder than an older child or an adult. The shorter length of the ear canal increases dangerous noise levels in the higher frequencies, which are crucial to language development.
[ 03.02.10 ]
» The next time I'm in Tokyo, I'm going to make a point to visit the Studio Ghibli Museum.
"The Ghibli Museum is a portal to a storybook world. As the main character in a story, we ask that you experience the Museum space with your own eyes and senses, instead of through a camera's viewfinder. We ask that you make what you experienced in the Museum the special memory that you take home with you."
Fair enough. Still, there are areas within the museum that seem to be crying out for a photo op, such as the fabulous, furry Cat Bus, over which little kids (age limit: 12) scramble over in pure glee.
Maki has posted a detailed review that includes instructions for non-Japanese speakers for purchasing tickets (at the Lawson's!). [ 03.02.10 ]
» How to make the best tea. Detailed instructions on choosing teas, brewing equipment, and a simple trick to ensure that your water is the proper temperature. [ 03.01.10 ]
» Harold McGee: Better Bread with Less Kneading. Trust Mr. McGee to cut through the no-knead hype to identify when that method is best and when to knead. Science bonus: flour/water proportions necessary for a good loaf of bread. [ 02.26.10 ]
» The Great Recession seems to be coming to an end, but based on the past 2 jobless recoveries, the millions thrown out of work may face unemployment for many years more. [ 02.25.10 ]
» Do expensive things taste better? Actually, they do. This explains all those ugly, expensive, designer handbags and shoes.
When tasting the wine out of the $10 bottle, the medial orbitofrontal cortex - an area of the brain that is strongly related to experiences of pleasure - showed only very little activity. When the exact same wine was poured out of a $90 bottle however, this brain area showed levels of activation which indicate that the participants were indeed drawing much more enjoyment from the same wine this time around. In other words, the price tag seemed to have a real physiological influence on the taster's taste experience.
[...] Interestingly enough, the primary taste areas show no significant differences in activation for the different experimental conditions.
[ 02.25.10 ]
» Absolutely: A sense of entitlement amplifies hypocrisy in individuals who feel they deserve their status. [ 02.24.10 ]
» Far from being an adjunct to the spoken word, research shows that touch is an expressive language of its own. [ 02.23.10 ]
» It's worse than I thought:
The report concludes that only 15 percent of [Bay] area housing stock is affordable to "workforce households," compared with 50 to 60 percent in "peer metropolitan regions." In the greater Boston area, 61 percent of the housing is affordable to workforce households; in the Washington, D.C., area the number is 65 percent.
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing defines workforce households as those with incomes between 60 and 120 percent of area median income, which is between $56,000 and $112,000. Approximately 30 percent, or 820,000, of the Bay Area's 2.7 million households fell into this income range. The report used a 3.5 income-to-home price multiplier to determine the affordable home price for each income bracket and household size. So a family earning $100,000 could afford a $350,000 home.
Oh, and renters?
More than 30 percent of rental households earning between $50,000 and $75,000 spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. That is a higher percentage than New York or Los Angeles. And rents are not only high in the neighborhoods of San Francisco closest to downtown; even Napa County, which has the lowest rents in the greater Bay Area, has higher median rents than greater metropolitan Boston, New York, or Los Angeles.
[ 02.22.10 ]
» Why is the food you buy so sugary? Blame the demonization of fat. I learned a lot from this refreshingly undogmatic interview with Brian Wansink, head of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, and author of the book Mindless Eating.
The thing is, there was a kind of witch-hunting phase where we demonized sugar back in the late '80s. But if you look at it, there's a really nice case to be made for sugar. Let's use chocolate milk as an example. If you're trying to get kids to drink milk, and you add just a little more chocolate and a little more sugar, and add 30 more calories to it, you know, I don't really think that's bad compared to them ordering Goofy Grape punch with the same number of calories and really nothing in it.
[ 02.16.10 ]
» For 60 years, a mysterious visitor dressed in black has left roses and a half-bottle of cognac on Edgar Allen Poe's grave on his birthday - until this year, when he didn't show up. [ 02.11.10 ]
» Compare and Contrast with yesterday's entry: Modern "Cavemen" in New York City who fast for days, eat mostly meat, and exercise by sprinting and jumping.
[72-year-old retired economics professor Arthur De Vany's] blog promotes what he calls Evolutionary Fitness. Like his disciples in New York, he believes that ancient humans could perform physical feats that would awe the gym rats of today.
His followers believe that he too is capable of fearsome feats. When Mr. Durant told a gathering of New York cavemen that he had seen Mr. De Vany at a seminar in Las Vegas, Matthew Sanocki, 34, asked if Mr. De Vany looked as muscular in the flesh as in pictures on his blog.
"He looks great," Mr. Durant said. "You feel like he could, at a moment's notice, charge at you and trample you."
[ 02.09.10 ]
» Starting From Scratch is a blog detailing 6 New York City families' preparations to survive between July 22nd-July 29th, 2010 exclusively on food they have hunted, fished, farmed, or foraged. Many of the challengers have started foraging and planning gardens already. (via fpf) [ 02.08.10 ]
» Don't miss the most entertaining bit of media literacy I've ever seen: Charlie Brooker - How to Report the News. (thanks, jjg!) [ 02.02.10 ]
» Wow. Stephen Fry is a convert.
There are many issues you could have with the iPad. No multitasking, still no Flash. No camera, no GPS. They all fall away the minute you use it. I cannot emphasise enough this point: "Hold your judgment until you've spent five minutes with it". No YouTube film, no promotional video, no keynote address, no list of features can even hint at the extraordinary feeling you get from actually using and interacting with one of these magical objects. [...] The moment you experience it in your hands you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it's not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop - it is a whole new kind of device. And it will change so much.
Newspapers, magazines, literature, academic text books, brochures, fliers and pamphlets are going to be transformed (poor Kindle). Specific dedicated apps and enhancements will amaze us. You will see characters in movies use the iPad. Jack Bauer will want to return for another season of 24 just so he can download schematics and track vehicles on it. Bond will have one. Jason Bourne will have one. Some character, in a Tron like way, might even be trapped in one.
I've been mostly uninterested in this device, but this review has me curious. And Mr. Fry is the second person I've heard describe the device as "magical". I wonder if that's because they were primed by the keynote to use that term, or if it really is that? [ 01.28.10 ]
» Seven tips from a home baker. I think it may be time for me to start mastering sourdough and other naturally leavened breads. WildYeast and The Fresh Loaf as good starter (ha ha!) resources. [ 01.28.10 ]
» The roughly 20-year-old delivery man upon soliciting my signature: "You are 21 aren't you?" Me, grinning: "I know it's hard to tell sometimes." Young man, I salute you! [ 01.27.10 ]
» Exercise is anti-aging at a cellular level! Scientists are wondering how much exercise is necessary to see these effects; I'm wondering if the effects are as profound if you start exercising at a later age (or if the exercise will just stop you where you are when you start). [ 01.27.10 ]
» Plus this: Scheduling recess before lunch results in less food waste, higher consumption of milk, fruit, vegetables, and water, increased academic time, and fewer behavior problems. Not only are the kids not rushing lunch to get to recess, I'll bet they are hungrier when they sit down, and less likely to turn their noses up at foods they might have been skeptical about before. "Kids are calmer after they've had recess first. They feel like they have more time to eat and they don't have to rush." Janet Sinkewicz, principal of Sharon Elementary School in Robbinsville, N.J.
/ 2 Comments / [ 01.27.10 ]
» Robin Sloan on the ways in which people are using interface elements as storytelling devices. Watch this Google ad (my favorite) and tell me if it isn't a perfect short story. Yes, understanding the narrative depends on a great deal of context - they used to call that "allusion" back when stories were told on paper. (via waxy) [ 01.26.10 ]
» Two weeks ago, when Google announced that it would no longer censor search results in China, half of the Internet jumped for joy, and the other half sneered with cynicism that Google hadn't been doing that well in China anyway.
In its announcement, Google stated that Chinese attackers have accessed 2 Gmail accounts and stolen intellectual property - Google company secrets. Additionally, Google has found evidence that, independent of this attack, Gmail accounts belonging to advocates for Chinese human rights have been routinely accessed by third parties, probably as a result of poor security practices on the part of those individuals. As a result, Google has announced that they "have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn".
Wait - how did Google jump from "We have been the subject of an attack" to "We will no longer censor search results in China?". I think I know.
Continue reading entry »
/ 3 Comments / [ 01.26.10 ]
» String Theorist Erik Verlinde has proposed that gravity is an entropic force emerging from the fundamental properties of space and time.
To understand what Verlinde is proposing, consider the concept of fluidity in water. Individual molecules have no fluidity, but collectively they do. Similarly, the force of gravity is not something ingrained in matter itself. It is an extra physical effect, emerging from the interplay of mass, time and space, says Verlinde.
"It is not even a theory yet, but a proposal for a new paradigm or framework. All the hard work comes now." - Erik Verlinde [ 01.22.10 ]
» Smart pills are a "disruptive innovation about to happen".
When one of Proteus's pills is taken, stomach fluids activate the edible communications device it contains, which sends wireless signals through the body to another chip worn as a skin patch or embedded just under the skin. That, in turn, can upload data to a smart-phone or send it to a doctor via the internet. Thus it is easy to make sure a patient is taking his pills at the right time, to spot adverse reactions with other drugs and so on.
Don't miss the caption on the photo. (via MikeK) [ 01.22.10 ]
» Dahlia Lithwick: Why aren't we talking about the new accusations of murder at Gitmo?
Scott Horton's devastating new exposé of the possible murders of three prisoners at Guantanamo in 2006 is...simply too terrible to allow to be true. Which is why it has been mostly ignored this week in the mainstream American media.
Read it and judge for yourself. [ 01.21.10 ]
» Stop me if you've heard this one before: A man walks into not one, but two, cell phone stores eager to buy a phone. In both stores, the staff is so uninterested in responding to his needs that he ends up not buying anything.... The cell phone industry is surely on a par with cable providers in its avaricious and cavalier attitude toward its customers. [ 01.21.10 ]
» Robin Sloane applies the lessons of economics to writing and making other art.
Flow is the feed. It's the posts and the tweets. It's the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people that you exist.
Stock is the durable stuff. It's the content you produce that's as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It's what people discover via search. It's what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.
I feel like flow is ascendant these days, for obvious reasons - but we neglect stock at our own peril.
It's all true. After this page, the most popular parts of this site are my Zoom Teeth Whitening Caution (it hurts!) and Eating Organic on a Food Stamp Budget which, people tell me, they "read like a novel".
Robin may overestimate the rate of flow which is necessary to keep you on the radar, but she is absolutely correct in understanding that it is a necessary mix. (via @jayrosen_nyu)
[ 01.20.10 ]
» Tomorrow, January 20, 2010, profits from any app you buy from Indie+Relief will be donated to Haiti. [ 01.19.10 ]
» Genius! Garter stitch in the round, with no purling. (via tk) [ 01.19.10 ]
» What would Martin Luther King tweet? Phenomenal. (via @anildash) [ 01.18.10 ]
» A Little Weekend Reading: Is the US exporting its forms (and fashions) of mental illness to other cultures?
"We might think of the culture as possessing a 'symptom repertoire' -- a range of physical symptoms available to the unconscious mind for the physical expression of psychological conflict," Edward Shorter, a medical historian at the University of Toronto, wrote in his book "Paralysis: The Rise and Fall of a 'Hysterical' Symptom." "In some epochs, convulsions, the sudden inability to speak or terrible leg pain may loom prominently in the repertoire. In other epochs patients may draw chiefly upon such symptoms as abdominal pain, false estimates of body weight and enervating weakness as metaphors for conveying psychic stress."
[...] There is now good evidence to suggest that in the process of teaching the rest of the world to think like us, we've been exporting our Western "symptom repertoire" as well. That is, we've been changing not only the treatments but also the expression of mental illness in other cultures. Indeed, a handful of mental-health disorders - depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia among them - now appear to be spreading across cultures with the speed of contagious diseases. These symptom clusters are becoming the lingua franca of human suffering, replacing indigenous forms of mental illness.
[ 01.15.10 ]
» NYT: Jane Brody on the secrets to living long and well: Diet and exercise.
In a 2006 study of people aged 60 to 79, those who were assigned to walk briskly three days a week for 45 minutes a day experienced an increase in the brain's volume, especially in regions involved in memory, planning and multitasking.
Nuff said. [ 01.14.10 ]
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