December 2011
57 posts
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our...”
– Isaac Asimov
“Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think...”
– Arthur C Clarke
“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
– H. L. Mencken
Welcome to the Age of Overparenting →
Cautionary tale of modern parenting: “I’d bought into the self-esteem dogma — the idea that bathing our children in good feeling and positive reinforcement arms them with the confidence they need to lead better lives.”
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in...”
– George Bernard Shaw
How Pay-Pal Squeezes Merchants with Unfair and... →
PayPal takes advantage of its indispensability and its customers. Backed by finely crafted disclaimers, the “faster, safer” online transactions company seizes merchants’ funds and refuses to tell them why. On the basis of eBay’s 2010 Annual Report and statements from PayPal representatives, there is good reason to suspect that the company not only protects itself with that money, but also...
God Wants You to Work Harder, and to Stop... →
The goals of the “workplace spirituality” movement dovetail with a conservative Christian corporate ethos
The Overjustification Effect →
The Misconception: There is nothing better in the world than getting paid to do what you love.
The Truth: Getting paid for doing what you already enjoy will sometimes cause your love for the task to wane because you attribute your motivation as coming from the reward, not your internal feelings.
Our insistence on equating "poor" with "black" has... →
Our national conversations about poverty — so entangled with race in unspoken ways — have rendered the white poor invisible and the black poor pathological, and undermined our attempts to gain majority support for anti-poverty programs. Led to believe that the poor are “other people’s problems,” a significant portion of Americans have come to view social welfare...
An interesting take on reforming the U.S. tax code... →
“Congress should reform our tax law to put the brakes on further inequality. Specifically, we propose an automatic extra tax on the income of the top 1 percent of earners — a tax that would limit the after-tax incomes of this club to 36 times the median household income.”
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile that it happened.”
– Dr. Seuss
One teachers approach to preventing gender... →
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I had a child dealing with gender variance (defined as “behavior or gender expression that does not conform to dominant gender norms of male and female”) in my classroom that I realized how important it is to teach about gender and break down gender stereotypes. Why did I wait so long? I should have taken a hint from that kindergarten teacher years ago. As I...
41% in cuffs by age 23 →
As many as 41% of young adults and adolescents in the U.S. have been arrested at least once before age 23, not including minor traffic violations. Up to 27% reported being arrested before age 18.
Homeless people in the UK die 30 years sooner, on... →
I wonder what the life expectancy is for the homeless in the United States?
“We judge others by their actions, but we judge ourselves by our intentions”
– Ian Percy
Neti Pots Linked to Brain-Eating Amoeba →
Next time you use a sinus flush, you might want to be careful of what you put up there. Two people from Louisiana have died recently from a brain-eating amoeba that’s been linked to using neti pots, the small watering can that’s been recommended to relieve nasal congestion. The state’s Department of Health and Hospitals has issued a warning against improper use, but said some...
How Corporate Advertisers Scheme to Get Your Kids... →
It’s up to parents and families to defend their chilldren. But it won’t be easy. For starters, shield your own children from exposure to corporate influences. Get them out of harm’s way. Turn your home into a refuge, a sanctuary from the advertisers, marketers, and media companies.
Love Mt. Dew? Congrats, you're drinking flame... →
Patented as a flame retardant for plastics, and banned in food throughout Europe and Japan, a brominated chemical called BVO has been added to sodas for decades in North America. Now some scientists have a renewed interest in this little-known ingredient, found in 10 percent of sodas in the United States. Research on its toxicity dates back to the 1970s, and some experts now urge a...
The Social Security Death Index has been taken... →
Always a great resource for genealogy researchers and private detectives, the SSDI allowed you to search for the birth and death information or any deceased American held by the Social Security Office. It’s been largely taken offline because of pressure from the Government.
SOPA Delayed – But Not For Long →
The extremely unpopular SOPA bill was supposed to be the last order of business today as the House Judiciary Committee prepared to break for the holidays, but a parade of objections and amendments (over 50) kept the bill in discussion and at last the committee adjourned without resolving the issues. They announced that they’ll pick up the work again in January, but a senator has secretly...
N Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies →
Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.
Autism hidden in plain sight →
As more children are diagnosed with autism, researchers are trying to find unrecognized cases of the disorder in adults. The search for the missing millions is just beginning.
“Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They...”
– Kurt Vonnegut
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”
– H.L. Mencken
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide...”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Is Microfinance Pushing the World’s Poorest Even... →
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have revolutionized the field of development, and the global clients of these organizations number in the hundreds of millions.
Exercise Info Helps Teens Shrug Soda →
How long will it take you to sweat off that 12-ounce can of Coke? Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found that posting the exercise time it takes to burn off the calories of sugary drinks (50 minutes for a can of soda, if you were curious) dropped sales of the beverages by 50 percent, says a study published Friday in the American Journal of Public Health.
“Have I not destroyed my enemy when I have made him into my friend?”
– Abraham Lincoln
Teens Giving Up Smoking and Drinking in Exchange... →
A new survey of teenage drug use finds that their consumption of cigarettes and alcohol is the lowest it has been in 30 years, but that regular use of marijuana continues its sharp rise. The study found that 1 out of every 15 students in 10th and 12th grades uses pot on a daily or near-dealy basis.
“Prejudices are rarely overcome by argument; not being founded in reason they...”
– Tryon Edwards
Marriages at All-Time Low →
Could married people soon be a minority? Just 51 percent of Americans over the age of 18 are married, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s a six percent drop from 2000. The decline is, in part, a reflection of a higher median age of marriage—older than 26 for women and nearly 29 for men. There is a socieconomic distinction, as well: Nearly two out of three college graduates have tied the...
U.S. to Cut $1 Coins →
The United States is set to curtail production of dead-president $1 coins due to low demand. “Nobody wants them,” Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday. According to The Wall Street Journal, there are enough $1 coins in the Federal Reserve to meet demand for a decade. More than 40 percent of newly minted coins are returned to the government as unwanted; the rest mostly sit in vending...
Time’s Person of the Year: The Protester →
Time’s “Person of the Year” for 2011 is … the Protester. The magazine announced Wednesday that “no one could have known that when a Tunisian fruit stand vendor set himself on fire in a public square, it would incite protests that would topple dictators and start a global wave of dissent.” The magazine mentions uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Britain, Spain, Greece—and of course, the...