Posted by Chris at 02:10 PM in Politics | Comments (0)

Posted by Chris at 08:15 PM in Architecture | Comments (0)

Who said they had to be driving directions (check step 23)?

You may otherwise want to look into that submersible car, 007-style.

Posted by Chris at 09:48 PM in Computing, Random, Transportation | Comments (0)

People hear about children being abducted on the news what seems like very often these days. So they assume the streets aren't very safe, and as a result, kids don't get the freedom to roam the way that I did when I was young. But are things really the way that they seem - or are people just more paranoid because of their perceptions?

Although statistics show that rates of child abduction and sexual abuse have marched steadily downward since the early 1990s, fear of these crimes is at an all-time high. Even the panic-inducing Megan's Law Web site says stranger abduction is rare and that 90 percent of child sexual-abuse cases are committed by someone known to the child. Yet we still suffer a crucial disconnect between perception of crime and its statistical reality. A child is almost as likely to be struck by lightning as kidnapped by a stranger, but it's not fear of lightning strikes that parents cite as the reason for keeping children indoors watching television instead of out on the sidewalk skipping rope.

And when a child is parked on the living room floor, he or she may be safe, but is safety the sole objective of parenting? The ultimate goal is independence, and independence is best fostered by handing it out a little at a time, not by withholding it in a trembling fist that remains clenched until it's time to move into the dorms.

Posted by Chris at 06:26 PM in Health, Science, Security | Comments (0)

I guess it really is true - if you think that you can do something, then you probably can. Or, maybe, if you haven't been told that you can't - if you have the correct mindset that you have the ability to do whatever you set yourself to, regardless of your "innate" talents, then you can. Psychology professor Carol Dweck has a book out about this, and some good research (and lots of people who would probably say that it's true and they don't need research to convince them) to back her up.

An interesting aspect of this, and the lead to the story is how knowing you're smart can supposedly hold you back. If you're told that you're smart, then you lose the incentive to develop your brain, and you just attempt to "act" smart. Seems like she should write a book for parents on how to motivate their kids, how to give them the proper mindset.

Posted by Chris at 10:31 PM in Education, Random, Science | Comments (0)

Posted by Chris at 07:23 PM in Art, Random | Comments (0)