Stuff from 28 February, 2010
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on 28 February, 2010.
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on 28 February, 2010.
As soon as there’s someone who disagrees, or even just dithers or can’t decide, conformity is reduced. Some studies have found conformity can be reduced from highs of 97% on a visual judgement task down to only 36% when there is a competent dissenter in the ranks (Allen & Levine, 1971).
THIS IS A REAL QUOTE FROM A REAL ARTICLE:
In Manhattan, the brutally competitive nursery and kindergarten admissions process is leading many parents to sign up their toddlers for therapy. “Preschool admissions tests loom large,” said Margie Becker-Lewin, an occupational therapist on the Upper West Side. “In many cases, parents know there is nothing wrong with their child, but they feel caught in the middle.”
If that doesn’t sound like something from the satirical paper The Onion, I don’t know what does. Yes, you can read the rest of the article at the New York Times: Occupational Therapists Are Helping Children With Handwriting.
Mykala and I left the St. Louis Park Costco at sunset this evening. I got 110 servings (10 pounds) of Old Fashioned Quaker Oatmeal for $6.89. With horse-sized servings of cereal in the trunk, we set out for home. As you head into Minneapolis from the west, past the mansions on their faux bluffs just south of 394, your view opens up. Thanks to fortuitous timing, I had a perfect view of hundreds of little birds dotting the sky, on their way to roost. Skeleton trees, not yet pushing nascent leaves into the cold world, looked as though they’d jumped the gun and sprouted big berries: extended families of birds were waiting for sunset in the shelter of the branches.
It’s hard to stop, but when you do, you realize that you are small and everything else is big. This is an important thing to understand.