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A Nation of Wimps

A Nation of Wimps
Maybe it's the cyclist in the park, trim under his sleek metallic blue helmet, cruising along the dirt path... at three miles an hour. On his tricycle. Or perhaps it's today's playground, all-rubber-cushioned surface where kids used to skin their knees. And... wait a minute... those aren't little kids playing. Their mommies—and especially their daddies—are in there with them, coplaying or play-by-play coaching . Then there are the sanitizing gels, with which over a third of parents now send their kids to school, according to a recent survey. Consider the teacher new to an upscale suburban town. Behold the wholly sanitized childhood , without skinned knees or the occasional C in history. Messing up, however, even in the playground, is wildly out of style. "Life is planned out for us," says Elise Kramer, a Cornell University junior. No one doubts that there are significant economic forces pushing parents to invest so heavily in their children's outcome from an early age.

Best Buy Firing Employee Because He Makes A Funny Video // Current To Our Faithful Current.com Users: Current's run has ended after eight exciting years on air and online. The Current TV staff has appreciated your interest, support, participation and unflagging loyalty over the years. Your contributions helped make Current.com a vibrant place for discussing thousands of interesting stories, and your continued viewership motivated us to keep innovating and find new ways to reflect the voice of the people. We now welcome the on-air and digital presence of Al Jazeera America, a new news network committed to reporting on and investigating real stories affecting the lives of everyday Americans in every corner of the country. Thank you for inspiring and challenging us. – The Current TV Staff

Bolivia Gives Legal Rights To The Earth Law of Mother Earth sees Bolivia pilot new social and economic model based on protection of and respect for nature. Bolivia is to become the first country in the world to give nature comprehensive legal rights in an effort to halt climate change and the exploitation of the natural world, and to improve quality of life for the Bolivian people. Developed by grassroots social groups and agreed by politicians, the Law of Mother Earth recognises the rights of all living things, giving the natural world equal status to human beings. Once fully approved, the legislation will provide the Earth with rights to: life and regeneration; biodiversity and freedom from genetic modification; pure water; clean air; naturally balanced systems; restoration from the effects of human activity; and freedom from contamination. The legislation is based on broader principles of living in harmony with the Earth and prioritising the “collective good.” Bolivia Rain forest The Law of Mother Earth includes the following:

How to Avoid Procrastination: Think Concrete New study finds procrastination is warded off by considering tasks in concrete terms. Although procrastination is usually thought of as something to be avoided, this hasn’t always been the case. Surveying the history of procrastination Dr Piers Steel finds that before the industrial revolution procrastination might have been seen in neutral terms (Steel, 2007; PDF). Nowadays, though, for those living in technically advanced societies, procrastination has become a ‘modern malady': everything must be done now or, even better, three weeks ago. For good or evil there are now endless to-do lists to work through, appointments that must be kept and commitments that have to be fulfilled. Such is modern life. Whatever the cause many people certainly view their procrastination as a problem. It’s all in the construal In a new study published recently in Psychological Science McCrea, Liberman, Trope & Sherman (2008) examined one possible technique for decreasing procrastination. Abstract construal.

How to Pull Off the Perfect Picnic Picnics lead to marriage. Okay gents, now that I’ve got your attention, allow me to explain. Less than two years ago, I met the woman of my dreams. For those who’ve never done the distance, I’ll get straight to the point: it can be brutal. Ok, enough with the self-doubt talk. Sometimes, you have to man up. What ensued was a weekend that changed both our lives. The takeaway? As it turns out, risks are worth taking — she said yes. In other words, pursue the one with everything you have, and don’t be afraid to enjoy a picnic or two along the way. Cheers! Guidelines, Tips, and Meal Planning for Picnics First and foremost, plan ahead. Pack accordingly. Picnic Packing List –A comfortable blanket or ground covering to sit on. –A cooler for items that need to be kept cold. –A basket or large bag to carry everything else. –Plastic storage containers and plastic storage bags. Note: Don’t put bread items (like the French baguette I suggest below) in a 100% sealed plastic container or plastic wrap.

World much stupider than returning soldier remembered [TSA] If you ever needed proof that we are lost in a sea of pointless rules designed to make traveling (and indeed life in general) more difficult than it ever needed to be, this is it. The eminent minds at TSA saw fit to confiscate an armed soldier’s nail clippers because he might use them to take over the plane. At this point I would like to point out that he was not armed with nail clippers, he was armed with an assault rifle – which was apparently acceptable because it didn’t have bullets. The icing on the cake, swabbing all of the soldiers returning from a war-zone for explosives residue… of course they all failed – but not as hard as the guy who kept swabbing. In response to all of the comments, please read our update. [Picchore]

'Gay Caveman' Found By Archaeologists Near Prague A team of Czech archaeologists claim to have unearthed the remains of an early gay man from around 2900-2500 B.C. outside Prague. According to the Telegraph, the "gay caveman" was found buried in a way normally reserved only for women during the Copper Age. The man had been interred on his left side with his head facing east, with no weapons and household jugs -- almost always reserved for women in the region during that time -- placed at his feet. Traditionally, men were buried with weapons, hammers and flint knives, and their bodies were positioned on their right side with their heads facing west. "From history and ethnology, we know that people from this period took funeral rites very seriously so it is highly unlikely that this positioning was a mistake," lead researcher Kamila Remisova Vesinova said. "But this later discovery was neither of those, leading us to believe the man was probably homosexual or transsexual," Semeradova is also quoted by the Telegraph as saying.

Combat Studies Institute Click Here to Request Hard Copies of Publications New Releases (Back to Top) Command Contemporary Operations Counterinsurgency/Stability Operations Doctrine, Policy & Technology Fort Leavenworth Units Staff Ride Guides Revolutionary War Lewis and Clark Civil War Indian Wars The Spanish-American War World War I World War II Korean War Vietnam War Israeli Conflicts Lebanon Afghanistan Iraq CSI Symposiums Dunning–Kruger effect The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein relatively unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. The bias was first experimentally observed by David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University in 1999. Dunning and Kruger attributed the bias to the metacognitive inability of the unskilled to evaluate their own ability level accurately. Dunning and Kruger have postulated that the effect is the result of internal illusion in the unskilled, and external misperception in the skilled: "The miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others Original study[edit] Dunning and Kruger proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:[4] Supporting studies[edit] Dunning and Kruger set out to test these hypotheses on Cornell undergraduates in psychology courses. Historical antecedents[edit]

Anxiety-Ridden Man Rightly Ashamed Of Every Single Thing He Does OAKLAND, CA—Friends and colleagues of copywriter Timothy Gibula confirmed Wednesday that the anxiety-ridden 36-year-old is right to feel ashamed of every single thing he does, considering that all his acquaintances are, exactly as he fears, actively judging him at all times. Validating every feeling of remorse and social anxiety the man has ever felt, sources close to Gibula told reporters his perpetual anguish over his words and actions could not be more justified, as all of his missteps—ranging from minor lapses of politeness to his overall slightly disappointing career trajectory—are immediately perceived by those around him as evidence of his inadequacy as a human being. "In fact, no matter what else I have going on, I always find time to think about Tim, whether it's a tiny faux pas he's made or one of the major failures in his life," Ramirez continued. "I barely find time to do anything else, really."

Fed by Birds: Beautiful Eyeballs The Science Museum's online History of Medicine exhibition has as you might expect plenty of curious objects - like mole hands from Norfolk that warded off cramp: mummified birds: and eye-catching good-luck amulets: What's surprising is how attractive some of the trappings of illness were - elegant bronchitis kettles: Staffordshire feeding cups for invalids: Backrests for the bedbound: Smart medicine chests: Containing all kinds of delicious-looking medicine: Of course, anything can look appealing if it's presented in the right sort of case: See also: Peculiar and BreakableTylor's Bewitched Onion

365 tomorrows » I Bet You Say That To All The Girls : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day by submissionFebruary 17th, 2009 Author : Ian Rennie I give Annabeth one last lingering kiss at the door. “I’ll see you next week?” I say, a slight quaver in my voice. “Count on it.” she says grinning. I close the door as she turns, my heart fluttering. Annabeth is a client, and starting a relationship with a client is the big no-no. I always knew she was special. This is it, then. I just need to take my pill, get a shower, and get ready for her. I take the pill with a glass of water then step in the shower. The warm water is so soothing, like rain during monsoon season. To be honest, I don’t know if I’ll be here much longer. There’s just something about her that makes my heart skip when I know she’s coming. I think she may be the one.

Online Library: Fiore dei Liberi c1409 Fiore dei Liberi : "Flos Duellatorum", 1410 Online Presentation of Flos Duellatorum The notion of the Masters, Remedy Masters, Countra-Masters and Countra-contra-Masters often confuse the uninitiated to Fiore's treatise. This initial apparent complexity achieves clarity once the reader understands both the foundations of the plays presented, and the symbolism with respect to the individuals wearing a crown, crown and garter, garter and no-garter. The AEMMA's training program as described in The Art of Longsword Combat - Book #1 was heavily influenced by the work of Liberi, however, the book is now dated and archived. The Treatise A. This presentation is comprised of digitally scanned pages of the Pisani-Dossi treatise in the sequence as found in the 1902 publication. The book was presented to David M. As more of the book is digitized, these will be added to this presentation. B. Prologue 1. abrazare - grappling 2. 3. 4. spada longa - longsword 5. spada longa in arme - armoured longsword 7.

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