What does a bicycle-friendly city look like?
These are not poor cities, yet their citizens prefer getting around by using bicycles. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rwwxrWHBB8&NR=1[/youtube]
“Drill and kill” as a failed educational strategy
What does "No Child Left Behind" mean in real-life classrooms? I've discussed this topic with several grade school teachers. They are uniformly distressed that NCLB narrows the focus of classroom instruction to the point where children are too often "taught" factoids, ephemeral bits of information that will allow them to…
Why participate in the rat race?
Here's an elegant and well-written vignette contrasting two views of what it means to achieve wealth and meaning in one's life.
Pouring on that Texas charm in Iraq
Check out these bizarre photos of our Commander in Chief during his recent visit to Iraq. These photos are posted by Abu Aardvark, along with some provocative commentary.
Autistics are immune to contagious yawning
What it means is not certain. I read of this study at Mindhacks. The researchers suggest that this study supports the claim that "contagious yawning and the capacity of empathy share common neural and cognitive mechanisms.”