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From NurtureShock:
In his new book, Dr. Joe Allen has concluded that our urge to protect teenagers from real life – because we don’t think they’re ready yet – has tragically backfired. By insulating them from adult-like work, adult social relationships, and adult consequences, we have only delayed their development. We have made it harder for them to grow up. Maybe even made it impossible to grow up on time.Basically, we long ago decided that teens ought to be in school, not in the labor force. Education was their future. But the structure of schools is endlessly repetitive. “From a Martian’s perspective, high schools look virtually the same as sixth grade,” said Allen. “There’s no recognition, in the structure of school, that these are very different people with different capabilities.” Strapped to desks for 13+ years, school becomes both incredibly montonous, artificial, and cookie-cutter.
“Ford, as did Jobs, put great faith in his judgment about where consumer desire was headed. “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse,” the carmaker allegedly commented. For virtually his entire career, Jobs has taken that comment to heart, serving as a kind of one-man band of market research and product development.” — Steve Jobs’s legacy - Nov. 5, 2009
“I said, ‘That’s the mayor of London!’ and they ran off,” Armstrong told the Guardian. “They must have thought they were going to get in trouble. One dropped the bar, so Boris picked it up and cycled after them.” — London mayor shows chivalry not dead in bike rescue - Yahoo! News
“On a visit to a school that prides itself on its healthy lunches, Mr. Kass watched ruefully as students plucked each vegetable off their pizzas. “It’s got to taste good, you know?” he said. “They’re not going to eat it, no matter how healthy it is, if it doesn’t taste good.” — A White House Chef Who Wears Two Hats - NYTimes.com
“Mobile devices require software development teams to focus on only the most important data and actions in an application. There simply isn’t room in a 320 by 480 pixel screen for extraneous, unnecessary elements. You have to prioritize. So when a team designs mobile first, the end result is an experience focused on the key tasks users want to accomplish without the extraneous detours and general interface debris that litter today’s desktop-accessed Web sites. That’s good user experience and good for business.” — Why product designers should design the mobile app component first: Mobile First , from Functioning Form (via timoni) (via superamit) (via jayparkinsonmd)
“And if the N.C.A.A. truly cared about improving colleges instead of settling for the extra year before eligibility that Stern is talking about, it should use its considerable influence to demand that both the N.B.A. and N.F.L. foot the college’s bill for training pro athletes by paying a given amount each year for each player successfully drafted from college. The money would go into a fund for academic scholarships at the colleges these players attended. It wouldn’t perhaps turn young superstars into student-athletes, but in today’s hideous economic times, it might turn some deserving teenagers into students.” — Op-Ed Contributor - Bring Back Basketball’s Little Big Men - NYTimes.com
“On their enormous, billboard thighs, it will say, ‘Colbert Nation,’” Colbert said in an interview before Monday evening’s taping. “Be looking for that logo as it comes around the final turn. It will be easy to see because it will be in first place.” — Colbert goes for gold, sponsors US speedskating - Yahoo! News
“children ages 2 to 5 spent nearly 25 hours a week watching television, the highest figure on record. They spent an additional seven weekly hours watching DVDs, playing video games, and watching TiVo-style time-shifted television.” — Drilling Down - Children Ages 2 to 5 Watch More TV Than Ever - NYTimes.com