I don’t have time for messy, fussy, homemade caramel apples. And purchased ones are simply not very fresh and so ridiculously big that they’re hard to chomp. That doesn’t mean I don’t hanker for the perfect flavor combination of apple and caramel. So last night I came up with inside-out caramel apples. It’s so simple […]
Continue ReadingA few months ago GeekMom told you about Dr. Erin Carr Jordan, a parent and college instructor who took her children to McDonalds in Tempe, Arizona only to find the indoor playland encrusted with grime, old food, even discarded bandages. She filmed the conditions and posted the video online. Conversations with the manager didn’t lead to […]
Continue ReadingI was called “Smarty Pants” a few too many times in my childhood. A little girl who can’t keep sarcastic asides to herself isn’t silenced by a nonsense term, especially when the invective is hurled by underpaid math teachers who are encased in terribly unflattering polyester slacks. The ultimate not-smart pants. Now I’m […]
Continue ReadingWatching doctoral students interpret their dissertations in dance actually makes dense topics easier to understand. But they aren’t doing it for us. They’ve entered this year’s Dance Your PhD competition. Of the 55 entries in physics, chemistry, biology, and social science posted at ScienceNOW, one lucky winner will be chosen Thursday, October 20th. Here […]
Continue Reading“Do you know what day this is?” Dr. Hasan asked me as I held my newborn son. He stood by my bed looking at both of us with an odd expression. He and I had been through a lot together, but I’d never seen that expression before. I wasn’t sure what he was asking. “My […]
Continue Reading“You can’t be what you can’t see,” Marie Wilson, founder of The White House Project, explains in this powerful film. Yet the media preaches that a woman’s value is found in beauty and sexuality rather than in her leadership abilities. What can be done? This revealing documentary has some answers. It premieres Oct. 20th at […]
Continue ReadingI don’t have thick hair, but married into it for the sake of my offspring. Of my four kids, my son Kirby has the thickest hair. It’s dark blonde and wavy, coarse enough to fluff up into a temporary Afro and so full that balding men comment on it jealously. Mostly it is an irritation […]
Continue ReadingThe most recent copy of New Scientist just made it to our house. I rarely get my hands on this weekly until my offspring have read it (which may be why dinner table discussions around here are too scientifically advanced for me). But I managed to sit down with the magazine over coffee this […]
Continue ReadingWatch top scientists, students, and lab techs from McGill University in Montreal dance for donations to the Goodman Cancer Research Centre. Their sponsor Medicom will make a donation based on video stats. Geeks can dance, for goodness sake. They also remember to include outtakes.
Continue ReadingCharles Cohen, who describes himself as a “dentist by profession and Seussologist by obsession” discovered an early magazine story written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel. Cohen made it his mission to find other lost Seuss stories published in magazines between 1948 and 1959. When he got multiple copies he offered them for sale on eBay, […]
Continue ReadingThe song “I Love The Mountains” has long been a sing-along staple at kids’ summer camps, on seniors’ tour buses, anywhere people who like to sing gather. The words are simple and the refrain is too catchy to forget. But you’ve got to admit, the original lyrics just beg for modification. I love the mountains I […]
Continue ReadingOur bodies, minds, and societies are haunted by the nature we left behind, according to The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today. In this the finely researched and eloquent book, biologist Rob Dunn explains, We often view ourselves as separate from nature, but here is the rub: […]
Continue ReadingA satirical poster on a theater professor’s door was removed by campus security as a clear and present danger to public security. The poster displayed by Professor James Miller showed Nathan Fillion’s character in Firefly along with a quote from the first episode. You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you […]
Continue ReadingThis is a good year for author and illustrator Brian Selznick. A movie and a new book. First the movie. If you haven’t read his intriguing 533 page book The Invention of Hugo Cabret with your kids, rush to do so. It centers around an orphan who tends clocks in a train station and […]
Continue ReadingTake a look at the stylish, imaginative retro futurism we know as steampunk portrayed in this documentary trailer. The film is titled “Vintage Tomorrows: What Can Playing With The Past Teach Us About The Future” and includes such folks as Cherie Priest, Cory Doctorow, and James Carrott. One line from the trailer sums it […]
Continue ReadingChances are, at some point in your life you received encouragement from a stranger. It may have been a tiny gesture but it came at the right time. ~Maybe a note left in a library book serendipitously answered a question you’d been mulling over. ~Maybe a store clerk commented on how wonderfully inquisitive your child […]
Continue ReadingA fascinating beta site The Color Of gathers data from images, allowing us to find the hue of any word or phrase. The gentle mix of tones seems similar to Lazure painting. Check out the following palettes or generate colors with your own phrases.
Continue ReadingLike everyone else on September 11, 2001, where we were and what we were doing is now locked into our memories. Perhaps strangely, my family’s experience that day served to remind me that a mother’s intuition can be more powerful than the electronic devices we normally use to stay in touch. My husband’s […]
Continue ReadingA little girl walks to her first day of school in the Norman Rockwell painting titled “The Problem We All Live With.” She wears a crisply ironed white dress with ribbons in her hair. She walks past a wall scrawled with racial slurs and smashed tomato, flanked by U.S. Marshals. The day […]
Continue ReadingLook at promotional material for preschool and daycare in your area. Chances are, there’s an emphasis on math, pre-reading, and other academics. And why not? We’ve been told for years that our little ones should play with educational toys and attend enrichment programs designed to boost learning. Well-intentioned parents follow this advice. We do this […]
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