What is childhood but a long string of awesome and asinine fads? Joe Carter forces us to look back at what was ridiculously popular among kids from the 1960s until today. Here are a few of my favorite things from his love/hate list:

14. Garbage Pail Kids
What made it the best: They were disgusting.
What made it the worst: They were disgusting.

17. Hello Kitty
What made it the best: They’re so cute.
What made it the worst: Good grief, they’re everywhere!

27. Mood Rings
What made it the best: People could tell what mood you were in by looking at your finger.
What made it the worst: Unless “hot and sweaty” counts as a mood, they couldn’t detect anything.

36. Rubik’s Cube
What made it the best: They made you think you were smart enough to solve them.
What made it the worst: They made you realize you weren’t smart enough to solve them.

46. Tamagotchi
What made it the best: Like having a pet that you could carry around in your pocket.
What made it the worst: Like having all the responsibility of having a pet without the loyalty, love, etc.

Link | Image: Topps

Parents: if there's a magical pill that can turn your kids from bad students into good ones, would you give it to them?

As a parent of a young child in first grade, I've been hearing a lot about how rowdy kids are increasingly being medicated - not necessarily because they have ADHD - but because that helps in school (or perhaps, help teachers keep them in line at school).

It seems that there may be something to the rumors, as Alan Schwarz of The New York Times explains in this post:

When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall.

The pills boost focus and impulse control in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder “made up” and “an excuse” to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true ill — poor academic performance in inadequate schools.

“I don’t have a whole lot of choice,” said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. “We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.”

But is it necessarily a bad thing if medication can turn a bad student into a good one?

For some parents the pills provide great relief. Jacqueline Williams said she can’t thank Dr. Anderson enough for diagnosing A.D.H.D. in her children — Eric, 15; Chekiara, 14; and Shamya, 11 — and prescribing Concerta, a long-acting stimulant, for them all. She said each was having trouble listening to instructions and concentrating on schoolwork.

“My kids don’t want to take it, but I told them, ‘These are your grades when you’re taking it, this is when you don’t,’ and they understood,” Ms. Williams said, noting that Medicaid covers almost every penny of her doctor and prescription costs.

Some experts see little harm in a responsible physician using A.D.H.D. medications to help a struggling student.

Link | Controversy of ADHD as a disease [wikipedia]

What do you think? Is society merely forcing square pegs into the round holes of public education through the use of pharmaceuticals?

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You may remember Colin Furze's modified mobility scooter--the one he took to 69 MPH. He's back with a project that any dad could appreciate: a motorized stroller. This Sunday, he's going to see how fast he can get it to move. If he can take it up to 30 MPH, he'll establish a new world record. But Furze thinks that he can top 50 MPH!

-via Yababoon

The polls are in and the consensus says SpongeBob SquarePants will likely win the under-10 vote. Sorry, "Other Guy" and "Broccoli Almond." The best part is Wonder Woman's healthy endorsement from the "no cigaretting" girl. Link

If you think that texting while driving is bad, here's a new danger for you: texting while parenting. Ben Worthen of The Wall Street Journal explains the perils of texting while you're supposed to be watching your kids:

One sunny July afternoon in a San Francisco park, tech recruiter Phil Tirapelle was tapping away on his cellphone while walking with his 18-month-old son. As he was texting his wife, his son wandered off in front of a policeman who was breaking up a domestic dispute.

"I was looking down at my mobile, and the police officer was looking forward," and his son "almost got trampled over," he says. "One thing I learned is that multitasking makes you dumber."

Yet a few minutes after the incident, he still had his phone out. "I'm a hypocrite. I admit it," he says. "We all are."

Is high-tech gadgetry diminishing the ability of adults to give proper supervision to very young children? Faced with an unending litany of newly proclaimed threats to their kids, harried parents might well roll their eyes at this suggestion. But many emergency-room doctors are worried: They see the growing use of hand-held electronic devices as a plausible explanation for the surprising reversal of a long slide in injury rates for young children. There have even been a few extreme cases of death and near drowning.

Read the rest of the story over at the Wall Street Journal: Link

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Little Benjamin is a man of style. Specifically, Gangnam Style. His father Andrew Tsai learned that the reliable way of getting him to eat when he isn't in the mood to play the video for the child.

A week ago, I showed my kids how to dance Gangnam Style. My two-year old was impressed. My four-year old was so appalled that I had to stop halfway through the video before she started crying.

Clearly I need to practice more.

Link -via Blame It on the Voices

The son of Instructables member raptor23 is now ready to puff around Sodor. Thomas the Tank Engine will take him everywhere in this bed that his father made. If he removes the boiler behind Thomas's face, he can also find many of his toys in a built-in chest.

Link

E. Robert Schulman , C. Virginia Cox , and E. Anne Schulman Alexandria, Virginia

Abstract
The stacking properties of toroids that reflect radiation in the 1.8 to 2.8 eV energy range is investigated. Preliminary results indicate that in the optimal configuration the toroids are oriented vertically with those reflecting lower energy photons having larger gravitational potential energies for toroids of equal mass. The ambiguousness of this solution is tested by experiments performed by a relatively inexperienced researcher (t= 0.9167 yr). These experiments indicate that alternate solutions can be found.

1. Introduction

The significance of toroidal stacking properties in the present society should not be underestimated. A plurality of localities in which dwell immature Homo sapiens contain educational implements consisting of conic surfaces that can be combined with multiple toroids to produce coherent structures. The number of toroids per conic surface is usually five, and there is often an anticorrelation between toroidal radius and the mean energy of photons reflected by each torus.

In this paper, we report on the results of a study of toroidal stacking properties by independent groups. Two of us (ERS and CVC) are experienced researchers, while one of us (EAS) is a relatively inexperienced researcher, having an age of 0.9167 yr at the time the study was performed.

2. Description of Experimental Apparatus   

The experimental apparatus consists of six components: A solid with a circular base and a plane curve tapering uniformly towards a vertex, which has a mean reflected photon energy of 2.18 eV, and five toroids of different radii having mean reflected photon energies of 2.76, 2.43, 2.18, 1.97, and 1.80 eV. The experimental aparatus is shown in Figure 1 :

3. Description of Experiment 1   

In the first experiment, two of us (ERS and CVC) together attempted to determine the optimal toroidal stacking configuration. It was found that in the most advantageous mode the toroids are arranged in a vertical orientation with those reflecting lower energy photons having larger gravitational potential energies for toroids of equal mass. This solution is listed in column 2 of Table 1.

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Comedian Tom Mabe got a realistic baby doll, placed it in a baby sling, then went to very baby-inappropriate places and did baby-inappropriate things. Like going to bars and riding skateboards.

-via Daily of the Day

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 Cory McLeod's parents took his picture every day since the day he was born through his 21st birthday. Well, almost every day. The few days that were missed have been replaced with drawings in this hypnotic montage of all those pictures. It goes pretty fast, and may not be suitable for those with epilepsy. -via Laughing Squid

Redditor geni91782 thought this fill-in-the-blank school assignment completed by his daughter was worth sharing. It certainly is. Link -via TYWKIWDBI

Do you remember the father who carefully prepared a Dr. Seuss book for his daughter over a 13-year period so that she would have the perfect high school graduation gift? Redditor jagknowny is pretty much doing the same thing. But there's a risk--and one that he appears to be aware of: she may sue him for defecation of character.

Link -via Blame It on the Voices

The ingenious Growth Table by Tim Durfee and Iris Anna Regn gently scales up as a child grows. Start as a preschooler and move up to the tweens. It comes up with build-in nooks and crannies for art supplies.

Link -via Inhabitat

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Rent-a-Grandma is a real company in Texas and Virginia. Basically, it's babysitting with a clever if not compelling advertising pitch. The company hires older women with childcare experience to provide in-home care.

But renting a grandmother? No, thanks. I prefer to own one--preferably one that is electrically powered.

-via Daily of the Day

Photo: Shutterstock

A large study by Johns Hopkins University confirmed what many of us have known for a long time: children who immigrate the United States with their families tend to do better in school, and when they grow up, their children are also likely to do better.

That may fit a pattern some Americans see of so many kids from Asia who excel in everything from music to science as they embrace a new culture. But it holds for all immigrants, including those from Mexico who often arrive here in a desperate flight from poverty.

It doesn't mean that a poor kid who arrives here as a preteen will do better than an American kid from a wealthy family that values education, of course. But compared to an American youth with a similar background, the immigrant will have certain advantages.

"They have higher expectations, they make a higher effort, and they have better cultural tools," sociologist Lingxin Hao, lead author of the study, said in a telephone interview. "Their culture is not just American."

They have the experience of living their first years in a very different culture, "so they have cultural diversity and they are able to take the best part of both and use it while in school," she added. That will continue to help them transition into adulthood.

The study indicates the immigrants are more likely to succeed because they arrived here with high expectations, their parents expect them to work harder, and it's likely they will have a stronger relationship than their American peers with their teachers.

But like the famed Chinese proverb about wealth not lasting three generations, all that academic advantage evaporates for their grandchildren. Lee Dye of ABC News has the story: Link