We do time outs at my home. But only for the kids, although every now and then I'd like to have one, too! Wisteria offers this clever stool design with a five-minute hourglass. Use it to keep track of your little gremlin's punishment.
Anna Chambers nailed this baby dress. What's especially neat is that it conveys, through just a few shapes and colors, the image of Kermit the Frog so well. It's her contribution to a Jim Henson tribute gallery.
Angela Zhang is only seventeen, but she's already engaged in groundbreaking nanotech research. Specifically, she's developed a thingamabobber* that fights cancer:
Zhang's work reflects the growing use of nanotechnology to treat diseases of the human body on the smallest scales. She used gold and iron oxide-based nanoparticles that could act as markers for MRI and photoacoustic imaging, even as it delivered the drug salinomycin to attack cancer tumors.
"Angela created a nanoparticle that is like a Swiss army knife of cancer treatment," said Tejal Desai, a bioengineer at the University of California, San Francisco, and a competition judge. "She showed great creativity and initiative in designing a nanoparticle system that can be triggered to release drugs at the site of the tumor while also allowing for noninvasive imaging."
No, your signal strength isn't low. It's just that your fancy new smartphone is made out of wood. Kyle Bean -- an artist whose work we've featured extensively at Neatorama -- made this toy with blocks representing apps that can be removed and re-arranged.
This beautiful photo by Rudolf Brosztl shows a loving couple counting the days until their daughter will be born. There are three more images in the set at the link.
When your kids complain about doing their math homework, let them know that it was always thus, and always shall be. Why, even ancient Sumerian kids had to do math! Here's one math problem that was found inscribed on a clay tablet at Šuruppak, an archaeological dig site in modern-day Iraq:
A loose translation of the problem is: A granary. Each man receives 7 sila of grain. How many men? That is, the tablets concern a highly artificial problem and certainly present a mathematical exercise and not an archival document. The tablets give the statement of the problem and its answer (164571 men - expressed in the sexagesimal system S since we are counting men - with 3 sila left over).
Link -via Boing Boing | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Nic McPhee used under Creative Commons license
My earliest memories of television are scenes from Sesame Street. This nurturing show has engaged children who have grown up, brought more children into the world, and introduced them to the show. There are many reasons why Sesame Street has been so successful -- the clever writing, puppetry, directing -- but perhaps foremost among them is that the show has always been guided by child psychologists who understand how kids think and what they need. Esther Ingils-Arkell has an article at io9 about how they have shaped the show with their professional knowledge:
This is why misanthropic Oscar, one of my favorites, was added. He was there to teach kids that people had radically different points of view. Oscar likes trash, worms, and being mean to people. Kids had to learn, and respect, that there were people like that in the world. Oscar, as nearly the only Sesame Street character who could get angry about anything, also served as a guide for children on how to manage negative emotions, both their own and other people's.
In the early 1980s, Will Lee, the man who played a character called Mr. Hooper on the show, died. Show runners consulted a battery of psychologists who specialized in grief counseling, and conducted studies to see if children could understand the concept of death and deal with it without trauma. Only after that did they go on to film the episode. They scheduled it to appear on Thanksgiving. This seems cruel to the kids, until you take into account that that was the day most likely for parents to be home with their kids, at which point it only seems cruel to the parents. The episode was well received, though, and the show hired other actors.
This is a great idea for a child's Christmas card! LIFamilies forum user Denise also suggests that parents make these every year and keep them in a scrapbook.
This craft has a key feature that I like: easy. Those of us who lack artistic talent need projects to be accessible.
Eventually, your children will outgrow their perfect Star Wars nursery. It'll be time to step up your parenting game. This AT-ST tree house is impressive, but remember: if some other dad in your neighborhood has built one, you'll have to make a tree house that's even grander, like a wooden star destroyer.
Lyndsay at Coco Cake Cupcakes made this marvelous cupcake tableau for a 1-year old's birthday party. The head is covered with fondant and the cupcakes are iced with two different colors swirled together in imitation of Eric Carle's watercolors. Best of all, because it's made of cupcakes, this assembly is easy to divide among party guests.
The Scottsdale Gun Club in Scottsdale, Arizona offered kids the opportunity to pose for a photo with Santa, tell him what they wanted for Christmas, and examine his arsenal. Families could also test fire some guns at the range. Notice that the boy in the picture has good trigger discipline and is keeping his muzzle up. Good work, young man.
The blogger behind Dad and Buried thinks that his son Lucian is engaging in stock trades. But whenever I encounter a baby talking, I now think of the godfather baby meme.
Madonna's enchanting but largely unknown song "Dear Jessie" speaks of the magical, imaginative world of young children. A set of images by photographer Dara Scully stuck me as quite similar in how they bring that world to life. Presumably there is some Photoshop work involved.
