What-What?! Week of January 19th

Something Silly:  My Little Pony Movies on Netflix

Netflix just recently added a bunch of My Little Pony movies from the mid-2000's (scroll down to M).  It's from generation three era, so it's basically all cutesy ponies and little girl stuff.  If you don't have kids, I wouldn't recommend it whatsoever, but my children enjoy the films, especially the song and dance numbers.

As an MLP geek, I did want to point out The Runaway Rainbow, which follows the story of Rarity becoming the princess of Unicornia, is actually pretty accurate prehistory to the current My Little Pony TV series.  If you just pretend that this film is historical, and all the current ponies are named after these historical figures, it makes a lot more sense.

Something Serious: Closing the Word Gap Between Rich and Poor

Recently, NPR ran an article discussing the "word gap" between the rich and poor.  Research estimates that, by the age of three, poor children hear about 30 million fewer words than children from more affluent families.

The article quotes the mayor of Providence, RI, saying that two-thirds of RI kindergartners start out the year below national literacy averages.  However, the article and the mayor make no comments about the income backgrounds of those children.  This begs the question: Are these subpar literacy skills the result of the word gap, or other factors?  Further, if it is connected to the word gap, perhaps not speaking to your children is cultural to the area, not connected to economic background?

What bothers me about this research is that it is largely about the result -- the lack of words spoken to poor children -- as opposed to the reasons why this occurs.  The article posits a few reasons for the gap, but at the same time, these reasons seem to be in the vein that poor people don't know how to parent effectively.  Using this as an excuse to enact universal preschool is especially disgusting; not only would preschool would be a band-aid measure that "fixes" the problem after it's all ready happened, but it also acts on the assumption that 10-20 children in a room with one teacher for a few hours everyday is better than the more individual and substantial interaction from a parent.

Other research has found that low income families are more likely to watch TV and movies with their children, which takes time away from talking, playing, or reading books.  It would follow that this fact is involved with reducing interaction between parents and children, much more than simply "poor parents don't talk enough".  What's interesting, is that studies have shown that less parental life pressures, less parental screen time, and greater social support, are connected to reduced screen time in children.  Those factors are all probably connected:  More social support leads to less stress in life, thus parents are less likely to want to "veg out" in front of the TV after a long day.  If parents aren't watching TV, their children probably aren't, either.

(imgs via Wikipedia, NPR.com)

What-What?! Week of October 27th

I spent a lot of this week just trying to get everything done.  Between my behavioral economics class, my CPR/first aid class (this week only – I am now certified!), my daughter’s birthday, putting together Halloween costumes, and having quite a stressful week at work, I have just been run ragged.  Oh!  I did have an article published on Yahoo! Voices, in response to the book Homeschooling: The Bigger Picture; this book legitimately made me angry, which is pretty unusual.  Since reading that book, the author has since published more, though thankfully it is fiction, not non-fiction or advice.

Week 2 of my behavioral economics class covered mental accounting and “unmoney”; that is, paying with anything other than cash, and the affects it has on behavior.  Very interesting, though mostly information that I’d read elsewhere before.  Every week, there’s a debate topic where experts discuss their opinions, and then us students discuss their reactions and the topic.  This week’s topic was asking if credit is a boon or a curse, and one of the experts said the most insane thing:  “Credit card companies are there to provide free debt to consumers”.  Uh… what?  I heartily disagree with that; they are in it to make money.

Art:  Kuitsuku’s Disney / Pokemon Mash-Ups via Deviantart

Earlier this week, I followed a link here and a link there, and came across these adorable Disney / Pokemon mash-ups; while most are of princess and Pokemon, I think the best ones are the non-princess characters, like those above.  Hit the link for more.

Books:  Racecar: Searching for the Limit in Formula SAE via Amazon.com

This is one of the few Kindle books I’ve read that I would give five stars.  It follows the experiences of an engineer through his last year of college, and his last year competing in the Formula SEA student design competition as the main manager of the project.  He and his fellow engineers work, struggle, and grow in their effort to produce a winning car.  The management and interpersonal growth the group experiences are really the stars of the tale, with all the engineers transitioning to from bickering and spite, to a cohesive, effective team.  It really is a good read, whether you’re interested in motorsports or not.

Food:  Healthy Halloween Snacks Roundup via Kelly’s Healthy Kitchen

Now that I’m not in school, I spend a lot more time doing things with my kids related to the holidays.  While looking for activities to do, I came across this great list of healthy Halloween-themed snacks.  I haven’t done a lot of them, but the one that I have done (over and over!) is the ghost bananas.  These are simple as can be, and the kids have been enthralled with them.  Just press chocolate chips into the banana for eyes and a mouth, and BAM, you’ve got a ghost banana!

(img via deviantart.com, kellytoups.com)

What-What?! Week of October 6th

After much talking and thinking, the husband and I have decided that we will be relocating to Washington state, specifically the Seattle area, sometime in the next year.  Because I continue to be unable to find fulltime work, we think it would be prudent to move on to greener pastures, as it were.  There are actually many reasons to choose that area, enough that I actually wrote an article discussing them.  Funnily enough, since writing the article, I keep stumbling into more and more information that goads us towards the Seattle area.

On another note, I am now registered for the BehavioralEconomics class at EdX; it’s being offered by the University of Toronto Extension, and will start in just over a week.

Film:  Mean Girls via Amazon.com

This week, I watched Mean Girls.  Yeah, it stars Lindsay Lohan.  No, I’m not a Lohan fan.  However, the film is entertaining, and well written.  Rachel McAdams is delightfully evil, and I appreciate the awkwardness that Lohan brings to the role of a homeschooled student thrust into conventional high school.

Books:  Super Hero Philosophy via Amazon.com

This is a pretty cool book that I’ve been reading; it’s a collection of essays that look at philosophical elements that exist in super hero media.  The first essay, which discusses the concepts of justice and mercy in the Thor comics, was a particularly interesting read, considering that I am now responsible for a class of 19 children, and I frequently find myself having to decide how much mercy to give a rule-breaker.  I tend to be on the lawful side when it comes to alignment, which in my experience tends to favor the justice side of the justice/mercy balance.  Some essays are definitely more interesting than others, both because of writing style, and because some of these topics are ones I’ve considered before.  Overall, I think it is a worthwhile read, especially since the book is currently free.  If you don't currently have a Kindle or other reader, I suggest downloading the PC or smartphone (Android?) app from Amazon, which is also free (yay for free things!)

Food:  Chicken Tetrazzini Casserole via The Pioneer Woman
Now that’s getting colder here, I’m looking forward to eating comfort foods, hot dishes, soups and stews. Thursday, my husband made a really great sausage, potato and broccoli chowder; it would have been good anyway, but what really kicked it up a notch was some Worchester sauce. It added just the right amount of umami.

Friday, we took the family to Costco for our monthly shopping trip there, and bought a rotisserie chicken for an easy dinner that night.  We had enough leftover chicken that I made this delicious tetrazzini casserole yesterday, and we’ll be eating the leftovers for dinner tonight (if you’re not cooking for a crowd, I suggest halving the recipe).  This is good, basic, comfort food.  Yum!

I’m also looking forward to more baking, as well.  I bought a 4-pound sack of chocolate chips while we were at Costco, and I’m looking forward to making chocolate chip cookies and muffins with them.