05 JAN 2012 by ideonexus

 Santa Claus Can't Live at the North Pole

Here's a riddle for the kids. A man leaves his house for a walk. He walks a mile due south, a mile due east, and a mile due north, and finds he is back where he started. What is the man's name? Yes, Virginia, his name is Santa Claus. And his house is at the North Pole. But don't go looking for him there, Virginia. Here's the cold fact: Santa Claus doesn't live at the North Pole. I knew from a young age that there was something fishy about Santa's address. At the age of five or six I discov...
Folksonomies: superstition
Folksonomies: superstition
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The ice is drifting an so is the pole.

29 JUN 2011 by ideonexus

 Lack of Evidence-Based Child-Rearing in Society

s any new mother or father knows, nothing so invites advice as a new baby in the house. Other parents. Grandma, the lady next door, a stranger on the street, the family physician, and stacks and stacks of child-care books are happy to give directions about the "correct" way to care for an infant. What most parents do not know is that these various tidbits of advice, and even the consensus "rules" of parenting that have such an aura of credibility, are, for the most part, based on a mix of tra...
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There are many cultural norms, folk wisdom, and "common sense" ideas about how children should be raised, but there is very little research to prove what actually works.