Miracle year, Courage, Sheep & Kids - Edition 8

The mystery of the miracle year

It has been noted that some scientists are super productive in some years. Einstein, Newton, Darwin and others were a lot more productive certain years than others. Ken Thompson built the basic chassis of UNIX in a week when his wife went on vacation and he had a lot of time on his hand. I don’t think we have fully understood the miracle years.

Taming the Mammoth: Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think

We are built to care about what others think because our survival depends on it in earlier times. Now we need to be more careful about how much we should pay attention to what others think of us. I still think it’s a useful tool if used in moderation.

We Aren't Raising Adults. We Are Breeding Very Excellent Sheep

Getting into elite colleges is getting harder and harder. What kind of students get in. The kind of students we admit has an impact on what our elite colleges are becoming.

Let Us Now Praise Courageous Men and Women

Large corporations do not want unions and they go to a great extent to ensure that unions are not formed. The lack of unions has resulted in the working class not being able to participate in the growing economy and has further added to income inequality.

Where are all the kids in America

I can relate to the sentiments expressed by DHH. It’s not that kids don’t play here. It’s just that kids play a lot less on the street. Partially that’s because the parents are ultra-careful. Partially because a park is nearby, if there is no nearby park then kids would be forced to play on the street. If more kids play on the streets then drivers would know the social norm and they would be careful.

Since not many kids play on the street most of the time most of the drivers assume that the street is for the car first and the kids playing there need to watch out for the incoming cars. This leads parents to be extra careful and that results in a lesser and lesser number of kids playing on the streets.

Playing at a park requires some planning and collaboration. One can’t just walk to a park. One needs friends to play with. When one plays on a street then other kids in the neighborhood can hear the sound of basketball or the kids talking and that’s a clue for other kids to come out of the house and play.

In the USA the houses are larger which also doesn’t help. Because of the large size of the house, the probability of having x number of kids per street is low compared to kids not in the USA.