Skeptic’s Dictionary for Kids!

Bob Carroll announced that he’s completed his latest project, a Skeptic’s Dictionary for Kids, in his weekly newsletter dated 7 August 2011. In the newsletter he explained why he took on this new complement to his massive and long-standing Skeptic’s Dictionary:

I wrote the SD for Kids to promote science and scientific skepticism among young people. I haven’t seen anything else like it on the Web or in print. I was encouraged to do an SD for kids by one big person who thinks kids deserve an SD of their own and by some little people who are already questioning some of their teacher’s beliefs. My 12-year-old consultant took down from her parents’ bookshelf a copy of The Skeptic’s Dictionary to look up “astrology” after her teacher told her class that she believed the stars and planets affect who we are and what happens to us. My consultant thought my writing was a bit obtuse. OK. She said “hard” and “too long.” My 10-year-old consultant wanted more pictures. He especially wanted to see a picture of Area 51, which was mentioned in some movie he saw. He wanted to know more about aliens and UFOs, too.

Mr. Carroll recommends SD for Kids for children ages nine and older and suggest that they start with the about pages and the introduction to scientific reasoning. It’s all at http://sd4kids.skepdic.com/

Hyperbolic simple dog

Allie Brosh’s simple dog recently went very far outside. Follow her. You’ll get a good look at an adventure, an investigation of a dog’s perspective about the world, and insights into lots of other things, too.

My simple-minded dog recently went on an unplanned adventure. Because the simple dog is so very simple, her adventure was alarming and horrible for everyone involved.

Even in her normal, familiar environment, the simple dog exists in a state of almost constant confusion.

Hat tip to Ron Artest

Over on EBD Blog I have an appreciation for the mental-health awareness works of LA Laker Ron Artest. It’s nice when my hoops and my professional interests intersect!

Rah! Another local 10-10-10 event!

I see from a search of the 350.org site that there is now a second event planned for 10-10-10 WHICH IS TOMORROW! Some folks near Crozet will be flagging 350 trees to be left standing during mowing and bush-hogging operations, thus helping to develop natural CO₂-scrubbing systems for the future.

Scurry on over to http://www.350.org/ to learn more.

xkcd on universities’ Web sites

It appeared a little while ago, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of date:

Franks’ show tops LA Times

Screen shot of LA Times page

As its lead article this morning, the LA Times Web site carried a story about a ceramics show curated by Frank Gehry and on display at my brother Frank Lloyd’s gallery. Because they’re both named Frank and both involved in the show, I used the plural possessive in the title for this entry.

Links:

• Jori Finkel’s LA Times article about the show.
• My brother Frank’s gallery site.
• My brother Frank’s blog.
• Frank Gehry’s firm’s site: FOGA.com.

xkcd lesson

Leave it to Randall Munroe to show me a nifty arithmetic thing or two.

http://xkcd.com comic # 759

Hyperbole again

Over on Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh has another fun recounting of part of life. This one is about cycling between getting things done and having things that need to be done accumulating. It’s called This is Why I’ll Never be an Adult.

Read ‘Hyperbole and a Half’

Over on Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh has some marvelous stuff. She tickles my fancy with irreverent commentaries spiced with quick cartoons. Here’s a brief list of some of my recent faves:

• A report about her not death experience;
• A lampoon of the misspelling of the phrase ‘a lot’;
• Her saga about the death of the Easter Bunny

She’s so ‘ffin’ good she has a store! And, she’s very productive. She’s so ‘ffin’ good she has a store! Bookmark this: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/.

Postcards for art

Here’s a nifty synergy of art, children, and international interaction. Over on Microscopiq, Jason Ellis has a post about a project that is called “Brownstones to Red Dirt Postcard Art Benefit.” It sprang from a documentary about kids corresponding with each other.

Two colleagues at Blue Sky Studios, David LaMattina and Chad Walker, have created a feature-length documentary about a pen pal program between a group of at-risk sixth graders living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn and orphans from the war living in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This Postcard Art project is an extension of the their film “Brownstones To Red Dirt” which features children from both schools.

Not only is the idea cool, but the images are really fine. In addition to reading the full original, “Blue Sky, Pixar & More Artists Paint for a Cause,” from Microsopiq, there’s a Web site specific to the project at http://btorpostcards.blogspot.com/.