Day: April 8, 2006

A history of corrupting children

(via Joystiq)

Wired magazine has a fun and funny article about some of the things in history which were considered a corrupting influence on children before adults had videogames to blame.  Of course, we all know before videogames, it was Rock and Roll corrupting children, but did you know that the telephone, the waltz, and novels were also considered bad for children?

The Waltz
“The indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced … at the English Court on Friday last … It is quite sufficient to cast one’s eyes on the voluptuous inter­twining of the limbs, and close com­pressure of the bodies … to see that it is far indeed removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was con­fined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is … forced on the respectable classes of society by the evil example of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion.”
– The Times of London, 1816

The Telephone
“Does the telephone make men more active or more lazy? Does [it] break up home life and the old practice of visiting friends?”
– Survey conducted by the Knights of Columbus Adult Education Committee, San Francisco Bay Area, 1926

Some of the major bad-things of the past are covered in the full article.

[tags]Corrupting influences, Think of the children[/tags]

An inefficient way to track time?

(via MyVogonPoetry)

This is one of many such clocks – watch a clock, updated by the second, tracking time.  Why is this one worth my mentioning?  Because it’s updated via blocks.  That is, every second, a stack of blocks is added to, until the stack has 9 blocks.  Then, that stack is knocked over, the next column gets another block added, and the seconds blocks start stacking again.  Easy to watch, and somehow mesmerizing.

[tags]Clock, animated time[/tags]

ReadyMade magazine food selections

Following are a few recent food items from the ReadyMade magazine blog. All of these caught my eye for various reasons. Let me just say now that I plan on making the last one with my kids some time (as in, I plan on getting my kids to help me make them, not I plan on using my kids as the ingredients necessary to make them).

  1. Vegan Twinkies – vegan_twinkies.jpg This selection comes to ReadyMade from the Vegan Lunch Box blog. Perfect for all you ingredient conscious twinkie consumers.
  2. DIY Girl Scout cookies – The ReadyMade folks link to a knock-off of the well-known Girl Scout Thin Mints. These are my wife’s favorites. I figure I should make some for her.
  3. Spicy Hot Cinnamon Marshmallows – cinnamon_marshmallows.jpg This is the one I need to make for my kids. Of course, since I work nights, my wife might not appreciate me making some on the week-end with the boys and then leaving her to hold the children off the marshmallows during the week. And I am certain they don’t need more sugar in their systems after she gets home from school with them.