politics & business — #
Timothy Geithner’s financial plan is working—and making him very unpopular
In the history of product launches, the rollout of the Obama Administration’s plan to stabilize the financial system was in the category of “Ishtar,” smokeless cigarettes, and New Coke.
8 March 10
sustainability & technology — #
Dan Nocera has some fascinating thoughts on how to address our energy problems
technology & culture — #
The Google Public Data Explorer makes large, public datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate.
furniture — #
Winter’s Moon sells fun, vintage furniture and home accessories.
education & culture — #
NY Times: Building a Better Teacher is one of the most fascinating reads about educational reform I have read in a long time. Turns out that hard part is teaching people how to teach better.
But when it came to actual teaching, the daily task of getting students to learn, the school floundered. Students disobeyed teachers’ instructions, and class discussions veered away from the lesson plans. In one class Lemov observed, the teacher spent several minutes debating a student about why he didn’t have a pencil. Another divided her students into two groups to practice multiplication together, only to watch them turn to the more interesting work of chatting. A single quiet student soldiered on with the problems. As Lemov drove from Syracuse back to his home in Albany, he tried to figure out what he could do to help. He knew how to advise schools to adopt a better curriculum or raise standards or develop better communication channels between teachers and principals. But he realized that he had no clue how to advise schools about their main event: how to teach.
humor & culture — #
Rémi Gaillard does all sorts of hilarious pranks (à la Improv Everywhere) including pretending weekend bicycle riders out for a Sunday ride are in fact finishing a Tour de France stage. He also kicks soccer balls into funny places.
science — #
Experts confirm asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs
Dinosaurs were wiped out by a huge asteroid that smashed into Earth 65 million years ago with the force of a billion atomic bombs, scientists said, hoping to lay an age-old debate to rest once and for all.
The definitive verdict came from an international panel of experts who reviewed 20 years’ worth of evidence about what caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction that wiped out more than half the species on the planet.
4 March 10
parenthood & technology — #
Sign Up For Camp is a fast and easy way to find summer camps and coordinate with friends so that your kids and do the same camps together.
design & technology — #
Some Random Dude is a blog by P.J. Onori that covers design & technology in the broadest sense possible.
design — #
Thinking for a Living is a publisher and curator of thought-provoking design content and a creator of meaningful experiences.