A particular psychological experiment developed in the 1960s involving children and marshmallows has become quite popular lately. It was featured in a non-broadcast podcast episode of RadioLab*, and it was recently the subject of a New Yorker article. The experiment itself is rather simple. A child is brought into a room by a researcher, given a marshmallow, and told that he or she is welcome to eat their marshmallow right away but if he or she does not eat the marshmallow until the researcher gets back then the researcher will give the child a second marshmallow. Pure profit! And it turns out that the results of the experiment have lasting ramifications for the subjects.
Once Mischel began analyzing the results, he noticed that low delayers, the children who rang the bell quickly, seemed more likely to have behavioral problems, both in school and at home. They got lower S.A.T. scores. They struggled in stressful situations, often had trouble paying attention, and found it difficult to maintain friendships. The child who could wait fifteen minutes had an S.A.T. score that was, on average, two hundred and ten points higher than that of the kid who could wait only thirty seconds.
The researchers followed the original test subjects into their 30s and found that the children who had been unable to resist eating their initial marshmallow were often less financially successful, had more health problems, and a higher incidence of drug use. Self-control as a skill developed early on can affect the pattern of a child's entire life! Very interesting!
But what the podcasts and articles do not tell you is HOW CUTE THIS TEST IS!
In the New York Times a couple weeks ago, there was an article about the much-anticipated DVD release of thirtysomething, a "groundbreaking" (not my word) television drama from the late '80s. By most measures, the show was not a huge success (according to that article, its highest ratings were during the first 15 minutes of a premiere), but it was a critical darling, and "thirtysomething" is now a word in the dictionary. But most importantly: when it came out, as far as I was concerned, it was a stupid-boring show for old people. Except that now I am one of those old people. And so, out of some misguided sense of curiosity, over the next few weeks, I will be recapping the first season of thirtysomething here. 2009, you guys. Anything can happen. There is no spoon.
From the world of science and nature comes this internet-palate-cleansing clip from the BBC 2's Yellowstone special: a red fox listens for mice scurrying six feet under the snow. And then he gets 'em. It's cool:
I think this is what smart homeschooled kids watch instead of cats screaming at each other. It's like a peek into another viral video world!
This video, "The Science Of Cute," is basically the most "duh" thing ever if you're someone who has had a lifelong interest in both evolutionary biology and, um, adowable wittle kittens and such, but as an excuse to look at a bunch of cute things while also "learning," it can't be beat:
I still maintain my adamant stance that adult pandas are NOT CUTE because they're so obviously DIRTY AND STAINED and bad-smelling-looking, but even "science" disagrees with me on that one. Enjoy your pandas, crazy world (well, while you can, mwahaha!) (Via Urlesque.)
A tipster who watches American Idol alerted us to George Ramirez, the bearded, earnest (or is he?), honest American Idol contestant from Tuesday's show. The show was clearly trying to paint George as an odd nerd who didn't belong there, but I think everything about George's audition was embarrassing not to him but to the judges. The world has changed, Simon Cowell. Your bread-and-butter method of humiliation-as-entertainment is becoming obsolete. And deep down, you know it. All hail George Ramirez! May his dreams of marble floors come true:
Like you, I've always been worried that when it was time to go to space I would be forced to suck my coffee out of a bag, rather than being able to enjoy my coffee from a cup. Not so! This clip from NASA TV (via Boing Boing) shows that when it's time to go to space, we will all be enjoying our coffee from a cup! Kind of!
Maybe it's just me, but drinking coffee out of that cup looks a lot like sucking coffee out of a bag, and it doesn't help when near the end he keeps calling it a bag. I mean, don't get me wrong, when it's time to go to space, I'll go to space with everyone else. The pleasures of enjoying coffee out of a cup are not going to keep me on Earth when it's time to go. I know the sun is dying. I know that! But don't promise me space coffee out of a space cup when clearly it's space coffee out of a space bag that just happens to have a bigger hole in the top than you're used to seeing on most bags.
I do love the part when he talks about how this is probably how future space colonizers will enjoy drinks when they want to have a toast or a celebration. Oh, fun! Although, one would hope that by the time we're capable of COLONIZING ALIEN PLANETS we will have improved our SPACE CUP TECHNOLOGY, but whatever. I'll suck to that! (Get it? You get it. It's a bag.)
But I realize now that I've been railing against the ends when I should have been railing against the means. It's not just the internet that is the problem and the danger. It's all of science. And if we burn science to the ground, hopefully the internet will go up in flames with it. Because not only did science create this magical, revolutionary tool of interpersonal communication and the instantaneous worldwide distribution of grandma fart videos, it also created this.
Carrie Prejean turned the video camera off, put on some clothes, and stepped out of her house. It was a beautiful day outside. The air smelled like apples, and the late morning light hit the world in just such a...
After watching Death Sentence, a terrible movie starring Kevin Bacon as a father in search of vigilante justice directed by Saw's James Wan, Gabe embarked on The Hunt For The Worst Movie of All Time. This is his sad journey.
If you are a sassy and sarcastic young man in an American sitcom who represents the sitcom writer's desire that a nerdy Jewish teenager can somehow be the desirable romantic hero in this world, then eventually you will get a...
I shouldn't even be here right now. I SHOULD BE GETTING INTO MY COSTUME! If I don't hurry, my facepaint won't be dry before I get to the MOONVIE theater, and everyone will be like "hahah, you look like you're...
Blogging about TV and movies isn't all fun and videogames. Every week, Lindsay or Gabe will be presented with a physical or mental challenge that tests their bravery,patience, and taste.
The Challenge: I had to go on a 3.5 hour bus tour of totally random TV and film locations in New York City. Alone, and wearing a specific ridiculous tshirt. And I had to find someone to take my picture...
Uh. OK. Well, first let's address what this movie did well, like the disappointed parents we are (or at least that I am), recognizing that the negative feedback won't be useful or constructive if it isn't preceded by something positive....
