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Props for Snood
Dig this: A couple have set up a Wiki devoted to their baby, who’s due in a few weeks — and are thus allowing random strangers to give them advice on how to raise their child. It’s a neat sort of judo move: Since parents are battered with unsolicited advice from strangers anyway about what they’re doing wrong, why not just formalize the arrangement and give the world a quick and easy way to mouth off?
Thus, the following bits of advice:
Spend a lot of time at nightclubs and noisy events during the last couple months of your pregnancy. The child will come out unusually calm and unafraid of loud noises.
Or …
Right when you get the baby home, drop it on the floor. Then every time for the rest of her life remember the horror you felt when you dropped the newborn and nothing will stress you out, it will be impossible to feel worse as a parent than intentionally dropping your newborn on the ground — and then you can say say to yourself “if she survived that she’ll surive anything else we inflict on her.” (being grounded, no pony, etc.)
Then again, some of the stuff is useful. The parents are apparently seriously considering naming the kid “Wyoming”, and as one contributor sagely noted, “the only person I’ve ever met named Wyoming was a stripper.”
I'm Clive Thompson, a writer on science, technology, and culture. This blog collects bits of offbeat research I'm running into, and musings thereon.
Currently, I'm a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. I also write for Fast Company and Wired magazine's web site, among other places. Email or AOL IM me (pomeranian99) to say hi or send in something strange!
The “Milky Way Transit Authority” map
Should automobile software be open-sourced?
My Bookforum review of Jaron Lanier’s “You Are Not A Gadget”
Molecular secrets of the “iron-plated snail”
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January 31, 2010 » 07:29 PM
V. A. To me death seems to be an evil.
M. What, to those who are already dead? or to those who must die?
A. To both.
M. It is a misery, then, because an evil?
A. Certainly.
M. Then those who have already died, and those who have still got to die, are both miserable?
A. So it appears to me.
M. Then all are miserable?
A. Every one.
January 24, 2010 » 03:22 PM
One of the more interesting trends is family, which came in at number five. Specifically, discussion about family, moms, dads, daughters, etc. jumped during 2009. With Facebook users getting older, this isn’t a big surprise. However, the fact that the mention of “kids” jumped by a factor of five this year is rather dramatic. It’s tough to know what this means, though. (via Facebook Unveils Most-Mentioned Topics of 2009
)
January 15, 2010 » 01:36 PM
BEYOND AWESOME. They are announcing a recall of the Plush Uterus “due to a potential choking hazard for children”. To apply for it, “Please send an email to the address below with the subject line, ‘UTERUS OPT OUT’”.
January 14, 2010 » 10:04 PM
“To order, please TYPE “YES” IN CHECKBOX BELOW TO AGREE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS PLUSH MUST BE KEPT AWAY FROM KIDS (it is a sex organ, after all). If it is not checked, WE WILL NOT SEND THE UTERUS.” (via @ibogost)
January 11, 2010 » 01:45 PM
I watched Space: 1999 back in the day, but I swear to god I do not remember this scene.
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