The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us

I am currently working my way through The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us.  It is a good book.  Years ago I had a post about the opaque gorilla.  You can watch the video here.

As part of sharing the video with a friend at work I came across a similar video:




Even knowing that it is a trick I expect you'll be surprised.

Reminder - California Homeschoolers - time to file the Private School Affidavit

It is time to file the Private School Affidavit.

How to improve your Situational Awareness

There is a lot of crazy stuff happening these days.  I think it helps to be more aware of our surroundings.

I enjoyed this post:

How to Develop the Situational Awareness of Jason Bourne

Hat tip:  Instapundit

Interesting thought: You Are Richer than John D. Rockerfeller

I like this article:  You Are Richer than John D. Rockerfeller.

The author makes the point that life is much, much better today than a hundred years ago, even for a billionaire.


(Hat tip: Instapundit)

FIRE's report on which colleges have the best track record for free speech

FIRE recently released a report on Speech Codes at universities in America.

Before going off to a university, check it out.

Lab on a chip is getting closer to reality

I first blogged about a Lab on a Chip technology over eight years ago in Soon will we be taking a daily blood test with our vitamins?

I am excited to see that this is getting closer to reality.

Printed ‘lab on a chip’ costs a penny and catches disease early reports that scientists are getting closer to making this real.  The article starts with:

Your diagnostic kit is downloading. A “lab on a chip” system costs less than a penny to make and can test cell samples for diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and cancer.

The technology could help with early detection of diseases in the developing world, where lack of access to equipment can lead to late diagnosis. “You can use it anywhere, as long as you have a printer,” says Rahim Esfandyarpour at Stanford University, who led the team that created the chips.

Each chip consists of a clear silicone chamber that houses a sample of cells for testing and a reusable electronic strip. The electronic strip can be printed onto flexible sheets of polyester using a regular inkjet printer and conductive nanoparticle ink. Users can download different designs for the strip, which let it test for different things. The whole printing process takes just 20 minutes.

I think this will be a huge benefit to health care.  There are so many diseases which can be treated when caught early.

Article on homeschooling: Documentary Redefines 'Success' for Homeschoolers in Common Core Age

Documentary Redefines 'Success' for Homeschoolers in Common Core Age is a nice article on homeschooling.

It starts with:

In a Common Core world where education is driven by college and career readiness mandates, incessant testing, and social and emotional learning, one independent filmmaker tackles the education establishment in a new documentary, Self-Taught, which zeroes in on how home school kids turn out, explores what defines “success,” and bucks the narrative pounded into parents’ heads that children cannot thrive outside the conventional institutionalized school system. 

The documentary marks filmmaker Jeremy Stuart’s second foray into examining the growing home school trend. His 2014 piece, Class Dismissed, chronicled the journey of a Los Angeles area family, disenchanted with public education’s increasing standardization, teaching to the test, insurmountable mounds of homework, and the resulting burn-out. It led them to pull their two daughters out of the El Segundo Unified School District and navigate the unknown terrain of homeschooling. The film was well-received. It screened in the U.S. and in more than 10 countries.

Here is a trailer for the first film Jeremy produced:


The rest of the article is worth reading.