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More Dads Buy the Toys, So Barbie, and Stores, Get Makeovers
The New York Times: Barbies are for girls and construction sets are for boys. Or are they? For the first time in Barbie’s more than 50-year history, Mattel is introducing a Barbie construction set that underscores a huge shift in the marketplace. Fathers are doing more of the family shopping just as girls are being encouraged more than ever by hypervigilant parents to play with toys (as boys already do) that develop math and science skills early on. It’s a combination that not only has Barbie building luxury mansions — they are pink, of course — but Lego promoting a line of pastel construction toys called Friends that is an early Christmas season hit.
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Ekel macht scharfsichtig (Disgust makes us perceptive)
ORF Austria: Bestimmte Gerüche, der Anblick menschlicher Ausscheidungen oder von verdorbenen Speisen rufen bei Menschen Ekel hervor, was bis zu Brechreiz und Übelkeit führen kann. Der starke körperliche Widerwillen ist aus evolutionärer Sicht sinnvoll. Er schützt uns vor Krankheiten und Vergiftungen. Laut den Forschern um Gary Sherman von der Harvard University ist dieser Schutzmechanismus vermutlich mit ein Grund dafür, dass wir schmutzige Dinge generell nicht so gern mögen. Deswegen hätten wir es lieber hell und sauber, in bestimmten Bereichen am liebsten Weiß, bspw. in Badezimmern oder Operationssälen. Die Gleichsetzung von Helligkeit und Reinheit ist Sherman zufolge kulturübergreifend.
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The Santa Lie
Slate: We raise our kids to be truthful. We teach them about the laws of physics. And then we tell them that nine flying reindeer pull an immortal fat man and his sleigh through the sky so that he can deliver gifts to millions of kids around the world one night a year. Is it bad that we lie to our kids about Santa? Though lying can be an awfully convenient parenting crutch—Sorry, sweetheart, but the police might arrest you if I let you have more candy so we better not—it’s generally best to keep it to a minimum, both to develop trust between yourself and your child and to lead by example. Except in December. Because guess what?
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Holograms are here, from Tupac to Marilyn Monroe. Will you be next?
The Washington Post: In 2007,a television ad featured a delighted Orville Redenbacher plugged into a new digital music player and proclaiming his popcorn to be as light and fluffy as the miniature device in his hand. The only trouble: At the time of the ad, Redenbacher had been dead for a decade, long before the iPod’s 2001 debut. This past April, at the Coachella music festival in California, thousands cheered as a hologram of Tupac Shakur, who was shot dead in 1996, showed off dance moves and rap lyrics that created the impression of an entirely new performance. Virtual Tupac appeared side by side with a very live Snoop Dogg. ...
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Residential Mobility Changes the Way You Make Friends
The Atlantic: Americans move a lot. That's been the case historically, going back to the early expansion westward, and it remains the case in modern times. Fifty years ago the one-year mobility rate for Americans was more than 20 percent — twice that of the British, and nearly three times that of the Japanese. The trend may be declining, but recent census figures still suggest that at least two in five Americans move within a five-year period. What effect this movement has on social behavior is an ongoing question for University of Virginia psychologist Shigehiro Oishi.
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New Love: A Short Shelf Life
The New York Times: In fairy tales, marriages last happily ever after. Science, however, tells us that wedded bliss has but a limited shelf life. American and European researchers tracked 1,761 people who got married and stayed married over the course of 15 years. The findings were clear: newlyweds enjoy a big happiness boost that lasts, on average, for just two years. Then the special joy wears off and they are back where they started, at least in terms of happiness. The findings, from a 2003 study, have been confirmed by several recent studies.
