SquirrelNet

South Georgia Island has one million penguins

In honor of cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere, here is a treat from South Georgia Island in the Southern Hemisphere.  The sea near there stays cold all year, which is perfect for penguins.  The island is home to one million penguins.  The following picture shows about 120,000 of the penguin (click to enlarge).

And here's the island on a Google Map:

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Scientific American: Tell kids their brains can get smarter over time

Scientific American tells us that the secret to developing smart kids is to teach kids that their mind can get smarter over time.  They say this has more impact than a strict focus on intelligence.

Teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life.

Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine.

One practical example.  For those of you with a Nintendo Wii, you may have struggled at first playing new games.  However, after a few games of practice, it's easy to get better.  This is because the brain is getting more efficient at Wii-thinking, essentially creating shortcuts.  It's these shortcuts that make us smarter.  This is proof that people can get smarter and that our brains can continue to become more productive.

Best 5 Articles of 2007 from GreenExpander.com

Here are the best 5 articles from GreenExpander.com during the year 2007.  I really like this site - nice photos and concise articles  BTW, here are their top posts:

5. Best Animal Photos
4. The World’s Rarest Cats
3. 20 New Species from The Lost World
2. 10 Animals Saved from Extinction
1. The 10 Rarest Animals in The World, the most successful story

The basics of school-age child development

I cannot take credit for this content but want to share it because it is the most relevant result in a Google search for "what teachers want". The article was written by Karen Levine and the full title is What Teachers Want Your Child to Know: The social and emotional development milestones teachers expect of children.  For explanations of what each element is, refer to the article:

Kindergarten: Getting in Step

• Emerging independence
• Learning to be part of a group
• Staying on task

 First Grade: More Serious Stuff

• Stronger task focus
• Responding to authority
• Seeing their place in the world

 Second Grade: Learning to Think

• Becoming more abstract and conceptual
• Problem solving

 Third and Fourth Grade: Good Work

• Academic polish
• Planning ahead
• Cultivating camaraderie

 Fifth and Sixth Grade: Peer Power

• Peer pressure
• Changeable moods
• Study skills
• Being organized

Gen Y Teachers are Idealists

Here are two reports that say that Generation Y ("Twenty-somethings") is having issues in the workforce.  First, Education Week reports that Generation Y teachers want to innovate but feel held back by "the system".  A second report out of CareerBuilder.com says that Generation Y employees are unhappy in the workplace and basically want a lot more than they are getting.

Why is this?  Generation Y grew up in an era of prosperity.  Most were in high school during the "dot com" boom and were led into thinking each of them would grow up to be millionaires.  Now this generation has become the Facebook generation and they are a driving force in social networks.

But they are not alone, nearly every generation wanted more than they could possible expect.  Possible exceptions are those who became adults during a recession - like Generation X'ers like me.  I remember there being few jobs and buying a car at a 12% interest rate.  Yikes!

Merry Christmas from SquirrelNet!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from SquirrelNet.  Let's strive for peace on earth and be kind to our friends around the world.

Cuteness Alert - Baby Animals and Their Moms

GreenExpander.com is site that is great for kids.  It has nice articles about animals and things like that - and doesn't take the negative, depressing spin that the environmentally-friendly sites take.

Here's the latest from them today, "Animal Photo Set #8:  Moms & Babies".  Warning, cuteness alert!  Here's a little teaser featuring our rodent friend baby rabbit and rabbit mom.

Who wrote the Christmas songs from all those Christmas TV shows?

A few days ago I wrote how the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer story came into being 116 years after story about Santa's 8 other reindeer.  Interestingly, while the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer story was created in 1939, the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer song didn't come into existence until 1949.  The Rudolph song was written by Johnny Marks, the brother-in-law of Robert L. May.  (Did you know that Johnny Marks was Jewish?)

In fact, Johnny Marks pretty much dominated the Christmas song marketplace from 1949 to 1969 with these hits:

• Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - 1949
• When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter – 1952
• The Night Before Christmas Song – 1952
• An Old-Fashioned Christmas – 1952
• Everyone's a Child at Christmas – 1956
• I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day - 1956 (an adaptation of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem)
• Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree -1958
• A Merry, Merry Christmas to You – 1959
• The Santa Clause Parade – 1959
• A Holly Jolly Christmas - 1962
• Jingle, Jingle, Jingle – 1964
• The Most Wonderful Day of the Year – 1964
• Silver and Gold – 1964
• We Are Santa's Elves – 1964
• A'Caroling We Go – 1966
• Joyous Christmas – 1969

The picture is taken from Christmas Carols and Songs and shows Burl Ives on the left and Johnny Marks on the right.

What were the original names of Santa's 8 reindeer? Dunder? Blixem?

As a follow-up to "How Old is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? What age is Rudolph?", we now ask "What were the original names of Santa's 8 reindeer?

• These reindeer retain their original names:  Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet and Cupid
• Donner was originally called Dunder
• Blitzen was originally called Blixem

Dunder and Blixem are cool names indeed.  And it's Dunder as in Dunder Mifflin, the fictitious company from The Office.  Blixem sounds like a website.  In fact, there are many Blixem websites.  Google's favorite is Blixem.co.za, a video production company in Johannesburg, South Africa.

How Old is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? What age is Rudolph?

I was just thinking - how old is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?  I understand that he was an add-on to Santa's reindeer crew, but was he there the first time the story was told --- or was he truly an add-on to the story itself?

Answer:  Rudolph is about 116 years younger than the other 8 reindeer.

• Santa's 8 reindeer had their official debut in an 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was introduced in 1939 as part of a holiday advertising program for Montgomery Ward and was written by Robert L. May

So as of 2007, Rudolph has been a part of the Santa story for 68 years.

(For more Christmas fun, look up our review of NorthPole.com.)