Interesting Links for 25-02-2020

[andrewducker]

Protecting travellers who miss flights because of airport security delays

(tags:security flights uk libdem )

The Scottish Gritter lorries have some excellent names.

(tags:snow transport scotland maps names )

Solar pv costs are dipping below wholesale electricity prices in more and more countries.

(tags:electricity UK solarpower viaDanielDWilliam )

'Hidden Figures' Mathematician Katherine Johnson Dies

(tags:obituary NASA mathematics race history women )

The "marshmallow test" said patience was a key to success. A new replication tells us it's really not

(tags:self-control research history fail )

Why crossing the academic picket line is never a kindness

(tags:academia unions )

How to Buy a Camel (with delightful pictures)

(tags:camels advice ViaDrCross )

Comments

[dewline]

1. This situation is definitely not good.

3. Thanks for pointing out this blog to me! It's now bookmarked for future reference!

4. Humanity owes her and her colleagues so much...

Camels

[agoodwinsmith]

First: I did not know that horses and camels are not sympatico. That's interesting.

Second: I would really like that to be a book, so that a parent can check it out and read it with their child.

Re: Camels

[darkoshi]

I also didn't know that about horses and camels. From what I looked up, it may not be particularly true. It sounds like horses spook easily and therefore might be afraid of camels (as well as many other things) if they've never been around them before, but if introduced and familiarized in the right way, they can get along.

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/zoology/horses-fear-camels-24167.html
https://www.quora.com/Do-camels-scare-horses?share=1
https://www.horsenation.com/2013/12/11/how-to-handle-the-spook/

From searching YouTube for "horse and camels", there are certainly some horses and camels that aren't very nice to each other.

I was also surprised that camels need 5oz of salt every day! I'll be making a short post of my own about that.

[armiphlage]

"If a kid is led to mistrust the experimenter, they’ll grab the treat earlier." - I always suspected that the marshmallow test was measuring whether or not the kid could trust their environment. If someone else might walk by and eat the marshmallow, or if it could go bad, or the researcher could go bankrupt or get robbed of their marshmallow supply before handing over the second one, it makes sense to eat it immediately.

It's simple economics. In a stable environment, a bank will wait to have $2 million next year rather than $1 million today. In a high-risk, unstable environment, a bank will foreclose on houses to eat their marshmallow today.

Marshmallow tests and educational interventions

[anna_wing]

Societal context matters too. In general, the political and socio-economic outcomes that a society gets will always reveal its real, as opposed to its claimed, priorities (just as your body will always eventually reveal whether your calorie intake exceeds your calorie output).

Countries get better education results (in the sense of more people, educated for longer, in things that help them keep earning a decent living as adults) if the society actually actively values education. Thinks education is a good thing, that everyone should have as much of it as they can, rewards people for having it. Then the government puts effort, attention and resources into it, and makes getting good outcomes a real national priority, and at the same time parents and children do too.

I'd be interested in seeing how a version of the marshmallow test (with appropriate localisation of the food on offer) does in different countries round the world.

Re: Marshmallow tests and educational interventions

[channelpenguin]

One Word: Finland

Re: Marshmallow tests and educational interventions

[channelpenguin]

Context for the changes in Finland - I have a Finnish friend whose mother was a hunter-gatherer ...

[darkoshi]

I had to look up what a "gritter" was, but those truly are some quite excellent names!

Snowbegone Kenobi! :DDD