Archive | August 12, 2010

The Dream Car

Ask most people what they want in a dream car and you’ll hear something like Ferrari or Lamborghini or Rolls Royce.  Some kids may mention monster trucks.  Here’s what I want.  I want this:

Big Gun

Mounted something like this:

Rat Patrol Jeep

With a joystick mounted close so I can aim and fire it.  No more traffic jams for me…  And for my redneck buddies out there who think this gun might not be big enough, take a look at the page where I found it: http://www.orsm.net/text/a10-thunderbolt.php.  Scroll to the bottom for an idea of how big it is.

E.W.

Oh and I think I need eye and ear protection.

The AC360 1940’s Doll Test Revisited

Earlier this year, AC360°, with the help of a seasoned team of researchers, conducted a pilot study based on the 1940’s doll test. In this pilot study, more than 130 kids were asked a series of questions about five cartoon dolls with varying skin tones. Half of the children were African-American and half were white, half were in the north and half in the south. [More @ AC360]

I was concerned when I asked my 7 year old son the same question and gave the same answer as the children in the AC360 test. The darkest child is the bad child. This perception isn’t something he gets from us at home. So where did he get it from? When I asked him why, he first said he didn’t know. It wasn’t until he looked at the picture and associated the “color” with a “person” that he said “Because he’s African-American”. It was that delay in his searching for a reason that caused me to realize it’s the test that implies racism and not anything he’s gotten from home, school or even the media. It was the test itself.

race.gif

The method of these tests are flawed for a number of reasons. Continue reading