J2 Content – Perspectives

A varied collection of thoughts on education and parenting

The X Factor

Before The X Factor started, there was a lot of talk about how it’s too similar to American Idol. Early reviews compared Simon, Paula and LA Reid to the old days of Simon, Paula, and Randy Jackson and asked why they should watch. Well, the show premiered last month and it turns out those early…. read more

Futurama, the Mathiest Cartoon on TV

If you listened to episode 262 of the Paul Goebel Show, produced by Perspectives contributor Paul Goebel, you heard Paul, Tom, Jim, and special guest Paul Jay discussing Futurama and what a smart show it is. Paul referenced the special features on the Bender’s Game DVD, and the guys talked about a number of math-specific…. read more

Strange Disney Educational Films

The folks over at io9.com have compiled a list of six weird educational cartoons  produced by Walt Disney studios. The topics include menstruation, malaria, smoking, drug abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases. Most Perspectives readers will have seen “Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land” before, but the other 5 may be new to you. Now, as un-Disney…. read more

Switched at Birth

I’m not a huge fan of the original programming on ABC Family, in fact I was upset when Fox sold them because they had just started showing remastered episodes of Hawaii 5-0. But since I’m not really the audience for most of their shows, this is not a big deal. However, since I started writing…. read more

1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1×0 =?

One of the Facebook Questions currently going viral is this one. 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1×0 =? As of noon PST on Tuesday June 14, the correct answer was NOt the most popular answer. 781,143 people believe the expression is equal to 0. [These people are forgetting their order of operations. The 0 is multiplied by the final 1…. read more

Following Up on the June 1 Post

On June 1, Today, Sea Shephard shared this video interview. Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Whether you agree or disagree with Sea Shephard’s efforts and methods, we felt it was important to share this because it seems to lend some credence to Parent X’s concerns. What are your feelings about letting the internet create…. read more

Free MC Escher Font

Via the (safe and) highly regarded PC World Magazine’s website, you can download this Escher font: Download the font and get more information by clicking here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/225236/forge_your_own_path_with_delightfully_twisted_hommage_a_escher_font.html

A Most unScientific Study: Childproof Caps

An informal survey of 6 children children ages 4 through 13 seemed to support the old comedy bit about childproof medicine bottle caps being anything but childproof. 4 of the 6 children, including the youngest, had no problem opening a childproof pill bottle. All 6 of the children were familiar with the push-before-turning mechanism, but…. read more

Lemonade Game

As an honors elementary school student in the 70s, I had the privilege of being allowed to use the school’s TRS-80 and Apple II computers. I moved the turtle around in Logo, played Zork, and was allowed to play the Lemonade Game. The Lemonade Game was a very, very early precursor to the Sim City-style…. read more

Adopt an Elephant

I was talking to another mom the other day who was in the midst of planning her son’s birthday party. She asked me if I knew where she could get party supplies with an elephant theme. “Elephant theme?” I asked. “Why elephants?” She explained that instead of the party guests bringing her son gifts, they…. read more

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