crystallize!

Don't eat the marshmallow yet!

Want to know whether your four-year-old will be successful later in life? Try replicating the psych experiment outlined in this fascinating few-minute TED talk by Joachim de Posada. He presents research from Stanford showing a strong correlation between a young child’s ability to delay gratification and that same child’s academic and social performance a decade or more later. Check out the adorable footage of four-year-olds attempting to stave off (or cheat their way out of) temptation. I also enjoyed the New Yorker article discussing these results, and related studies on self-control, at greater length.

Would you have been able to resist a marshmallow for 15 minutes when you were four years old? Has your self-control gotten any weaker or stronger since then?

Battle of the gods (click for entire image)

Loved this image from my friend Doug’s daily photo blog. He documents an entire playoff prediction chart for an imaginary(?) Battle of the Gods, as sketched on a coffee shop chalkboard at the U Chicago divinity school.

(Not a new trope, I know, but how often are you prompted to speculate about the likely outcome of a showdown between Confucius and Rasputin? Or Moses and Chuck Norris?)

Firekites - "Autumn story" - chalkboard animation

Beautiful animation sequence from Australian artist Lucinda Schreiber, using the unusual medium of good old-fashioned chalkboards, and set to a meditative soundtrack.

I like this image:

“Our heads are round so that thoughts can change direction.”
—Francis Picabia, painter and poet (1879-1953)

Periodically NPR airs an inspiring little few-minute segment called This I Believe, inviting one person to read his or her own short essay on the subject. The submissions come from all kinds of people, young and old, famous and not, all over the world, and are invariably thought-provoking. (They even now have an RSS feed, if you’d like to stay tuned without a radio.)

"I believe that when I meditate I feel peaceful," says Tarak

I was captivated by a recent submission from Tarak McLain, now age 7. Last year, for the 100th day of his kindergarten class, each kid brought in 100 of something. Other kids chose cotton balls or nuts; Tarak chose beliefs. He obligingly pared his list down to 30 things to read on the air.

I believe we’re all equal. … I believe that when I meditate I feel peaceful. … I believe it’s OK to die but not to kill. … I believe we can make peace.

Admittedly, much of Tarak’s list is a little heavy on the “shoulds” (“I believe we should help the poor”), but it’s none the less charming for that. I highly recommend spending the 4+ minutes to listen to him give a mini-interview and read his beliefs.

What did you believe when you were 6? Do you still believe those things?