Saturday, February 20, 2010

Snow Sledding Conditions in Prospect Park Brooklyn, NY

Just created this map based on sledding conditions I observed on a long walk with the family last Monday midday from home to Wolman Rink in the Park.

The best runs for daredevil sliding in the park were Hill Drive Staircase and Death's Doorway. Both are actually long stone staircases where ice and show have been packed into each step to create a smoothish chute worthy of a Vancouver Olympic luge run. Be careful on these - dads shouldn't bring kids here but go on your own off hours.

Feel free to edit and add to this map for updated conditions - it's set for open collaboration.

Snow Conditions for Sledding in Prospect Park on Google Maps

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

NYTimes: As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividends

Two new studies found that girls' involvement in team sports can mean
lifelong improvements in educational, work and health prospects.

The study showed that increasing girls' sports participation had a
direct effect on women's education and employment. It found that the
changes set in motion by Title IX explained about 20 percent of the
increase in women's education and about 40 percent of the rise in
employment for 25-to-34-year-old women.

http://s.nyt.com/u/Bl_

Probably worth signing up for that gym class after all!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Wanted: Volunteers, All Pregnant

100,000 pregnant moms wanted for a 21-year study of kids. The world's largest long-term study of the health of children aims to track 100,000 babies until they turn 21.

http://s.nyt.com/u/BGY

Chalk one up for the scientists, who for months have been dispatching door-to-door emissaries across the country to recruit women for an unprecedented undertaking: the largest, most comprehensive long-term study of the health of children, beginning even before they are born.

Authorized by Congress in 2000, the National Children's Study began last January, its projected cost swelling to about $6.7 billion. With several hundred participants so far, it aims to enroll 100,000 pregnant women in 105 counties, then monitor their babies until they turn 21.

It will examine how environment, genes and other factors affect children's health, tackling questions subject to heated debate and misinformation. Does pesticide exposure, for example, cause asthma? Do particular diets or genetic mutations lead to autism?

So much of this will be a waste of time, while a couple of nuggets of insight will pay for everything else.


Monday, February 15, 2010

Spotted at AMNH: Racoon on Lawn!

Taken three weeks ago around the last weekend in January (no snow on the ground yet!), this picture shows the grounds Racoon who lives and roams on the few acres of lawn around the American Museum of Natural History. She or he doesn't look rabid at all, but is surprisingly day-turnal.
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