Hasta La Gadget!

It seems that Google is doing some spring cleaning at the moment, clearing out their “cupboard” of apps that they deem are surplus to the requirements. We did bring you word on how Google will no longer make Quickoffice available on the App Store and Google Play, and here we are with word that Google will be asking Orkut to call it a day, despite the fact that this social networking product is the first of its kind from Google, and remains hugely popular in two heavily populated countries, Brazil and India.

Being ruthless does seem to be an ideal worth striving and achieving in the world of technology as and when required, since sentiment might actually hold back innovation. What hurts, however, is the timing of it – with Google making this announcement right smack in the middle of the World Cup that is being held in the spiritual home of football (or soccer, depending on which continent you live on), that is, Brazil.

Google informed users of the Orkut network that “YouTube, Blogger and Google+” had “outpaced Orkut’s growth”, and this September 30th will be the last day that Orkut will be in operation. Google shared on their blog, “Until then, there will be no impact on current Orkut users, to give the community time to manage the transition. People can export their profile data, community posts and photos using Google Takeout (available until September 2016). Starting today, it will not be possible to create a new Orkut account.”

Orkut Bites The Dust This September 30 , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

It’s fairly common knowledge that the Dutch are some of the tallest people in the world. Whereas the average American man measures in at about 5’9″ (176 cm), the average Dutch man stands at well over 6′ (185 cm) tall. What is it about this small, traditionally seafaring nation that breeds such extraordinarily tall people? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not to keep their heads above water.

To provide a historical perspective, I charted the median male height for various countries between 1820 and 2013 below. It was surprisingly difficult to find this kind of height data, but fortunately many of these country’s militaries meticulously recorded the median height of their new conscripts every year. These records provide a convenient (albeit somewhat biased) sample of the young generation of men during the time period.

The raw data for this chart is available on figshare here. You’ll notice that there’s several holes in the data set, which I simply extrapolated the trends over. I compiled this data set from half a dozen different sources, so if you plan to use this data set for any of your research, I strongly suggest double-checking the sources I list there.

The most surprising revelation here is that the Dutch became the tallest Europeans only recently in the 1980s. Before then, they were one of the shortest people in Europe at only 5’5″ (165 cm) for first half of the 19th century. What changed after 1850 that led to this explosive Dutch growth? Prof. Drukker at the University of Groningen suggests that it has a lot to do with the distribution of wealth. As Cecily Layzell writes:

The Dutch growth spurt of the mid-19th century coincided with the establishment of the first liberal democracy. Before this time, [The Netherlands] had grown rich off its colonies but the wealth had stayed in the hands of the elite. After this time, the wealth began to trickle down to all levels of society, the average income went up and so did the height.

This explanation makes intuitive sense: It’s well-known that we’re much taller than our ancestors 100 years ago because of improved nutrition, especially in our adolescent years. If the average citizen has more money to buy healthy food, then we would expect their children to grow bigger, stronger, and taller. To add more evidence to the pile: GapMinder clearly shows that the Dutch income per capita stagnated until the mid-late 19th century, right when the Dutch median height started rising as well.

So, there we have it. Make sure all of our citizens are wealthy enough to buy healthy food and their children will grow up to be bigger, stronger, and healthier. It’s not as fun an answer as we would’ve hoped for, but at least we can put this “head above water” theory to rest!

Note: Several of my readers have rightly pointed out that although this data explains why many Europeans have grown taller in the past 150 years, it doesn’t necessarily explain why the Dutch are so much taller than the rest of Europe. There are a couple possibilities that merit further investigation:

• The Dutch diet: The average Dutch citizen eats a lot of breads, meats, cheese, and drinks a lot of milk — more so than many of their European counterparts.
• The Dutch genes: It’s fairly well-known that pre-civilization humans were much taller than their civilized counterparts. It’s possible that the Dutch ancestors from thousands of years ago were always taller, but Dutch diet and nutrition limited how large they grew. That still leaves open the question of why the Dutch ancestors were taller than the rest, however.

Randy Olson is a computer science research assistant at Michigan State University specializing in artificial intelligence, artificial life, and evolutionary computation. Follow his blog at www.randalolson.com, where this post first appeared.

I’ve dreamed of you my entire life. I wished for you. In fact, every wish I’ve made for the past seven years has been for you, my child. I wished when the clocks said eleven eleven, when the first star appeared, when an eyelash fell to my face, on birthday candles, shooting stars, wishbones from the turkey, every coin into a fountain and even silent prayer.

I wished to tell my husband, your father, we had created you — that we had finally done what seems so easy for others. I wished to feel your feet kicking in my belly. I wished to watch my body change, to watch others watch my body change. I wished to tell grandparents you were on your way. I wished to change our office into your nursery. It would have been circus themed.

I wished for spit up and sleepless nights. I wished for the noises you would make in the room next to ours. I wished for first teeth, first words, first steps and the other firsts along the way. I wished to see your father’s dimples on your smiling face. I wished to make your meals, to feed your body and your soul. I wished to teach you to cook, to dance and to sing loudly in the car. I wished to read you books, tell you stories and teach you how to draw. I wished to walk you to school, ride bikes together and cry with you when you got your heart broken for the first time. I wished to see my husband become the amazing father I know he would be. I wished to watch him with you, to see him reflected in you. I wished to see you grow, to see you become you. I wished for all the good, the bad and the ugly that comes with becoming a parent. It all would have been worth it, for you.

I need to stop wishing for you though; wishing for you almost broke me. Wishing for you hurts too much. Each wish is silently followed by “why?” Why does my body fail me? Why me? Why us? Wishing for you makes me feel I have failed as a woman, as a partner to my husband and as a daughter.

We tried everything available to help find you. I was uncomfortably poked and prodded. Endless procedures and pills were administered. I documented every day, every change, every opportunity for you to come along. I wonder, was it enough? Am I enough?

I know now, I can no longer wish for you. I need to say goodbye to you, my child. I need to make new wishes.

I wish to have to have more good days than bad. I wish to feel complete as a woman, in body and soul. I wish to reignite friendships and to start new ones. I wish to stop feeling I have failed as a wife, woman and daughter. I wish to stop burdening my husband with my overwhelming sadness over losing you, over and over. I wish to stand on my own two feet again. I wish to buy gifts for the special children who are in our life with only joy rather than guilt and sadness. I wish to attend a baby shower for dear friends and family without spending an hour parked on the side of the road on the way home in tears. I wish to feel less like an outsider with my girlfriends.

I wish for friends and family to see the difference between selfish and self-preservation in my actions.

I wish to live in a world where those without children aren’t seen as less than, selfish or odd. I wish people would stop asking, “Do you have kids?” as one of their first questions when meeting. I wish if they did ask this question I would be able to answer it without feeling like I was punched in the heart. I wish marketers would recognize all women and not just moms. I wish to feel complete for simply being me.

I wish to embrace all the possibilities of life without you. I can use your closet for more shoes. I can retire earlier, I can sleep in every weekend and I can have furniture with sharp corners. I can write the books I have always wanted to write. I can support my friends with children in their times of need in ways only a person without the responsibility of their own children can. I can do and be many things without you. I wish I knew this when I wished for you.

I wish for no one to go through what we’ve gone through. But knowing sadly, they will, I wish them to know the light at the end of the tunnel may not be what you thought it was going to be, but it is a light nonetheless.

Although my wishes are different now, you will always be in my heart. I will see you in my dreams and in the faces of the children around me. You are impossible to forget my child. The wishing and years of searching for you have changed me forever. Your imprint on my life by absence is fundamental, but I must stop wishing for you and begin wishing for myself. Goodbye, my child. I love you.

Hollywood actress Amanda Peet will soon add children’s book author to her resume. She is writing a book from her own experiences growing up Jewish in mainstream America. She wants her own two children to be able to see themselves in books.

Like Peet’s children, every child deserves and needs the mirror experience in literature. But that is not possible unless our libraries, schools, and homes contain diverse books, books that allow all readers to see their lived experiences, their cultural traditions, and their language worthy of being in print. Many authors see the need to diversify literature and started a social media campaign, #WeNeedDiverseBooks.

We really do need diverse books for reasons that far extend literacy.

The benefits of shared reading from as early as infancy are well documented. Research on early brain development shows that the biggest gains in the number of connections in the brain are generated during the first three years of life, and these connections are dependent on the amount and types of stimulations infants and toddlers experience. These experiences include every type of sensory stimulation babies experience, including hearing their native language through conversations, being read to, and holding books and turning their pages.

Zero to Three, a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing parents, policymakers, and early childhood educators with knowledge necessary to nurture early child development, advocates not only the importance of reading to young children, but the importance of the shared positive interactions that occur when caregivers read to them.

These shared positive interactions help foster a secure attachment relationship between parents and children, and research shows the importance of these high quality parent-child relationships to both the developing brain and later academic and social outcomes.

Children who have high quality relationships with their parents show greater social competence and academic achievement than peers with lower quality parent-child relationships. The benefits of shared reading provide children with both cognitive and emotional literacy.

But it’s not as easy for some mothers to read to their children as it is for most of us.

Not all families have access to books in their language.

Not all children have mirrors, books that reflect themselves and their families.

When the only books children can access are in a language their parents do not speak, they miss out on the benefits of shared reading. When they only see other people in books — other cultures, traditions, and languages — we tell them their culture is not important or their language is not worthy of being in print.

Year after year of this can be devastating on a child’s relationship with family members, self-esteem, and desire to engage in school, literacy abilities, and academic progress. While children are resilient, many turn away from their families and cultural life, and others turn off the school that ignores their culture. Some do both.

Perhaps some of us have never noticed the lack of diverse books around us. That might be because we’ve never lacked a book in English, about families that look like us, celebrating Christmas, and driving to their family vacation at the beach. We’ve always had plenty of mirrors.

It is not just children from diverse families who benefit from diversifying our libraries. All of our children benefit. Literature should not only provide a mirror of our own experiences, but also a window into others’ lives. We can begin to teach appreciation for differences to young children by reading books about diverse people and cultures.

Libraries and educators need to ensure that every family in their area knows the value of shared reading. They need to make sure literacy is an activity that embraces every language and culture, and does not just promote one. There should be no obstacles to shared reading for any family. That is why we need more diverse literature in our public and school libraries.

Amanda Peet is one actress turned author that is part of the needed change-not just for her children, but for all children.

President Obama’s address at the League of Conservation Voters’ annual Capital Dinner was a major milestone for our organization. But his speech was bigger than that. It was a symbol that the environmental community has emerged as a truly effective and significant force in the political process.

As The New York Times recently noted, “major organizations like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council have strengthened their political operations and grass-roots networks, and they have raised and spent more money than ever before.” Together, we’re changing the politics of climate change and energy and putting the deniers on defense.

The entire environmental community has seen some amazing wins in recent years despite oil and coal-backed groups pouring unprecedented resources into key races to try to defeat our allies and elect more climate change deniers. In 2012, the Koch Brothers alone pledged to spend $200 million to try and wipe environmental allies off the map. But together, we fought back and won big.

LCV and our affiliated political committees alone spent nearly $14 million in 2012, including $10 million against our Dirty Dozen candidates. For the first time, we targeted members of the House of Representatives for defeat explicitly because they denied scientific consensus on climate change through our Flat Earth Five Program.

Environmental groups didn’t outspend polluters, but we had the resources to fight their attacks like never before. And a funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box: Our message beat their money. Environmentalists saw big wins up and down the ballot, reelecting allies and sending new champions to Congress.

LCV had our most successful election cycle ever, defeating 11 of our 12 Dirty Dozen targets and 4 out of 5 of our Flat Earth Five targets. An astounding 83 percent of our electoral resources were spent in winning races, while by comparison, just 7 percent of the resources spent by Karl Rove’s groups and the Chamber of Commerce resulted in victories. We built on that success in 2013, helping send the biggest climate change champion in the House, Ed Markey, to the United States Senate and working with our state league partners in Virginia to defeat one of the biggest climate change deniers in the country, Ken Cuccinelli, and elect Terry McAuliffe Governor.

We’re on track to break those records in 2014 and spend more than ever before on elections, with LCV Action Fund on track to raise and contribute more to environmental champions this cycle than we ever have. Through our efforts and the work of many others in the environmental community, we’re sending a strong message that the politics of climate change and energy are shifting.

So while President Obama spoke at LCV’s annual dinner, his speech was a win for entire environmental community. The president said it best:

“Together, we are making progress… We’ve got to keep making sure that your voices are heard in Congress, in state capitals, in city halls. Because that’s the only way we’re going to build the kind of future that we want — cleaner, more prosperous, more good jobs; a future where we can look our kids in the eye and tell them we did our part, we served you well, we were good stewards, we’re passing this on.”