The Water Cooler

September 3rd, 2010

This Week’s Topics…

Social Media
Some teens have "Facebook Fatigue," because parents are oversharing, nagging, and perhaps…
American Towns
A town in New York has the most unique welcome sign you'll probably ever see. (Yes, more…
Public Life
"Very few in public life habitually step back and think about the weakness in their own…
Modern Living
How do we find time for what really matters? Are the trade-offs we make really worth it?…
Morality
When you research morality for a living, you will probably be expected to live morally.…
Technology
FastCompany doesn't understand people who buy into Apple's clean aesthetic and then muck…
Video Games
This guy is gonna try to reach level 70 without a single kill. Wonder if the software…

Social Media

Are You a Facebook Friend with Your Kid?

by Jill Joiner

Some teens have "Facebook Fatigue," because parents are oversharing, nagging, and perhaps seeing details of their lives they don't want you to see.

Will you let them "unfriend you?"

Are you a Facebook friend of your kid? What are your thoughts on what some teens are saying?

Read this article in the L.A. Times to figure out if your kids are GOL (Grumbling Out Loud).

American Towns

A Little Modesty, Please?

by Nancy French

A town in New York has the most unique welcome sign you'll probably ever see. (Yes, more unique than my hometown's, which has a gigantic catfish hovering above the city.)

The sign requests that everyone who enters the town be modest -- more than modest, as most Americans think of modesty. The sign requests that people wear skirts to the ankle, pants, covered necklines, and no sleeves above the elbow.

Read about the sign here, which is located in a Hasidic Jewish enclave.

Public Life

Mental Courage

by Editorial Staff

"Very few in public life habitually step back and think about the weakness in their own thinking and what they should do to compensate." So declares David Brooks in this short but rambling essay. If that's at the root of our problems, what explains it?

Modern Living

Finding Time, Making Space for What Matters

by Mark Basnage

How do we find time for what really matters? Are the trade-offs we make really worth it? Rebecca Solnit wonders, "You can own those two thousand square feet including two-car garage, and it is literally real, the real in real estate. But to have this space you give up time, the time that you might be spending with the kids who are housed in the image of domestic tranquility but not actually particularly well nurtured by their absentee parents, or time spent immersed in community life or making things with your own hands or doing nothing at all—a lost art."

Morality

Hard Lessons in Morality

by Editorial Staff

When you research morality for a living, you will probably be expected to live morally. So it came as a surprise when Harvard scientist author Marc Hauser was accused of faking lab results. Is this just desserts for fad science? Or just embarrassingly poor judgement?

Technology

As Simple As The iPad

by Editorial Staff

FastCompany doesn't understand people who buy into Apple's clean aesthetic and then muck it all up by accessorizing. This little iPad stand seems to pass the same simplicity test.