(no subject)

[conuly]

How neuroscientists are learning to read our minds

How a Mysterious Bacteria Almost Gave You a Better TV

Watch China’s first ever modern classroom election, held among third-graders in the city of Wuhan.

Deep Inside New York's JFK Airport, There's A High School

Meet the Man Living Inside a Boeing 727 (Video)

Silk keeps fruit fresh without refrigeration

Was gravitational wave signal from a gravastar, not black holes?

Obama to Howard University graduates: "Be confident in your blackness"

This device could turn your skin into a touchscreen

The Amateur Cloud Society That (Sort Of) Rattled the Scientific Community

When Europe Loved Islam

The Surprising True History Behind Cinco de Mayo

Global sleeping patterns revealed by app data

Math for Girls, Math for Boys

One of Russia’s biggest holidays is a WWII anniversary Americans don’t think about

In Israeli Kindergartens, An Early Lesson In The Holocaust

Giving Poor Kids Free Meals at School Should Not Be Controversial.

Just How Much Power Do Your Electronics Use When They Are ‘Off’?

Yeast infection linked to mental illness

Officials fear massive Canada wildfire could double in size

School districts are a big reason for the rise in income segregation in the U.S., study says

As the Religious Right Forces the Gospel Into Public Schools, Some Parents Are Opting to Homeschool.

In Wealthier School Districts, Students Are Farther Apart

The Mothers Who Regret Having Kids

People think that economic sanctions hurt Putin and helped undermine apartheid in South Africa. They’re wrong

India is Losing Kashmir

In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives

Kenya to close refugee camps, displacing more than 600,000

Philippines investigates Shell and Exxon over climate change

U.S.-funded Somali intelligence agency has been using kids as spies

Yazidi women fight the Islamic State (Photojournalism)

Refuge: One Syrian family’s long odyssey to Georgia

Deadly toll of ISIS uncovered in more than 50 mass graves in Iraq

Comments

[steorra]

"Refuge: One Syrian family’s long odyssey to Georgia" ... I totally expected that to be about a family ending up in the Caucasus, not in the eastern US. I was puzzled when I started reading about an American group working on resettling them in the US ...

Re: religion and homeschooling: I can't remember if I've said this before, but I have a bit of an unusual homeschooling story, in that my family was/is basically conservative Christian, but we attended a secular homeschooling group, because my parents' reasons for homeschooling were not particularly religious and we were out-of-place in the Christian homeschooling groups for that reason. (And my parents were not as concerned about "keep them separate from secular influences!" as many conservative Christians seem to be.)

[conuly]

You know, I always forget there's a country called Georgia!

we attended a secular homeschooling group, because my parents' reasons for homeschooling were not particularly religious and we were out-of-place in the Christian homeschooling groups for that reason.

This may be my prejudice, but I can't help thinking that secular groups were more likely to accept you than religious groups were to accept people without religion.

[steorra]

"You know, I always forget there's a country called Georgia!"
It's even not all that far from Syria...
I think being Eastern Orthodox gives the country of Georgia greater prominence in my mind, because it's a majority-Orthodox country. (Incidentally, since I was also just talking about religion in my upbringing, Eastern Orthodox is not what I was raised with.)

"but I can't help thinking" ...
Wouldn't surprise me.

[conuly]

It's even not all that far from Syria...

Would it surprise you to hear that my knowledge of the world map is a little wanting?

[steorra]

Yeah, actually. It seems like a kind of thing you'd know.

(I'm a bit concerned that this might sound like criticism. No criticism intended.)

[conuly]

Somehow, maps were just not something I learned as a child! Capitals - yes! Maps? Not so much. Heck, I only ever managed a unified vision of the world from India to Greece by comparing Indian food to Afghan food to Turkish food and finally to Greek food.