Joe Mills

Cadbury Gorilla

If you have never seen the Cadbury Gorilla commerical, you need to now…

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Children at Play

I recently read a book called Children at Play by Howard Chudacoff that was really eye-opening. It sort of spoke to something I think we all already know, but are afraid to admit. And, since I’m a former toy designer, goes against everything I did for three years of my life. Here is the write up from Amazon:

Throughout American history, argues Brown University historian Chudacoff (The Age of the Bachelor), parents have sought to control their children’s games and toys, but kids have been determined to set the terms of their play. In the colonial era, children typically played with improvised toys, and parents tried to prevent play from degenerating into idleness, insisting that games must serve God or family. In the 19th century, consumer culture intersected with a new conception of childhood as a distinct, adorable life stage to be cherished, while children increasingly played with toys that brought them into contact with the market. By the 20th century, adults, influenced in part by the new field of child psychology, focused on educational toys and directed kids off the streets and into playgrounds, where they could be carefully supervised. The tension between parental prerogatives and children’s autonomy manifests itself still, says Chudacoff: parents try to keep children indoors for fear of dangers lurking outside, but children take new kinds of risks playing in cyberspace. While a bit dry and broad, Chudacoff’s work gives historical depth to debates that continue to rage over what constitutes appropriate child’s play.

I had just finished this book before going on a trip to visit family. The family included a 11, 8, and 5 year old, so I sort of had a chance to actually see what Chudacoff was talking about. While the kids played with their toys like any “normal” child would, they seemed to be most interested in coming up with their own games or using their toys as they saw fit. It got me to thinking about what I was most interested in as a kid…searching through houses being built in my neighborhood, coming up with sports games with my brother, exploring the woods in Tennessee…these were the great memories of my childhood. And while I certainly enjoyed my toys and played with them, I always made up things to do with them as well. I was big into G.I. Joe, but I think my favorite part was taking the vehicles apart and then putting them back together. In this day and age where parents feel the need to buy everything for their chiild, this certainly gives me pause. And while I’m not that big into education books, I think this speaks volumes about some of the failings of our won education system in and out of the classroom.

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Retro Gaming

Image courtesy of Fubiz

I’m not exactly sure where these came from, (they were on a site called Fubiz), but I think these are great. They are a little unpolished, but the combination of video games and real photographs is excellent. It does not bother me that they could have been taken a step further because they are just fun-looking illustrations. Check them out…

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Android

Something I’ve been looking forward to…in case you were unaware, cell phones are painfully behind the times. With all of the propietary programs that go into each phone, cell phones are locked into whatever your provider will allow you to have. While open source programs are all over the Internet, cell phones are not capable pf handling other programs. Enter Android. Not surprisingly, Google is behind Android. Here’s the explanation from Wikipedia:

Android is a software platform and operating system for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance.^[1] It allows developers to write managed code in a Java-like language that utilizes Google-developed Java libraries,^[2] but does not support programs developed in native code.

I’m looking froward to getting a phone that handles Android, but from what I understand, the big carriers, Verizon amd AT&T, are not going to have a phone that will support Android. It is too bad. It is too bad that many major companies (in general) want to hold on so closely to their own stuff, that the words “open source” must send them into a frenetic barrage of “No’s”. This must be the reason we need a different cord to charge every electronic device we have. Regardless, I still think Android is a step in the right direction, and maybe the major carriers will change their mind…

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