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In short: we are being brainwashed with fear and it makes us worry that everything we do as parents may be putting our kids in danger. That’s why we judge other parents so harshly, and why we keep our kids cloistered like Rapunzel. Don’t get me wrong. As founder of the Free-Range Kids movement—a group of people who believe in giving kids more freedom and responsibility—my philosophy is not to throw kids out of the car (sorely tempting though that may be at times). But Free-Range parents do believe that kids are more capable and competent than we give them credit for. And that, after teaching them basic safety, they need some freedom to develop as smart, happy, responsible humans. Not crazy freedom. Just the kind of freedom we had, back when parenting decisions were not the stuff of national news.

from: Time to Stop Judging Other Mothers and Ourselves by the author of Free Range Kids

As far as I’m concerned the only people who get to judge my parenting are my parents… and my kids, when they are 18.

Welcome to my new feature. Picture of the Day. I will guarantee right now that I won’t update every day. But I’ll do my best. I guarantee it.

. . . raising children in the United States now isn’t more dangerous than it was when today’s generation of parents were young. And back then, it was reasonably safe, too. So why does shooing the kids outside and telling them to have fun and be home by dark seem irresponsible to so many middle-class parents today?

from Stop worrying about your children!

It seems to me that parents these days are worried about things they shouldn’t be, and not worried enough about the things they should.

I remember growing up with basically a home range. This amounted to the distance I could cover on my bike and still be home by dark. As I remember it, I would regularly bike to my baseball games, bike and walk to school, bike to friends houses, the mall, the library, etc. Granted we lived in the suburbs, but still. That was a lot of busy roads and what amounted to basically a 10 square mile area.

Up a bit earlier than normal this morning… here’s a collection of stuff I was reading…

Eurostar, the high-speed rail link between Paris, London and Brussels, said last week it was raising its target to cut emissions because it had already reached its original goals — three years early.

Seems to me that its time to end the moratorium on new nuclear plants. From: French Nuclear Power Cleans Up Eurostar

More on the environment:

The worst case scenario, ES&T found, would be irrigated sorghum grown in Nebraska and turned into ethanol. This would use up to 115 gallons per mile. Corn grown there would require 50 gallons of water per mile. Say good-bye to “food vs. fuel,” say hello to “Drink or drive.”

Ethanol from corn is an environmental disaster. Obama’s administration should stop the madness when it comes to subsidies for corn ethanol. From: The Water Cost of Corn-Based Ethanol

The new Wolfram Alpha “fact engine” looks like it will be pretty amazing. Here’s a series of screenshots showing examples of different types of searches.

Our friend (and Emilia’s godmother) Diane is working on a photo-a-day project. I’ve wanted to start doing this, since there are times where I’ll go weeks without taking any pictures. One of my disappointments from our recent trip to Seattle was that I didn’t take more pictures. I did grab this picture, which I’m quite fond of: