Everyone has heard the nightmarish stats on how much kids cost. According to the feds, a couple making between $57,000 and $98,000 a year, before taxes, will cough up $222,360 raising a child to age 17. And many moms and dads feel that childcare and kid-chauffering duties seriously limit their career opportunities.
But economist Bryan Caplan, author of the new book Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids, says there’s no persuasive reason to devote so much time and money to parenting.
“We submitted his entry because we felt his penmanship was amazing considering he completes most of his work without using his prostheses,” said Cheryl Hasenfus, Readfield Elementary School principal.
At those times, Nicholas writes by holding a pen or pencil between his upper arms.
On behalf of Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of educational materials, Hasenfus presented a trophy to Nicholas during a school assembly for his excellent penmanship. The school is in Readfield, Maine.
Inspired by his ability, Zaner-Bloser decided to create a new award category in his honor: Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellent Penmanship.
If you thought that scene in Sucker Punch where the doctor gave lobotomies with an ice pick was artistic exaggeration — well, it wasn’t. That’s exactly how Walter Freeman, a popularizer of lobotomies in the 1940s, performed thousands of operations.
In the mid-twentieth century, the lobotomy was such a popular “cure” for mental illness that Freeman’s former research partner António Egas Moniz was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his role in perfecting the operation. Moniz and Freeman had a falling out after Freeman started using an ice pick-shaped instrument to perform up to 25 lobotomies a day, without anaesthesia, while reporters looked on.
About 4.5 years ago, Autoblog Green reported on a “Stretch Batmobile” concept being developed by the Dutch that was intended to one day be used for public transportation. Now, that concept has been realized.
The Superbus is completely electric, seats 23 people and rides in a dedicated lane to get its passengers where they need to go.
Oh, and it goes 155 MPH. Designed by Dutchman Wubbo Ockels, a former astronaut and professor of aerospace sustainable engineering and technology, the realized Superbus was presented to a group of Dutch teenagers. Check it out in action in the video below.
Due to the violence depicted and discussed in this video, viewer discretion is advised.
Ohh dear! I laughed and laughed when this was first teletyped to me back in the early 70’s!
