Amazon Kindle Fire - Perfect for Kids?

Amazon Kindle Fire - Perfect for Kids?

Last Christmas I was reluctant to purchase an Apple iTouch for my kids (then 5 and 7) because of the size and cost. We choose the Nintendo DS. Of course, the DS is a little a larger and with Nerf Armor a little less breakable. 10 months later we have added the cost of >$100 of software to each, + Nerf armor $20.00, plus a six pack of stylus - easily exceeding the price of the iTouch. Just FYI, the armor lasted about 8 months which was just long enough for the kids to understand that the DS is breakable. 

I've had the Apple iTouch in my Amazon Wish List for several weeks - preparing for Christmas. In fact, I have all ready purchased a couple of  iTouch protective cases that went on sale.


But the Amazon Kindle Fire at $200 adds a new factor to the decision. First, the size is more appropriate for the kids. Second, Amazon has plenty of free content (we have a Prime Subscription). Finally, the kids have shown a good deal of discipline when borrowing my Thrive. 


So here is the question: What would you buy for your kids?


Tot1

Krugman Points out Economists’ Failure

Krugman Points out Economists’ Failure

The Wall Street Journal Real time Economic Blog provides the quote:

“There is a real sense in which times like these are what economists are for, just as wars are what career military officers are for. OK, maybe I can let microeconomists off the hook. But macroeconomics is, above all, about understanding and preventing or at least mitigating economic downturns. This crisis was the time for the economics profession to justify its existence, for us academic scribblers to show what all our models and analysis are good for.

We have not, to put it mildly, delivered.

What do I mean by that?

As I see it, there are three main complaints one can make about economists and their role in the current crisis. First is the complaint that economists fell down on the job by not seeing the crisis coming. Second is the complaint that economists failed even to see the possibility of this kind of crisis — and that by pointing out the possibility, they could have helped head the crisis off. Third is the complaint that they have either failed to offer useful advice on what to do after the crisis struck, or that they have offered such a cacophony of voices as to provide no useful guidance for policy.” ~Paul Krugman (Link to the full Krugman Article)

 

To quote from the movie Robots:

Rodney: “Caw-caw! Caw-caw!”
Fender: ”Oh, my darling, that is the cry of the deep-doo-doo bird.”

Bottom Line

See previous post re: Dunning-Kruger Effect and our position that Krugman is correct 50% of the time (in this case 100% correct). 

A Fact is a Fact - Depending on the Definition of "is".

A Fact is a Fact - Depending on the Definition of "is".

Chris Lee of ars technica writes, Why my fellow physicists think they know everything (and why they're wrong).

"I am focusing on physicists and engineers but, in fact, anyone can fall victim to this belief in their own expertise. Research shows that the less expert we are in some field, the more certain we are that our opinions and predictions are correct. The cynical view of this is that we are all stupid and don't hesitate to exhibit our stupidity in public, but it's more likely that we all know a little something about many different things. Unfortunately, what we don't know are all the caveats, exceptions, and oddities that always accompany the general rules of any field.

This lack of truly specialist knowledge makes it difficult to accurately evaluate new facts and opinions--or even to determine if it is possible to evaluate such facts. 

That doesn't stop us all from trying. The evidence from psychological experiments indicates that people will go to great lengths to make up a coherent story based around facts. And, if they happen to be invested in the story, they will twist themselves into knots to make the result fit their preconceived notions. This sort of reasoning knows no political boundaries: communists did not blame communism for the failure of their regimes, and free market ideologues never blame the market."

The research being cited is the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Which proposes that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:

• tend to overestimate their own level of skill;
• fail to recognize genuine skill in others;
• fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy;
• recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill, if they can be trained to substantially improve

Studies in Europe showed "muted" response and in Asia a "reverse" effect. For some reason this article struck me peculiar - since I would have considered it perfect for describing Economists, Politicians, Social Media experts, and many mid-level managers. 

I wonder if experiments were run based on MTBI if there would be a strong correlation based on type?

~Tot1