Earth From Above

As a huge fan of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Earth From Above, I wanted to take the chance to point you to these fantastic photos by Jason Hawkes. My favorites are #8 and 23. Yours?

Let Your Kids Roam Free

One thing I don't want to be is a hovering parent. Thus, I enjoyed this article on allowing your kids to have 'free-range'.

She notes,

There is a 1 in 1.5 million chance that your kid would be abducted and killed by a stranger. It is hard to wrap your mind around those numbers, and everybody always assumes: What if it's my 1 in 1.5 million?

If you don't want to have your child in any kind of danger, you really can't do anything. You certainly couldn't drive them in a car, because that's the No. 1 way kids die, as passengers in car accidents.

Certainly, let's consider the benefits allowing our children some independence will bring.

Prospects

I've written before about the recruiting world of high school basketball. And as most who follow it know, it's only beginning earlier and earlier for today's young players.

In a pretty interesting article on three young 8th-graders who will be going to high school in Chicago next year, Michael O'Brien of the Sun-Times notes,

High school basketball is undergoing a dramatic shift. The focus on younger players likely is here to stay and figures to intensify over the next few years.

More players are committing to colleges as freshmen, which means college coaches, recruiting analysts and the media have begun to pay serious attention to seventh- and eighth-grade players.

I'm just looking forward to watching these guys play next year. And if they end up in the orange & blue in four years, even better.

Dante

So, the Las Vegas Sun reports,

Geographers from Kansas State University did a study called 'The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins.'

Hmm, well, what does that mean? It means you have some pretty interesting maps showing their respective prevalence, that's what it means. From what I can tell, Chicago's biggest problem is with greed. Check it out.

Press

My high school team did it. And I'm a pretty big proponent. I love the run and gun that results.

Although, probably not for junior high, where I think it should be about more than winning.

Pressing in basketball. Just thinking about it, I bet you envisioned an exciting game. So, is it underused?

Malcom Gladwell thinks so. Definitely read the article. It's moreso an analysis of how an underdog can optimize their chances of success. But very interesting, as always.