Society

Which would upset you more, your brother dying, or a dozen kids across town getting killed because their bus collided with a truck hauling killer bees?

Which would be bigger news to your neighbors, those dozen mutilated bus children across town or 15,000 dead in an earthquake in Iran?

Inside the Monkeysphere is a very interesting - and humorous - article from David Wong, which describes perfectly the negative impact that a large group of people has on our behaviour : why we care about some people while not giving a rat's ass about most every one else.

I used to believe that if you put pussy willows catkins (yes, that is what they're called!) in your closet, they'd turn into kittens overnight. Hense, we stripped the neighbor's bushes (a subject of great concern at the next coffee klatsch), made little nests on the floors of our closest out of tissues, and waited. And waited. And waited...

I used to believe is a collection of ideas that adults thought were true when they were children. it will remind you what it was like to be a child, fascinated and horrified by the world in equal parts. This site will reassure you that the things you used to believe weren't so strange after all...

Girls dress up, boys don't. Boys need to help girls cross the street. Girls work, boys play. Subtle gender messages (and really silly hairstyles) as observed by Monsieur Jean after collecting images from different countries of children on street signs for his salon.

I never actually paid attention to it, but the site also demonstrates the subtle differences between traffic signs in different countries.