Funky things smaller towns do to get people together

Possibly the coolest thing ever in Grand Rapids Michigan:  A 500 ft inflatable water slide stretching three blocks in the city.  Also, using social media, organizers had a pillow-fight for 1000 people.  What else can we use social media for?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/us/22rapids.html

A Review of a Review of "The Genius in All of Us"

On the subject of practice makes perfect:

"And think of talent not as a thing, but as a process; not as something we have, but as something we do." 

“You will have to adopt a particular lifestyle of ambition, not just for a few weeks or months but for years and years and years. You have to want it so bad that you are not only ready to fail, but you actually want to experience failure: revel in it, learn from it.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/books/review/Paul-t.html

From Boys to Pros

Michael Sokolove wrote a fascinating article about the success of the Ajax Youth soccer academy.  A club as famous for its winning on the field as it as for the talent it exports to other clubs for a hefty profit.

"But one element of the academy’s success is that the boys are not overplayed, so the hours at De Toekomst are all business. Through age 12, they train only three times a week and play one game on the weekend. “For the young ones, we think that’s enough,” Riekerink said when we talked in his office one day. “They have a private life, a family life. We don’t want to take that from them. When they are not with us, they play on the streets. They play with their friends. Sometimes that’s more important. They have the ball at their feet without anyone telling them what to do.....By age 15, the boys are practicing five times a week. In all age groups, training largely consists of small-sided games and drills in which players line up in various configurations, move quickly and kick the ball very hard to each other at close range.”




http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Soccer-t.html