Before I went to kindergarten I was ambidextrous. I could write fairly well (as well as any five year old anyway) with both my left and right hands. I could do a lot of things with both hands. But then I went to school. When I got there, my teacher told me that I had to choose which hand to write with because I wasn’t going to be able to learn to write really well with both hands. I told her that I didn’t know which hand to choose. She said to be right-handed since that’s what most people are. True story.

These days I can’t write at all with my left hand. Good thing I’ve got a keyboard to keep both hands busy I guess.

What’s got me thinking about all of this is a LiveScience article that I just read about ambidextrous children. It reports on a study that says that ambidextrous kids “may be more likely to have mental health, language and academic problems than their peers”. They do admit, however, that nobody knows what causes people to be ambidextrous and that the small sample of people used for the study means that the results aren’t necessarily accurate.

That said, would things have been any different for me if I’d remained ambidextrous? Would I have found math and language more difficult in school? Would my brain have been struggling to connect the left and right sides and therefore have caused me to struggle in school? This all seems doubtful. It always seemed fairly precocious that I could do things just as well with both hands back then. It goes against that to think it would’ve slowed me down in any way.

But I guess we’ll never know.

Did you have trouble with schoolteachers because you weren’t strictly right-handed? Tell me about it – I’d love to commiserate!

Tags: ambidextrous, science

Weburbanist recently had a terrific article about the history of car/planes. These are vehicles that can both drive and fly. The article caught my attention because it wasn’t all that long ago that I wrote about the Terrafugia Transition which was being dubbed the world’s first flying car. What I learned from the Weburbanist article is that this is not the first car of its kind at all!

Some of the other stuff I learned from the article:

• The first working prototype of this type of vehicle was made way back in 1917. That’s almost one hundred years ago! It didn’t actually fly but it did get off the ground. Amazing!
• These types of vehicles were commissioned during the Great Depression because it was believed that they could be built for less than normal airplanes. Hm.
• One of the leading designs of the the twentieth century ended up scaring people off because it crashed during testing and killed the pilot.
• One guy, Paul Moller, has been working on his driveable plane design for over four decades.
• The Terrafugia Transition looks a lot like a design called The Aerocar which is arguably the most successful design to date.
• The biggest problem with these car designs to date is that they’re too heavy on the air and too slow on the ground. If that issue can be remedied then these vehicles may just take off.

Tags: airplane car, car plane, driveable plane, flying car, roadable plane

One of the blogs I like is Retro to Go, a blog that covers all things retro that are being released right now. They’ve got an interesting little post up today about a retro-style car that’s being recreated for the modern era. It’s the old-fashioned Bubble Car and it’s been made in a new eco-friendly design for modern drivers to adore.

The cute little car, marketed under the clunky name Vehiconmics Smite, has a great strange design. The design is based on the classic Mid-twentieth century vehicle called Messerschmitt KR200. It’s kind of like a cross between a modern VW bug and an old school 1950′s Chevy with some futuristic touches added here and there.

In terms of being a green car, there are a few different things going on. For one thing, it’s a small light car so it doesn’t use up a lot of resources in terms of construction. As far as the gas issue, there are a couple different versions of the vehicle being made – one that uses very minimal amounts of gas and one that uses electric energy.

In a bit of fun marketing, the Smite website describes the car as:

Smite is…
eco-friendly, efficient, light, strong, bright, smooth, economical, non-offensive, easy, free, user friendly, street smart, rational and very caring

Right now this car is just a concept car being talked about in Sweden. Will it ever come to the market either in Europe or over in the US?

Tags: bubble car, green, green cars, retro

One of the things that I love about writing on this blog is that I don’t limit myself to a specific topic. Diary of a Smart Chick is just about all of the random things that tend to capture my interest. I think that’s how real people are – we get intrigued by tons of different stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into a box. That’s what makes us unique; it’s what makes us who we are.

Because I like so many different things, I tend to read a lot of different blogs. I don’t stick to one topic. I like stuff that’s kind of off the wall. Here’s a glimpse into some of the stuff I read regularly just to keep myself interested in the world around me:

1. Weburbanist. I love to check out the weird and interesting things that are collected on this blog. This stuff is creative, weird, eye-catching and compiled in a way that makes it even more compelling. This is the site that introduced me to steampunk and to storage container housing. I loved the recent post on patching buildings with Legos.
2. Live Science Strange News. I love reading about advances that are being made in science. From nanotechnology to crazy medical discoveries, this stuff is interesting. I particularly love the “strange news” channel of this site which gives you all kinds of info on stuff that is almost unbelievable and yet apparently true.
3. Retro to Go. This great little blog collects information on all stuff retro. I love checking out the furniture, fashion and other fun stuff that they highlight on this blog.
4. Weird Asia News. This blog shares all of the odd news that is printed in Asian newspaper. I just get a huge kick out of some of the things that are shared here.
5. SF Girl By Bay. I used to be a big fan of Apartment Therapy until I discovered this San Francisco-based design and style blog. It’s got a funky edge to it that I adore and yet offers info on so much pretty stuff.
6. Lomography Blog. This is a photo topic that I’ve recently started to take an interest in so I’m enjoying learning more about it from the blog. Cool stuff.
7. Fail Blog. I’ll admit that I don’t check this site out daily but I always get a kick out of it when I do. I think I love this blog for the same reason that I love typos. I love the mistakes that people make that show off our humanity and provide humor for our lives.

Tags: blogs, random topics, reading, weird blogs, what smart people read

If you had told me five years ago that I would be cuddling with my computer on a regular basis I probably would’ve dismissed you as crazy. Sure, I was already making a full-time living off of web writing which meant that I used my computer all of the time but I considered it a tool of the job. I certainly didn’t think of it as something to cuddle up with.

These days I cuddle up with my computer all of the time. What changed? A lot:

• Laptops are more cozy to cuddle up with. The biggest difference between then and now is probably that I use a laptop more often than I use my desktop. Sure, I have a LTR with my desktop computer which is where I save and store everything. But I can pull my laptop into bed with me, take it on vacations, have it there at all times. It’s much easier to cuddle up with it.
• Social media. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on social networking sites five years ago. Sure I was active on a few but not like I am today. These days, social media makes it so that my computer is a friend. Or rather it gives me access to friends which makes it appealing to cuddle up with it. At the start of a new day or the end of a long one, it’s nice to pull my computer into my lap and reach out to the world beyond its screen.
• It’s my main source of entertainment. Five years ago I had a television set and preferred going to the arcade to play video games. These days my computer is my main source of entertainment. I love Internet TV and streaming movies. It’s no longer just a work tool; it’s my companion for an at-home movie date. And it’s not bad for playing video games with either.
• My personal blogging has grown. I used to only blog for clients. These days I blog for myself as well. I certainly prefer to journal in a notebook but I do have to admit that the confessional style of blogs is appealing as well. It gives me more of a connection with my computer than I had years ago.

Tags: change, computers, society, Technology, web 2.0

I just came across a really cool article about some neat stuff that math-loving physicists are doing with light. They’re actually taking math skills and applying them in an artistic way to knot light beams into cool designs. Things I learned from this article:

• Light doesn’t always travel in a straight line. It might also travel in swirls and curlicues. Cool stuff.
• There are dark lines that fill in the space between light. Makes sense but who knew?
• Holograms can be used to alter the shape of light. That’s basically what they did to create these light knots. Basically each point of the hologram is used to shape the light around a dark knot.
• Knots have been made from light before but not like this. Previous attempts to do this have created a series of intertangled knots whereas the knots from this scientific project were all single knots.
• You could do this yourself … if you had a hologram and a laser beam.

Tags: hologram, light knots, livescience, science, science knots

One of the things that I really love to learn about is what might happen with technology in the future. I like finding out about concepts that may or may not become real products but that do point to the potential for technological changes.

So I have to admit that I was excited this morning to learn about a concept phone that might use Coke (yes, the soda) for its power.

The info:

• The phone uses fuel cell technology based on sugary water. There’s not much water more sugary than Coke!
• It’s eco-friendly. Much better than batteries and totally biodegradable.
• It’s useful in parts of the world where other eco-friendly technology isn’t going to work. For example, solar powered phones aren’t viable everywhere.
• The phone is just a prototype right now. It’s not actually on the market but it could be something we’ll see developed in the future

Tags: coke, mobile phones, Technology

Most of us like to be involved in DIY craft projects when we can. At the very least, we like to be able to dress up our own clothing or make some of our own accessories now and then. But let’s face it, sometimes being crafty takes a back seat to practicality. There just isn’t always time to do things like sew.

For those of you looking to pull your look together without having to mess around with needle and thread, here are a few tips:

· Button Guns – These craft toys are inexpensive and can be efficient in a bind. Toss it in to your purse and the next time you have a button pop off, you can use your button gun to put it back on quickly.

· Fabric Tape – Have a pair of pants that you want shortened but don’t have the time to hem them? Next time you’re at the store, pick yourself up a roll of toupee tape. Stick the tape on the hem edge of the pants you’re shortening, turning it up so the leg sticks to itself and voila – you’re all set!

· No-sew Snaps – Use these instead of buttons to tighten clothes where they need to be tightened or loosen your look with some decorative picks.

· Patches – With the right choice in designs, fabric patches never go out of style. Rather than getting the sew-on kind, use the self-adhesive ones to jazz up your jeans.

And if you want to make things but sewing isn’t working out for you then I’d recommend trying crochet. I’m still working on learning to sew but it frustrates me a lot. In contrast, I’m finding crocheting to be super easy. I even made that cute little neck warmer recently.

Tags: arts and crafts, crochet, no time to sew, sewing, simple craft tips, smartchick

I just finished reading a memoir that was a quick read but one that was really interesting. I love memoirs because they give you insight into someone else’s way of life but also tend to provide things that you can relate to in order to make the story feel like your own. That’s exactly the case with this memoir which is technically about growing up in the grips of a spiritual cult but ultimately about learning how to figure out who you are outside of the experiences you had growing up.

The woman who wrote the book, Jayanti Tamm, was born into Sri Chinmoy’s spiritual cult. Because procreating was forbidden but she was born anyway, he determined that she was brought into this world as his Chosen One. Growing up, she held a special place in the cult that placed a barrier between her and the rest of the world. She didn’t ask her parents or teachers for advice or material things; she had to ask her Guru.

As you can imagine, she eventually found herself disillusioned with the cult beliefs that she had been brought up to believe. Most of the memoir is about the experience of growing up in the cult and the transition from being an unquestioning child follower to a confused, unsure, questioning young adult.

Towards the end of the memoir, Tamm leaves the cult for a time and ultimately is kicked out of it. What we see here is the inner turmoil that one goes through when leaving behind the ways of childhood. Of course, most of us have not grown up in situations so extreme as cult life. Nevertheless, many struggle in smaller ways to reconcile their adult beliefs with what they were taught as children. That’s how this book manages to be relatable to us even though it’s specifically about cult life.

Interesting read!

Tags: books, cartwheels in a sari, cult, diary of a smart chick, jayanti tamm, memoir, reading

I think one of the most important things that you can do to keep yourself happy is to keep learning new things. This inspires you. It motivates you. It gives you a reason to wake up in the morning. It stretches your boundaries and makes life more interesting.

I try to learn new things all of the time. Most of what I learn comes from random experiences and ends up being about stuff I never planned on learning. However I do think it’s good to think about the things that you want to learn more about.

10 things I plan to learn more about in 2010 are:

1. Crochet. I just barely learned how to crochet over Thanksgiving weekend and have completely fallen in love with it. It’s the first craft that I absolutely can not get enough of. I want to learn new stitches, new projects, new use of yarns and fabrics. (The photo above was made from an old sweater and some black cotton yarn.)
2. Lomography. I recently learned about this interesting type of photography. I want to know more about it.
3. Photoshop. I FINALLY took a photoshop class late last year and started to learn the basics. I really want to actually start using this program and learning how to do stuff with it which I haven’t really done yet.
4. Pilates machines. I really like my pilates mat class but I want to branch out and learn more about how to do pilates using machines. Haven’t tried that yet but will have tried it by this time next year!
5. Celebrity fashion. This isn’t a topic that I thought I’d ever be interested in. However I’ve started exploring it for a new blog I’m helping out with (the blog for super cool Bay Area clothing company Edgi). I’m actually taking a keen interesting in this and want to learn more.
6. Pandora. I just started using this online radio program (behind the times, I know) and think it’s something I’ll be exploring a lot in 2010. Any suggestions from people who already like it?
7. Various types of dance. There are a couple of workout-style dance classes that I want to take this year. I want to learn fire dancing. I want to learn hula hoop dancing. We’ll see if that leads to any other dance interests.
8. Snow and Water Sports. This is a hands-on goal. I know a bit about things like skiing and tubing down rivers but I want to learn to actually do them.
9. Buenos Aires. I’ve read a lot about this city and have wanted to visit for awhile. I don’t know if I’ll actually get the chance to explore it in person this year or not but it’s definitely a 2010 goal to aim for.
10. San Francisco. I know a lot about this city that I live in and love but there is always more to learn here. I definitely plan to keep exploring and learning more about it!

Tags: 2010, education, experiences, goals, new year goals, smartchick