Our long development cycle

My good friend, Mr. E. Victim, sent me this email:

"I was just pondering as I fell asleep the other night: why do we have such a long developmental phase as a species (20 years – an eternity compared to animals!)? Then I stumbled across this article, which suggests we need the time to develop a brain that cannot be larger when born for a species that walks on their two hind legs."

Check out The Benefits of a Long Childhood:
“A big and complex brain takes a lot of time to develop, and in humans much of that development must occur after birth, because bipedalism limits birth-canal width, which has in turn constrained the head size of newborns.”

Winning through non-competition

I just caught wind of a brilliant new game that relies on total non-competition to win. It's Brainball! The players' brainwaves control a ball on a table. The one who is able to relax more pushes the ball further and "beats" the opponent. Sheer genius! How soon can I try one of these?

Don't forget to get the Mindball Multiplayer accessory so three people can play....

I read about Brainball in Wired's article, "The Future of 3-D Printing, Pilot Communication and Weather Reporting." Speaking of which, who doesn't need a 3-D desktop prototyping machine? Now you can make the cardboard replica of a Shermann tank that you've always dreamed of...for only $4999!