Grit, nuclear power & entrepreneur-friendly cities

Aug 6th, 2009 | By

Morning Reading, selected articles of interest from various publications.

The truth about grit
Interestingly, it also appears that praising children for their intelligence can make them less likely to persist in the face of challenges, a crucial element of grit. […] After taking the test, one group was praised for their intelligence – “You must be smart at this,” the researcher said – while the other group was praised for their effort and told they “must have worked really hard.”
[…] The students who were initially praised for their effort worked hard at figuring out the puzzles. Kids praised for their smarts, on the other hand, quickly became discouraged.
The final round of intelligence tests was the same difficulty level as the initial test. The students who had been praised for their effort raised their score, on average, by 30 percent.
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The nuclear power-dresser
One of the unenviable parts of Judge’s job is to sell nuclear to a doubting public. Plants such as Sellafield have been targets for angry campaigners since the 1970s. Nuclear became seen as outdated, dangerous, expensive; its place in the pecking order usurped by renewable energy sources that harnessed sun, wind and tide. Indeed, nuclear is rarely mentioned as a ‘renewable’ — oddly, since it is carbon-free, as well as reducing dependence on volatile Middle Eastern oil states and the capricious gas giant, Russia. Judge notes, ‘With the best will in the world, renewables aren’t going to deliver enough to fill the gap that would be left by nuclear. Solar works when the sun is shining and wind power when the wind blows, but nuclear works whatever the weather.’
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Where to Be an Entrepreneur
10 startup-friendly US cities–and their success stories–show how small business is thriving.
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