Anything once: RoboCup

Living in walking distance of a college Field House and sports field lends itself to very easy access to plenty of sporting events. I'm not all that into sports, but I like the idea of cheering on the students and the school. But I never expected to experience this kind of sporting event in a hockey arena:

This, my dear Lobsters, is RoboCup. 

According to the Bowdoin team, "Northern Bites," blog, RoboCup is where teams consisting of Nao robots each play soccer on a field of 7.4m x 5.4 m. They write computer programs for these robots to play on the field. "The robots operate fully autonomously; there is no external control by humans or computers." Awesome. 

Apparently, the Northern Bites have a pretty spectacular history. In 2007, they were RoboCup world champions. They weren't quite playing up to their former glory this time around. They scored two goals, yay! Problem was, one of them was on their own goal, so the technical truth is that they only scored one point for their team. 

Supposedly the thing that has changed since their glory days is that they are now bipeds instead of four legged dog robots [see their victory game in the world championship in this video]. Less legs means less balance, which means less goals. I kinda wish they hadn't switched because it seems like the dogs made for a much more exciting game. Also it is fun for your team to win.  

The bipeds take tiny baby steps that make for insufficient action to keep a toddler entertained for any sustained period of time. In general, I think Sofia really enjoyed it, "Yay! Dolls!" she proclaimed over and over. But Manny and I didn't get to pay too close attention because at least one of us was chasing her around the stadium seating most of the time. Furthermore, the halves are only ten minutes long, with ten minute half-time breaks in between, so if you blinked, you missed the play all together, toddler or not. 

robots charging up during half time

That said, it was really fun to watch those little baby steps and see little robots playing soccer together. My favorite part was when they would try to lean their leg up to make a kick, and fall over, and then try to get back up. 

He he he. It just makes me giggle. Apparently this was the easiest type of code to write. But doesn't it look cool?? 

So the action was a bit slow, but the whole idea seems really cool. I'd love to return, with Sofia, in a couple years. By then, I hope she'll have the attention span to appreciate it a bit more, and the Northern Bites will have had some time to figure these bipeds out and return to their former glory.  

Paul Tough is cool Part 2: Getting Nerdy

So as I mentioned recently, I got to hear Paul Tough talk about how cool Attachment Theory. Paul Tough + Attachment = a double score in my book. If you're interested in a little sample of Tough's writings, check out this article. As I also mentioned, I was too nervous to ask any questions or make any comments in the public space after the talk, and only barely got up the guts to approach him directly. My thoughts were a bit insecure and a bit nerdy, getting into research studies I felt vaguely familiar with. If I had had more chutzpah, here are a few of the things I would have wanted to engage on:

First of all, if you don't know about Emmy Werner, you haven't had too much of a conversation with me about children or education. I'm enthralled by her work. So because that's probably true of most people reading this post, I'm gonna tell you about her now. Werner did a 32 year longitudinal study in Hawaii of children born in various circumstances, from wealthy to poor, two parents and none, homes with drug abuse or substance free, etc. [ Emmy Werner's work on Resilience.] After she sorted the babies born according to degrees of risk factors [like poverty, single parents, substance abuse], she found that a significant portion of the high-risk children actually grew up to be "competent and caring adults." Or in other words, despite being born into rough circumstances, the majority of those children were resilient. She found three protective factors that lead to resilience:

1)  Presence of a Caring Adult [Certainly consistent with attachment theory! But if not the mother, someone like a teacher or a coach or youth pastor can certainly play this roll]

2) High Expectations

3) Meaningful Opportunities [such as community service or leadership]

Her studies are certainly much more involved, but that's the nutshell as it's been taught to me. Isn't that inspiring and hopeful? Aren't those things as a community that we should be able to provide children? Even, and especially, children who may not have had positive attachments until they get exposed to a broader community, such as through a school. So cool. I think her study should be required knowledge for anyone working with children!

More later . . .

Movie Review Monday #18: Instant Gratification

Emily and I have found ourselves plowing through several Netflix Watch Instant features in this season. As I burn through my queue, I'm always needing recommendations for new stuff - so it's been great for us to be able to offer each other suggestions to keep things fresh and entertaining. Perhaps you also enjoy some good movie watching recommendations? Perhaps you have some I should add to my list? Let's compare notes. Here are some of my recent faves:

Series:

I find a good series quite comforting. I have an addictive personality, and this is one of the healthier addictions I indulge in. The familiar characters I can come back to when I feel stressed out seem to help dissipate the anxieties of new challenges. 

Battlestar Galactica

My friend Emily [not of this blog] from grad school bugged me a million times to watch this show. She is this crazy cool goddess-like creature, but I thought this was her secret dorky-side coming out ["Beets. Bears. Battlestar Galactica."], so I smiled and nodded and resisted for a good long while. Maybe it was her dorky side, but oh wow did I get sucked in! I started seeing everything in life according to Battlestar Galactica themes, but I just couldn't stop until I had seen every.single.episode. Thanks Em! 

Thirtysomethings

Something about having my own daughter is making me curious about what my parents were like at this stage in their lives. One thing I vividly remember is sneaking upstairs to the den and peaking around the wall to watch Thirtysomethings over their shoulders until they caught me and sent me back to bed. Watching it now as an adult and parent is really tripping me out because I think they spied into the future into my mind to depict a lot of the things I'm going through lately. Also, the 80's were a funny time!

Parks and Rec 

Just watch it now. 

The Storyteller 

I love good stories. And while a good fairy tale can be great to revisit, it's amazing to hear some old ones for the first time. Super short episodes masterfully wisk you away to far away lands. Good work Jim Henson!

Documentaries:
I may be a little bit addicted to being in school. So when I have no classes to attend and need that intellectual-stimulation-fix, a good documentary can often do the trick. Even if I don't agree with the message of the film, I love having food for thought.

Philosopher Kings
Janitors at universities and colleges tell their stories and impart their wisdom. Surprisingly amazing, touching, inspiring. Really worthwhile one hour and nine minutes!!

God in America (6 episode series)
Holy cow [;)] This was an amazing and thought provoking series that had Manny and I jabbering at each other for days as we unpacked all our reactions and emotions. We attended a christian college and decided this series should have been a required part of the curriculum for all students. While I don't hold the same perspective as the film makers, I really appreciated the way they helped me to be humbled, challenged, and even inspired. Really worth watching!

Soundtrack for a Revolution
I love music and I have a shamefully inadequate knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement - so this won on two counts. It is inspiring, emotional, difficult, uplifting. It really caught me off guard how much I enjoyed this film!!

Movies:

Timer
My mother-in-law tipped me off to this one. Honestly, I started watching it just to be able to tell her I did. But was great. It considers what life would be like if we could know when we would meet "The One."

Arranged
Two women, one othodox Jew, one Muslim, are both entering arranged marriages and teaching in New York a public school. They navigate the challenges of living between their own culture and American culture together. Really endearing and an atypical approach to a familiar theme.

Penelope
Young princess is cursed with a pig nose and seeking a husband to break the spell. Delightfully charming.