That thing with the skateboards is absolutely STUPID. I skated for several years, and the reason skaters walk with the bottom of the board facing out is because:

1. The way the deck curves makes it fit in your hand better like that.
2. The grip tape would otherwise scrape up your palms. Trust me, this is not a comfortable thing.
3. It can be top heavy and smack into your side if you hold it with the trucks (wheels and axle) in to your body. When facing out, the way the board is weighted makes its bottom rest gently against your forearm.
4. Arguably the main reason, is you will invariably be jabbed in the side by a wheel if they face in to your body.

The reason the bottom of the board faces out is because it's just fucking easier to carry it like that. It's physically just a lot more comfortable.

I find it obnoxious that this lady assumes that because a board is cared with the decorative bottom out, automatically means one is displaying their originality. In fact, it has absolutely nothing to do with that. All boards could be hot pink with lime green trapezoids painted on, and they would still be held the same.

I don't know why I was so bothered by this. She just did really bad research.

Still waiting for the "Frog Princess", now "The Princess and the Frog".


M.

Disney brought us Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers.

Of COURSE they're sinister!

Corporations are in the business of making money any way they can. You can’t ascribe ethical judgments like “sinister” to them any more than you can say that a shark is sinister when it eats a baby seal. We can say that a particular executive in a corporation may be more or less ethical than his peers but the ones that don’t produce profits are quickly replaced. So, the evolution of executives within any corporation is always toward the amoral individual where profit is the sole motivating factor.

I’m far from anti-corporation, but understanding them is the first step toward keeping them in line.

BTW, I agree with Nicholas about the skate board. These “experts” don’t seem to understand that correlation does not imply causation.

I don't know if it is wise for Disney to publish this. I know that if I was a boy in this demographic the first thing I would do would be start behaving in very strange ways just to mess with their minds. Kids aren't stupid, and somehow I can't help picturing this researcher as a complete moron, as the notes on skateboard carrying seem to suggest. By the way, I have never in my life skateboarded, but the first thing I thought when I read about her research was that the wheels were on the bottom and it would make sense to carry the wheels facing outward.