Too Much Positive Reinforcement Produces Negative Results

So, I was just reading about a local church whose education director chooses to "honor" those Sunday school students who have perfect attendance for a given quarter at each of that church's Sunday services at the end of the quarter. Any student who has perfect attendance for any or all quarters is "honored" in June with a special "banana (wait for it...) sunday" celebration. When did Sunday school attendance become such a contest, so needlessly complicated with the unneeded emphasis on rewards? I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I think the "positive-reinforcement crowd" is getting as large and as annoying as the "politically correct" crowd. This Wall Street Journal article from two years ago is still pretty valid today with its discussion of the "trophy kids" entering the workforce.

Android Through the Years: One User's Perspective

From Cupcake To Ice Cream Sandwich: My Android Journey - AndroidPIT

Interesting look-back at one user's journey with every flavor of the Android mobile OS since the start...

Weggy's Is On The Way...And So Is The Traffic

Construction Begins on Wegmans Site -
Kingstowne, VA Patch

Will it be nice having a Wegman's nearby? Heck, yeah. Do I want it to be situated within a one mile radius of my home, on a narrow, two-way road that's routinely traffic-choked now with the extra personnel going to and coming from Fort Belvoir because of BRAC? Hell-to-the-NO, or at least not yet.


The lot excavation has indeed begun for the Weggy's at the Telegraph/Beulah intersection, and so, too, has the tree clearing on either side of Telegraph Road leading up to that intersection to (presumably) widen the road from two to four lanes. Don't get me wrong -- Wegman's is an awesome grocery store and it will be great to have one so conveniently located close by, but each store in the Washington, D.C. area draws tremendous crowds from each of the four points of the compass. The Woodbridge Wegman's, located about a 1/2 mile off of I-95 just a bit further south of our area and currently the closest store to us, causes traffic backups ONTO I-95 on a regular basis.

For once, could the designers and county and state officials NOT put the cart before the horse, and think about making the road improvements before new development starts?? The six-mile commute to my job at Fort Belvoir has grown from an average of 20 minutes one-way, to about 30-35 minutes because of too-late road improvements and an explosion of BRAC-related building on the Fort Belvoir reservation. With the Telegraph Road widening project over the next two years and Wegman's going up concurrently, I can see that one-way commute stretching to 45-50 minutes. One-way. To go SIX MILES to work.

Franconia District's Most Dangerous Intersections

Franconia District's Most Dangerous Intersections - Rose Hill, VA Patch

Yep, the intersections highlighted in this article are probably the worst in the area, but I think Kingstowne Boulevard / Kingstowne Village Parkway intersection also needs to be added to that list after the events of this past weekend...