The Science of Tipping Points: How 25% Can Create a Majority

Around 100 years ago, women were legally banned from wearing pants. In fact, women were not allowed to wear pants on the floor of the United States Senate until 1993. In the 17th century, men commonly wore high heels. In the '80s and '90s, you could expect to be greeted with a thick cloud of cigarette smoke when you entered public spaces, like restaurants and even offices. As a child, I rarely rode in a car seat and always slept on my stomach in a crib surrounded by soft, padded bumpers—all things that would get a parent ostracized if not arrested today.

Less than 10 years ago, marriage was not a privilege extended to everyone—and now we have viral videos of two grooms doing incredibly impressive lifts and mashup dances for their first dance. I can now get a care package of cookies delivered to my friend who just had surgery at her door in less than 48 hours and they’ll look better than any that I could make myself anyway. Public opinion is even turning on climate change. In the United States, the majority believes not only that global warming is real but that we should be doing more to combat it.

As much as we feel bounded by them, our societal norms are usually fluid. Sometimes that fluidity comes about because of advances in our knowledge about safety or public health or the irrefutable science behind a warming atmosphere. Sometimes our societal norms are adapting to new technologies. And sometimes we see changes in public perspective because we begin to allow ourselves to accept change and the associated risk.

But where does that tipping point happen? When does a minority opinion begin to become the majority? It turns out that you don’t have to wait for 50% of the group to be on board with an idea for that idea to have any hope of become the majority opinion.

A New Tipping Point Study

In a study recently published in the journal Science, Dr. Damon Centola of the University of Pennsylvania and his collaborators found that the tipping point comes at only 25%. In other words, once a minority view is held by at least one quarter of the group, that minority view will take over and eventually become the majority.

The fact that this so-called tipping point comes into play far below a 50% majority is not a new discovery. In a ground-breaking study from 1977 led by Dr. Rosabeth Kanter, the treatment of...

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The Magic of Picture Books with Deborah Diesen

One very special way parents can bond with their kids is to snuggle together in a cozy chair or nook and share a book together. With today's families leading such full and busy lives, finding time to connect can be difficult, but reading is something every family can find even 15 minutes to enjoy together.

Deborah Diesen, a wonderful author of many popular children’s picture books, including the New York Times best-selling The Pout-Pout Fish Series, joins Mighty Mommy to share the many enchanting ways parents, grandparents, and caregivers can engage kids with delightful stories and beautiful illustrations such as the ones in her books. She currently works for a nonprofit organization and has also worked as a librarian and a bookseller. Her background definitely lends itself to her love of writing and books. 

Here are some of the topics we discuss in today's podcast.

1. The Pout-Pout Fish is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Deborah shares the delightful story of how this character and the series came to be and what makes him so special.
2. Deborah’s background as a librarian and a bookseller was instrumental in her decision to become a writer of children’s books, her true passion. She explains why picture books are so important for young children.
3. Suggestions for parents and caregivers on how they can make reading a picture book a special experience.
4. Deborah discusses the trends developing in children's books throughout the past decade since The Pout Pout Fish series began.
5. Deborah chats about her future books and her blog, Jumping the Candlestick.

What’s your favorite way to share books with your children? Share your thoughts in the comment section at quickanddirtytips.com/mighty-mommyor post your ideas on the Mighty Mommy Facebook page. You can also connect with me on Twitter @MightyMommy or email me at mommy@quickanddirtytips.com.

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3 Tips to Starting a Conversation (and Defusing Awkwardness)

How we start a conversation is important because it sets the tone and gives everyone an inkling of what’s to come. It’s like reading the first page of a novel, taking the first bite of a meal, or throwing out the first pitch. 

Starting a conversation with friends or family is easy—they’re known entities and you have a shared history of experiences. But starting conversations with acquaintances, colleagues, or strangers can be more awkward than a Tyrannosaurus taking a selfie.

Conversations with people you don’t know well fall into two general camps. In the first, you want to initiate a conversation—you’re trying to network, have a question, or you simply see a heart-melting cutie across a crowded room.

In the second camp, you are forced into conversation so as not to be awkward or antisocial—you’re introduced to the friend of a friend, you’re waiting in line for the Keurig machine at work, or find yourself in the elevator with a neighbor whose name may or may not be Mulva.

If you live in a city, you know how strange public interactions can get—you sit thigh-to-thigh with a stranger on subway while ignoring each other’s existence, but despite being so physically close you can smell their deodorant (definitely Old Spice) there remains a wide gulf of social distance. 

Initiating conversation with true strangers is rare—in general, we all heed our parents’ rules about not talking to strangers. And while it’s a social norm, it’s not without exception. In researching this episode, I was fascinated by a paper I found in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, which analyzed how conversations between strangers happen on public transportation. The paper found that although the unspoken rule is not to talk to strangers, we’re allowed to bend the rules if we follow certain conventions. 

First, you’re allowed to initiate conversation if your intentions are obvious. For example, say you’re at a train station. You stare up at the schedule board, look at your ticket, then the board again. You look puzzled, and then glance around. The result? The people around you, at least those who aren’t immersed in their phones, probably guess you have a question. This paves the way for you to initiate conversation.

According to the paper, you’ll probably do this in three ways: you’ll use what’s called a summons, like “excuse me,” an explanation, such as “The board says Track 3, but my ticket says...

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The Darkness and Light of Author Courtney Summers

What follows is a slightly edited transcript of an interview between Mignon Fogarty and Courtney Summers.

Mignon Fogarty: I read your book “Sadie” and loved it, so why don't you tell the listeners what it's about.

Courtney Summers: “Sadie” is about a girl who goes missing on the hunt for her sister's killer, and about the popular radio personality who starts a podcast dedicated to finding out what happened to her.

MF: It was such a neat idea to incorporate a podcast into the book. I know that's one of the reasons I heard about it, and I get the sense that it was based on the podcast “Serial.” Is that true? Did did you listen to “Serial”?

CS: Kind of. I got the idea toward the end of “Serial” because I was completely fascinated by the response that it was generating. Everyone flipped for it and they were just tuning in and bingeing this content. And I remember reading something about Hae Min Lee’s parents—that they were upset by the whole show. And I thought, “What is the potential consequences of telling stories like these in this kind of bingeable format?” and I really wanted to explore that. So it was kind of inspired by “Serial,” but the details weren't anything like that.

MF: How involved were you in the making of the podcast part? Because the book has a podcast element in it in the writing, but then also there was a real fake true crime podcast that Macmillan made.

CS: I wasn’t involved, and I think that's probably for the best. I mean, Maddie, the producer, sent me the voices that would be doing the audiobook, and I didn't have any objections. I thought they sounded great, and then they just took the audio for the podcast portion from the audiobook production and turned it into a podcast, and I was like, wow, that's amazing. It was the coolest thing, I think, that's happened in my career so far, and I was blown away by it. Really, that's my book? 

MF: Well, I don't know if it's the coolest thing, because we scheduled this interview a while ago, and then I just saw that “Sadie” made the New York Times bestseller list, so...

CS: Yes, OK, maybe that was the coolest! Maybe it’s like a confluence of cool things happening. I can’t pick just one. But yeah, that was unbelievable. Yes, I am very excited that.

MF: So you’ve written many novels before “Sadie,” and I saw that they all had won a lot of awards, but is this your first New York Times bestseller, right?

CS: Yes, when my editor and the...

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Drop Sets Are the Secret to Building Muscle Fast

If you have been following me for a while you will know that I am generally all about natural movement, focusing on functional fitness first, and often shunning workouts that are mostly for vanity sake. Well today, I am embracing my inner bodybuilder and going full gym rat.

The bodybuilding technique known as the drop set has gone by a bunch of different names, like breakdowns, descending sets, triple-drops, down the rack, strip sets or, my personal favorite, the stripping technique. But despite the different names, they all use the same simple principle: lift one weight until you can't lift it anymore, reduce the weight slightly, and continue lifting. Simple, right? Absolutely. Effective? You bet!

Sidenote: in the book Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, the creation of this method is credited to Body Culture magazine editor, Henry Atkins, and it was originally called the "multi-poundage system." That is a pretty accurate name for it but I still prefer the stripping technique. 

When to Use Drop Sets

No matter what you call them, drop sets have one main goal and that is to build muscle. There are many ways to build strength, power, and speed while also maintaining a sleak and lean physique, but this is not one of them. If you want to put on muscle mass, this is for you. If you are a sprinter who wants to get stronger but not bigger, this is not for you. 

Now that we have that out of the way, the reason why drop sets work so well for muscle gain is due to how effectively they break down muscle tissue. Normally, when you perform a single set to failure, you don't get a chance to activate every fiber in the chosen muscle group. During a limited set, you only recruit the necessary fibers required to lift that particular weight for that particular number of repetitions. But by stripping off some of the weight and then continuing to extend the set, you wind up cumulatively recruiting more and more of what can be thought of as your reserve muscle fibers that only join in the party once the main fibres have been exhausted. 

You can think of it like this: drop sets eventually activate the more stubborn or hidden muscle fibers that are deep down in that muscle group. By doing that, you can cause hypertrophy (muscle growth) that isn't achieved with a standard set.

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How to Do Drop Sets

Unless you have friends who don't mind spending their workout time watching you get all the benefits while they just shuffle barbell plates around for you, you are best off choosing to...

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13 Hacks for Cleaning Your Kitchen

Save your surfaces and appliances. These DIY tips will help keep your kitchen clean and odor-free with the common household items you already have.

Easy Oven Cleaning

1. Speed Away Grease
You can loosen grease and grime in an instant with a handheld clothes steamer. Just point the steam to where you need a little extra help, then wipe oven crud away.

2. Renew Your Oven Racks
The surprising secret to help lift grime from your oven racks: antistatic dryer sheets. Line your bathtub or a utility sink with four to six dryer sheets. Set the racks on top, and fill the tub with enough hot water to cover. You can add grease-fighting dish detergent for extra cleaning power. Let sit for at least a few hours and preferably overnight, then wipe clean and rinse.

3. Microwave Cleaning Made Easy
With all the use they get, microwaves can get grimy fast. Time for freshening up? Soak a sponge in water until it’s completely saturated, then set it in the microwave. In a spray bottle, mix 1 to 2 drops of lemon essential oil per ounce of water. Spray the mixture all over the inside of your microwave. Run the microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes. The steam will help release the built-up dirt. Once the sponge is cool, you can use it to easily wipe down the interior and exterior of the microwave. Another approach: In a microwavable bowl, combine ½ cup vinegar and 1 cup water. (You can also add a few drops of lemon juice, if you like.) Microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, then let sit for a few minutes while the steam goes to work. Either way, your microwave will be fresh and clean again!

Fast Fridge Fixes

4. Attack Dried-On Mess
If someone didn’t spot and wipe up a fridge spill right away (“not me!”), don’t worry—you can still lift it away easily. Make a paste of baking powder and water, then rub over the spill to make cleanup a cinch.

5. Food That Chase Odors
Besides baking soda and vinegar, a number of foods are capable of removing odors. Pour a little vanilla extract into a bottle cap and set it in the refrigerator to absorb odors. Or hollow out a grapefruit or an orange, fill it with salt, and place it in the back of the fridge. Leave it there until the salt gets completely damp, and then throw the whole thing out and replace.

6. The Fishy Way to Freshen
Head to the fish section of any pet store and pick up a container of activated carbon (used in aquarium filters). An open container will work even better than baking soda to deodorize your fridge.

7. Chase Away Smudges
Keep some vinegar in a spray bottle for easy stainless shining anywhere, anytime....

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Hitler’s American Friends: Charles Lindbergh and ‘America First’

On September 11, 1941, one of America’s most famous celebrities took to a stage before a raucous crowd in Des Moines, Iowa.

This was famed aviator Charles Lindbergh—nicknamed Lucky Lindy—addressing a crowd of America First supporters three months before Pearl Harbor. For months, Lindbergh had been traveling the country giving similar speeches opposing U.S. entry into the war in Europe. Tonight’s speech was different, though. There were, he told the crowd that evening, three groups that had conspired to draw the country into the conflict: “the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt Administration.” Together, he continued, these groups had executed a plan to draw the country into war gradually by building up its military and then manufacturing a series of “incidents” to “force us into the actual conflict.”

Lindbergh poured particular ire on the Jews. “Jewish groups in this country,” he told the crowd, should realize that in the event of war “they will be among the first to feel its consequences.” Individual Jews, he concluded, presented a unique danger to the United States because of their “large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our Government.” Despite the alleged machinations of these groups, Lindberg reserved hope that they might cease their efforts to push the U.S. toward war. If that could be managed, he said, “I believe there will be little danger of our involvement.”

Lindbergh’s address that night created a huge national controversy. It was covered on Page 2 of the New York Times and in most of the country’s major papers. Letters poured into newsrooms and America First headquarters both supporting and denouncing Lucky Lindy. Even Franklin Roosevelt’s press secretary weighed in and compared the remarks to recent statements coming from Berlin. In just a few minutes on stage, Lindbergh damaged his reputation to a degree from which it would never recover.

Why did one of the country’s most popular celebrities endorse anti-Semitism and become one of Hitler’s key American friends?

But what had taken a once-beloved American hero to these depths? Why did one of the country’s most popular celebrities endorse anti-Semitism and become one of Hitler’s key American friends? To understand Lindbergh’s remarks on...

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