- Is being left-handed a sign of mental impairment? For years, I have heard people claim that the average left-handed person is slightly smarter than the average right-handed person. I never bought that notion. I don't buy this one either:
http://io9.com/5809813/is-being-left+handed-actually-a-form-of-cognitive-impairment
- Tipping etiquette, per country:
http://dailyinfographic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/110302-MINT-TIPSa.png
- How free is the state you live in?
http://mercatus.org/freedom-50-states-2011
- Most popular programming languages. My favorite is at #4:
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
- IBM turns 100 years old:
http://www.canada.com/business/computer+pioneer+turns/4956032/story.html
- 15 things you didn't know about outer-space:
http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/outer-space/
- An excellent biography of George Lucas:
http://flickeringmyth.blogspot.com/2011/06/hot-rods-droids-george-lucas-profile.html
- Keeping the synergy of the previous two posts, 10 things you didn't know about Star Wars:
http://io9.com/5813935/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-star-wars
- Yeah, yeah, I can't stand Slate either, but I stumbled upon this article and wanted to share it. Who is currently America's greatest humorist?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/06/17/america-s-greatest-living-humorists-parker-and-stone-or-larry-david.aspx
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Professor Chaos rides out the twister
- Make an avatar of yourself, South Park style. Here's what I might look like in the South Park universe:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/avatar/
- Walking to work, if you pass by a homeless person playing music for hand-outs, do you listen to the music? Do you pay attention at all? What if the person was a WORLD-CLASS musician playing some of the most difficult music ever composed? Do you think you would notice? The Washington Post put this idea to the test. Amazing article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
- A teenager with a useless limb volunteers to have the limb hacked-off, and replaced with a bionic limb:
http://io9.com/5803399/voluntary-amputees-opt-for-bionic-hands-over-real-ones
- When traveling, why does the trip home always feel shorter? Personally, I think it's because on the way home, we are full of new memories and experiences to think about:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201105/how-long-will-it-take-get-home
- Why TV ads are louder than TV shows. Quick spoiler...they aren't:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/st_loudtvads/
- Tornado myths debunked. The two most reoccurring themes in my nightmares are tornadoes and spiders. I am sure a Freudian psychiatrist would have a field-day with that knowledge:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110528/LIFE/105280302/0/CAROUSEL/?odyssey=nav
- A list of conservative film critics:
http://whatwouldtotowatch.com/2011/06/01/your-guide-to-conservative-film-critics/
- Internet usage in the U.S:
http://www.steverubel.me/post/6142641472/internet-adoption-chart
- Walking to work, if you pass by a homeless person playing music for hand-outs, do you listen to the music? Do you pay attention at all? What if the person was a WORLD-CLASS musician playing some of the most difficult music ever composed? Do you think you would notice? The Washington Post put this idea to the test. Amazing article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
- A teenager with a useless limb volunteers to have the limb hacked-off, and replaced with a bionic limb:
http://io9.com/5803399/voluntary-amputees-opt-for-bionic-hands-over-real-ones
- When traveling, why does the trip home always feel shorter? Personally, I think it's because on the way home, we are full of new memories and experiences to think about:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201105/how-long-will-it-take-get-home
- Why TV ads are louder than TV shows. Quick spoiler...they aren't:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/st_loudtvads/
- Tornado myths debunked. The two most reoccurring themes in my nightmares are tornadoes and spiders. I am sure a Freudian psychiatrist would have a field-day with that knowledge:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110528/LIFE/105280302/0/CAROUSEL/?odyssey=nav
- A list of conservative film critics:
http://whatwouldtotowatch.com/2011/06/01/your-guide-to-conservative-film-critics/
- Internet usage in the U.S:
http://www.steverubel.me/post/6142641472/internet-adoption-chart
Friday, May 13, 2011
Schroeder plays the 7th symphony on a tablet PC
- The King's Speech. Damn good movie. Best movie I have seen in years. Definitely in my all-time top 30 list. During the future king's first speech, and during his last speech, haunting music plays in the background. I finally got around to finding the source of this music. Beethoven's 7th symphony. I should have known. Ludwig Van...the gift that keeps on giving:
- The end of the printed book? I scored an android tablet at the Google IO this week. I plan on using it for eBook reading. I have family members who are voracious readers, but haven't bought printed books in months:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383938,00.asp
- Top ten diminished sporting events. Happy to see the world series on this list:
http://www.realclearsports.com/lists/diminished_sporting_events/
- The last World War I veteran has died. Thirty years from now, the last WW2 veteran will likely have passed away:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/europe/06choules.html?_r=1
- Peanuts cartoons with the last panel removed. Charles Schulz always put the punch-line in the 4th (last) panel. Without the last panel, his pleasant cartoons become bleak and existential:
- The end of the printed book? I scored an android tablet at the Google IO this week. I plan on using it for eBook reading. I have family members who are voracious readers, but haven't bought printed books in months:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383938,00.asp
- Top ten diminished sporting events. Happy to see the world series on this list:
http://www.realclearsports.com/lists/diminished_sporting_events/
- The last World War I veteran has died. Thirty years from now, the last WW2 veteran will likely have passed away:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/europe/06choules.html?_r=1
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Glengarry dons a tux and speeds along the digital super-highway
- David Mamet, one of the great playwrights of the past thirty years, explains why he transformed from a brain-dead liberal to a real person. Greg Gutfeld wonders if Mamet can professionally survive the blacklisting he will surely suffer from the Hollywood and east coast pseudo-intelligencia. I think Mamet is so talented he will make it through this:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-03-11/news/why-i-am-no-longer-a-brain-dead-liberal/
- How many hours of practice does it take to become an expert at something? People who have studied this claim it's around 10,000 hours. One man puts it to the test, using golf as his subject:
http://www.tampabay.com/features/can-a-complete-novice-become-a-golf-pro-with-10000-hours-of-practice/1159357
- Mankind nears the end of the Age of Speed. If you think about it, this is kind of depressing (and significant.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704587004576242450234233350.html
- An interactive map and timeline of every war from the past 500 years. Uber-fun:
http://www.conflicthistory.com/#/period/1918-1922
-A history of every football helmet, from every team you can think of:
http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/
- You have probably seen the 30 second version of this commercial on TV. Clever commercial and very catchy tune. This cat's gotta be the son of The Most Interesting Man in the World. A link to the full commercial and the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we1c5uzYsTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5h-LAvQDCQ
- Why humans are more related than you think. Except for Michael Moore. He has no genetic connection to anything carbon-based:
http://io9.com/#!5791530/why-humans-all-much-more-related-than-you-think
- What Monty Python taught me about the software industry:
http://www.softwarequalityconnection.com/2011/04/what-monty-python-taught-me-about-the-software-industry/
- Why blue-ray has failed to catch on. Two words, "The Stream"
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/19/feeling-blue-blu-ray/
- Top 100 quotes from 30 Rock. My favorite? "It's after 6PM. What am I, a farmer?" I want to go there.
http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/30-rock/100-awesome-30-rock-quotes-58992.aspx
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-03-11/news/why-i-am-no-longer-a-brain-dead-liberal/
- How many hours of practice does it take to become an expert at something? People who have studied this claim it's around 10,000 hours. One man puts it to the test, using golf as his subject:
http://www.tampabay.com/features/can-a-complete-novice-become-a-golf-pro-with-10000-hours-of-practice/1159357
- Mankind nears the end of the Age of Speed. If you think about it, this is kind of depressing (and significant.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704587004576242450234233350.html
- An interactive map and timeline of every war from the past 500 years. Uber-fun:
http://www.conflicthistory.com/#/period/1918-1922
-A history of every football helmet, from every team you can think of:
http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/
- You have probably seen the 30 second version of this commercial on TV. Clever commercial and very catchy tune. This cat's gotta be the son of The Most Interesting Man in the World. A link to the full commercial and the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we1c5uzYsTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5h-LAvQDCQ
- Why humans are more related than you think. Except for Michael Moore. He has no genetic connection to anything carbon-based:
http://io9.com/#!5791530/why-humans-all-much-more-related-than-you-think
- What Monty Python taught me about the software industry:
http://www.softwarequalityconnection.com/2011/04/what-monty-python-taught-me-about-the-software-industry/
- Why blue-ray has failed to catch on. Two words, "The Stream"
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/19/feeling-blue-blu-ray/
- Top 100 quotes from 30 Rock. My favorite? "It's after 6PM. What am I, a farmer?" I want to go there.
http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/30-rock/100-awesome-30-rock-quotes-58992.aspx
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Captain Kirk saves radiated government shut-down
- Tech firms purposely hire people with Asperger's syndrome. This doesn't really surprise me. I had several computer science classes with kids who clearly suffered from mild Asperger's syndrome:
http://gizmodo.com/#!5769261
- A few years ago I discovered the wonderful writings of Matt Labash. I ignored his stuff (at my own peril) and now I am back reading to his articles. Matt's writing style reminds me of Berkeley Breathed, PJ O'rourke, and Thomas Wolfe, although I don't consider Matt quite as strong a writer as any of those three. I suspect my website readers have quite a bit in common with Matt. Give him a try. At a minimum, read his weekly faux-advice column. You won't be disappointed:
http://dailycaller.com/2010/01/11/welcome-to-ask-matt-labash/
- How old is old? Depends on where you live:
http://www.aging-online.com/how-old-is-old-depends-on-where-you-live
- Another article about humans living much longer lives. Get use to me posting these articles. I truly believe human-life spans will dramatically increase sometime in the next 100 years:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/who-wants-to-live-for-ever-a-scientific-breakthrough-could-mean-humans-live-for-hundreds-of-years-772418.html
- 1976 video with William Shatner explaining what a microprocessor is and why microprocessors are important. Fun stuff:
http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2011/3/11/AT&T-Archives-Microworld
- What certain levels of radiation will do to you, and how much radiation do certain events/places create:
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2011/03/xkcd.jpg
- Never build a model train set of your home town in the basement. Here's why:
http://xkcd.com/878/
- All-time domestic movie box-office, adjusted for inflation:
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?adjust_yr=2011&p=.htm
- Some of the major motion-picture studios want to stream movies to your television a mere sixty days after they have been released in the theaters, for $30. Thirty bucks, at initial glance, seems like a lot of moolah, but let's think about it further. It might be a bargain. You don't have to drive to the movie theater. You don't have to buy watered-down drinks or nasty junk food for outrageous prices. You always have the best seat in the house, at your own house. You don't have to put up with some annoying kid sitting behind you talking too much or kicking your seat. You don't have to drive home after the movie. It seems to me that movie theaters's days are numbered. Kind of like the drive-in:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/09/theater-owners-ready-to-fight-over-30-60-day-window-vod-movies/
- Late last night house Republicans struck a deal with Obama and senate democrats to cut 39.8 billion from the 2011 federal budget, thus narrowly avoiding a government shut-down. Being a die-hard, fiscal conservative, you would think I would be rightly pissed-off that Washington is only chopping off 39.8 billion from a budget that is trillions in the red. Well, guess what? I am proud of my representatives in Washington. Democracy is a messy business. Democracy is never easy, and it never goes how you want it to go. Despite the tsunami sweep of Republicans into the house last November, the country is still a very polarized place. There are still millions of liberals and progressives in this country who not only don't want to cut a dime from government spending, but actually want to increase it. We need deep, deep cuts in our federal budget. With the current political climate, and the current political make-up of the house and senate, it's impossible to get those cuts. As representative-R Daniel Issa said last night, "“We control one-half of one-third of the government. I think that when you come as far as we’ve come, $79 billion less than it would have been had we not taken control of one-half of one-third of the government, that’s pretty darn good.”
If house Republicans had pushed for much deeper cuts, one of two things likely would have happened:
1. The government shuts-down, and Republicans get blamed. Exact same scenario as 1995. It damaged Republicans in the 1996 elections, and it would have damage Republicans in the 2012 elections. Obama owns the bully-pulpit. It's very easy for a president to turn congress into the bad guys. It's easy because congress is a large group of people, with no true individual who commands as much media attention as the president, making it almost impossible to fight back against the president's individual attacks. Clinton knew this in 1996, and took huge advantage of it. Obama would have done the same.
2. Making monumental spending cuts right now will highly motivate liberals, progressives and independents to vote in 2012. Too many Americans are completely dependent on the government cheese. You quickly take that money away, and they will turn on you. You want a balanced budget? Putting democrats back in office will accomplish the opposite. America is a slightly center-right country. Elections are often decided by which side is more upset and more motivated to vote. It's a shame democracy works like that. I wish we could get massive cuts quickly passed, but we can't. You want a government that can rapidly make changes? Then you don't want a democracy. Trust me, you don't want to try any other form of government. Here's two articles explaining how we averted the government shut-down and who ultimately won:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52853_Page2.html
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/09/who-won-shutdown-showdown-it-wasnt-even-close
http://gizmodo.com/#!5769261
- A few years ago I discovered the wonderful writings of Matt Labash. I ignored his stuff (at my own peril) and now I am back reading to his articles. Matt's writing style reminds me of Berkeley Breathed, PJ O'rourke, and Thomas Wolfe, although I don't consider Matt quite as strong a writer as any of those three. I suspect my website readers have quite a bit in common with Matt. Give him a try. At a minimum, read his weekly faux-advice column. You won't be disappointed:
http://dailycaller.com/2010/01/11/welcome-to-ask-matt-labash/
- How old is old? Depends on where you live:
http://www.aging-online.com/how-old-is-old-depends-on-where-you-live
- Another article about humans living much longer lives. Get use to me posting these articles. I truly believe human-life spans will dramatically increase sometime in the next 100 years:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/who-wants-to-live-for-ever-a-scientific-breakthrough-could-mean-humans-live-for-hundreds-of-years-772418.html
- 1976 video with William Shatner explaining what a microprocessor is and why microprocessors are important. Fun stuff:
http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2011/3/11/AT&T-Archives-Microworld
- What certain levels of radiation will do to you, and how much radiation do certain events/places create:
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2011/03/xkcd.jpg
- Never build a model train set of your home town in the basement. Here's why:
http://xkcd.com/878/
- All-time domestic movie box-office, adjusted for inflation:
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?adjust_yr=2011&p=.htm
- Some of the major motion-picture studios want to stream movies to your television a mere sixty days after they have been released in the theaters, for $30. Thirty bucks, at initial glance, seems like a lot of moolah, but let's think about it further. It might be a bargain. You don't have to drive to the movie theater. You don't have to buy watered-down drinks or nasty junk food for outrageous prices. You always have the best seat in the house, at your own house. You don't have to put up with some annoying kid sitting behind you talking too much or kicking your seat. You don't have to drive home after the movie. It seems to me that movie theaters's days are numbered. Kind of like the drive-in:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/09/theater-owners-ready-to-fight-over-30-60-day-window-vod-movies/
- Late last night house Republicans struck a deal with Obama and senate democrats to cut 39.8 billion from the 2011 federal budget, thus narrowly avoiding a government shut-down. Being a die-hard, fiscal conservative, you would think I would be rightly pissed-off that Washington is only chopping off 39.8 billion from a budget that is trillions in the red. Well, guess what? I am proud of my representatives in Washington. Democracy is a messy business. Democracy is never easy, and it never goes how you want it to go. Despite the tsunami sweep of Republicans into the house last November, the country is still a very polarized place. There are still millions of liberals and progressives in this country who not only don't want to cut a dime from government spending, but actually want to increase it. We need deep, deep cuts in our federal budget. With the current political climate, and the current political make-up of the house and senate, it's impossible to get those cuts. As representative-R Daniel Issa said last night, "“We control one-half of one-third of the government. I think that when you come as far as we’ve come, $79 billion less than it would have been had we not taken control of one-half of one-third of the government, that’s pretty darn good.”
If house Republicans had pushed for much deeper cuts, one of two things likely would have happened:
1. The government shuts-down, and Republicans get blamed. Exact same scenario as 1995. It damaged Republicans in the 1996 elections, and it would have damage Republicans in the 2012 elections. Obama owns the bully-pulpit. It's very easy for a president to turn congress into the bad guys. It's easy because congress is a large group of people, with no true individual who commands as much media attention as the president, making it almost impossible to fight back against the president's individual attacks. Clinton knew this in 1996, and took huge advantage of it. Obama would have done the same.
2. Making monumental spending cuts right now will highly motivate liberals, progressives and independents to vote in 2012. Too many Americans are completely dependent on the government cheese. You quickly take that money away, and they will turn on you. You want a balanced budget? Putting democrats back in office will accomplish the opposite. America is a slightly center-right country. Elections are often decided by which side is more upset and more motivated to vote. It's a shame democracy works like that. I wish we could get massive cuts quickly passed, but we can't. You want a government that can rapidly make changes? Then you don't want a democracy. Trust me, you don't want to try any other form of government. Here's two articles explaining how we averted the government shut-down and who ultimately won:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52853_Page2.html
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/09/who-won-shutdown-showdown-it-wasnt-even-close
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Watson, Oscar and Remo take a ride in my Mustang
- Annual Oscar predictions:
Best Picture: The King's Speech. A mature movie with great acting and earnest dialog. Hollywood doesn't make these kind of movies anymore.
Best Director: David Fincher. Bleh. Any movie written by Sorkin should be cast aside. I am fed-up with smug characters quickly talking at each other, instead of to each other.
Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Actress: Padme Amidala, opps...I mean Natalie Portman.
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale. Pulling for Geoffrey Rush. Rush is incapable of delivering a bad line.
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo. The most wide-open race of the night. Anyone could win.
For further predictions, try these two links:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20311937_20463415,00.html#20915551
http://www.moviefone.com/oscars-academy-awards/features/oscar-predictions
- Remo Williams reboot. The original flick felt like a bad TV-movie, but Chiun was one heck of a wicked character. If they cast Chiun correctly, the remake could be worth watching:
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jmullaney/2011/02/09/rebooted-remo-williams-could-be-the-next-indiana-jones-if-hollywood-doesnt-blow-it-again/
- Watson trashed the two human players on Jeopardy. I watched the whole thing. I was slightly disappointed with the computer getting fed questions through text messages, and not listening to Alex Trebek's voice. Seems a little like cheating. How close are we to a computer that can truly think?
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_machine_age_tM7xPAv4pI4JslK0M1JtxI/0
- History of the Ford Mustang. Bought a new Mustang a few weeks ago. I have orbited around the Sun almost forty times, and only now am I taking an interest in how an automobile actually works:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/image/100316208_ford-mustang-history
- Are you getting eight hours of continuous sleep each night? No? Here's why you should not worry:
http://www.livescience.com/12891-natural-sleep.html
- Alcohol consumption per country:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/02/daily_chart_global_alcohol_consumption
- Ambidextrous people are easier to manipulate than right-handed people. I doubt this is true. Oh wait, well maybe it is. I cannot decide. I am going back and forth. What do you think? I will follow your judgement:
http://io9.com/#!5766480
Best Picture: The King's Speech. A mature movie with great acting and earnest dialog. Hollywood doesn't make these kind of movies anymore.
Best Director: David Fincher. Bleh. Any movie written by Sorkin should be cast aside. I am fed-up with smug characters quickly talking at each other, instead of to each other.
Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Actress: Padme Amidala, opps...I mean Natalie Portman.
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale. Pulling for Geoffrey Rush. Rush is incapable of delivering a bad line.
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo. The most wide-open race of the night. Anyone could win.
For further predictions, try these two links:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20311937_20463415,00.html#20915551
http://www.moviefone.com/oscars-academy-awards/features/oscar-predictions
- Remo Williams reboot. The original flick felt like a bad TV-movie, but Chiun was one heck of a wicked character. If they cast Chiun correctly, the remake could be worth watching:
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jmullaney/2011/02/09/rebooted-remo-williams-could-be-the-next-indiana-jones-if-hollywood-doesnt-blow-it-again/
- Watson trashed the two human players on Jeopardy. I watched the whole thing. I was slightly disappointed with the computer getting fed questions through text messages, and not listening to Alex Trebek's voice. Seems a little like cheating. How close are we to a computer that can truly think?
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_machine_age_tM7xPAv4pI4JslK0M1JtxI/0
- History of the Ford Mustang. Bought a new Mustang a few weeks ago. I have orbited around the Sun almost forty times, and only now am I taking an interest in how an automobile actually works:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/image/100316208_ford-mustang-history
- Are you getting eight hours of continuous sleep each night? No? Here's why you should not worry:
http://www.livescience.com/12891-natural-sleep.html
- Alcohol consumption per country:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/02/daily_chart_global_alcohol_consumption
- Ambidextrous people are easier to manipulate than right-handed people. I doubt this is true. Oh wait, well maybe it is. I cannot decide. I am going back and forth. What do you think? I will follow your judgement:
http://io9.com/#!5766480
Sunday, February 06, 2011
The Gipper and Jackie Robinson loved pasta
- The ruins of Detroit. Certain parts of Detroit literally have become ruins. The government and private industry don't have the funds to rebuild these areas. Families don't want to live in these areas. These "ruins" will stay this way for a long, long time:
http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html
- Dumbest reviews of classic movies:
http://www.trutv.com/dumb_as_a_blog/gallery/dumbest-reviews-of-classic-movies.all.html?link=DCF
- Is science-fiction getting more conservative?
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/is-science-fiction-getting-more-conservative/
- Who was worse, Hitler or Stalin?
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/jan/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/
- Jackie Robinson was a Republican. Very cool:
http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/blog/2011/01/jackie-robinson-republican.html
- The case for moving the Super Bowl to a Saturday. NFL regular season games are mostly played on Sundays. For numerous reasons, I have always felt the Super Bowl should be on a Saturday:
http://blogs.forbes.com/marketshare/2011/02/03/the-case-for-moving-super-bowl-to-saturday/
- What kind of pasta are you eating? An exhaustive chart:
http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pasta-types-rigatoni.jpg
- Five myths about Ronald Reagan:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020403106.html
http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html
- Dumbest reviews of classic movies:
http://www.trutv.com/dumb_as_a_blog/gallery/dumbest-reviews-of-classic-movies.all.html?link=DCF
- Is science-fiction getting more conservative?
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/is-science-fiction-getting-more-conservative/
- Who was worse, Hitler or Stalin?
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/jan/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/
- Jackie Robinson was a Republican. Very cool:
http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/blog/2011/01/jackie-robinson-republican.html
- The case for moving the Super Bowl to a Saturday. NFL regular season games are mostly played on Sundays. For numerous reasons, I have always felt the Super Bowl should be on a Saturday:
http://blogs.forbes.com/marketshare/2011/02/03/the-case-for-moving-super-bowl-to-saturday/
- What kind of pasta are you eating? An exhaustive chart:
http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pasta-types-rigatoni.jpg
- Five myths about Ronald Reagan:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020403106.html
Sunday, January 23, 2011
How I met Harry Houdini in a gully
- What's the difference between storage and stowage?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/storage+or+stowage
- Why left turns should be illegal:
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/14/should-left-turns-be-illegal/
- Unsung actors who passed away in 2010. Of this list, Harold Gould and Steven Landesburg jump out at me. Gould was the constant professional and Landesburg always had a subtle layer of silliness behind everything he said:
http://rightwingnews.com/2011/01/some-of-the-unsung-working-actors-that-died-in-2010%E2%80%A6/
- Best time to buy certain things in 2011:
http://lifehacker.com/5736625/the-best-times-to-buy-anything-in-2011
- Want to be a super-hero? Harry Houdini came about as close as anyone. Emulate him:
http://artofmanliness.com/2010/12/20/lessons-in-manliness-from-harry-houdini/
- People with names at the end of the alphabet are more likely to be impulsive buyers than those at the front. Makes perfect sense if you think about it:
http://io9.com/5737510/people-at-the-end-of-the-alphabet-are-more-impulsive-buyers-than-those-at-the-front
- Want to see a second sun in the sky? The star Betelguese will soon (astronomically speaking) go super-nova, causing a massive burst of starlight which will last for several weeks. Should be completely harmless to us:
http://io9.com/5738542/earth-may-soon-have-a-second-sun
- Which sports are most popular in the U.S? I should carry this list in my wallet. Incredibly useful list when debating with someone at a sports bar:
http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/football-remains-1-us-sport-15798/harris-favorite-sport-jan-2011jpg/
- What do the numbers on your credit card really mean? The numbers are not random:
http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CrackingCreditCode11.jpg
- What is a gully? I was exploring Welchman's gully last week:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gully
http://www.welchmanhallgullybarbados.com/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/storage+or+stowage
- Why left turns should be illegal:
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/14/should-left-turns-be-illegal/
- Unsung actors who passed away in 2010. Of this list, Harold Gould and Steven Landesburg jump out at me. Gould was the constant professional and Landesburg always had a subtle layer of silliness behind everything he said:
http://rightwingnews.com/2011/01/some-of-the-unsung-working-actors-that-died-in-2010%E2%80%A6/
- Best time to buy certain things in 2011:
http://lifehacker.com/5736625/the-best-times-to-buy-anything-in-2011
- Want to be a super-hero? Harry Houdini came about as close as anyone. Emulate him:
http://artofmanliness.com/2010/12/20/lessons-in-manliness-from-harry-houdini/
- People with names at the end of the alphabet are more likely to be impulsive buyers than those at the front. Makes perfect sense if you think about it:
http://io9.com/5737510/people-at-the-end-of-the-alphabet-are-more-impulsive-buyers-than-those-at-the-front
- Want to see a second sun in the sky? The star Betelguese will soon (astronomically speaking) go super-nova, causing a massive burst of starlight which will last for several weeks. Should be completely harmless to us:
http://io9.com/5738542/earth-may-soon-have-a-second-sun
- Which sports are most popular in the U.S? I should carry this list in my wallet. Incredibly useful list when debating with someone at a sports bar:
http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/football-remains-1-us-sport-15798/harris-favorite-sport-jan-2011jpg/
- What do the numbers on your credit card really mean? The numbers are not random:
http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CrackingCreditCode11.jpg
- What is a gully? I was exploring Welchman's gully last week:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gully
http://www.welchmanhallgullybarbados.com/
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Watson travels the states without a floppy disk
- Tomorrow (January 14th) a computer built by IBM will match wits against Jeopardy's two greatest champions. The contest will be shown on television in February. Deep Blue beat Kasparov in chess over 12 years ago, so you might be thinking to yourself, "why is this a big deal? The computer will crush them." The computer may very well win, but programming a computer to handle voice input and natural language processing in such a fashion that it can play an effective game of Jeopardy really is a big deal! More about the match:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101214/ap_en_tv/us_tv_man_vs_machine
- When you type the name of a state into a Google search, what is the first thing you see at the top of the search results?
- Hunter S. Thompson's description of derby week at the Kentucky Derby. I may have provided a link to this article years ago. It's worth another read:http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1192515
- Top fifty programming quotes of all-time:
http://www.junauza.com/2010/12/top-50-programming-quotes-of-all-time.html
- Twenty things I learned about browsers and the web:
http://www.20thingsilearned.com/home
- Why is the hard-drive of a personal computer designated with the letter C:? Why not A or B? To people of a certain age, this is a silly question. Similar to asking who is Johnny Carson, or asking someone if they have ever seen a phonebook. To young people however, this is a legitimate question:
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/what-are-the-windows-a-and-b-drives-used-for-20110112/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101214/ap_en_tv/us_tv_man_vs_machine
- When you type the name of a state into a Google search, what is the first thing you see at the top of the search results?
- Hunter S. Thompson's description of derby week at the Kentucky Derby. I may have provided a link to this article years ago. It's worth another read:
- Top fifty programming quotes of all-time:
http://www.junauza.com/2010/12/top-50-programming-quotes-of-all-time.html
- Twenty things I learned about browsers and the web:
http://www.20thingsilearned.com/home
- Why is the hard-drive of a personal computer designated with the letter C:? Why not A or B? To people of a certain age, this is a silly question. Similar to asking who is Johnny Carson, or asking someone if they have ever seen a phonebook. To young people however, this is a legitimate question:
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/what-are-the-windows-a-and-b-drives-used-for-20110112/
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Donald Draper's Thanksgiving dystopia
- Seven future dystopias where liberals have won. *Shiver*
http://io9.com/5044657/best-future-dystopias-where-the-liberals-have-won
http://io9.com/5044657/best-future-dystopias-where-the-liberals-have-won
- Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist tells the tale of the world’s first computer:
- How people from 1910 looked at Thanksgiving in 1810:
- Do you know the difference between a seal and a sea-lion?
- Five commonly repeated words to hunt down in your writing:
- The real Don Draper:
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