I Believe Two Things

I’ve always understood that big buildings use lightning rods to attract lightning strikes away from smaller buildings nearby, but understanding that in theory isn’t the same as seeing it in action in this photograph that Alain Aguilar contributed to The Big Picture last week (of a storm in May):

Lightning, from The Big Picture

The entire series of storm pictures is fascinating.

"UP!"

While baby Mila Enersen is sleeping, her mother imagines what Mila might be dreaming and enacts it in reality.

She might be a rock star, be surrounded by giant candy, or have an imaginary friend. Mrs. Enersen explains, “I use only few minutes per picture, including creating idea, implementation and editing, ’cause I don’t want to disturb her sleeping and most of my time is for my family.”

This reminds me of an Eddie from Ohio song titled Hey Little Man (recreated there by Madrigals at the Messiah Methodist Bazaar).

"A Space Odyssey 2010"

Are you gonna dream about the colors of the rainbow and the pot of gold that’s waiting at the end

May luck be by your side and the spirit be your guide

And may you know the blessing and may you know the joy and may you know the love of a true friend

(via Kottke)

I normally despise all things pertaining to Twitter, so it has perhaps taken me longer than others to discover that Charles Darwin is on Twitter now.

The posts are a real-time account (time delayed 176 years) of Darwin’s travels, culled from the Beagle Diary and from other journals, notes, et cetera that Darwin left for posterity. Upon first following the link I expected to find satire, but the reality is so much more interesting. It’s actually possible to get a sense of Darwin’s thoughts and the timeline of his voyage.

These sad updates, for example, were posted on April 7th:

What will become of me hereafter, I know not; I feel, like a ruined man, who does not see or care how to extricate himself

It is a comfortable reflection to me, that a ship – being made of wood & iron – cannot last for ever & so this voyage must have an end.

Behind the scenes of this delightful operation is David from metaburbia, a software developer in the United Kingdom.

This story appeared today on Yahoo! News:

Can You Hear Me Now?

Wouldn’t an even more impressive story have been about the earlier climber who, after ascending Mount Everest, built a cellular phone tower?

(It was actually a satellite phone, but it’s funnier to think of a cellular tower atop Everest.)

Brian Baldeck took this picture during the Boston Marathon.  Instead of just returning the boy’s high five, the soldier tore the United States flag from his uniform and handed it down, and then gave a high five.

High Five

Katie Johnston writes in this morning’s Boston Globe on how Europe’s airport shutdowns in the wake of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano affect Boston:

Travelers’ despair aside, officials are considering the economic impact of the disruptions on Boston. Some are hoping that the loss of business from Marathon spectators who could not get here will be offset by those who can’t get out.

I’m not sure why, but this photograph from shallow_wing photography is terribly compelling:

Saci, from shallow_wing photography

I’m pretty sure this is what summer looks like.

I just stumbled onto OkTrends: the official blog of the free dating site OkCupid.

OkCupid asks members to answer questions that other members have written, and uses the answers to find good matches.  Because anybody can write a question, the topics are not limited to smoking preferences and pet ownership, but cover the entire range of human activity.  Have you been in prison?  Would you prefer to go to a movie or a musical?  How often do you shower?  Do you like trying new foods?  Should flag-burning be illegal?

The OkTrends blog studies this trove of data in the aggregate to derive some fascinating conclusions about dating in general and our society as a whole.

Consider The Case for An Older Woman. We see here, for example, what ages men prefer their partner to be.

From OkTrends

Based on their “allowable match” settings, men are perpetually okay with women a little older, but are reluctant to give up on dating a young woman.

More importantly, the heat map shows whom men are actually contacting, with green areas indicating lots of messages.  A 30 year-old man will say he’d only date someone 22 or older, but he “spends as much time messaging teenage girls as he does women his own age.”

Read the full article to see how women’s preferences compare.

OkTrends also translates data into practical advice for finding a match.  For example, see Exactly What to Say in a First Message.

It’s heartening to see that messages with “netspeak” (like “ur” and “ya”) tend to elicit responses less than 10% of the time, compared to an overall average response rate of 32%.  The word “sexy” also discourages replies, while non-physical compliments like “fascinating” encourages them.  ”Atheist” gets answers, but “God” does not.  And discussion of specific interests (“vegetarian” or “zombie”) goes a long way.

Finally, the blog dissects some of the implications of its data for our society at large, in posts like The Democrats are Doomed, or How a “Big Tent” Can be Too Big.

Economic vs. Social Beliefs

I like in particular this depiction of social vs. economic beliefs.  Perhaps we lose sight of our ideals as we get older?

Some of these broader conclusions suffer from the flaw that we can see only a snapshot in time.  People who are 50 today grew up under different conditions than people who are 20 today, and may favor their economic beliefs (for example) for reasons other than their age.  It’s fascinating either way.

Even though I’ll never need an online dating site again (nor any other form of dating, for that matter), I’ve still subscribed to this blog.

Boston Ballet’s Melissa Hough first caught my attention at this time last year when she danced the part of Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. Tonight, I had the pleasure of seeing her in the title role of the ballet’s current production, Coppélia.

Her dancing was beautiful, elegant, and precise; her acting emotional and engaging; and her smile addictive. She made the show.  And that’s saying an awful lot, given the talent and character of everyone on stage, in the orchestra, and behind the scenes of this performance.

Coppélia is the story of a girl, Swanhilde, who loves a boy who finds himself flirting from afar with someone else — someone who turns out to be just a life-sized doll atop the balcony of a toymaker’s workshop.  Swanhilde (Hough) sneaks into the workshop, puts on the doll’s clothes, and simultaneously tricks the poor dollmaker into thinking his beloved creation has come to life while showing her beau how foolish he was to think the doll was a real girl.

The story is delightful and Boston Ballet tells it perfectly with beautiful sets and costumes, devine music, and most importantly, the best dancing this side of imagination. This was one of the best performances I’ve seen of any sort in quite some time.

Coppélia continues through April 18. I suggest you try it yourself.

Design Milk published a pictorial a few days ago on offices built in people’s backyards titled The Rise of the Backyard Office. Evidently building a separate office in one’s backyard is a trend now.  Many of those pictured are elegant and intriguing (and make me jealous), but I can’t can’t quite get past this one:

dmvA’s Blob VB3

If I worked in that office, I’d feel compelled to come home every evening (across the yard, of course) with a joyful greeting of, “Nanu, Nanu!”

(Mork & Mindy?  Anybody?  Is “Nanu, Nanu” still a usable catchphrase?  How about “Shazbot?”)