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23. September 2008 by Ben.
GraphJam lets users submit horrifyingly formatted graphs of very simple information. It’s even more awesome than it sounds.
My favorites so far:
(via Wired)
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22. September 2008 by Ben.
A student named Peha de Milain has made a movie about Messrs. Levitt and Dubner of Freakonomics fame. It’s titled Les Incroyables Aventures de Steven D. Levitt et Stephen J. Dubner. It’s worth watching. (Videos are embedded at the end of that blog post.)
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22. September 2008 by Ben.
I stumbled on a wikiHow post titled, “How to Deal With Having a Boy’s Name when You’re a Girl.”
I enjoy particularly step four:
I highly doubt that showing up at school with paperwork defending your name is a way to reduce teasing. Admittedly you’ll be teased a lot less about your name, but now you’ll forever be the girl who brought Internet research to school. Naming such a celebrity is a great idea, but bringing supporting documentation really won’t help.
The last step may also be ill-advised:
Your parents created the problem by naming their daughter James. They may not have the best advice to give on the subject.
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15. September 2008 by Ben.
I was recently introduced to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which is available to watch free on hulu.com.
That’s all I’m saying on the matter.
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10. September 2008 by Ben.
Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, blogged about the infamous Plane on a Treadmill problem from the perspective of how people interpret the problem differently, and how that leads to chaos in Internet “discussions.” I enjoy the summary at the end:
So, people who go with interpretation #3 notice immediately that the plane cannot move and keep trying to condescendingly explain to the #2 crowd that nothing they say changes the basic facts of the problem. The #2 crowd is busy explaining to the #3 crowd that planes aren’t driven by their wheels. Of course, this being the internet, there’s also a #4 crowd loudly arguing that even if the plane was able to move, it couldn’t have been what hit the Pentagon.
All in all, it’s a lovely recipe for an internet argument, and it’s been had too many times. So let’s see if we can avoid that. I suggest posting stories about something that happened to you recently, and post nice things about other peoples’ stories. If you’re desperate to tell me that I’m wrong on the internet, don’t bother. I’ve snuck onto the plane into first class with the #5 crowd and we’re busy finding out how many cocktails they’ll serve while we’re waiting for the treadmill to start. God help us if, after the fourth round of drinks, someone brings up the two envelopes paradox.
It somehow reminds me of a great Simpsons quote, as a group of pirates are about to bury some treasure:
Captain, what if, instead of burying the treasure, we use it to buy things? You know, things we like?
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26. August 2008 by Ben.
Dove has an amazing viral video titled, “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.”
Bet you can’t watch it just once.
(via Knowtebook)
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30. July 2008 by Ben.
One of the best musicians I’ve heard in a long time will be performing in Middleboro next week: Ms. Kayla Ringelheim. Of course, that’s the weekend I’ll be confined nicely within the Boston city limits (for a change). I of course already marked her October 17th appearance (with Antje Duvekot) on my calendar.
This is the music that finally got me to stop listening to Wicked incessantly – and if you know me, you know that’s saying a lot. Of course, you should immediately buy both her albums on iTunes.
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29. July 2008 by Ben.
I applaud the Washington Metro’s film Metro Madness: Riding the Metro through a Service Dog’s Perspective – a 3.5 minute film narrated by a service dog riding the Metro.
I particularly enjoy the closing scene where a courteous and enlightened traveler steps aside to let the visually impaired Barbara walk through a fare gate, making the universal “you go ahead” gesture. Which she can’t see. Because she’s blind.
(Okay, she’s not completely blind. As the film points out at the opening, “Many people don’t know that you don’t need to be completely blind to use a leader dog.”)
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14. July 2008 by Ben.
From Lit 101 Class in Three Lines or Less
The Great Gatsby:
NICK: I love being rich and white.
GATSBY: Me, too, but I’d kill for the love of a woman.
DAISY: We can work with that.
(via Kottke)
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13. July 2008 by Ben.
It’s absolutely fascinating to watch Steve Jobs deliver the 2001 keynote speech introducing the iPod for the first time.
In structure it’s the same as the modern-day keynotes (and yes, we have to contrast 2001 with “modern day”) but the audience is smaller and more subdued, and even Jobs’ own enthusiasm is lower. He’s reviewing a marketing analysis for shareholders, not announcing a new product to the world.
You can almost tell that even Apple itself had no idea how far the iPod would really take them.
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