A visiting sixth grader stepped out of the restroom at Sophie’s school at an event this evening and remarked to his friend:
This bathroom is so old school. To get a paper towel you have to push a little thing.
Not to mention you have to rub it on your hands to get the water off and then find a “trash can” to dispose of the used device. It’s so… analog!
This little wooden box has a switch. And it really doesn’t want you to turn on the switch.
(via Kottke)
See if you can name every country in the world over at sporacle.
You get only seven minutes, but the game will help you out tremendously by automatically naming every country that borders the ones you type. So just entering “Russia” will also get you credit for Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. Plus Lithauania and Poland. You forgot Kalingrad was over there, didn’t you.
I managed only 158 of the 195 countries included (since some disputed territories like Palestine and Western Sahara aren’t counted). I think that’s a B minus, though if my math is as rusty as my geography it could be anything.
Think it’s too easy having all the bordering countries handed to you for free? Not to worry! You can also try to name all 195 countries without any hints in 15 minutes. You do at least get to see a blank world map there which is labeled as you go. I managed only 150 countries there.
If you’re discovering you need to brush up on your geography skills, I recommend the games over at Sheppard Software. They’re designed to teach, not quiz. You can choose a region (either a whole continent, or just a few countries at a time) and then click each country as its named appears and is spoken. If you miss (twice) the game will show you where the country is so you can learn quickly from your mistakes.
Maybe with enough practice you’ll be able to identify all the countries by their capital city.
I’m delighted to discover that Sarah Kay spoke at TED2011, reciting two poems already featured here but then speaking so eloquently on her experiences learning and teaching spoken word poetry as to render her entire presentation poetic.
Technology is ruining us.
I walked into the living room the other day to find Sophie watching live television and frantically pressing the pause button to no effect. She didn’t ask me, “How does this work?” or even “Which button do I push?” She just sighed an exasperated and frustrated, “The pause button’s broken!”
I diagnosed the problem immediately: we don’t have TiVo on that television. She was holding the remote control for the DVD player. But in the short months we’ve had a TiVo in the other room she’s learned that it’s possible to pause live TV and skip commercials, and has apparently concluded that all television has always worked that way, and it’s just that nobody ever bothered to tell her before.
Life Before Google
That’s not an unreasonable assumption for a child at age five. She also learned recently that cars have red lights on the back to tell you when they’re stopping — which really is how it’s always been; she just hasn’t been tall enough to see them before. The difference between something that’s new to her and something that’s new to the world is subtle.
My understanding of modern technology will always be colored by growing up as it was invented. Cellular phones are a natural progression from cordless phones, which followed from wired phones before them. Dial-up modems led to wired networks and then (recently) to ubiquitous Wi-Fi. Understanding one technology goes a long way toward understanding its successors.
But to a child growing up today, a “computer” by definition has instantaneous access to the whole of human knowledge. She’s never had to wonder about anything, since if she asks a question I can’t answer we just sit down with Wikipedia and Google Images and surf until all curiosity is satisfied. That’s what computers are for.
When Sophie was playing with a slinky yesterday I bemoaned not having any stairs in our apartment, and she didn’t understand what use stairs could be with a slinky! Without missing a beat, the next words out of my mouth were, “Let’s find a video of a slinky going down stairs on YouTube.”
And all that brings us to Julia Sweeney’s cautionary monologue titled Sex Ed on (among other things) the dangers of turning too often to the Internet for answers:
Dear Longmont,
I’m pretty sure this isn’t how it works:
Cinco de Mayo?
But maybe later we can celebrate the Fourth of July on July 6th?
It's a UNIX System
Movies are infamously terrible at depicting computers with even a modicum of accuracy. Even UNIX gurus raised an eyebrow in confusion when Lex announced in Jurassic Park, “It’s a UNIX system! I know this!” (In fairness, she was at least looking at a real application, but not one readily recognizable as “UNIX”.)
In delightful contrast to the stereotypical Hollywood computer experience, Joshua Nimoy describes creating the special effects for Tron Legacy. I particularly enjoy the use of emacs.
(via kottke)
Dear Southwest Airlines,
I’m not entirely sure you’re using the phrase “on time” the way the rest of us are. Let’s review how you reported on Fight 1215’s status tonight:
"On Time" is just Another Word for "Delayed"
You’re acknowledging that when a flight leaves three hours later than scheduled it’s “Delayed”. But in what system of timekeeping did you conclude that a 12:30 am arrival for a 9:20 schedule is “On Time”?
I’ll tell you what happened. Your developer forgot about dates when writing code that probably looks something like this:
if (scheduledArrivalTime < publishedArrivalTime) { return "On Time"; }
See, even though 12:30 am is earlier in the day than 9:30 pm, the flight is still unquestionably delayed.
We’re just hoping the same person didn’t write the software that helps land the planes.
Sincerely,
Someone who will be leaving for the airport long after this plane should have been here
Okay, one more. These are just way too awesome. Here’s Law and Order: Special Letters Unit
“In the alphabet system there are 26 letters. The detectives who investigate these ABCs are members of an elite squad called the Special Letters Unit. These are their stories. [chung chung]”
Sesame Street should get medals for this stuff. I hereby delightedly present: Meal or No Meal with Howie Eatswell.
I honestly can’t decide if my favorite part is the muppet’s earrings or the fact that he keeps taking calls from “The Baker”.