June 2012
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Amazing Optical Illusions
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born to run, ran to be born
Here’s a pretty convincing argument that, as a species, we should be cheering on the marathoners because they’re displaying the quality we have in spades over all other mammals.
There’s no evidence that early Stone Age hunters had weapons much better than sharp sticks. Such armaments would have required them to kill prey animals at close quarters, where they would have been at...
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awesome slow motion skateboard tricks are awesome
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WatchTwo Little Girls Explain The Worst Haircut Ever
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politics aside. . .
Josh Marshall at TPM wrote this: “I have some thoughts on the politics of this — mainly because the politics is what I have some expertise to speak about. But that will be my next post. Before I do that I wanted to state very clearly that the politics of the decision pales before its substance, a fact that I suspect will get little attention today. This decision will have a massive effect on...
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Korean soap
I just listened to a podcast by NPR’s Planet Money. They profile the guy that started this website, Drama Fever, that started by wanting to be the “Hulu of Korean soap operas” that are surprisingly addictive and ubiquitous across East Asia. Here’s the description of one, Flower Boy Ramen Shop:
Cha Chi Soo (Jung Il Woo of 49 Days) is an arrogant high school student who...
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BIRDS WITH ARMS
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The results are in on the SCOTUS ruling on Arizona’s immigration law. Hey, wait a second…
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“It’s almost as though without any kind of competition, Spain’s...”
– Chris Ryan over at Grantland.
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the world's smallest chase scene
An escaped prisoner is chased through an office by a determined pursuer. No CGI tricks here… just an iphone and a tiny, tiny projector.
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Want to feel more optimistic about the state of...
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cucumbers and aged beer?
It seems as though there’s something to the idea that old person smell is a real thing.
Together, the evidence indicates that people recognize a characteristic “old people smell” not because of the aroma’s intensity or offensiveness, but because of its uniqueness compared to the body odors of younger people. “I think it’s true that old people smell a certain...
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buy better, less often
Slate’s republished a section of a new book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, that talks about where your clothes go after they hit the Salvation Army.
What American doesn’t have something hanging in his or her closet worn only once or twice, a pair of pants waiting for a diet, or even a brand-new dress or jacket with the tags still on? Common sense and everyday...
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flashed face distortion
Flashed-face distortion is a really interesting phenomenon that happens when your brain begins to focus on the differences between two faces when put side by side… everyone starts to look like weirder versions of the folks in the video for Black Hole Sun.
Like many interesting scientific discoveries, this one was an accident. Sean Murphy, an undergraduate student, was working alone in the...
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the other shoe
Well, it seems that the lawsuit that’s been in the post finally dropped—80 players filing a single suit. on the NFL’s doorstep. I read this story a while back that suggested that a suit like this would set the wheels in motion causing big changes—most of them bad for the league… I’m curious if this will come to pass or if it’ll all get swept under the rug...
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The Mindy Project keeps snagging good people
from Splitsider:
Matt Warburton, who spent last year working on Community after 10 years onThe Simpsons, has been named as an executive producer of The Mindy Project. Just like Robert Carlock has been doing for Tina Fey on 30 Rock, Warburton is expected to help supplement some of Kaling’s showrunning duties. Joining Warburton is Community writing staff all-star Chris McKenna, writer of...
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the next great technology: the bicycle
A great little story in The Atlantic about how the “the most hackable simple machine on the planet” is changing it in terms of the design of cities, social communities, and even in terms of technology with things like the The Copenhagen Wheel project.
Most importantly though, bicycles are an intrinsic part of how we imagine and design the city of the future. They will play a...
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airline seating as metaphor
This was a comment from the recent piece in Slate on Southwest Airlines. I thought it was noteworthy.
The seat assignment method is a perfect depiction of a class society.
The As treat one another with courtesy and ease… no one pushes, they allow other As to cut. The As get what they want in life and can relax.
The Bs have to to fret. Being the middle class, they need to fight to get...
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the loneliest place on earth
… is the women’s bathroom at a Rush concert. I was a Rush fan in high school and, having seen them live twice (once in high school, once in college), I realize that whatever catnip is to the cats… Rush is the opposite of that for girls (and a lot of guys, too)… but for adolescent boys it’s the former (i.e. catnip).
Ladies, let us ask you a question. Do you like you...
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pass the suncreen
Something to give you a little pause before you hit the beach this summer, and the best example of “a picture is worth a thousand words” I’ve seen in a while. This guy, who was written about in the NEJM, worked as a truck driver and had—for almost his whole career—sun exposure primarily on one side of his face. Pretty amazing.
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quick primer on Euro 2012 storylines
Grantland’s The Reducer has a piece up on the main storylines in the Euro Championship that’s going on right now… from Ronaldo to Spain to Dutch redemption…
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rex huppke on the death of facts
Facts, 360 B.C. — A.D. 2012
In memoriam: After years of health problems, Facts has finally died.
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you've been there
open mouth, insert gun… what is it with password rules? jason kottke gives a rundown of some of the worst.
also, this:
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DIY debt control
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-profit that has the stated goal of educating the public has created an interactive tool to allow you to try your hand at balancing the federal budget by 2021.
Their rationale for creating this tool and trying to educate folks:
We need to establish an ambitious yet attainable fiscal goal and commit as a nation to achieving it. Public debt at...
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