Dec 18, 2013

A human being should...

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein

Nov 18, 2013

Quote of the day

The structure of the book is unusual. It is based on the adage that the second and third most pleasurable things in the world are the drink before and the cigarette after.
From the review of Slavoj Žižek's latest book.

For more Žižek, watch why he believes The Sounds of Music is racist.

Nov 14, 2013

How do I get this

Warm donut, Nutella mousse, passionfruit gelatin, fresh strawberries and fresh kiwi.



Courtesy of Reddit.

Oct 29, 2013

Quote of the day: Stan Musial, nicest man in baseball

Bob Gibson once described his teammate, "Stan Musial is the nicest man I ever met in baseball. And to be honest, I can’t relate to that."

He also won the MVP award three times and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.



Learn more here.

Oct 28, 2013

Just lose

You know that person. The one who is never wrong. The type that digs in their heels no matter what someone else says. The one who, when they are wrong, are more right. 

This article makes a point that the person who loses an argument is actually the winner. Why?

Because they came away with a new belief, that is well thought out and convincing.
“Suppose you and I have an argument. You believe a proposition, P, and I don’t. I’ve objected, I’ve questioned, I’ve raised all sorts of counter-considerations, and in every case you’ve responded to my satisfaction. At the end of the day, I say, ‘You know what? I guess you’re right.’ So I have a new belief. And it’s not just any belief, but it’s a well-articulated, examined and battle-tested belief. Cohen continues, “So who won that argument? Well, the war metaphor seems to force us into saying you won, even though I’m the only one who made any cognitive gain.

Oct 25, 2013

Headline of the day

Deadspin's headline made me smile: 


And you know what, the donkey is photogenic.


Oct 23, 2013

Everything you wanted to know about cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese originally comes from the village of Cheddar in South West England. The cheese is actually PALE YELLOW, not orange.

More here.


Oct 22, 2013

The males are showing off

Our friend Lance Mannion tells a story about woodpecker trouble:
Uncle Merlin called in from the Cape this morning to report he’s having woodpecker trouble. Judging by his description, a female downy has punched a hole in the eave of his house. He wanted to know how to drive her away. 
“I can’t have her building a nest in there and having babies.” 
I assured him that’s not what was happening. Downies don’t nest until the spring. What she’s doing is building a little apartment for herself for the winter. 
Uncle Merlin was not mollified. “Well, I don’t want her banging away up there all winter either.” 
She won’t be doing any banging. 
“I heard her!” 
When? 
“I don’t know. Last time I was down here. Two weeks ago?” 
That might not have been her. 
“Of course it was her. It’s her hole!” 
It didn’t take her two weeks to make that hole. A day, tops, and she did it quietly. Lots of poking and pecking with her beak. But no banging. That’s not how they work. The banging you heard was probably a male woodpecker showing off.
Rest of the story here.

I'll let the teens take this one


Oct 5, 2013

Oct 3, 2013

Doritos - engineered to stop you from stopping

This post is dedicated to that special someone who loves Doritos and never reads this blog.


NYTimes has a great article on how Doritos are created, from flavor to color, in order to make them irresistible. You love them because you can't help it.
Despite the powerful tastes in Nacho Cheese, the Doritos formula balances them so well that no single flavor lingers in the mind after you’ve eaten a chip. This avoids what food scientists call “sensory specific satiety,” or the feeling of fullness caused by a dominant flavor. Would you eat a whole bag of rosemary chips? With Doritos, you go back for more.
It gets better here.

Sep 30, 2013

WTF visualizations

WTF Visualizations is pretty self-explanatory. It shows graphics that make no sense. 

Here are couple of more complicated ones. But it turns out that people mess up plenty of easy stuff.



Sep 26, 2013

Cool maps

Slightly Warped has collected interesting maps. 

Here's a map of literal Chinese translations for country names.


On this map, red denotes countries that the British have invaded.


Check out more maps here.

Sep 24, 2013

Why beer is like Terry Gross and coffee is like seeing a snake

Beer makes you relaxed. It melts away your worries. People become more interesting. Better looking. Funnier. The world feels grander. Ideas pop up in your head. Boring subjects become fascinating. Just like when you listen to Terry Gross. 

Coffee is like seeing a big snake in front of you. You become edgy. You jump higher and run faster. You do whatever it takes. And then you crash, either from fatigue or the snake poison.


More at Lifehack.



Aug 16, 2013

Pepsi-flavored Cheetos

You love Pepsi. You love Cheetos. And you will love love Pepsi Cheetos!


People who are against it don't understand America. 

Only available in Japan.


Aug 9, 2013

Best of Vine

Vine is a service that allows you to share 6 second videos.  This is a compilation of the best vines out there.

Most of them were very original and funny. It starts getting great at 0:58.

P.S. Despite the cover image, it's safe for work.

Aug 7, 2013

Fun with stats - Atherton

Atherton, CA is one of the wealthiest towns in the United States. You can find more about it on Wikipedia.

Out of 182 vehicle code violations issued by Atherton Police Department between February and July 2013, how many were given to Atherton residents? 
A. 96B. 23C. 11D. 2
Answer and much more here: http://kentbrew.github.io/profiling-atherton/

Aug 2, 2013

Favorite female authors

From a 1980 interview of Jorge Luis Borges:
COLEMAN: Borges, you have spoken of literary men you admire, what about literary women? Could you identify the women in literature whose contribution you consider most significant? 
BORGES: I think I would limit myself to one, to Emily Dickinson. 
COLEMAN: Is that it? 
BORGES: That’s that. Short and sweet. 
REID: I think it should be pointed out, however, that there are more. 
BORGES: Yes, of course. There is Silvina Ocampo, for example, who is translating Emily Dickinson at this moment in Buenos Aires.

Jul 22, 2013

What's the sexiest vegetable?

If you had to choose one vegetable to represent erotic appeal, what would it be?

Ancient Egyptians thought it was lettuce. 


Why? Because it grew straight and tall while oozing a white substance when a leaf was cut.

Jul 16, 2013

Hello nightmares


Snake Hiding in Toilet Bites Israeli Man's Penis
A 35-year-old Israeli man was rushed to the hospital on Friday after a snake suddenly emerged from the toilet he was sitting on and bit the man's penis. 
The injured man told emergency workers that he noticed a strong burning sensation as he was using the toilet in his parents' home in the norther Israeli town of Nofit. At that point, the man looked down and saw a snake in the toilet. He then "ran from the room in horror" to call paramedics. 
"This is the first time I've seen a snake bite like this," a paramedic said, according to Your Jewish News. “Luckily, all tests seem fine and the man is feeling well.” The paramedic also said the man was in good enough spirits to joke about the incident. 
The snake, which the man described as very small, wasn't venomous, but doctors at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa decided to keep the man hospitalized for further tests and observation. 
"There will undoubtedly be bite marks on the area in question," the hospital said. “The snake was not poisonous. The man is currently under observation pending additional test results and as soon as we get the results, he will be able to go home."

Jul 9, 2013

Magna Carta

Washington Post's review of the new Jay Z album is hatin':
Throughout “Magna Carta,” the 43-year-old pretends he’s a threat to a system he’s so eagerly become a part of, as if his life as a champion capitalist is some perpetually escalating act of subversion. Hooray? Rooting for this man in 2013 is like rooting for Pfizer. Or PepsiCo.

Jun 21, 2013

Becoming a star

At this week's Bonnaroo, Wu Tang Clan's sign language interpreter stole the show: "[Holly] didn't just sign every word, but put back into it."



More here.

Jun 18, 2013

Detroit is screwed

And then comes the litany of municipal woes: Detroit has the highest violent crime rate of any major US city, at five times the national average; there were 344 murders in 2011, of which just 39 were solved. Right now, the average response time, if you put in an emergency call to the Detroit Police Department, is 58 minutes. 
Detroit’s infrastructure is crumbling: 40% of its street lights are out of order, and it has 78,000 abandoned and blighted structures, of which 38,000 are considered dangerous buildings. Those buildings account for a large proportion of the 12,000 fires Detroit has every year. At the moment, firefighters are instructed not to use the hydraulic ladders on their firetrucks unless there is an immediate threat to life, because the ladders have not received safety inspections for years. Detroit also has just 36 ambulances, of which generally no more than 14 are in operation at any given time. 

Jun 17, 2013

How tough?

From our friend Lance Mannion:
You probably heard this story in history class in high school, how in the days of Roman conquest, Julius Caesar’s army entered a barbarian kingdom and early one morning Caesar sent one of his generals to the barbarian king’s camp to demand their surrender? 
The barbarian king laughed. 
The general warned the king not to underestimate the Romans. We are very tough, he said. 
How tough? said the king smiling.
The general looked around. It was a chilly morning and there was a fire burning in a brazier by the king’s chair. The general strode up to the brazier and stared into the fire. Then he turned to the barbarian king. 
Do you have any coffee? the general asked. 
We’ll have to brew a new pot, said the king. 
The general grinned. 
I can wait, he said. 
The king surrendered on the spot.

Jun 13, 2013

Guess the answer?

What data input was used to create the map of the US below? (e.g. for example, this map was created inputting all the roads in the US).

Email me for the answer.

Jun 4, 2013

Banishment rooms

Japanese companies have severe restrictions in firing their employees, even if the company is in dire financial situations. So what are they doing to avoid penalties that come with downsizing?

Banishment rooms.
Basically, banishment rooms are departments where companies transfer surplus employees and give them menial or useless tasks or even nothing to do until they become depressed or disheartened enough to quit on their own, thus not getting full benefits, unlike if they were actually let go.

For more details, see here. Originally found at Marginal Revolution.

May 31, 2013

Fresh coffee IS better

Why does coffee taste like donkey's butt when it's reheated?

The brewing process releases chemicals call lactones that are slightly bitter. As coffee cools, lactones break down into smaller carboxylic acids, which are unpleasantly bitter. When coffee is reheated, these carboxylic acids remain along with the bitter taste. 

However, when fresh coffee is poured quickly over ice, carboxylic acids have less time to form so your coffee tastes better. 

The best is cold press coffee as carboxylic acids don't form at all.


For more scientific breakdown, see here. For original source, see here


May 30, 2013

Lookalikes


Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, looks so much like Alec Baldwin, it's borderline creepy.

See many more here.

May 29, 2013

Lions vs. tigers

If a tiger fought a lion, which animal would win? This Quora answer favors the tiger:
While it would depend on the size, age and aggressiveness of the specific animals involved, generally tigers have a significant advantage. On average tigers are larger, but more importantly they are more capable of fighting standing on their hind legs.
Read the whole article, it's pretty interesting.



May 28, 2013

Hipster as American Psycho

I live in the American Gardens Building on W. 81st Street on the 11th floor. My name is Patrick Bateman. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.
That's a quote from American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, a novel that's (partly) about the lead character's superficiality and unashamed pursuit of status, wealth, pleasure and visual appeal at any cost.

A Twitter user finitor makes an interesting observation:



Can't you just see 2013 Patrick Bateman living in Brooklyn and obsessing over polyorganic maple syrup from Vermont, hand produced by blind artisan monks, that's slowly poured over gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, nut-free, fodmap-free crepes based on a French recipe by Andre Papalmous Njienxga, a Filipino-Ghanian chef who grew up in Chile, all served on jar covers that were hand designed by Syrian refugees.


May 22, 2013

Less therapy = less trauma

Andrew Sullivan's blog links to an interesting study that suggests many single counseling therapy sessions are not only ineffective but counterproductive:
In our trauma-focused society, it is often forgotten that the majority of people who experience the ravages of natural disaster, become the victims of violence or lose loved ones in tragedy will need no assistance from mental health professionals. 
Most people will be shaken up, distressed and bereaved, but these are natural reactions, not in themselves disorders. Only a minority of people – rarely more than 30% in well-conducted studies and often considerably less – will develop psychological difficulties as a result of their experiences, and the single most common outcome is recovery without the need of professional help. 
… [W]hat the individual therapist can’t see is that [recovery] would happen more effectively, leaving less people traumatised, if they did nothing. 
More here.

May 14, 2013

What does Europe think of Europe?

In surprising turn of events, the French find themselves to be the most AND least arrogant of all EU nations.


Hat tip to marginalrevolution.com

Apr 17, 2013

Why your grandma can't use a computer

This website guesses your age based on how quickly you click your mouse. It was guessed my age correctly, I wonder what its accuracy rate is.

http://kgajos.eecs.harvard.edu/ag/

Apr 11, 2013

Macklemore spreading violence


This beautiful woman, Sam, choked her boyfriend for refusing to stop singing Macklemore's "Thrift Shop."
Sam left the premises to calm down, and when she got home, she found him singning "Thrift Shop" over and over. She claims she told him to stop at least 25 times, before taking to wild measures and choking him out.

Apr 3, 2013

Your bellybutton is a jungle

I have a friend who is obsessed with bellybuttons. She will be surprised to learn that her poke-and-sniff hobby is a little dirtier than she thought.

Recently, research tested 60 bellybuttons and identified 2,368 types of bacteria living there. 1,458 of those species may be new to science and many of them are very random. For example, one guy had a bacterium that is only found in the soil in Japan. He has never visited Japan.

More here.


Bonus fact: bellybutton lint comes from your underwear and not your shirt.

Apr 2, 2013

Tarantino and food

If you like Tarantino's movies, you will enjoy this immensely. 

Apr 1, 2013

Anti-CAPTCHA

CAPTCHAs are manipulated words that you have to type in correctly to prove that you are a human. They are designed to be difficult to read so a computer cannot recognize the letters. The idea is to prove the person using a site or typing in a password is in fact a person.


D&B, a site offering credit reports, also has CAPTCHAs. 


Except that D&B's CAPTCHA is just a fake. The secret text is included in the HTML code. So a computer can definitely read it.

In some ways, D&B has created a way to tell computers and humans apart. Computers can read it and humans cannot.

http://svedic.org/programming/worst-captcha-ever was the first person to identify the flaw.

Mar 27, 2013

Larks and owls

This New Yorker article about sleep is pretty interesting. Short version: we don't know much about sleep except that most people don't get enough. 

The article defines "larks," people who like to go to bed early and cannot sleep in very late, and "owls," those who have trouble falling asleep early and like to get up late.

And this affects their lives quite a bit:

During the week, everyone is expected to get to the office more or less at the same time—let’s say 9 a.m. This suits larks just fine. Owls know they ought to go to bed at a reasonable time, but they can’t—they’re owls. So they end up having to get up one, two, or, in extreme cases, three hours earlier than their internal clock would dictate. This is what Roenneberg refers to as “social jet lag”—each workday, owls fall asleep in one time zone and, in effect, wake up in another. By the time the week is over, they’re exhausted. They “fly back” to their internal time zone on weekends and sleep in on Saturday and Sunday. Then, on Monday, they start the process all over again.
For larks, the problem is reversed. Social life is arranged so that it’s hard to have one unless you stay out late on Friday and Saturday nights. But, even when larks have partied till 3 a.m., they can’t sleep in the following day—they’re larks. So they stagger through until Monday, when they can finally get some rest.

Mar 26, 2013

Mar 24, 2013

Too old

For my all my friends who enjoy a nice scotch, here is a Slate article about aging spirits for too long.
As a former master distiller for Maker’s Mark in Kentucky for 14 years and the current master distiller for Hillrock Estate Distillery in New York’s Hudson Valley, Pickerell has aged his fair share of whiskeys. “It is possible for a spirit to get too old. Sometimes older is better—but sometimes it’s just older.”


Mar 22, 2013

WTF of the day

It involves hay and running around.

Thanks to UpForAnythingat3AM for the link.

Mar 18, 2013

Don't smile

New research has shown that UFC fighters who smile in pre-fight encounters are more likely to lose.

More here.


Mar 14, 2013

Rent parties

In 1940s and 1950s, Harlem residents hosted "rent parties." They would charge guests for a night of dancing and socialization and the proceeds would go towards the hosts' rent.

They were never advertised as rent parties, instead of using euphemisms like "Tea Cup Party," and often featured lyrics from popular songs of the day.

Read more at Slate.


Mar 12, 2013

Who reads fan fiction?

According to FFN Research, the average user of FanFiction.Net in 2010 was a 15.8-year-old girl from the United States who didn’t write fan fiction herself. Not to say that 45-year-old mothers and adolescent boys don’t also read it, or that fan fiction is only written in English; but the odds are not good. 
Hat tip to The Dish.

Mar 5, 2013

EU vs. US: eggs

I think of the Europe as a place where everything is highly regulated (e.g. grocery store that you own can't be open after a certain time, even if you want it to be) and US as a place where almost anything goes. Not so much:
Commercial American eggs are federally required to be washed and sanitized before they reach the consumer. EU egg marketing laws, on the other hand, state that Class A eggs – those found on supermarkets shelves, must not be washed, or cleaned in any way.
The reason EU forbids eggs from being washing is to encourage healthy practices and cleanliness in its farmers. The thinking is that if an egg is dirty, no one will want to buy it.

In the US, the approach is that cleaning the eggs makes them safer, which is true. It also increases the risk of contamination if eggs are washed improperly. 

More here. It's way more interesting than I thought.

Mar 4, 2013

Ninja angel

From the NYTimes review of a new show:
“The Bible,” might be the first to include an angel skilled in Chinese martial arts.

Feb 28, 2013

First we had Sarah Jessica Parker looks like a horse

And now we have a goat singing Taylor Swift's song. I laughed harder than I should have.



Also, http://sarahjessicaparkerlookslikeahorse.com/

Feb 26, 2013

F*** the police

Well, not really. 
[Researchers have] concluded that the main law enforcement-related themes in hip-hop are not pleasure and pride in aggressive and criminal acts, but the unfairness of the criminal justice system and the powerlessness felt by those targeted by it.
It appears that rappers don't hate justice but rather its current implementation.

More here.

Feb 22, 2013

New game

This morning I reached for a commonly used product and noticed the following description on it:


Do you have any idea what it's for?

So I am starting a new game called "Guess What This Is." If you see anything good, send it to me.

Answer for the above here.



Feb 20, 2013

Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

This is cool.
Bottlenose dolphins call out the specific names of loved ones when they become separated, a study finds. 
Other than humans, the dolphins are the only animals known to do this, according to the study, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The big difference with bottlenose dolphins is that these communications consist of whistles, not words.
More here.

You do get stupid(er) when you are sick

When you are sick, your mind feels a bit slow. But you ignore it since you know the cold virus infects the lining of the airways and not the brain. 

Except that appears to be false. You actually do get dumber when you are sick:

This theory could explain why we lose our mental edge when we get sick, Kipnis says. When we’re healthy, T cells keep the immune cells in the meninges from inflaming the brain. But when we get sick, the T cells loosen their hold to let the immune system attack invading pathogens. The resulting inflammation helps clear out the invaders, but it also blunts learning. When we’re sick, Kipnis proposes, it’s more important to launch a powerful immune attack than to have a sharp mind.
More here.

Feb 19, 2013

Florida: welcome felons

You know I am a fan of Florida. My love was first realized through Loveline:



And then it became a thing, like when you travel with a friend who has a peanut allergy and suddenly you notice peanuts EVERYWHERE. Similarly, I started noticing that all the weird stories seemed to come from Florida. 

Well, there is now a solution for Floridaphiles like me. Florida Man Twitter account is a collection of all the best Florida stories, updated every day.





Enjoy.

Feb 13, 2013

Feb 11, 2013

Remember The Postal Service?

They are creators of this little diddly that everyone loved so much. 



And then they went quiet for 10 years, not releasing any new music. Until now.

And it's exactly the way you'd expect it to sound.

No soda for breakfast?

No problem, PepsiCo is releasing a fruit-flavored Mountain Dew beverage called Kickstart. The drink combines Mountain Dew with fruit juice to make you an even more delightful person, you Mountain Dew-chugging SOB.


More here.

Why Jordan was Jordan

From NY Times profile of Jay Williams, who adored Michael Jordan and wanted to be like him:
In his rookie season, Williams played against Jordan, who was then with the Washington Wizards. Jordan went at Williams on several consecutive possessions. Each time, Jordan told Williams how he would score — first over the left shoulder, then fake over the left shoulder and shoot over the right, and so forth — and each time, Jordan scored exactly as he said he would.
Hat tip to Deadspin.

Feb 8, 2013

Feb 7, 2013

Feb 5, 2013

Russell Brand does his thing

Russell Brand is a very intense, very articulate British comedian who is known for his crazy antics. You probably know him from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Here he is on Jimmy Fallon, where he is trying to impress his crush, Katharine McPhee. And he doesn't know that she is married.

Vegging out vs. geeking out

Modern English has given us two terms we need to explain this phenomenon: "geeking out" and "vegging out." To geek out on something means to immerse yourself in its details to an extent that is distinctly abnormal - and to have a good time doing it. To veg out, by contrast, means to enter a passive state and allow sounds and images to wash over you without troubling yourself too much about what it all means.
From Neal Stephenson's NY Times piece.


Feb 1, 2013

Jan 29, 2013

Rationalization, in many words

"Let it be clear, my boy," Rebaudengo explained, all formality now gone. "What I produce are not forgeries but new copies of genuine documents that have been lost or, by simple oversight, have never been produced, and that could and should have been produced. It would be forgery if I were to draw up a certificate of baptism from which it appeared - forgive the example - that you were a son of a prostitute, born near Odalengo Piccolo," and he chuckled with amusement at such a shameful idea. 
"I would never dream of committing such a crime because I am an honorable man. But if you had an enemy, so to speak, who sought to get hold of your inheritance, and you knew he was definitely not the child of your mother or your father but of a whore from Odalengo Piccolo, and that he had conveniently lost his certificate of baptism in order to obtain your inheritance, and if you were to ask me to produce that missing certificate in order to confound that rogue, I would assist, so to speak, the truth by proving what we know to be true, and I would have no remorse."
From The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco 

Jan 28, 2013

South

No one needs better health care more than the South, but it fights it off so long as Obama is offering it, its governors turning down funds for Medicaid. This is a region that rejects sex education, though its rate of teenage pregnancies is double and in places triple that of New England. It fights federal help with education, preferring to inoculate its children against science by denying evolution.
No part of the country will suffer the effects of global warming earlier or with more devastation than the South, yet its politicians resist measures to curb carbon emissions and deny the very existence of climate change—sending it to the dungeon with evolution and biblical errancy. 

Jan 24, 2013

Cheese fire

No, not the type you get after eating fondue.

In Norway, a truck full cheese caught fire and burned for six straight days.
"This high concentration of fat and sugar is almost like petrol if it gets hot enough," said Viggo Berg, a policeman.
Link courtesy of kottke.org

Jan 18, 2013

Winning and human decency

On Grantland, Klosterman and Gladwell discuss Manti Te'o's made up girlfriend. Skipping over this topic for a 
Or remember Pete Sampras playing an epic five-setter with Jim Courier just after hearing that his coach, Tim Gullikson, had suffered what appeared to be his third stroke within three months, on his way to dying of brain cancer. Deep in the match, a spectator yells out, "Win it for your coach, Pete," and Sampras, suffering through severely blistered feet, bursts into tears. 
The crucial element of this kind of story is that the off-the-field tragedy does not diminish the importance of the game (as you would expect, logically, that it might). It makes the athlete take his task even more seriously. Sampras goes on to win the match. (Of course.)

[...] 
In that epic Courier-Sampras match, when Sampras breaks down in tears, Courier says to him: "You all right, Peter? We can do this tomorrow, you know." Here we have part of the reason why Sampras was a better tennis player than Courier: Sampras is the kind of person who could block out the real world (the impending death of his coach) in the service of winning another tennis match. Courier couldn't. He saw someone suffering and wanted to set tennis aside. But if Courier wasn't the better player, for his decency he is certainly the better human being, isn't he?
Do we like Sampras or Brett Favre because they care less about people than winning?

Jan 11, 2013

Weather IS getting weirder

From kottke.org:
China is enduring its coldest winter in nearly 30 years. Brazil is in the grip of a dreadful heat spell. Eastern Russia is so freezing -- minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and counting -- that the traffic lights recently stopped working in the city of Yakutsk. 
Bush fires are raging across Australia, fueled by a record-shattering heat wave. Pakistan was inundated by unexpected flooding in September. A vicious storm bringing rain, snow and floods just struck the Middle East. And in the United States, scientists confirmed this week what people could have figured out simply by going outside: last year was the hottest since records began.

Jan 10, 2013

Morning routine

I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.

A day with Hunter S. Thompson


Jan 4, 2013

How do you view Twitter?

Josh Miller asked his fifteen year old sister about how she views different technologies. This is what she had to say about Twitter:
“Nobody uses it. I know you love it but I don’t get it. I mean, I guess a a few kids use it but they’re all the ones who won’t shut up in class, who always think they have something important to say.”
More here about her views of Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. 

Sherlock doing what he does

Jan 2, 2013