Things I've Noticed

tristn

As you know, in today’s competitive landscape, journalists can be very possessive about their gets.

6 November 2009 • reblog: tristn

Jon Stewart talks about the war going on in American and Glenn Beck

Well done, Mr. Stewart et al.

6 November 2009

Giant Crack in Africa Will Create a New Ocean

A 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia will likely become a new ocean eventually, researchers now confirm.

The crack, 20 feet wide in spots, opened in 2005 and some geologists believed then that it would spawn a new ocean. But that view was controversial, and the rift had not been well studied.

5 November 2009

‘The Golden Age of Video’ by Ricardo Autobahn

Wow. This is well done.

4 November 2009

via enemyswim

4 November 2009 • reblog: enemyswim

A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

I’m trying to remember what I used to call some of these pieces. Some aren’t familiar at all.

4 November 2009

Would you describe a single grain of wheat as a heap? No. Would you describe two grains of wheat as a heap? No…. You must admit the presence of a heap sooner or later, so where do you draw the line?
…
Human beings need to understand one another in terms of primordial intimacies because man has no other tools for understanding the solicitations of man. But if the size of the world no is on longer amenable to intimacy technologies, then mankind must invent information technologies that rehumanize the world.

— The Meaning of Information Technology « Magic Scaling Sprinkles

4 November 2009

When you want to step away from your Mac try...

minimalmac:mnmal:

Turn off the screen
Ctrl + Shift + eject

Put your Mac to sleep
Cmd + Alt + eject

Log out
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Q

Handy commands to remember for when you need to leave for a while, especially in a multi-user environment.

2 November 2009 • reblog: mnmal

Christopher Walken performs Lady Gaga’s Poker Face

1 November 2009

Drop of water. Amazing and beautiful.

30 October 2009

We Are Douchebags

29 October 2009

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.

Are we too old to trick or treat? | Ask Metafilter [comment]

Wonderful anecdote from MeFi:

I grew up in a college town, and one Halloween our doorbell rang and we opened the door expecting to see trickortreaters— but what was in front of our open door—was another door! Like, a full-on wooden door, that had a sign that said “Please knock.” So we did, and the door swung open to reveal a bunch of college dudes dressed as really old grandmothers, curlers in their hair, etc, who proceeded to coo over our “costumes” and tell us we were “such cute trick or treaters!” One even pinched my cheek. Then THEY gave US candy, closed their door, picked it up and walked to the next house.

[via]

26 October 2009 • reblog: merlin

The [Mythbuster]’s team completely covered a last-gen Ford Taurus with modelers clay and figured out that it would achieve about 26 mpg at a constant 65 mph. They then went about adding over 1,000 dimples to the car’s exterior. To keep the experiment consistent, all 1,082 dimples removed from the clay exterior were put in a box and set in the back seat so that the car would weigh exactly the same as before dimpling. The theory is that, like a golf ball, the dimples would reduce the car’s drag through the air, thus allowing it to travel the same distance at the same speed using less fuel. The result? Over 29 mpg.

— Mythbusters test golf ball-like dimpling effect on fuel economy

23 October 2009