July 2008
22 posts
Voyeurizing
My buddy works on tall buildings. Recently he had the opportunity to take some pictures of disgustingly cool roofs around Tribeca and the LES. Check ‘em out if you need just one more reason to hate rich people.
Intrigued By Names
I’ve had a fascination of names for awhile now. You can get a random-yet-frequency-weighted American name RIGHT NOW from unled.net. But I want more than just U.S. names, dammit! So head over to unled.net and add first and last names from where ever you want.
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TEDTalks: Why is Psychology Good?
I just watched a TEDTalks video from 2004 with Martin Seligman. It dealt with the history of psychology and how the old way of improving people’s lives was to remove bad things (or help people deal with bad things). In the last few years psychologists have tried to instead find ways to inject good things. This is known as Positive Psychology.
They first had to develop a definition of a...
After Work Bikin'
Kevin and I decided to hit the road after work to get some miles under us. This route got me a shade under 23.
The Dark Knight
This movie would have rocked so much harder if had 10 less soliloquies monologues and coin flips.
ALSO: Anyone confused by the Watchmen trailer can call me and talk all night about it. I really hope they don’t screw up that movie.
EDIT: My more educated friend Erik pointed out my incorrect usage of soliloquy. Fixed!
On the Case!
It’s widely known that the Simpson’s home state is unknown. However in the episode “Papa’s Got a Brand New Badge”, Homer’s home security company’s telephone number starts with area code 636, which is in Missouri! Which means nothing of course.
Mismatch Problem
This post sparked via two seperate Kottke posts about mismatched persons to jobs. Short story is that it’s really difficult to place people in complex jobs based on rigid criteria.
I consider myself quite a good little programmer but I would have no idea how to hire a coworker. What would I ask? How would I know if this person is bullshitting? Scary still is whether or not in the future I...
“To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish.”
– Yiddish expression via Malcolm Gladwell’s 9/19/06 TED Talk
TED Talks Video Podcasts
Everyday TED (The Technology Entertainment and Design Conference) releases another talk from their archives and makes it freely available on iTunes (you can also just go to the official TED site and watch any of them anyway). May I suggest a few?
Clay Shirky - “Institutions vs. Collaboration”
AJ Jacobs - “My Year of Living Biblically”
Anything by Steven Levitt
Did This Awhile Ago
Sorry bout that super annoying game that would just start spewing music out, if you’d like to go play it, go here or here.
Erers and That Thats
Erers are funny words: Sorcerer, Butcherer.
Double ‘thats’ are funny too: “I’ve been told that that man is famous.”
But according to Wikipedia you can have more than two in a row, indefinitely actually: “He said that that ‘that’ that that man used was wrong.”
I’m like a younger, grumpier Andy Rooney.
The Stuff Stars are Made Of
When walking around the office I sometimes think it’s funny that I’m carrying around a cup full of atoms. Coffee flavoured atoms.
When in Doubt, Hit Pause
Stepped away from my desk to grab a slice of pizza, I returned to my computer to find it belting out “Fuck the Pain Away” by Peaches. Nice!
We Were There
Either by lack of familiarity with the original figure or by totally captivating portrayals, I seem to have a mental block whereas I confuse historical persons with the actors that played them in movies. I don’t want to stretch this thin, so I’ll only say the three that are consistent. Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, Ben Kingsley as Gandhi and Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. The latter being...
Does the Pope Poop in the Woods?
To the list of sayings meaning “without a doubt yes” which includes, “Is the Pope Catholic?” and “Does a bear poop in the woods?” may I add, “Does Puff drive Mercedes?”
Four Borough Bike Tour
Kevin and I are aiming to hit a century bike day by the end of the summer. If how tired I am right now is any indication, I ain’t making it. 48 miles from Brooklyn, over the Manhattan Bridge, up the east side to the Willis Ave Bridge, follow the 6 train through the Bronx to City Island. Turn around, back through all that until the Tri Borough and Ward Island. Then down through Astoria,...
Tunkhannock
I love Google Maps, but I hate how rigid the scrolling is and how the images don’t load and how small the viewports normally are. I really just want to be able to look at a large image of some place. Anyway, I finally figured out how to kinda do this. Using the Google Maps API, Make a ridiculously big div, 5000px square maybe. Then using a screen shotting app to capture it. You need...