Link repository, not a blog.

Don't wake me up

2014-08-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, a 6.0 earthquake hit the Napa area. This is how it affected the sleep schedules of residents in the surrounding areas, as reported by JAWBONE.

Link of day: groups

2014-08-22T16:15:00.001-07:00

A group of birds is a flock of birds. A bunch of bison is a herd of bison.

What's a group of geometrists called? A plane of geometrists!

Wikipedia has a page on the collective nouns and I have spent way too long looking through it.

Some of my favorites are:
- A chain of convicts
- An asylum of managers
- A shower of meteorologists

- A wave of surfers

The world is changing so fast

2014-08-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from a 1930s history book:

Courtesy of https://twitter.com/gragtah

Twitter account of the day

2014-08-19T16:12:00.001-07:00

https://twitter.com/worstmuse gives you bad ideas for that novel you are writing.

Your protagonist is just a little too perfect? Maybe consider making her adorably clumsy and in need of frequent rescue.
— The Worst Muse (@WorstMuse) August 19, 2014

Peach pie

2014-08-18T16:14:00.003-07:00

"Fresh peach pie"

versus

"Peach pie made with Naperville peaches"

Which one of these descriptions comes from a fancy restaurant and which one from a highway diner?

A recent study analyzing menus from 6,500 restaurants states that low-priced establishments feel like they need to reassure visitors about quality by using words like "fresh." At high end restaurants, freshness is implied so they tend to mention the ingredient origin in the description.

Read more here. Hat tip to the Marginal Revolution.

And the Creator speak

2014-08-14T15:29:00.001-07:00

Message from George R.R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones:

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe... Fuck it, I'll just kill them all.
— George R.R. Martin (@GRRM) August 14, 2014

Cunningham's Law

2014-08-11T10:51:00.001-07:00

Cunningham's Law: "The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, it's to post the wrong answer."

Cartoon from XKCD.

Twitter account of the day

2014-08-06T09:31:00.003-07:00

InfoSec Taylor Swift provides helpful technology and security advice. Here are couple of samples:

My new ruby on rails. pic.twitter.com/UDT9KGXKns
— InfoSec Taylor Swift (@SwiftOnSecurity) June 27, 2014

and

Anatomy of operas

2014-08-05T09:53:00.002-07:00

Courtesy of Graham Farmelo.

Satan works in mysterious ways

2014-08-01T10:44:00.004-07:00

I came across a tweet with a photo of a Pentecostal church pamphlet imploring its readers to reject... Scotch eggs.

Can anyone explain the reasoning? Googling didn't help. I am curious why Scotch eggs are evil and deviled eggs are fine.

Knowing look

2014-07-28T13:29:00.004-07:00

Do you remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?

One of my favorite bloggers, Joe Posnanski, breaks down the climatic scene where Indiana Jones and the bad guy have to choose the true Holy Grail. As with all of his posts, this one is excellent.

So … did Elsa purposely give him the wrong cup? I asked this question on Twitter, and I would say 90% of people say yes, of course she did. She wanted the grail for herself. She had become disenchanted with the Nazi philosophy. She had feelings for Indiana Jones and for his father (who was dying in the other room waiting for the cup to be retrieved). After all she gave Indiana Jones what could be described as a knowing look.

Except, may she didn't. Read more here.

Excerpt of the day

2014-07-22T11:36:00.001-07:00

From "Never Judge a Man by His Umbrella":

In 1848 he published a thesis entitled Horae Apocalypticae, purporting to prove beyond doubt that the world would come to an end in 1868 because the Euphrates would have dried up the previous year. Harmless enough, you would think. But since he was a man of dominating though eccentric personality he succeeded in persuading the wine committee of Trinity that it would be pointless to lay down any 1853 port because it would not be fit to drink before Judgment Day. As 1853 proved to be one of the best vintages of the century and as Trinity was the only college without any, his name was not remembered with overmuch affection.

Bling bling

2014-01-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

The following excerpt describes Phil Jackson's longtime girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, also the daughter of the Lakers' owner Jerry Buss. It can be found in the newly released biography called Phil Jackson: Lord of the Rings.

If Jeanie's Laker Girl reflects the woman's priorities and is not excellent satire, she is obsessed with tacky emblems; her book-long subplot of jewelry borders on the pornographic. The dramatic high point of her story? The morning she was robbed at the Forum on her way to work. "Give me all your jewelry," the man said at gunpoint. She parted with her engagement ring from volleyball player Steve Timmons, a diamond "tennis bracelet," a diamond Presidential Rolex, diamond earrings and a Lakers championship ring studded with diamonds. (Presumably the thief has been living in Monte Carlo ever since, sipping champagne on the beach.)

A human being should...

2013-12-18T08:35:00.002-08:00

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

Quote of the day

2013-11-18T11:36:00.001-08:00

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.

How do I get this

2013-11-14T07:54:00.002-08:00

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

Courtesy of Reddit.

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

2013-10-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Just lose

2013-10-28T09:52:00.003-07:00

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.

Headline of the day

2013-10-25T10:33:00.001-07:00

Deadspin's headline made me smile:

Sorta Photogenic Man Plays Basketball On Ridiculously Photogenic Donkey

And you know what, the donkey is photogenic.

Everything you wanted to know about cheddar cheese

2013-10-23T14:38:00.002-07:00

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

More here.

The males are showing off

2013-10-22T15:26:00.002-07:00

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

2013-10-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Drawing of the day

2013-10-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Reddit.

Doritos - engineered to stop you from stopping

2013-10-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

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.

WTF visualizations

2013-09-30T12:52:00.002-07:00

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.