Snarkmarket

'Basically an Intelligence-Gathering Operation'

Robin — 2008-07-23T16:11:59-08:00

I am a huge fan of Amanda Michel and Off the Bus. Nice to see her (and it) get written up in the NYT!

Physical Theories as Women

Robin — 2008-07-21T22:30:50-08:00

Ah, here's McSweeney's with a piece for the xkcd crowd:

0. Newtonian gravity is your high-school girlfriend. As your first encounter with physics, she's amazing. You will never forget Newtonian gravity, even if you're not in touch very much anymore.
1. Electrodynamics is your college girlfriend. Pretty complex, you probably won't date long enough to really understand her.

Et cetera.

What I want to know is... which girl is the theory of luminiferous ether?

This is Officially the Opposite of Mortal Kombat

Robin — 2008-07-18T11:37:31-08:00

The new game from the team behind flOw is... um... okay so listen you control a bunch of flower petals using the breeze.

Speak of this to no one.

Jenova Chen and company get credit for their simple, intuitive gameplay mechanics -- but honestly, to me it's all about the audio. Their games simply sound better than anything else out there.

The New Yorker Can Be Funny!

mthompson — 2008-07-17T18:42:22-08:00

For some of you, this week's Shouts & Murmurs is the typical bland gimmick repeated ad nauseam. If you're like me, however, it will crack you up.

Location Scout

Robin — 2008-07-17T11:18:14-08:00

Quick. Let's come up with a dystopian sci-fi film concept so we can shoot it here.

Illuminated Manuscripts

Robin — 2008-07-17T09:57:31-08:00

Franke James has a terrific cross-media comic book style.

Via the Pop!Tech blog.

You Owe The Beatles Your Brain

Robin — 2008-07-16T21:40:55-08:00

Super-fun inter-disciplinary trivia: If it weren't for The Beatles, we might not have CAT scans.

Via Rex.

Consumption

Robin — 2008-07-16T21:35:20-08:00

Quiz time.

The #1 oil-consuming entity in the world is, obviously, the United States.

What's number two?

Alexis Madrigal tweets the answer.

Obsidian Wings

mthompson — 2008-07-16T11:50:56-08:00

Robin previously called out Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight for excellent coverage of this campaign season. Now I've gotta lend a hand to the gang at Obsidian Wings, especially Hilary Bok, a.k.a. Hilzoy. It first came to my attention when one of the A-Listers plugged this post about Barack Obama's legislative record. I subscribed, and ever since I've been impressed by the quality of thought, research and analysis there.

Yesterday, for example, Obama and McCain both gave major foreign policy speeches. This generated very typical news coverage and hyper-typical punditry. But it also fortunately generated a typical post from Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings, in which you get the sense that not only did she reserve comment until reading/hearing the speeches in question, but that she understood the deeper mental framework at play behind each speech. She's solidly liberal, but seems to make few assumptions about her audience.

Jobs of the Future

Robin — 2008-07-16T11:24:30-08:00

Nice, short interview with Mario Anima, a terrific colleague here at Current.

Misdirection

Robin — 2008-07-16T10:02:51-08:00

So what do you think you're looking at here? Make a guess... then click to find out. (This one's a beauty, too.)

(Via brandflakes.)

They Are Stars! No, They Are Bugs!

Robin — 2008-07-15T21:37:12-08:00

Ahhhh! Jeff Scher's new video on the NYT site is sublime. If you discover a full-screen playback button that I missed... let me know.

Update: These. are. amazing. L'Eau Life. White Out.

Another update: Links to bigger versions... with a full-screen mode! Fly By Night. L'Eau Life. White Out.

It's the Ecosystem, Stupid

Robin — 2008-07-15T21:00:22-08:00

Enjoyed the new post from Umair Haque about corporate strategy. Here's the salient bit:

Perhaps the meaning of competitive advantage, when all the games have been played and the gears of the economic machine have finally stopped moving, is this: privatize benefits and socialize costs.
That might have been sustainable in a disconnected, asset-heavy industrial economy. But it cannot hold in a hyperconnected edgeconomy. When all of us can trade ten billion times a day, if everyone's simply trying to claim benefits from everyone else, while shifting costs and risks to everyone else, the result is economic implosion.

One of the big deficits implicit in Umair's critique is long-term thinking. This is almost a cliche by now -- the tyranny of quarterly earnings statements, etc., etc. -- but that doesn't make it any less true. Zero-sum strategy gets a quicker return, and often, it feels more like progress. Non-zero-sum strategy takes longer, feels riskier -- because you see other people growing too! Jeez! Are they winning? Why aren't we winning? -- but pays out better for everybody in the end.

So the question (which I have not even a single speculative answer to) is: How could we craft markets to better reward long-term, non-zero-sum strategy?

Bat-Theory 101

Robin — 2008-07-15T18:18:04-08:00

Wordwright with the five things that make Batman Batman. His list does not describe all past Batmans: just the good ones.

P.S. In Minneapolis, we saw The Dark Knight being advertised on the side of a Landmark theater. That's right: This movie is simultaneously a summer IMAX blockbuster and an art-house flick. Awesome.

Snarkmatrix Alignment

Robin — 2008-07-12T00:27:56-08:00

I am in Minneapolis, in Matt's apartment. We are listening to Bon Iver. And talking about you.

Photographic evidence of Snarkfestival 2008 to follow.