February 2008
33 posts
Options and the Psychology of Economics
Closing a door on an option is experienced as a loss, and people are willing to pay a price to avoid the emotion of loss “The Advantages of Closing a Few doors”. (via) Summed up nicely by a little game. Also, sound familiar? I went on-line to order a book. The book had a list price of twenty-four dollars; Amazon was offering it for eighteen. I clicked to add it to my “shopping...
“Only experienced Klingon speakers will be able to fully appreciate the nuances...”
– Amazon’s synopsis for Hamlet, in Klingon. (via)
Negotiating →
Some interesting anecdotes on negotiating, the comments contain a few good links.
Marmaduke Explained →
Similar to the previous two, this blog presents explanations of the day’s Markaduke cartoon.
Garfield minus speech →
Garfield’s there, but his speech and thoughts are gone. It still works.
Garfield minus Garfield →
Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?
Polar Clocks
Another interesting way of visualising time, the completeness of the concentric rings indicates the progress of that part of the current date and time. The picture above is from a screensaver that uses the technique, and there’s a rather nifty javascript/canvas implementation that also acts as a tutorial to some of the more advanced functionality of Prototype.
Grid 16 →
There goes another Friday afternoonlunchtime. From the site: Grid16 is a fast-paced, ever-speeding-up game revolving around reflexes, prioritizing, and your core gaming knowledge. The game challenges all areas of gaming. The giant grid will have you playing games one after another, and going back to the games once you start them.
An Interview with Daring Fireball →
John Gruber’s Daring Fireball is one of my favourite blogs and this interview with him is really interesting.
Hype vs. Suspense →
If you tell them that something is coming at some point in the future, they will evaluate everything that’s out there very carefully. But if you just drop something into their laps, all they’ll think about is the brand. And if they like that, ker-ching!
“Deliveries can only be made to planet earth.”
– One of The Album Club’s Terms & Conditions, very forward-thinking.
Stephen Fry's Podgrams →
If you don’t already read his blogessays and/or his Dork Talk column in Saturday’s Guardian you probably should but now there are podcastsgrams added to the mix so illiteracy is no longer an excuse.
Time Technology Systems
I posted a while ago about watches from Nooka that take a different approach to the display of time and found another company making watches without hands or numbers. Time Technology Systems watches use three systems for displaying the time and while they’re not a million miles away from the Nooka designs, and do still look pretty cool, they seem a lot more complicated. (via)
The Last Enemy
New series started on BBC1 tonight, I quite enjoyed it, looking forward to the remaining four episodes. Watch here until next Sunday. From the Producer: “The Last Enemy is an emotional odyssey about a man in search of the truth of what happened to his brother, and to his society. It’s a cautionary tale about technology, with identity cards, biometric tests and armed police becoming...
“Balrogs are reportedly made of shadow and fire, which I’d expect to be...”
– A commenter (Daniel) on a series of posts trying to determine the terminal velocity of a Balrog. (via)
Speaking of which... →
A Canadian band, but not as similar to Broken Social Scene or Arcade Fire as a lot of places seem to think. The beginning of Fille A Plumes sounds quite a lot like an Arcade Fire song, but it then disappears off in a completely different direction. Thanks Holly
Top 10 Albums That Every Music Snob Name Checks →
I only own one of these (Moon Pix), I’m disappointed. Comments on that article prompted 10 Even Snobbier Albums. I don’t own any of those.
Begging the question
Question: I don’t understand the term “begs the question.” I know I use it incorrectly—or so I’ve been told—but I don’t know what I’m supposedly doing wrong. Can you explain? —Sarah The Morning News’ Non-Expert answers.
Wisdom in Crowds?
Sometimes when I cook meat, it tastes soapy. Why? Why did [Amy Winehouse] need to apply for a visa before coming to the US? Help us enjoy a They Might Be Giants concert and not stand out like dorks Is it true that coffee made in a french press has more cholesterol than that made in a drip (filtered) machine?Some things I learnt today.
Future Strategic Challenges for Britain →
The Cabinet Office’s Strategy Unit has put together a report on the challenges likely to be facing Britain over the next 10-15 years. The main points aren’t all that surprising (ageing UK population, growth of Chinese and Indian economies and climate change) but there are some interesting points. It’s quite long (180 pages!) but is in a slideshow/bullet-point format, so not...
“What shall we do today? I know, let’s record an album. Off they went to...”
– The booklet accompanying Do You Like Rock Music? (I do)
Time-merge media →
Jason Kottke has collected examples of time-merge media -the display of multiple time periods one on top of the other. Including the previously mentioned Cursor*10 game.
More Voyeurism →
Write a letter (email) to yourself to be sent at some future date of your choosing. Or, more interestingly, read the “Public but anonymous” letters of others.
“There once was an X from place B,
That satisfied predicate P,
He or she did...”
– LimerickDB, stick to the Best Ones.
Postsecret is 3 →
People send in their secrets written on a postcard. Such a simple concept, but I find it compulsive browsing. And now it’s 3 years old. Happy birthday!
"Perfect Companion"
Could Apple not have picked a better name for their free printer offer? Having to post things addressed to “Perfect Companion, PO Box 33, Ross-on-Wye” could give the wrong impression. Speaking of which, I find it odd that Apple, a company that uses the aesthetics of its products to distinguish them from the competition, and who even put effort into their packaging to make it stylish...
The Death of news? →
From news of deaths, to the death of news. Martin Bell (still wearing the white suit it would appear) thinks the BBC should leave the ‘necro news’ obsessions to ITV and Sky and instead tackle the more important, wide-ranging things happening in the real world. Can’t say I disagree.
“OK. It’s called “eVulture”. You sign up for free on a website,...”
– Charlie Brooker, for The Guardian