Category: Oddities
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David Brooks Tries to Eff the Ineffable Again
A friend and I were discussing Brooks’ recent column about Anthony Kronman’s new book, “Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan.” I thought I’d share my thoughts here. Full disc: I haven’t read Kronman’s book, only Brooks’ column. Some good stuff in there. Love the focus on books and writers. (Though Brooks’ [and Kronman’s?] barely-concealed dog-whistle adulation…
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The One Reason Apple Hasn’t Solved TV’s Cables and Remotes Problem
How many remote controls do you have for your TV? Do you care to describe the tangle of cables and wires connecting your various components? If you’re like almost everyone I know, the answers are “at least three, probably five” and “No!” Have you had a housesitter recently? How long did it take for you to…
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Health Insurance Plan Comparison Calculator. Plus…Hamlet!
Gentle Readers: Sorry to be incommunicado for so long. I’ve been working hard on a couple of projects. I built a spreadsheet for myself a few years ago to compare health-insurance plans — cost versus financial exposure/protection. I just built it out into a web app that others can use, and I’ve posted it here.…
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Why Visiting U Chicago is Cool
Just arrived, walking to The Pub, two students walking by the other way. …fading in… “the argument you’re making makes no sense. It’s like saying ‘if all Serbian men were made of cheese…’ …fading out… Nice to be here. Related posts: It Could Have Been My Kids. Or Yours. Women Rule! So Why Do They…
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Asymptotic Freedom
I really love that term, though I just barely, maybe understand what it means. Eric Drexler (he of Engines of Creation, the breakout 1987 book on nanotech) thinks the source is very cool indeed. Here from November 7: …the most exciting paper I’ve seen on quantum field theory and gravitation in a long time. It offers…
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Why Is This Traffic Stopped??
Update from the comments, Nov. 3: Harold gives us this brilliant link. Completely contradicts my surmise below. Definitely watch the video. Being cursed with a curious mind, when I’m driving — especially on the highway — I’m always wondering about the hydrodynamics of traffic. Here’s an interesting insight: With cars moving fluidly in a tight…
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Largest Oil Spills
I got curious about this. Here’s what WikiPedia says: ——————- Oil spills of over 100,000 tonnes or 30 million US gallons, ordered by tonnes[a] Spill / Tanker Location Date Tons of crude oil Reference Gulf War oil spill Persian Gulf January 21, 1991 1,360,000–1,500,000 [19][20] Ixtoc I oil well Gulf of Mexico June 3, 1979–March…
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Change Your Goddam Voice Mail Message! (Pass It On)
Starting today, your outgoing voice mail message should start (and quite possibly end) with: Hi this is [insert your name here]. Press [star or pound] to leave a message. I probably don’t have to explain why. But I will. 1. Everybody hates waiting through your message, and they really hate waiting through the instructions on…
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Delight and Abject Dismay on Richard Dawkins’ Birthday
Another of those convergences: I just joined the Richard Dawkins group on Facebook, and discovered that today is his birthday. (Happy birthday sir!) It’s a convergence because over the last week I’ve been horribly dismayed. After decades of near hero-worship on my part, I’ve discovered that he is not acting as the man I’ve always…
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Reason and Intuition: Is There Really Any Difference?
My sister just sent me the link to this discussion by Razib Khan on reason and intuition–timely, because it refers to Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives by Michael Specter, who I just saw (and spoke to briefly) when he spoke at University of Washington last week…
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“Branding Happens”
My ex business partner Steve has a new post asking why anybody uses glossy branding ads, when direct marketing is so much more cost-effective, and builds brand at the same time. The weird thing about us was that we cared about conversion (vs “brandingâ€) , and despite dozens of attempts to make ads pay, the…
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Education Needed?
The #9 search term on ask.com for the week ending January 29th: “How to get pregnant” This is pretty funny at first blush. But it’s curious at second. Google Trends shows searches for this prase nearly tripling from June to December, 2008. Do tough economic times make it harder to conceive? Interestingly, the United Arab…