Awareness Test
Take this awareness test. It's good. It's short. It's better with sound - there's voice narration, but it's not loud or crazy or anything.
April 07, 2008
Take this awareness test. It's good. It's short. It's better with sound - there's voice narration, but it's not loud or crazy or anything.
February 04, 2008
Reusable Bag
Now that it seems that the rest of the US outside of SF and some other crunchy places has caught on to the fact that using zillions of disposable plastic bags might just not be the best idea, the next question is - what's a good reusable bag? Well, if you don't have something already that works for you, Onya Bags makes a great nylon bag (lightweight parachute fabric) that collapses into a tiny little carry pouch so you can always have it with you. The cord that secures the pouch also doubles as a should strap if you want when the bag is in use. They're a great design, definitely a step up from the random nylon bag.
December 15, 2007
Do Not Dry
I have a white shirt I'm trying to get a stain out of, and I'm trying to figure out how best to wash it. I'm looking at the tag on the inside and for the millionth time staring at those strange little care symbols. What do they mean? Some of them are vaguely straightforward, but others are very hieroglyphics. Well, now I've got a nice (if dense) reference card (courtesy of KG Industries).
The next question is, does my dry cleaner actually pay attention to this stuff? And does it matter, since my clothing seems to come back looking good...?
November 01, 2007
Fortune of the Day (Week? Year?...)
Your good fortune thought for the day.
October 27, 2007
Drinking Has Always Been Fun
Courtesy of my sister, some fun facts (one assumes) about drinking in history. I knew that Manhattan came from the native word Manahatta, but I didn't know that came from the original Manahachtanienk -- literally, "The High Island," and that's not because of the elevation.
May 19, 2007
Electro-finger-cution
Art Lebedev Design Group is currently buzzing for their OLED-key keyboard, but they have another great product, that you can actually buy right now. The Vilcus allows you to get a nice pick-me-up from your closest wall socket without having to get busy with a paper clip. How convenient!?!
April 17, 2007
Google Maps on Crossing the Pond
Who said they had to be driving directions (check step 23)?
You may otherwise want to look into that submersible car, 007-style.
April 12, 2007
Mind-Set
I guess it really is true - if you think that you can do something, then you probably can. Or, maybe, if you haven't been told that you can't - if you have the correct mindset that you have the ability to do whatever you set yourself to, regardless of your "innate" talents, then you can. Psychology professor Carol Dweck has a book out about this, and some good research (and lots of people who would probably say that it's true and they don't need research to convince them) to back her up.
An interesting aspect of this, and the lead to the story is how knowing you're smart can supposedly hold you back. If you're told that you're smart, then you lose the incentive to develop your brain, and you just attempt to "act" smart. Seems like she should write a book for parents on how to motivate their kids, how to give them the proper mindset.
April 02, 2007
Just Follow the Instructions
When you illegally write stuff on walls, you generally have to distill it down to just the basics. Get your point across. (get it up quickly!) Or, put up some random bullshit, barely legible, waste spraypaint. Take your pick. This site has them all, fortunately much more of the former.
March 14, 2007
Happy Birthday to Pi
It's my birthday! It's also International Pi Day. I'm honored to share the day with a number of such importance. And share a birthday with Albert Einstein, Les Brown, Diane Arbus, Michael Caine, Quincy Jones, Billy Crystal, David Byrne, and many millions of other people. Here's to ya.
March 10, 2007
Getting a Person on the Phone
Hate calling and getting a computerized prompt? Need a real person's help? Of course, here's a site that lists how to get a human.
February 05, 2007
November 02, 2006
Can you say ironic?
If this story about Ted Haggard having some non-coed fun is true, I have to say it is pretty funny.
April 02, 2006
Real Life Simpsons Intro
A cartoon comes to life: somebody took the intro to the Simpsons and duplicated it with real life people and scenery. Very cool.
April 01, 2006
Flickr Mashups
Wired had (forgot to post this, whoops!) an article on the best Flickr mashups. Very creative stuff. I particularly liked spelling with Flickr and Flickrball.
March 10, 2006
Bad Cubicle
The designer of the cubicle office furniture even disliked the ways that his design ended up being used - that is, to pack lots of us into small office spaces.
January 29, 2006
My Eel
Going through some old pictures I found one of a salt water eel that I used to own. Very interesting creatures.
January 04, 2006
Time-Lapse Grand Central Station
Since Grand Central Station will loom large in my life this year, let me start off with a beginning of the year blog entry about a cool time lapse video from inside the station.
December 19, 2005
Hacking Santa
Some electronics, a five foot tall Santa bought at Wal-Mart, and a twisted sense of holiday humor combined in the best possible way.
November 28, 2005
Roaches
My friend John took me to a reptile show on Sunday, and there was a vendor there selling several varieties of roaches. Yes, people actually keep these things as pets. With reptiles they are mainly used as food, but it definitely takes a healthy dose of biological curiosity to love one of these things.
November 18, 2005
Death To...
Then, there are some things which I just cannot explain. Like people who advocate the death of gray bushy-tailed rodents...
November 09, 2005
Dinesh Takes a Walk
Dinesh is the man. He is web site has writings and pictures of his treks through Death Valley, around the Salton Sea, and to other difficult places.
October 28, 2005
Scary Mask
The Sierra Club has a truly scary mask for you to wear this Halloween - the California Congressman Richard Pombo mask. Among other fun things, he recently drafted a bill in which he proposed selling 15 national parks to generate revenue. Eeek.
July 21, 2005
Costa Rica
If you are interested in a back to nature, very relaxing, and very fun vacation in Costa Rica, check out this place: Finca Tres Semillas
My friend can set you up on a tour of Costa Rica, including the place above, run by his sister. I have been there, and it - like all of Costa Rica - is beautiful.
April 14, 2005
Plain Language
This is kind of interesting, funny, sad and hopeful all rolled into one. Plain Language, brought to you by your federal government.
Canine Algorithmic Transfer System
What kind of dog are you? Check out the Canine Algorithmic Transfer System (click on 'the game').
March 17, 2005
Destroy The Earth!
Apparently, destroying the earth is quite a hard thing to do. If you are interested though, here is a pseudo-scientific list of the most feasible methods...
March 08, 2005
Modern Lighting
Generate sales really cool lights, including one of my favorites, the Lumalasch. (from design*sponge)
February 25, 2005
Dirty Hands
At least it is for an educational purpose. In the area of odd and kind of creepy research (not to mention kind of gross for the poor people posted in the bathrooms to observe behavior), some Hunter College undergraduates observed the hand washing behavior of a couple thousand New York City inhabitants. Almost a quarter of them did not use soap when washing their hands, good news for your average public bathroom dwelling germ but bad news for those people. Unsurprisingly, almost 20% of men did not even bother to rinse their hands. Well, what has 1 in 5 New York City men touched before they shook your hand?
February 08, 2005
fotologue
I am not exactly sure of the details, since I do not read Japanese, but this site has the most beautiful and dynamic interface I have seen in a while: fotologue.jp
January 28, 2005
Big Pope
Having played the Pope on several occasions, I know that I need a really large picture of him plastered on my wall. (If the Pope is not your thing, with the rasterbator you can make a large pictures of anything!)
December 09, 2004
Massive Rollback!
Look! Just in time for the holidays: Wal-Mart Announces Massive Rollback On Employee Wages
November 30, 2004
Weight Watchers
If you have not seen this already, definitely check out the Weight Watchers Recipes from 1974. Did anyone ever really eat fluffy mackerel pudding?
November 29, 2004
Selling A Kidney In India
I am not sure what is most disturbing about this study: Economic And Health Consequences Of Selling A Kidney In India
1. That people actually do this
2. That they found enough people to do a study
3. That these people are desperate enough to think this would be ultimately beneficial for them
Objective: To determine the economic and health effects of selling a kidney.
Conclusions: Among paid donors in India, selling a kidney does not lead to a long-term economic benefit and may be associated with a decline in health. Physicians and policy makers should reexamine the value of using financial incentives to increase the supply of organs for transplantation.
November 21, 2004
( = Idiot?
Feel like reaching through the screen and choking someone, but for politeness' sake you are forced to reply with a friendly e-mail? Watch this funny bit on the creative re-interpretation of punctuation.
November 03, 2004
Cheap Hotels in NYC
The Times of London has an article on inexpensive hotels in Manhattan (permanent link), part of a series on inexpensive hotels in major cities.
November 01, 2004
Balloon Hats
These guys are really serious about their balloon hats. And pretty damn good at them too.
October 25, 2004
Metacritic
If you are one of those people who checks out several different movie reviews to get a 'consensus review', metacritic is for you. It averages the reviews of several different critics/sites for movies (new releases and video), music and video games.
October 24, 2004
Where To Sleep
What are the best and worst cities for getting a good night's sleep?
October 22, 2004
Vibra-Phone?
Maybe some of you have thought or joked about what a cell phone on vibrate could be used for. This never used advertisement just makes it a bit more obvious...
October 14, 2004
Keep Looking Down
All you guys knew this was coming. Wizmark is now selling interactive urinal cakes to be used for advertising or whatever, reports The Register.
October 09, 2004
Choccy?
Some crazy little British cartoons set to techno music.
September 21, 2004
Springfield, USA
What street do the Simpsons live on? Where Apu's is minimart? Now you can find them for yourself on the map of Springfield, USA (the TV world home of the Simpsons).
August 27, 2004
Australia Wins
The Australians have calculated olympic medal winnings per capita, which of course puts them near the top of the list.
August 22, 2004
The Wild West
You can be sure that the Houston International Airport is well protected, because Texas is still part of the Wild West. Yee-haw!
Preparing For Emergencies
Those crazy British people have emergencies all figured out: Preparing For Emergencies (notice how close it looks to the real thing...)
August 11, 2004
The Dude Abides
The Lebowski fest is coming to New York this weekend, dude. Now we can all go out and celebrate the absurd greatness of this cult movie. Mix a couple of White Russians, role a couple of joints and call up all your toe sources...
August 06, 2004
Mamasan's
Some friends of mine are going to have a booth at this Pacific Islander festival in San Francisco this weekend (booth F4 - Mamasan's). Their food is awesome, a mix of Guam, American and other styles.
June 18, 2004
Animated Bunnies do Movies
It is a good thing when animated bunnies do thirty second condensed versions of movies: www.angryalien.com
May 05, 2004
Killing People, Weenies, Catholics
I am doing some research for a paper on Medicare and health care, and I found and interesting log by a doctor who apparently works in an emergency room. I love the title "Kill as few patients as possible". He says he is Catholic. I like the design also.
The best thing though is this table saw that can detect what it is cutting through, supposedly so it does not cut through your finger - video.
April 16, 2004
For a song
I suppose to this kid (Too much diet Pepsi) already paid the money and had to use it somehow. I wonder what the exchange value ends up as - if $1 that he pays into his meal plan works out to more or less than the $.99 per song one would pay directly to the iTunes music store.
April 07, 2004
Scared of Books?
I know some people who liked to sleep in the library in college, but apparently there are some people who are quite scared of it. Well all you bibliophobics (?) can rest a little easier now, because there are some people trying to help you out: Library Anxiety: Theory, Research, and Applications.
April 02, 2004
Dirt Bike helmet cam
Ex Apple Employee Takes Dirt Bike Ride Guide to Digital Age
...when a friend (former Apple Computer engineer Brad Patton of www.actionstarsports.com) of his turned him on to his version of a helmet cam, called the MXcam. The MXcam is a device that is strapped to a rider's helmet. A wire is then connected from the camera to the camcorder, which is housed in a backpack or waistpack. This enabled Siminoff to add the DVD element to his guide...