As I discussed this type of stuff with a self-fashioned hedge fund manager friend, he determined to sink a more sizable amount into testing the Second Life market. After all, talk about uncorrelated returns. He’d read about Second Life in increasingly more sophisticated business and financial press. The Economist, The Financial Times, etc. All of…
The search for better spies led the NCS to set up shop on Facebook, which is used primarily by college students. Every Facebook user has her or his own page, and users can choose to join Facebook “groups,” which can be created by individuals or sponsored by companies as paid promotions. The NCS-sponsored Facebook group…
—[Hand-made Star Wars] (YouTube) Very dorky, but in a totally awesome, very cool way. Similar:Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Star-Spangled Banner and the War of 1812 When he saw “by the dawn’s early light…AestheticsWe ask 3 Broadway photographers: How do you turn a live show into a still image?Great story about the art of photographi…AestheticsThe ‘Cancelling’ of Flannery O’Connor?…
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BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese thief has returned a mobile phone and thousands of yuan he stole from a woman after she sent him 21 touching text messages, Xinhua news agency said on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Pan Aiying, a teacher in the eastern province of Shandong, had her bag containing her mobile phone, bank cards and…
Han and Luke get medals but Chewie doesn’t. Actually, Leia offers him one but Chewie turns it down. He got one of those things from Yoda about 20 years ago, but there’s no way he can tell her that. —A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope (Mornignstar) A great little detail that really helps this…
Even something as seemingly straightforward as asking for the salt involves thinking and communicating at two levels, which is why we utter such convoluted requests as, “If you think you could pass the salt, that would be great.” Says Pinker: “It’s become so common that we don’t even notice that it is a philosophical rumination…
—New Model 500 height adjustable workstation: ideal for standing, seated or supine work positions. (Office Organix) Strap me down, slap an IV in my arm, and I’ll get all my work done — all of it! Similar:Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling DadAre you unexpectedly home-schooling your…CultureAnother 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel. #design #aesthetics #blender3d…
Even now, the thought of going on the academic job market seems so spiritually suicidal that I would rather abandon my career altogether than submit to the scrutiny of another semihostile search committee. As far as I can tell, the hiring process in English favors psychopaths with ice water in their veins, which explains a…
“I was going to do gift bags, but I was going to do them right,” Zwicky recalled. The party had a train theme, so she got sticks and bandannas and made “hobo packs” that included animal crackers and bubble solution. Zwicky said that party was a turning point for her. She helped found Birthdays Without…
Because of the popularity of audio books, Lowe commissioned Bill Uden, a performing-arts student at Carmarthenshire College in Wales, to record readings from her book in his college’s studio. Lowe, who found Uden through a “blogging friend,” began releasing the podcasts along with her regular posts this month. And like many writers who publish their…
The ubiquity of the cell phone camera means that every moment in our lives is photographable. One consequence of this is an altered perception of the gravity of our day-to-day routines. We are now more aware of ourselves as observers of “history.” When a van catches fire in front of our house, we and our…
—toxickaty —Pac-Man Bathroom (Flickr | toxickaty) Awesome. Similar:‘Unexpected item’: how self-checkouts failed to live up to their promiseBusinesses still fret over these issues,…BusinessComputer grading will destroy our schools (says a humanist whose appeal to the humanities …Sadly, the people who are spending (and …AcademiaAnother 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel. #blender3d #aesthetics #designOne of many…
The encouragement of wisdom requires a special kind of education. It requires first of all recognition of one’s own intellectual limits and fallibilities–in a word, humility. This is perhaps the most conspicuously missing part of today’s education of the gifted. Many high-IQ students, especially those who avoid serious science and math, go from kindergarten through…
The nefarious enemy of all that is good, the right paddle, has performed an act of agression against our sovereign right side by hitting the ball back in our direction.If we act fast, we may be able to intercept the ball. It is aimed for directly above our paddle! Move the great paddle up!Hold the…
If you checked out the Newsweek article that I mentioned last time, you were subjected to the above image, with multiple Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks all dolled up in hi-tech mo-cap gear. Here is where Warner Bros’ marketing was really banking on the prestige of Hanks getting all dirty, showing that he’s willing to go…
The science fiction drug is available everywhere to kids, in superhero comics, on TV, in the movies, in books and magazines. It is impossible to avoid exposure, to avoid the least hint of excitement at Marvel Comics superheroes and Star Trek reruns and Star Wars, impossible not to become habituated even before kindergarten to the…
The researchers found that the games can provide opportunities for achievement, freedom and even a connection to other players. Those benefits trumped a shallow sense of fun, which doesn’t keep gamers as interested. Players reported feeling the best when the games produced positive experiences and challenges that connected to what they knew in the real…
Diamond Age, based on Neal Stephenson’s best-selling novel The Diamond Age: Or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, is a six-hour miniseries from Clooney and fellow executive producer Grant Heslov of Smokehouse Productions. When a prominent member of society concludes that the futuristic civilization in which he lives is stifling creativity, he commissions an interactive book…
“The 2007 National Freshman Attitudes Report,” a survey by Noel-Levitz of nearly 100,000 incoming freshmen at 292 public and private two- and four-year colleges, finds that men and women share high expectations for getting a degree, “no matter what obstacles get in my way.” But male students at the same time report coming into college…