Vast and grand, monumental

Johnny & the Nandoweb

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:49:00 -0600

"Searching online is more efficient and following hyperlinks quickly puts researchers in touch with..."

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:00:12 -0600

“Searching online is more efficient and following hyperlinks quickly puts researchers in touch with prevailing opinion, but this may accelerate consensus and narrow the range of findings and ideas built upon.”

- Electronic Publication and the Narrowing of Science and Scholarship by James A. Evans (via Frontal Cortex)

"Nature, which is filled with intriguing stimuli, modestly grabs attention in a bottom-up fashion,..."

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:27:17 -0600

“Nature, which is filled with intriguing stimuli, modestly grabs attention in a bottom-up fashion, allowing top-down directed-attention abilities a chance to replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban environments are filled with stimulation that captures attention dramatically and additionally requires directed attention (e.g., to avoid being hit by a car), making them less restorative.”

- “The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature,” Marc Berman, John Jonides and Stephan Kaplan

"There is surprisingly little evidence that D.S.T. actually saves energy."

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:32:00 -0600

“There is surprisingly little evidence that D.S.T. actually saves energy.”

- Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant, “Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Indiana” (via Freakonomics)

The Sprint Now Widget

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:16:00 -0600

"Strategy, too often, kills a deeply-lived sense of purpose, destroys credibility, and corrupts..."

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:48:11 -0600

“Strategy, too often, kills a deeply-lived sense of purpose, destroys credibility, and corrupts meaning.”

- Umair Haque, Obama’s Seven Lessons for Radical Innovators

(via catbird)

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:44:33 -0600

(via catbird)

Jared Diamond at TED on Why societies fail?.

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:12:00 -0500

Jared Diamond at TED on Why societies fail?.

The Lost Years and Last Days of David Foster Wallace

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:49:14 -0500

The Lost Years and Last Days of David Foster Wallace: Rolling Stone puts the entire DFW bio/rememberance online.

NYT Visualization Lab

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:39:00 -0500

The NYT w/IBM has created a tool that allows users to create visual representations of data and information, like charts, maps and other graphic presentations from data sets presented by Times editors.

I have always loved the NYT infographics - hopefully this will also become a repository for them.

NYT Visualization Lab

"During one secondary inspection, at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, I was wearing under my..."

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:26:09 -0500

“During one secondary inspection, at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, I was wearing under my shirt a spectacular, only-in-America device called a “Beerbelly,” a neoprene sling that holds a polyurethane bladder and drinking tube. The Beerbelly, designed originally to sneak alcohol—up to 80 ounces—into football games, can quite obviously be used to sneak up to 80 ounces of liquid through airport security. It went undetected. The eight-ounce bottle of water in my carry-on bag, however, was seized by the federal government.”

- Jeffrey Goldberg, The Things He Carried (The Atlantic)

Obama Wins! ... Ad Age's Marketer of the Year

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:43:20 -0500

Obama Wins! ... Ad Age's Marketer of the Year

A new study finds that skilled, thoughtful web surfing can actually build cognitive skills and may delay the onset of dementia in older users.

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:33:40 -0500

A new study finds that skilled, thoughtful web surfing can actually build cognitive skills and may delay the onset of dementia in older users.: “Gary Small’s team found that experienced web users experience increased stimulation in the regions of their brains that handle complex reasoning and decision making. The activity was more widespread than when the same subjects were reading a book, or when inexperienced web users surfed the internet.” (via Freakonomics)

Vote for Obama

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:00:50 -0500

Vote for Obama: Good to have Christopher Hitchens throwing his considerable weight ~~behind Obama~~ against McCain/Palin.

Baby-Sitting the Economy

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:59:14 -0500

The baby-sitting co-op that went bust teaches us something that could save the world by Paul Krugman.

A Slate oldy, but a very relevant goody.

"Sometimes the ROI is simply insights and learnings that are gleamed from actually doing the..."

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:49:05 -0500

“Sometimes the ROI is simply insights and learnings that are gleamed from actually doing the initiative.”

- David Armano, Unconventional Marketing

The Fall

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:54:00 -0500

There was a man who found two leaves and came
indoors holding them out saying to his parents
that he was a tree.

To which they said then go into the yard and do
not grow in the living room as your roots may
ruin the carpet.

He said I was fooling I am not a tree and he
dropped his leaves.

But his parents said look it is fall.

—

Russell Edson, What A Man Can See

"Whenever popular culture shifts its economic incentives from quick hits to long-term repetition, a..."

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:21:20 -0500

“Whenever popular culture shifts its economic incentives from quick hits to long-term repetition, a corresponding increase in quality and depth ensues.”

- Steven Berlin Johnson, Everything Bad is Good For You

I will never cease to enjoy Toothpaste For Dinner.

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:30:34 -0500

I will never cease to enjoy Toothpaste For Dinner.

The Documentary Group

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:09:00 -0500

Matt (Ideas) has started The Documentary Group as a “collection of some favorite documentaries by documentary lovers for documentary lovers.” This is my first submission.

The Beaver Trilogy (Trent Harris, 2001) is one of the oddest documentaries I’ve seen. It combines three films: The Beaver Kid (1979) documents cameraman Harris discovering ‘Groovin’ Gary outside his Salt Lake City, Utah news station. Gary is charismatic, doing impressions and just generally pleased to be on TV. He later contacts Harris and invites him to come to Beaver, ID to film a talent show Gary is putting on. Gary will be the main act with his full-drag impersonation of Olivia Newton-John’s “Please Don’t Keep Me Waiting”.

The next installment, The Beaver Kid 2 (1981), features Sean Penn in the role of ‘Groovin’ Larry, recreating the entire first documentary.

The Orkly Kid (1985) is an extended remake starring a young Crispin Glover.

Harris is interviewed in a This American Life episode entitled “Reruns.”