Big Pickles

I never thought of this before, but it's true. Every base is base 10, in that base.

Labels: math

This Band Aid parody is a pretty seamless edit of the original.

The parody is good, but I had just as much fun seeing the old footage of George Michael, Boy George, Sting, and Bono back in the day.

Labels: music, video

Let's hope this one doesn't become bimodal.

Labels: economics, math

This video is awesome.

The subject matter is very interesting, to begin with. The idea that you can compare apples and oranges (or seahorses and English people) to determine the best thing is pretty cool.

But what makes this video so fun to watch is the juxtaposition of irreverent, sometimes profane language an otherwise very refined, academic style.

You might disagree with the value judgments--it seems clearly biased toward a liberal, hipster aesthetic--but I guarantee you will be entertained.

Labels: video design

CNN has an article on TiVo Guilt today. The New York Times had a similar op-ed two years ago. So it's not a new thing.

It's very similar to Netflix Guilt. And isn't this just the modern version of letting your newspapers and magazines and books stack up unread?

The deal with TiVo is that you have limited hard drive space to work with, so you have to manage it. If your TiVo is full when you go to bed, then it will start deleting shows to make room for new stuff, and because you haven't meticulously accounted for every contingency and programmed it accordingly, its algorithms might cause it to prioritize what to get rid of first slightly differently than you might have. In other words: Unmitigated Disaster.

So when you watch two hours of TV and maybe even delete a few shows you're not interested in, you feel like you've had a productive evening. You've freed up plenty of space so that TiVo doesn't have to take matters into its own hands, and you can rest easy until the next day. If, on the other hand, you watch a Netflix movie, you've accomplished nothing. Two hours, utterly wasted. TiVo is still full, and getting fuller. Soon it will start deleting things, and then you run the risk of Missing A Show.

(Of course, by Missing A Show I mean that you will have to download it the next day or watch it on hulu. We're not barbarians, after all.)

Your Netflix movies don't give you the same "use it or lose it" ultimatum. They'll patiently sit there and wait until you're ready to watch them. No late fees, remember? Sure, there's this nagging feeling that you're not getting your money's worth if you don't watch at least four movies per week, but that's nothing when TiVo is holding an episode of Numb3rs hostage.

(Updates below.)

Peter Schiff was an economic adviser for the Ron Paul campaign and a frequent guest on financial news shows. Over two years ago he predicted that we would be in exactly the mess we're in now, when all those around him were predicting the opposite.



The thing that gets me about this video isn't so much that he was right and Art Laffer, Ben Stein, and all the rest were wrong. It's that they all find his opinion so detestable that they can't resist interrupting him even when they all have equal time to talk in a non-confrontational format. The animosity they have for his prediction seems to betray that deep down they know he might be right.

If that's the case, than he is committing the ultimate betrayal among financial pundits. These guys don't have to be any better than astrologers, and the news shows will keep inviting them back because they can always find an excuse for why they were wrong--especially if they are all wrong together. Usually they just claim that "no one could have predicted this" and they go right on making predictions. (Like Karl Rove, who is somehow still considered credible after his "The Math" blunder on NPR.) But Peter Schiff takes this out away from them by actually doing his job--examining the fundamentals and basing his prediction on his best analysis of reality--and they hate him for it.

UPDATE: Turns out Peter Schiff loves a good analogy.

UPDATE II: NPR picks up the story.

UPDATE III: Hey, no media fad would be complete without a conspiracy theory. In this video, CNN loses the feed right before Schiff is about to say that everything the government is doing is just making things worse (at about the 4:00 mark). Or should I say, "loses the feed," wink wink, nudge nudge.

Labels: economy, video

At least, I try.

I've read two of Malcolm Gladwell's books, and I loved them. They are fun to read, and they make you think. I was just telling Dan about him this weekend, and yet, I was at a loss to explain what these books are actually about. "He just has some good ideas..." was about all I could muster.

Then I read something like this and it makes me wonder if I've been had. In fact, it brings back memories of another book that was fun to read and made me think.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

My loathing for that book is now the stuff of legend, but in 2002 my exuberance towards it and subsequent disillusionment with it awoke in me a skepticism that I've tried to cultivate ever since. John T. Reed was the one that opened my eyes, as he demonstrated that while Kiyosaki may be fun to read and while he may make you think, in the end you can't really say what his books are about, either.

I still say Gladwell is the better writer--and also, his books don't have the added danger of inspiring you to blow your meager savings on more books, seminars, and shady real estate shemes. But it's good to be reminded that for all my skepticism (some would say cynicism) I'm still not above getting swept away by the occasional siren song.

Labels: books

From teh 1905.

[WARNING] This post is probably PG-13 or so. Proceed at your own risk.

This is an excerpt from a review of the movie from a man's perspective. I don't know who wrote it or where it's from, but if I ever track it down I will give proper attribution.

Ultimately this film and the books, I suspect, are the work of a person who understands the most narcissistic fantasies of young women. This story isn't about love. It's about a fantasy that every woman has to be so special that she is chosen by the impossibly gorgeous, horrifically powerful yet timid and gentle man of her dreams. In this case, all the aforementioned criteria are fulfilled by his being a "vegetarian vampire."

I'm not picking on girls here--the equivalent of this for guys is two chicks at the same time. Every guy wants to be so strong and handsome and smooth that two gorgeous women that every other guy wants are so attracted to him that they forgo their inhibitions and take him at the same time.

Labels: books, movies

Tonight during dinner I put some Artur Rubinstein on the stereo. Amy thought the first Chopin piano solo sounded like "Hot Cross Buns." At least she recognizes piano music, I guess.

Benjamin was less impressed. "Can't we listen to David Bowie?"

By the way, just in case I haven't linked to AMG before, it's basically the IMDB of music.

Labels: music

Dan asked in the comments a couple of weeks ago how I could like Obama and Ron Paul. I wanted to answer that it's because Liberal and Libertarian kind of sound the same. But I addressed the issue in a post I made back in February. I still feel like Obama is more grounded in real-world, workable solutions, and less driven by ideology than anyone else running. His FISA vote back in June exemplified that, I think. It was a cold bucket of water on the heads of lefties who assumed Obama would always be their anti-Bush.

Also in that post I mentioned how Steven Leavitt, author of Freakonomics, predicted Obama would be president on his blog back in November 2006.

I was reminded of that when I happened upon this electoral map resulting from a survey conducted that month. Obama 28, McCain 510. He's come a long way.

Labels: politics

This guy really likes John Williams. So he wrote a song that's kind of a medley of John William's movie scores, except he doesn't use any of the music from Star Wars. Instead, all the lyrics are about Star Wars. And it's an a capella quartet, and he sings all four parts.

Why is everything cool on the Internet so confusing to describe? Just watch it.

Labels: music, video

Quick, what's the first thing that pops into your head when someone mentions cooking and NPR? For me, it's a certain dessert--which shall remain nameless because my mother sometimes reads this blog--made famous by Alec Baldwin on SNL's Delicious Dish. If you're familiar with this particular sendup, you know that the humor lies in the fact that cooking segments on NPR can come across as a little, well, bland.

So it's with great surprise that I find myself seduced by an occasional guest on the station, Nigella Lawson. I've heard her talk about her cooking a few times before, and after this morning's segment, I finally decided to find out more about her.

You know that episode of Scrubs where J.D. asks out a girl stuck in an MRI machine without ever seeing what she looks like, and then rejoices when he finally sees that she is smokin' hot? That's sort of how I felt when I saw a picture of Nigella Lawson. I was already smitten by her voice, but I imagined her to be much older and look like Julia Child or something. Maybe because she speaks the Queen's English, I expected something closer to the queen. Anyway, let's just say I was presently surprised.

Labels: food, radio

If you watched more than one presidential debate this year, then you probably noticed what I noticed. These guys tend to repeat themselves.

This video drives the point home.

Labels: politics

There is a radio show on NPR on the weekends called Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me which I highly recommend. It's hilarious. (If you're not interested in my political views, stop reading here and pretend this post was just to tell you about that show.)

Anyway, the host of the show, Peter Sagal, writes a blog which I only came across by accident today. And in this particular post, he says basically the same thing I said to one of my co-workers this morning.

Which is this: I wonder if people who believe in conspiracy theories think about everything else that would have to be true in order for their conspiracy theory to be true? In the case of Barack Obama, people are saying all sorts of things about how he is a secret Muslim or a secret supporter of terrorism or whatever other flavor of Manchurian Candidate is in vogue today, without stopping to realize what that would look like in the real world if it were actually true. (Do they?)

My favorite is the theory that 9/11 was an inside job. If it was, it would have been the greatest display of competence the Bush administration had managed to achieve, before or since. It just doesn't make sense that the team who manged to pull off something like that would bungle everything else they attempted so mightily. 9/11 would be their "we can put a man on the moon." Are you kidding me? We can pull off 9/11 but we can't plant a few WMD's in the Iraqi desert?

Peter Sagal put it very well, I think. Conspiracy theories thrive because for many people, the reality is intolerable. It is easier to believe in a conspiracy, no matter how unlikely and convoluted, than accept the facts as they are.

Labels: politics

What a game for the Texas Longhorns! I know there was some skepticism about whether their win over Oklahoma last week was a fluke, but they sure played like a #1 team tonight.

The highlight for me was when backup quarterback John Chiles threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Plus he picked up quite a few rushing yards. Chiles played for Mansfield Summit, but the announcers kept saying "Dallas." They were specific about where Missouri's quarterback is from--Southlake Carroll. (Maybe having been the highest ranked high school team in the nation has something to do with it.) Oh well, no love for Mansfield.

Labels: sports

If you haven't seen this yet, you won't be disappointed. Both candidates are hilarious.

Labels: video

It's not enough anymore to know basic lifesaving techniques, now they want you do it with a particular song in your head.

U.S. doctors have found the Bee Gees 1977 disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim.

In retrospect, it's surprising a show like Scrubs hasn't put together some kind of montage based on this song. (Have they?)

Labels: medicine, music

I've never been to New York City, but I dream of living there someday. Too much TV, I guess.

Anyway, I love stuff like this. An ex-New Yorker has cataloged some of the tips and tricks he used to get through the day with minimal hassle. Some are really cool, and some are just bizarre (and I take exception with his characterization of Kandinsky as "pointless") but they are all fun to read.

We all have stuff like this in our heads, don't we?

(via Kottke)

Labels: living

Coolest tattoo ever.

Labels: art