December 17, 2013
Breathe Me
The Pareto of our Discontent
College football attracts a lot of rabid fans. Of late, college football (and football in general) has also attracted an increasing number of stats enthusiasts peddling increasingly obscure metrics to quantify success and failure. At MGoBlog, a popular Michigan fan blog, one intrepid poster has turned the statistics tools on the fanbase itself. A Season in Profanity details the usage of various swear words in open game threads. Among the relationships detailed are the usage of various colorful expressions by game, mood of the fan base by opponent, swearing efficiency, which coach(es) should be fired, and even the individual play outcomes that inspired the greatest amount of swearing. As it was kind of a rough season for the team, there was a substantial amount of data to comb through. [more inside]
Mary! Did you hear that?
BBC jumps the shark
How to make iced tea in Twin Peaks
The fall of the house of Tsarnaev
"Some stories start at the end."
Robert Redford's Restless Solitude
Redford started Sundance because the movies he wanted to see – ones with story and characters – weren't being made in Hollywood. The only problem is he was so successful that Hollywood decided to devour his Xanadu, with premium vodka parties and assistants scouring the Park City Albertsons for Fiji water. "It makes me fucking nuts," says Redford. He has physically distanced himself from the film festival, making only occasional cameos. "It has moved out of what I had as a comfort zone. It's moved beyond, to where I'm uneasy about it." Redford talks with sadness about his wayward film child, ticking off the rise of ambush marketers and swag bags, as if it is all out of his control, a stance that Redford's skeptics claim is evidence he sees himself as a reluctant, tragic hero – not only in his movies but also in the story of his life.[more inside]
Denise Richards, nuclear physicist
Giving Back
"After two to three hours, the body is transformed into a sterile coffee-colored liquid the consistency of motor oil that can be safely poured down the drain, alongside a dry bone residue similar in appearance to cremated remains."
GOOD magazine: The emergence of the sustainable death industry.
In Greenspan's book, ideology trumps data
Greenspan’s Iron Law is that the sum of these two numbers is approximately constant, at least for the last half-century in the United States. That is a pretty fraught claim: it means that every time the United States adds a billion dollars to Social Security benefits or Medicare payments or unemployment insurance outlays we are forcing a billion-dollar reduction in family saving or in the retained earnings of business, or an increase in government deficits, or some combination of these. ... So what is the evidence for it? Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Solow finds Alan Greenspan's latest book to be ideologically driven and embarrassing, a pity for someone who, Solow writes, was, when looking at his whole tenure, a very good chairman of the Fed.
"They are Christmas Jammies."
XMAS JAMMIES - Merry Christmas from the Holderness Family! - a video Christmas card that is cute and bound to get stuck in your head. [slyt | via]
I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice System
Winter is... you know the rest
Game of Thrones inspired snowflake patterns for when you want to get your pop-culture fantasy geek on, but in a subtle way this holiday season.
"You think you can do that to me?"
After the title character died at the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fifth season (a season that included the death of Buffy's mom), the writers knew that the show had to be a little less dark in its sixth year. Hence the formation of The Trio, a triad of nerds who acted like they thought villains should act, got in way over their heads, and ended up, in the words of writer Drew Z. Greenberg, "tear[ing] the family apart in a way they’ve never been hurt before."
Dad?
"My God! It's full of LED stars!"
All it takes is a regular mirror, a two-way mirror and some LED lights and BAM! you have yourself an Infinity Mirror. Chances are you've seen one or two before at science museums, but you can make one of your own (either large or small). Then there is Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (previously), who has done a series of "Infinity Room" art projects over the years. The latest of which can be found at the David Zwirner gallery in New York City (but hurry! The show ends this Saturday).
Icelandic traditions: the Yule Cat, Gryla, and the 13 Yuletide Lads
The Yule Cat, called Jólakötturinn or Jólaköttur in its native Iceland, is something in the lines of a holiday threat. Those who don't work hard and make, earn, or receive new clothes before Yule will be devoured by Jólakötturinn, as told in the poem by Jóhannes Bjarni Jónasson (original poem with some illustrations). Myths say that Jólakötturinn belongs to the ogress Grýla, mother of the 13 "Yule Lad" trolls. [more inside]
Socrates in his own words
An introduction to Socrates in his own words through Plato by Michael Griffin, Assistant Professor of Greek Philosophy at the University of British Columbia [more inside]
A Barkeeper Entering the Kingdom of Heaven
Mark Twain famously derided Jane Austen (who would have had her 238th birthday yesterday), saying (among other things) that he could not read her prose even if paid a salary to do so. But what did Twain really think about Austen's work?
Recreation, Drinking, and Sea Monkeys
This guy really wants to sell his sailboat.
Cartons, not contents
The Eggnog Project is the collection of Madeleine Eiche. "The peculiarities of the packaging range from festive to banal, minimal to unappetizing, and each seem to be printed with complete disregard for color alignment. It is precisely these things that make for such compelling kitsch."
Frosting has more integrity than your ex-boyfriend.
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