Digest: thoughts, culture, what's going on, etc.

SS+K’s 5-word acceptance speech for the Obama for America...

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:01:32 -0500

SS+K’s 5-word acceptance speech for the Obama for America For All campaign at last night’s Webbys:

“Made possible by Mitt Romney.”

shortformblog: Stephen Wolfram took the statistics from 1...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:25:57 -0500

Stephen Wolfram took the statistics from 1 million Facebook users who signed up for Wolfram Alpha’s personal analytics. What he found: Most people on FB tend to get married in their late 20s and early 30s. Oh, and a bunch of other stuff.

thisistheverge: Bing, Skype, and Xbox rebranding revealed in...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:25:50 -0500

thisistheverge:

Bing, Skype, and Xbox rebranding revealed in Microsoft design presentation

Moore's Law and the Origin of Life | MIT Technology Review

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:23:43 -0500

Moore's Law and the Origin of Life | MIT Technology Review:

journalofajournalist:

New study says that life on Earth may predate the Earth’s existence. Trippy.

This is a wow moment.

ibmblr: Download the print.

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:22:03 -0500

ibmblr:

Download the print.

gqfashion: gq: Inside the NBA’s New Style Wars The rivalry...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:15:30 -0500

gqfashion:

gq:

Inside the NBA’s New Style Wars

The rivalry among the NBA’s elite has spilled off the court and into an arena where athletes have historically feared to tread: high fashion. Players show up for games wearing leather pants, lensless glasses, and printed silk shirts—and that’s just Russell Westbrook. GQ’s Steve Marsh spent a week trailing basketball’s biggest names—Kevin Durant, Kobe, D-Wade, LeBron—to ﬁnd out how they’re turning the league into a runway for the world’s tallest peacocks.

Baller Style.

A treatise on Cosby sweaters – fascinating.

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:38:57 -0500

A treatise on Cosby sweaters – fascinating.:

Because you always wanted to know where they came from.

good: Are stress and time-crunched days resulting in the...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:28:39 -0500

Healthy Recipes: One Ingredient, Five Ways

11 Fresh Ideas for Storing Produce

How to Shop at the Farmers' Market

Easy Ways to Stay Healthy at Work

good:

Are stress and time-crunched days resulting in the more-than-occasional cold pizza breakfast or bowl of cereal dinner? Perhaps it’s time to freshen up your diet. In the GOOD Guide to Healthy Living & Eating, we outline all kinds of healthy and delicious ways to make sure you’ll get more nourishing meals in your life.

Because half the battle is just getting the good stuff on your plate, learn how to find (and afford) the most delectable fruits and veggies at the farmers’ market, keep them fresher for longer, and then get ideas for stretching one tasty, nutrient-packed ingredient into five different dishes. And, because most of us are parked on our caboose in front of a computer for hours a day, we even have the stretches and snacks that will allow you to extend your newly found healthy habits right on into your office.

Healthy Recipes: One Ingredient, Five Ways

11 Fresh Ideas for Storing Produce

How to Shop at the Farmers’ Market

Easy Ways to Stay Healthy at Work

Illustrations by Matt Chase

digg: Coffee cup sleeves are called zarfs? Sounds like an alien...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:27:09 -0600

digg:

Coffee cup sleeves are called zarfs? Sounds like an alien planet.

joshsternberg: The NYT has an interesting “op-art,” explaining...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 08:58:38 -0600

joshsternberg:

The NYT has an interesting “op-art,” explaining the billing block of movies. This is a fictional billing block for a film called “All the Presidents,” directed by Abraham Lincoln.

Why we love beautiful things

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 18:24:33 -0600

Why we love beautiful things:

On design - natural and otherwise - that impacts our work and lives.

azipaybarah: Who inspired those ads for Nick Kroll’s t.v. show?...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:08:57 -0600

azipaybarah:

Who inspired those ads for Nick Kroll’s t.v. show? Dr. Zizmor, obviously.

Putting them side by side. Someone at the MTA is a genius.

laughingsquid: A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 05:38:02 -0600

laughingsquid:

A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

explore-blog: Beloved cartoonist Lynda Barry is teaching a...

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:17:45 -0600

explore-blog:

Beloved cartoonist Lynda Barry is teaching a university-level course on doodling and neuroscience that you can audit remotely for free. She’s posting the weekly assignments on her Tumblr – this is the first one.

(↬ @kirstinbutler)

"I'm going to take a look one more time. I'm not going to see this again."

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:42:17 -0600

"I'm going to take a look one more time. I'm not going to see this again.":

Just watch. There’s the passion.

shortformblog: nslayton: onaissues: soupsoup: The Daily Show...

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:26:11 -0600

shortformblog:

nslayton:

onaissues:

soupsoup:

The Daily Show investigates investigative reporters

Holy shit. This is the most biting and scathing thing I’ve seen in some time. Wow. Everyone in a journalism school needs to see this. The news industry is awful. This is depressing. Watch this.

Spot-on satire. Too spot-on, unfortunately.

nprfreshair: This past weekend, as part of the New York Times’...

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:29:15 -0600

nprfreshair:

This past weekend, as part of the New York Times’ end-of-year tribute to those who died in 2012, artist and illustrator Christoph Niemann made an extraordinary animation in honor of Maurice Sendak using a musical bed of Schubert and audio from Fresh Air’s 2011 interview with the late author and illustrator. Prepare to be undone.

The full interview is here.

image via lookintomysuns

This is the type of thing I want to remember for the rest of my life.

"1. Laughing uncontrollably 2. Zero gravity … 4. The first 10 seconds in a hot, hot bath … 9. A raw..."

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 11:18:06 -0600

“1. Laughing uncontrollably
2. Zero gravity
…
4. The first 10 seconds in a hot, hot bath
…
9. A raw oyster – very fresh, but no larger than an infant’s ear”

- Mary Roach’s “bliss list,” from the latest Radiolab episode titled “Bliss”.

Complement with everyday moments of bliss from history’s famous diaries and letters.
(via explore-blog)
A lovely listen.

barackobama: REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY TO CHILDREN ON THE NORAD...

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 08:38:57 -0600

barackobama:

REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY
TO CHILDREN ON THE
NORAD SANTA TRACKER CALL

Via Telephone

MRS. OBAMA: Hi, Lilli!

LILLIANA: Hi.

MRS. OBAMA: How old are you, Lilli?

LILLIANA: Huh?

MRS. OBAMA: How old are you?

LILLIANA: Eleven.

MRS. OBAMA: Eleven, yeah. You sound like the mature one in the group.

LILLIANA: No. (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA: Okay, what’s your question?

LILLIANA: I saw the TV show when everybody was decorating the White House. About how many Christmas trees do you think that there are around the whole White House?

MRS. OBAMA: Around the entire White House we have 54 Christmas trees this year.

LILLIANA: Wow.

MRS. OBAMA: A lot, yeah. We had a lot of Christmas trees. And it’s a pretty big house, and they have trees in every part of the White House. There is a tree in the Oval Office where the President works. And there’s trees outlining all the entrances of the White House. So we have a lot of trees, so it’s very exciting. One day you have to come and visit us during the Christmas holidays because the house is really pretty. You think you could do that one year?

MRS. THOMAS: She would love—yes, she would love that.

ABIGAIL: I would, too!

MRS. OBAMA: Well, you all should come. So do you want to know where Santa is? Because I’m working with—I’m looking at the satellite right now and they told me that when they last spotted Santa he was over Italy. So now he’s in Europe, in Italy. And he’s going to be in Palermo for a few seconds, but then he’s heading to Naples, Italy. And right now, according to my sources, he’s delivered more than 3 billion gifts already. Can you believe that?

ABIGAIL: Wow! I looked at it and the numbers were rising like every millisecond.

MRS. OBAMA: They are moving so fast. It’s amazing, but that’s how fast Santa Claus is. I mean, it’s like magic what he can do. Well, you know what, guys, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas, okay? Because I can tell you guys have been good this year, haven’t you?

MRS. THOMAS: They try. (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA: Trying counts, right?

MRS. THOMAS: Yes, it does.

MRS. OBAMA: Trying counts.

LILLIANA: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Bye!

MRS. OBAMA: Oh, it was great talking to you guys. Try to get to bed early, okay? I know it’s hard, but try to close your eyes and get some rest.

LILLIANA: Okay, thank you!

MRS. OBAMA: All right, you guys have a merry Christmas. It was great talking to you.

CHILDREN: And a happy new year! (Laughter.)

On Quora's mission

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 16:49:48 -0600

Great update from Quora here on where they’re headed: http://www.quora.com/blog/Our-Mission

Wish all tech startups could be this clear about what they’re thinking and the scale they’re attempting to reach.

Quora’s mission is to share and grow the world’s knowledge.

The vast majority of human knowledge is still not on the internet. Most of it is trapped in the form of experience in people’s heads, or buried in books and papers that only experts can access. As a consequence most people don’t have the knowledge they should, and don’t have the time, connections, or skills to get to the knowledge they would have in an ideal world.

The internet was supposed to allow anyone to set up a web page and share their knowledge with the world. But in practice it’s too difficult and takes too long and almost no one does it. Blogs are easy to start, but unless the author is famous, it takes years to build a following. More than a billion people use the internet yet only a tiny fraction contribute their knowledge to it.

Quora aims to allow anyone to easily share their knowledge and in the process to dramatically increase the total amount of knowledge available to the world. As we grow, we will be able to provide larger and larger audiences to writers, cover more and more topics, and have greater and greater impact on the world.

We hope to become an internet-scale Library of Alexandria, a place where hundreds of millions of people go to learn about anything and share everything they know. To do that we are going to have to expand. Today Quora is largely questions and answers, but that is not the ideal format for all knowledge. Other formats will gradually be added as we scale up.

All of this will be guided by our mission.