Why I like Merlin Mann

He's smart as hell and goes right at it, whatever it happens to be (in this case the above photo). I'll recommend his book wholeheartedly even though it's not even available for pre-order. Also, watch this video if you haven't yet.

The Great Lie - Culture - The Atlantic

The Great Lie - Culture - The Atlantic

A powerful poem about slavery and its living legacy.

With a capital T and that rhymes with P . . . .

Scott Adams (Dilbert) suggests (for a good reason) that pool should be taught in school.

Zagats awards Five Guys best burger award

Excellent fries, also. Thanks, Zagats.

Hardest Hangman Word

Jazz.

Useful if you ever need to take down an elementary school kid who's getting too big for his britches.

Thank you, Mark Twain

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Why Does Time Seem to Slow Down in Crisis?

NPR says that it's because you actually remember all the details.

Population by Longitude and Latitude

I wish I'd thought of this.

Virtual Keyboard

I try to stay away from ThinkGeek for exactly this reason.

More on the dangers of success

Further to the Fred Brooks quote from a few weeks ago, this one from Pixar's Ed Catmull: "Success hides problems."

When I was growing up, my mom would say to me that I should go over the problems I got *right* as well as the ones I got wrong, because if it's wrong, I'll try to fix it, but if it's right, I might have problems I didn't see at first.

Husky Short Field Landing and Take-off

I didn't want to get my pilot's license until now.

This answers the question once and for all

Horseracing to hot dog-eating, every single sport on earth shares three fundamental characteristics: people compete at it, computers can't do it, and aesthetics don't count. Absent any one of these criteria, and it is no sport—no matter what the NCAA and IOC try to sell you.

From The Atlantic "Why Cheerleading Isn't a Sport, but Croquet is."

Learn Python the Hard Way

Why not? If I get tired of doing Project Euler problems in Java, I could switch over to Python.

Great Idea or Great Execution? Which is the key to success?

Top rated answers:
1. Both
2. Yes
3. Two sides of the same coin.

Keep those telomeres long

Dr. Bill Andrews is hoping to extend the human lifespan by lengthening telomeres, a marker for aging.

Roches - Losing True - McCarter Theatre, Princeton 4-14-90

I love The Roches. Always will. Full stop.

Lyrics from metrolyrics.com

I'm losin' you
fading from view

aging and aching and raging and faking I'm

losin' you
losin' true

last time I saw you I wanted to paw you
not to destroy you now I just annoy you I'm

losin' to
accusin' you

when I first met you I failed to get you
now that I let you come through I forget who I'm

losin' out
cruisin' about

the night of shining armor doesn't do her any favors

make no mistake when mystiquing a make I'm

losin' you
choosin' to

Peter Norvig on Being Wrong

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/thewrongstuff/archive/2010/08/03/error-message-google-research-director-peter-norvig-on-being-wrong.aspx

Brilliant Phtotoshopped Historical/Modern photographs

From a lovely Russian blog by Sergey Larenkov.