Another Park Another Sunday -- Doobie Brothers

Hope Springs Eternal

Know, then, thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused, or disabused;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

Powers of 10 remake

Web version of Powers of 10 (thanks, Stephanie!)

Long David Foster Wallace Interview

http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/david_foster_wallace_the_big_uncut_interview_2003.html

How the NFL might end

Not with a bang but a whimper.

Writing for Grantland, economists Tyler Cowen and Kevin Grier imagine how the NFL might end due to the increasing visibility of head injuries.

This slow death march could easily take 10 to 15 years. Imagine the timeline. A couple more college players -- or worse, high schoolers -- commit suicide with autopsies showing CTE. A jury makes a huge award of $20 million to a family. A class-action suit shapes up with real legs, the NFL keeps changing its rules, but it turns out that less than concussion levels of constant head contact still produce CTE. Technological solutions (new helmets, pads) are tried and they fail to solve the problem. Soon high schools decide it isn't worth it. The Ivy League quits football, then California shuts down its participation, busting up the Pac-12. Then the Big Ten calls it quits, followed by the East Coast schools. Now it's mainly a regional sport in the southeast and Texas/Oklahoma. The socioeconomic picture of a football player becomes more homogeneous: poor, weak home life, poorly educated. Ford and Chevy pull their advertising, as does IBM and eventually the beer companies.

Whitney Houston’s isolated vocal track

Whitney Houston’s isolated vocal track on "How Will I Know?"

from Jake Fogelnest

My favorite, however, will always be "Greatest Love of All."

Wired Response to Star Wars, Episode 1 in 3-D

Rerelease of SW1 - 3D merits a rerelease of the SW1 review in 3D from Wired Magazine.

Words With Friends dictionary issues continue

Excellent article on disciplined and thoughtful disagreement

"The paradox of reform movements is that, if you want to defy authority,
you probably shouldn't think entirely for yourself. You should attach
yourself to a counter-tradition and school of thought that has been
developed over the centuries and that seems true."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/opinion/brooks-how-to-fight-the-man.html

Ironhorse

A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors

Scary (if you've watched any of the Terminator movies), but wonderful also.