November 2008
67 posts
October 2008
58 posts
WatchCreator and developer of the Prince of Persia games, Jordan Mechner, has been posting reference material from the games’ development.
One tidbit is this 1985 reference video of his brother acting out the climbing, jumping, and sliding motions that are hallmarks of the games.
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“When there are too many policemen, there can be no liberty. When there are too...”
– Lin Yutang, writer and inventor
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I knew that Motown is a nickname for Detroit but I had no idea it’s a portmanteau of motor and town.
Of course, I’m sure everyone in Michigan knows that, the same way everyone in San Francisco and New York learns that SOMA is a portmanteau of south and market.
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Neat Tricks to Learn About Your Body →
If your throat tickles, scratch your ear. “When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm… This spasm relieves the tickle.”
Your right ear is better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech (good tip for spies!) The left ear is better at picking up music tones.
Feel no pain Coughing during an injection can lessen the...
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16 Things that Took Me Over 50 Years to Learn
by Dave Barry, columnist and author
Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’
There is a very fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness.’
People who want to share their religious views...
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“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”
– Oscar Wilde
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84 posters inspired by the Shepard Fairey "HOPE"... →
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Saved up for new Macbook Pro but getting refurb...
So what does $650 more for the new Macbook Pro buy over the previous Macbook Pro?
Same processor
Same amount of RAM (albeit slightly faster bus, 1067MHz vs 667MHz)
50GB more hard drive space
Marginally better graphics performance (9400M vs 8400M, same video memory)
Slightly heavier case (5.5lbs. vs 5.4 lbs.)
Same screen and screen resolution
No Firewire 400
Same size case, roughly
...
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Airtreks - See Southeastern Asia Special - 12... →
So my roommate and I were talking about round-the-world trips and I came across this one at Airtreks.com. At $1649 with $650 in taxes ($2300 total), you get airfare and transportation to 12 stops in Southeastern Asia:
San Francisco - Singapore - Saigon / Ho Chi Minh - Hanoi - Luang Phrabang - Vientiane - Angkor Wat (Siem Reap) - Bangkok - Koh Samui - Hong Kong - Beijing - Tokyo - San Francisco
...
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“We are such spendthrifts with our lives. The trick of living is to slip on and...”
– Paul Newman
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“I only wish she had been asked: “Governor Palin, if paying taxes is not...”
– Thomas L. Friedman, op-ed columnist for the New York Times
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Uniting Around Food to Save an Ailing Town →
A great profile about the citizens in a Vermont town that have banded together to change the town from a sleepy industrial to an agricultural center.
The local businesses businesses share equipment, sell agricultural clippings and byproducts to each other, meet monthly to share experiences, pass along contacts, promote each other’s products, organize tours of their businesses, and provide...
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Here’s a bootstrapper’s/marketer’s/entrepreneur’s/fast-rising executive’s effort diet. Go through the list and decide whether or not it’s worth it. Or make up your own diet. Effort is a choice, at least make it on purpose:
Delete 120 minutes a day of ‘spare time’ from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.
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“Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”
– Warren Buffett on the Charlie Rose Show.
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Popular Mechanics' 100 Skills Every Man Should...
Handle a blowout
Drive in snow
Check trouble codes
Replace fan belt
Wax a car
Conquer an off-road obstacle
Use a stick welder
Hitch up a trailer
Jumpstart a car
Perform the Heimlich
Reverse hypothermia
Perform hands-only CPR
Escape a sinking car
Carve a turkey
Use a sewing machine
Put out a fire
Home brew beer
Remove bloodstains from fabric
Move heavy stuff
Grow food
Read an...
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#14 from "23 Questions I Ask Everybody I Meet In... →
For reasons that cannot be explained, cats can suddenly read at a twelfth-grade level. They can’t talk and they can’t write, but they can read silently and understand the text. Many cats love this new skill, because they now have something to do all day while they lay around the house; however, a few cats become depressed, because reading forces them to realize the limitations of their existence...