December 2008
96 posts
November 2008
67 posts
Rules of Style: Dan and Dean Caten of Dsquared
Good practical fashion advice for men from the designers of Dsquared².
Guys never get proportions right. They’re so used to enormous suits that when they try something semi-fitted they get freaked out. You’re not meant to do cartwheels in a suit. When you think you have the right size, take one smaller.
To change your look, accessorize differently. If you usually wear a white shirt, then add...
“Human beings are very quirky and individualistic, and wonderfully idiosyncratic....”
– Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, on why it’s so hard to build a good movie recommendation engine.
Winning the Netflix Prize →
Fascinating NY Times write-up about the $1 million Netflix Prize and how engineers around the world are trying to fine tune complex computer algorithms to win the jackpot.
Later on, it evolves into a brilliant discussion about the nature of recommendation engines and why social networking tools may overtake computer-based reasoning in the future.
Recommended reading.
“Lemon, you’re going to go to Gavin’s and you’re going to work...”
– Jack Donaghy’s dating advice on last night’s 30 Rock
“Headline I’d like to see in 96 pt. type in the NY Times: “Obama...”
– Jason Kottke commenting on an article about how soil types determined the 2008 election voting patterns in the Deep South.
Human Bandwidth
1. The human cell contains 75 MB of genetic information
2. A sperm 37.5 MB.
3. In a milliliter, we have 100 million sperm.
On average, one ejaculation releases 2.25 ml in 5 seconds. Using basic math we can compute the bandwidth of the human male penis as: (37.5MB x 100M x 2.25)/5 = (37,500,000 bytes/sperm x 100,000,000 sperm/ml x 2.25 ml) / 5 seconds = 1,687,500,000,000,000 bytes/sec =...
Wassenaar Issue 01 →
Terrific new online photography magazine. Good selection and variety of solo and group photographers’ work along with an interview and a few reviews of photography books.
Wassenaar (ISSN: 1916-8462) is an online publication primarily dedicated to emerging artists and the innovate photography they produce. Each issue is different not only in content but also in terms of its structure,...
New Tumblr: Best of LIFE Photo Archive →
I’ve been spending a lot of time browsing through the LIFE Photo Archive, finding wonderful images, so I thought I’d start a tumblelog to catalog some of the best. Enjoy!
If you’d like to submit your favorites, just let me know and I’ll add you as an author. I’d love to see your finds!
How to set Google Chrome to use Gmail for mailto:...
It seems silly that Google Chrome has no option to default to Gmail for mailto: links and instead a registry hack (or an external program) would be required. In any case, if you’re in that camp, here’s instructions by fellow Tumblr, shonzilla, for how to hack Google Chrome to use Gmail.
Step 1. Copy-paste the entire code snippet below into your text editor and replace username with...
“If you’re buying grapes, what difference does it make whether you crush them in...”
– Paul Kukacs, author, on urban wineries.
WatchDawn and dusk in San Francisco in time-lapse with tilt-shift miniaturization.
It’s like watching my beautiful city breathe.
(via laughingsquid.com)
2 tags
Today is College Entrance Exam Day in South Korea
On the day each November that high-school seniors take the college-entrance test — Nov. 13, this year — South Korea is a changed country.
Many offices and the stock market open at 10 a.m., an hour later than usual, to keep the roads free for students on their way to the test. All other students get the day off to keep schools quiet for the test takers. And while students are taking...
“The United States is the only country in the industrialized world where children...”
– The Education Trust, a Washington-based education advocacy group in nytimes.com
Secret Service names for the Obama family
Barack Obama: Renegade Michelle Obama: Renaissance Malia Obama: Radiance Sasha Obama: Rosebud
For comparison:
George W. Bush: Tumbler Laura Bush: Tempo
Bill Clinton: Eagle Hillary Clinton: Evergreen Chelsea Clinton: Energy
John F. Kennedy: Lancer Jacqueline Kennedy: Lace Caroline Kennedy: Lyric John F. Kennedy Jr: Lark