September 2008
56 posts
Report: workers spend 25% of work time goofing... →
I’m posting this from home, honest!
If you’re reading this while your boss thinks you’re hammering away on some code or updating that Excel spreadsheet, then you’re likely one of the workers that spend about 25 percent of their work time doing personal stuff online. And chances are that your boss doesn’t even know it.
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Regardless of how much it’s costing...
Who pulled the plug?
I can’t seem to access Tumblr, along with a bunch of other sites and services (like AIM), through AT&T’s DSL service. Did someone at AT&T trip over a cable? I can only post this because I am tunneling through VPN. When will the DSL woes be over?
WatchAnd this is the “making of” video for “Reverie” below.
Vincent Laforet’s Blog
Want To Bail On Your Stocks? Answer 2 Questions... →
Question #1: Why do you really want to sell? Can you predict future movements of the stock market? I can’t. If you could, then you should have known these collapses were coming, shorted these stocks, and made a fortune. If you bet big enough, you’d be retired right now and not reading this.
So you’re not psychic. Then why? The real reason you want to sell is that your investments have dropped...
Cognition touts "world's largest" semantic map of... →
Cognition offers three portals on its site where anyone can take its technology for a test drive. Highlighting Cognition’s strength in specialization, the caselaw.cognition portal scours an unorganized database of every US federal court decision and opinion since 1950. Running a simple example query of “adopt a bill” will elicit case results and a set of drop down menus on the...
Is Money The Secret To A Happy Marriage? →
Money itself isn’t important. Money is simply a tool to achieve what you want. As long as you and your partner want the same things, then in general I think the rest falls into place. You just have to realize that money spent in one place takes away from another desire. However, if you don’t agree on what you want, you could be billionaires and unhappy.
My wife and I remind each other all the...
On Corporate Research →
One important difference between doing research in these two settings is that in academia the line between colleague and competitor is vague, whereas in corporate research it is quite clear. Everyone employed by the same company works together (in principle at least) toward the same ends. Communication is fast and open within a company, and interactions with the outside world are restricted....
Black Tie
I’ve changed the theme again. This time, it’s a modified version of Black Tie. I’ve almost got the Disqus comments the way I want, but there are two huge blocks of black above and below the comments. I think it’s something to do with the Flash script that renders “Indeed,” but I haven’t figured out how to make the script only apply to the heading. Help!
LHC webcam →
Courtesy of Niniane
The Kindergarchy →
jingc:
Significance has to be earned, and it is earned only through achievement. Besides, one of the first things that people who really are significant seem to know is that, in the grander scheme, they are themselves really quite insignificant.
Good reminder to have once in a while.
Watchjingc:
I don’t even want to think about how long this must have taken to make. (via NotCot)
Some things just make you smile
=)
Nikon D3 Shutter Release in Super Slow Motion →
Very cool.
I really like the intro.
Less Expensive Ways to Enjoy San Francisco →
Want to see the real Chinatown and get great deals on random plastic objects, cool kitschy stuff, and housewares? Then do yourself a favor and don’t go to Chinatown. Go to the Inner Richmond neighborhood (Clement street between 2nd and 10th is the heart of it) in San Francisco instead. Honestly the same people own shops in both neighborhoods with the same merchandise in each. The tourist factor in...
The Gentleman Grafter →
By night, Joe Ades dines with his fourth wife at exclusive restaurants, sips Veuve Clicquot at the Pierre, and goes home to a three-bedroom Park Avenue apartment. By day, he is something else altogether. At 72, the “peeler guy” in the Turnbull & Asser shirts is a New York legend.
This man is amazing. The article doesn’t do him full justice, so watch the YouTube video.
The best gym membership →
A Danish chain of gyms is now offering membership free of charge, with the only caveat that you have to show up, in order for the membership to be free. If you fail to show up once per week you will be billed the normal monthly membership fee for that month. This should solve the problem with incentives that gym-membership normally carries - there is suddenly a very large (membership is around 85$...
On Merging Finances →
My wife and I just did the opposite, due mainly to the 3rd point you made. We were constantly arguing over things that I’d buy that she didn’t think I needed to buy. Now we put all our money into the joint account, but keep a little out to each put in our own private account. Neither has any say over how the money in the others’ private account is used. So far, it has worked for us. Now that I...
Ars reviews Spore →
It was time to discover what more than ten years of development time, and untold millions of dollars, had given to gaming.
Penguin Classics
I’m trying out a new Tumblr theme called Penguin Classics. I love the typography and overall design, but the horizontal bars are too distracting. Maybe I can remove the color. Or just post longer entries =)
Airplane-Treadmill problem →
Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?
I think this is actually pretty simple as long as the problem is set up correctly (English is often too vague). I also think “RH” has a pretty good answer.
