Dilbert Comic in RSS format, with the cartoons! Yay.

http://feedproxy.google.com/DilbertDailyStrip

(via)

I’ve been super excited for Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, “Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Don’t”. The release date of November 18, 2008 was just announced on Amazon, as well they’ve got a product description up too:

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of “outliers”—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Brilliant and entertaining, OUTLIERS is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

Here’s a list of writings and talks by and about Gladwell that cover genius/prodigy, education, and working:

• his talk Genius: 2012 from the 2007 New Yorker Conference
• The Risk Pool - What’s behind Ireland’s economic miracle—and G.M.’s financial crisis? (risk pool blog entry, and a followup post)
• The Myth of Prodigy and Why It Matters
• Getting In - The social logic of Ivy League admissions
• The Bakeoff - Project Delta aims to create the perfect cookie
• Brain Candy - Is pop culture dumbing us down or smartening us up?
• Gladwell’s personal work space
• Making the Grade
• The Talent Myth - Are smart people overrated?
• The Social Life of Paper - Looking for method in the mess
• Designs For Working - Why your bosses want to turn your new office into Greenwich Village
• The New-Boy Network - What do job interviews really tell us?

It’s been one year since Ze Frank started “The Show”. I’ve been a big fan ever since. Yesterday he posted the final episode; he’s come along way since the start.

The following are a few of the things I’ve been checking out lately, written in a somewhat random style:

• Scott Adams Birthday Post and the death of infamous terrorist leader al-Zarqawi. As Scott explains, it’s one of those rare win-win-win-win situations. (Funny stuff)



• The Spinto Band ‘Oh Mandy‘ by director Jon Watts and from production company Colonel Blimp. I love the use of stop motion animation and the music is great too.

• No Tolls on the Internet by the brilliant Lawrence Lessig and Robert W. McChesney. I can hardly believe that American legislator’s are even thinking about ripping control of the Internet out of the hands of the people and bequeathing it to the telecoms.
• Guy from the Train Effect is a good read on creating environments that juxtapose ideas and images not normally associated with each other creating a positive and memorable experience. I think Flickr does a great job of this.
• Do it Yourself Impeachment, since I’m not a US citizen I can only watch from the sidelines, but for those of you that are, here’s your call to action; now is the time.

I’m a fan of Matthew Baldwin’s Defective Yeti. Today at lunch I read some of his published work in the zine The Morning News, and I recommend you check out his short article, In Praise of Loopholes and the collaborative piece, New Fathers, Round III—they’re hilarious.

MB: One mistake I guess we’ve made is in encouraging our son to be completely fearless. My wife and I were raised in the ‘70’s, when Sesame Street and albums like “Free to Be You and Me” were all “rah-rah, build up your self-esteem, you can do anything, don’t be afraid!”

We’ve now passed that mentality on to our child, who now suffers from the illusion that he is bulletproof. The other day after his bath I put him on our bed to dress him in his jim-jams and then, on a lark, threw the towel over his head. He reacted by laughing, leaping to his feet, and running full-bore in a random direction. When he went over the edge of the bed he hung there for a moment, Elmer Fudd style, legs bicycling in mid-air, before hitting the ground with a heart-stopping Wa-UMP! Tears were shed, hugs were administered, bruises were admired…and then, when I put him back on the bed, he was off like a shot, looking over his shoulder like, “OK, but can you catch me NOW?”

I love Malcalm Gladwell’s writing and reading an ESPN interview with him only helps to reinforce my impression of him—he’s brilliant.

This week’s exchange is with Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author of “Blink” and “Tipping Point” as well as the longtime cleanup hitter for the New Yorker. You would never think that the most successful nonfiction writer alive would double as a huge sports fan … but he does. So I couldn’t resist the chance to exchange e-mails with him intermittently over the past six weeks.

Check out “Curious Guy: Malcalm Gladwell”, part I and II.

Here are a few semi-random links of interest:

• Thank-You For Smoking movie trailer. It probably ends with his kid dying of cancer.
• MC Hammer Blog—see also MC Hammer at Google.
• Don Knotts passes away. I remember him most playing Mr. Farnsley Furley on Three’s Company.
• favicon generator—taking the pain out of creating tiny little graphics for browser address bars.
• World of Warcraft teaches the wrong thing—the amount of time that game takes to play is exactly why I have resisted the temptation to join.
• Fluideffect—even celebrities need a little photoshop love.
• Wackyuses.com—Discovering clever secondary uses of common household stuff is very rewarding.

One of my favorite non-fiction writers, Malcolm Gladwell, (author of The Tipping Point, and Blink) has a new website: gladwell.typepad.com.

I’m somewhat of a science junky and this morning I just discovered a new repository of science related blogs: ScienceBlogs.com.

ScienceBlogs is the web’s largest conversation about science. It features blogs from a wide array of scientific disciplines, with new voices coming on board regularly. It is a global, digital science salon.

The blog topics include everything from ethics to principles of uncertainty.

I hope you enjoy my quick roundup of interesting links:

• Why the QWERTY keyboard?
• Student gets $117,500 in website free speech case
• How to Back Up Your Music in iTunes
• How digg Uncovers the News
• What time is it around the World?

A clever fellow going by the moniker of TehDiplomat has created a playable version of Risk that uses Google Maps satellite images for the board. At present all players have to sit around the computer taking turns but apparently he is working on a multiplayer version.

Risk via Google Maps.

(via Waxy links)

I recently added Danah Boyd’s Blog to my feed list because she consistently writes very insightful entries. Today I read her excellent post on growing up in a culture of fear; I liked it so much I thought I would share.

How do youth come of age in this society? What good is it to restrict every social space that they have? Does anyone actually think that this is a good idea? Protectionist actions tends to create hatred, resentment. It destroys families by failing to value trust and responsibility. Ageist rhetoric alienates the younger generation. And for what purpose?

E-O of the art and animation related blogs that I like:

• Enrique Fernandez
• Good Deal
• Gur-B
• HaraldSiepermann
• John Nevarez
• Khoolsville
• Lambey’s Log
• MattJonezAnimation
• Monkeyfeather
• MurrayMints
• OdderNod

The number of animation blogs that have sprung up in the last couple months is amazing. Here is a list of some of the animation and art related blogs on my RSS Feed reader:

• …* Art and stuff by Alberto Mielgo
• art-attacks
• Boris Hiestand
• Bruno Werneck’s Blog !
• Captainyolk
• Cartoon Brew
• Crookie’s Blog
• danbobthompson
• Don Dixon’s Blog
• doodlin’
• Drawn! The Illustration Blog
• Drawnography

I don’t want my list becoming TOO huge in one post so I will add the rest over the next couple days.

Here is JC Wong’s webpage, a friend of mine I met while working at GXM Studio in Malaysia. It’s a select few pieces of his artwork. JC is an amazing artist.