After six very spread out seasons, The Sopranos series comes to a close tonight. Here’s a sheet and some suggested rules to set up a household pool about who’s going to die, how, and other predictions.
Personally, I think Tony’s going to get whacked.
Thomas Hawk points out where to get an 8GB Extreme III memory Card for just $89US.
Over the last year I’ve done a ton of interviews about my website and about backmasking. The more interviews I do, the more comfortable I get at doing them.
At first it surprised me how much the skill level of the interviewer makes on the flow of the interview. I’ve been interviewed by reporters ranging in skill from The Wall Street Journal to an individual doing a high school project. I’ve seen the difference in how a piece for a live radio show differs from a pre-recorded and heavily edited podcast. I’ve also seen how practise giving interviews makes such a big difference in how you come across in the final version.
Today I came across some great advice from Matt Haughey on how to talk to the press. Priceless advice for both the interviewer and interviewee. Read up, you never know when it will be your turn! And don’t forget to read the comments, you’ll find some real gems there.
In a vain attempt to keep up with youth culture, I checked out the Cute with Chris show.
I’ve heard it described as Canada’s answer to Ze Frank (Chris lives in L.A. but is from Canada). I have to say, he’s no Ze however I will admit his show is kind of “cute” in a silly sort of way. Your mileage may vary.
Here is an interesting graph from Robert Shiller’s book Irrational Exuberance.
The Yale economist Robert J. Shiller created an index of American housing prices going back to 1890. It is based on sale prices of standard existing houses, not new construction, to track the value of housing as an investment over time. It presents housing values in consistent terms over 116 years, factoring out the effects of inflation.
See also the same graph as a roller coaster ride on Google Video.
The following is purported to be an exact excerpt from a 1950s Home Economics textbook, (I assume published in the United States).
The Good Wives Guide
Have Dinner Ready
Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
Prepare yourself
Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
Clear away the clutter
Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. and then run a dust cloth over the tables. Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
Prepare your children
Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they ar small), comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
Minimize all noise
At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet and happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
Listen to him
You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first—remember, his topics or conversation are more important than yours. Make this evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure, and his very real need to be at home and relax.
Your goal
Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit. Don’t greet him with complains and problems. Don’t complain if he’s late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.
Make him comfortable.
Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low soothing and pleasant voice. Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him. A good wife always knows her place.
You’ve got to see this Chris Ware animation set to an intriguing This American Life tale about how being behind the camera can change you.
(via Waxy)
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.
Scribd is like YouTube for books, except that watching videos online is better than reading books online. Don’t get me wrong, I did find a couple of posts to download that I quite liked.
Check out Jason Scott’s rather humorous and very astute first impression of Scribd.
Better than the light traveling through time experiment, is Tom Van Baak’s experiment in which he outfitted his family minivan with high-precision cesium clocks to demonstrate to his kids that they gained 22 nanoseconds of vacation time on their mountain road trip, compared with readings on clocks left back at home. Time travel in action.
As a collector of vintage and modern atomic clocks, I discovered it was possible, using gear found at home, to convert our family minivan into a mobile high-precision time laboratory, complete with batteries, power converters, time interval counters, three children, and three cesium clocks. We drove as high as we could up Mount Rainier, the volcano near Seattle, Washington, and parked there for two days. The trip was continuously logged with the global positioning system; the net altitude gain was +1340 meters.
Given the terrestrial blueshift of 1.1 × 10-16 per meter mentioned by Kleppner and integrating our altitude profile, we predicted the round-trip time dilation to be +22 nanoseconds. This is remarkably close to what we experimentally observed when, after we returned, the ensemble of portable cesium clocks was again compared with atomic clocks left at home.
