Fascinating articles from the NYT about Snopes – ‘the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.’ Snopes is now helping with general fact checking for Facebook, and as a result finds itself under attack, which may or may not be a good thing… It’s easy to laugh at people who get fooled by fake news and...
This is why I always use Book Depository these days. Book Depository is more expensive for the books themselves, but Amazon totally fucks you over with the shipping. And their shipping timeframes are ridiculous too (4 weeks to ship a book, seriously?) Book Depository total for 3 books: $72.20 Amazon total for 3 books: $127.18 Book Depository: Amazon: btw worth mentioning that buying through these...
I give blood every 12 weeks at my local Red Cross blood donation centre. According to Red Cross a blood donation could save up to 3 lives. Which makes me feel good about myself. Which is why I do it. And why you should consider doing it too. To feel good about your self. If that sounds selfish it’s because it is. Last year I was looking for ways to feel good about myself, that actually did...
Imagine you are a passenger in a plane that is starting its takeoff approach. You are accelerating down the runway when the left engine catches on fire. The pilot heroically brings the plane to a rapid halt and commences the emergency evacuation procedures. There is heat, and fire, and smoke. People are panicking. You are in the plane, perhaps in a middle row, with an exit 10 rows ahead, and 10...
An interesting social experiment where a women decided she’d agree with compliments men gave her. The results are pretty interesting – summary:  she mostly got criticised, called vain, and even abused. The issue is probably not a gender one (eg if the roles had been reversed and men had agreed when getting complimented, they’d likely have gotten similar pushback) but it does...
I’m pretty sure the words ‘exciting’ and ‘banking’ don’t belong together.
Reply from Malcolm Gladwell when asked about a child’s birth month being an advantage (emphasis mine): Question: In Outliers, you discuss why a hugely disproportionate number of professional hockey and soccer players are born in January, February and March. I can’t begin to imagine how many to-be parents you influenced to try and have their offspring be born in those months! MG:...
Why is that stories like the following really get to me: This Story Of A Dog’s Last Day On Earth Is Beautiful And Utterly Heartbreaking Photoshop Request: My daughter recently passed away after a long battle in the children’s hospital. Since she was in the hospital her whole life we never were able to get a photo without all her tubes. Can someone remove the tubes from this photo? The...
I've been a fan of John Gruber's blog for a while, but never really listened to his podcast (The Talk Show) until now. Part of the reason for not listening (to a lot of podcasts, not just his) is when I see that the episodes are usually more than an hour long I just give up - when am I ever going to listen all of that? Turns out though, that if the content is interesting enough you'll find the...
Here's the original Content is King article written by Bill Gates back in 1996.