Sunday 3 July 2011

10 non-work-related items that I found fun or interesting

Graph compares rock music quality with US oil production 1949-2007
From GOOD: The remarkable similarity between the arcs of US oil production and songs in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” by year is staggering. (Graph created by Overthinkingit.com)
View it here and realise that statistics can “prove” anything.

from Harvard Magazine via 3QuarksDaily
More than 2,000 years ago, a Roman named Titus Lucretius Carus set down his thoughts on topics ranging from creation to religion to death. The format for his observations, many of them highly technical and uncannily modern, was a single elegant poem: … time and hostile authorities conspired to put it out of view for nearly a millennium.
The improbable story of how it re-emerged, and how the mindset it advocated informs our present, is the subject of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.
Read more about both poem and the new book – fascinating stuff even if you don’t appreciate the classics.

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
At MIT, everyone is eccentric - and it certainly pays. Alumni have founded 25,800 companies, which generate revenues of about $1.9 trillion... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
"To thine own self be true," said Polonius. Timeless advice, but who are you, really, other than an enigma to yourself?... ... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Boozing with the ancients. Nothing gives beer a bite like mugwort, dried doum-palm fruit, and liberal doses of hemp and poppy. Cheers... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Learning to live means preparing to die. So thought Montaigne, until his own death neared... more

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Whether giving a pig an enema, or watching a spider trap its prey, EB White (the author of Charlotte's Web) felt a kinship for animals that he never felt for people... more
Fascinating.

MakeUseOf says: “Anybody whose work involves computers and meeting deadlines needs to have an above-average typing speed. There are many factors contributing to a fast typing speed. Learning all these things yourself can be quite difficult; instead, you should pay a visit to free typing program GoodTyping.”
OK, this is NOT the best thing since sliced bread (IMHO), and why you have to tell the site where you live in order to start the first lesson I don't know but it is an alternative that some people may find useful. Too late for me to unlearn the bad habits I picked up at a very early age - but since I can manage about 30 words a minute with accuracy I ain’t bovvered!

via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Self-help books: pap from sea to shining sea, diaphanous lunacy, simpleton dullness. One fears for a nation awash in this drivel... more

via the How-To Geek by Asian Angel
Amigo Pancho
You need to help Pancho escape the canyon he is trapped in. You will need to have good timing and be able think your way through the traps along the way.
Start to play here (free with adverts) and discover just how much time you can waste!

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