Les Pensées de Ed

Lagoa Multiphysics 1.0 physics engine (via etre)

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:04:46 -0500

Lagoa Multiphysics 1.0 physics engine (via etre)

Theme song for this week.

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:44:30 -0500

Theme song for this week.

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert: Phoenix

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:17:10 -0500

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert: Phoenix

Pitch invader going for the World Cup gets dropped after an...

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:45:40 -0500

Pitch invader going for the World Cup gets dropped after an awkward blow from a suit. Click for the video.

Oh Google… way to annoy the hell out of me.

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:34:47 -0500

Oh Google… way to annoy the hell out of me.

A Flesch-Kincaid Grade level of 17… does that mean...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:39:55 -0500

A Flesch-Kincaid Grade level of 17… does that mean I’m writing at an above-college graduate level?

Video-based pilot training: Can’t they provide an...

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:23:51 -0500

Video-based pilot training: Can’t they provide an audio-only version of this?

"With the future as murky as the Gulf of Mexico, any commentator who claims to offer clarity right..."

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:28:00 -0500

“With the future as murky as the Gulf of Mexico, any commentator who claims to offer clarity right now is only muddying the waters.”

- Brooke Gladstone — On the topic of the media response to the oil spill.

Bank Verification

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:08:36 -0500

In order to prove my identity, this bank is using a database of information on me (presumably from Equifax or something similar) to ask verification questions. All of the questions asked were very broad, provided multiple-choice answers, and generally not information that is hard to come by. At this point, I’ve provided my DOB, address, social, etc, as a part of my application.

Question #1:

SELECT THE NEAREST CROSS STREET TO YOUR HOME ADDRESS

Given that I provided my address, a quick look in Google Maps provides the answer to that question.

Question #2:

SELECT THE MONTH IN WHICH YOU WERE BORN

Also just provided this information.

Question #3:

FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST, SELECT THE COUNTY IN WHICH YOU LIVE

See question #1.

Question #4:

SELECT THE LENDER WHO HOLDS YOUR MOST RECENT MORTGAGE

Anyone who has even ancillary knowledge about me (or can Google me and see how often I move), would know the answer to this question.

The whole process is entirely futile.

I want YOU… to wash me. #pelicans #oilspill

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:20:00 -0500

I want YOU… to wash me. #pelicans #oilspill

H.O.V.A.

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:58:24 -0500

H.O.V.A.

Yeah, I don’t know what the hell is going on either. (via...

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:19:43 -0500

Yeah, I don’t know what the hell is going on either. (via This American Life)

car2go Blackberry/HTML5 WebApp I love the car2go service…...

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:40:00 -0500

car2go Blackberry/HTML5 WebApp

I love the car2go service… I use it every day to go to work (since parking is rather limited). With the car2go, I can park on the street and not pay the parking meter.

Trouble is, when I’m out and about — it can sometimes be hard to locate a car2go. There are some iPhone apps, but I’m still using a Blackberry. So I spent my Sunday afternoon creating ATXcar.mobi.

If you use a Blackberry, or a modern web browser (not including Safari) — it will use geolocation to find car2go cars near you. Check it out, send me feedback, let me know if you face problems. I’ve only tested on my Blackberry Curve, so I’ll be interested to see how it works for other models.

Howard Rheingold on new media literacy: “Increasingly I...

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:02:20 -0500

Howard Rheingold on new media literacy: “Increasingly I think the digital divide is less about access to technology and more about the difference between those who know how and those who don’t know how. The ability to know has suddenly become the ability to search and the ability to sift”

Krewe of Dead Pelicans — The Gulf of Mexico’s Jazz Funeral...

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:13:36 -0500

Krewe of Dead Pelicans — The Gulf of Mexico’s Jazz Funeral (via The Gambit)

The AP Stylebook Struggles to Remain Relevant

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:44:00 -0500

The poor AP. Although I was never a big user of the AP style (I preferred MLA & The Economist Style Guide), it is the most widely used stylebook by journalists. But they are struggling to keep up with new media. They list POS as standing for “parent over shoulder”. Most under-30’s probably use it as Wikipedia defines it, “a euphemism for ‘piece of shit’”.

And while they finally caught on and have removed the space from “web site”, they went and added a space to “smartphone”. Not that Google is king, but given that it wants to correct “smart phone” to remove the space — it’s a good indicator that popular usage is without the space.

This is probably why I was never a fan of the AP Style. It forces writers to not use common sense. One of the other changes was to require the country after certain cities, including Frankfurt and Copenhagen. While there are certain readers who might benefit in knowing that those cities reside in Germany and Denmark, respectively — that is not the case for all publications. I know journalists are often taught to write to a 9th grade level, but how about writing to your audience specifically? A 9th grade level works if you’re writing in Newsweek or USA Today, but less so for The Economist or The New York Times.

(via Mashable)

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-5-30)

Mon, 31 May 2010 12:58:32 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-5-30):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

Fri, 28 May 2010 07:43:53 -0500

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

"the bathroom wall of the Internet"

Thu, 27 May 2010 20:05:26 -0500

“the bathroom wall of the Internet”

- Seth Walls (Newsweek), referring to Twitter.

BP & The Spill: Fanning the Flames?

Thu, 27 May 2010 16:09:05 -0500

BP & The Spill: Fanning the Flames?:

Some reasonable comments on the Oil Spill on the Humid City blog. There has been lots of back and forth in the media and on Twitter, and this article is a step back from all of that. Worth the read, and kudos to @humidcity