suberfantacularizzle

The colour brown...

2006-05-24T19:07:00.000-04:00

Finito

2006-04-30T12:01:00.000-04:00

I will no longer update this blog and instead will be updating my links blog on orangefever. I'll keep the page up since it doesn't cost anything and maybe the other authors will use it.

Coffee Ad Hack

2006-04-28T17:10:00.000-04:00

Folgers recently converted a manhole cover into a steaming cup of coffee. Neat.

The Book Market

2006-04-25T10:35:00.000-04:00

An indepth look at what happens when a book is written and published, that is how much it costs to produce and market a book. It's a lot like other media industries.

Shutting Out Critics

2006-04-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

The Christian Science Monitor talks about the changing business model of the movie industry such as shortening the time between theatrical release and DVD release, as well as shutting out the critics.

Character Behaviour through Waiters

2006-04-17T18:47:00.000-04:00

CEOs say that a measure of a person can be discovered by seeing how they interact with waiters; although there is only usually a bad side.

TV Warez Stats

2006-04-16T09:42:00.000-04:00

Market share of TV-release groups on the net, you know those groups that capture TV on their computers, encode it, and then put them on Bit Torrent? I wish they would also take into account the number of downloads for each release to see if the big ones are the most popular.

Tokyo as Gotham

2006-04-15T11:40:00.000-04:00

Photos of Tokyo processed with a technique called High Dynamic Range Imaging which produce a very surreal look of the city.

Blogger Hacks

2006-04-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

This page has a list of links to hacks for Blogger to make it more like other blogging software.

Payola in "Journalism"

2006-04-07T13:26:00.000-04:00

A gossip writer in New York has been caught trying to solicit $220,000 from a billionaire for protection from the tabloids section of a paper

VoIP Being Blocked

2006-04-07T12:00:00.000-04:00

ISP providers are cracking down on VoIP traffic, especially in countries where there is only a single telephone operator. The article goes on to talk about Skype and its unexpected use of bandwidth when one becomes a supernode.

On Patrol with the Minutemen

2006-04-07T11:53:00.000-04:00

Slate sends a reporter to shadow the Minutemen, a civil defense group hoping to secure the border (both Mexican and Canadian) against illegal immigrant crossings.

Steve Jobs Presentation Skills

2006-04-07T11:32:00.000-04:00

Business Week has a couple of things that make a Jobs presentation better than other presentations.

Rapper For Live

2006-04-07T10:00:00.000-04:00

Slate takes a look at the history of a rapper named Ladies Love Cool James, better known as LL Cool J. He's pretty much the Gordie Howe of Rap.

Going Below Sea Level

2006-04-04T16:45:00.000-04:00

California is sliding into the Pacific Ocean, or at least part of scenic Highway 1 is. It's only a matter of time...

Gates at Work

2006-04-04T16:37:00.000-04:00

What is Bill Gates' work environment and how does he deal with his email and disseminating information? Well he uses the Microsoft tools obviously.

The Fall of the Arcade

2006-04-03T18:02:00.000-04:00

This article looks at the falling popularity of the arcade in recent years and how it may change in the coming years.

Top Skylines Of The World

2006-03-30T09:42:00.000-05:00

The top 15 skylines of the world (+2 honorable mentions) with all the usual suspects and Toronto coming in the middle of the pack (hey at least we were on it)

Dressing in Drag

2006-03-29T12:57:00.000-05:00

A women in New York pretends to be a man for a year and half to give the male perspective on life and dating from a women's point of view.

Mexican Coke

2006-03-28T23:03:00.000-05:00

Mexicans and Americans in the south-west of the USA are picking up the Mexican version of Coca-Cola because it supposedly tastes better, lasts longer, and comes in the old glass bottles.

Google Spider is Full

2006-03-28T22:43:00.000-05:00

An entire company's content management system was DELETED by being on the net, by some nefarious hacker? no by Google's spider

Friendster vs MySpace

2006-03-22T11:12:00.000-05:00

Why did Friendster lose popularity and MySpace gain users? This essay talks about potential reasons in the eyes of the author.

Multitasking Kids

2006-03-21T15:26:00.000-05:00

Teenagers nowadays are multitasking all the time, which is argued to lead to a lack of depth in experience.

Conservative Toddlers

2006-03-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

A recent study done in the San Francisco area has found that toddlers with a certain characteristic end up becoming Conservatives, and others with a different characteristic become Democrats.

French Bread

2006-03-20T23:42:00.000-05:00

Marginal Revolution takes on the perennial question as to why bread in France is better than in Washington (and the US). Read the comments for the details.

Interesting English Facts

2006-03-17T12:11:00.000-05:00

The Oxford English Dictionary has an experts section that has all sorts of interesting facts about the English language.

MPAA < RIAA

2006-03-17T12:09:00.000-05:00

Why the MPAA is worse than even the RIAA. Although the MPAA hasn't sued individuals yet, so perhaps they are just both as bad.

Beware of IM

2006-03-15T11:17:00.000-05:00

Starting guard for USC got pranked by the opponent school which potentially led to him sucking in the game

Sell Your Google Stock

2006-03-12T20:59:00.000-05:00

A good analogy on why you shouldn't buy Google stock regardless of its outrageous price or Google's revenue.

Labels Destroying CDs

2006-03-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

Why are there sometimes CDs with a cut out in their spine and why are cut-outs disappearing?

Sleeping Positions

2006-03-06T09:34:00.000-05:00

A study reported on the BBC wants to link sleeping position to the type of person you are. I'm skeptical as I usually see this on those personality quiz things on th web, and would have liked to see the confidence of each type.

Tips on Avoiding Cancellation Fee

2006-03-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

If you're in the States, wish to cancel your cell phone contract, don't want to pay the fees, and have three months to kill; you can have your provider cancel your contract for you by running up the roaming fees.

Restaurant Stocks

2006-03-01T12:08:00.000-05:00

A lot of restaurants are making IPOs and in general doing pretty well. Is it because they are becoming more like Wal-mart?

Rogers Limiting Speeds

2006-03-01T10:02:00.000-05:00

Some evidence that Rogers is shaping traffic and limiting the bandwidth of torrents.

Elderly Advice

2006-02-21T19:58:00.000-05:00

In the vein of Ann Landers and Dear Prudence, a group of individuals have started their own advice column. The only difference is that The Elder Wisdom Circle is comprised of seniors with Internet access.

Review of Hooters

2006-02-17T12:28:00.000-05:00

So the food critic of the New York Times recently started a blog where he posts some of the stuff that don't make it into his weekly column. Today, he has just posted a review of the Hooters in New York, which I thought was pretty funny coming from an established restaurant reviewer. Guess that didn't make it into the paper.

Steak On The Menu

2006-02-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

Confused about how to buy steak from the grocery store? Here's a run-down of the do's and dont's when buying steak

Jordan's Comeback #2

2006-02-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

An old 2002 Washington Post story about Jordan's comeback and a behind the scenes look at his dominating atitude.

Sticky LEDs

2006-02-15T10:19:00.000-05:00

A tutorial to make fun, throwaway, magnetic LED lights that last for about a week or two.

Syrup or Water?

2006-02-10T11:25:00.000-05:00

It is apparently just as easy to swim through syrup as it is through water. More interesting and applicable research brought to you by scientists.

Best Songs Not Always Popular

2006-02-10T11:22:00.000-05:00

Scientists have discovered that the most popular songs are not necessarily the best songs in terms of quality, infact the success of songs is due to whether the songs are popular or not. Not surprisingly since no one has enough time to go through that much music.

Faster Downloads

2006-02-09T14:16:00.000-05:00

If you want faster downloads, you may want to take a look at the SNAP protocol. It is much faster than the carrier pigeon one that Google proposed, and is not very expensive.

Random Numbers

2006-02-05T14:44:00.000-05:00

I personally have never noticed this, and perhaps it's not in Canadian stores (although ALL Best Buy stores are laid out in the same manner) but there are random numbers at every Best Buy store which are like statistics of how they've been doing on some actually pretty random things.

Cellphones Generate Heat

2006-02-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

Perhaps those radiation stickers that they sell at Chinese places are useful, because some aspiring tech geeks have posted a recipe to boil an egg with cellphones onto the Internet.

The Story Behind Comic Sans

2006-01-27T13:14:00.000-05:00

Comic Sans is a interesting font to be included by default in Windows. It seems rather unprofessional and is so because of its history. Read on to see why someone at Microsoft designed Comic Sans.

Helltown

2006-01-27T12:54:00.000-05:00

Introducing Helltown, a city in Pensylvannia which is home to a fire that has been burning since 1962. No joke. Although I wonder whether they changed the town name before or after the fact.

Interesting Architecture

2006-01-27T12:48:00.000-05:00

On my when-you're-in-these-cities list of things to do is this link that introduces 12 of the best new buildings in the world.

Brain Training

2006-01-27T12:46:00.000-05:00

The most popular game in Japan right now is a game called Brain Training. Looks like little exercises that well exercises your brain. Seems to be spurring the sales of Nintendo DS, although if this is a parent's justification to buy their kid one, then I think it is kind of lame.

Averaging Gradius

2006-01-27T12:42:00.000-05:00

I haven't had a chance to see this yet but it sounds like it will be cool. Gradius is a shoot-em up from the NES era, and someone recorded the play styles and overlayed them on top of each other to see what people generally do.

How To Eat Sushi

2006-01-23T23:12:00.000-05:00

This is a crazy long webpage about how to eat sushi. I think I'm going to file it under the read-it-later folder.

CD-Rs will Die

2006-01-19T21:53:00.000-05:00

Your CD-Rs, perfect for backing up your files may actually be a bad format to backup data on. Apparently CD-Rs will only last between 2-5 years depending on their materials.

The Look

2006-01-18T16:37:00.000-05:00

Paris Hilton, much like Zoolander apparently has only (and perfected) one look.

Respected

2006-01-13T21:18:00.000-05:00

Allan Iverson, once had a bad reputation in the NBA, but has since repaired his image and is now considered one of the NBA's model citizens.

Behind a Keynote

2006-01-05T15:27:00.000-05:00

Take a look behind the scenes and see how Steve Jobs prepares for one of his keynote KeyNote speeches.

MySpace's History

2006-01-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

MySpace is quite secretive about its history so if you've wanted to know about its founders and previous incarnations, you'd have to look pretty hard.

The Business of Movie Theatres

2006-01-04T15:50:00.000-05:00

You may (or may not) be surprised that the business of movie theatres involving making your movie experience the opposite of what you expect, that is a clear, immersive experience with an interesting movie.

Random Trivia

2006-01-03T12:18:00.000-05:00

BBC's 100 things we didn't know last year is a collection of pretty useless trivia that will be useless in a few years.

Starbucks Book Forthcoming

2006-01-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

Someone is visiting, researching and eventually writing a book about Starbucks. Check out his most recent visit to the only Starbucks in Harlem.

Is It Worth It To Run In The Rain?

2005-12-29T17:31:00.000-05:00

BBC investigates whether it is worth it to run in the rain, that is do you get less wet if you run? Of course, you will need Calculus to figure it out exactly.

Poker Losing Popularity

2005-12-28T18:45:00.000-05:00

Poker, which has exploded in popularity the last few years has started growing slower and people are split between whether it is just growing slower or a passing fad.

Mario Kart Pros

2005-12-24T09:21:00.000-05:00

Here's a page of videos from a Mario Kart professional racing around on the time trials for each track.

Ass-vertising

2005-12-22T12:08:00.000-05:00

In Russia, there are advertisments for Kodak on underwear worn by models in short skirts who purposely drop things and pick them up. Need I say more?

The Restless Children of the Dalai Lama

2005-12-18T13:32:00.000-05:00

Interesting read from NYT:
The Restless Children of the Dalai Lama

TTC Dots

2005-12-15T22:59:00.000-05:00

Ever notice those dots on the walls of subway stations? Ever wonder what those dots are for? If you answered yes to both questions then this is your lucky day.

Facebook is a CIA front?

2005-12-15T11:18:00.000-05:00

Conspiracy theories abound on this one, but some guy has done some research and dug up some dirt about the Facebook. It's not exactly a known front for anything yet, if it even is, but possibly could be in the future?

White Flight

2005-12-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

The secret of Asian study habits are slowly being released for consumption in books. However, the general public is hesitant to adopt and improve their kids, but rather engage themselves in "white flight" to avoid smart Asian kids.

Bill Gates' Backyard

2005-12-11T17:07:00.000-05:00

Using Virtual Earth, you can check out Bill Gates' backyard and shoreline.

Why can't I make that...

2005-12-10T20:37:00.000-05:00

Neat (read: awesome) web design - Samsung's Flash site for its Mobile SGH-Z107.

Pringles Can Projects

2005-12-10T12:35:00.000-05:00

Can't afford an expensive macro lens for you SLR? Use a pringles can to take macro photography then for only a couple of bucks and some hard work.

A Different Look At The World

2005-12-10T10:49:00.000-05:00

What if the world's land masses were arranged based on the population density? Well America would look like what it does not but the rest of the world would be slightly different.

Top 50 Singles of 2005 from Stylus Magazine

2005-12-09T18:05:00.000-05:00

The first of possibly many top xx music lists, here's the top 50 singles from a variety of genres brought to you by Stylus Magazine.

iTunes Signature

2005-12-08T19:33:00.000-05:00

What is your iTunes Signature? Using this neat applet, you can mash together a collection of your songs to generate your own personalized signature.

HD TV Specs

2005-12-08T14:58:00.000-05:00

What's the difference between 720p and 1080i HD TVs? Quick answer is that p stands for progressive and i stands for interpolation which is how they draw each frame.

Motorcycle Crash at 250 km/h

2005-12-07T11:03:00.000-05:00

What happens when a motorcycle going at 250 KM/h crashes into a slow moving car at an intersection? Lots of interesting photos that show the driver ripping through the roof of the car!

Rental Cars are American

2005-12-06T21:16:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered why rental cars are all American? The link provides a hypothetical answer. However it's not true that rental cars are all American, they're just not the major Japanese manufacturers.

Don't Buy From overstock.com

2005-12-06T20:15:00.000-05:00

The Register takes a stab at overstock.com by describing the horror stories of their gift purchase for a holiday party as well as the eccentric nature of its CEO. Best to avoid business with them in the future.

Preventing Cancer

2005-12-06T18:27:00.000-05:00

This article speculates that one way to prevent cancer is by ingesting lots of spices. The basis for their conjecture is that people in India have a much lower incidence rate compared to the US.

Is A Hybrid Worth It

2005-12-04T11:06:00.000-05:00

Deciding whether to invest into the future with a hybrid car should include looking at the advantages to your wallet. Fortunately this article discusses mathematically whether a Toyota Prius will save you money in the long run.

The Need For Speed

2005-12-02T18:34:00.000-05:00

Bet you can't drive through Paris downtown at 140MPH? and tape it? and only get a ticket, which it is rumored that the mayor of Paris tore up?

The MySpace Generation

2005-12-02T18:23:00.000-05:00

Young kids these days spend their time conversing and networking online using social networking services. Of course, the advertising comes along after it to reach these impressionable young'uns with disposable income.

Slow Down Buddy

2005-12-01T18:58:00.000-05:00

Want to slow down your PC? Why would you want to? Well if you do, then there's a whole page of applications that may help you do slow down your CPU.

Europeans Have More Free Time

2005-11-30T22:32:00.000-05:00

Why do Europeans have more free time than Americans, yet have the same productivity? Well Americans end up with more money so that's one tradeoff, but it wasn't always this way.

Startups Can Be Like School

2005-11-30T22:08:00.000-05:00

If you're running a startup, then you might benefit from running your startup like a grade school. If not, then you can chuckle at some of these suggestions.

Is There Money in Investment Banking?

2005-11-28T22:57:00.000-05:00

Goldman Sachs has 22,000 employees and need to distribute $11 Billion in profits among them as bonus. How will Goldman Sachs distribute the money? Evenly it works out to half a million each.

Tips for Random Health Things

2005-11-27T15:40:00.000-05:00

Here are 18 tips for common health ailments that will help you solve them. The only problem with these are that they are so weird that I'm not sure they actually work, and I can't remember them to actually try out.

Is God An Accident?

2005-11-25T12:48:00.000-05:00

The Atlantic has an article this month that discusses whether humans believe in God due to a variety of psychological reasons (probably reprinted here without permission). It is an interesting read and well written however, like most Atlantic stuff it is very long.

Einstein's Brain

2005-11-22T21:37:00.000-05:00

So Einstein was cremated, except for his brain. What happened to it? It was donated to science. What interesting things do you think they found from Einstein's brain?

Simple is Best

2005-11-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

A profile on a now 75 year old diamond thief who stole rings rather simply. She walked out the door when the sales clerk forgot about the ring on her finger.

Folding a Piece of Paper

2005-11-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

A high school student taking an extra credit math course has solved the age old problem of figuring out how to fold a piece of paper more than 8 times. She was able to fold the paper 12 times!

Avoid Text Messaging for Criminal Activity

2005-11-17T13:52:00.000-05:00

Two teen sisters in Brampton are getting charged for murdering their alcoholic mother. Why is this interersting? well their text messages are being used to convict them. Remember, the electronic medium is not necessarily private.

Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Hats

2005-11-12T09:44:00.000-05:00

Researchers at MIT have performed a study on the effectiveness of various types of aluminum foil hats, most populary known to protect the wearers against alien devices. They've concluded that the trend of wearing these hats is a conspirarcy that has most likely been started by the government.

Japanese Kids are Chimpanzees

2005-11-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

A Japanese researcher has found that due to advances in technology, Japanese kids are acting increasingly like chimpanzees in the wild. They also say that communication within the family is breaking down due to this.

Designer Jeans Market

2005-11-12T00:25:00.000-05:00

What's this about a designer jeans market with jeans going for over $1k? I can't really imagine paying that much money for a pair of jeans. That's like the price of a computer??

Quickly Lookup Domain Availability

2005-11-11T19:57:00.000-05:00

If you're trying to brainstorm for domain names to register, the most annoying thing is that you have to spend time checking every idea. So instead of doing that, try out this tool that lets you interactively look up .com and .net availability. I guess it uses some AJAX in the backend or something.

Thinking of a Domain Name

2005-11-11T19:54:00.000-05:00

If you ever come across a great deal for domain names and get stuck trying to think of a cool one to register (that you haven't registered already), then this page of links is a good starting point to get that brain cranking for interesting domain names.

Japan's Ikea

2005-11-04T17:21:00.000-05:00

Muji is a chain of stores in Japan, Europe and soon the US which relies on its strong design and the fact that it doesn't have a brand. Except their brand is that they don't have a brand. I would say they're like the Ikea of Japan perhaps?

The Life of a Restaurant Critic

2005-11-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

The life of a restaurant critic is basically, get paid to eat out. Good job eh? one would think but how do they not get obese? An interview with the restaurant critic of the Boston Globe sheds light on that question.

Textbooks Are A Rip Off

2005-11-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

The New Yorker looks at the shady practices of text book publishers to make considerable money on textbooks and how students are fighting back by ordering them internationally or buying used.

Fix Those Pesky Tables

2005-10-26T22:02:00.000-04:00

Here's some weirdo science/math news of the day. Apparently some guy has proved that any wobbly table can be made stable by rotating the table. Weird? Yup. He apparently proved it mathematically so it must be true.

Interesting Ad

2005-10-24T23:10:00.000-04:00

Playboy is running an interesting billboard ad that changes when it rains. Wanna take a guess at what happens with the model wearing a white shirt?