Sunday, July 22

Odds and Ends, Sun 22 July 2007

   1. "Rejected Harry Potter endings..."
     <http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/987.html>

   2. "Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader"
     <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1571456988>
   I haven't read this, but it looks interesting.  Topics include:
   How we got the Dollar Part 2; History of Tipping; Story of Garlic;
   History of Chocolate; How Does Soap Work?; History of the Bra;
   Origin of the Paperclip.

   3. "Money flows free in men's toilets in Japan"
     <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/12/1976536.htm>
   "The suburban sprawl of Saitama, north of Tokyo, does not make the news
    that often. But it is not everyday that someone visiting the toilet
    finds a box of 10,000 yen notes - each worth $A100, each wrapped in a
    traditional Japanese paper envelope."

   4. "If music doesn't move you, it's daggy"
     <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/11/1976100.htm>
   "Why do some people feel a great affinity with songs sung by Barbra
    Streisand or Barry Manilow, while others find them downright daggy?"

   5. Make your own iPhone, out of cake or LEGO
     <http://www.tuaw.com/2007/02/02/make-your-own-iphone-out-of-cake-or-lego/>

   6. Hide-a-Pod
     <http://hideapod.com/>
   "It's really very simple. Just tell us what iPod model you want to
    protect and we provide a gutted and hinged Zune with our custom molded
    iPod casing adapter."

   7. YouTube - Microsoft Surface Parody
     <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY>

   If YouTube is blocked, try these alternatives:
     <http://www.glumbert.com/media/surface>
     <http://www.ifilm.com/video/2867082>
     <http://www.tubearoo.com/articles/87148/Microsoft_Surface_Parody.html>

Sunday, July 15

Palomar + Buzzati + San Sombrero + Others

   Some more book reviews ...

   1. "Palomar" by Italo Calvino
     <http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Palomar-Italo-Calvino/dp/0099430878>

   A collection of short stories where the central character, named "Mr
   Palomar" (as in the Observatory in California), makes observations about
   life, the universe and everything.  He's trying to make sense of what's
   happening around him.

   Many of the stories focus on simple things, such as waves at the beach,
   a pair of merlins singing to each other, and shopping for cheese in
   Paris.  Some have a humorous angle (e.g. about a topless sunbather),
   while many take a deeper, philosophical view (e.g. a visit to a Zen
   temple in Japan).

   In the author's words, Mr Palomar is "a man who is seeking wisdom, one
   step at a time", but "he hasn't yet attained it".

   Another great book by my favourite Italian writer.


   2. "Il meglio dei racconti" by Dino Buzzati
     <http://www.bol.it/libri/scheda/ea978880445088.html>

   This is a selection of the best short stories by Buzzati.  I read this
   for the Italian bookclub I'm a member of.  While other members seemed to
   enjoy the book, I found a lot of the stories quite depressing.  Kafka-
   esque would be one way to describe some of them.

   For example, "Sette piani" ("Seven Stories") is about a hospital with
   seven floors.  The top floor is reserved for minor ailments.  Each
   floor below is for progressively worse conditions, and those unfortunate
   to be in the bottom floor are gravely ill.  You know what happens - a
   man enters the top floor with a negligible problem.  Due to lack of
   space he volunteers to drop down to the second floor so that a mother
   and child can have his room on the first floor.  Then, through
   accidents, misdiagnoses and bureaucratic mixups he eventually finds
   himself on the bottom floor.  You could say the story is a metaphor for
   an individual's life journey.

   Later stories are not as obviously grim, but not by much.  I wouldn't
   recommended for reading at night time in winter, unless you enjoy the
   writings of Kafka and Edgar Allen Poe.


   3. "San Sombrèro: A Land of Carnivals, Cocktails and Coups"
      by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch
     <http://www.amazon.com/San-Sombrero/dp/0811856194>

   This is a parody of travel guidebooks, from the people behind The Panel
   (and The Late Show).  It's the third in the series, following "Molvanîa:
   A land untouched by modern dentistry" (loosely based on countries in
   Eastern Europe) and "Phaic Tăn: Sunstroke on a shoestring" (Southeast
   Asia).

   This time they set their sights on Central America.  As usual there are
   lots of gags written in the guise of a travel guide, usually by
   exaggerating themes and stereotypes relating to the region.  Of course
   they always focus on the worst aspects, but they're often the easiest
   to make fun of.

   Some material from the book is presented at:
     <http://www.molvania.com/sansombrero/index.html>


   4. "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" by Edward R. Tufte
     <http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Display-Quantitative-Information-2nd/dp/0961392142>

   Edward Tufte is an expert in information and interface design.  In this
   book he gives examples of both good and bad designs when displaying
   statistical information.

   Here's an example of a well-designed statistical graph, depicting the
   dwindling size of Napoleon's army on its Russian campaign:
     <http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard>
     <http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-70821>

   Pie charts may look pretty, but are considered bad because they make it
   difficult to interpret.

   Tufte provides some guidelines when presenting graphs of data.  For
   example, don't clutter your graphs with anything that detracts from
   the actual information content.  Make sure there is a high signal-to-
   noise ration.  He also provides advice on how to turn bad graphs into
   good ones.


   5. "The Affluent Society" (New Edition)
      by John Kenneth Galbraith
     <http://www.amazon.com/Affluent-Society/dp/0140285199>

   This is a revised edition of a book by a famous Canadian economist.  It
   critically examines the emphases of the economies of rich or "affluent"
   nations.  He argues that such countries have long since satisfied the
   basic needs of its people, and are actually pursuing economic growth for
   its own sake.  A lot of economic activity is now being devoted to
   "manufactured needs", created by advertising and greed.  For example,
   everyone now "must have" a huge plasma TV, a 4WD, a swimming pool, etc.
   This book predates "Affluenza" by several decades, which I read and
   reviewed previously.

   In constructing his central argument, Galbraith traces the history of
   Economics.  He cites the usual suspects: Adam Smith, Ricardo, Marx,
   Keynes and the Monetarists.  He argues that the shrinking role of
   government has lead to increased inequality in spite of the increase in
   total wealth of a country.  Powerful vested interests have made
   themselves richer while governments have reduced spending on basic
   infrastructure.  He's obviously a Socialist I hear you say!?  Well,
   you're entitled to your opinion.  Galbraith argues that to achieve a
   better society, the decline in public spending needs to be reversed -
   not by increased welfare, but rather by investing in education and
   improving infrastructure so that everyone can benefit from the
   increased economic wealth.

   While arguably some of the economic analysis is out of date, there is
   still some interesting food for thought.   For example, the first chapter
   on "conventional wisdom" highlights how ideas become and remain accepted,
   even though they may no longer be true.  Anyone who challenges the
   "conventional wisdom" faces an uphill battle.  Truth is not always
   convenient or in one's interests, so it is resisted.

Sunday, July 8

Constructive Procrastination + Some Interesting Studies

   1. Constructive Procrastination

   A couple of articles from the vault, plus a personal observation on
   the subject ...

   * "The Importance of Creative Procrastination"
     <http://www.powazek.com/2006/05/000589.html>
   "Give yourself that loose time to be creative, or you'll never get
    anything done."

   * "Good and Bad Procrastination"
     <http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html>
   "Most people who write about procrastination write about how to cure
    it. But this is, strictly speaking, impossible. There are an infinite
    number of things you could be doing. No matter what you work on,
    you're not working on everything else. So the question is not how to
    avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well."

   I learnt the wonders of positive procrastination at Uni.  I would often
   leave the writing of essays to the last weekend before due date.  Don't
   get me wrong - I would start researching early and collect lots of
   material on the topic.  I would prepare an outline pretty early too.
   But I wouldn't start writing much until everything "gelled" in my head.
   Actually, a better analogy would be the crystallisation process.   You
   get bigger and better crystals if you don't rush the process.  So, I
   was waiting for the structure of the essay to "crystallise" in my mind.
   I still try yo do that when I write computer programs nowadays, if I
   get the chance :)


   2. "Brain Scans Reveal Why Meditation Works"
     <http://www.livescience.com/health/070629_naming_emotions.html>
   "Brain scans show that putting negative emotions into words calms the
    brain's emotion center"


   3. "Serious Study: Immaturity Levels Rising"
     <http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/06/23/immature_hum.html>
   "The adage 'like a kid at heart' may be truer than we think, since new
    research is showing that grown-ups are more immature than ever.
    Specifically, it seems a growing number of people are retaining the
    behaviors and attitudes associated with youth. As a consequence, many
    older people simply never achieve mental adulthood, according to a
    leading expert on evolutionary psychiatry."


   4. "Learning, or, Learning How To Learn"
     <http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000895.html>
   "The value of education isn't in the specific material you learn --
    it's in learning how to learn."


   5. "Why we blink without noticing"
     <http://www.livescience.com/health/050725_blink.html>
   "Scientists have figured out why we rarely notice our own blinking. Our
    brains simply miss it, they say."


   6. "Beauty is in the eye of your friends"
     <http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10966>
   "A new study suggests that, in fact, women will look more favourably
    on the men that other women find attractive."


   7. "Study: Internet partly to blame for your lack of close friends"
     <http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/062306-internet-friends.html>
   "Increased use of the Internet, along with the number of hours people
    are spending at work, are factors contributing to a drastic decline
    in the number of close friends that Americans have."