Oh, man. I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw some of the results of this contest. Essentially, Slate asked readers to submit the best “less intelligent” and “more intelligent” autofill on the google query.
I liked the juxtaposition of “how do i destroy my jeans” and “how do i destroy the world,” but there are lots of gems in this. Check it out.
This is why I can’t stand Tom Brady
Tom Brady, on his way to London for the Patriots game, is the only player special enough to need a fancy suit. Photo courtesy Barry Chin, Boston Globe.
I was walking through the square the other day and happened to catch this. Couldn’t help but snap a photo.
So the 2008 NBA Championship Trophy showed up at MIT yesterday for a few hours and I got to see it. It’s actually not that impressive. I’ve always seen pictures of these trophies and they seem so glamorous and amazing, but when you’re looking at one in person, it leaves a lot to be desired. The trophy is a couple of feet tall and is kind of shiny, but doesn’t totally wow you. I’m sure they shine it up a lot more when they give it to the champion at the end of the playoffs and I’m sure it is much more overwhelming to get it when you have tens of thousands of fans screaming in celebration, but it didn’t strike me as something that is worthy of spending years training and competing for.
I think I’d much rather win a trophy like Lord Stanley’s Cup. I think that it has a more intriguing story and I also think it’s bigger.
The (not overwhelmingly amazing) 2008 NBA Championship Trophy
I often find myself thinking about who people are in the context of where they’ve lived. I think that where you’ve lived adds a lot to how you relate to other people and how you deal with the situations with which you are faced. I decided to make a map of the places I’ve lived (see below). Some notes about the map to help you interpret it:
1) The bubbles are scaled to reflect the amount of time that I lived in each place.
2) The numbers on top of (or next to) each bubble indicate the ages that I was when I moved to that place and when I left.
3) To simplify, any time that I moved somewhere that was close to the previous place (like Palo Alto to Menlo Park), I just lumped the two addresses into a single location.
Some comments on my life based on looking at my map: 1) I’ve moved across the country a lot, but, since graduating from high school, I’ve always lived on the coasts (except for a brief couple of months in Jackson Hole in college).
2) I always say that I’m not a huge fan of New England, but I’ve amassed some pretty big bubbles out here.
What does your map look like?
New coach Josh McDaniels has sure put his stamp on the Denver Broncos. He’s already signed 12 new free agents. He alienated his pro-bowl QB, Jay Cutler, and yesterday traded him away for some draft picks and Kyle Orton. I’ll leave it to the media to analyze the trade and the status of the team, but I do want to point out that McDaniels is emulating his mentor (Bill Belichek) as far as attitude goes (hardass and unforgiving in his interactions with the media and with players who don’t buy into his philosophy). Now he’s even wearing the hoodie sweatshirt like Belichek, though McDaniels’ is quite a bit newer and less ratty.
Granted, I’m back in school again, but I am not taking classes, so it’s crazy that I’m still having dreams about forgetting homework assignments. I’ve been having this recurring dream for at least the last month (maybe longer), where I keep remembering that I haven’t done my calculus homework and it is due today. It’s really stressful because in the dream I’m like two or three weeks behind on the assignments and I know I’ll never finish them before the due date.
Two weird things about this:
1) I haven’t taken calculus in like 10 years and it was never hard for me and I always cruised through the homeworks, so I can’t imagine why I would be stressed about it.
2) XKCD.com had a post about this recently and it wasn’t until I saw this post that I realized I’ve been having this dream.
If you haven’t read Sudhir Venkatesh’s posts on the “Freakonomics” blog from last year, you really need to check them out. For those of you who don’t know, Sudhir is a socialogist who spent several years in the ’90s hanging out with real gangsters in Chicago. I first became aware of him when I read the “Freakonomics” book (which everyone should read). Apparently, last year he sat down with some gansters in NYC and watched season 5 of “The Wire” with them (or most season 5 – you’ll have to read ll nine blogs to see if they finish…)
Here’s a link to the first one. It’s worth reading them all.
Thomas Friedman talks about how there is no silver bullet for the financial crisis in his column today. It’s worth reading, if for no other reason than to prepare yourself for a long, drawn-out recovery from the mess we’re in. However, he also has a funny joke that captures the absurdity of the whole situation. See below:
“Davos humor: What is the capital of Iceland? Answer: $25.”
Intriguing Offal 