This is a great introduction to the topic of Infinity. I think even people who struggle with math will get this and enjoy it.
Unless you studied mathematics, you likely didn’t know that about infinity. It is fascinating stuff, I find.
Found here: Infinity is bigger than you think – Numberphile – YouTube via @anitaleirfall on twitter.
Of all the things on the Internet, ifttt is one of my favorites. It could be yours too. Simply, it is a way to take two of your favorite things on the Internet and combine them into something even better.
First, to learn more about it, go here: How to Supercharge All Your Favorite Webapps with ifttt.
Second, once you read that, go to the site and browse the recipes. Or try and create your own: it isn’t hard.
I especially encourage it for anyone trying to update several forms of social media at the same time. You can link Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, Tumblr, Google, Blogger…you name it. With some practice, you will find recipes that help you keep all your social media in sync and working automatically.
I also encourage people who are interested in the Internet of Things. Or people who want to supercharge their phone. Or…well, just browse the recipes and you’ll likely see one that makes things easier for you.
I was going through my list of recipes I have been collecting, and rather than trickle them out, here are four worth trying this autumn and winter (all via Chatelaine.com):
P.S. I am a fan of recipes from Chatelaine: they are well tested, nutritious and healthy. The recipes aren’t boring, but they are easy to make and it is easy to find ingredients, even if you don’t live in a big city.
Vox has more on that, here: It’s time to make daylight saving time year-round.
I hate daylight savings time mainly because the days feel shorter than they are due to coming out of work into darkness. If anything, I would rather the clocks more forward, giving me more time to enjoy sunlight after work.
That aside, the entire switching of clocks is an idea whose time has come and gone. The next time it is time to switch, let’s campaign to abolish it.
I’ve tweeted this before, but here it is again: Banks: Tiny Desk Concert : NPR.
I think the Tiny Desk Concerts are good, and Banks does a good job here of simplifying her sound without making it uninteresting.
Search around for other such concerts. Lots of musicians have done these gigs, and many of them are good if not great.
This looks fantastic:
A perfect recipe for Autumn.
The photo is from the Food52 blog. The recipe can be found here:
Butternut Squash and Saffron Risotto – Regional Italian Food.
Thanks, K! 🙂
I unashamedly post alot of motivational things here. I hope this link to these funny unmotivational coffee mugs by Emily McDowell over at Boing Boing balances that out for people who feel they could use a break from such things. Boing Boing has lots of McDowell’s mugs and a link to more information. I want to get a collection of them. I would also be happy to get one as a present. Ahem. 🙂
P.S. She has an etsy page if you want to buy her things.
Ok, it’s not advice directly from the Master. However, the author of this piece, 10 Things Henri Cartier-Bresson Can Teach You About Street Photography, has distilled 10 lessons from Cartier-Bresson’s photography that easily applies to digital photography. Anyone looking to take better digital pictures can benefit from this lessons, especially the last one:
Always strive for more
I ask that because as you can see from these charts, in terms of impairment, there is not much difference from showing up for work tired and showing up for work drunk:
Weirdly, if you do show up tired from overwork, you may be praised: if you show up drunk, you may be fired.
Regardless, to do good work, you need to sleep. (I know, I should practice what I preach.)
Julia Kirby in HBR has more on this in this piece: Change the World and Get to Bed by 10:00. You’ll be convinced to go to bed earlier by the time you finish it.
Then read this: What you need to know about this year’s flu shot.
Get the shot.
The answer seems obvious: no, right? Well, what if it were this apartment in a beautiful building in Paris?
You can see a sleeping area, a bathroom and a window. But there’s alot more hidden under the bed and the countertops .It’s really a gem of an apartment, and ingeniously designed.
For more on this place, including a video, go to this link.
If you ready nothing else from the The New Family / 1,000 Families Project, at least read this piece on Brian, Jen and Emily.
I predict after you do, you will want to read more of them. All of the stories I’ve read so far I’ve really enjoyed. The site itself looks great too.
A great look into the many ways we are families. Highly recommended.
Caramelized onions are a great thing to have: many basic dishes can be enhanced by adding these golden beauties. Sound good? If so, consider this: Why recipe writers lie and lie about how long they take to caramelize onions.
I recommend you read this before you try to make caramelized onions, otherwise you might wonder why the burned/undercooked ones you just whipped up don’t have the appeal you expected.
Stuck for a recipe to use them with? Consider this egg dish recipe from Martha Stewart: Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Quiche Recipe or this pasta recipe from: A CUP OF JO: Rigatoni with Caramelized Onions and Gorgonzola.
If you think LinkedIn is a waste of time and something no one uses, think again. For starters, check out this chart:
More and more companies and people are using LinkedIn.
You might counter: I have never heard of anyone getting a job on LinkedIn. To that I say that people are losing jobs to LinkedIn, in that HR and others are using LinkedIn as a screening process. Good use of LinkedIn might not get you a job, but poor use of LinkedIn might lose you a job.
I’d add that lots of recruiters use LinkedIn, more than you think. The better your profile, the better chance you have to get linked in with someone with a new and better job for you.
Lastly, LinkedIn is becoming a longer and better version of a resume. Just like you should have an up to date version of that, you should have an up to date version of your career highlights on LinkedIn.
For more on this topic, and to see where I got the chart, go to The Economist’s excellent tumblr
There’s been so much written and spoken about ebola in the recent hysteria concerning it that I hesitate to add to the noise. Instead, what I want to do is highlight another disease: the measles. I want to highlight this one because it is a disease that there is little hysteria associated with it. If anything, people sometimes think it is a right of passage, like acne or puberty.
Now look at this simulation: How quickly Ebola spreads compared to other diseases – Washington Post.
The measles may not be as deadly as ebola, but as a disease it spreads faster and is deadlier than anything else, save ebola and smallpox. Despite that, more and more there are people not immunizing against it. To me, that is stupid and irresponsible.
People who aren’t vaccinated or whose children are not vaccinated against the measles (and other diseases on that list with vaccines) should get vaccinated.
I am a big fan of the Raspberry Pi. And I think there is no better way to learn about computers and take your knowledge to a deeper level than building your own computer. The folks at Kano must agree, because they have put together this kit than combines the Pi with everything the owner needs to build a workable and very useful computer. Now you can buy all these things separately, but this kit saves you time and makes up for any lack of knowledge you might have in this area.
You will still need to have a display device to connect to it. Preferably this will be a HDMI device, though it is possible to hook it up to a non-HDMI device. (See here for details.)
For more on the Kano, go here: Kano – Make a Computer.
This nuclear reactor:
…sat in Kodak Park, in Rochester, NY, for over 20 years before being wound down in 2007. Facinating. The Democrat and Chronicle – (democratandchronicle.com) has the story on what it was like and what Kodak used it for, and why they finally had to shut it down.
The overnight success idea is one that refuses to die, regardless of how much evidence there is that great things take along time to accomplish. If you needed a reminder of this, then consider this: In Praise of Slow Mastery: 10 Great Achievements That Took Time – 99U.
Even as things get faster, it remains true that to accomplish great things you need time. Here’s to you on the great things you are on your way to achieving.
Yes. That’s all it is. Still great: Babies Cracking Up at Ripping Paper Compilation
P.S. It’s also good, even if you aren’t cranky.
Not from me: I was a huge Blackberry fan since almost 10 years on, but they lost me a few years ago and I switched to an iPhone. But Jonathan Kay in this vigorous piece (below) on the new Passport got me seriously thinking about Blackberry again. I think I will stick to my iPhone for now, but anyone who was a fan of Blackberries should really read this: Jonathan Kay: Why I ditched my iPhone for Blackberry’s massive new Passport | National Post. You might find yourself heading down to your local service provider and coming out with one.
I am hopeful for Blackberry/RIM making a comeback. More and better choices are better for everyone.
You may not being going on a book tour, but if you are travelling for work, you can steal these ideas from Austin Kleon (Austin Kleon : 10 Things I Learned On Book Tour) and have a much better trip.
Ideas I stole on a recent trip:
His entire list is worthwhile. If you are travelling soon on business, you will benefit from reading him first.
P.S. Photo from a link to his blog. Go read his blog. Better still, buy his books.
Onions, butter, tomatoes. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. And yet, delicious. Also beats the stuff in a jar, of course.
Once you have a great tomato sauce, then there is a wealth of possibilities for dinner, from pasta to veal to eggplant to….whatever needs a great tomato sauce.
For more on the recipe (and where I got the photo), see: Stacey Snacks.
Then you need to check out the Wirecutter. It has experts in every area of technology — from headphones to TVs to much more — stating what they think is thebest thing to buy right now. They explain their reasoning, offer alternatives, and best of all, the site is kept up to date. Also, they have links to sites like Amazon and others to let you take the next step and purchase the tech you want.
Head on over here for a great example of what live music is like in Halifax: “Born to Be Wild”: Jammin’ with the Band at The Lower Deck, Halifax.
Enjoy! Preferably with a beer from Nova Scotia.
While you can do interesting things with paint or wall paper to your walls, another idea is to use simple moulding to break up boring walls. The woman featured in this post, Charlotte’s Budget Beauty — House Call | Apartment Therapy, has it throughout her place, and I think it looks great.
Want more ideas on how to do that? Here you go 🙂 http://lmgtfy.com/?q=add+moulding+to+walls
Many clients ask about this, and there is often confusion over the private aspect of the network. Confused or not, a good place to get clarification is here: Private Network | SoftLayer Blog.
Here’s a representation of the networking layout (you can get a bigger version of it at the SoftLayer blog):
If you are fortunate, your parents are living and you have a good relationship with them. The dreaded day will come, though, when they die. It will be hard to deal with, no matter what advice you get, but this piece of advice will certainly help: Things I Wish I Had Known When My Mother Died :: YummyMummyClub.ca.
I would add: expect to deal with a lot of administrative tasks that will seem surreal at times. There is much more of it then you think. At best it will seem bizarre. At worst, it will be agony. Either way, it must get done, and if you don’t think you will be able to do it, consider who you would lean on to help you with it when the time comes.
(Thanks to Emma W for the pointer to this.)
Right now it doesn’t seem it when I see a general purpose computer shrunk down to this size:
You can find out more about that computer here: Inverse Path – USB armory.
I believe that soon everything you buy will come with computing built into it, by defaul. When this occurs,people may find it weird to think about non-digital devices, just like younger people might find it weird to see people working from previous generations doing work and not using computers.
Might be this: a two legged chair
My own feeling is that the simplest and best solution may be just alternating between sitting and standing when at all possible. However, if you think that the two legged chair is the thing for you, head over to Design Milk for more on this.
I thought: I better share some thoughts on Ello before it is too late!
Here are two views on Ello. First one, negative: Aral Balkan — Ello, goodbye. Second one, affirmative: How To Ello In 5 Easy Steps.
My own view is that people are not going to adopt a new social network unless there are significant benefits to doing so. The last one that I have seen that was successful was Instagram. In the meantime there has been a number that have not taken off, from Google Wave and Google+, to app.net and Yo. I suspect that Ello will join the latter group, rather than Instagram.
I give you this:
I really like this idea, but then I am an IT architect and we like to stand up and draw on walls (ok, whiteboards). A whiteboard would also work, but if you have kids, there may be times when you want to save anything they did. Or never mind kids: maybe your own doodle was keep sake worthy.
By the way, you can get such paper dispensers at IKEA. Most people mount them on a table, but clearly the wall is an option too.
..is something that speaks for itself, I think, and because of that, I am just going to leave it here.
This post is fantastic: Here Comes The Sun: The Lost Guitar Solo by George Harrison, from the blog Open Culture.
Not only do you get to hear the lost guitar solo, but you get to do so with Dhani Harrison (George’s son), George Martin and Giles Martin (the son of the great producer)
Even better, you get a sense of what George Martin was working with at the time, and you get a sense, at least I did, of how Martin thinks about what he is hearing.
A must for Beatles fan and anyone who appreciates popular music and how it is made.
Here: Garb, from Uncrate.
This pix is just a sample; you can see lots more here: Garb: First Class | Uncrate. Lots of great looks and ideas. For men who are stylistically challenged, I recommend you go here and steal all the ideas you can.
I love this: wonderful cover, great musicians, loads of fun.
If you wish you could go out tonight and can’t, watching this could be the next best thing.
P.S. Thanks to Blake E. for this!
And the Guardian has a list of them. If you are going to Paris, take a quick peek and take notes. Yes, many you may have heard of, as I had. One I hadn’t is pictured above and is relatively new:
Opened in 1993, six years before New York’s similar High Line project, La Promenade Plantee is a tree-lined walkway on an old elevated railway line in east Paris. The 4.5km trail is a wonderful way to explore the city, taking you up and down staircases, across viaducts, above the streets and offering the occasional chance to wave back at the lucky Parisians whose apartments overlook it. The walkway also runs over the Viaduc des Arts, a bridge in which the arches are now occupied by galleries.
• 12th arrondissemen, promenade-plantee.org
For more from the list, see 10 best free things to do in Paris | Travel | theguardian.com.
Bonus: here’s a piece from the Globe and Mail how to eat like a Parisian. Since you’ll be enjoying all these free things in Paris, you’ll have more money for food.
The obvious answer: sell it. Either to Apple, your cell phone service provider (if they’ll take it), or some place that trades in used phones, like EB Games. If for whatever reason you don’t want to do that, the The Globe and Mail has 10 more reasons to consider.
Oh, enjoy the new phone!
I honestly don’t have to do more to get you to go to this link than share that photo, do I? I didn’t think so. Recipe from A CUP OF JO (Homemade Nutella Crêpes).
Last night I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. No, actually, last night a friend of mine sent me this very punny version of “That’s amore” (see below) and it reminded me of the very funny (and punny) Groucho Marx. Here’s both: such a bargain!
When the moon hits your eye
like a big pizza pie
that’s amore.When an eel bites your hand
with a pain you can’t stand
that’s a moray.When our habits are strange
and our customs deranged
that’s our mores.When your horse munches straw
and the bales total four
that’s some more hay.When a beam from the sun
lights the heath where we run
that’s a moor ray.When a sand-coated board
buffs your nails, yes milord,
that’s emory.And our friend Mitch Albom
every Tuesday would come
to hear Morrie.A New Zealander lad
sports tatoos by his dad.
That’s a Maori.When a glacier’s retreat
piles up stones at its feet
that’s a moraine.When two patterns of lines
cross to form new designs,
that’s a moiré.The briefest of pauses
in poetic clauses,
they are morae.What the palest young man
needs to get a good tan,
that’s some more rays.When Othello’s poor wife,
she gets stabbed with a knife
that’s a Moor, eh?A great whale in the sea
chases Raymond and me.
That’s Shamu, Ray.When a Japanese knight
used a sword in a fight
that’s Samurai.
P.S. Here’s a link to the Groucho Marx video on YouTube.
Smart People I Know 