Wednesday, August 31, 2011

"Souvenir" by Genevieve Valentine is another great story posted on the Strange Horizons website, and I wanted to share it. This one  is about psychics working for the police force...psychics who are able to read places for the residues of experiences there.

I suppose the trope of 'psychic who is tortured by the emotions of others' trope isn't all that new, but darn if it isn't well done here.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Thursday, August 11, 2011

How to win at Drop7

Drop7 (web, iTunes) is my favorite iPhone game. It's got a Tetrissy-feel to it that I like. This page has some tips for getting higher scores that made sense to me.

At the moment, however, it is not on my phone, because I've deleted it for the second time after my children started to forget my name.

So I'm starting to think that maybe the best way to win is not to play.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

The bomb ain't the bomb?

In this article, the Boston Globe explores a historian's theory that the atomic bomb was NOT the decisive reason for Japan's surrender in WWII.

The article suggests that the historian's contention that the real cause was the Soviet declaration of war against Japan days later is more than the evidence supports....but more striking is the claim that many historians agree that the bomb can't be called the main reason either. Further, that the atomic bomb was not a big striking difference in war, but just an incremental change to a country that had already seen many cities firebombed.

Sunday, August 07, 2011

The web is a customer service medium

 Man, it's been a long time since I've read any Paul Ford. But this is good stuff....trying to identify the thing that the web is best at, and along the way explain why some sites succeed and others fail:

Saturday, August 06, 2011

America's wealthiest people vs. the economy

As analyzed by an investment banking guy. Short and to the point: the folks in finance have every incentive to mess up the wider economy for their own profit, and everyone else suffers. And it's no accident: the system has been made that way through legal action.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Heat death of the highschoolers

Every year, kids in the south who are training for football die...from the combination of heat and exertion. And yet it happens again every year.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Metropolis II

A ginormous kinetic sculpture of die-cast metal cars moving roller-coaster style coupled with toy trains and buildings. Gorgeous.

How Google Dominates Us

This is a must-read, a review of how Google came to and continues to dominate advertising revenue globally, with some interesting discussion of the "Don't be evil" motto.  By James Gleick, author of Chaos.

Initiative in D&D

I'm liking the Ars Ludi blog more and more. It turns out it's by the guy who came up with the weird new RPG 'Microscope' which I've thought about getting.

In this post, about initiative, he talks about the difference between 4th Ed D&D initiative and older versions and how it changes how people play the game. A subtle point that can make a big difference in whether people approach the game cooperatively or not.