The Secret Geek has a satirical article about how to be depressed. Apart from being really funny, I think the advice could be really beneficial if you just reverse everything. The list of abstract destructive thought patterns ("heuristics from hell"?) was kind of eye-opening, for me at least (maybe all y'all who are good at introspection already ( Read more... )

I lately lost a preposition;
It hid, I thought, beneath my chair
And angrily I cried, "Perdition!
Up from out of under there."

Correctness is my vade mecum,
And straggling phrases I abhor,
And yet I wondered, "What should he come
Up from out of under for?"

- Morris Bishop

hat tip Futility Closet

Scott Aaronson posts lecture notes for 6.080. These are fun and readable. Course title "Great Ideas in Theoretical Computer Science" is unnecessarily intimidating, at least if you're just reading these notes (no doubt taking the actual course is harder!).

It's hard for me to code (or do anything that requires concentration) while listening to wonderful awesome distracting music. Especially if both the music and the activity use language (I can listen to singing and play solitaire, or I can listen to instrumental and write stuff; I cannot listen to singing and write stuff (and I get bored if I listen ( Read more... )

Elemental Solitaire, created by The Outer HoardI like it very much. It took some getting used to -- both the gameplay and the specific implementation. Give it a try. I recommend using the Earth, Air, Fire, Water graphics instead of traditional card suits (it's easier to see what's going on ( Read more... )

Hybrid Medical Animation have put out a new demo reel for 2008. It's a thing of beauty. I can't identify most of the things in it, but still, wow.

Biology is beautiful.

(Woo Dr. Worm)

It really strikes me as strange when people aren't interested in things. Even at MIT this happens -- people go into engineering because they have an aptitude for it, and because they can make money at it, not because they love it. Ditto (and possibly even more so) for premeds ( Read more... )

In-case link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9bhei_o

I just ran across this really neat video of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D minor. [8:34]

Click to view

What I find fascinating about it is not so much the actual technique used, although that's cool too. What I love is that this lets you ( Read more... )

Richard Stallman's personal ad makes the Best Of Craigslist. Hee.

And, to give this entry more than nominal worth, here's an essay on a serendipitous but highly effective method of countering door-to-door proselytizers.

Best Of Craigslist is some quite excellent reading (frequently NSFW). Updates fairly often, but at seemingly irregular intervals

http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/?p=1285