Archive for September 2010
What you do know can hurt you…
From the ever-entertaining xkcd, a behavioral analog to the Monty Hall Problem (and the variation considered here a couple of weeks ago)…
As we reconsider the odds, we might recall that it was on this date in 1777 that Swiss mathematician, physicist, and astronomer Johann Heinrich Lambert died in Berlin. Lambert, who was only 49 when he passed, made a number of contributions to scientific knowledge; but he is probably best remembered for the first proof (in 1768) that pi is irrational (that’s to say, can’t be expressed as the quotient of two integers).
There’s a throat in my frog…
Stephen Spielberg has called it “the Citizen Kane of animated films.” It has landed squarely in the Top Ten lists of both professional animators and (IMDB) fans. It has been selected for preservation by the Library of Congress… Written by Michael Maltese, directed by Chuck Jones, starring Michigan J. Frog, it’s One Froggy Evening:
As we marvel at the glorious madness of it all, we might recall that it was on this date in 1977 that Captain Stubing and his crew first sailed on ABC’s The Love Boat. A hit for 9 seasons, the series helped popularize the “multiple parallel storyline” format, via which three separate stories set on the cruise ship ran intertwined through the hour. (An unintended by-product: notorious continuity errors, most notably in social director Julie’s outfits during boarding and debarkation, which were often inconsistent between storylines.)
By the Numbers…
Photographer and artist Chris Jordan has created a set of photographs, “Running the Numbers,” illustrating the dimensions of our consumer culture. Working with assemblages, Jordan constructs images that deconstruct into his points…
For example, “Barbie Dolls” uses 32,000 of those plastic puppets to commemorate the 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries done in the U.S. in 2006:
See many more of these remarkable compositions, here (where a nifty feature lets one click for a seamless zoom on the details underlying each photo)– and see Jordan’s TED talk, “Picturing Excess,” here.
(TotH to Brain Pickings)
As we rethink those impulse purchases, we might recall that it was on this date in 1889 that Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai (later, Nintendo Company, Ltd) to produce and market the playing cards known as Hanafuda (“flower cards”).
Times of the Signs…
From Smashing Magazine, culled from over 2,500 entries in 51 categories, the results of their “World Of Signage Photo Contest.”
As we give in to the guides, we might recall that it was on this date in 1888 that the first issue of National Geographic Magazine was published, nine months after its parent, The National Geographic Society, was founded.
Let them [eat] cake…
From Karen Portaleo, a clay sculptor who’s now the cake decorator at the Highland Bakery in Atlanta, illustrations of just how cool a cake can be…
For more entirely-edible examples of the baker’s art, visit “Specialty Cakes.”
As we lick our lips, we might recall that it was on this date in 1966 that Jimmy Hendrix took the advice of his then-new manager Chas Chandler, and changed the spelling of his first name to “Jimi.”
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