My American Idol 2010 Prediction (with a little help from Facebook)
By Brian | May 23, 2010
Crystal and Lee both posted status updates about eight hours ago. Note that Lee has more than twice as many “Likes” and more than twice as many comments. Assuming Facebook is a fairly random sample of American Idol viewers (isn’t basically everyone on Facebook at this point?), I think we have our winner, folks.
Oops – I guess I should have said ***SPOILER ALERT***, huh?
Categories: Primetime TV | Comments Off on My American Idol 2010 Prediction (with a little help from Facebook)
Paging Dr. Frankenstein…
By Brian | May 21, 2010
It seems that Dr. J. Craig Venter and his team in Rockville, MD have sequenced the genome of a particular bacterium and inserted that genome into another bacterium to create, well . . . . life:
“We’re basically getting new life out of the computer,” Venter says. “We started with a genetic code in the computer, wrote the ‘software,’ put it into the cell and transformed it biologically into a new species. We’re still stunned by it as a concept.”
With Venter’s breakthrough it’s now possible to splice and snap together genetic material to create a Legoland’s worth of new genetic combinations. Ideally, some of these would have robust industrial purposes, such as manufacturing bacteria that can churn out valuable vaccine components to shorten production times during an epidemic, or co-opting organisms such as algae to pump out new sources of biofuel-based energy. “Just imagine these cells where all we do is put in a new piece of chemical software and all the characteristics of the cell start changing to become what was dictated by the new software,” says Venter. “These are biological transformers.”
What the world needs is more science articles that contain the words “legoland” and “transformers,” I always say…
More to the point, after they’ve created new vaccines and energy sources, one wonders how long the scientists will wait until they attempt to create the perfect woman.
Categories: The Future is Now | Comments Off on Paging Dr. Frankenstein…
Buying Photoshop CS5
By Brian | May 19, 2010
Welcome to a new category here at ISBS, Photoshop. In this space, I hope to post some samples of Photoshop work I’ve done, as well as helpful tips, tutorials, and entertaining stories (like this one) about all things Photoshop.
As you’ve probably guessed, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Photoshop lately, watching various online tutorials and learning to do more with the tool than just red-eye correction and cropping. Suffice to say, the things that this tool makes possible, even to a non-artist/non-photographer like me, are simply astounding. So much so, that I’ve officially promoted the time I’m spending with Photoshop from “interest” to “hobby,” the basic difference being that I can now give myself permission to spend some money on it.
Not coincidentally, the latest version of Photoshop, Photoshop CS5 Extended, just became available for purchase. The retail price is $999 which, in my opinion, is ridiculous for anyone except possibly professional photo-editing shops. However, if you’re a student or a teacher at an accredited University, they’ll sell it to you for $200. And since my wife is currently pursuing her PhD in Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, this becomes an attractive option.
To get the $200 deal, you buy or download the Teacher & Student edition of the software, fill out Adobe’s Proof of Academic Identification form and send them a copy of a valid Student ID at an accredited University. The ID must include your name, your picture, and an expiration date that is in the future. You can fax this stuff in, or you can scan it in and e-mail it to edu-verify@adobe.com. This is necessary, of course, to avoid non-qualified customers from receiving this significant discount.
As I went through these steps, it occurred to me: to verify that my wife is a student, they’re asking me to e-mail them a digital image, representing a scan of my wife’s Penn ID card. A digital image that is easily editable in . . . (wait for it….) PHOTOSHOP!. Not only that, but they’re dealing with a group of people who have already self-selected as the folks most likely to be interested in editing digital images. Perhaps I should send them a student ID with Mickey Mouse’s picture on it, just to make the point.
(NOTE: In case anyone from Adobe is reading this, I did not Photoshop the image I sent in. I will admit I was tempted, but I resisted…)
Categories: Photoshop | 1 Comment »
New York City Sights – Times Square Bomb Squad
By Brian | May 7, 2010
According to the NYPD, every time there’s a high profile incident in the city (like the Times Square bombing attempt from last weekend), reports of suspicious packages, activities, etc. go up by roughly 30%. This afternoon, someone left a cooler in a Times Square pedestrian area, prompting a concerned citizen to report it, which in turn prompted the NYPD to evacuate a three-block area and call in the bomb squad. As it turned out, the cooler contained water bottles and some books. Times Square was re-opened after a few hours of excitement.
While this isn’t funny in any sense of the word, it does provide us with this image, which I can honestly say reminds me of an ad for Toy Story 3, rather than the serious situation that it was.
Just goes to show ya: a picture is worth 1,000 words, but sometimes 995 of those words are wrong…
Categories: New York, New York | 1 Comment »
Holy Dow!
By Brian | May 6, 2010
Those who even casually follow the Dow Jones Industrial Average know that a triple-digit swing (i.e., a change of more than 100 points in a given day) is a pretty big deal, and a change of 200 or more is worthy of a headline. Back in Sept/Oct of 2008, when the financial crisis was at its peak, we often saw swings of 400-500 points in a given day, which was simply astounding.
So you can imagine how strange this is to see (all quotes as per Yahoo! Finance):
| 2:36pm: | 10,515.03 |
| 2:46pm: | 9,872.57 |
| 2:56pm: | 10,475.13 |
That’s a 650-point drop in ten minutes followed by 650-point rise in the next ten minutes. The cause was concern over the European Central Bank’s handling of the financial crisis in Greece, and potentially a technical glitch with regard to the trading of Proctor & Gamble shares (P&G is a Dow component).
At any rate, I have a message for whoever invested a bunch of money in the stock market at 2:46pm today:
Congratulations.
Categories: Money Talk | Comments Off on Holy Dow!
The Best of TED: Our mistaken expectations
By Brian | May 3, 2010
Here’s another installment of my Best of TED series, in which I share talks from the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference that have struck me over the years as particularly insightful or fascinating.
This one comes from Harvard psychologist, Dan Gilbert, and deals with how we calculate expected value for a given activity or transaction. Stuff like, “Would you prefer 50 dollars now or 60 dollars in a month?” Like Dan Ariely’s talk that I linked to previously, this is peppered with lots of wonderful examples of decisions we make every day, and how the logical thing to decide would be exactly the opposite. Here’s an example:
Imagine that you’re going to the theater. You’re on your way to the theater. In your wallet you have a ticket, for which you paid 20 dollars. You also have a 20-dollar bill. When you arrive at the theater, you discover that somewhere along the way you’ve lost the ticket. Would you spend your remaining money on replacing it? Most people answer, no. Now, let’s just change one thing in this scenario. You’re on your way to the theater, and in your wallet you have two 20-dollar bills. When you arrive you discover you’ve lost one of them. Would you spend your remaining 20 dollars on a ticket? Well, of course: I went to the theater to see the play. What does the loss of 20 dollars along the way have to do?
Now, just in case you’re not getting it, here’s a schematic of what happened, OK? Along the way, you lost something. In both cases, it was a piece of paper. In one case, it had a U.S. president on it; in the other case it didn’t. What the hell difference should it make? The difference is that when you lost the ticket you say to yourself, I’m not paying twice for the same thing. You compare the cost of the play now — 40 dollars — to the cost that it used to have — 20 dollars — and you say it’s a bad deal.
There are other great vignettes in there as well, followed by a really great Q&A in which Gilbert talks about our reaction to terrorism vs. other things that kill Americans every year (like the flu or swimming pools…), and also a rebuttal of sorts from an audience member who thinks we should stop defining “value” for people and then calling them stupid for picking the option with the lower value. He discusses the inherent value in buying lottery tickets. Really great stuff, IMHO…
Categories: The Best of TED | 2 Comments »
Unlikely Twins, Part III
By Brian | April 29, 2010
These two guys, both celebrating birthdays today, have the same horoscope:
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| Jerry Seinfeld, Well-Liked Comedian |
Bernie Madoff, Notoriously Hated Criminal |
Categories: Unlikely Twins | 3 Comments »
Animal’s Secret Identity . . . Revealed!
By Brian | April 24, 2010
So, good news! The awesome Viral Videos from Muppets Studio have been nominated for two Webby Awards. Animal is very excited:
Interesting thing, though – I don’t think I’d ever heard Animal speak (other than one or two words at a time – between the screaming and the banging on the drums…). Now that I get a listen, though, I’ve come to a startling conclusion.
Animal has the same voice as The Cookie Monster! Watch:
Google as I might, I wasn’t able to find a video that showed both Animal and Cookie Monster on screen at the same time. From this investigation, I can only conclude that Animal is actually Cookie Monster in disguise! This is the biggest news since the whole Kermit the Frog / Ernie debacle…
Categories: Primetime TV | 3 Comments »
Hollywood “Faces Off” with Reality and Wins…again!
By Brian | April 23, 2010
A hospital in Spain has completed the first ever full face transplant:
The patient now has a completely new face from his hairline down and only one visible scar, which looks like a wrinkle running across his neck, said Dr. Joan Pere Barret, the surgeon who led the team. “If you look him in the face, you see a normal person, like anyone else we have as a patient in the hospital,” Barret told The Associated Press on Friday. He declined to name the patient or give details of the accident five years ago in which he lost his face, saying only that he was a Spaniard between the ages of 20 and 40 and is recovering well. He cannot yet speak, eat or smile, but can see and swallow saliva.
So here’s my question: now that he has a new face, does he look more like Nicholas Cage or John Travolta?
Categories: Movie Talk, The Future is Now | 1 Comment »
Vice President Out My Window
By Brian | April 22, 2010
Vice-President Joe Biden just left 30 Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. Since 30 Rock is visible outside my office window, I can provide you a blow-by-blow account of what it takes for this man to actually leave a building:
1:15pm – Three limousines, two black Suburban SUV’s, and a few NYPD police cars come down 50th Street and park in front of the Observation Deck entrance to 30 Rock. All three limousines have American flags on their right fender, and another flag I didn’t recognize (the State of New York flag, perhaps?) on their left fender. The second and third limousines have the Seal of the Vice President on the doors.
1:16pm – The NYPD sets up metal barricades along 50th Street from 6th Avenue down to Rockefeller Plaza (the length of the building).
1:17pm – 1:30pm – People walking along (or across) 50th Street, as well as people coming out of 30 Rock, are slowly but surely corralled behind the metal barricades. A crowd begins to form behind the barricades, all of whom seem to have cameras, most of whom are carrying signs of obvious tourism – NBC Studio Store bags, I Love NY T-Shirts, and the like.
1:30pm – With the street completely clear of cars and people, about half a dozen NYPD motorcycles appear from inside the parking garage in 50 Rock (right across the street from 30 Rock, and the building my office is in).
1:30pm – 1:45pm – The police motorcycles, along with secret service agents and on-foot NYPD officers fan out – standing roughly 10-15 feet apart along the entire length of 50th Street. Their main function seems to be to direct startled tourists who walk out of a building or try to walk across the street, unaware of what’s been going on for the last half hour, to stand behind the barricades and gawk with everyone else. Various men & women in suits mill about in front of 30 Rock, shaking hands with each other and smiling. One gentleman takes out a soft brush and begins dusting the third limousine. After he’s gone all around it, he puts the brush away and takes out a soft cloth, and then wipes the car down again. This is one clean car!
1:45pm – Joe Biden, along with about a dozen other people (including a small child dressed in a jacket and tie, who I assume was his grandson?) emerge from 30 Rock. There is a brief cheer from the crowd, stifled immediately by the concentration they require to take pictures. Biden briefly uses the interior car floor as a step-ladder, lifting himself up a foot or so, and waves in both directions. Secret Service then grab him from both sides, push his head down so as to avoid him banging it on the car roof, and begin putting him in the car.
(Click to slightly enlarge – this was a cellphone camera, after all…)
1:46pm – Vice President Biden stops the secret service, re-emerges from the car, greets a blonde woman standing in front of 30 Rock and poses for a picture with her in front of his limousine (one of the people that came out of the building with him appeared to be an official photographer).
(Click to slightly enlarge – as above…)
1:47pm – Vice President Biden gets back in the car (this time under his own power), and all the cars pull away, heading east down 50th Street.
1:48pm – The police remove the metal barricades, people begin walking down/across the street, and everything looks as though nothing ever happened.
I’d guess it took about fifty people just over a half-hour to prepare for and execute the procedure, “Joe Biden leaves a building.” And we wonder why it takes so long to get things done…
Categories: New York, New York | 2 Comments »