2012-03-11
post/19125350870
Jad Mouawad in the New York Times: Airlines Studying the Science of Better In-Flight Meals.
Hey, 61,000,000×$0.01 = $610,000! Good to know the New York Times is on it. (Seriously, though, the scale is kind of baffling, and the rest of the article, pointing out how much the environment of flying makes it to do good catering, is worth a read.)
2012-03-01
post/18560004440
A composite of photographs of the London Eye, by Idris Kahn. Taken from the New York Times Magazine’s London issue, which might even prompt me to (shock) buy a paper copy.
2012-02-29
post/18476217446
March 4, 1968: “Don’t call them paper dresses,” began a report about a line of disposable dresses that could be reimagined as posters. The one seen here features Cape Kennedy. Another? An Allen Ginsberg poem. “The intent is for pretty young things to buy them on impulse and wear them to the beach or parties,” the reporter wrote. “Matrons, stay away.” Photo: Arthur Brower/The New York Times
I love the idea of the Lively Morgue posts, which combine archival photographs with the more ephemeral scribblings on their reverse. Obviously, the picture I reblog is going to be the one with the rocket in it.
2012-02-22
post/18089799490
Taser’s Axon Flex video camera mounted on a pair of sunglasses:
On Tuesday, Taser will announce a camera, a half-ounce unit about the size of a cigar stub that clips on to a collar or sunglasses of an officer and can record two hours of video during a shift. The information is transferred by a docking station to a local machine, and eventually stored in a cloud-computing system that uses Taser’s online evidence management system.
Photograph: Joshua Lott for The New York Times.
2012-02-21
post/18018273508
Charles Duhigg, quoted on Jim Romenesko’s post, NYT reporter defends Forbes writer accused of ‘stealing’ his work.
For the context: Duhigg wrote about data mining for the Times (as quoted here previously), but the article came to the public’s attention largely through a summary of some of the more interesting parts in Forbes. Romenesko’s piece is a good look at what three participants - Duhigg; Kashmir Hill, who wrote the Forbes summary; and Nick O’Neill, who wrote about who got the attention - have to say about the turn of events.
2012-02-17
post/17755230940
About a year after Pole created his pregnancy-prediction model, a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter, and he was angry, according to an employee who participated in the conversation.
“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”
The manager didn’t have any idea what the man was talking about. He looked at the mailer. Sure enough, it was addressed to the man’s daughter and contained advertisements for maternity clothing, nursery furniture and pictures of smiling infants. The manager apologized and then called a few days later to apologize again.
On the phone, though, the father was somewhat abashed. “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”
”Charles Duhigg for the New York Times: How Companies Learn Your Secrets.
Algorithms that know your daughter is pregnant before you do, based on purchases of lotion, large purses, and vitamin pills. (This is the future. Maybe we got the one we deserved.)
2012-02-08
post/17271413736
NY Times: In Data Deluge, Multitaskers Go to Multiscreens.
I recently switched from a single 15” 1440×800 MacBook Pro display to three screens: the MBP and two external 1920×1080 monitors (whose diagonal sizes I’m uncertain of, but let’s say 21”). I think it’s helped, especially with having editor, browser, and dev tools on screen at once, with less important stuff glanceable at one side.
I suspect my next home setup will be an Air with a 27” Thunderbolt display acting as a hub. I’m looking forward to it.
Having said all that, 10 seconds for every five minutes of work? That seems like a micro-optimisation.
2012-02-01
post/16876558017
Benjamin Nugent: I Had Asperger Syndrome, Briefly, from the New York Times.
This is one of a series of posts at the NY Times about the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the fifth (DSM-5 for short), which narrows the definition of autism (and Asperger syndrome) significantly. This particular post is well worth a read. (Thanks, Molly.)
2011-07-30
post/8263240171
Alex Pappademas: The Prescription to Save Ailing Superheroes in the New York Times.
I don’t know why not. It’d be interesting, at least.
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