All posts by jasonian

Wrong Answer My Rear Bumper

I hate being wrong.

Well, I don’t mind being wrong, if I’m legitimately wrong. It’s a learning opportunity.

So more accurately, I hate being told I’m wrong when I’m not.

It happened today, while I was killing time on Facebook. (Why was I killing time on Facebook? A very good question I have no answer to.)

Anyway, I took the “Famous Logos” quiz because someone in my circle had taken it. I figured I’d get all (or at least the vast majority) of them right.

Unfortunately, the author of the quiz neglected to do his or her homework. Question 3 of the quiz was this:

famous-logos-q3.png

See the problem? The right answer isn’t there. I was forced to choose a wrong answer, which resulted in this:

famous-logos-q3-answer.png

(I chose Toyota, because the actual right answer, Lexus, is the luxury brand of Toyota.)

The logos are so different I’m not sure how they could be mistaken for each other:

Mazda logo Lexus logo

I ended up with 10 out of 13 correct, or 77%, rather than 11 out of 13 correct, or 85%, making me a little more “wrong” than I actually am.

Magic and the Brain: Teller Reveals the Neuroscience of Illusion   ◆

Teller (of Penn and) talks about how illusion is all about fooling the brain.

You didn't see the illusion because you weren't expecting one. You assumed I wasn't fucking with your head and that this hallway is actually a normal hallway. Those assumptions work great until you walk into a wall.

Microsoft’s Project Natal, Milo   ◆

As a technology demo of the future of computing (rather than the future of gaming), it's fascinating. Along with the "Milo" demo video, it's It's like a more advanced version of Apple's Knowledge Navigator vision of human-computer interaction. We'll see if it's any closer to reality than that 20-year old concept. Game-wise, the "full body" fighting looks great, the facial and voice recognition is very cool. The zero-controller games like driving look contrived. I don't think I'd want to sit there for ten minutes so I can play pit crew and change tires for five seconds, nor would I want to keep my hands in a driving position for an extended time. There's only so much "real life experience" I want while relaxing.

Grass-fed beef from Paicines Ranch   ◆

If, after reading the Contents of Fast Food paper, you want to look into grinding your own burgers, some foodie friends have told me this is a great place for high-quality meats. The downside for me is they're grass-fed, and I've never liked the taste of grass-fed beef.

Contents of Fast Food Hamburgers   ◆

It's interesting research into the contents of various burgers ("Approximately half of their weight is made up of water"). Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any useful conclusions (like "higher quality meat is better") or whether fast food burgers are unique in their composition. Scientifically investigated, no actionable conclusions. The Annals of Diagnostic Pathology is peer reviewed.

Stop Doing Sit-Ups   ◆

"As it turns out, the exercises synonymous with strong, attractive abs may not be the best way to train your core—and may be doing damage to your back."

What's better?

“If you want to burn your fat mass, make sure you have a combination of weight training and cardiovascular, but 90 percent of good abs is your nutrition,”

“More public-spirited pigs”   ◆

t.s. eliot rejects George Orwell’s Animal Farm:

And after all, your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm—in fact, there couldn’t have been an Animal Farm at all without them: so that what was needed (some might argue), was not more communism, but more public-spirited pigs.