Zackc43

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We didn't think it was possible to make Paul George's insane dunk any better than it already was, but then internet hero Patrick Truby went and proved us wrong.

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Here's a brain-meltingly cool proof of the bizarre mathematical truth that the sum of all positive integers (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5....) is -1/12. This is not only provably true, it's also foundational to certain testable elements of physics. In other words: not just a logical curiosity, but also the bedrock of real-world, useful stuff.

ASTOUNDING: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + ... = -1/12 (via Kottke)

Joe Stone helped a lucky friend celebrate a birthday with a custom, Pulp Fiction-themed edition of "Guess Who?", packaged in a replica of Marcellus Wallace's briefcase. As with all such projects as these, it's the attention to detail that makes the difference, giving this the appearance of having sprung from an alternate universe in which it was a real product. It's design fiction from a parallel time-track.

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Pulp Fiction Guess Who (via Super Punch)

You laugh, but there's a strong possibility that Mario really was about to get screamed at for standing in the wrong place or something.

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Human materialism as support for universal basic income

by David Atkins

More evidence that human beings are at heart fiercely competitive and more than a little greedy:

All work and no play may just be a result of "mindless accumulation".
So say scholars behind research, published in the journal Psychological Science in June, that shows a deeply rooted instinct to earn more than can possibly be consumed, even when this imbalance makes us unhappy.
Given how many people struggle to make ends meet, this may seem a frivolous problem. Nonetheless, the researchers note that productivity rates have risen, which theoretically lets many people be just as comfortable as previous generations while working less. Yet they choose not to.
To explore the powerful lure of material accumulation, the researchers constructed an experiment in two phases. In the first phase, subjects sat for five minutes in front of a computer wearing a headset, and had the choice of listening to pleasant music or to obnoxious-sounding white noise.

They were told they could earn pieces of chocolate when they listened to the white noise a certain number of times. Some participants had to listen fewer times to get each piece of chocolate, making them "high earners"; some had to listen more times, making them "low earners".
All were told that there would be a second phase to the experiment, also lasting five minutes, in which they could eat the chocolate they earned. But they were told they would forfeit any chocolate they couldn't consume, and they were asked how much they expected to be able to eat.
On average, people in the high-earner group predicted that they could consume 3.75 chocolates.
But when it came time to "earn" chocolates, they accumulated well beyond their estimate. On average, they listened to enough white noise to earn 10.74 chocolates. Then they actually ate less than half of that amount.
In other words, they subjected themselves to harsh noise to earn more than they could consume, or predicted they could consume.
"We introduce the concept of 'mindless accumulation'," said one of the paper's authors, Christopher Hsee, a professor of behavioral science and marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. "It's a waste of effort," he added, "But once people are in action, they can't stop."

On one hand, this fact of human nature is part of the reason communism fails. No matter how much we have, we tend to always want more, even if it's more than we need or can even use. And we usually want to have more than our neighbor.

But the flip side of that conservative capitalist coin is that if people are provided a universal basic income, they're still going to want to do sometimes unpleasant work in order to accumulate more than their neighbor. It also puts a dent in the myth that government largesse creates dependency. Fundamentally, people want to have more things even if it means pointless work.

We're materialistic creatures with a decent work ethic. We don't need to be made miserable by conservative economics in order to reinforce that.


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A forum thread asking “Why do people like elves and dwarves?” got me thinking about something, and I had a major insight.

Elves are vampires, dwarves are werewolves.

I don’t mean literally (although that might be a fun twist.) But the elven archetype hits a lot of the same notes as the vampire archetype, or at least the vampire in stories from a vampire’s POV. And dwarves as a contrast to elves hit some of the same notes as werewolves in stories told from a werewolf’s point of view.

I instinctively recognized there was something to the elf:vampire analogy a while ago, but now I think I can put it into words. Someone once said, about the popularity of the Twilight series, that teen fans love the Twilight vampires because they get to be teen agers forever. Twilight vampires are angsty, self-absorbed, manipulators. Nothing about them is straightforward: they have all these secrets and desires churning inside them. And the Twilight werewolves, although they do have a general secret, are an obvious contrast to vampires: they’re much more direct, say what they mean, wear their hearts on their sleeve, and even share thoughts with their pack members. Quick contrast table:

Vampires	Werewolves
Introverts	Extroverts
Self-Absorbed	Pack-Oriented
Secret Desires	Obvious Emotions
Self-Restrained (maybe)	Impulsive
Schemers	Bullies
Individualist	Community-driven

Of course, some of those traits only apply to specific instances. Only the “good” vampires are self-restrained, with others callously pursuing their secret desires, and only the “bad” werewolves give into their impulsive response to violent emotions and beat their girlfriends. Still, when I watch the movies, the contrast was strong enough that I thought: Really? You’re telling teenage girls that all men are either manipulative sociopaths or pushy bastards, and the best they can hope for is to pick one who promises not to lie too much or beat you too much?

But back on track… what I’m seeing is that vampires are more detached from society and concerned with careful planning to get what they want, while werewolves are more gregarious and prefer direct action. And many depictions of elves and dwarves that I've seen, including in a game, make that same contrast. The elves are the ones who worry about the consequences of their actions and try to find a rational solution to their problems; the dwarves are the ones who rush in, axeblades a swingin’, because they don’t want to wait around while the elves debate the proper course of action.

Elves and vampires are the wine-sipping masterminds who think in shades of grey. Dwarves and werewolves are the beer-swilling action heroes who get stuff done.

Written with StackEdit.

Pixar animator Austin Madison's collection of NFL-related sketches was one of the coolest things we saw last year, and we are happy to discover that Madison has been making similar sketches this season. You can find all of them on Madison's website, but here are a few of our favorites.

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The OObject 2013 Gift Guide contains nothing affordable -- instead, it's a collection of one-of-a-kind, four-to-seven-figure fetish objects ranging from a faithful replica of the Sputnik to a decommissioned British remote control sub.

OObject 2013 Gift Guide (via Kottke)

The Nordic Society for Invention claims to have developed a working prototype of a device called No More Woof that reads a dog's brain signals and converts them into English phrases that match the dog's emotional state. Phrases include: "This is splendid!" "Leave me alone." "I am so very weary." "Who are you?" "Em, why are you guys leaving?" "Is that really you?" "Night-time!" "He must be a very nice animal."

Comics creator Paul Dini did a guest appearance on Kevin Smith's podcast "Fatman on Batman" podcast, and talked, in part, about the gender considerations of execs in new animation/superhero kids' show design, Vi transcribed the relevant piece, in which Dini recounts conversations he's had with execs who insist that they don't want any girl fans of their shows, because girls don't buy toys. And to keep girls from watching the shows, they make sure that girls are always presented as sidekicks, "one step behind the boys." It's absolutely infuriating.

DINI: "They're all for boys 'we do not want the girls', I mean, I've heard executives say this, you know, not Ryan(?) but at other places, saying like, 'We do not want girls watching this show."

SMITH: "WHY? That's 51% of the population."

DINI: "They. Do. Not. Buy. Toys. The girls buy different toys. The girls may watch the show -- "

SMITH: "So you can sell them T-shirts if they don't-- I disagree, A, I think girls buy toys as well, I mean not as many as f***ing boys do, but, B, sell them something else, man! Don't be lazy and be like, 'well I can't sell a girl a toy.' Sell 'em a T-shirt, man, sell them f***ing umbrella with the f***ing character on it, something like that. But if it's not a toy, there's something else you could sell 'em! Like, just because you can't figure out your job, don't kill chances of, like, something that's gonna reach an audi -- that's just so self-defeating, when people go, like… these are the same fuckers who go, like, 'Oh, girls don't read comics, girls aren't into comics.' It's all self-fulfilling prophecies. They just make it that way, by going like, 'I can't sell 'em a toy, what's the point?'

DINI: "That's the thing, you know I hate being Mr. Sour Grapes here, but I'll just lay it on the line: that's the thing that got us cancelled on Tower Prep, honest-to-God was, like, 'we need boys, but we need girls right there, right one step behind the boys' -- this is the network talking -- 'one step behind the boys, not as smart as the boys, not as interesting as the boys, but right there.' And then we began writing stories that got into the two girls' back stories, and they were really interesting. And suddenly we had families and girls watching, and girls really became a big part of our audience, in sort of like they picked up that Harry Potter type of serialized way, which is what The Batman and [indistinct]'s really gonna kill. But, the Cartoon Network was saying, 'F***, no, we want the boys' action, it's boys' action, this goofy boy humor we've gotta get that in there. And we can't -- ' and I'd say, but look at the numbers, we've got parents watching, with the families, and then when you break it down -- 'Yeah, but the -- so many -- we've got too many girls. We need more boys.'"

SMITH: "That's heart-breaking."

DINI: "And then that's why they cancelled us, and they put on a show called Level Up, which is, you know, goofy nerds fighting CG monsters. It's like, 'We don't want the girls because the girls won't buy toys.' We had a whole… we had a whole, a merchandise line for Tower Prep that they s***canned before it ever got off the launching pad, because it's like, 'Boys, boys, boys. Boys buy the little spinny tops, they but the action figures, girls buy princesses, we're not selling princesses.'"

Fatman on Batman 52: 'Beware the Batman' talk (via IO9)

Tea Party group unironically posts racist picture from video game meant to mock racists

by David Atkins


This image is from a video game called Bioshock Infinite:



Bioshock Infinite is one of my favorite games, and one I've been meaning to review at some point for an entry in my video game Saturday series. The original Bioshock was a mocking take-down of Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy, set in a failed libertarian city at the bottom of the ocean. Bioshock Infinite is the third game in the series. It's set in an alternate turn-of-the-century floating city above America called "Columbia", run by a preacher named "Father Comstock" who rules with a combination of hardcore racism, oppressive theocracy and a heavy dose of American exceptionalism. This painting is found in a building run by a group that venerates the spirit of John Wilkes Booth. Notice George Washington holding the Ten Commandments as racist caricatures cringe in defeat. It would be fairly difficult even for a Tea Partier to fail to notice the mocking irony in the image.

But apparently not the good Christian folk at the National Liberty Foundation Facebook page boasting almost 95,000 likes, which posted it entirely without irony on its page.

Game site Kotaku picked it up and the ridicule has been relentless since.

It's awfully difficult for Tea Partiers to claim they aren't driven by racism when they wholeheartedly embrace over-the-top racist propaganda designed to make fun of them.

It's holiday fundraiser time ...



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The post Can the Mythology Behind Superheros Be Defined By Science? appeared first on OMNI Reboot.

A year ago yesterday, ESPN ranked its top 100 baseball players of all time. @oldhossradbourn provided running commentary. I had not seen it all collected into one site until now. A few highlights:

83. M. McGwire. Would be ranked higher but angered all the scribes when the fellatio they gave him in 1998 gave them oral cancer in 2005.

67. M. Rivera. Aided by guts, courage, and by being a 1/4 time player in a masturbatory media market which needed to pen a hagiography.

9. M. Mantle. American hero who never lived up to his talents or the money lavished on him, much like the generation which venerated him.

48. L. Jones. Remember when he hit .364 as a broken 36-year-old and faced no scrutiny? It’s nice to be white.

56. “Yogi” Berra. Italian catcher, the worst of two worlds. Yet it is fun to throw things at Italians. Cursed us all with his son, Dale.

There are many good ones to choose from.

Milwaukee Bucks forward John Henson spent three years at the University of North Carolina before jumping to the NBA, and it looks like those three years as a Tar Heel left him with a pretty solid understanding of what the NCAA is really about. You're all right, John Henson.

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Forget O’Reilly’s fears of liberals saying “Happy Holidays” to each other. There was a real war on Christmas in this country and it was waged by those lovely people who settled in New England, the Puritans.

For the Puritans — in England and in the New England colonies — Christmas was a, well, un-Christian imposition on what should be a perfectly normal December 25th, thank you very much. Sure, the Sabbath was holy, Puritans believed, but there was no scriptural basis for celebrating or resting on Christmas Day. It wasn’t a real religious holiday.

Here’s why. Increase Mather, who was the Puritan Michael Jordan of hating Christmas, grumbled in 1687 :

The early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.

Pagan holidays are pretty fun, and Saturnalia was an absolute bonanza of revelry. So you can see why Western society was keen on keeping it around by aligning a celebration of the birth of Jesus with the existing winter feast. But not Increase.

Particularly upsetting to Increase Mather was the tradition of inversion associated with the holiday. Stephen Nissenbaum’s The Battle For Christmas goes into this in much more detail, but essentially, English Christmas at the time was all about class inversion, as was the pagan Saturnalia festival. Children served as bishops, servants as masters, that sort of thing. That inversion carried over into the exchange of goods (presents) from the rich to the poor, as a much more aggressive prototype of what we might recognize as charitable giving — think drunk, adult, trick-or-treating. And of course, there was feasting and drinking. It was fun, different from the everyday, and could get a little bit scary. In a way, Increase and his ilk were right: the rituals of Christmas had little to do in particular with Christianity.

Fun people.

The International Olympic Committee officially granted provisional recognition to the International Federation of American Football. This does not mean football will be an Olympic sport—but it's a necessary first step.

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Remember Toto's "Africa"? Here's what it's about, according to band member Jeff Porcaro: "... a white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he's never been there, he can only tell what he's seen on TV or remembers in the past." Baudrillard wept.

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MIT scientists have determined the hardest twingtuster.

Try and say “pad kid poured curd pulled cod” 10 times fast.

Man, I can't even say it once.

Donning sunglasses, Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy said his name was "Kraken" and that he attended Hogwarts during SNF's player intros. But the nickname wasn't totally random.

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NFL quarterbacks if they were bald. Horrifying. [Mandatory]

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Math With Bad Drawing's "Headlines from a Mathematically Literate World" is a rather good -- and awfully funny -- compendium of comparisons between attention-grabbing, math-abusing headlines, and their math-literate equivalents.

Our World: After Switch in Standardized Tests, Scores Drop
Mathematically Literate World: After Switch in Standardized Tests, Scores No Longer Directly Comparable

Our World: Proposal Would Tax $250,000-Earners at 40%
Mathematically Literate World: Proposal Would Tax $250,000-Earners’ Very Last Dollar, and That Dollar Alone, at 40%

Our World: Still No Scientific Consensus on Global Warming
Mathematically Literate World: Still 90% Scientific Consensus on Global Warming

Our World: Hollywood Breaks Box Office Records with Explosions, Rising Stars
Mathematically Literate World: Hollywood Breaks Box Office Records with Inflation, Rising Population

Our World: Illegal Downloaders Would Have Spent $300 Million to Obtain Same Music Legally
Mathematically Literate World: Illegal Downloaders Would Never Have Bothered to Obtain Same Music Legally

Headlines from a Mathematically Literate World

Monica Warhol, cousin to Andy (once removed), who was ten when Warhol died in 1987: "My grandfather and Andy’s father were brothers. My Aunt Betty took me to the cemetery every week, where we’d pray over Andy’s grave, because my aunt said he was pretty flaky and was probably in purgatory.”

She's a painter too. And Warhol fan Kanye West has commissioned her to paint Kim Kardashian ... Whatever. But the quote is amazing.

If you haven't read it yet, check out this story about a man who survived for three days in an air pocket in a sunken ship on the Atlantic seafloor just off the coast of Nigeria. He was discovered and rescued by a diving team that was there simply to recover bodies. There's a extraordinary moment when one of the divers sees the hand of what he assumes is a corpse, grabs it and then feels it grab back. It's a classic feel good story. The video is amazing. But reading the piece, marveling at this guy's amazing luck, I kept thinking of the countless people who have been in some similar position and met the totally predictable, close to inevitable conclusion of the story - with plenty of time to grasp the sheer hopelessness of their predicament.

Over at The New York Times, Brian Burke of Advanced NFL Stats and Kevin Quealy of NYT Graphics have joined forces to create the excellent NYT 4th Down Bot.

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Ohio leads the nation in swearing.

Ohio is also the 5th least courteous state.

Personally, I blame William McKinley.

Tatsputin travels 10 days a month for work; while he travels, he colors in his kids' drawings, shading them with a lot of expertise and enthusiasm. His kids (unsurprisingly) are overjoyed. He has a four year old daughter and a six year old son, and he works in colored pencil as well as digital color through a tablet. It's a lovely piece of parent/kid collaboration, and you can only imagine how much it ties the family together during the absences.

Coloring my kids art (via Neatorama)

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Here's a fabulous interview with activist Sarah Kendzior, a journalist and researcher who made a great, concise argument against unpaid internship as a series of four tweets last June. Policymic talks with Kendzior about her work on the "prestige economy" and the widening wealth-gap, and also talks about the theory of presenting arguments over Twitter, a subject on which Kendzior is every bit as smart as she is on matters economic and political.

Twitter is as effective as a blog for making concise, multipoint arguments. I am careful when I write these to make each Tweet stand alone as well as contribute to a broader point. It is tough to pull off. Umair Haque (@umairh) is the master of this style, but I see others embracing it too.

Twitter forces you to think aphoristically. Some say the character limit inhibits creativity, but I see it as a challenge that pushes you to carefully consider every word. It is a good exercise for any writer...

... In one generation, working for free for people who can pay you went from something laughable, to something wealthy people were doing in a few fields, to something everyone was recommended to do, to something almost everyone has to do. Entry-level jobs were replaced with unpaid internships. That same monopoly on opportunity reshaped lower-skill labor. Jobs that once offered on-site training now require college degrees. In response, universities ramp up tuition, knowing that students have little choice but to pay to compete. Instead of options, there is one path to professional success — one exorbitantly expensive path.

The values of the wealthy elite became the rules that everyone had to live by.

At the same time, the rising cost of living made it “normal” to pay a lot of money for basic things. Ordinary life has been redefined as a luxury good. Health care and home ownership are unaffordable for most young people. This makes them feel desperate, particularly when they begin adult life saddled with stratospheric debt. They feel they have no options but to play along, even if that means being party to their own exploitation.

What they have discovered is that even playing by the rules will destroy you in a prestige economy. Institutional affiliation is promoted as a way to advance professionally by building personal prestige, which is why people are paying to intern at prestigious companies or going into debt for prestigious schools. But these are hollow victories, designed to suck you dry and leave you even more desperate. Prestige decreed by institution means nothing when institutions are rotting.

Why You Should Never Have Taken That Prestigious Internship [Sam Bakkila/Policymic]

(via Making Light)