Fredkin's paradox: The more equally attractive two alternatives seem, the harder it can be to choose between them — no matter that, to the same degree, the choice can only matter less. Thus, a decision-making agent might spend the most time on the least important decisions.
It was proposed by American physicist Edward Fredkin.
The paradox arises from the negative correlation between the difference between two options and the difficulty of deciding between them.
"The online Museum of the Human Web features over 90 artefacts spanning more than 50 years of internet history, honoring an era when networks, sites, and memes were still built by human hands rather than algorithms."
[via Dense Discovery]
Pretty much right on.
Bonus: here's 99% of a dermatology residency, as related by a senior dermatology resident back when I was rotating through derm in med school:
"Wet on the dry, dry on the wet, if that doesn't work, steroids."
I suspect it's still effective 95% of the time.
It was introduced in April of 2006 at the "Open Your Mind" exhibition in Milan but after twenty years the designer has yet to find a manufacturer.
Wrote Pezzini (pictured above and below with his creation): "It invites only one to sit yet suggests others are welcome, though there is no practical place provided. Sunny Day Bench is a metaphor for contradictions in the human condition: we may dislike the company of others, but we need it. We may hate to be alone, but ultimately we are. We flee crowds, but we are also attracted to them; and, more often than not, we demand a degree of individuality and independence."
Fellow southpaws know what a pain in the butt it is to use a conventional spiral notebook, having to contort your writing hand so as to minimize the pain of the spiral pressing into the underside of your wrist.
Here's an assortment of six (6) double spiral notebooks in six (6) colors, each with 50 8"x 5" sheets.
Smaller than a bread box — wait a sec, joe, your wires are crossed.
Again.
The Egyptian tortoise is smaller than a raspberry at birth; fully grown, it will measure between 3 and 5 inches long.
Critically endangered in the wild, its only hope for survival from extinction is continued successful breeding of the species in zoos.
Its native habitat is the Mediterranean coastal deserts of Egypt, Eastern Libya, and the western Negev Desert in Israel.
Its numbers have rapidly declined since the 1960s because of the exotic pet trade and destruction of its habitat through development.
From Open Culture:
.....................................
Albert Einstein became one of the world’s great science communicators by choice, not necessity, and found ways to explain his complex theories to children and the elderly alike. But perhaps, if he'd had his way, he would rather have avoided words altogether, and preferred acrobatic feats of silent daring to get his message across. We might at least conclude so from his reverence for the work of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was the only person Einstein wanted to meet in California during his second (1930–31) visit to the U.S., when he was at the height of his fame, with newspapers tracking his every move and academics clamoring for explanations of his theories.
The admiration was mutual. Their first meetings happened outside press scrutiny at Universal Studios, where the pair took a tour and had lunch together. They hit it off straight away, sharing quick wits and curious minds. In his autobiography, Chaplin writes that Einstein's wife Elsa finagled an invitation to dinner at Chaplin's house. He was only too happy to oblige, arranging an intimate dinner at which Elsa regaled him with the story of when Einstein came up with his world-changing theory around 1915.
The two continued to correspond, and the big public unveiling of their friendship came when Chaplin invited Einstein to the premiere of City Lights in 1931 (see photo up top) where the mega-celebrities from very different worlds were greeted by reporters, photographers, and adoring crowds.
It's clear Einstein saw something in Charlie Chaplin worth emulating. Chaplin left his mark on Existentialist philosophy, lending the name of his film Modern Times to Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir's influential journal, Les Temps Modernes. He also left a legacy on Beat poetry, lending the name City Lights to Lawrence Ferlinghetti's infamous San Francisco bookstore and publisher.
This 2004 piece by the Belgian designer employs an ordinary chair covered with a "new skin" of paper strips from a shredder.
"Every dot on this globe is a real person's voice — a short story about a place, a memory, a feeling. Tap one and hear someone from the other side of the planet."
If you like, you can record your own voice for others to hear.
Back story here.
It's a new feature making its debut today.
Aren't you excited?
Oh.
That's OK, never mind.
This inaugural installment is entitled:
Have you ever noticed how most people, when given a compliment, say things like, "It's about time you noticed," or "It's nothing," or "No, not really?"
That's rude.
Because what they're doing is telling the person giving the compliment, in effect, that they're wrong.
How much nicer, more appropriate and gracious to simply say "Thank you."
And yet not one person in a hundred does.
Try it — I promise it will improve the quality of your — and others' — lives.
And isn't that the only reason to use up oxygen, really?
To make life a little better and sweeter for others?
If you don't agree, please don't ask for a jump seat when the mother ship comes to take me back to my home planet.
When the first time you knew you had an AdSense for YouTube account is when you're notified (above and below) this morning that it's defunct.
No worries — as long as they don't suspend my YouTube channel, where over 10,000 happy subscribers tune in daily to see what my beloved calico cat Vanta has gotten up to.
The Economist offers up its annual assessment of paradise and hellholes.
There must be peeps reading this who live in some of these places: what say you?
This bookshelf appears to suspend a stack of books in mid-air against a wall, without any support.
Mounts to almost any wall with included hardware in minutes.
Metal powder-coated with silver finish.
Set of 3 —Small: $25.49; Large: $45.
Both here.
The New York-based designer and creative director's online weather report not only gives you the temperature, humidity, "feels like," and visibility for major cities around the world 24/7/365, but it also lets you use your location for a more precise look.
"It's good news week."
"
"What's the weather like today?"
This excellent four-part 2024 BBC series now on Starz features the nonpareil Rebecca Hall as a young teacher in England who begins hearing a low-pitched hum inaudible to those around her.
It gradually takes over her life and leads her down a rabbit hole of uncertainty and confusion and ultimately to personal catastrophe.
Each of the four episodes is under 45 minutes long so if you're a binge watcher like me, you can take in the entire series in one go.
Hall is among a handful of actors whose presence makes a show or movie worth watching.
Others: Kristin Stewart, Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Caine.
In 1936 Noguchi, inspired like Fuller by Einstein's theory of relativity, worked on his first major public sculpture in Mexico.
It was a seventy-two-foot-long wall, part of which would be a figure of an Indian boy observing Einstein's equation for energy.
Noguchi forgot the exact equation and wired to Fuller for help.
Fuller sent back a telegram (above) explaining E=mc².
Yeah, I figured you'd want to me do that — here's the plain text.
bucky
