We Call Them Animals

Okay, this is completely insane.

I very much doubt that this is how elephants actually see the world.

BUT: someone was able to train an elephant to do this. And the precision and alacrity with which the elephant completes the work suggests to me that this complex task is being done with willingness and care, if not necessarily comprehension of its indexical meaning.

C'mon, no matter how you slice it, this is mind-boggling.

Where have all the acorns gone?

It's hard not to feel apocalyptic when you learn that oak trees seem to be on strike. Read the Washington Post article.

Who's competent, and how do you know?

People who lack the knowledge or wisdom to perform well are often unaware of this fact. That is, the same incompetence that leads them to make wrong choices also deprives them of the savvy necessary to recognize competence, be it their own or anyone else's.

It's worth reading the whole article in Salon.

Another money quote:

In short, smart people tend to believe [wrongly, according to context ~ N.] that everyone else "gets it." Incompetent people display both an increasing tendency to overestimate their cognitive abilities and a belief that they are smarter than the majority of those demonstrably sharper.

The Problem with Beauty

A fascinating and clear analysis of the pitfalls of a culture obsessed with physical beauty: Why I Hate Beauty.

The article probably won't tell you anything you don't already know, but provides some useful constructs that could be applied to other categories as well. It also serves as a useful foundation for arguments about the vital importance of a cultural (or counter-cultural!) context for providing a balance of values.

Zipcodestats

Are you keeping up with the Joneses? Do you even know what's UP with the Joneses?

Check out this absolutely fascinating look at your neighborhood through the lens of the census and other data: Zipcodestats. An amazing wealth of detail is available on all sorts of demographic information.

Faceblind

This article in Wired, about people who are developmentally incapable of recognizing faces (a condition previously thought only to occur in victims of brain damage) is fascinating. The best guess of these researchers is that two percent of the population is faceblind....

It's hard for me to imagine what a challenge it must be to go through life this way. If you, or someone you know, has a really hard time recognizing people, point them to faceblind.org.

Water on Mars!

If this news doesn't make your heart beat a little faster, then I weep for your soul.

I hope we get to go there in person one day. And I really hope we find life, or traces of life. Life is tough but fragile, and if we don't nurture it here it could wind up being as imperiled on Earth as microbes on Mars.

Apparently, I'm 30

Fatal confirmation of the wide disparity between my chronological and psychological ages: What age do you act?

Oh grow up, says I to myself.
Make me, I says back.

Food for Interactive Design Thought

There's a mathematical equation, aptly named Fitts's Law, that describes how easy it is to acquire and hit a target based on distance from the target and size of the target.

I learned this from the fabulous website/blog Mind Hacks.