I just realized something. All my favorite superheroes as a kid embodied some aspect of my self-image. I was a good student so I liked Batman because he was smart. I was a small kid so I liked the Atom. I was pretty fast so I liked the Flash. And I was/am severely nearsighted so I liked Daredevil (he’s blind). I must have identified with their abilities or something. Weird that I never saw that before.
One of my favorite things about the World Cup is the cool nicknames for the various national teams. Brazil - the Seleção (the Select). Italy - the Azzuri (Sky Blues). Slovenia - the Green Dragons. England - the Three Lions. Australia - the Socceroos. Germany - Die Mannschaft (the Team). Japan - the Blue Samurai. South Korea - the Red Devils. The Lions of Cameroon. The Black Stars of Ghana…
Then we get to the US. I don’t think we even have an accepted nickname. I haven’t heard the announcers refer to our team as anything but the US. I’ve seen them referred to as ‘the Yanks’ in print, but other than that - no nickname. I’m throwing my support behind… ‘the Stars and Stripes’. It’s not too long and it’s more representative of the entire country than ‘the Yanks’. I’m convinced that the absence of a good nickname is what’s keeping us from becoming a major soccer power.
Forbes has a great infographic showing migration patterns at the county level in the US. The data is from 2008. Looks like everyone from Gloucester County NJ is retiring to Arizona or Florida. Clever use of color as an indicator - red for outbound, black for inbound. Makes it easy to tell at a glance whether there’s a net influx or outflow of people. I’m a sucker for this stuff.
Hooked up a new backup drive to my home pc and started getting a bunch of “Event ID - 51 - An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging operation” errors. Kind of tough to debug but here’s how I figured out what was going on:
1. Right clicked on “My Computer” and chose “Manage” from the pop up menu. Then clicked on “Disk Management” to determine which drive was Harddisk1. This is where I discovered it was the new backup drive that was causing the errors.
2. The error seemed to be popping up every hour or so, so I figured it might be related to power-saver or sleep mode or something. I then went into the disk utilities for the new backup drive and disabled power saving mode.
3. Voila - the error disappeared.
Just for background, the drive was a Seagate 500gb FreeAgent external USB drive. It was working fine even with the errors, but it was driving me nuts trying to figure out the source of the problem.
Had a chance to play guitar with some friends this past weekend. There is nothing quite like playing electric guitar nice and loud. Especially when joined by such excellent musicians. Though I feel goofy about playing in front of people at this point in my life, the act of making music is still pure joy. Sure, it sounds a little half-assed and ragged - but isn’t that what makes the best rock and roll? I love to play. I could do without the audience, but I really love to play.
This is simultaneously mind-blowing and terrifying. It sounds like the beginning of an apocalyptic sci-fi movie.
Should I put my funk bona-fides on the line and register for a semester in Professor Bootsy Collins’ Funk University? I’m tempted but a little worried that my funkulosity (funkulousness? funkafiediness?) will be found lacking.
A recent study found that Asian-Americans living in New Jersey live better than any other ethnic group in any other state, based on overall health, education, and income. I’m an Asian-American living in New Jersey and, while I don’t feel depressed or anything, I also don’t see myself as being markedly happier than anyone else. Luckier, maybe…
I like checkin’ out charts.
Charts rule!
A chart is a handy dandy scientific tool…
Sid the Science Kid.
I love good infographic design. Liu Yang’s ‘east meets west’ series is a great example of concise, witty information presentation.The best infographics present data or ideas in a way that seem both surprising and instantly familiar.
remember those arguments you used to have with your friends - like, who would win in a fight, ninja or spartan? Well, Spike TV settles those arguments once and for all with Deadliest Warrior. Awesome concept, awesome cast (ancient weapons specialist, trauma surgeon, computer guy), awesome narrator (sounds like an Asian Lord of the Rings voiceover guy)… in a word - AWESOME.
I’m still shocked at the results of the Apache vs Gladiator and Samurai vs Viking episodes.