Will your life be just one big Role Playing Game in the future? A very amusing DICE (Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) 2010 conference talk that gets better as it goes. Plus a great iPad dig.

Spin to Win

On this Super Bowl Sunday, let's take a moment to recognize those other warriors of the sporting world—competitive pen spinners:



Boing Boing guestblogger Kristie Lu Stout sez:

I had no idea this subculture existed beyond the brio-spinning guy who sat in the back of my high school Trig class. But, yup, they're out there.

Andy the Hedgehog

This story has to be one of the most random stories I've read. From the Ocean's 11 commentary, Mr. Garcia stated he loved the Japanese culture, most importantly blue hedgehogs.

what the fruc?

a lot of this info is what most people already knew, the guy gets a bit over the top at times, but the biochemistry information and statistical analysis is amazing.  it's refreshing to see something with real data vs. this .  the video is rather long, but if you're into nutritional sciences it's worth it.  i think this video speaks to anyone regardless of what side of the fence you're on (macronutrient distribution--good vs. bad calories versus purely a calorie is a calorie).

 

When pranks backfire

This guy hits a shot he wasn't supposed to make. His students offered him tickets to the Final Four if he made it. Problem was, the tickets did not exist, they were going to give him a gift certificate to a Mexican restuarant. He made it. Here's the Yahoo article. Good twist in the story.

In Soviet Russia, Science Explains You!

TIME discusses the "Asian flush":

According to a new study in BMC Evolutionary Biology, the genetic mutation that causes the reaction first appeared about 10,000 years ago in Southern China, at about the same time residents began farming rice along the Yangtze River. The study's authors hypothesize that the alcohol intolerance associated with facial flushing may have evolved as a survival strategy enabling ancient populations to enjoy the positive effects of alcohol derived from fermented rice — it can be used as a disinfectant and preservative — while imbibing in moderation.

The Late Shift II: The Rolling Thunder of Revenge

For those of you looking for a summary of NBC's Late Night fracas, look no further than this animated recap from Taiwan:



(For real clips that you might have missed from all the Late Night shows, see Gawker TV or Vulture.)

[Post title courtesy Mr. Quentin Tarantino]

MacGruber the movie!

Embedding is disabled, but here's the youtube link.

taildrop macho style

contemporary indie hipster styling + where the wild things are + homages to good films like clockwork orange + legit skaters + washed out white hued colouring + funding by fuel TV + my cynicism + quirk + fabricated awkwardness + whatever else is prototypical "now"..... what do you get?

machotaildrop!  despite what my negative comments would suggest, i'll probably end up watching this.

Video Game School

It's not a school where kids learn to play video games, but rather a school where kids learn by playing video games.

Popular Science profiles Quest to Learn:

Ever since Pong, videogames have outperformed teachers in one key way: They command attention for hours. “Games are exceptionally good at engaging kids,” says Quest’s main designer Katie Salen, a game designer and technology professor at the New School university. “They drop kids into complex problems where they fail and fail, but they try again and again.” She knew, though, that when kids face tough problems in school, they sometimes just give up, which is partly why only a third of eighth-graders earn “proficient” math scores on national assessment tests.

For now, the school is 6th grade only, but it hopes to add a class each year until it is a full 6th-12th grade facility. Is this the future of education?

[via Neatorama]

The slickest deal for free air miles.

Turn coins to air miles.

As I post this, I am sitting in a chair ...

... IN THE SKY.

(Thanks, Google.)

Cue John Williams

I'm not much of a mariner, and stories like the following recent news item are a reason why:

A 10-foot great white shark was recently caught off the coast of Queensland — after being mauled by a 20-foot great white!

The 10-foot great white was almost bitten in half.

The fictional shark at the centre of the Steven Spielberg blockbuster Jaws was estimated to be just five feet longer.

Thankfully, we're keeping a closer eye on great whites now, since not everyone can be this guy:

Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?

Japanese arcade game Cho Chabudai Gaeshi is a score attack game that lets players pound a soft table for combos and then upend it for the finishing move. Settings include a host club, a wedding party, an office and a Japanese style living room. So for example, in the living room stage, players bang on the table as their family complains more and more and finally flips over the table.



Post via kotaku.

More U.S. Open

I'm sure everyone has seen this shot already, but I figured I'd post it for posterity, and to cancel out the clip of Fed falling. Also, if he needs something to boost his spirits after the outcome of the Final, he can come here and watch the clip again and again.

Finally, here are a couple of interesting blog posts from The New York Times:

What it Takes to String for the Pros

When the string bed of each racket is struck, both should ping at precisely the same pitch, indicating the string tension is identical. But Heydt’s were slightly off.

“I could hear it right away,” he said. “Yat said, ‘Your tensions are different. These may be one pound off, but this is unacceptable.’”

A Speed-of-Serve Snapshot

But how is that 148 miles an hour determined? Rallis Pappas, president of Information & Display Systems and a U.S.T.A. consultant who works in the IBM Statistics room at the Open, says it’s not as simple as putting a radar gun on the court. “It’s Doppler radar, but there’s a lot of software that’s part of the system,” Pappas says. “We really refer to it as a serve speed system because of that.”

Busted

Pirates beware.

Federer's Footwork and Safina's Serve

With the U.S. Open getting into gear, the New York Times comes through with two interesting links.

First, an analysis of Roger Federer's footwork, complete with slow-motion video and animations.

As he elevates off the court to create the split step, watch how he opens his right foot slightly when he sees that the ball will go to his right. This makes for a quick move toward his forehand. When landing on the split step, he quickly pushes off with his left leg and makes a final stride with the right. Notice the exaggerated heel-to-toe foot placement. Federer does this to maintain good balance, as the heel-toe foot strike allows him to slow the acceleration of his body and position himself for the shot.

Second, a piece on some of the top women's players, and their service troubles. An excerpt:

The serve and the free throw share key components: foot placement; body balance; weight shift; toss and follow through. Misses happen when players’ minds are willing but their mechanics are weak, or vice versa.

Update 2009/09/04: The Wills, Arnett and Ferrell, joined the Andys, Roddick and Murray, on court for a celebrity doubles match, with SNL's Kenan Thompson as the "umpire", to do pretty much the opposite of what Roger Federer does:



Update 2009/09/07: I must've jinxed Federer — I caught a portion of his match against Hewitt on Saturday, only to see what commentator Mary Carillo called "the most awkward thing I've ever seen Federer do". It's not as awkward or embarrassing as what this ball boy did, though.

Lost Package?

If you ever think you lost something in the mail, maybe this guy got it. Just look at the list of stolen goods.

Sony's new PS3 ads

These are actually good for a change:





Via Engadget.

a Bolt and a Bullet

Those who were wondering just how fast Usain Bolt could run if he didn't start celebrating before the end of a race got their answer this week as Bolt broke his own world records in the 100M and the 200M by 0.11 seconds apiece.

Tyson Gay ran the non-tailwind-assisted 100M of his life with a time of 9.71 — the third fastest ratified time in history — and was still clearly in Bolt's wake at the finish line. (The 200M was no contest at all.) In fact, had Bolt run through the line without looking for Gay and easing up slightly, his time might have been even faster.

With a few years left before he hits his prime, how fast will Bolt eventually go?



When talking about Bolt's feat at lunch one day, and trying to put the 100M race into perspective, I noted that it's like running over the length of a football field (100M is about 109 yards) in under 10 seconds. Two questions then arose: First, how many of us could do it in under 20 seconds? (The jury's still out on that one.) Second, what would Bolt be like in the NFL? Would he just make a fool of everyone?

Not necessarily.

The NFL actually has a history of sprinters joining its ranks as running backs or wide receivers. Even those who never ran track in high school, college, or international competition have shown world-class speed, especially when considering that running in football rarely involves going in a straight line all the way.

Take, for example, one legendary figure, as described by TIME:

Among then was Bob (Bullet) Hayes, who won the gold medal in the 100-m sprint at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and recorded what some observers consider the top time ever achieved by a human with an 8.6 split in the 4 x 100-m relay. (Relay marks are faster than regular sprints because runners receive the baton while in motion, enabling them to accelerate quicker.) Hayes later parlayed his speed into a career as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys; his passing in 2002 prompted one columnist to remark that Death must have tied his shoelaces together to catch him.

When looking for some videos of Hayes to link, I stumbled upon the YouTube holy grail — a video for which the comments are an actual intelligent conversation! (Compare that with the comments on the Bolt videos, which are a mind-numbing mix of inanity, sheer idiocy, and outright racism.) The debate that the commenters are having is whether or not Hayes could best Bolt's time on a modern surface, with today's equipment and advanced training techniques (and drug testing).

Whatever would happen on the track, from watching Hayes on the gridiron, it's clear that he had the ability to run routes, make the catch, shake a tackle, juke a defender, and get into the endzone — something one can't be certain that Bolt would have.

So, which would be more likely, Bolt breaking the 9.4 second barrier (I won't even pretend that 9.5 is out of his reach), or scoring an NFL touchdown?