Month: May 2012

Sum human experience

there is now a conversion from the sum of all human experience and contemporary units. to arrive at the conversion, you sum internal and external memory of humanity over all time. here are some estimates:

300EB for recorded history
200MB per human x 100B humans who ever lived, 20EB
call it 500EB, or half a zettabyte

Proactive Politics

Let’s take a look back at the seminal date February 12, 2004. Just a month before, Gavin Newsom had been sworn in as Mayor of San Francisco for his first term. On that day in February, he ordered the clerk of the City and County of San Francisco to allow same-sex couples to get married. When news broke of his decision, he was flooded with a torrent of angry messages sent by people from around the world. He received and still receives death threats. Of course, Newsom also faced attacks from Republicans, but even more frustrating (and hypocritical), he was much maligned by his fellow Democrats.

Most of these Democratic politicians lacked the courage to publicly criticize him–why lose out on political contributions from the LGBT community and their allies? Instead, they did it behind closed doors, and through more subtle actions. Previously extended invitations to speak at events like the Democratic National Convention were rescinded, some elected officials even refused to be photographed with him.

Paralyzed Marathon

Dispatches from our nonlinear future.

A paralyzed British woman made history on Tuesday, when she became the first person to ever complete a marathon while wearing a bionic suit. Claire Lomas finished the race 16 days after it began, with the help of the ReWalk exoskeleton developed by Amit Goffer.

Amazon Fashion

And shopper-friendly advice — does the size 8 shoe run big or small? — is prominent.

really what they should be doing is specify the sizes of all their items in standard cm, instead of the fantasy fashion sizes. wrong sizes is probably a significant driver for returns, so amazon has an interest in expunging vanity sizes.

Sharing Plates

Things never heard from a server: large plates made for sharing

Community Gardens

Community gardens are one of the jewels of Manhattan.

Billboards

Rational pricing

Rational pricing incorporates tax to come out with even amounts. Unclear why most establishments are confused about this. Or what the benefit of lying about your prices by omitting tax is.

Food startups

Food startups make even this cynic happy.

Against Yoga mat donations

With the near unanimous support of its Congress, Honduras recently defined a new legal entity: la Región Especial de Desarrollo. A RED is an independent reform zone intended to offer jobs and safety to families who lack a good alternative; officials in the RED will be able to partner with foreign governments in critical areas such as policing, jurisprudence and transparency. By participating, Canada can lead an innovative approach to development assistance, an approach that tackles the primary roadblock to prosperity in the developing world: weak governance.

this is great: exhorting canada to export governance, not yoga mats, to help honduras. this could actually work (see singapore). there is a TED talk on charter cities too.