Avatar: $8,500 Per Blink
*blink*
James Cameron’s “Avatar” cost around $237 million. That’s not the most expensive film yet (Pirates 3 was $300 million), but holy crap.
At a running time of 162 minutes, that means each time you blink your eyes, you missed about $8,500 worth of movie.
So overall, your blinks missed about $7 million.
Really puts clean eyeballs in perspective, doesn’t it?
Suggest This, Google
I knew it.
Google Suggest is quickly becoming my favorite Google tool.
Start typing a string into the Google search box and a cool list of AJAX-powered predicted finished queries are presented to you. “4 9 e” – ah, here it is “49ers schedule”. Very helpful. It seems simple and innocent enough.
But try typing “Christianity is ” or “Judaism is ” and you’ll see a potential problem. Offended much?
So why would Google suggest that “Christianity is bullshit” or that “Chinese people eat babies”? Well, technically they aren’t. YOU are.
Google keeps its Suggest algorithm under strict lock and key, however hints from Google insiders reveal that the suggestions are naturally what you’d expect – they are largely dependent on a search string’s popularity. Those offensive and juvenile suggestions exist because normal people like you and me have actually typed those exact words into Google. And it’s not just one person – tons of people are using that search phrase!
It’s hard to believe though, isn’t it? Are there really that many people searching for “jon stewart is a douchebag”?
Reader Challenge: 50 Ways To Close A Window
X
A while back I was using a spawn of Linux for some work-related task. I went to close a window — and failed miserably. Having been raised in a strict Microsoft Windows household, I was momentarily displaced. Apparently my preferred window closing method, double-clicking the upper-left icon, wasn’t included in this particular distro.
It was then that I realized just how many freakin’ ways there were to close a Window’s window. So…
Reader Challenge: To my staggeringly few loyal readers, let’s come up with 50 ways to close a window in Windows (any/all versions). I’ll get us started with 10 easy ones.
- Left-click the upper-right X.
- Left-click the upper-left icon, click “Close” or “Exit”.
- Right-click the upper-left icon, click “Close”.
- Left-click “File”, click “Close” or “Exit”.
- Double-click the upper-left icon.
- Right-click the titlebar, click “Close”.
- With the window active, hit ALT+F4.
- Right-click the item in the taskbar, click “Close”.
- Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, choose item from “Applications”, click “End Task”.
- Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, choose “explorer.exe” from “Processes”, click “End Process”.
Post your methods in the comments and I will update this list as they come. And a million Sprocket Points to the most outside-the-box method.
Save $600 By Drinking The Crappy Water That Comes Out Of Your Sink Faucet
"How dumb do I think the Americans are?" - Jim Gaffigan
The other night I accidentally watched a TV commercial.
I know, I know. But I was fumbling for the remote and the DVR and I let one sneak by.
The spokesman (“Jim” from The Office I think) was trying to sell me a PUR Water Filtration System, one of those pitchers you fill with tap water, leave in the fridge, and forget to refill. I tuned out most of it, as my attention was fixed to the couch cushion and the thrilling, impending conclusion of “I Shouldn’t Be Alive”, but a single sentence at the end of the ad actually caught my attention: “Save up to $600 a year when you switch from bottled water.”
$600? I want $600! But the observant and cautious consumer in me was skeptical of such claims.
NASA Probe to Penetrate Moon’s Ass
LCROSS - Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite
How’s that for an attention grabbing headline?
Mark your calendars. On October 9th, LCROSS will reach the end of its 4-month trek and slam into a crater on Earth’s favorite orbiting heavenly body.
I have conflicting reports on whether or not you should be able to see the plume of debris with a cheap-ass telescope from Target. But there should at least be two quick flashes of light from the south pole of the moon. Best to make friends with that weird guy at work with the $8000 Schmidt-Cassegrain.
For viewing info and ample graphs, NASA has provided all you’ll need. NASA TV will also have spiffy live coverage of this once-in-a-lifetime-until-China-does-it-again event.
[Flashback: LCROSS launch party]
What Would Pythagoras Do?
"Just ask for directions, honey" "Sssssh! I'm trying to remember my cosine laws!"
There’s a weird psychological phenomenon that humans exhibit regarding cognitive mapping — or how we instinctively choose how to move from Point A to Point B. Apparently we aren’t very good at it.
In fact, in a 1995 UC Berkeley study [pdf], one experiment showed that only 16% of subjects traveled the same walking path from A to B as B to A.
This doesn’t make sense, but I can’t help but find myself doing the exact same thing every single day! I take one route to the coffee machine, and a different route back to my desk. I take one route to work, and a slightly different route back home. It is entirely subconscious, but I’m mentally satisfied that my decisions are appropriately the fastest routes in both cases.
But clearly I’m wrong; both routes can’t be the fastest. Unless they’re equal, but that’s highly unlikely.
Perhaps human brains are easily tricked into thinking a certain route is faster over another. Didn’t we pay attention in high-school geometry?
Generate Blog Article Ideas Using Futuristic Technoscripts
TBAG prototype, circa 2009
Out of ideas for your tech blog? Hey, it happens to the best of us.
Thankfully, we here at neoSprockets have graciously created the “Technology Blog Article Generator (TBAG)” — still working on that name.
TBAG, through a series of complex quantum asynchronous random variation algorithms, automatically produces relevant and eye-catching article topics relating to modern technology and society. Use this tool to stimulate that already overworked creative lobe of yours.
Try out a demo after the jump!
Simulating Trends: Why “Twilight” Is So Damn Popular
Vampiric popularity is inversely proportional to piratic popularity.
I’ve reached that point in my mid-twenties where I look toward the trailing generation with confused bewilderment. I prefer Grandpa Simpson’s explanation:
“I used to be ‘with it‘. Then they changed what ‘it‘ was.”
Small, unknown bands I used to listen to are suddenly selling out entire stadiums. Other bands that were once popular have retreated to Japan. Meanwhile, the crappy music those urban kids listened to five years ago is still topping the charts for some reason.
The rise and fall of fads seem chaotic at best. I’ve simply come to accept the fact that I won’t understand the popularity of the Jonas Brothers, just as I didn’t understand the popularity of their parents the Hansons. But how and why do trends like these spread?
Fringineering: The Rubik’s Cube Trap
photo: exploratorium.edu
Fact: People who can solve a Rubik’s Cube are pompous, smug asses. I know this. I was one.
It was December of 2006 and I had just seen “The Pursuit of Happyness”. As the end of college approached, I had been unsuccessfully looking for a job. So in preparation, I immediately purchased a Rubik’s Cube and, á la Will Smith, learned to solve it within a 10-block cab ride. Proud, I expected some sort of reward for this amazing logical feat. I received no such reward.
Determined to receive the notoriety I assumed was advertised on the box, I demonstrated my Rubixal powers to anyone who would lend me 45 to 210 seconds. Still, nothing.
It was then I realized the insignificance of my accomplishment. Like sword-swallowing or landing on the moon, the world had become desensitized to the Rubik’s Cube.
Tell Your Friends
