This week I woke up back in the 80s. You do not believe me? Take a look at the evidence:

Now, where did I put my [...]]]>

I pity the fool!

This week I woke up back in the 80s. You do not believe me? Take a look at the evidence:

• A-Team? Check.
• Russian spies? Check.
• Tories in power? Check.
• Argentina v Germany? Check.
• Fashion? Check.
• Lakers v Celtic? Check.
• 1984? Check.

Now, where did I put my denim jacket?

Scissors cuts Paper. Paper covers Rock. Rock crushes Lizard. Lizard poisons Spock. Spock smashes Scissors. Scissors decapitates Lizard. Lizard eats Paper. Paper disproves Spock. Spock [...]]]> I do not have much to talk about this morning, but I have been unhealthily amused by the game Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock. Here is Sheldon explaining the game to us:

Scissors cuts Paper. Paper covers Rock. Rock crushes Lizard. Lizard poisons Spock. Spock smashes Scissors. Scissors decapitates Lizard. Lizard eats Paper. Paper disproves Spock. Spock vaporizes Rock. Rock crushes Scissors.

You can buy the t-shirt from Think-Geek of course.

Found [...]]]> (via Claudio Ruiz) Loved this geeky comic book picture which, as such funny images are wont to do, encompasses the current Flash interoperability support debate with no words. You have to pay close attention, I missed it at first.

Found at NetoRatón.

Check out this great TED Talk generator. Someone has taken 525 published TED talks and created a random generator with it. Here is my “good” presentation. The platitudes almost make sense:

I’ll give you a couple of examples. You. will see [...]]]> (via James Burke) Errr…. no, I have not been invited to speak at TED… yet

Check out this great TED Talk generator. Someone has taken 525 published TED talks and created a random generator with it. Here is my “good” presentation. The platitudes almost make sense:

I’ll give you a couple of examples. You. will see this idea stretching everyone’s spark the imagination. (Applause.) Thank you very much. I want to use this data to gain insight, but not make decisions. (Applause.) Thank you very much. I’m now going to show you we can get our brain to change the same way that it did when you were a kid. Then happiness is a piece of art. You don’t have to have three or four cups of coffee that you won’t like if you look at how it was made. That would be like French people who get very old. And then all of a sudden, we realize that a mirror will not get something bad fixed et cetera, et cetera. It’s therefore much better to create a choice to believe health data of the United States or not. You know, in the middle of voyages, there are often beautiful places that you miss. I would like to compare this to a patient who really made me want to reconsider my profession et cetera, et cetera.

You can also create “bad” talks. I like the bad better to be honest:

Of course, economics are going to play a major role here, too. So maybe I don’t have to know more about the issue. I just need to make sure that there’s enough oxygen – and I have got all the answers on how to do that. Specifically, what I am thinking of is a computer at the front page of the New York Times. I don’t think this will be as relevant as an aircraft can easily fly upside down. Earlier, completing my MBA in the United States required you to use your feet walking around the largest cities in the United States. I want to relate this to my project where there isn’t a single aspect I don’t understand. Naturally, this required building things I don’t understand. Keep in mind though that this is not necessarily a problem – especially for families. Therefore, we’re going to make sure that we include all the boys and girls who live in the 100 largest cities. In the United States, we have seen an unprecedented design which is going to make sure that we succeed.

Based on this TED Talk:

“By placing an order via this web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, [...]]]> This qualifies as my favourite April’s Fools yet. UK  e-commerce game retailer Gamestation has modified their Terms and Conditions to include the following clause:

“By placing an order via this web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions. We reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction.”

The enforceability of soul transfer clauses has got me thinking about one of my favourite xkcd cartoons, Faust 2.0:

That has given me an idea for my office.

Following this week’s PowerPoint theme [...]]]> Mark Conguista gives his talk ‘PowerPoint: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. (Just Kidding: There’s Nothing Good About PowerPoint’. (Warning, swearing!)

Following this week’s PowerPoint theme (via Cearta).

Read the flow-chart [...]]]> Great Boss Button from Scott Adams, at March Madness website:

Read the flow-chart carefully

Brilliant background from Mark Goetz. Given the fact that today I’m working on 4 presentations for the next couple of weeks, I am afraid I might have feline blood on [...]]]>

Every time you make a PowerPoint, Tufte kills a kitten

Brilliant background from Mark Goetz. Given the fact that today I’m working on 4 presentations for the next couple of weeks, I am afraid I might have feline blood on my hands.

Ah, 1995, the early days of the Internet. Windows 95. The Clinton era. Apollo 13. The Unabomber Manifesto. And in Newsweek, a columnist says that the Internet is all hype. He said:

“But today, I’m uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. [...]]]>

Bah, humbug...

Ah, 1995, the early days of the Internet. Windows 95. The Clinton era. Apollo 13. The Unabomber Manifesto. And in Newsweek, a columnist says that the Internet is all hype. He said:

“But today, I’m uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.”

I smell a fallacy. This is what we call, a straw man. Setting up ludicrous statements so that we can knock them down later. Who are “they”?

“Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.”

True of the last two statements, but let’s not talk about how daily newspapers are faring these days.

“How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it’s an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can’t tote that laptop to the beach.”

Exhibit A: The Kindle. Exhibit B: The Netbook. The prosecution rests m’lohrd.

“Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure.”

OMG, imagine that, buying books online? Whoever heard of such thing?

“What the Internet hucksters won’t tell you is tht the Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors, reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data. You don’t know what to ignore and what’s worth reading. Logged onto the World Wide Web, I hunt for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar. Hundreds of files show up, and it takes 15 minutes to unravel them–one’s a biography written by an eighth grader, the second is a computer game that doesn’t work and the third is an image of a London monument. None answers my question, and my search is periodically interrupted by messages like, “Too many connectios, try again later.”"

Hmmmm… Battle of Trafalgar on Wikipedia. How’s that for the unedited Internet?

“Then there are those pushing computers into schools. We’re told that multimedia will make schoolwork easy and fun. Students will happily learn from animated characters while taught by expertly tailored software.Who needs teachers when you’ve got computer-aided education? Bah. These expensive toys are difficult to use in classrooms and require extensive teacher training. Sure, kids love videogames–but think of your own experience: can you recall even one educational filmstrip of decades past? I’ll bet you remember the two or three great teachers who made a difference in your life.”

So many links, so little time!

“Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping–just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet–which there isn’t–the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.”

Let’s quickly bypass the obvious straw man, has anyone ever claimed that e-commerce will make mortar shops obsolete? Anyway, e-commerce is doing nice and well, thank you very much. And yes, we use the Internet to shop, click for great deals, order airline tickets, make restaurant reservations, and negotiate contracts.

“And who’d prefer cybersex to the real thing?”

I will grant that one.

So kids, let this be a lesson. Never criticise a technology based on its current features.