Letters Remain

Month: June 2008

  • Writing a Novel – The Snowflake Method

    I’ve started writing a novel. I don’t have ideas of grandeur or dreams of retiring from novel royalties; I write because I enjoy doing so and because I find it therapeutic. Still, it’s nice to produce legible prose and to do so requires at least a bit of forethought.That’s where The Snowflake Method comes into…

  • Quantum Physics Made (Relatively) Easy

    Quantum Physics Made Relatively Easy: In 1999, legendary theoretical physicist Hans Bethe delivered three lectures on quantum theory to his neighbors at the Kendal of Ithaca retirement community (near Cornell University). Given by Professor Bethe at age 93, the lectures are presented here as QuickTime videos synchronized with slides of his talking points and archival…

  • List(s) of Unsolved Problems

    List(s) of unsolved problems in topics ranging from cognitive science to computer science; philosophy to physics. Got some time this coming weekend? Why not decipher an ancient writing systems or answer the P = NP problem and earn yourself $1,000,000.

  • Neurology of the Itch

    The Itch is an article from The New Yorker on the neurology behind that annoying sensation we’ve all had. I warn you, the article is quite icky in places, with a particularly stomach churning case study in one place, but I was quite fascinated to find out that the sensation of the itch seems to…

  • Top Speeches and Motivational Videos

    American Rhetoric is a “speech bank” holding over 5,000 full text, audio and video on some of the most famous speeches, lectures, debates and interviews of all time. Recently they released a list of the top 100 speeches in American 20th century politics (complete with transcript and audio). Martin Luther King, Jr. – “I Have…

  • Where the Hell is Matt… Again

    Where the Hell is Matt… again. The third video, available in HD. Featuring Zero-G Matt, no less! 14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Thanks to everyone who danced with me. All of Matt’s videos can be found on his YouTube Channel, and WhereTheHellIsMatt.com via Link Banana

  • 17 Startup Mistakes

    John Osher is the epitome of the “serial entrepreneur”. After selling his toy company – CAP Toys – to Hasbro in 1997 for more than $120 million this is what he did: “I decided I’d make a list of everything I’d done wrong and [had] seen other entrepreneurs do wrong, I wanted to make a…

  • List of Logical Fallacies

    First cognitive science, now logic: a list of logical fallacies. A fallacy is a component of an argument which, being demonstrably flawed in its logic or form, renders the argument invalid in whole. I prefer the many informal fallacies: an important one of which is that correlation does not imply causation (cum hoc ergo propter…

  • Why We Scream

    The Telegraph looks at Why We Scream: We all have a core set of five facial muscles that control our ability to produce standard expressions which convey anger, happiness, surprise, fear, sadness and disgust. But there are up to 19 muscles present in the face, and many people do not possess all of them. The…

  • Interaction Design Patterns

    The Yahoo! Design Patterns Library is what you could call a series of best practices for web interaction designers. Of particular note are the ‘Reputation’ Solution Patterns: A person participating in a social structure expects to develop a reputation and hopes for insight into the reputations of others, but each designed model of participation and…