Author: Lloyd Morgan
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The Counter-Intuitive Comparison of All Things
The Big Chart, created by The Counter-Intuitive Comparison Institute of North America (CICINA), attempts to find the single best thing in the world using a tournament-style bracketing system to compare 16,384 things in 8 categories (ideas, art, people, fuels, words, other animals, places and other things). Is the Bilbao Guggenheim better than McDonald’s French fries?…
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Finding the ‘Best’ Product
The oddly-named Best Covery is destined to be one of my regular shopping resources. At a glance it allows you to find the ‘best’ (most popular?) products in a large number of categories, such as Best HDTV Picture Quality for the Money, Best Earbud Headphones, and many more. I’ve written previously on the troubles I…
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Debating the Merits of Neuroeconomics and Behavioural Economics
Prospect magazine hosts a debate on whether or not behavioural economics is as important as many of its advocates laud. As the BPS Research Digest says, In this […] debate, Pete Lunn (author of Basic Instincts) argues that behavioural economics will “deliver a revolutionary new way of understanding the world.” In response Tim Harford (author…
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Should the Young Run-Up Debts to Buy Stocks?
Tim Harford, author of The Logic of Life and The Undercover Economist, believes that young people “should be buying more stocks and running up debts to do so”. He supports this controversial viewpoint with the following: The logical way to fight generational risk is to borrow money to make large, regular investments in stocks while…
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Interviews on Sun Tzu’s Art of War
Sonshi bills itself as “the original online resource for Sun Tzu’s Art of War“. Of particular note is their collection of columns, essays and interviews featuring—among others—Guy Kawasaki, Josh Waitzkin, and this from Robert Greene, author of 48 Laws of Power and 33 Strategies of War: If I could simplify the whole game of power…
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The Undead: Walkers or Runners?
I’ve heard on good authority that Charlie Brooker’s Dead Set is a rather excellent mini-series. It’s also controversial, sparking an argument on whether or not zombies can run. Simon Pegg is of the belief that they can’t, as he elucidates in his latest article for The Guardian: More significantly, the fast zombie is bereft of…
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L’Arbre du Ténéré
If the name doesn’t ring a bell, a picture of L’Arbre du Ténéré may. This solitary acacia, know as the Tree of Ténéré in English, was long considered to be the most isolated tree on Earth, situated in the Sahara desert in north-east Niger. It was destroyed in 1973 by a drunk Libyan truck driver…
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Designing for Democracy
As the Floridian ‘butterfly ballots’ used in the 2000 U.S. presidential election showed, poor design can have far-reaching consequences. With new ballot design guidelines now in place, The New York Times identifies common design problems found on ballots and ways to improve clarity and vote accuracy. It’s good to know people are thinking about issues…
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Reducing the Risk of Human Extinction
A recent article from the University of Pittsburgh’s Centre for Biosecurity, Reducing the Risk of Human Extinction. Abstract: In this century a number of events could extinguish humanity. The probability of these events may be very low, but the expected value of preventing them could be high, as it represents the value of all future…
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Online Web Design Tools
Mashable’s list of over 130 web design tools looks like it may come in handy. Tools mentioned include CSS optimisers, colour scheme generators, attractive background design generators, and many more.