Travis Smith: my resume, bio and photos back to the main blog page

From OKCupid: Mathematically, why Republicans can stay on message and Democrats can’t

I simply love OKCupid's data-analysis blog posts. This one's about politics and dating matches.

posted at 2:53 pm
on Mar. 31, 2010

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Interesting series of articles about The Choice to Forgive: How Letting Go Improves Happiness

Or ice cream, you can always try massive quantities of ice cream.

posted at 3:30 pm
on Mar. 30, 2010

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Checkin Mania lets you see all the location-based checkins around you from various networks

Kinda cool, even if it's still under-featured.

posted at 11:31 am
on Mar. 30, 2010

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Great blog post: How a Fish Almost Destroyed My Childhood

Do you ever wish you'd found out about something sooner because you could have been laughing for months? That's this blog.

posted at 12:56 am
on Mar. 30, 2010

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NSFW: John McCain, posting a picture of himself with his iPhone

Yes, that's right, the site is NSFW. Seriously.

posted at 10:29 am
on Mar. 27, 2010

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Fully up-to-date iPhone hacked, SMS database hijacked at a demo at Vancouver’s #CanSecWest #pwn2own

They got to keep the iPhone; so next year, they're going to hack a Ferrari instead.

posted at 4:32 pm
on Mar. 25, 2010

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The @georgiastraight is holding a $3000 Ugly Couch contest with a photo gallery. And the worst wins.

Some of these couches I would NOT sit on.

posted at 1:14 pm
on Mar. 25, 2010

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Video: Car Being Pushed Down a Freeway Sideways at 60 mph by a Semi Truck

This is apparently a true video. Terrifying!

posted at 10:25 am
on Mar. 25, 2010

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Man In the Dark, by Miltos Manetas and Aaron Russ Clinger, 2004.

It's public art.

posted at 12:33 pm
on Mar. 24, 2010

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Video: The next Photoshop has “Content-Aware Fill”. It’s so completely amazing, it can’t be real

I mean it. Watch the very last example if you are rushed; it's only about 30 seconds and it shows a panorama.

posted at 11:40 am
on Mar. 24, 2010

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Rogers, Fido Make “Free” Cell-phone Tethering Program Permanent (with data plans more than 1GB)

I can't believe this. Because it's, it's, .... customer-friendly. Weird.

posted at 11:20 am
on Mar. 24, 2010

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A timeline animation of the construction of the International Space Station, 1998-2010

I mean, until now; I realize that it seems a bit like an obituary with 1998-2010 there.

posted at 12:43 am
on Mar. 23, 2010

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Comic: I feel tired. I feel hungry. I feel stupid. But this coffee will change all of that.

A classic, by exploding dog.

posted at 12:20 am
on Mar. 23, 2010

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Look at this 404 page in Safari (the iPhone will work, too) for some amazing CSS animation

Yes, it's all just CSS, no Javascript (except to generate the letters)

posted at 5:57 pm
on Mar. 20, 2010

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Gizmodo posts a beautiful prose meditation on death and the virtual self we leave behind

Yes, I do mean Gizmodo, that Gizmodo. It's a haunting, beautiful piece of writing.

posted at 4:26 pm
on Mar. 19, 2010

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Happier people spend 70% more time talking, have 1/3 fewer idle chats, & double ‘substantive talks’

LATimes: The findings "demonstrate that the happy life is social rather than solitary, and conversationally deep rather than superficial," the authors wrote. It's not clear, however, whether happy people attract others for deep conversation or whether deep conversation makes people happier.

posted at 9:25 pm
on Mar. 17, 2010

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Graph: A Day in the Life of a Programmer

Meetings are the bane of programming effectively.

posted at 12:34 pm
on Mar. 17, 2010

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Comic: The Difference Between Firefox, Opera, Explorer & Safari

With Chrome thrown in at the end there.

posted at 12:24 pm
on Mar. 17, 2010

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Chat Roulette piano improv is chock full of awesome, thanks @dbarefoot

Your host, Merton, freestyling in real-time with random strangers on Chat Roulette.

posted at 4:33 pm
on Mar. 15, 2010

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Very impressive stop motion video made with 4085 photos of colored blocks (song is called Grindin’)

By Nobody Beats The Drum. Makes you realizes how useful a computer is.

posted at 1:07 pm
on Mar. 15, 2010

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Derek’s daughter, Marina Miller, asks her dad to start name checking her in his blog

She's 12, and she wants to boost her page rank. 😊 Ah, the complications of being a parent in the 21st century.

posted at 12:07 pm
on Mar. 15, 2010

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If, I mean when, I buy a yacht, this is as good a one as any

Of course, I used to call them "ya-chits", so I think that automatically disqualifies me from owning one.

posted at 7:46 pm
on Mar. 13, 2010

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dear world: this is what vancouver is really like.

Mark, have you noticed my links go directly now?

posted at 5:47 pm
on Mar. 12, 2010

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“Phantom kangaroo” is my new favorite Wikipedia article

Ah, Chicago, is there nothing you won't do to entertain us?

posted at 12:10 am
on Mar. 12, 2010

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The top 50 classic movie kisses, with video clips and a neat ranking system

It's a pretty good cross-section from all years of cinema.

posted at 3:48 pm
on Mar. 10, 2010

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A piece of this African Miracle Fruit eaten first, makes sour things taste sweet

Sorry to sound so much like spam. But it's true.

posted at 1:01 am
on Mar. 10, 2010

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A first symposium meets to study the 40-years-new Bohlen-Pierce alternative music scale

I think it sounds pretty awful, but the article includes a clip so you can be the judge.

posted at 6:47 pm
on Mar. 9, 2010

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CBC News - British Columbia - February real estate sales up sharply

Compare this to my previous link.

posted at 12:06 am
on Mar. 8, 2010

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U.S.: New home sales hit record low, prices tumble (as of Feb 24)

Compare this to my next link...

posted at 12:03 am
on Mar. 8, 2010

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Vancouver’s Georgia Straight newspaper just ran a long profile of Susannah Gardner

We’ve been around since 2002 in various forms

posted at 10:14 am
on Mar. 5, 2010

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An elephant and a dog, in love. From CBS News

Pretty good story.

posted at 10:57 pm
on Mar. 4, 2010

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A Long-time Expat Venting about the Crazy Problems with Japan

As with many relationship troubles, not everything he complains about is really as negative as he makes it uot to be, but it's fascinating reading.

posted at 3:09 pm
on Mar. 4, 2010

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Why 3D pie charts are bad: a chart

Amazing.

posted at 9:37 pm
on Mar. 3, 2010

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‘Hurt Locker’ producer barred from Oscar show for soliciting votes via email

He should have taken out an ad in Variety instead. That's allowed.

posted at 12:37 pm
on Mar. 3, 2010

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City Afloat: the world’s largest cruise ship houses a maximum of 8600 including staff

The Wall Street Journal describes some of the logistical operations necessary to keep it going every week -- 700 tons of supplies a week.

posted at 10:30 am
on Mar. 3, 2010

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Pedigree ad with dogs jumping and catching snacks in their mouths in slow motion

I smiled. You will, too.

posted at 8:36 pm
on Mar. 2, 2010

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Life expectancy in Canada nears 81: 81 years ago, it was 55.

And all of those people are going to want to buy a smaller place that's walkable.

posted at 7:49 pm
on Mar. 2, 2010

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80% of Canadians (26.5 million) watched part of the Olympic hockey final (only 9% of U.S. did)

South of the border, NBC said the hockey final was the most-watched hockey game in the U.S. in 30 years -- with an average of 27.6 million viewers. In other words, about 9% of Americans watched it. Oops, my math is wrong: that's total viewers in Canada vs. average U.S. viewers Still, it was about 15-20% of Americans.

posted at 7:41 pm
on Mar. 2, 2010

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Stotting is when an animal jumps with all four feet airborne at once (click for why)

This behavior shows predators that the animal is probably too healthy too catch so they shouldn't even bother. Fascinating!

posted at 11:01 pm
on Mar. 1, 2010

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Overheard

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

...who said it?

“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”

...who said it?

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”

...who said it?

“I play with variables constantly.”

...who said it?

“Only the person who has learned Continual Love coming from a heart of Gratitude/Worship can effectively deal with the problem of loneliness.”

...who said it?

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