Gulfstream

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php High-performance Mini Cooper concept; a 160hp electric motor powers each wheel, and produces power upon braking: “The beauty of this dual-circuit, ultra safe system is that your green conscience can be quite content even when accelerating hard, since you are assured of collecting most of the expended energy when it is time to slow down rapidly.” Really? 08:52

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51510 “Fake-A-Wish Foundation Introduces Dying Child To Brett Favre Lookalike.” (audio) 14:25

http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/08/22/711808.aspx Fitts’s Law, usability, and making Office 2007 easier to use with a mouse. (Interesting side point about how an application like Office can be made easier to use when maximised (because target areas can be made in effect infinitely wide or high); web applications can’t ever take advantage of this since they run inside a browser, and so don’t know where the edge of the screen is.) 12:33

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9076288729387457440 David Brent on his hero, Nelson Mandela: “30 years in captivity. He got out in about 1990. He’s been out about 13 years ... and, he hasn’t reoffended. He’s going straight. And you’ve got to admire that. ... and it also shows you that prison works.” (8:30) 21:46

http://vice.typepad.com/vice_magazine/2006/08/dear_vice_
the_w.html How to classify this t-shirt design? NSFW cartoon mouse sex? 21:40

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5282440.stm “The researchers said Pluto failed to dominate its orbit around the Sun in the same way as the other planets.” WELL THEN TRY HARDER DAMMIT. 19:40

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-525-2320105-
525,00.html Remarkably honest and straightforward (feelingless?) autobiographical account of Robert Hughes’s first marriage. “We met at a drinks party in Notting Hill. ‘Do you want to meet the best fuck in London?’ the host delicately inquired. And he pointed to a sofa, on which sat a tall, rangy, square-jawed blonde holding a glass of warm vodka. We were introduced. Things began to click, small cogs and then larger ones to engage.” 22:16

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/060828fa_fact Malcolm Gladwell: the success of a company (or country) is determined, to a great extent, by the ratio of workers to dependent non-workers. (GM has 453,000 retirees; Toyota has 258.) 17:10

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/
africa_dr_congo0s_street_manicurists/html/1.stm Curious illustrated story about the street manicurists of Kinshasa and their male clients. “One reason why I like to look good is to forget the dirt and poverty which surrounds me.” 13:24

http://www.snopes.com/sports/basketball/24second.asp Why there’s a shot clock in basketball: in the 1950s, before the shot clock, teams would stall after claiming an early lead, resulting in slow, dull games with scorelines in the teens and walk-outs from spectators. 06:56

http://paulgraham.com/investors.html Tips for presenting to investors (and for presentations in general). “… as you approach … a description of something that could be anything, the content of your description approaches zero. If you describe your web-based database as ‘a system to allow people to collaboratively leverage the value of information,’ it will go in one investor ear and out the other.” 06:49

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/live_stats/html/map.stm Live geographic traffic stats for the BBC news. This is pretty sweet, despite not being very usable. (The colours that represent different traffic levels aren’t distinct enough; it isn’t very clear what’s going on with the regional views.) 22:34

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/08/post_2.php Einstein’s sex life, as gleaned from his recently-released letters, and how it was reported in the media. 20:40

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1834502,00.html Account of growing up in Scotland with two blind parents. 08:37