Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Category: Culture

  • How was your bike ride?

    A nice post from Seth Godin:

    The answer has evolved over the last century…

    It was great, I pushed myself and feel fabulous.

        It was okay, I came in fourth place in the race, but those other guys beat me again.

    I did fine. My speed was 15.6 miles per hour, not my best average.

        Well, the computer says it was a personal best, and my heartrate approached max on the third hill.

    The app says that I did that route the 159th best of everyone who has ever done it. A bust…

    More information doesn’t always make us happier…

  • Summer Myths

    These are old topics, but another amusing Healthcare Triage video.

  • If everyone understood this…

    A nice one from Dave Winer:

    Reality can be so complex that equally valid observations from differing perspectives can appear to be contradictory.

  • World Cup Fever

    Brooklyn is going crazy with this World Cup. Of course it’s a very international place. Our pastry shop next door is connected to a French restaurant and they are bringing in a huge screen a projector to watch all games. Seems like every place in our neighborhood is doing something like that.

    And right by my office is this:

    That is the arch under the Manhattan Bridge. I may watch US/Ghana there.

  • John Oliver on FIFA

    I have yet to watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver because it’s on too damn late, but pretty much every week I watch a video from it.

    Some blog sites are considered “long form” because they write longer articles that not everyone will read. This is long form comedy. He takes a topic and does over 10 minutes on it.

    Anyway, another hilarious episode:

  • Everyone Likes Really Good Cheese

    From conservative RedState.com:

    The Nanny State Hates Your Cheese

    From the NY Times Editorial Board:

    Keep Your Government Hands Off My Cheese

    From relatively liberal Slate.com

    The FDA’s Misguided War on Bacteria That MakeCheese Taste Good

    As a Wisconsin guy, it’s easy for me to say that cheese is a good thing.

  • No Further Comment Required

    Seen in the NY Post

    https://twitter.com/nickconfessore/statuses/470585196212137984

  • Suspect City

    First of all, read this article. It’s not only fascinating, it’s a great example of web journalism. Second of all, it’s crazy absurd. It starts:

    In the summer of 2010, a young black man was stopped and questioned by police on the streets of Miami Gardens, Florida. According to the report filled out by the officer, he was “wearing gray sweatpants, a red hoodie and black gloves” giving the police “just cause” to question him. In the report, he was labeled a “suspicious person.”

    He was an 11-year-old boy on his way to football practice.

    I’ve read about Miami Gardens before because there’s one guy who’s been arrested 71 times for trespassing. Where he works. And leaving the store was even worse (there’s a cool graphic showing arrests by distance from work).

    To the point where the employer let him live in a room in the back of the store because leaving the store was too risky. So the police tried to arrest him in his “bedroom” (the owner intervenes).

    This should be comical, except I’m not making this up. This is happening in America.

    Who are we?

  • On Wisconsin

    I grew up in Milwaukee, so this is no surprise to me, but via Flowing Data, below is a map showing the bar to grocery store ratio. Green means more grocery stores, brown means more bars.

    The big brown area is basically Wisconsin.

  • The Shawshank Residuals

    Via Daring Fireball, a WSJ article about The Shawshank Redemption and how it continues to resonate and bring in money 20 years later.

    I suspect my daughter, years from now, will still be getting checks

    – Bob Gunton, warden in Shawshank

    “Shawshank” was becoming that priceless entertainment property—a repeater. Viewers watched it again and again

    Agreed. I’ll watch it anytime it’s on.

    I didn’t realize it was based on a Stephen King novella. He got a check for $5.000.

    Mr. King never cashed the $5,000 check Mr. Darabont sent him for the right to turn his story into a movie. Years after “Shawshank” came out, the author got the check framed and mailed it back to the director with a note inscribed: “In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve

    The funniest quote also comes from Stephen King. The novella was set in Maine and after he heard about casting Morgan Freeman…

    Mr. King recalls: “I said, ‘Frank, at that time there were like 16 black men in the state of Maine, and you still want this guy to be black?”

    I can’t imagine the movie without Morgan Freeman…