The Struggle for Survival is an Incredible Waste of Time
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| U.S. Drought Monitor | Drought Impact Reporter |
[Click on any branch for the Wikipedia page]
There are only two people on Earth with more money than Warren Buffett and for some reason he decided to give most of his wealth to one of them.
While The Giving Pledge is a wonderful, wonderful thing, it’s still a little weird to imagine all these people didn’t know what to do with their fortunes until someone suggested just giving them away. Â When imagination is applied to business, it is apparently leased rather than owned.
If Ape Con Myth could ask the Oracle of Omaha one question it’d be, “What was it about Windows that made you think Bill Gates should be calling the shots?” Â But that’s exactly the kind of question you’d expect from an organization selling puzzle pieces to get by.
To begin ACM’s study of philosophy, let’s jump somewhere randomly in the middle.
What is philosophy? Â We will get to that.
Why have you probably read Plato while possibly never having heard of Bertrand Russell? Â Good question.
What does the latter think of the former? Â See for yourself…
And presumably, it still is…
The Game of Life is a cellular automaton where rules govern the next state of the grid based on the current configuration.
Here’s a sample of the fun to be had…
(click to play)
The Import/Export feature allows you to load and save different setups. Post your own in the comments!
[sixfoottallrabbit]Let National Geographic break it down for you…
(click for interactive map)
[from National Geographic’s Water: A Special Issue via FlowingData]
| Welcome to the first 10 panels of the Ape Con Myth Concept Map View. Jump in anywhere! |
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This begins what will be a growing network of linked pages organizing the information and projects gathered and produced by ACM. |
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It’s that time of the decade again. The census is done and now the data is starting to flow. It’s free candy for reporters [Detroit -25%] and, since it’s 2011, you are going to see this data like never before. Of course, it takes time to get through it all, but the New York Times is offering some 2005-2009 data while you wait…
(click to launch NYT’s Mapping America: Every City, Every Block)
And in case you’d like to check out some of the data yourself, the U.S. Census Bureau has rolled out FactFinder2:
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While definitely easier on the eyes and more technically sophisticated, the sugarcoating is skin deep as FactFinder2 is also sort of confusing, if not discouraging, to use. ACM recommends a deep breath before going in.
[NYT’s Mapping America: Every City, Every Block; FactFinder2; FactFinder1]
Want to play a game all day long, but don’t have the time? Well, your problem was solved nine years ago.
Behold, Progress Quest:
Choose your character name and type and the game literally plays itself. Â Progress Quest is a perpetual accomplishment machine. Â Let it go in the background and it’s there anytime you need to see something in your life actually making progress.
Did you hear the one about the German politician who sued the phone company to see how much they knew about him? Turns out his cell phone recorded his location 35,000 times over 6 months. That’s once every 7.5 minutes. In response, he released the data, and Zeit Online has mapped it out:
(click and then press play to live the life of Malte Spitz)
Technically, this information is part of the service. Most days you get pissed if your phone doesn’t know where you are. The funny part is that they aren’t willing to admit they have this level of information and are storing it. It makes for a pretty sketchy lead-in to considering what else they might be doing with it.
[Zeit Online via Gawker]A snap from the latest readings…
See the movement of radiation from Japan in a two-part animation from ZAMG:
March 12-19, March 20-Present
[via Zero Hedge, who also has a collection of crowdsourced radiation tracking sites worth a look.]
