Pewari's Prattle » Wandering The Web

links for 2009-09-17

Pewari — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:03:04 +0000

Do Interesting Things

“Do something.
Do something interesting.
Be a part of the conversation, and say something remarkable. Create something unique, new, beautiful. Build upon the works of others and transform it into your own.”

(tags: zenhabits zen creativity life motivation inspiration)
“How to read articles about health” – by Dr Alicia White – Bad Science

“If you’ve just read a health-related headline that’s caused you to spit out your morning coffee (“Coffee causes cancer” usually does the trick) it’s always best to follow the Blitz slogan: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. On reading further you’ll often find the headline has left out something important, like “Injecting five rats with really highly concentrated coffee solution caused some changes in cells that might lead to tumours eventually. (Study funded by The Association of Tea Marketing)”.
The most important rule to remember: “Don’t automatically believe the headline”. It is there to draw you into buying the paper and reading the story. Would you read an article called “Coffee pretty unlikely to cause cancer, but you never know”? Probably not.”

(tags: health science headlines news)

links for 2009-09-05

Pewari — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:06:15 +0000

Common Ingredient Substitutions – Allrecipes

I find I'm using this page frequently during my current Plumathon – avoids yet another trip to Tesco.

(tags: baking recipes cooking ingredient substitutions recipe reference food ingredients)

Is Social Media a Fad?

Pewari — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:38:16 +0000

A very interesting presentation on the realities of business in the social media age. I wonder how accurate the statistics quoted are…

Via TheNextWeb.com

A Star Wars Tribute

Pewari — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:05:35 +0000

Kid safe. So safe, they demanded I replay it. Lots.

links for 2009-07-12

Pewari — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:02:11 +0000

Tangerine! | Potion Factory

This looks just what I need – I'm always getting frustrated that I haven't perfected the perfect playlist for the mood I'm in. Am trialling it, will let you know how I get on.

(tags: audio music ipod bpm mac software itunes playlists osx apple)
The truth about writers – Los Angeles Times

This is so very true. I was nodding along to all of it!

(tags: writing humor article productivity procrastination time writers funny)

The Matrix Runs on Windows

Pewari — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:37:31 +0000

Okay, so I know this has probably long since done the rounds, and Matrix was soooo yesterday, but I liked it!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Lies, Damn Lies…

Pewari — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:47:24 +0000

It’s great to see someone speak so passionately about maths and statistics in particular. When I was at school, maths was streamed – the brighter ones did the mechanics options and the weaker students were put into the statistics stream.

On the whole, I think having a better understanding of statistics would have been a much better life skill for me.

links for 2009-06-26

Pewari — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:02:36 +0000

Careful Everyone Using Facebook: Your Data is About to Become Public – Thoughts on social media, the web and technology – jungleG

I really do wish Facebook would stop doing stuff like this. If you have a Facebook profile, you must read this article and check your privacy settings when the new Publisher on your home page kicks in.

(tags: facebook privacy socialnetworking)
Tim Dowling: A mobile for your four-year-old? What a bad call … | Technology | The Guardian

An amusing list of reasons your four-year-old doesn't need a mobile. My favourite: "If you don't know where your four-year-old is, there's no point in ringing him. He doesn't know where he is either."

(tags: guardian humour news mobile firefly)

profiles.im

Pewari — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:51:23 +0000

If you’re a Twitter user, then you’ll probably be aware that you have a fairly limited area to fill in a personal profile on the site. It can be a bit of a pain, especially if you’re active on lots of different places on the web, or just want to be able to provide more information about yourself.

A new third-party Twitter service was launched today that aims to get around this very problem: profiles.im. The idea is simple – it provides you with an extended public profile to go with your Twitter account. You can fill out as much or as little info as you want, display your recent twitpics, include an rss feed of your blog and show your latest tweets all on one convenient page.

It’s very simple to use, and if at any time you change your mind, you can delete your profile in just three clicks. The developer is Dom Ramsey (of Fotonomy fame) and while the service is quite basic at the moment, he promises me that there are lots of new features on their way. He also welcomes feedback and suggestions – just send him a tweet to @domr or @profilesim.

Oh, and if you’re interested, my profiles.im page can be found here!

links for 2009-06-17

Pewari — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:02:00 +0000

The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun

Awesome little video to help you re-evaluate what's important in life.

(tags: animation creativity life fun philosophy motivation inspiration video)

links for 2009-05-29

Pewari — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:02:34 +0000

The Daily Mail Dictionary

A useful guide to the Daily Mail – should save you ever having to actually read it.

(tags: dailymail humour news satire dictionary funny newspaper)
Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: Bic Crystal Ballpoint Pen, Medium Point, Black

Awesome tongue in cheek reviews on Amazon for a Bic Ballpoint Pen!

(tags: amazon reviews silly funny)
Gmaps Pedometer

A very clever map-based pedometer that can work out the distance your route is and how many calories you burned running/cycling it.

(tags: google maps googlemaps fitness exercise map distance pedometer running tools)

Wolfram Alpha

Pewari — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:38:49 +0000

I’ve been having some great fun with the new computational knowledge engine, Wolfram Alpha. Despite some very misleading news headlines, this is not a search engine, but rather a way to access factual data quickly and accurately.

When you first look at the site, you can be at a bit of a loss to know what to do with it. To get you started, here are a few suggestions for you to try:

‘star chart’ – gives you the current sky chart for your location.
‘bagel + 10g butter + 15g nutella + banana’ – the nutritional information for my lunch today.
‘weather tomorrow’ – weather forecast for your location.
‘c major seventh’ – chord information.
‘today’ – or type a specific date: gives you significant anniversaries, daylight info, moon phase, etc.

Sign Language

Pewari — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:50:35 +0000

It’s a busy weekend with Li’l Bhaji’s party and catching up with all the chores we didn’t do last weekend due to Akra Jr’s party, so here’s something for you to watch while waiting for actual content.

I know it’s 12 minutes long, which feels terribly long in our 4-minute YouTube video culture, but think of it more as a very short film. It’s beautifully made, and if you like a good love story, you’ll love this.

Via schmutzie.com’s linkblog

links for 2009-05-07

Pewari — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:02:08 +0000

QuackCast

Great sceptical podcast on all things medical quackery. Mostly, I like it that the podcaster (Mark Crislip) isn't afraid of completely taking the piss out of obviously stupid scams and scammers.

(tags: podcast skeptic skeptical sceptic sceptical quacks)
Routes Game – games

Coughs and Sneezes, Spread Diseases! The more people you infect, the more points you get.

(tags: swineflu game flash science disease fun games humor)

Yo Comments Are Whack

Pewari — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:32:09 +0000

I wrote a blog post earlier, but I even sent myself to sleep reading it, so I deleted it and thought you’d enjoy this YouTube video instead:

Via Writtenwyrdd