Basically, that there are certain movies that people get from Netflix but then just let sit in their house, never being watched. Sometimes they sit for days, sometimes for years.

Swansburg honed in on this interesting concept:

Hotel Rwanda is that rare movie about a devastating subject that nevertheless feels like something you really do need to see. The same goes for Schindler's List, which finished a close second among Slate readers. Both appeal to the lofty sense of ourselves that comes to the fore when we're managing our queues. Neither feels especially appealing after a long day at the office.

Medvedev. Tskhinvali. I even pronounced Ossetia in my head with a silent e for a while.

From wikipedia, "Back-chaining":

Back-chaining is a useful technique in teaching oral language skills, specially with polysyllabic words. Suppose that you're teaching someone to pronounce the name 'Mussorgsky'. First, you ask him to say the last syllable: -sky; then to repeat it with -sorg- attached before: -sorg-sky; and all that remains is the first syllable: Mus-sorg-sky.

This technique is easier than the front-chaining, starting with the first syllable, which requires that the student put the new element first where it's more difficult to forget. Back-chaining keeps the phonological structure of English better than front-chaining (normally there is no difference in stress between a word spoken in isolation and one spoken at the end of a sentence) and it's arguably better to start with the final syllable (main stress in bold)

The eminent psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi tells audiences his last name is easy to pronounce if you say "chicks sent me high."

Metathesis is the reversal of letters within a word, such as "iron" being pronounced as "iorn."

A wonderful thread on kottke about saying words wrong on purpose. I'm a major offender. similar thread on xkcd.

Sub-vocal articulation is the little voice in your head that pronounces while performing silent reading. I told my friend I wanted to take an intro course in every major language so I could sub-vocally articulate clearly and digest my reading more fluidly.

File this under: "Things like the Tetris Effect."

So today, I'm going to take a snapshot of the products I use, mention the stocks, and 6 months from now, re-visit to see how they performed. This is based on the theory of product holistic integrity: that if their products stink, so will the company.

AMZN - Amazon
EBAY - eBay
GOOG - Google
MSFT - Windows XP (I still use it, it must have some value)
AAPL - iPhone, MacBook Pro
WPO - Washington Post Company, I use Slate.com daily
NWS - News Corp, I read FOXNews everyday, I use Myspace everyday, I use rotten tomatoes (IGN)
WFMI - Whole Foods, I eat there everyday
COST - Costco, still shop there
JBX - Jack-in-the-box, I still eat there
TM - Toyota Motor Company, gotta love my Scion tC
SWF - Still buy their generic brand goods
DELL - My computer's still running strong
URBN - Urban Outfitters, love their clothing
CL - Colgate-Palmolive, love their toothpaste
PG - Love my Gillette razors
T - AT&T, I don't love the company, but they're with the iPhone, so they can't be that bad.

This App uses the built-in accelerometer's x, y, z values to make r, g, b combinations.

I perceived on the App Store the emergence of an inside joke in the form of the "Flash Light app." One of the launch apps was a "flash light" that simply was a white screen. Thereafter I saw a bunch of other "light" apps appear on the scene, with a lot of comments ranging from "WTF" to "LOL." So I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring.

So I just went ahead and created one: flash-based mic monitor.

If you haven't tried it, check it out and submit a review!

Laziness can lead to problems, let's say, if you're too lazy to make an appointment. But, I don't think the onus is on the laziness. I think the onus is on you scheduling something you can't keep.

I don't think there's anything noble in having your life filled with permanent struggle and self-sacrifice. I do believe in some sacrifice for some causes, but to spend your whole life in an aggressive "making it" mode, is a form of self-annihilation to me.

I have paradoxical views on success, especially creative types of success. On the one hand, I really want to "make it" and reach the highest peaks. On the other hand, I do believe that for everybody who reaches the peak, there's many many more who spend their whole lives on the slopes.

So if I were to be honest with myself, it's more likely that I'll live on the slopes than reach the peaks. So really, the wise thing is to make sure you're happy with yourself regardless of whether you're the rare individual who reaches the top or the more likely slope-dweller.

Yet at the same time, you often have to have faith that you'll be number one in order to get there. What you expect from yourself has such an impact on what you will try. And plus, you very well may end up being number one. After all, rank 1 is never empty. And so why can't it be you?

I just realized that the solution is already out there, it's called Song Meanings. They just basically moved the topic of conversation from "lyrics" to "song meanings," which indirectly makes the lyrics more accurate. Now whenever I search for song lyrics I type in "name-of-artist - name-of-song song meanings" into Google and am instantly satisfied.

Now the next challenge is to see if Google can convince their engine that "song meanings" is a better alias for "lyrics" when searching for quality song lyrics.

I'm not sure whether our reservoir of psychic energy is unlimited or finite. People under severe torture, for example, consistently don't crack. So that's +1 for the human spirit.