Wonderful political ad

Not only is this a great political ad, I love the beautiful way that it helps to quantify just how much $9 billion is.

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Get Your War On – animated series

When I read that the funny and acerbic Get Your War On web-comic I wasn’t optimistic about the result.  I couldn’t visualize how the comic’s clipart style — which is a major component of its appeal — could be translated into animation.

Now that the animated promo has arrived, though, I can say that my fears were misplaced.  This is brilliant!

Link (via Fimoculous)

Welcome to Energyville

The Economist newspaper (magazine) and Chevron have put together an interesting interactive game that allows you play policymaker to determine the energy policy for a fictional large city.

My ranking was something like #32,000 (out of 200,000+) — see if you can beat me.

Link

Could you pass this test?

Ever get the feeling that America is falling behind the world when it comes to our ability to educate our children?

If you’re convinced that is not the case, you might want to take a look at this online test.  The questions come from a test which 10th grade students in India must pass before progressing to the 11th grade, according to the makers of the excellent (and scary) documentary “Two Million Minutes”.

The questions cover seven subjects: math, physics, biology, English grammar, history, chemistry and geography.  At least three of those subjects were not even required classes when I was in high school a few years back (okay, maybe more than a few).

Link (via Seattle P-I’s School Zone blog)

Death and Taxes poster

Check out this amazing poster which visually details how our Federal tax dollars are spent.

Link (via Boing Boing)

The RIGHT way to hang toilet paper

When it comes time to install a new roll of moon floss, I’ve always been an “over the top” guy.  In the past I’ve lived with under-hung devotees and others who apparently couldn’t be bothered to distinguish.  I’ve always “known” that my way was superior, but I’ve never really tried to elucidate why that is so.

Well someone has finally presented the reasoning.  Over at the Current Configuration blog, they’ve taken on this vital topic and (I hope) laid the debate to rest.  Now if only we can get everyone on board — I’m envisioning a multi-media Public Service Announcement campaign.

Link (via Presurfer).

Are you numerate (mathematically literate)?

Here is an interesting recent quiz from the Dear Science blog:

Assuming you drive the same distance, which change will save more gas in a given year:

• Switching from a Dodge Ram at 13 MPG to a Toyota Tundra at 15 MPG
• Switching from a Honda Fit at 32 MPG to a Toyota Prius at 44 MPG

The answer will probably surprise you…click the link below to find out.

Link

Are you MAN enough?

Leory Menswear is one of my favorite stores in downtown Seattle.  Until today I’d never seen an ad, but it’s an instant classic:

via Slog

Why is there so little outcry over FISA bill?

<rant>

I’m a bit disappointed with my fellow citizens (and the journalistic establishment) that there hasn’t been more of a dust up over the ongoing debate in Congress over the FISA bill.  Providing immunity to telecom companies who assisted the corrupt Bush regime in circumventing the law by allowing wide-ranging wire taps feels like a horrible mistake.

It’s still not (quite) too late — call or e-mail your Senator.

</rant>

Netflix makes the right choice on Profiles

I was surprised a few weeks ago to receive an e-mail from Netflix advising me that they would be dropping their “Profiles” feature.  This feature allows my wife and I to each have a separate “rental queue” on a single account — with shipment of discs alternating between the queues.  To add further annoyance, the e-mail said that Netflix would provide no support for migration of existing queues and that any secondary queues would be simply deleted on September 1.

My surprise at this announcement was not so much from the removal of the feature itself, but by the ham-handed way that it was being announced and implemented.  The e-mail went so far as to state that the reason for the change was to “improve service.”  I can’t imagine how even the best spin-doctor could convince me that this was going to be an improvement.

From many companies (I’m looking at you Comcast/Qwest/Verizon/Microsoft) this type of communication would not have surprised me in the least, but Netflix has always seemed to have a better handle on the customer experience than most corporations.  My disappointment arose more from this perception that Netflix was different and perhaps valued customers more,  than from the loss of the Profiles feature itself.

I contacted Netflix to express my disappointment, and even went as far as to “sign” an online petition in protest (something I have never before done), but didn’t seriously expect anything to come of my feeble lobbying efforts.

So I was presently surprised to receive another e-mail from Netflix yesterday that stated they were reversing their decision and keeping Profiles based upon the volume of negative feedback they had received.  Well done Netflix!  Although this episode has left a tarnish on my perception of the company, it’s good to see that they were able to listen to customers and reverse an unpopular decision.