Breakfast Links: Faceball, Buttons & Obesity
You know I’m down with high(ish) speed photography. You also know I’m down with chucking beach balls into people’s faces. So there you have it, Faceball: your face, our balls. Despite what the photos and intro to the video would have you believe, it is not about surprising your co-workers with a swift ball to the face, taking a shot of just the right moment and posting it to the flickrs. They’ve made some kind of chair sitting game out of it, but don’t let that deter you from the true spirit of it. Showing your prowess and humiliating your friends in front of an audience of millions.
If this blog isn’t talking about balls it’s talking about buttons. Today is no exception, just read this piece on how Steve Jobs has his hate on for buttons. Ever since he was a young boy, he’s played the silver ball he thought that buttons made things too complicated. He’s spent the rest of his life making Apple reduce button use - the culmination thus far (technically) is the iPhone. Contrast this with Palm who loves nothing more than buttons. Hmm.. interesting. Hate buttons? Stock up. Love buttons? Stock down…
And then there was obesity. Researches have discovered it’s a little bit like a virus in that it tends to spread from friend to friend. If you’re friend gets fat, pretty much, so do you. Blah blah blah, interesting.. but here’s the thing that makes scientists awesome. This research was conducted over 32 years. 32 years! And studied a social network of like 12,000 people. Dude, that’s so hardcore. So hardcore that the lame scientists are totally, TOTALLY jealous:
“Good science is all about replication, but it is hard to see how science will ever replicate this.”
So, Dr. O’Rahilly, their science isn’t “good” because you’re too weak to start your own research with 12,000 people over 32 years? Psshhhh, I say!
