→ Meet Norway’s 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen, currently ranked #6 in the world. (Cool number!) Magnus has been a grandmaster since the age of 13, a status that has been getting reached by younger and younger players since the advent of chess databases.
You know, Magnus, in my day, we had to read books barefoot through the snow uphill both ways…
A 1984 demonstration of Apple Lisa, the predecessor to the Macintosh. Scrub on over to about 06:00. What a trip to see this stuff nearly a quarter-century later.
I love how he needs to dumb down the description of the scrollbar to the idea of an elevator.
Not being much of a commuter these days, I don’t spend a whole lot of time listening to NPR. But somebody turned me on to the online archives of StoryCorps the other day, and I was instantly addicted. As described on their site:
StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.
By recording the stories of our lives with the people we care about, we experience our history, hopes, and humanity. Since 2003, tens of thousands of everyday people have interviewed family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to take home and share, and is archived for generations to come at the Library of Congress. Millions listen to our award-winning broadcasts on public radio and the Internet. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, creating a growing portrait of who we really are as Americans.
It’s fascinating what we can learn about ourselves by simply listening to others. There are some priceless gems in here. From laugh-out-loud to eye-watering, it’s the kind of inspiration that makes you feel lucky and excited to be part of the human experience. Go get it.
