It’s been 30 years since The Karate Kid. I was 15 in that cruel summer of 1984, and definitely felt that one. This article provides a cool retrospective on the film’s cultural relevance, and includes gallery of shooting locations in LA.
While we’re at it, here’s an earworm for ya:
The timelapse above occurs over the span of four years, captured here on Earth from 2002-2006.
The image below will give you a sense of scale. Note that it’s 13.6 light-years wide, and not even at the scale of our solar system. (Our solar system is roughly 8 light-hours wide.)
(via NASA and DIYPhotography)
Saw this flick in high school. One of the most intense scenes ever shot.
MLB Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn has passed away at the age of 54. That one hits close to home. I watched him play countless times in the nineties, particularly because the Padres and the Dodgers are in the same division. Tony Gwynn’s the only thing I’ve ever really liked about San Diego. 😉
Gwynnie was of the best hitters of all time, with a lifetime average of .338. Saw him play many times, and will always remember his coined term for the gap between SS and 3B where he slapped most of his base hits: “the five-five hole”. He owned it. (That’s 5.5, as in between 5 and 6. Those who’ve ever kept score would understand.)
Ranking #10 of all time in singles, he was always a tough out. The ultimate #2 hitter in any fantasy baseball lineup.
RIP
After my recent blog post on the popularity of chess moves over time, my brother admitted that he was confused by the data. It was presented using an “area chart” model, displaying chess opening trends in percentages over time.
He’s not alone. Stacked area charts can indeed be misleading. Dr. Drang demonstrates where the confusion is in a fictitious example.
Here’s a timeline of the change in market share, in percent, of three companies that are the only manufacturers of a particular device. We’ll call the companies Orange, Green, and Blue and use those colors in our charts. Let’s look at this chart. ↓
Not exactly intuitive if not given an explanation on how to read it. If it’s not clear to you: in Q2Y2, Blue had 80%, Green had 20%, Orange had 0%. Compare that to Q1Y1, where Blue had 10%, Green 15%, and Orange 75%.
While the data’s there, it’s not easy to see.
The discrepancy arises because the chart plots the market share vertically, but we perceive the thickness of a stream at right angles to its general direction. ↓
Drang proposes a solution: to replace the stacked area chart with a duller stacked column chart:
Read the full study here.
And if you really want to go deep, check out Edward Tufte’s classic book on the subject, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.
A 1958 letter to his teenage son Thom, who had just confessed to falling desperately in love while away at boarding school:
New York
November 10, 1958Dear Thom:
We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.
First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.
Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.
You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.
But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.
Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.
The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.
If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.
Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.
It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.
Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.
We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.
And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.
Love,
Fa
(via Brain Pickings)
The earliest celluloid film was shot by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince using the Le Prince single-lens camera made in 1888. It was taken in the garden of the Whitley family house in Oakwood Grange Road, Roundhay, a suburb of Leeds, Yorkshire, Great Britain, possibly on October 14, 1888. It shows Adolphe Le Prince (Le Prince’s son), Mrs. Sarah Whitley, (Le Prince’s mother-in-law), Joseph Whitley and Miss Harriet Hartley. The ‘actors’ are shown walking around in circles, laughing to themselves and keeping within the area framed by the camera. It lasts for less than 2 seconds and includes 4 frames.
