How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?

With the recession, the discipline of economics has come under heavy fire. More academics are questioning the role and "truths" of economics. This is a long article, but worth it. Read the NY Times article here.

"Six Fonts That Piss People Off"

"A furor erupts when Ikea changes its official typeface. Here are five other controversial fonts, involving Nazis, incest, and comic books." For all you Typophiles out there, you can read the Fast Company article here.

Googling the future: Internet search data may be useful for forecasters

The Economist released an article following a fascinating question: Can Google searches help us predict the future?

CLAIMS of clairvoyance, particularly when they come from economists, deserve a sceptical reception. Hal Varian, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley who also happens to be Google’s chief economist, has no such pretensions, but he does believe that data on internet searches can help predict certain kinds of economic statistics before they become available....

Check out the Economist article about Google here. Check out the Google Forecast site here.

City Workers Banned From Facebook -- After Spending 572 Hours On It

Check out the blog post here.

Geek to Live: Take great notes

Lifehacker has come up with an excellent guide to different types of note-taking, useful for everything from university lectures to business meetings. Check out the guide here.

"How Facebook Ruins Friendships"

Here's an excerpt from the WSJ:

"Notice to my friends: I love you all dearly.

But I don't give a hoot that you are "having a busy Monday," your child "took 30 minutes to brush his teeth," your dog "just ate an ant trap" or you want to "save the piglets." And I really, really don't care which Addams Family member you most resemble. (I could have told you the answer before you took the quiz on Facebook.)

Here's where you and I went wrong: We took our friendship online. First we began communicating more by email than by phone. Then we switched to "instant messaging" or "texting." We "friended" each other on Facebook, and began communicating by "tweeting" our thoughts—in 140 characters or less—via Twitter..."

Read the entire article here.

"Home"

It's a YouTube video with an agenda, but "Home" is worth checking out, regardless of which side you are on of the environmental debate.