January 2009
4 posts
Pick a Width and Stick to It
There has always been a problem with getting movies off the big screen and into the living room. In a movie theater, the screen is wide, while standard TVs are closer to being a square-shape (4:3 aspect ratio, to get technical). So to make the movie fit on a TV, the edges need to be cut off.
Then DVDs came out, and most of them were the original wide-screen versions of the movies. This meant you...
You Can't Verse Somebody
If you’re ever playing a game or sport with a group of people, you are bound to hear at least one person misuse the word verse. Someone will say “hey, can I verse you next?” or “I’ve versed him already, I want to verse someone else.” Each time I hear it, I fantasize a loud buzzer going off and someone saying “sorry, that’s incorrect, but thanks for...
Our Faces Are Accidents
People are very funny about what they value about themselves. You can see this through which compliments tend to get the best reactions. For most people, a compliment on looks is one of the highest compliments you can give. But isn’t that strange? Looks are the one thing we can’t take credit for, we’re just born that way. Yet, if someone tells you you’re beautiful or...
The Closest Thing to Altruism
When you do something nice for someone that doesn’t benefit you in any way, it’s generally regarded as altruistic. But are you really not benefiting at all? Doesn’t it make you look good when you donate to a charity or do some other apparently “selfless” act? Doesn’t it make you feel good that you did a nice thing? The truth is that nobody does anything unless...