Fun with subtitles

[talking about aliens and UFOs.]

Subtitle should read: I'm serious, because that's where they come from. They come from Sirius, the Dog Star.

Subtitle reads: I'm serious, because that's where they come from. They come from, serious, the dog store.

Grab bag of links

(Mea culpa for the long delay. In my defence, I've got nearly enough to do another Grab Bag post in the next few days to make up for it.)

1. Dinner with a stranger -- a cool journal / picture post about a guy who got an interesting proposition: would you have dinner with me and my wife if I donated $200 to the charity of your choice? The author said yes, and this is what happened.

2. The light bulb showdown: LEDs vs. CFLs vs. incandescent bulbs -- essentially what it sounds like. The verdict: CFLs for now, but LEDs once the technology advances a bit.

3. Siftables, the smart blocks (7-minute TED talk by David Merrill -- I want these toys. I mean, I really, REALLY want these toys. These thing are awesome.

4. Questioning authority: a rethinking of the infamous Milgram experiments -- Milgram's experiment was the one where people sent electrical shocks (or thought they were) into another participant (actually an actor) and wound up often going up to lethal force. Interesting thoughts on a replication of the experiment.

5. The real crisis? We've stopped being wise (20-minute TED talk video by Barry Schwartz) -- this talk is so insightful that you'll wonder why you didn't realize it before you watched it. Funny but also informative. And it got a standing ovation at TED.

6. Running on hope (5-minute video) -- what if America was a car and Obama had just taken it in for a tune-up? What would the mechanics tell him. That's what this video is. I laughed.

7. Editorial cartoon by Clay Bennett (picture) -- speaking of the state of America, an interesting visual for how much America's been spending lately.

Special bonus #8: My latest guest post on fEmpowerment, about how to ace your finals without cramming.