Geek in Heels - Page 11

Oct 21, 2014 • In Geek, Infographics, Information, Relationships, Web

Two Fascinating, Potentially NSFW Charts

I’m not sure exactly why I find these charts — depicting the various subjects and categories that turn people on and how they differ between men and women — so interesting.

Well, duh it’s related to sex so it’s naturally intriguing. But I think for me, the science and research behind human attraction has always been captivating because the driving forces behind what makes one person attractive to another can vary so greatly.

Granted, these charts are not necessarily about attraction. But what turns someone on can’t be too far from their preferences in pornography, no?

Here is a ranking of Pornhub’s most-viewed categories:

And the most-searched terms:

Is it just me, or is the fact that “teen” takes the top spot for men in both charts sorta disturbing?

Head on over to the original article for more detailed insights. (Warning: it is hosted on Pornhub’s main site so you may not want to open the link at work or anywhere else where your internet activities are monitored.)

Via Geekologie.

Power Dynamics Via Angles [Silence of the Lambs Edition]

I’m really enjoying the Every Frame a Painting series from Tony Zhou!

Last week, I shared with you his analysis of David Fincher’s brilliant directorial techniques. Today, I bring you a similar video that dissects a famous scene from Silence of the Lambs. This one’s less than 3 minutes long, so take a look if you didn’t watch the David Fincher one.

Once again, I’m blown away by how something seemingly-simple as camera angles can play such a crucial role. It’s almost as if camera angles can act as narrators, or even convey subliminal messages!

Now I’m tempted to rewatch all my favorite movies to examine what I’ve missed…

Via Boing Boing.

“Photoshop” in the 1930s

Close your eyes. Now, imagine your favorite vintage portrait. Is it of Jean Harlow? Audrey Hepburn? Vivien Leigh? Marilyn Monroe?

No matter who, there’s a very good chance that the famous portrait engrained so deeply in your mind was “photoshopped.” Not in the modern sense, but by using film photography techniques from bygone decades.

When the above before-and-after was posted to Reddit, experts and enthusiasts readily chimed in with stories, explanations, and history lessons. For example, the most upvoted response divulged:

I have worked at a commercial studio since the mid 90’s. We were still doing some of these things then. I remember working in the darkroom and dodging/burning prints, masking…. then spotting them and airbrushing them. You screw up at any one step and you get to start all the fuck over. I don’t miss that one little bit. I started in PS5 and never looked back.

I myself took a year of photography in high school — where we not only learned to manually develop photos but also studied the history of photography as well — but never know that the “dodge” and “burn” tools in Photoshop were inspired by actual dodge and burn techniques in film photography.

“Dodge” means you cast a shadow on the print with a tool (like a paper circle on a stick like the Photoshop Dodge tool icon) or your hand, as the negative is projected onto the photosensitive paper. As you cast a shadow, less light is allowed onto the sensitive paper and therefore it becomes lighter (since it’s a negative, less light projected = lighter result).

“Burn” means you dodge everything except a small area, by making an “O” shape with your hand (like the Photoshop Burn tool icon) or using a piece of paper with a hole in it, to avoid light hitting the paper in all areas except the part you want to burn. This causes that part to receive more light, making it darker, since it’s a negative and works in reverse.

Of course when you’re exposing your negative onto the paper, you’ll do it for many tens of seconds which gives you enough time to expose the whole image for some time, then dodge for some time, and then burn for some time. Of course you can’t see shit and you have no idea what it’s going to look like until you develop your print. At that point it’s too late to change anything so you have to start over many times to get it right.

I dunno about you, but I’d much rather prefer to edit photos using a few clicks!

Via PopSugar.

Racial Affinity in Young Children

A few weeks into pre-k, Claire began to tell me about a new friend.

“Umma, JJ and I played hide-and-go-seek today!”

“Umma, JJ is so silly and funny.”

“Look, umma! JJ made me this drawing!”

I soon discovered that JJ was a kindergartener (so about a year older than Claire) whose Korean name initials are JJ. Whenever I arrived early for pickup to see Claire’s class returning from their afternoon walk, I’d see Claire and JJ walking together, often holding the same ring on the walking rope while giggling and chatting with each other.

I was glad to see that Claire had made a close friend. I knew she was friendly with the kids in her class, but this was the first time that she would voluntarily talk about a friend every day and say things like, “I miss JJ” on the weekends when she didn’t have school.

However, it bugged me a bit that JJ was Korean. Because Claire’s school isn’t too ethnically diverse, I was a teeny bit concerned by the fact that her first close friend was one of the few Asians among her peers. Is this a form of racism on my part? I dunno.

Nonetheless, I didn’t want my (possible) flaw to get in the way of a naturally blossoming friendship. The above was just a fleeting thought, anyway.

One day during pickup, I overheard JJ’s mother speaking to her in Korean. So I asked Claire if she and JJ speak to each other in English or Korean.

“한국말!” (“Korean!”) Claire replied.

When I asked her if the other kids in their class think this is strange, she told me that she and JJ think it’s fun to talk to each other in a language no one else understands. 🙂

A couple of weeks later, Claire began to talk about a new friend: David. It seemed that she, David, and JJ often play together.

I asked Claire’s teacher to point out David for me, and it turns out that David is half-Korean who knows Korean as well!

I am well aware that more often than not, we, as humans, naturally tend to gravitate toward those who are of similar ethnic backgrounds. After all, we usually have more in common with them, no? I also remember reading studies that find ethnic minorities to experience this kind of racial affinity more strongly.

As usual, I’m probably overthinking my daughter’s choice in friends. They could just think it’s fun to speak to each other in Korean, and that may be it! But it’ll be interesting to see how this develops as Claire — and Aerin! — get older.

Unfortunately, there is no one in Claire’s class who speaks Cantonese. Now that would be fun to observe!

25 Years of Popular Halloween Costumes

Three thoughts come to mind when viewing this infographic by the folks over at Personal Creations:

I’m predicting Groot will be just as popular as Elsa this Halloween.
zOMG I totally remember how everyone — especially guys — dressed as Britney Spears back in 1999!
1990 was TWENTY-FOUR years ago?!??

Via Geeks Are Sexy.

Translated TV Show Titles

For today’s edition of “interesting stuff I found on the web,” cartoonist James Chapman shares with us an illustrated guide to what popular TV shows are called around the world. I think I’d much rather watch a show called “In the Shoes of Satan” than plain ol’ “Breaking Bad,” wouldn’t you? Or how about “A Crazy in the Area?”

Be sure to check back next week, because Chapman will reveal part 2 of this series!

Via Neatorama.

J.J. Abrams Personally Solves Kid’s Algebra Problem

Last week, a (rightfully) proud father’s Facebook post went viral as he shared his 8th grade son’s homework. The assignment? To create an algebraic expression into a word problem. And his son Cody’s answer (with no help from his parents)?

In case you’re having trouble reading the above, it says:

J.J. Abrams is making Star Wars Episode 7. He rented three speeder bikes which was 700 imperial credits to start. He must pay 100 imperial credits to keep his speeder bikes daily. If he does not pay daily, Prince Xizor and other Black Sun members will kidnap J.J. Abrams, bring him to Mustafar, and sacrifice him.

J.J. Abrams is also paying 5 bounty hunters to keep separatist spies out. That costs 200 imperial credits to start, then 50 imperial credits for each bounty hunter every time they capture a spy. The Separatists send 2 spies every day.

In how many days does J.J. Abrams spend the same amount of imperial credits on speeders and bounty hunters?

Yeah, I’m jealous too. 😛

But wait — the story gets better! Because yesterday, it was revealed that J.J. Abrams not only responded to Cody’s homework, he solved it too! In a handwritten note that presents another question!

How psyched must Cody and his dad must have been to receive this surprise in the mail? And how awesome was it for J.J. Abrams to personally reach out to a young, enthusiastic fan?

Via Neatorama.

Doll Play

I never played with dolls as a kid.

I have memories of painstakingly cutting out elaborate paper dolls and their clothes and accessories….only to discard them once I finished. I also recall constructing Barbie houses out of cardboard boxes, books, and other items we found around the house, but lost interest once the domiciles were completed.

Claire isn’t much of a doll person either. Sure, she has her giraffe, but doesn’t really use him in the traditional sense of doll play.

Aerin, on the other hand…

When Aerin began to show interest in princesses last year (Ariel, in particular), I assumed it was just a phase, as Claire had gone through a similar phase at around that age.

But while Claire quickly grew out of her princess phase, Aerin remained a huge fan of Ariel. And Anna & Elsa, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Tiana, Jasmine…basically, all the Disney princesses!

We’ve collected quite a collection of Ariel dolls and figures since then. (When people ask us if there are any toys they could get for the girls, we tell them, “Anything giraffe-related for Claire, and anything Ariel-or-princess-related for Aerin.”) And my younger daughter LOVES to play with her dolls.

As someone who never really engaged in doll play, it’s fascinating to observe Aerin playing with her dolls. She seems to make up elaborate stories and scenarios for them, as I often catch her mumbling to herself as she moves, bends, and positions them to her will.

Every now and then I catch parts of the story or conversation (mumble, mumble…”ARIEL!”…mumble, mumble…”CASTLE!”…mumble…”DANCING!”).

Sometimes, she will let me join in — but I always have to be playing the part of the prince!

And once in a while, she will even compose intimate scenes for her dolls. As in, having them hug and kiss and hold hands. And judging by the duration of some of these kisses, I can’t help but wonder if they’re full-on making out.

It’s a bit concerning when she asks me to help her take off her dolls’ clothes, and does stuff like this:

She made them kiss and hug for a full 10 minutes, whilst making kissing sounds!

I seriously don’t know where she learned that from — I’m being 100% honest here! I can only surmise (and hope) that this is normal doll play…right?

How Much Damage Did Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes Fame) Cause? [$$$]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture states that raising a child from birth to age 17 costs, for those in the middle-income groups, anywhere from $226,800 to $264,600.

If you think that figure is large, consider the fact that those numbers do not take into account any damage (the physical kind, not emotional) the child can cause…and most kids destroy plenty of stuff.

So how much damage can a child cause? Matt J. Michel — obviously a fan after my own heart — decided to examine one extreme end of the spectrum and calculated the mischief depicted in the classic comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.

Michel painstakingly went through the entirety of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (one of the best gifts I’ve ever received and something I can’t wait to share with my kids) in order to tackle this task. He obviously had to take some liberties, but his methodology seems sound.

To estimate the cost from damaged goods, I searched amazon.com for comparable items, with some exceptions (e.g., Calvin’s Mom seems somewhat fashionable, so when Calvin placed an incontinent toad on her sweater, I looked for a replacement on jcrew.com). To estimate cost for property damage, I used homewyse.com and fixr.com (using the zip code for Chagrin Falls, OH) [creator Bill Watterson’s “rumored current residence”]. In the few instances in which a monetary value was given in the comic, I used that value.

And the final figure? Calvin caused an estimated $15,955.50 worth of damage over the 10-year duration of Calvin and Hobbes. 😯

Michel further analyzes the data by grouping the damages caused in each month:

And by observing the figures above, he deduces that Calvin “did the most damage in January, February, and August (at a combined $11,585.83). Increased damage during these months may possibly be a reaction to the injustice of going back to school after a long break (Winter and Summer vacations).”

Interested in seeing more from his research? You can read the entire report here.

Via Gizmodo.

Homework: A Family Effort?

Claire should technically still be in preschool. However, because she missed her school’s cutoff age by only a couple of months — and because she’s a bit advanced for her age — her teachers recommended she start pre-kindergarten early. (As such, she will always be one of the youngest kids in her grade.)

And one of the things that distinguishes preschool from pre-k is the inclusion of homework.

I was shocked when they handed us her first assignment at pickup. Really? Homework for 4-5 year olds? (At the time, Claire was only 3.) I don’t remember getting homework until the 2nd grade!

They also included a sheet of instructions in her homework folder which included things like:

Establish a scheduled time and quiet place for homework to be done. All written homework should be done at a desk or a table. Define a carpeted work area for card games.
Complete all homework. Remember, we are trying to lengthen your child’s attention span.

And this gem:

Be sure homework is neat. Perfection is the final goal.

WHOA! I don’t know about you, but that seems a bit demanding, if not unrealistic. (Or perhaps my expectations are too low?)

Additionally, the instructions clearly state that they fully expect the parents/guardians to help with the children’s homework. “Supervision is very important,” they emphasized. Not only do they want the parents to assist with, check over, and (if needed) correct the children’s work, they also instruct us to ask the children related questions to the assignment to help reinforce what they’re learning.

As you can see in the photo above, Claire usually doesn’t have a problem with homework time. If anything, she enjoys it! (I think she gets this nerdy quality from her mom. 😉 ) And little Aerin, who is currently at a stage where she wants to copy and do everything that her big sister does, also insists on doing work when it is homework time. For this reason, I have looked up simple worksheets online and printed them out so that she can also “study.”

Claire gets 1-3 sheets of homework every weekday. And it goes without saying that she needs my help with all of them, and rarely gets everything correct on her own.

Will this be the norm from now on? Am I expected to help my children with, and check over their homework for the next 14 years?

“Your parents never helped you with your homework?” J asked me. “Mine always made sure I completed my homework, and checked it over to make sure I did it correctly.”

This is brand new territory for me! My parents never helped me with schoolwork, not even large take-home projects. Nor did they ever have to remind me to do my homework — I just knew that it was something I had to do, and did it unquestioningly.

If anything, I believe this taught me independence and responsibility.

Is homework from a very young age — homework that is expected to be done with the parents and checked over by the parents as well — another byproduct of the helicopter generation? Or is it just a better, improved method of education?

I may never know the answers to these questions, at least not for a very long time. All I know is that Claire’s school seems to be doing something right if she was able to read and write simple words at the age of 3½ — and who am I to question them?

Additionally, homework is a good way for me to keep up with what my daughter is learning at school. For example, I didn’t know that she knew how to write her own name until we did her first homework assignment together. And a lot of times, I am surprised by what she knows. Like her homework assignment from yesterday: