Look what Zara got me!
Filed under: books, How To Teach Physics To Your Dog, zara · 0 Comments
Khan Academy
I just found out about the Khan Academy in the news earlier this week and I think it’s one of the most inspirational projects I’ve seen in a while.
Salman Khan is a former hedge fund manager who single handedly created a whole library of YouTube videos to explain all manner of mathematical and scientific topics to kids in a way that’s easy to understand. He started doing them as a way to tutor his nieces and nephews. Now
…his 800-plus videos are viewed about 35,000 times a day, forming a virtual classroom that dwarfs any brick and mortar school he might have imagined. By using the reach of the Internet, he’s helped bring education to the information-hungry around the world who can’t afford private tutors or Kaplan prep courses.
I watched a few of them and I’m totally hooked! When I was in school I always learned just enough math to do well on tests, but then I’d promptly forget what I learned after a test was over. I wished I had someone like Salman Khan as a teacher…someone who made math relevant and interesting beyond a test and who spoke in plain english instead of abstractions.
He’s also got a series on economics and the financial system that I totally plan on watching since I know so pathetically little about how it all works.
There’s more about his project over here.
Filed under: education, inspiration, math, science, video, videos · 2 Comments
Grayscale Santa
At this year’s Santacon, someone Brody dressed up as a grayscale Santa. Here is a picture by NV6V:
Update: more info in the description of this pic:
“Custom gray & white Santa suit, made by me. Wig + contacts + Kryolan body paint”
Unreal…
Filed under: photos, san francisco, santacon, santarchy · 2 Comments
Copenhagen’s Awesome Bicycle Infrastructure
StreetFilms has posted this video showing off the bicycle infrastructure in Copenhagen, where 37% of all commute trips are made on bike.
Update somewhat related: The Senseable City Lab at MIT has unveiled their Copenhagen Wheel.
It transforms ordinary bicycles quickly into hybrid e-bikes that also function as mobile sensing units. The Copenhagen Wheel allows you to capture the energy dissipated while cycling and braking and save it for when you need a bit of a boost. It also maps pollution levels, traffic congestion, and road conditions in real-time.
Filed under: Copenhagen, cycling, transportation · 2 Comments
Death of the Newspaper Greatly Exaggerated
I just picked up the latest issue of the San Francisco Panorama today from Green Apple. McSweeney’s has proven that the American newspaper is still viable. It just takes a team of writers five months to produce a single issue, which sells for $17.52 :)
Filed under: design, McSweeney's, san francisco · 0 Comments
On Bikes and Buses
This was a good week for bicycling in San Francisco! We got our first new bike lane in 3 years, our first physically-separated bike lane, and our very first bike box! Streetfilms has a video covering the Bike Celebration Press Conference:
In other transportation news, several Muni routes will be discontinued tomorrow. Mission Local has made a farewell video to to the 26 Valencia, which is ending its 108-year run:
Filed under: cycling, muni, san francisco, transportation · 3 Comments
new bakery coming to bernal!!
Someone sent me this info about it
Introducing Sandbox Bakery, the latest sliver of a corner spot bringing together the best of a Japanese deli and French bakery, opening next Monday in Bernal Heights.
Brought to you by ex-Slanted Door pastry chef Mutsumi Takehara (who also baked at La Farine and Chez Panisse), Sandbox brings an East meets West, morning-to-afternoon, bakery-and-deli lineup, complete with Ritual Roasters and De La Paz coffee that’s extracted through a cone-shaped single drip filter-the way they do it in Japan.
Once a motorcycle repair shop, this crisp take-out counter in front of the sizable working kitchen has a vague likening to Mt. Fuji, with a flinty stone wall and gleaming white subway tiles. And from the crack of dawn, the fresh-baked aromas of buttery chocolate croissants and Swiss dill biscuits wafting through the neighborhood will lure you to the automatic sliding-glass doors at the corner of Cortland and Gates.
In case French pastries get you in the mood for a little Japanese street food (when don’t they?), the Yuzu-Sage Tart and the deli-style Teriyaki Chicken Rice Burger (that’s two pieces of griddled sticky rice instead of a traditional bun) will be yours for the taking.
may
Filed under: bernal, food, sandbox bakery · 6 Comments
Thank you Team Twiizers!
Filed under: tronix, video games, wii · 0 Comments