Nicholas Ciarelli

TV's Crowning Moment of Awesome - Esquire

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:31:00 -0400

TV's Crowning Moment of Awesome - Esquire:

“In thirty-eight years, The Price is Right never had a contestant guess the exact value of prizes in the Showcase showdown. Until Terry Kniess outsmarted everyone — and changed everything.”

(via longform.org)

Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? - Nick Patrick

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:24:12 -0400

Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? - Nick Patrick

The Food Movement, Rising — by Michael Pollan, The New York Review of Books

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:23:56 -0400

The Food Movement, Rising — by Michael Pollan, The New York Review of Books

No Pick Nick

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:23:16 -0400

No Pick Nick

Errol Morris on the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:54:00 -0400

“As Dunning read through the article, a thought washed over him, an epiphany. If Wheeler was too stupid to be a bank robber, perhaps he was also too stupid to know that he was too stupid to be a bank robber — that is, his stupidity protected him from an awareness of his own stupidity.

DAVID DUNNING: When you’re incompetent, the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is. In logical reasoning, in parenting, in management, problem solving, the skills you use to produce the right answer are exactly the same skills you use to evaluate the answer. … We’re not very good at knowing what we don’t know.

ERROL MORRIS: Knowing what you don’t know? Is this supposedly the hallmark of an intelligent person?

DAVID DUNNING: That’s absolutely right. It’s knowing that there are things you don’t know that you don’t know. Donald Rumsfeld gave this speech about ‘unknown unknowns.’ It goes something like this: ‘There are things we know we know about terrorism. There are things we know we don’t know. And there are things that are unknown unknowns. We don’t know that we don’t know.’ He got a lot of grief for that. And I thought, ‘That’s the smartest and most modest thing I’ve heard in a year.’”

— The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is (Part 1), by Errol Morris - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

I ♥ NY Photo credit: Bawol on Flickr See also: Banksy Arrives in...

Wed, 19 May 2010 03:00:14 -0400

I ♥ NY

Photo credit: Bawol on Flickr

The Teachers' Unions' Last Stand, by Steven Brill - The New York Times Magazine

Wed, 19 May 2010 02:38:51 -0400

The Teachers' Unions' Last Stand, by Steven Brill - The New York Times Magazine

How Did Uniqlo Become the Hottest Retailer in New York? —...

Thu, 13 May 2010 01:26:24 -0400

How Did Uniqlo Become the Hottest Retailer in New York? — New York Magazine

“Uniqlo is a company that prescribes, records, and analyzes every activity undertaken by every employee, from Ahmed’s folding technique to the way advisers return charge cards to customers (Japanese style, with two hands and full eye contact). To some extent, management science is an element of all international companies, but Uniqlo’s obsession is more like a turbocharged version of kaizen, the Japanese concept that translates roughly as the continuous search for perfection. (Kaizen is often invoked in business schools when describing Toyota, though less so recently.) Uniqlo has a relatively flat power structure and encourages employees to suggest ideas for improving productivity. Experimentation, however, must go through the proper channels. There is a poster in every Uniqlo manager’s office outlining the ‘Ten Accountabilities.’ No. 8 reads, ‘As a store manager, always follow company direction. Do not work in your own way.’”

The Wizard of Oz: Movie Storybook - Book Movie Book

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:29:42 -0400

The Wizard of Oz: Movie Storybook - Book Movie Book

"Popular Highlights" coming to Kindle

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:40:00 -0400

"Popular Highlights" coming to Kindle:

A software update to the Kindle next month will include “Popular Highlights: See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you’re reading.”

Update: Popular Highlights

"Would you mind if I listened to my book on tape? It’s a novelization of the movie Precious, based on..."

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:55:12 -0400

“Would you mind if I listened to my book on tape? It’s a novelization of the movie Precious, based on the book Push by Sapphire.”

- Michael Scott, The Office (via bookmoviebook)