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Scoreboard Watching

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Stingy Kids:

I was thrilled to learn this week that the poet, translator, and publisher Peter Cole was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (otherwise known as "the genius grant")

Street

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Hoefler & Frere-Jones on InterCapping:

Suddenly, intercaps have a genuine purpose: invisible to machines, they aid human comprehension, which is ultimately the goal of all typography.

A few years ago, urban legends began to circulate about the accidentally funny URLs of Powergen Italia, Pen Island, and Therapist Finder (you do the math.) To this day, those hoping to connect with their favorite Hollywood starlets can do so at the alarming website whorepresents.com. All of these mixups could have been avoided — or amplified — by a little creative intercapping.

So along with mayonnaise, diesel engines, and high-waisted pants, we think it's time to bring back the intercap.

Ed Levine: Are Healthy and Delicious Mutually Exclusive?.

Bad french fries are wasted calories. Half an order of great french fries aren't.

Bad news for NYC football fans. How often do NFL teams rebound from 0-2 starts?:

The conclusion: There are 10 winless teams now, the odds are that only one will make the post season... Coaches in sports are fond of saying it's not time to panic. But here at Stat Attack, we say the time to panic is now.

I love stats. Of course, if the Jets and Giants have a 90% chance each of losing on paper, then the Mets have a 90% chance of winning, which we all know is not the case.

Sports posts will dominate hello, typepad well through the World Series, and probably through an indictment of Barry Bonds coming this winter.

Not "My Pet Goat"

Austinist Takes A Look At What Bill Clinton's Been Reading:

Clinton may be an Oxford-educated Rhodes Scholar, political genius, former president and potential first First Gentleman, but he still likes to occasionally read cheap paperback thrillers you'd find at an airport news stand like the rest of us.

Austinist editors were in a bookstore last week when Bill Clinton did a book signing and took notes on Clinton's book recommendations, browsing habits, and what he finally purchased.

The Flavor Nobody Likes

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Mind Hacks brings us two citations of Harry Potter in field of headache research. The journal Headache, published an article Harry Potter and the Curse of the Headache, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published "I know you are but what am I?!" [PDF].

I always assumed Harry's headaches were simply manifestations of teenage angst, but the authors of the Curse of the Headache track every mention of headaches in the first six volumes and offers a medical context. I wonder how much research (if any) Rowling did on headaches before she decided on that particular affliction to symbolize the proximity of Voldemort, or if she herself suffers from migraines or other serious headaches. I also didn't realize that headaches were passed on biologically.

The second article demonstrates it's there's less brain activity required for younger people to consider people familiar to them than people who are not familar. Other studies show that the ideas of familiarity and belonging are in fact very malleable. I think there's more than headaches going on here, if it's easier for us to consider those closer to us than those foreign to us, that may explain how both communities and bias form in young minds.

I had to use Google Scholar to find the full text each of these articles. \I was a little disappointed the Headaches article only covers the progression through the first six books.

Also, Tricia links to HipHop.CN's Rap Challenge, "in search of China’s next big rap talent." I think Alaina's cousin run's this site? I also can't help but notice how similar The Rap Challenge logo is to Otorevo's logo.