I’m a total sucker for this kind of stuff:

Watch more National Geographic Channel videos on AOL Video

And who knew that the reason the cross bar on women’s bikes are lower is to allow space to carry an orangutan?

Via User Friendly

Super cheesy, but cute:

I wonder how much post-it note sales have increased since people started making all sorts of videos like this on youtube.

Via Ovablastic.

A few more great comics from XKCD:

• Nowhere
• Bag Check
• Creepy
• Spinal Tap Amps
• Tornado Hunter

The heart is a complex thing:

Via Make

The artist (Haruki Nakamura) has a website, though it’s mostly in Japanese, so I can’t tell you much more about it, other than the consensus seems to be they’re all made out of paper of some sort.  Here are a couple more videos of the same artist’s works:

Previously here and here.

• Expired
• Starry Nite
• The Kraken
• Ambition
• Making Conversation
• Season’s Greetings

Another joke I got through email a while ago:

Beautiful girl looking for Richman

THIS APPEARED ON CRAIG’S LIST

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy. I’m not from New York. I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 – 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

-Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms
-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings
-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)?
-Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What’s the story there?
- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows – lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults – I’m putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them – in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 432279810

THE ANSWER
Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way. Classic “pump and dump.” I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

I really like origin stories, and particularly like this one.  It’s from the musical / movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch, though I think I originally saw it when they performed it live on some talk show long, long ago when it was a stage show.  NSFW.

• Getting ready
• Sounds about right
• Train ride
• Same goes for gitmo

Dominos by The Big Pink:

Seems like it would be great entrance music for something.

The ’59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem:

Has a certain Springsteen-esque-ness to it.

I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers:

Here (the player is off in the upper right hand corner of the page).  Very sing-along-able. I especially like the line: “Tell the ones that need to know, we are headed North.”

Androgynous by The Replacements (a local band, who though long defunct, seem to have a continuously spreading influence):

Here is the only version of it I can find online where the audio quality isn’t terrible.

There’s a certain bit of a relationship theme between all of those now that I listen to them all in a row.

A few days ago I was thinking about age differences in relationships.  Specifically, what is the culturally acceptable age difference between two people in a relationship.  I think everyone has a general idea of what’s okay, and it tends to fall along the lines of a couple years of age difference as teenagers, a few more as twenty-somethings, and the older you get, the more of an age range is okay.  But there’s also that fuzzy range.  The “not all out creepy” range, but where it still raises a few eyebrows and makes your close friends a little guarded and hesitant to offer any encouragement.

So, in thinking about this, it occurred to me that a better way to measure this would be the percentage of the age difference.  I’m calling this the Relationship Creepiness Index, or RCI for short.  To calculate it, take the age of the younger partner, and divide it by the age of the older partner.  If this value is between 100% and 85%, it’s pretty socially acceptable.  If it’s between 85% and 75%, you get into the makes your best friend uneasy range.  If you descend below 75%, you might as well get an unmarked white panel van and start hanging out down by the playground.  Okay, don’t actually do that, but that’s how people are probably going to see it.

In playing with the ranges a bit, percentages seem to work relatively well because they account for the fairly narrow dating range of teens and twenty-somethings, while still broadening out for the 40+ crowd, and even more so for senior citizens (though let’s not dwell on that).  The below graphic gives a thumbnail overview of the range, showing ages 14 to 95 on both axises:

The very, very large version of the above image is here. If you want to tweak the formulas or play with the numbers, here is a copy of the spreadsheet in ODS format.

The formula and bounds are still pretty rough, but it seems like a reasonable and simple equation.  To give a few examples:

• 20 and 23 year old dating = 39 and 45 year old dating = 52 and 60 year old dating = 87% = outer edge of the green zone, but fine.
• 18 and 23 year old dating = 35 and 45 year old dating = 47 and 60 year old dating = 78% = well into the yellow, pretty creepy
• 17 and 23 year old dating = 33.5 and 45 year old dating = 44 and 60 year old dating = 74% = go straight to creepytown.

It could probably use some tweaks, but it’s at least a starting point for measuring and comparing creepiness of age differences in relationships.