It Has No National Character

Stefany Anne Golberg wrote a great essay to mark the 30th anniversary of the Rubik's cube earlier this year.

Ernő Rubik has often been painted as a taciturn loner, a grudging genius who built a beautiful object he hoped would create an introspective space where individuals could consider the elegance of geometry, and who instead became an icon for one of the great marketing crazes of all time. Rubik developed the Cube inside 1970s Communist Hungary, in a milieu where individual pursuits were not just fun but often necessary for psychic survival. He didn’t entirely believe he could solve the Cube when he built it, and it took him a solitary month while living in his mother’s apartment to do so. In an interview in the mid-1980s, Rubik described the Golden Age of the Cube as the time before it went global, when ''it brought only delights to me." "One of the main characteristics of the Cube is that it has no national character,” he has said. “It’s about a human being trying to solve his or her problem.”

It has no national character. True. It's pain in the buttness transcends state borders

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20 Moves

Researchers using 35 CPU-years of idle computer time (anyone care to explain what this actually means in layman's term?) donated by Google concluded that all Rubik's cubes can be solved in 20 moves. Fascinating. I'm still working on solving it in 400 moves. [Via]

Muffin War

See how the English muffin on the right looks fluffier and has more nooks and crannies than the one on the left? The right one is made by Thomas and the company claims that this is a proprietary secret which is known only to  seven people. One of those seven, Chris Botticella is now being sued by Thomas after he accepted a job offer with a rival bakery, Hostess.

Oh snap.

Botticella scoffed and said there's muffin to their charge and that Thomas was just nutty and full of hot air, but a federal judge granted an injunction barring his hiring after concluding that Botticella's behavior demonstrated an intention to use Thomas' "trade secrets during his intended employment with Hostess."

Corporate muffin espionage! I love it!

Brown University Students are the Happiest

According to the latest Princeton Review: Brown University students ranked number 1 for having the happiest students. No word on how Emma Watson voted. [Hat tip: Ub]

Is Facebook a Nation-State?

The Economist explores whether Facebook-whose 500 million users places it third among the most populous countries in the world (after China and India)-can be considered a nation-state or is it more like "a giant transnational movement—comparable to the Red Cross or the Catholic church—which has an overarching aim and can speak to governments on something like equal terms."

Sob!

Cue: Noooooooooooooo.

In case you're wondering, the picture is of Chinese policemen destroying illegal gambling machines. Still. Noooooooooooooo.

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Quote

I'd rather weep in a BMW than smile on a bicycle.

- Quote by 22-year-old model Ma Nuo in an article about six rich Chinese twenty-something kids who belong to "the Sports Car Club" in the July edition of Chinese GQ, which has now been pulled off the GQ website.

Rumble

In this recent news item about a fisticuff that broke out between Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi's presidential guard against the Ugandan security at the African Union summit, CNN reports:

Apparently annoyed the meeting was moved, Gadhafi slapped three of his own personnel...

What I need to know is if he used his open palm or the back of his hand. And secondly if he slapped all three at the same time with one swing kind of like this.

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But Does Times Square Ever Sleep?

Observations of a night spent in Times Square from a New York Times Sunday Magazine article published on May 8, 1910.

Since 8 o'clock or before, building hope on the generosity of the theatregoing crowd the [homeless man wearing a] bundle of rags has been squatting in its corner, forcing out wheezy sounds from its wretched concertina. Before it, massing on the pavements, dashing across the street in front of whizzing motors and clattering caps, the panorama of Broadway has been unfolded -- that panorama of strange contrasts, with its luxury and pseudo luxury, to bring envy to the snapping point. But such a one as this, the bundle of rags aforesaid, has lost the spirit to be envious. At least a pallid hope, a sort of anaemic longing, that an occasional nickel will be dropped into the cup, mistaken in the darkness for a penny... Three or four blocks up the street a string band is still playing away for a dozen or more couples who will not forsake the rather Bohemian restaurant until the gray of dawn, and who now, under the inspiration of their wine, are whooping it up in songs, telling silly stories, or retailing unpleasant gossip.

But in the big hotels, the Knickerbocker across the way, and the Astor, the fiddles have had time to get into a deep sleep, the lights in the grill are out, chairs are banked on the tables, and the sweepers are already busy in the lobby getting ready for another day...

But does Times Square ever sleep?

It never really does.

Living a few blocks from Times Square I can attest to the fact that nothing has really changed much apparently from 1910.

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Quote

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.

- H.G. Wells

The 10 Things to Talk About This Weekend

One of my guilty New York Times pleasures is its weekly snarky "The 10 Things to Talk About This Weekend" column for reasons such as these in this week's edition:

8. Bill Clinton: Haiti helper, wedding host. Al Gore: environmentalist absentee, massage enthusiast. Bill and Al are starring in a remake of “Freaky Friday.”

10. Getting a bad reception: Bristol and Levi’s engagement, the iPhone 4.

Hi-yoooo!

Greatest Office Prank Ever, Starring Rupert Murdoch

Ricky Van Veen shares a hilarious prank played on Neel Shah during his tenure while working at New York Post's "Page Six" that involved an omniscient Rupert Murdoch hounding Neel for wearing shorts to the office.

And we’re bullshitting about the Mets, when all of a sudden the phone rings. Sal answers, “This is the NewsCafe. Oh, hello, Mr. Murdoch, how are you?”

So obviously my ears perk up at the mention of Our Fearless Leader. Sal looks at me oddly and goes, “Mr. Murdoch would like to know why you’re wearing short pants.” So I look at Sal and am like, “Dude, what the hell are you talking about?” And he continues talking into the phone without taking his eye off me and is like, “Yes, I see, okay, I’ll ask,” and then looks at me and goes, again, “Mr. Murdoch is inquiring again as to why you are wearing short pants in the office.” And I look at Sal and am like, “I do not follow. How does he know I’m wearing shorts?” And Sal covers the receiver and says, “He is in his office but he can see you. He has a camera down here.”

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Who the Hell is This Guy Named Bony?

An artist friend of mine doing some extra side work at a finance firm IM'd me the following:

So the past 11 months I've worked here, people are always taking about Bony, like did that trade with Bony go through? Did you get in touch with Bony? Did you send those emails out to Bony? And I've always been like who the hell is this guy named bony??!!

And I finally figured out that its Bank of New York.

God.

Final Comment

Cleveland-based agency Brokaw Advertising gets in the last word on this LeBron matter.

Now we return you back to your regularly scheduled programming like this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.

"I Personally Guarantee that the Cleveland Cavaliers Will Win an NBA Championship Before the Self-Titled Former 'King' Wins One"

Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert's forceful open letter to fans.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

I like that the letter was written in comic sans.

Drowning is Almost Always a Deceptively Quiet Event

In movies drowning people are always splashing around, waving frantically and yelling loudly. In reality, "drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event." According to this, that person who appears to be quietly treading water might actually be drowning. A human body's instinctive response to drowning is something like this:

1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface.

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What an Asshole

Gavin Stanger, 24, of East Wenatchee, Washington attempted to smuggle the following items into jail rectally: a green cigarette lighter, cigarette rolling papers, a golf-ball size baggie of tobacco, a bottle of tattoo ink, eight tattoo needles, a one-inch-long smoking pipe and a small baggie of suspected marijuana. [Via]

Happy Friday

It's a long holiday weekend so go extra wild.

I Have Been in Charge of All Aspects of Spying

The LinkedIn profile of (accused) Russian spy Anna Chapman. She listed her position during her time at Barclays London as "Slave."

Meet John Doe

In an attempt to ease his assimilation after moving to the United States from Korea, then 11 years old Jang Do convinced his parents to allow him to change his name to John Doe. Now a 40-year-old computer engineer, he lives in the Upper West Side.

Airport security grills him every time he flies. “I have to sit in the office,” he said. “Every time.” Landlords and election inspectors view him quizzically, and prospective dates need more than a little assurance that he’s not hiding a dark past.

And yes, everyone jokes that he needs to marry someone name Jane.

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