Many of you probably already know about Fark.com. But for those of you who don’t, the idea is amazingly simple – yet effective. Visitors post links to some wacky, tabloid headlines (sort of like Ripley’s Believe it or Not), and other visitors comment and vote on whether they think the headline is one of the best. Simple, yes. But the following for this site is phenomenal. Some may get addicted and others may leave wondering what the fuss is about. Give it a try and let us know
Browsing Posts published in January, 2007
Many Eyes is a new IBM site that, as far as we can tell, is still in Beta. The concept is interesting. Users upload data sets or use one of the data sets that the site provides, and results of questions are displayed in a visualized form. If you want to see which states say Pop and which states say Soda, you can view the results here. The color of the visualization depicts the density of the number for that particular state or part of the state. You can also see which state just says Coke (it’s Texas), by just using a different question on the data set. There are several other visualizations to play around with and I expect the site to get more interesting as more visitors find out about it and upload data. It’s an interesting idea, and I am not quite sure where IBM is headed with this site, but it fun to see questions visualized in a very creative manner.
The World Health Organization maintains an extensive site that estimates all aspects of health and health related care in most countries. The core statistics can be found here.
We did a bit of research and found this: Although Canada spends only $2,900 per person per year on health care (vs. $5700/year/person in the U.S), and is socialized and sometimes looked down upon by politicians in the U.S., Canadians still have a higher life expectancy of 80.5 years compared to 77.5 in the U.S. Japanese have an even higher life expectancy 82.5 years (the highest in the world) if though Japan only spends $2,200 per person per year, half that of the U.S.
Even more interesting is that Jamaica which spends only $216 per person per year, and Cuba which spends only $251 per person per year, have life expectancies that are approximate the same as those who live in the U.S. The true factor in determining life expectancy and health may be the overall quality and way we live our lives (e.g. exercise, diet, sleep, stress), and not how much we spend on physicians and drugs.
As I continue to look for creative talent to join me in developing this site, I came across this blog by a talent designer here in Chicago. He has some fascinating blog entries including this one on Spirographs. But the one that I thought would be most fun for our readers is right here, posted under the ActionScript link. We think it is just plain fun to see what George Bush could be if he just made some small changes to his personality. Nice, creative site, so we made it our Best Blog for the Day.
Photobucket is a free video/photo sharing site that lets you host and link your favorite images and videos online. Invite whomever you wish to view your postings from wherever they are in the world. Join into the social networks, auction sites, blogs, and message boards. In addition to linking, Photobucket users share their personal digital media by email, instant messaging, and mobile devices. The company actively moderates content to create a safe environment for its users, partners, and advertisers. Photobucket is reliable and very easy to use, making your world a little smaller.
