American Drink is one of my absolutely favorite new blogs. It mixes cocktail recipes with longer stories about bars and fond memories from the authors’ childhood. Just read this paragraph:
I told him about that time in kindergarten when I accidentally punched a girl in the face while fooling around, and about that other time when I fell into a hotel swimming pool at Disney World and was within mere seconds of death when I saw my dad’s arm come through the gin-clear water to yank me out.
(Also, their motto is the best: “Be responsible. Drink for fun.”)
— American Drink | “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a bartender…”.
Nailin’ it:
Here’s what Jim and the rest don’t seem to realise. Revenue from Adsense and its ilk is a reward for writing content that made people want to visit your website and grant you a pageview. If you do it really well, you’ll get a bunch of pageviews, and a bunch of money. Employing tricks like needless pagination, auto-refreshing (see Salon.com), misleading headlines, and the like is cheating. You didn’t earn those pageviews, you tricked people into giving them to you.
— Oh Man, That Jim Lynch Guy • nostrich.
This might officially be one of the best blogs right now: You are not so smart.
Various topics are explored on the basis of a thesis that resembles the usual opinion on the matter with the “truth” being spelled out underneath it. The posts are based on scientific material and worth a read. Especially when difficult topics are handled (The Public Goods Game being one of them):
The Misconception: Memories are played back like recordings.
The Truth: Memories are constructed anew each time from whatever information is currently available, which makes things like eyewitness testimony unreliable.
The Misconception: People who are losing at the game of life must have done something to deserve it.
The Truth: The beneficiaries of good fortune often do nothing to earn it, and bad people often get away with their actions without consequences.
The Misconception: If everyone contributes to the good of society, everyone will benefit, and everyone will be happy.
The Truth: Without some form of regulation, slackers and cheaters will crash economic systems because people don’t want to feel like suckers.
The Misconception: Coffee stimulates you.
The Truth: You become addicted to caffeine quickly, and soon you are drinking coffee to cure withdrawal more than for stimulation.
The Misconception: The buttons placed around you do your bidding.
The Truth: Many public buttons are only there to comfort you.