Tag Archives: Kennedy Center

Things I Learned this Week

Among the things I learned this week:
* American lobsters threaten European lobsters, mainly by their larger claw which wins in fights and woos the lady lobsters. (Courtesy: William Mauldin/WSJ)

* Finally, I’m a good hitter–at least in the world of Whiffle-ball home-run derby. (Courtesy: Personal experience)

* The real tennis community is big and vocal enough to have a trending Twitter hashtag during the 2016 Real Tennis World Championship. (Courtesy: National Tennis Club and its HD stream)

* The first American staging/context of Wager’s Ring Cycle is excellent. (Courtesy: Personal experience)

Things I Learned this Week

Among the things I learned this week:
* The New York Yankees air dry their laundered uniforms, and visiting teams have laundry facilities and staff. (Courtesy: NYT)

* Motion detecting towel dispensers use D batteries. (Courtesy: Personal experience)

* Cull is the term for a lobster missing a claw. Pistol is the term for a lobster with no claws. (Courtesy: Cull & Pistol)

* October is considered an appropriate time to start selling Christmas ornaments. (Courtesy: Kennedy Center)

* RSAP (Renoir Sucks at Painting) Movement. (Courtesy: NYT)

* USGS uses Twitter and other social media data to supplement seismic instrument data to detect earthquakes. (Courtesy: Fellow Party Attendee)

Things I Learned this Week

Among the things I learned this week:
* Spotify audio quality isn’t as good as I expected, despite knowing the format. I suspect it is a non-issue for most people. (Courtesy: Spotify)

* Weddings benefit from having Baltimore-based attendees: They know how to dance and they play good music. (Courtesy: MLs)

* According to excellent, interesting, insightful, and important research by Byers, Mitzenmacher, and Zervas, daily deals carry a reputational cost to the sponsoring establishment. Specifically, Yelp reviewers who went to an establishment due to a Groupon or LivingSocial coupon, reviewed the establishment 10 percent lower than non-daily deals reviewers. The paper also sheds light and raises questions about the sales dynamics of daily deals and social network effects on these types of sales. I only wish they had better controlled for the Yelp reviews by comparing daily deal establishments with non-daily deal establishments across the same time; not only is this relevant methodologically, but it is also something of interest to me. (Courtesy: Business Insider)

* Reading Rainbow returns as an iOS app! (Courtesy: TUAW)

* Chinese shadow play is cool, but lacks the unmatchable brilliance of gamelan, the music that accompanies Indonesia’s shadow play–wayang kulit. (Courtesy: Tangshan Shadow Puppet Theatre)

* Karen O, like me, is getting into opera. (Courtesy: Yeah Yeah Yeahs)