35 Longreads for the Holiday Week

by Christopher Paul on December 27, 2012

Speaking of lists, I meant to publish this much earlier but the holidays (and getting sick) got in the way. Aaron Cohen came up with his own list of long reads to help pass the time and take advantage of that new iPad you probably got.

It’s a little heavy on articles that discuss beer, drugs, and football but there are some great profiles and in-depth reporting pieces there, too. I’d recommend you send them to Instapaper or your other reading service of choice and read each one. For those I haven’t read already, I’ve added them to my queue.

The Hundred Best Lists of All Time

by Christopher Paul on December 27, 2012

The New Yorker has a list of the best lists of all time. It seems as if they are ranking them because they suggest some states may swap numbers 1 and 100. Snark or ranking aside, it’s a great set of lists and I’m going to enjoy brushing up on what they have curated.

via Kottke

Almost a month ago, I linked to Overthinking It which posted a breakdown of Law & Order outcomes. Jason Kottke recently wrote about it (which is probably the first time I heard of something before him).

But he did more digging and found an analysis of red and yellow alerts in Star Trek: The Next Generation. And true to their name, Overthinking It does just that by looking at the breakdowns of red/yellow alerts, when they happened, and affect on ratings.

I’m subscribing to OIT from now on…

Louis C.K.: The Proust Questionnaire

by Christopher Paul on December 13, 2012

Vanity Fair asked Louie C.K. to answer the Proust Questionaire for their January 2013 issue. My favorites:

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Not ever having to fill out this questionnaire.

And:

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
It would be that I never agreed to fill out this fucking thing.

Finally:

What is your motto?
Never, ever, ever again agree to do anything for any magazine ever.

via Kottke

Facebook Stories for 2012

by Christopher Paul on December 13, 2012

Facebook has put out a 2012 Year in Review feature that encapsulates some popular moments from your timeline. They also have a rather neat trends page that is one of the better ones I’ve seen. And as MG points out, there really isn’t anyone else with all the data to create such a thing.

via MG