onfocus

Buster Benson put together this concise way to think about cognitive biases by grouping them into four big problems our brains have evolved to deal with. There's a lot to think about (potentially systemically irrationally) here.

Hotel Melancholia, a nauseating (in a good way) look at how being in hotels can affect people. [via MeFi]

Some practical strategies for teaching empathy to kids.

Buster Benson on developing a highly available life: "An antifragile way of life is all about finding a way to gain from the inevitable disorder of life. To not only bounce back when things don’t go as planned, but to get stronger, smarter, and better at continuing as a result of running into this disorder."

A game designer lays out his existential frustration. I really like the idea of stepping back and stripping away the 'best practices' around an activity to find its core function. And then asking if that core function is meaningful. Excellent food for thought. [via torrez]

"Allow me to offer a suggestion. If you are privately communicating with someone for the first time, as a general rule, the best course of action is to be polite and to the point."

Good reminder: "Complain about the way other people make software by making software." Put another way: be the change in the world you want to see.

Hey neat! James Taylor has some highly produced guitar lessons he's putting on YouTube. [via scottandrew]

"As we mature as developers, finding logic errors and incomplete solutions becomes our way of life. It defines us. But our engineering strength is also our social weakness." uhoh, I'm guilty of this sometimes. [via mathowie]

A nice modal window kit for Prototype.

"Amplify's goal is to simplify all forms of data handling by providing a unified API for various data sources." Looks like a write-once way to handle client side storage.

Filed for use: "...ultimate guide to 37 download resources for hundreds of [mobile] emulators and simulators."

Nice collection of the way popular iPhone applications have approached splash screens, user profiles, lists, etc.

"That's what the beer commercials are going after--the enthusiastic desperation of the underage drinker."

Interesting changes for ColdFusion within Adobe. CF development has been separated from Platform (ie. Flash) development.

"If I had to give you a single piece of managerial advice, I would say: 'Your job with your nerd is to bring calm to their chaos'." The author of Being Geek on managing software geeks.

Kellogg's: not the best source for parenting advice.

A nice alternative to a standard AJAX poller that takes network latency and server errors into account.

Matt has a great summary of South by Southwest Interactive 2010.

Google Tech Talk by Amy Jo Kim about "Applying Game Mechanics to Functional Software".

Jesse Schell talks about Facebook games, moving beyond them, and the scary future of achievements unlocked in real life.

"It turns out that milder sanctions can be swifter and more certain." Interesting article in the Economist about alternate strategies for curbing crime.

A TextMate plugin that provides a better "find within project" feature. Nice!