“If you hear a ‘prominent’ economist using the word equilibrium, or normal distribution, do not argue with him; just ignore him, or try to put a rat down down his shirt.” (The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, pg. 210)

or, rather, Term of the Day:

Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia: Pain in the forehead and face caused by rapid cooling and rewarming of the blood vessels of the palate, eg, by  quickly eating something cold, like ice cream.

A funny thing happened to my brother the other day…

He was transacting some business in a local branch of Bank Discount. The teller, fumbling for a word in English, finally burst out, “How do you say hanacha in English?” My brother looked around at all the signs and branding and answered, “Discount”.

A V-8 moment.

Seen in Marbella (Andalucia):

Hotel Lorcrimar. It sounds so sad; like lacrimal (tear) ducts.

snif. 

I’m delighted to share the news that the My Link Wireless Phone Accessory product design concept has been short-listed for the 2008 MEX Mobile User Experience Awards in the Professional category! Awards will be announced on May 27 in London.

In any case, I believe that I’ve achieved my goal of getting the idea planted out there, and hopefully that will help to bring it to actualization sooner rather than later. Thanks for your votes! (or, “thank you in advance” — you know who you are!)

Car & Driver magazine (April 2008), reporting on a simulated “test drive” of the Mach 5 Speed Racer prototype for the live-action movie, includes the following about the special tires:

“And thanks to a breakthrough in molecular application, these ADVAN Sports can change the [tread] compound in accordance to driving surface variations and driver stress levels. The change occurs through the application of RMS (remote mandible sensors) that are mounted on the headrest. Yokohama has discovered that the jaw muscles of the driver are instrumental in reading the subtle changes in stress while driving. The data captured by RMS is sent to the sensors mounted inside the tires in 1/1,000,000,000th of a second. The sensor activates a magnetic charge within the tire’s bead assembly, which then activates the compound to change.”

Magazine found abandoned after a flight cancellation at Boston Logan airport.

 This week’s Israeli government slang verb: le’kandel.

“to run around, be busy, attend lots of meetings, but not actually do anything”

The verb root is derived from the name Condoleezza…

Actually, I’ve always liked her since seeing her photographed in a really professional maternity business suit.

I’ve submitted a product concept to the MEX design competition — it’s something I’ve wanted to make happen for a long time, but have had to keep on the back burner as it’s outside the focus of the company. Have a look and feel free to vote for the idea: My Link wireless phone accessory