Why movie-playing software has a "repeat" button

Short shameful confession: I had more fun than I can possibly tell you when I drew that last comic. Not only is it fun to create comics visually, but Comic Life makes these adorable sound effects when you resize images, delete them, increase the font sizes, etc.

My readers who are software designers - you seriously need to make more programs have cute sound effects. Can you imagine how much more joyful it would for people when they made a database entry it said, "YEAH!" every time they hit 'commit', or "Vooooooop!" when they resized a column in Excel? Help a girl out, put the FUN back in functional!

Anywho, on to today's post topic, which occurred to me in the wee hours of the morning.

For the longest time, I couldn't understand why movie playing software had a "repeat" button. These days I barely have the attention span or time to sit through one movie, let alone the same movie several times. I thought, well, maybe it's for those always-on televisions in places like hospital waiting areas and electronics stores. The people that work there, forced to watch this same horrible movie repeatedly, are not going to want to get up every time the credits roll. Especially if it's playing on forty TVs.

But, still, that can't possibly explain the design decision for a repeat button.

No, it had to be something else...

Image Description: Top panel, alarm clock says 4:12. Next panel, bright-eyed kid says,
"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy!". Next panel, bleary-eyed mother. Next panel,
kid says, "Wakey WAKEY, Mommy!". Last panel, an iPad showing "Finding Nemo", with a
magic wand pointing to the repeat control with the words "Magic!"

I remember the first time I saw the magic. It was winter, and my son was at a party with a dozen small children. They were indoors and literally bouncing off the walls. After about an hour, another parent said, "How about a movie?" and all the hyper kids screamed, "YEAH!". He put the movie in. Snap - just like that - immediate silence. Stillness. They were transfixed for hours.

With great power comes great responsibility, speaking of comics. But ParentWars be damned, bright-eyed children at 5am qualifies as the fairest use of television ever conceived.

Wales will host the Celtic Tri Nations Championships for the first time this weekend. Swimmers from Wales, Scotland and Ireland will go head to head at Wales National Pool, Swansea.



Georgia Davies clinches bronze in Delhi



Catherine Shearer, Senior Sports Psychologist at Sport Wales, explains why the event will assist our next generation of swimmers on the road to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

·         Familiarity breeds confidence - the more accustomed an individual is when competing on ‘the big stage’, the more their confidence is enhanced

·         Major events can be stressful for athletes so if they can get as much experience as possible at performing under pressure, the better they will become at handling it!

Welsh swimmers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games - in the final minutes before racing

·         There are a number of distractions at events such as friends, family and the media which can disrupt optimal preparations. Events like this give swimmers the chance to practice at not letting these distractions get in the way of their performance. Instead, they can focus on delivering a good performance.

·         Competing at a high level also allows swimmers the opportunity to watch experienced and successful swimmers prepare for an event. Learning by example, they can feel more confident that they are doing the right things.

• Competing also gives the opportunity to put into practice the hard training they put in everyday

If you fancy going to the Celtic Tri Nations, you can buy tickets here

Why is Watson a 'he'?

So there was an article recently about how Watson was moving beyond jeopardy and going into medicine.

Throughout the article, Watson is referred to with male pronouns. Personally, I always refer to computers as, 'it'. To do otherwise is just feels strange to me. It would be like giving my lettuce gender. "My, he's very crispy tonight."

What I found even more strange about the article was how Watson was going to beat "his competitor", another diagnosis engine called Isabel. This machine is referred to with female pronouns, "...but Watson's trainers don't seem to see her as a threat; they say he's already faster and understands more medical terms."

Uh huh.

I've decided from this day forward all my future computers will be named "Pat". That'll learn 'em.

Healthy Skeptic Podcast

Chris Kresser has just posted our recent interview/discussion on his blog The Healthy Skeptic.  You can listen to it on Chris's blog here.  The discussion mostly centered around body fat and food reward.  I also answered a few reader questions.  Here are some highlights:

• How does the food reward system work? Why did it evolve?
• Why do certain flavors we don’t initially like become appealing over time?
• How does industrially processed food affect the food reward system?
• What’s the most effective diet used to make rats obese in a research setting? What does this tell us about human diet and weight regulation?
• Do we know why highly rewarding food increases the set point in some people but not in others?
• How does the food reward theory explain the effectiveness of popular fat loss diets?
• Does the food reward theory tell us anything about why traditional cultures are generally lean?
• What does cooking temperature have to do with health?
• Reader question: How does one lose fat?
• Reader question: What do I (Stephan) eat?
• Reader question: Why do many people gain fat with age, especially postmenopausal women?

The podcast is a sneak preview of some of the things I'll be discussing in the near future.  Enjoy!

i started working in design back in college.  i got a part time job (that eventually became a full time job) here.  at MDI i met the best group of girls.  there were 5 of us that worked together for years.  we had the best time....i miss those girlies...they taught me so much about interior design.  one of those girls was jenny keenan.  i remember returning from my honeymoon and jenny telling me she was going to take the leap and start her own firm.  i was so excited for her but secretly i wanted to cry b/c i would miss working w/ her.  well, the leap paid off b/c she is making her mark all over the charleston area.  you might also recognize her pics from Southern Living and BHG that featured her house.  she just emailed me saying she started a blog....and i think y'all should check it out!!  and how precious is that picture of her daughter lily?!!

*all images from jenny keenan interiors