Miss Cellania
Morning Cup of Links: Optimal Urinals
by Miss Cellania - March 2, 2010 - 4:04 AM
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Randall Munroe ponders the optimum number and configuration of urinals in a men’s room for the International Choice of Urinal Protocol. This is what happens when universal masculinity coincides with ultimate geekiness.
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Take this color career quiz to see what profession you should be in. Did it peg you correctly? (Thanks, Gwan!) This color quiz is even more fun. (via b3ta)
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Notable Achievements in the Art of Passing Gas. You have to really stand out to make history in a subject we shouldn’t even discuss.
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Improv Everywhere went to a bar and threw a birthday party for a random stranger. Being one of their targets is sort of like winning a lottery without buying a ticket, but strangely cooler.
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In Our Parents’ Bookshelves. You can learn a lot about a person by seeing what books they keep, but how can you start a conversation about someone’s e-reader collection? (via Metafilter)
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Tokyo/Glow is a stop-motion film that follows the “walk signal” man as he wanders through Tokyo at night. It’s short, simple, beautiful, and has a hint of a happy ending.
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Taking Pictures of Strangers. Without letting them know. It may sound creepy, but the result is often art.

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Comments (29)
  1. The color career quiz never gave me a result. It just took me back to the beginning of the quiz.

  2. Me too. A sleazy email-gathering device.

  3. Really? I never gave them an email address, clicked “no thanks” for the ad, and got my results (which were the same as the first time I tried it).

  4. Don’t enter your email. It brings you to an ad page before the results, but just click at the bottom to skip it.

    Interesting quiz. It nailed me pretty well.

  5. Yes, the color quiz has me pegged. It had my current career and my future aspirations in that list, too. How weird.

  6. The urinal thing from xkcd has been pondered from a mathematic perspective already by Thomas Fink in his book “The Man’s Book”. He actually turned it into an iPhone app.

    http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~tmf20/themansbook.shtml

    http://www.apptism.com/apps/urinal-test

  7. The color quiz nailed me as well. Named my current profession, my previous job and my two sideline/aspirational gigs.

    Almost scary.

  8. The color career quiz was spot on. “Dislikes selling, group projects, and repetitive activities.” That pretty much sums me up.

  9. Wow, that color quiz was completely correct for me!

  10. The color quiz was a little off for me- but it did nail what I am lacking in my current job (which lacks art/creativity). So maybe it was more accurate than I care to admit.

  11. The color career quiz had me spot-on, organized and systematic.

    The other color quiz, well I just don’t know what to make of that. All I can say is odd. But strangely fun!

  12. The color quiz works. Freaky!

  13. the colour quiz got me right on. creepy…

  14. I’ve tried that color test six times—sometimes giving my email addy, sometimes not. In every case, I am sent back to the beginning of the test. No results. Is it because I’m on a Mac? Am I doing something wrong?

  15. That can’t be it, loripop, I’m on a Mac as well.

  16. Anyone else notice the acronym for International Choice of Urinal Protocol (ICUP)? Remember that from childhood? Hah!

  17. When in a new friends place I always check out the books first, then the movies and music used to be third, but Mp3′s have killed the CD perusal.

    I don’t think I could ever stop buying books! I have an iPhone and have tried using to read books, but it’s not enjoyable.

  18. I guess it’s good to know that I am in the job I am suited for, according to the colors… but that is really weird!

  19. Ooooh, freaky… the color quiz described me to a T!

  20. Color Quiz had me head on… kinda scary since I’m doing something completely different from what I went to school for. How unhappy would I have been, had I stayed on that career path?

  21. Yeah, it was pretty accurate. It pegged me as a creater and a researcher and said my best careers would include teaching and working at a university. I am a science teacher who one day would like to be a university professor, and I love research! Who knew colors could tell that much?

  22. I really liked the DEVO Color Quiz. I really thought it was an actual study right up until the end.

  23. The color quiz got me EXACTLY!

  24. That color career quiz was completely off for me. And the other quiz- what was the point? Just annoying.

  25. I am fascinated with the e-readers, being a tech junkie…but I don’t think I could do away with my many bookshelves or my many books. I read the occasional graphic novel and comic book and I don’t think an e-reader will ever capture the art properly.

  26. I agree with Sarah! I go through someone’s books, music and movies, and it’s like having known them for a few months already. These things tell you SO much about a person. It’s so sad to realize they’re disappearing.

  27. Okay, so the Career Color Quiz didn’t work for me the first 10 times either. But then I switched from Safari to Firefox, and it worked for me. I don’t know why!

  28. Ditto to everyone else…color quiz, not only pegged me as an educator, but was specific enough to say “English Teacher”! Holy cow!!

  29. Improv Everywhere is awesome! they always make me smile

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