• James Landay: “Nice profile of Scott Klemmer’s work in Technology Review: Tools for Better Web Design”
• Watch President Obama announce the death of Osama bin Laden: MSNBC
• [May 1] Osama’s death have prompted huge crowds to gather at World Trade Ctr. (Wall Street Journal) Hard to believe I was there <36 hrs ago.
• Sadat Shami: “Interactive map of emotional reactions and the perceived significance on the war on terror after Bin Laden’s death” (New York Times)
• Overrrated Outcast: “We still haven’t seen Sarah Palin’s high school diploma.”
• Keir Clarke: “Washington Post Map of the American Civil War. I can’t believe how much work has gone into this animated time-line map.”
• New York Times: Intel Increases Transistor Speed by Building Upward. James Landay adds: “This will be more important than people say.”
• “Henry Kissinger”: “I asked Palin for her thoughts on secularism in Turkey. She said she only eats poultry from ‘God-fearing farmers’. #GiveMeStrength”
• Overthinking It: The economics of Death Star planet destruction (via Daring Fireball)
• Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (Physics FAQ)
• Google at CHI 2011 (via Ed Chi )
• Another sweet stop-motion video: 2000 photos of Paris
• A reminder to all Americans going to CHI 2011: Canada is a foreign country. Don’t forget your passport.

Two Saturdays ago Brian, Will, and I went to the Tech Museum of Innovation to check it out. None of us had been there for years, so we wanted to see what it was like now. Well, sadly, we all found that it was mainly focused on kids and that we had outgrown it. So while it was good to go once, I don’t think I’ll be spending $10 for the museum again.

Now, the IMAX movie at the museum, Roving Mars, was excellent for the most part. The photos of Mars were amazing, especially when they’re 80 feet tall. But the transition between actual footage of the launch from the ground and computer graphics of the rover flying through space was seamless — so seamless that it made me start to question the other images I was seeing. Were the images of Mars artists’ renditions or real satellite photos? (I think they’re the latter.) Still, I’d recommend the movie to anyone interested in the Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which have lasted much, much longer than anyone dreamed.

Afterwards, Tao joined us for Cuban food at the nearby Los Cubanos restaurant [photo]. Very tasty, and very filling — we completely stuffed ourselves and still had leftovers. By the way, when I did a web search on the restaurant, I found two addresses and two phone numbers. Ugh. The real address is 22 N. Almaden Ave (not Blvd, and not San Pedro St), and I don’t remember which phone number is right.

There’s no excuse for anyone getting less than perfect on this quiz (unless they’re younger than 8th grade 🙂 ):

• Could You Pass 8th-Grade Math?

The Onion hits the nail on the head once again: Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New ‘Intelligent Falling’ Theory

Nothing deep here, just some stuff that interests me:

• The Golden Ratio: The Story of Φ, the World’s Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio. An entertaining account of the golden ratio, the author spends some time deflating the myths surrounding it, and then talks about its true significance and beauty.
• Language Visible (hardcover), aka Letter Perfect (paperback), by David Sacks. How did V and W develop from U? Why is tire spelled with a y in the UK? Did you know ye as in ye olde was actually pronounced “the”? Why does English have C, K, and Q when only one of these letters would have been enough? David Sacks does a wonderful job unraveling these and other mysteries of the English language and alphabet.
• Subway Style: 100 Years of Architecture & Design in the New York City Subway by the New York Transit Museum. Anyone who knows me knows this is my type of book: a richly illustrated design history of New York’s subway system that covers just about everything, including the stations, the trains, lighting, metalwork, signage, and maps. And not only transit geeks need apply: anyone with an interest in design and architecture will enjoy this book.
• America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction by the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Formatted in the style of an elementary school textbook, this is the funniest civics and history lesson since Dave Barry Slept Here. What a riot! Not for the easily offended.

After being stuck in the sand for almost 6 weeks, the NASA Mars rover Opportunity finally escaped. Kudos to the JPL engineers who got it out. It’s amazing that 14 months after NASA thought the rovers would be dead, they are both still going strong.