Ben Worcester

Steve Jobs was cooler… but Bill Gates is the man.

fastcompany:

Can you guess who has saved more lives?

Infographic of the Day: Bill Gates Is A Better Superhero Than Batman

(via emergentfutures)

Looks like there really will be a better tomorrow, tomorrow.

via thedailywhat:

Colbert/Cain 2012 of the Day: Stephen Colbert announced today that he will be co-holding a rally in South Carolina’s College of Charleston alongside former presidential candidate Herman Cain.

The Rock Me Like A Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally will be held this Friday, January 20th @ 1:00 PM in front of C of C’s historic Randolph Hall.

“Herman is the only former candidate who truly shares my values,” said Colbert in a campaign press release. “It’s like our values were separated at birth. And our ethics are at least first cousins.”

The “Peabody Award-winning Grammy winner” released a political ad earlier this week though his unaffiliated SuperPAC asking South Carolinians to vote for Herman Cain.

The press release directed all questions concerning the rally to Yahoo Answers, as “they always know everything.”

[buzz-pol.]

via npr:

I thought it would be fun to start the year addressing some questions that many people have about the universe. Mind you, some of these are far from simple, true to what Milan Kundera once wrote, “the only truly serious questions are the ones that even a child can formulate.”

—Marcelo Gleiser fills us in on “What Happened Before The Big Bang? And Other Weird Cosmic Questions”

Yes!

Will also give a plus one to the latest in the collaborations between NOVA and Brian Greene - The Fabric of the Cosmos. Between this and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos on Netflix, there’s plenty for us computerchair cosmologists to enjoy until Neil De Grasse Tyson hits the FOX airwaves sometime after in 2013 (that’s assuming there’s still a post-apocalypse system in place for broadcasting).

Very excited about this evolution of The Sound of Young America! Love the new look and feel.

via putthison:

As I’ve written here before, the past few weeks I’ve been furiously working on launching a new public radio show called Bullseye with Jesse Thorn. It’s about the good stuff in popular culture. In-depth interviews with creators, recommendations from top critics, and original comedy.

You can hear the show on public radio stations around the country, including WNYC in New York, WHYY in Philadelphia, KALW in San Francisco and XM Public Radio (channel 133). You can ask your public radio station to check it out - it’s distributed by Public Radio International. You can also get it free in iTunes.

Below is a segment from our second episode, an interview with the comedian Chris Gethard. You might have heard Chris on last week’s This American Life. He’s had a crazy life, and has a great new book out called A Bad Idea I’m About To Do.

It’s the kind of interview where he has to say out loud the sentence “Your parents shouldn’t watch from a window as you beat a dwarf with a bat.”

So listen to it, then subscribe to the show in iTunes. That way you won’t miss upcoming interviews with Jack Handey, Jenna Fischer, Tim & Eric, Aisha Tyler and Werner Herzog.

The 12 Days of Christmas Vacation

I am very excited about this piece I wrote for Splitsider today about my favorite Christmas movie of all-time:

One of the best things about this time of year is getting to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Of all the Christmas movies out there, it’s definitely my favorite. Watching this third installment of the Griswold family was something of a tradition for the Worcester family, and even after countless viewings, it still makes me laugh out loud every year.

If you’re like me and consider yourself an extended member of the Griswold family, read on at Splitsider.

theatlantic:

The Atlantic Monthly was first published on this day in 1857. Our first cover.

Heidi and I went as Oblio and Arrow for Halloween this year. If you haven’t ever seen The Point! now’s the time to get on that. Provided you’re down with underrated, trippy cartoons from the 1970s. And Harry Nilsson.

Spotted this while visiting home in MN over the summer. I hope there is at least one nerd living on this street who appreciates their address.