What the White House Looks Like Completely Gutted

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Brian Resnick, at Mashable writes:

The social events of the 1948 holiday season had to be canceled. And with good reason: Experts called the third floor of the White House “an outstanding example of a firetrap.” The result of a federally commissioned report found the mansion’s plumbing “makeshift and unsanitary,” while “the structural deterioration was] in ‘appalling degree,’ and threatening complete collapse.” The congressional commission on the matter was considering the option of abandoning the structure altogether in favor of a built-from-scratch mansion, but President Truman lobbied for the restoration. [Please click through the link to check out the pictures. They're worth it. I wouldn't ever link to Mashable, otherwise.

App.net Launches Free Tier

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Dalton Caldwell, at the App.net Blog writes:

Although App.net has had only paid account tiers thus far, we initially conceived of App.net as a freemium service. It took some time to get to this point, but we are now ready to make this vision a reality. Sorry folks but I've already sent out my existing invites. You must have an invite to create a free account, or you can just subscribe like the rest of us.

Oscar Predictions, Election-Style

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Having been invited to an Oscar viewing party tonight with a bunch of like-minded Twitter users, I was a little perplexed because I haven't seen any of the major films nominated this year. In my old age of thirty, I rarely go to the movies anymore, choosing to watch them on my home theater when they appear on iTunes for HD purchase. Thankfully, Nate Silver came through for me. Nate Silver, at FiveThirtyEight writes:

Twice before, in 2009 and 2011, I sought to predict the Academy Award winners in six major categories based on a mix of statistical factors. My track record? Nine correct picks in 12 tries, for a 75 percent success rate. Not bad, but also not good enough to suggest that there is any magic formula for this. So this year, I have sought to simplify the method, making the link to the FiveThirtyEight election forecasts more explicit. This approach won’t be foolproof either, but it should make the philosophy behind the method more apparent. The Oscars, in which the voting franchise is limited to the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, are not exactly a democratic process. But they provide for plenty of parallels to political campaigns. In Nate Silver we trust. I will be blatantly stealing his predictions when filling out my Oscar Bingo Card tonight. You bet against Nate Silver at your peril.

CBS Bans SodaStream's Superbowl Commercial To Appease Coke & Pepsi

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Thanks to John Gruber at Daring Fireball for spreading the word on this. More good news to help bolster CBS's new reputation for being a crummy company this week… Will Burns, at Forbes writes:

CBS banned SodaStream’s Super Bowl spot because, apparently, it was too much of a direct hit to two of its biggest sponsors, Coke and Pepsi. Please pause and read that sentence again. Here's the ad, which is quite humorous:

A Pickpocket's Tale: The Spectacular Thefts Of Apollo Robbins

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Adam Green, writing for The New Yorker:

A few years ago, at a Las Vegas convention for magicians, Penn Jillette, of the act Penn and Teller, was introduced to soft-spoken young man named Apollo Robbins, who has a reputation as a pickpocket of almost supernatural ability. Jillette, who ranks pickpockets, he says, “a few notches below hypnotists on the show-biz totem pole,” was holding court at a table of colleagues, and he asked Robbins for a demonstration, ready to be unimpressed. Robbins demurred, claiming that he felt uncomfortable working in front of other magicians. He pointed out that, since Jillette was wearing only shorts and a sports shirt, he wouldn’t have much to work with. “Come on,” Jillette said. “Steal something from me.” Again, Robbins begged off, but he offered to do a trick instead. He instructed Jillette to place a ring that he was wearing on a piece of paper and trace its outline with a pen. By now, a small crowd had gathered. Jillette removed his ring, put it down on the paper, unclipped a pen from his shirt, and leaned forward, preparing to draw. After a moment, he froze and looked up. His face was pale. “Fuck. You,” he said, and slumped into a chair. Robbins held up a thin, cylindrical object: the cartridge from Jillette’s pen. The article is amazing. Read it. After having done so, check out this follow-up done by Jason Kottke that includes a video demonstration by Apollo Robbins himself. Also, there are numerous videos on YouTube that you can watch. Some good ones: * Neil deGrasse Tyson & Apollo Robbins on NOVA's scienceNOW * Apollo Robbins' "Great Pickpocket Routine"