Nimble Code: Tag nytimes

My NYTIIH Score, Year Two

harrisj@nimblecode.com (Jacob Harris) — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:05:00 -0800

It’s that time of the year again, when the air gets a certain crispness, snatches of holiday song fill the air, and everybody communes with their friends and family, joined in warmth by their shared commitment to one thing: figuring out their New York Times Year In Ideas Hipness score. For those of you who missed this last year, I’ve started the personal tradition of reading through the New York Times Magazine’s annual Year In Ideas issue and tabulating how many of the collected phenomena I had known about beforehand. This is no mere game; a sufficiently high score is the only thing that allows me to still bask in the comfort of being “with it”, so please appreciate the seriousness of this moment.

I’ve been a bit late coming to the game this year (it’s been a really busy December), but now is the moment of truth and a big game day question: Now that I actually work at the Times, how will that affect my score? On the one hand, I am that much closer to the elitist, liberal, intellectual mindset the Times is so renowned for, so that should conceivably help my score. But – and I am painfully aware of the irony here – I find myself with so much less time to read the news these days now that I’m actually working for it, which might detract from my score.

If you’ve never read the Year in Ideas issue, give it a gander and see how much you recognize. I’m sure there will be some things you recognize a little, some you’ve known for years (as the picture shows, I’m very aware that shipping containers explain everything), and some things that will completely surprise you. And if you’re feeling competitive, tally up your score and see how intellectually hip you are. My results follow:

The Aerotropolis	The New Inequality
Air-Index Impressionism	Olfactory Cuisine
The Ambient Walkman	Paternity Confidence
The Ballot That Is Also a Lottery Ticket	Phantom Pianists
The Beer-Gut Flask	Psychological Neoteny
Bicycle Helmets Put You at Risk	Publication Probity
Big Urbanism	Redefining Torture
The Boomerang Drone	The Return of the Corporate State
Cohabitation Is Bad for Women’s Health	Reverse Graffiti
The Comb That Listens	The Robot Fielder
Creative Shrinkage	Rods From God
Digital Maoism	Sailing an Oil Tanker
The Diplomat-Parking-Violation Corruption Index	Salt That Doesn’t Stick
The Drivable One-Man Blimp	Shipping Containers Explain Everything
The E. Coli Wipe	Smart Elevators
Empty-Stomach Intelligence	The Social-Cue Reader
Energy-Harvesting Floors	Sousveillance
The Eyes of Honesty	Speed-Reducing Art
The Fashion Czar	Spit Art
For-Profit Philanthropy	Sporno
The Gyroball	Straw That Saves Lives
The Hidden-Fee Economy	Taxing Virtual Economies
Homophily	Techno Fashion
Human-Chimp Hybrids	The Tongue Sucker
The Humane Flophouse	Trash-Talk Exegesis
Hyperopia	Tushology
Indie Sitcoms	Unscratchable Paint
Jujitsu Advertising	The Visage Problem
The Lady Macbeth Effect	Voting-Booth Feng Shui
Literary Spam	Walk-In Health Care
Low Starting Prices Lead to High Auction Sales	Web-Based Microfinancing
Misery Chic	The Wheelchair Car
Money-Circulation Science	Wine That Ages Instantly
The Myth of ‘the Southern Strategy’	Workplace Rumors Are True
Narcissistic Celebrities	Yodeling Is Universal
N.C.A.A. Psyop	The YouTube Referee Indictment
Negativity Friendships	The Ziggurat of Zealotry

There you have it. A total score of 46 out of 74, for a NYTYIIH score of 55.4%! Given the wide-ranging scope of ideas, this might seem decent enough, except last year I scored an impressive 65.38%. Oh the humanity! I guess I’m now longer the idea hipster/coolhunter I thought I was. But can you do better?

Moving On

harrisj@nimblecode.com (Jacob Harris) — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 10:37:00 -0700

Eight years. That’s how long I have worked at Alacra, starting fresh out of school in the heady days of the first web boom. Eight years is an astounding length of time to most programmers, conditioned to a revolving door approach to employment, and it is a testament to what an interesting and nurturing place Alacra is that I’ve been here this long. Furthermore, I’m hardly an anomaly among the developers, most of whom have been here well over five years too. It’s a place where people like to stay, and it feels more like a family than an office sometimes. But I am now leaving. Alacra’s been my only post-college job, and it’s simply time for me to try something new.

Next week, I will start working at New York Times Digital. Yes, that New York Times that is delivered to about 1.5 million readers in dead tree form. That number might seem impressive in itself, but 50 times that number of users read the online web version, meaning I will be working on apparently the most popular online news site in the world. Yow. No pressure there. Seriously though, I am looking forward to the challenges and I hope to learn a lot of new skills on the job. The new office building will also be pretty sweet when it opens.

Still, the change is weird. It’s definitely been a strange two weeks in this liminal zone, and I am filled with conflicting emotions. I am sad about leaving all my colleagues at Alacra, but enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead. It’s an exciting time.

Calculate Your NYTYIIH Score!

harrisj@nimblecode.com (Jacob Harris) — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 10:08:00 -0800

For the past 5 years, the New York Times has graced with an annual roundup article titled The Year In Ideas. The issue actually came out last week, but it’s a sign of my recent workload – and the excessive number of holiday parties I had to attend – that I only read it on the commute into work today.

It actually was rather boring. Not because of the ideas themselves, but because I had actually read many of them before on various blogs and other geeky websites (Sometimes, I long for a service like “del.icio.us” for feed subscriptions just so I can share how hip the feeds I read are). I am not an information omnivore by any means, but it was apparent that I was cued into some of the same idea sources as the editors of the New York Times. Which led to an idea of my own. Since the New York Times has declared its Year In Ideas issue to be an annual tradition, I’m going to start my own personal tradition of tabulating my personal New York Times Year In Ideas Hipness score (or NYTYIIH for short). The methodology is simple. Look at every idea listed and if you had heard of it before reading in the Times, give yourself a point. Okay, let’s get started then.

The following table lists the titles of the ideas in the 2005 Year in Ideas issue with bold ones being ideas I had encountered before. I know some of the titles are cryptic, but you can take that up with the New York Times editors and not me.

Accredited Bliss	Playoff Paradigm, The
The Anti-Paparazzi Flash	Pleistocene Rewilding
The Anti-Rape Condom	The Porn Suffix
Branding Nations	Preventing Suicide Bombing
Cartoon Empathy	The Readable Medicine Bottle
Celebrity Teeth	Republican Elitism
Cobblestones are Good for You	Robot Jockeys
Collapsing the Distribution Window	The Runaway Alarm Clock
Consensual Interruptions	Scientific Free-Throw Distraction
Conservative Blogs are More Effective	Seeing With Your Ears
Dialing Under the Influence	The Self-Fulfilling Trade Rumor
Do-It-Yourself Cartography	The Serialized Pop Song
Dolphin Culture	The Sitcom Loyalty Oath
Econophysics	Solar Sailing
Embryo Adoption	The Sonic Gunman Locator
Ergomorphic Footwear	Splogs
The Fair Employment Mark	The Stash Rocket
The False-Memory Diet	Stoic Redheads
The Fleeting Relationship	The Stream-of-Consciousness Newspaper
Folksonomy	Subadolescent Queen Bees
Forehead Billboards	The Suburban Loft
Gastronomic Reversals	The Synesthetic Cookbook
Genetic Theory of Harry Potter	Taxonomy Auctions
The Global Savings Glut	”The Crawl” Makes You Stupid
The His-and-Her TV	The Toothbrush That Sings
The Hollywood-Style Documentary	The Totally Religious, Absolutely Democratic Constitution
The Hypomanic American	Touch Screens That Touch Back
The Infrared Pet Dry Room	Trial-Transcript Dramaturgy
In Vitro Meat	Trust Spray
Juvenile Cynics	Two-Dimensional Food
The Laptop That Will Save the World	The Uneavesdroppable Phone Conversation
Localized Food Aid	The Urine-Powered Battery
Making Global Warming Work for You	Video Podcasts
Medical Maggots	Why Popcorn Doesn’t Pop
Microblindness	Worldwide Flat Taxes
Monkey Pay-Per-View	Yawn Contagion
National Smiles	The Yoo Presidency
Open-Source Reporting	The Zero-Emissions S.U.V.
Parking Meters That Don’t Give You a Break	Zombie Dogs

So, what is my final score? 51 out of 78, which gives me NYTYIIH score of 65.38%! I’m quite pleased with myself this year; since I have just started, I can unabashedly call this year’s score my personal best. Can you beat me?