I try and preface entries with this as little as possible, but this link I’m about to share is a “must see.” It’s a talk given by Malcolm Gladwell for New Yorker Magazine about how people are vetted to determine how they will perform in various roles such as professional sports, teachers, lawyers, etc.

Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite thinkers. If he’s not already one of yours he may very well be after this. Set aside 20 minutes and watch this as soon as possible; you will love me for making you.

[ The Combine Doesn't Work | Malcolm Gladwell ]

One final thing: Gladwell is an economist, but with him you have to stop thinking about this term as purely financial. Between Gladwell and Scott Adams I’ve come to a new appreciation and understanding for the discipline. My new understanding of the word is, “The study of causes and effects.”

This new type of economist attempts to figure out, quite simply, the inputs that go into an outcome. And quite often they end up shattering the ideas we’ve long held about why things happen the way they do. Case in point: Roe vs. Wade lowered the crime rate in the 90′s.

A fellow blogger over at Pretty Good on Paper has a very interesting project going. He takes blogs and pulls down all their content and analyzes the vocabulary used. He just finished analyzing my blog today, and has posted the results.

According to his analysis, my blog added a respectable 528 new words to the database, which is evidently something of a feat given how many blogs he’s already assimilated. Although I suppose a lot of that had to do with the fact that I have posts all the way back to 1996.

Anyway, it’s a very cool project and I suggest you check it out.

[ Link: What Words Do You Own? ]

I just found a really cool tool that lets you see who’s looking at your site. It’s called whos.amung.us, and it’s worth a look if you blog or otherwise manage a site.

[ Link: whos.amung.us ]