Worst analogies ever written in a high school essay. “He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. “

• funny
• language

Following three recent racial incidents (Michael Richards, Michael Irvin, and Mel Gibson), Malcolm Gladwell considers a possible spectrum of racial remarks.

• Malcolm Gladwell
• melgibson
• michaelirvin
• michaelrichards
• racism

Matt Haughey has a great idea about how to better search for missing persons: fly helicopters with cameras over the suspected locations, upload the resulting video/photos to the web, and an army of volunteers look the video/photos over for possible evidence. With enough eyeballs, all missing people are shallow.

• Matt Haughey

A panel of critics at The Guardian pick the world’s 40 best directors. Anyone missing? (via khoi)

Update: A reader pointed out that this list probably isn’t that current (Errol Morris’ Fog of War is still forthcoming, for example). Oh and please note that the list is comprised of working directors; it’s not an all-time list. (thx, kate)

• best of
• lists
• movies

Pesky OS X bug: Powerbook/MacBook/MacBook

Pesky OS X bug: Powerbook/MacBook/MacBook Pro freezes when using Cmd-Tab. Has anyone else ran into this problem…or even better, a solution? It’s happened on my Powerbook every 2-3 weeks since I got it about a year ago…and 3 times in the past two days.

• Apple
• OS X
• Powerbook

An incredibly detailed description of the eight different timelines in the three Back to the Future movies.

• backtothefuture
• movies
• time
• timelines
• time travel

Using a geometric shape called a Reuleaux triangle, it’s possible to drill square holes. Click through for all the exciting math!

Update: A video of a Reuleaux triangle rotating in a square. (thx, will)

Update: More on the Reuleaux triangle at MathWorld. (thx, nevan)

Update: The Reuleaux triangle is also the basis for the Wankel engine.. (thx, brian & adam)

• geometry
• math
• video

Sketchfighter 4000 is a gorgeous video game with a hand-drawn look. (via df)

• games
• video games