November 20, 2010

• The Internet Shopping Bracket
  by Emma Barker

  The great thing about online shopping is that it’s like regular shopping, but without shame. The not-great thing about online shopping is that the Internet = everything, which is overwhelming. And then also the money thing. But! With the Hairpin's Official Internet Shopping Bracket you can now enjoy the endorphin rush of commercialism without the guilt/crippling debt that comes with a shopping addiction, plus an NCAA basketball-style organizational system. (There's even a downloadable PDF.)

  Here's how it works: Open a tab for every online shop you like. Go through each tab and put everything you like even a little bit into your virtual cart — no commitment to purchase is necessary.

  Then force yourself to choose between things, over and over for hours, until it's all the way down to just two items, at which point I usually spend a few minutes mumbling pros and cons before closing the window altogether and basking in a deep sense of relief. And voila! You now have all the endorphins of a full-fledged shopping trip without having spent a dime.

  Emma Barker is a writer and diagram artist living in Brooklyn. Pro: She wrote this. Con: There is no con.

  6 Comments

• Cool Internet Map of America

  Shared by jftesser
  
  This is endlessly fascinating.

  by Edith Zimmerman

  Andrew Sullivan draws our attention to Mapping the Measure of America, an addicting, beautifully designed interactive map filled with facts and numbers about health, education, and income throughout the country (and pretty colors and appealing little symbols), as you can see in this screen-grab of New York at a glance. It’s also useful for picking up small-talk starters; for instance, did you know the state with the second-highest life expectancy is Minnesota?

  2 Comments

Digest powered by RSS Digest