Jeff Beckham

Super Bowl sets Twitter records

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:09:34 -0500

I did a quick recap of how the Super Bowl did on Twitter for the Wired.com Playbook blog. The closing moments of the game and the Madonna halftime show were the first two US-based events to crack the 10,000 tweet-per-second mark.

Neurotraining Helps Turbo-Charge Football Offenses

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:35:37 -0500

Neurotraining Helps Turbo-Charge Football Offenses:

There was so much interesting stuff that wouldn’t fit into this post I did for Wired.com’s Playbook blog about how teams are using brain training to help with reaction time and decision making. One of the best quotes came from clinical sports psychologist Dr. John Sullivan, who described a quarterback’s pre-snap calculations this way:

If you had to really break down what they do, it’s higher-level math, And it’s done in hundredths of seconds. They’re doing trigonometry, geometry. They’re working that out and they can’t think about that. It has to move in synchronicity.

This history of the football rivalry between Texas and Texas...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:41:19 -0500

This history of the football rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M that I compiled for Texas Monthly turned out better than I had imagined. It’s remarkable that when the teams began playing each other, Grover Cleveland was in the White House (for the second time) and Coca-Cola began selling in bottles.

muschampstare: Calvin brings the stare from the animal...

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:59:12 -0400

muschampstare:

Calvin brings the stare from the animal kingdom. #muschampstare

Thanks for the photo, jeffbeckham.com!

theatlantic: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Forgotten Gas Station of the...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:25:54 -0400

theatlantic:

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Forgotten Gas Station of the Future

Certain elements, such as gas pumps hanging from an overhead canopy—intended to boost efficiency and save space—were prohibited by Cloquet fire bylaws (although, coincidentally, hanging pumps eventually became popular in Japan). The unorthodox station was also estimated by one trade publication to have cost two to three times as much as a standard design. Still, it remains to this day, open for business, the symbol of a vision of suburbia that never came to pass—or, in all likelihood, did, but just with a lot less futuristic style.

Read more at The Atlantic’s Life Channel.

theatlantic: The Creative Process Behind New York’s Iconic High...

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:04:54 -0400

theatlantic:

The Creative Process Behind New York’s Iconic High Line

James Corner is one of the premiere theorists and practitioners of landscape architecture, a field that emphasizes the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve specific environmental, socio-behavioral, and aesthetic outcomes. The principal designer at James Corner Field Operations, a New York-based architecture firm, Corner focuses on landscape urbanism, an amalgamation of a wide range of disciplines including landscape architecture, ecology, and urban design. In a conversation with associate editor Jared Keller, Corner discusses the creative process behind New York’s now-iconic elevated park, The High Line, whose second section opened in June.

With the High Line, we had this extraordinary artifact that in some ways was an ugly duckling, something with potential. At the turn of the century, it was derelict; the concrete and steel and tracks were obviously in disrepair, the rails rusted, the wood cracked. Most people at the time thought it should be torn down. But where some people saw dereliction, others saw inspiration. It was in the landscape running along those broken tracks. The photographs of Joel Sternfeld (fine-art color photography and publisher of Walking the High Line (2002), an anthology focusing on the railway) had a remarkable influence in allowing people to view this thing as something with potential rather than something to be skeptical of. Running for a mile and a half through the west side of Manhattan, there’s a remarkable dialogue between nature and industry—or rather, post-industry—suspended 30 feet in the air.

Photographs, schematics, landscape ecology, and more at The Atlantic

Rick Barnes and the Nagging Question

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:53:00 -0400

Rick Barnes and the Nagging Question:

I crawl inside the head of Texas basketball coach Rick Barnes and try to figure out what’s more important: winning NCAA tournament games or developing NBA talent.

While looking for my grandparents’ old house in Dallas, I...

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:28:08 -0400

While looking for my grandparents’ old house in Dallas, I came across this screenshot in Google Maps. The little dog looking at the two cars made me smile.

Garrett Gilbert's Confidence

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 10:44:00 -0400

Garrett Gilbert's Confidence:

I’ve been writing a few things for the Longhorn sports blog Barking Carnival. Today’s post is about whether the coaching staff’s concern over quarterback Garrett Gilbert’s confidence is causing more harm than good.

My favorite Dirk picture of all time. davidaarnott: Dirk...

Tue, 31 May 2011 15:22:03 -0400

My favorite Dirk picture of all time.

davidaarnott:

Dirk Nowitzki. Don Nelson. Steve Nash.

Middle school center-part! Nellie in a tie! Frosted tips!

Via SportsIllustrated.com

Tim Hardaway was the first player I remember associated with the...

Sat, 28 May 2011 12:47:00 -0400

Tim Hardaway was the first player I remember associated with the phrase “killer crossover”, but Iverson takes the all-time title.

newsweek: Some pictures say a thousand words. This one just...

Thu, 26 May 2011 17:34:56 -0400

newsweek:

Some pictures say a thousand words. This one just says two: No Touching. via

No better caption.

50 years of Texas football in sparklines.

Wed, 25 May 2011 12:12:21 -0400

50 years of Texas football in sparklines.

"I think this genius is impossible to describe,” Pep Guardiola, Barcelona’s manager, said. “That’s..."

Sat, 21 May 2011 16:05:45 -0400

““I think this genius is impossible to describe,” Pep Guardiola, Barcelona’s manager, said. “That’s why (Messi) is a genius. He has instinct. He loves to live with pressure. He is one of the best ever created.””

Today in Things We Love: The Guardian's SXSW 2011 Coverage

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:03:18 -0400

markcoatney:

The Guardian has been doing some of the best, most innovative online journalism out there, and this is one of my favorite things they’ve produced: A page that pulls in all the great SXSW coverage by the Guardian’s reporters on Tumblr into a single, sortable space. Especially nice: Developer Dan Catt’s explanation of how he built this using the Tumblr and Guardian APIs. Definitely worth a look, and worth stealing ideas from.

I love this idea. I was imagining the other day what it might...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:32:21 -0500

I love this idea. I was imagining the other day what it might look like when NFL jerseys took on corporate logos. I pictured Coke for the Atlanta Falcons, for example. These are terrific.

chitwoodandhobbs:

Graphic design student Jimmy Nutini takes NFL teams and re-imagines what their jerseys would look like as sponsor-friendly soccer shirts.

Very funny spot from Volkswagen. The pint-sized Vader is...

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:07:50 -0500

Very funny spot from Volkswagen. The pint-sized Vader is priceless.

"The less I know about other people’s affairs, the happier I am. I’m not interested in caring about..."

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:47:04 -0500

““The less I know about other people’s affairs, the happier I am. I’m not interested in caring about people. I once worked with a guy for three years and never learned his name. Best friend I ever had. We still never talk sometimes.””

- Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson - Parks and Recreation)

iloveoldmagazines: Texas Monthly 1976 Vol. 4, No. 8

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:08:36 -0500

iloveoldmagazines:

Texas Monthly

1976 Vol. 4, No. 8

"First off, a pro is necessarily getting paid to do what he does, and that’s a tough trick these days..."

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:15:14 -0500

“First off, a pro is necessarily getting paid to do what he does, and that’s a tough trick these days all on its own. But a pro is also defined by the scope and practice of his operation. A pro has sources. A pro knows how to spot a lie. A pro does the work. A pro gets it right. A pro knows how to hustle the corner, but he also knows his way around a paragraph. A pro does it all, and he does it all well, without vanity or fireworks. A pro doesn’t leave any holes or openings, in his soul most of all. You want to know how to stand out, Andrew? Be a fucking pro.”

-
Chris Jones, of Esquire, dropping some science on a young writer. (via capitalnewyork)

This so, so crucial, and not just for journalists, but for any job. To be a pro is to be able to do the work, even when it’s not fun, even when you don’t feel like it, and do it well. The highest compliment my old editor would give was “he’s a pro,” and that meant everything.

(via markcoatney)