The Secret Language Code (The Hidden Meaning of Pronouns). "One of the most interesting results was part of a study my students and I conducted dealing with status in email correspondence. Basically, we discovered that in any interaction, the person with the higher status uses I-words less (yes, less) than people who are low in status. The effects were quite robust and, naturally, I wanted to test this on myself. I always assumed that I was a warm, egalitarian kind of guy who treated people pretty much the same." Click through for the results. Pretty interesting stuff.

With Steve Jobs stepping down as CEO of Apple, it’s impossible not to think of his Stanford commencement address:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Pretty happy to see no sequels in the next three Pixar movies. I really want Brave (first female heroine!) to be great. Please don’t let Cars 2 be a harbinger.

Vi Hart’s What is up with Noises? (The Science and Mathematics of Sound, Frequency, and Pitch). Khan Academy should hire her.

I would build it up too much if I talked about it, but Wonderputt is a great game that you should definitely play. And it won’t totally destroy your workday because it’s only 18 holes. Even if you’re saying “golf?! no way” you should absolutely still give it a look.

In Focus, Animals in the News. Wonderful (and sometimes heartbreaking) collection of photos. Wait until you see the one of the guy with 57 pounds of bees on his body.

If you are a tower defense fan, then prepare to kiss your workday (or a good night’s sleep) goodbye, Kingdom Rush is a great one. Starts a little slow, but as the variety of enemies and weapons adds up it really gets addictive.

Ulric Collette takes portraits of two family members, splits them, and then melds them. A cool, vaguely unsettling way to highlight genetic similarities.

Love this Tom Waits/Cookie Monster mashup. Natural fit! I should have a whole section dedicated to Muppet mashups:

Jon Stewart, World of Class Warfare. Love his reaction to calling Warren Buffett a socialist.

Don’t Look Down. “Last-place aversion,” an interesting theory as to why the poor are more adverse to taxing the rich (i.e. income redistribution) than you might think.

The Gentle People. Rape, incest, and pedophilia among the Amish, with no punishment for the guilty but extra punishment heaped onto the innocent. I am aghast.