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Princeton University assistant professor of Sociology Matthew Salginak, along with a team of computer science graduate students, have developed a web application that collects and ranks the ideas from large numbers of people in the form of a survey. Combining sociological and computer science concepts, All Our Ideas allows an organization to quickly set up a free website where large numbers of people can contribute and rank ideas. [via twitter]

In a new pamphlet, entitled "Pleasure," Britain's National Health service is trying to change the tone of sex education by urging teachers to emphasize that sexual relations can be healthy and pleasurable instead of simply explaining the mechanics of sex and warning about diseases.

It's not going over very well.

There are only 4 phones booths left in Manhattan, all of them on West End Avenue.

If you happen to pass by, I seriously advise you to stop in one of these booths while they're still around. Note that someone still cares enough to keep the overhead light in proper working order. Close the door (be amazed that they even have doors), and you'll find yourself in a veritable fishbowl plunked down in the center of Manhattan. The walls actually keep out a good amount of sound, and it's surreal to look out at the world around you with something you don't usually get on a busy Manhattan avenue: personal space.

What's Clark Kent going to do?

Even murderers want to stay in bed on rainy days.

Is Twitter the most important website since Google? If harnessed correctly, yes.

via msoska

When I was in college, creating my bibliography page always somehow took just as long as my actual paper. CiteFast, your incredibly fast citation generator, automatically formats your citations for you in MLA and APA formats.

I definitely could've used this when I was in school. Of course, when I went to college, I didn't even have internet at home.

While the Super Bowl seems forever ago I came across this interactive map of Super Bowl related 'tweets' that were published during the game by Twitter users. Be sure to play the timeline for the six provided categories. Fascinating. (via Matthew Bloch, NY Times graphics editor)

How long do popular theories hold water? Not for long, according to this Wired Magazine graphic.

It's good to see Wired taking a swipe at their own editor-in-chief's Long Tail theory. At least they don't hold themselves above the fray.

In case you don't know: Long Tail, Tipping Point, and Black Swan.

This story is unbelievable. Usually you hear of drunk pilots in comedy flicks, but never in real life. The behavior of the flight crew was almost as bad as the pilot's.

It is normally a moment of cheery reassurance when an airline pilot greets passengers during preparations for take-off. But Alexander Cheplevsky sparked panic on flight Aeroflot 315 when he began to speak.

His slurred and garbled comments ahead of a flight from Moscow to New York convinced passengers that he was drunk. When he apparently switched from Russian into unintelligible English, fear turned to revolt.

Flight attendants initially ignored passengers' complaints and threatened to expel them from the Boeing 767 jet unless they stopped "making trouble". As the rebellion spread, Aeroflot representatives boarded the aircraft to try to calm down the 300 passengers.

One sought to reassure them by announcing that it was "not such a big deal" if the pilot was drunk because the aircraft practically flew itself.

cre⋅a⋅tiv⋅i⋅ty - the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.

Creativity, the forefather of innovation, is paramount. As Americans, our chief export for years has been the fruits of our innovations. Especially in the struggling global economy, we'll need to strengthen our strong suit to stay relevant. So that means we need to be more creative. How do we do that?

One of the preeminent thinkers in the field of creativity found the zone. You know the zone. You've been in the zone. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it the flow. You've felt the flow. You know the flow.

Creativity is a fickle beast. Csikszentmihalyi claims that only two elements come into play when finding the zone: skills and challenges (see chart). If your challenges are greater than your skills, you'll find yourself apathetic, worried, or anxious. If your skills are greater than your challenges, you'll find yourself apathetic, bored, or overly-relaxed. Feeling of arousal in the former and control in the latter signal a close proximity to the flow. It's there. We just need to find it. And we need to find it fast.

If you get it right - if your challenges and skills grow together - you're in the flow. That's where we all want to be. It is the state of "intrinsic motivation." It is a self-powering, serendipitous feeling that comes about when work and play overlap.

Csikszentmihalyi found nine byproducts of "feeling the flow:"

1. Clearer goals
2. Higher degree of concentration and focus
3. Loss of self-consciousness
4. Distorted sense of time
5. Direct and immediate feedback to action
6. Balance between ability level and challenge
7. Sense of personal control over actions
8. Activity becomes intrinsically rewarding
9. Increased awareness of action results

In the past, Kottke has talked about the nearly identical realm of "relaxed concentration." He gives examples from sports and entertainment, among others. Csikszentmihalyi calls it "focused attention," but that is a distinction without a difference. Either way, all else falls away save the task at hand.

Knowing how to find the flow is important, especially with the upcoming rise of the creative class. Yes, green-collar jobs will be extremely important and creativity must play a role in that, but the creative class in general will be the backbone of the American ideal in the near future. If we are to continue the longstanding tradition of the US as trailblazer and leader in the global economy, creativity must be fostered. Innovation will die if creativity is stifled. Innovation will stall if creativity is just left alone. Innovation can only thrive if creativity is actively pursued. This shall be our task.

Dr. Richard Florida uses the term "creative class" and found it's existence tied directly to three requirements (or the three T's):

1. Talent, or the need for a highly talented, educated, and/or skilled population

2. Tolerance, or the need for a diverse community and a "live and let live" ethos

3. Technology, or the need for technological infrastructure necessary to fuel an entrepreneurial culture.

That's it. That's all we need for creativity. Then we match skills with challenges and get in the zone. And off we go. Happy. Healthy. Wealthy. Wise.