What's Your Favorite Michael Jackson Song?

It's the end of an era. Michael Jackson produced 13 No. 1 hits and earned 13 Grammy Awards on his way to reviving the music industry and inspiring millions (maybe billions) world-wide.

In his memory we're asking you what your favorite Michael Jackson songs are. As with everything UpGuppy you don't have to choose just one. Instead, you can pick and rank as many as you like. Be sure and share songs that the community may not be familiar with. That's what will make this so fun and interesting.

RIP Michael. We'll miss you!

How Similar Are You?

Today we added similarity scores. In case you’re wondering what that is, it’s a comparison of how similar you are to others on UpGuppy and how close someone else’s ranking of a specific topic is to yours.

You can see the similarity scores at work in two spots. The first is when you first log-in. To see this feature in action, you obviously have to rank a few lists (and the more the better!). You can see here that Alex Acree is my closest friend. We’ve ranked a ton of the same lists and tend to rank those things similarly.



The second is by clicking at the link just below any ranking. Again, you’ve got to rank the list. Here is how close my friends are to me in their ranking of Obama’s best Vice-Presidential candidates (which, by the way, my buddy Alex nailed).


Let us know what you think. We're working on developing better ways of displaying the data, which we should have out soon.

In Honor of Obama's Birthday, 3 of the Best Obama Cartoons

Note: you can rank the cartoons, and add you own on the UpGuppy Facebook Application here - http://apps.facebook.com/upguppy/ranking/174558


1. The New Yorker Cover 2008
No cartoon in recent months has attracted as much attention as this cover of the New Yorker. Whether you choose to see it as simply satire or extremely inappropriate, the cartoon gives a brilliant insight into American politics.











2. Pulitzer Prize Winning - Mike Ramirez
A picture is worth a thousand words.

"It was just the perfect metaphor for him because here you have this mystical statue that's revered by all, but nobody really knows much about it, and where it came from, and where it was before."
-Ramirez




3. The Freelance-Star - Clay Jones

This is a great cartoon, capturing some of the more humorous aspects of Obama's recent visit abroad.







Note: you can rank the cartoons, and add you own on the UpGuppy Facebook Application here - http://apps.facebook.com/upguppy/ranking/174558

Top TED Talks

I've been a big fan of TED ever since I was introduced to it about 2 years ago. For those of you who don't know, TED is an annual conference that brings together leaders and thinkers from all facets of life to promote "ideas worth sharing." They post several of the talks on their website. When I'm looking for a break "worth taking" I'll often browse the videos and am inevitably challenged, captivated and inspired.

So, in the spirit of UpGuppy, I put together a ranking of my favorite TED talks, which you can find here. As it stands the top 3 talks (as ranked by our users) follow. Enjoy!

1) Jill Bolte Taylor:

One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor's brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness ...

Amazed to find herself alive, Taylor spent eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the "Singin' Scientist."

2) Sir Ken Robinson:

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements.

3) Daniel Goleman:

Daniel Goleman brought the notion of "EI" to prominence as an alternative to more traditional measures of IQ with his 1995 mega-best-seller Emotional Intelligence.

Since the publication of that book, conferences and academic institutes have sprung up dedicated to the idea. EI is taught in public schools, and corporate leaders have adopted it as a new way of thinking about success and leadership. EI, and one's "EIQ," can be an explanation of why some "average" people are incredibly successful, while "geniuses" sometimes fail to live up to their promise. In this talk, he asks why we aren't more compassionate more of the time.

6 Strategies for Choosing a Stall in a Public Restroom

Whether you prefer to rush, saunter, or simply walk into a public restroom when the time comes, you are inevitably presented with a choice: Which of the porcelain shrines shall be blessed with your presence. While sometimes there is only a single option, for the adventurers encountering multiple whitish doors, I humbly offer you the following strategies:

(Quick note: you can rank them yourself on the UpGuppy Facebook application - here)


1. The Throne Room
Things certainly flow easier in a larger space. Perhaps some of us enjoy the minimal graffiti, or more of an open space that allows especially potent smells to diffuse. Whatever the case, the handicap stall is often the go to option.


2. The Covert Operation
For those less confident adventurers, flying under the radar may be a higher priority than the deed itself. In this case, the fear of detection sends these embarrassed bathroom goers to the stall furthest from the door... "They'll never find me here."


3. The Discussion Room
While open space does it for some, for others, nothing like a good conversation leads to uninterrupted flow. What better way to increase the chances of a conversation partner than choosing a stall with as many adjoining stalls as possible, hence you will find them somewhere in the middle.


4. The Work Station
"Get in get out" is the maxim of a certain high-powered group of restroom commandos. In this case the logical choice is the stall closest to the entrance for a more efficient arrival and departure. These distinguished persons stand in almost complete opposition to the covert operatives mentioned above and can almost always be heard checking emails while on the toilet.


5. Flexibility Option
In some of the more heavily traveled rest stops, public restrooms can be filled with all sorts of questionable characters. In this situation, one of the most commonly used strategies involves a little recon. The end goal is usually finding the stall farthest from the one with the weird noises. It seems to be a well known fact that weird noises are linked with uncomfortable smells.


6. The Green Stall
You will not find those who follow this strategy in public restrooms. For them the world is their restroom. A restroom full of open air, a restroom ideal for flying under the radar, a restroom filled with the conversations of mother nature, a restroom with no walls or doors to impede efficiency, and a restroom with infinite possibilities. From these few rebels a single phrase can be heard: "I only poop under trees."

And now for the best news of all! Everyone can rank and add their own favorite strategies on the UpGuppy Facebook application. Check it out.
http://apps.facebook.com/upguppy/ranking/23388

Do the University of Florida Gators really party harder?

The Princeton Review has just released its latest list of the biggest party schools in the country. The University of Florida came out on top this year beating out some stiff competition, including last year's reigning champion West Virginia University.

What do you think are the biggest party schools in the country? You can rank them here on UpGuppy:

http://apps.facebook.com/upguppy/ranking/162497

Let's see if the Princeton Review got it right.

Woohoo! 1,000 Users And Growing!

Just a quick note that we finally reached 4 digits (just 7 or so to go before world domination!). Thanks to all our users for checking out the app and providing ongoing feedback. We look forward to continuing to hear from you.