Charles’ Balcony

Since his debut in February 2012, my colleague Charles Boccadoro has produced some exceedingly solid, data-rich analyses for us.  One of his signature contributions was “Timing Method Performance Over Ten Decades,” which was widely reproduced and debated around the web.

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve collected his essays in a single, easy-to-access location.  We’ve dubbed it “Charles’ Balcony” and we even stumbled upon this striking likeness of Charles and the shadowy Ed Studzinski in situ.  I’m deeply hopeful that from their airy (aerie or eery) perch, they’ll share their sharp-eyed insights with us for years to come.

Follow with Charles on Twitter @mfobalcony.

The Best of the Web

Have you ever been a dinner party where everyone seemed to be talking to you at once?  Doubtless there were a lot of sensible insights there, but with so many voices clamoring for your attention, how did you know where to turn?  How could you even screen out the babble that kept drowning out the folks you really wanted to hear?  What if there seemed to be a dozen people, all worth hearing from? Who would you focus on?

We’re here to help.  The Observer’s discussion community and readership is large, diverse and global; those of us behind the Observer’s scenes are often stunned by the remarkable depth, variety and sophistication of the topics highlighted by folks on our discussion board.  And so we’ve enlisted their aid in finding resources that are actually worth your time and attention.