Forgot to post this when it came
Forgot to post this when it came out a month ago, but John Maeda’s book on simplicty is available. Maeda worked on the his ideas for The Laws of Simplicity in public on his SIMPLICITY blog.
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Entries for September 2006
Pilot episode of the Family Guy. “Daddy
Pilot episode of the Family Guy. “Daddy only drank so the Statue of Liberty would take her clothes off…”
Ben Folds cover of Such Great Heights
Ben Folds cover of Such Great Heights by The Postal Service using found percussion instruments (like a champagne glass and a plastic mail bin). (thx, james)
Stylus magazine has a list of their
Stylus magazine has a list of their top 100 favorite videos, complete with embedded YouTube clips of the videos themselves for your instant gratification. Ok, now let’s fight about what was excluded and how wrong that is… (via paul)
Using 100% of the profits from his airline
Using 100% of the profits from his airline and transportation companies, Richard Branson pledges $3 billion to fight global warming over the next decade. Will the billionaire philanthropists save us from ourselves? BTW, this happened at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting; there’s a live webcast (+podcasts) if you want to watch from home.
On the perfection of Tiffany’s “little blue
On the perfection of Tiffany’s “little blue box” and how other luxury labels have failed to follow its seductive packaging lead. While Apple isn’t strictly a luxury brand (they’re more of an everyday luxury brand like Ikea or Muji…the luxury of well-designed items but without the price), but they definitely pay a lot of attention to their packaging. (via nickbaum)
Will people need to know how to
Will people need to know how to read and write in the near future? Emails and texts are already not exactly literature and in 10 years, text-to-speech will be good enough that you can listen to anything you want. On the flipside, text holds a lot of advantages over “icons and audio prompts”. A quick survey of the modern workplace reveals slow progress on the paperless office, so I’m skeptical that this no-text future is soon to arrive. (via 3qd)
The trailer for 49 Up, the latest in
The trailer for 49 Up, the latest in a series of documentary films in which the same group of people (from varying socio-economic backgrounds) are interviewed every seven years. The first movie, Seven Up!, was released in 1964 when the participants were seven years old. “The premise of the film was taken from the Jesuit motto ‘Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.’”
According to Joerg Colberg, Thomas Weinberger makes
According to Joerg Colberg, Thomas Weinberger makes his photos with two long exposures, once in daylight and once at night. The result is these spooky washed-out photos, a kind of analog HDR effect.
Nobel Prize winning physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft
Nobel Prize winning physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft on how to become a good theoretical physicist. He lists the subjects you need to learn (from languages to quantum field theory) and resources (both online and off) for learning them. A note on the ‘t in his name.
A transcript of a speech by Al
A transcript of a speech by Al Gore at the NYU Law School on September 18th. In it, he made some suggestions for how to address the global warming problem. More on Gore’s speech from the NY TImes.
If you need to read any literature
If you need to read any literature from Krypton (Superman’s home planet), here’s the 118 letter alphabet you’ll need to know.
Eating cheaply in NYC
A reader dropped an interesting question into my inbox yesterday, and I thought I would open it up to the group. Darko writes that he’s in NYC for the next two weeks but doesn’t have a lot of money to spend because he lives and works in Serbia. So, he’s wondering a) what to eat on a daily basis that doesn’t cost a whole lot, and b) where to go for a splurge meal, a place with “really glorious food” that’s $80-100 for two.
Cheap everyday food has been the subject of many pieces online, including this kottke.org thread from Feb 2003, New York magazine’s Cheap Eats 2004, New York magazine’s Cheap Eats 2005, New York magazine’s Cheap Eats 2006, Eating Pleasure. Price: $2, and Delicious for a Dollar?
My recommendations would be: bagels, Chinatown (the five-for-a-buck dumpling places as well as some other restaurants), pizza ($2/slice anywhere in the city), street carts (particularly the hot dogs and pretzels, check out the best street food in NYC), sandwiches from a deli (although some delis can be expensive, particularly in Manhattan…anyone know of any cheap places?), Curry Hill (Indian food around Lexington and & 28th), getting out of the touristy places in Manhattan (head for the East Village or the Lower East Side), or getting out of Manhattan entirely (cheaper eats in Brooklyn, etc.). And to drink, New York City tap water is free and better than Evian.
The splurge meal is a bit tougher, although if you forsake having wine, you can eat pretty well for $50/person. It might be best to seek out this meal in Brooklyn…there are some great places there and you don’t have to pay the Manhattan premium. Going at lunchtime is another good option…you often get the same calibre of food at a lower price than dinner. Gotham Bar and Grill near Union Square has a prix fixe lunch for $25 (or used to…you should call ahead). I think Eleven Madison Park also has a similarly priced prix fixe at lunch (prix fixe = fixed price). Anyone have any other suggestions, particularly about good places in Brooklyn?
On TV tonight: Ric Burns documentary on
On TV tonight: Ric Burns documentary on Andy Warhol. Part 2 tomorrow night.
Update: NY Times piece on the Warhol documentary.
Update: The Nation has some thoughts on the doc as well.
A recent study concludes that in terms
A recent study concludes that in terms of life expectancy, there are eight different Americas, all with differing levels of health. “In 2001, 15-year-old blacks in high-risk city areas were three to four times more likely than Asians to die before age 60, and four to five times more likely before age 45. In fact, young black men living in poor, high-crime urban America have death risks similar to people living in Russia or sub-Saharan Africa.” If I’m reading this right, it’s interesting that geography or income doesn’t have that big of an impact on the life expectancy of Asians; it’s their Asian-ness (either cultural, genetic, or both) that’s the key factor. Here’s the study itself. (via 3qd)
Sam Brown has written a nice remembrance
Sam Brown has written a nice remembrance of his recently deceased Powerbook G4. “Last fall it got to the point where i thought that my powerbook had finally died for good. so i went to the apple store to purchase a new computer. only to get home and find out that the powerbook still worked. it just took it an hour or more to turn on once you hit the power button. so after that i was very careful about turning it off.” (via mark)
Lewis and Clark: What Else Happened is
Lewis and Clark: What Else Happened is a contemporary reblogging of Lewis and Clark’s expedition of the Louisiana Purchase. The blog finishes up this Saturday, on the 200 year anniversary of the end of their trip.
Austria in pictures
Some photos from a recent trip to Austria, featuring shots from near Linz, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. I went so crazy with the photos in Austria that I didn’t take a single picture once we got to Zurich…I was all photographed out.
Witold Rybczynski on the problem with underground
Witold Rybczynski on the problem with underground architecture…it’s not the seamless hidden-away experience that one might think.
According to data from an annual FBI
According to data from an annual FBI study, New York City was the safest large city in the US in 2005. Least safe big city: Dallas.
Scott McCloud, who wrote Understanding Comics, is
Scott McCloud, who wrote Understanding Comics, is taking an unusual approach to the education of his two daughters. Over the next year, the family will be traveling the US doing talks and presentations, with the daughters taking an active role in speaking, doing research, and recording the talks in various formats. Here’s their travel blog on LJ. (via snarkmarket)
Megnut’s got the scoop: Gourmet magazine has
Megnut’s got the scoop: Gourmet magazine has named Alinea the best restaurant in the US, amazing considering its only been open a little more than a year. “[Grant Achatz] is redefining the American restaurant once again for an entirely new generation. And that — more than his gorgeous, inventive, and delicious food — is what makes Alinea the got-to-go-to restaurant in the country right now.” (I would argue that the food is the real reason to go, but whatever…)
Last year, a Japanese company had Sotheby’s
Last year, a Japanese company had Sotheby’s and Christie’s play Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide which company would handle the firm’s art auction. Christie’s consulted some tween players before the sudden death match and went with scissors, correctly assuming that Sotheby’s wouldn’t play the obvious rock. (via girlhacker)
The seminal Icelandic band, The Sugarcubes, will
The seminal Icelandic band, The Sugarcubes, will perform one last time on November 17 in Reykjavik. How will the concert hall hold all of Bjork’s fans?
When the UK gambling industry is deregulated
When the UK gambling industry is deregulated next year, it will be legal for gamblers to use a tiny device to cheat at roulette. The device works by listening to the wheel and how the ball bounces to predict roughly where the ball will land, reducing the odds from 1 in 38 to something a bit more manageable. (via spurgeonblog)
A list of the 50 worst things ever
A list of the 50 worst things ever to happen to music, from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (#50) to Suge Knight (#2)…I won’t spoil #1.
The 2006 crop of MacArthur “genius” fellows announced.
The 2006 crop of MacArthur “genius” fellows announced. Names I recognized include George Saunders, David Macaulay, and Atul Gawande. I know I say this every year, but no web/internet folks on the list.
Update: Several readers pointed out that Luis von Ahn (co-inventor of the CAPTCHA) and James Fruchterman both qualitfy as web folks. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of someone who uses the internet to produce medium-specific art or literature or has shaped the social space of the internet. Ward Cunningham for wikis, Justin Hall for links.net (if that was still active), even Dave Winer for his work on blogs, RSS, and podcasting.
A gay couple on a recent American
A gay couple on a recent American Airlines flight was told by a flight attendant to stop kissing and touching, then got the run-around from the chief flight attendant (who first told them that their behavior was perfectly fine and then reversed her stance after being asked if their sexuality is at issue), and was finally told by the captain to behave the plane will be diverted. The whole “shut up or you’ll get the full you’re-a-terrorist treatment with no recourse” vibe on the plane creeps me out. Something tells me this won’t get coverage in American Way next month.
Profile of Michel Gondry, director of the
Profile of Michel Gondry, director of the upcoming The Science of Sleep. An exhibition at the Jeffrey Deitch gallery in Manhattan accompanies the film’s opening. View some of Gondry’s short work (commercials, music videos) on YouTube.
Sources cited by The Independent say that
Sources cited by The Independent say that George W. Bush is planning “astonishing U-turn” on his global warming policies, which, as Elizabeth Kolbert notes in this week’s New Yorker, have been anything but helpful. Those who oppose Bush will give him a lot of crap for doing this just so he can salvage something from his shoddy Presidency, but if something genuinely gets done on the issue, I’ll be happy…who gets credit for what and when needs to take a backseat here.
Poincare conjecture battle continues
Last month I covered the hubbub surrounding the still-potential proof of the Poincare conjecture. The best take on the situation was a New Yorker article by Sylvia Nasar and David Gruber, detailing the barest glimpse of the behind-the-scenes workings of the mathematics community, particularly those involving Grigory Perelman, a recluse Russian mathematician who unveiled his potential Poincare proof in 2002 and Shing-Tung Yau, a Chinese mathematician who, the article suggested, was out for more than his fair share of the credit in this matter.
After declining the Fields Medal, the Nobel Prize of mathematics, Perelman has quit mathematics and lives quietly in his native Russia. Yau, however, is upset at his portrayal (both literally and literary) in the New Yorker article and has written a letter to the New Yorker asking them to make a prominent correction and apologize for an illustration of Yau that accompanied the article. From the letter:
I write in the hope of enlisting your immediate assistance, as well as the assistance of The New Yorker, in undoing, to the extent possible, the literally world-wide damage done to Dr. Yau’s reputation as a result of the publication of your article. I also write to outline for you, on a preliminary basis, but in some detail, several of the more egregious and actionable errors which you made in the article, and the demonstrably shoddy “journalism” which resulted in their publication.
The letter, addressed to the two authors as well as the fact-checker on the article and CC’d to David Remnick and the New Yorker’s general counsel, runs 12 pages, so you may want to have a look at the press release instead. A webcast discussing all the details of the letter is being held at noon on September 20…information on how to tune in will be available at Dr. Yau’s web site. (thx, david)
Job board
Every week, I get 3 or 4 inquiries from people looking for jobs in the web design/technology area or for employees (happily, it’s more the latter than the former these days). When I hear about someone who needs some work done and I have a friend or friend of a friend who’s available, I’m glad to make the connection. For the past couple of years, I’ve wanted to build a job board for kottke.org to make more of these connections possible, but I never got around to it. So when Jason Fried asked me if I wanted to put a link to the simple, focused 37signals Job Board on kottke.org (you’ll find it on every page of the site, below The Deck ad), that seemed to be the next best thing to building my own. I’ve been referring people there anyway, so a stronger connection makes sense.
A new book, Heil Hitler, The Pig
A new book, Heil Hitler, The Pig is Dead, deals with humor during Hitler’s reign in Germany. “From an early stage, Germans were well aware of their government’s brutality. And the country wasn’t possessed by ‘evil spirits’ nor was it hypnotised by the Nazis’ brilliant propaganda, he says. Hypnotized people don’t crack jokes.”
Handbrake is an OS X application that
Handbrake is an OS X application that will, among other things, rip DVD video to a files that will play on an iPod (how to). However, I’ve found that this takes an absurd amount of time…2.5 hours for a 1.5 hour-long movie (on a 1.67 Ghz Powerbook with 2 GB RAM). Are there faster options out there?
The London Science Museum will hold a
The London Science Museum will hold a video game exhibition starting in October. Visitors will be able to play vintage video games, including Spacewar, the world’s first computer game.
A weblog about “architectures of control in
A weblog about “architectures of control in design”, an ongoing exploration of products “designed with features that intentionally restrict the way the user can behave, or enforce certain modes of behaviour”.
1000 words of advice for design teachers and
1000 words of advice for design teachers and another 100 words of advice for design students. “Inspiration and perspiration. You need ‘em both.”
Dan Osman climbs mountains really fast; watch
Dan Osman climbs mountains really fast; watch him scramble up 400+ feet in 4.5 minutes. Insane.
Update: Osman died in 1999 making some crazy jump. Kids, don’t try this at home. (thx, graham)
For those unlucky enough not to get
For those unlucky enough not to get a slot, running in a marathon can be achieved by buying somone else’s bib or just photocopying a friend’s. Bibs for the upcoming NYC marathon are going for a few hundred dollars on eBay and Craigslist. (via clusterflock)
The wives and girlfriends of gang members
The wives and girlfriends of gang members in one of Colombia’s most violent cities are taking part in a “strike of crossed legs”, withholding sex from their men until they vow to give up their violent ways.
Update: Lysistrata, a play by Aristophanes, tells of women withholding sex from their husbands in order to end the Peloponnesian War. (thx, steve)
Forecast Advisor tracks how accurate the major
Forecast Advisor tracks how accurate the major weather forecasting companies are in predicting temperature and precipitation. Results vary based on what part of the country you’re in (the weather in Honoulu is easier to forecast than that of Minneapolis), but overall the forecasters have an accuracy rate of around 72%.
A Pocket Guide to China, distributed to
A Pocket Guide to China, distributed to US troops during WWII, included a helpful cartoon called How to Spot a Jap, useful for telling enemy soldiers apart from “our Oriental allies”, the Chinese. See also All Look Same. (thx, tabs)
Female Tech has combined her love of
Female Tech has combined her love of technology and an artistic sensibility to create photos of herself posing with various gadgets: a stratgically placed PSP, Sega Genesis cuddle, and GameCube piggyback. Reminds me somewhat of a certain Palm parody from back in the day. NSFW.
The first interview with James Frey since
The first interview with James Frey since all that unpleasantness with A Million Little Pieces. Lots of choice quotes in this one, but I’m going to go for: “My agent said her integrity was questioned, but it wasn’t questioned enough for her to stop taking the money.”
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