::friday, september 28::

The Onion Infographic: Making America Safer

I wondered how The Onion would manage to make some of this funny. They do. Of course, it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I gotta admit it had me laughin.

AppleScript muscles up in Mac OS X 10.1

...sigh... now I gotta learn AppleScript.

::wednesday, september 26::

The Lost Dogs

One of the best groups ever, made up of gifted members of some of the other best groups ever, now has a website. And a new album.

::tuesday, september 25::

Amazon.com: buying info: Taco Bell Chicken Quesadilla Handheld

Having Bezos in the commercial is one thing but...

(TheSpark.com) Bold Speech

Paste in a recent bland officious email from a colleague. Click "Oh Yeah" button. Bust a gut.

The Straight Dope: What are the REAL lyrics to "Louie Louie"? "Louie Louie, me gotta go. Louie Louie, me gotta go. A fine little girl, she wait for me. Me catch the ship across the sea. I sailed the ship all alone. I never think I'll make it home. Louie Louie, me gotta go . Three nights and days we sailed the sea. Me think of girl constantly. On the ship, I dream she there. I smell the rose in her hair. Louie Louie, me gotta go. Me see Jamaican moon above. It won't be long me see me love. Me take her in my arms and then I tell her I never leave again. Louie Louie, me gotta go." (By Richard Berry. Copyright 1957-1963 by Limax Music Inc.)

The Straight Dope: Home Page

This just might end up another regular haunt for me. All kinds of arcane knowledge about sources of various sayings, habits and traditions.

Lady Liberty's Horror

"Fully half of the nation's editorial cartoonists draw the same cartoon, on the same day (including Slate's Daryl Cagle). Cartoons are shown in the order received."

::friday, september 21::

Because the infrastructure of the Internet was designed by humans,it represents particular human values...

Insightful missive from Weinberger, with one of my favorite footnotes ever dangling from its lower region:"[1] Please keep in mind that generalizations are true if they are generally true; a generalization is generally not true in each and every case. Pointing out exceptions does not prove the generalization false."

::thursday, september 20::

Google Press Center: Zeitgeist

Google Top 10 Gaining Queries Week Ending Sept. 17, 2001
     1. nostradamus
     2. cnn
     3. world trade center
     4. osama bin laden
     5. taliban
     6. american flag
     7. fbi
     8. pentagon
     9. american airlines
   10. american red cross

What People Search For - Most Popular Keywords

This is a trip. Lots of links to places where you can see what the search terms tend to be. Fascinating how people tend to search for weird little chunks of language, not necessarily syntactically whole phrases or sentences. Interesting how often people search for something like "cnn.com"... when they could just use their browser address box.

Salon.com Life | Lynda Barry

Touching Linda Barry comic in honor of the lost rescue workers.

Amazon.com: buying info: Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology

This looks like a great book coming out soon.

A new breed of contemporary artist engages science and technology--not just to adopt the vocabulary and gizmos, but to explore and comment on the content, agendas, and possibilities. Indeed, proposes Stephen Wilson, the role of the artist is not only to interpret and to spread scientific knowledge, but to be an active partner in determining the direction of research. Years ago, C. P. Snow wrote about the "two cultures" of science and the humanities; these developments may finally help to change the outlook of those who view science and technology as separate from the general culture.

Radio Paradise

Wow. I know this has been around, but I kept overlooking it. Just what I need for great music fixes, without having to waste time on mp3 playlists of my own.

::wednesday, september 19::

Wings and Prayers | The Winston Salem Journal - Journal Now

My daughter's best friend at her school (Kindergarten) went to church with this woman, Sandy Bradshaw, who is now at rest among the grass and flowers of a Pennsylvania field.

Humane Interface Site -- Jef Raskin

Didn't know about this great resource & supplement from interface guru Raskin. (props to eleganthack, whose Christina proffered the link on the sig-ia list)

::friday, september 14::

Photos from 13th Street.

Jordan is right out of high school, a terribly talented designer, starting college in NYC this year. Took these pix from his street.

||| nixlog

Pleasant discovery, this blog. Has this area on good infographics re: the current tragedy, very informative. Also has a link to perhaps the best old-typewriters info resource I've seen.

...an overcoat of clay.

Some of my colleagues have made pages in remembrance of this week's events. Here's my small offering.

::thursday, september 13::

NEW YORK SCRAPERS - INTERNATIONAL STYLE III

THE 1 & 2 WORLD TRADE CENTER (Between Vesey St. and Liberty St.) [Minoru Yamasaki & Assoc. and Emery Roth and Sons]

A description and history of the WTC. The present tense is already starting to sound wistful, like a dream.

Newsweek: How The Hijackers Did It

Nor is obtaining access to an advanced simulator especially difficult. Many airlines both inside and outside the U.S. have simulators that are available for hire by the hour. It's not a service available only to airlines; private companies often rent time, and so can individuals practicing to fly new aircraft types. And once the simulator door is closed, no one can see or will indeed care what you're doing in there.

::wednesday, september 12::

The Register: We take this minute for something really important.

A little perspective from the Register. Stunning to see the list of companies with employees in those buildings.

::tuesday, september 11::

May God somehow heal us. Mercy on us all.

::monday, september 10::

Alex's Paper Airplanes

It's Monday. Have some fun.

::sunday, september 9::

Typewriter Man by Ian Frazier

I just bought an ancient gun-metal-gray German-manufacture Olympia manual typewriter in mint condition for about seven bucks at a yard sale. Looking for info about it I ran across this story, and realized what a find it is.

::friday, september 7::

Using a Mirror for Usability Testing

Such a simple idea, I never though of it. Of course, putting a big mirror on the subject's monitor is kind of distracting, but so is having someone look over your shoulder... so I suppose it wouldn't throw the experience off much.

::thursday, september 6::

megaman_fires

Hmmm. Apparently Megaman dresses to the left. (Here are some pix from Atlanta's DragonCon, taken by my associate Gray, who is also featured in some of the shots. Thankfully, sans spandex.)