slantback.

iamboz: Hitler reacts to his falling Tumblarity

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:57:00 -0700

iamboz: Hitler reacts to his falling Tumblarity

"The cell phone has changed the nature of seduction. One carries in one’s pocket, wherever one goes,..."

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:42:18 -0700

“

The cell phone has changed the nature of seduction. One carries in one’s pocket, wherever one goes, the means of doing something other than what one is presently doing, or being with someone other than the person one is with. Take this excerpt from a 31-year-old straight male Diarist living on the Upper West Side:

12:32 p.m. I get three texts. One from each girl. E wants oral sex and tells me she loves me. A wants to go to a concert in Central Park. Y still wants to cook. This simultaneously excites me—three women want me!—and makes me feel odd.

This is a distinct shift in the way we experience the world, introducing the nagging urge to make each thing we do the single most satisfying thing we could possibly be doing at any moment. In the face of this enormous pressure, many of the Diarists stay home and masturbate.

”

- The Sex Diaries - A Critical Reading of New Yorkers’ Sexual Habits & Anxieties — New York Magazine

Notice that as earned income rises from about $15,000 to...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:04:07 -0700

Notice that as earned income rises from about $15,000 to $30,000, income after taxes and transfers is roughly flat. Indeed, it could even fall. The bottom line: If you are poor, the government is inadvertently ensuring that you have little incentive to try to improve your condition. (via Greg Mankiw’s Blog: The Poverty Trap)

"Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth..."

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:08:20 -0700

“Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.”

- Cormac McCarthy on The Road - WSJ.com

"At least 22 states that ban texting while driving offer some type of service that allows motorists..."

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:24:49 -0700

“At least 22 states that ban texting while driving offer some type of service that allows motorists to get information about traffic tie-ups, road conditions or emergencies via Twitter.”

- States Send Mixed Message on Texting and Driving - ABC News

Is It Time to Retire the Football Helmet?

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:25:12 -0700

Is It Time to Retire the Football Helmet?:

azspot:

But before the debate goes any further, there’s a fundamental question that needs to be investigated. Why do football players wear helmets in the first place? And more important, could the helmets be part of the problem?

“Some people have advocated for years to take the helmet off, take the face mask off. That’ll change the game dramatically,” says Fred Mueller, a University of North Carolina professor who studies head injuries. “Maybe that’s better than brain damage.”

The first hard-shell helmets, which became popular in the 1940s, weren’t designed to prevent concussions but to prevent players in that rough-and-tumble era from suffering catastrophic injuries like fractured skulls.

But while these helmets reduced the chances of death on the field, they also created a sense of invulnerability that encouraged players to collide more forcefully and more often. “Almost every single play, you’re going to get hit in the head,” says Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long.

While Apple uses about twenty categories to organize the apps in...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:19:55 -0700

While Apple uses about twenty categories to organize the apps in their store, their classification system is mostly topical and therefore not directly aligned with how people are using apps. So it might be interesting instead to look at high-level use cases as a way to understand what people are doing with mobile apps. (via Functioning Form - Use Cases for Mobile Apps)

This ending was not just an easter egg for the obsessive reader...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:18:09 -0700

This ending was not just an easter egg for the obsessive reader who didn’t mind skimming every page looking for telltale words. Instead it’s hard to miss in even a casual riffling. A two-page illustration showing what could only be paradise (or perhaps a theme park) leaps out as the only spread in the book without any text. Flipping to the page before brings you to 101, where you discover that your curiosity has been rewarded. You have found the planet, not by following the constraints of the system, but by going outside of them – a fitting moral to the story and an encouraging reminder that any game should be a starting point for the imagination, not the end. (via Choose Your Own Adventure)

"China has seen a tenfold increase in syphilis cases over the past decade, as migrant workers made..."

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:08:23 -0700

“

China has seen a tenfold increase in syphilis cases over the past decade, as migrant workers made enough money in the country’s economic boom to hire more prostitutes, a senior Chinese health official was quoted as saying Tuesday.

“The areas with higher syphilis prevalence are usually places where the economy is booming but where there is also greater economic inequality, such as the southeastern coastal areas,” he added.

”

- Chinese official: Syphilis boom driven by economy - Yahoo! News

"As a side experiment, my colleagues asked several experts in the company for their expert opinion as..."

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:46:53 -0700

“

As a side experiment, my colleagues asked several experts in the company for their expert opinion as to what problems users would run into, and compiled them into a list. (These experts included the software designers, domain experts, and the people who trained users on the software.) Then my colleagues ran their study, observing sixteen people using this software for the first time, and made a list of the problems that users actually ran into. The result?

There was not one common item on the two lists.

”

- Designing the User Experience at Autodesk: Design Values: Validated Data over Expert Opinion

brocatus: In Log in or sign up? Leah Culver recommends a...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:13:18 -0700

brocatus:

In Log in or sign up? Leah Culver recommends a combined log-in/register form. I would totally agree and say this was a great design. If I was not using tumblr.

The tumblr homepage shows a signup form when you are not logged in. But if you are a tumblr user and fill in your name and password, the system logs you in directly. Why would you need two buttons? Tumblr knows you have registered!

Tumblrers you are my webdesign heros.

"It’s not about the quality of the sketching, but the variety and exploration of the idea that..."

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:44:33 -0700

“It’s not about the quality of the sketching, but the variety and exploration of the idea that matters.”

- Design - Exploring Options and Making Decisions

A road train consists of up to eight vehicles basically playing...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:11:56 -0700

A road train consists of up to eight vehicles basically playing follow-the-leader, with a professional driver at the head. Using wireless sensors and sat nav systems, cars communicate with the leader to join or leave the pack. Here’s where the incentive comes in: once part of a convoy, the vehicle goes on autopilot and the driver can then do what he or she wants, be it read, watch TV, or surf the web. (via Road Trains: Faux Highway Autopilot Gives Drivers Time to Watch TV « MobileBehavior)

The New York Times provides a batter-by-batter look at...

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:42:32 -0700

The New York Times provides a batter-by-batter look at Rivera’s pitching since 1995. He’s pitched to 501 batters in the post-season. Only 14 runs have been scored off of him. (via The Pitching Dominance of Mariano Rivera | FlowingData)

shaunbwilson: 15(ish) Things Worth Knowing About Coffee

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:57:19 -0700

shaunbwilson: 15(ish) Things Worth Knowing About Coffee

"First thing we do in the morning is check our phones. 22% of mobile Web access time takes place..."

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:04:57 -0700

“First thing we do in the morning is check our phones. 22% of mobile Web access time takes place between 7 - 10 a.m.”

- Twitter / Alli x Caleb

"Of those who follow a brand on Twitter, 44% say access to exclusive deals is the main reason. This..."

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:10:52 -0700

“Of those who follow a brand on Twitter, 44% say access to exclusive deals is the main reason. This is also true for those who “friended” a brand on Facebook or MySpace, where 37% cite access to exclusive deals or offers as their main reason.”

- FEED » Brand Culture

Disneyland - 1964

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:13:29 -0700

Disneyland - 1964

"But in our current health care system, there is no virtuous cycle of innovation, success and..."

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:19:32 -0700

“But in our current health care system, there is no virtuous cycle of innovation, success and expansion. When Intermountain standardized lung care for premature babies, it not only cut the number who went on a ventilator by more than 75 percent; it also reduced costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Perversely, Intermountain’s revenues were reduced by even more. Altogether, Intermountain lost $329,000. Thanks to the fee-for-service system, the hospital had been making money off substandard care. And by improving care — by reducing the number of babies on ventilators — it lost money. As James tartly said, “We got screwed pretty badly on that.” The story is not all that unusual at Intermountain, either. That is why a hospital cannot do as Toyota did and squeeze its rivals by offering better, less-expensive care.”

- If Health Care Is Going to Change, Dr. Brent James’s Ideas Will Change It - NYTimes.com

The data supports the notion that younger people are more...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:26:46 -0700

The data supports the notion that younger people are more supportive of gay marriage than older people. I also think it’s interesting that, even in states that we normally consider quite hostile to gay rights (the ones at the bottom of the table), there is still a significant age difference: 18-29 year-olds in Alabama, for example, are more supportive of gay marriage than people 65 and older in Massachusetts. So, while we like to think about states as “liberal” or “conservative,” spreading out the data by age tells a much more complicated story. (via Support for Same-Sex Marriage by Age and State » Sociological Images)