northWESsed 2.0

when I open an email containing a mock up the client made to "show me what they're talking about"

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:03:15 -0700

thisadvertisinglife:

when I suddenly remember I have something due by end of day

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:55:50 -0700

thisadvertisinglife:

npr: (via The 35 Greatest Animal Photobombers Of All Time)

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:11:25 -0700

npr:

(via The 35 Greatest Animal Photobombers Of All Time)

when the client says, “make this go viral”

Wed, 02 May 2012 20:51:00 -0700

thisadvertisinglife:

New favorite tumblr!

It’s official – America has lost. gifhound: Pizza Hut...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:43:29 -0700

It’s official – America has lost.

gifhound:

Pizza Hut introduces the Crown Crust Burger Pizza - a pizza encrusted by cheeseburgers. Only available in the Middle East.

(Via YouTube)

Posting xkcd’s take on Tumblr on Tumblr. (Click through...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:46:53 -0800

Posting xkcd’s take on Tumblr on Tumblr. (Click through for ALT text.)

everycallenderday: DOPENESS! MARS BLACK-LIN!!!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:19:33 -0800

everycallenderday:

DOPENESS!

MARS BLACK-LIN!!!

nprfreshair: Tomorrow: a look at the impact of SuperPACs on the...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:30:48 -0800

nprfreshair:

Tomorrow: a look at the impact of SuperPACs on the Presidential campaign

Guests:

Trevor Potter, an expert on campaign finance issues and Stephen Colbert’s advisor on his SuperPAC

James Bopp Jr., the lawyer behind the landmark Citizen’s United Supreme Court case that opened the doors to SuperPACs

(FEC Form 99 via Colbert SuperPAC)

Colbert = American hero.

neaato: JEREMY LIN MEME BY MICHAEL KANG. ESPN: CORRECTION,...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:05:33 -0800

neaato:

JEREMY LIN MEME BY MICHAEL KANG. ESPN: CORRECTION, JEREMY LIN IS NOT THE ‘CHINK IN THE ARMOR’, BUT HE IS THE ARMOR

Good information, bad information design I’m seeing this...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:12:00 -0800

Good information, bad information design

I’m seeing this nearly five-year-old(!) infographic making the rounds on Facebook. Without addressing the accuracy of the raw data, the graphic itself is deeply flawed. The designers have used the height of each pyramid section to indicate percentages/servings. A bar graph using relative heights would be fine, but by using pyramids, the lower layers of the pyramids are wider/deeper than the upper layers.

This drastically overemphasizes the relative amounts of the food groups the lower down the pyramids you go. By suggested volume, the meat/dairy category in the left pyramid is probably in the high 90s percent-wise. The relative values in the right pyramid are similarly distorted.

These are basic information design rules – to break them like this ultimately undermines whatever point is being made.

Link to graphic as originally posted by PCRM: http://www.pcrm.org/good-medicine/2007/autumn/health-vs-pork-congress-debates-the-farm-bill

Link to some alternative presentations of the same data: http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2010/03/why-does-a-salad-cost-more-than-a-big-mac/

xkcd: Kerning ALT text: “I have never been as...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:46:52 -0800

xkcd: Kerning

ALT text: “I have never been as self-conscious about my handwriting as when I was inking in the caption for this comic.”

[Clearly someone hated me at some point in my life. - WK]

wnycradiolab: theatlanticvideo: Old, Weird Tech: Dr....

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:44:22 -0800

wnycradiolab:

theatlanticvideo:

Old, Weird Tech: Dr. Neubronner’s Patented Miniature Pigeon Camera

(via The Atlantic Tech channel)

“The mechanisms were simple. A camera with a pneumatic timing mechanism was attached to a bird with a cute little harness. Then, the bird was released, and every so often, the timer would go off, and a puff of compressed air would trigger the exposure.”

Too wonderful.

Proto-GoPro!

Another image from the TITLEMOVIE tumblr. HORSE WAR, anyone?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:31:39 -0800

Another image from the TITLEMOVIE tumblr. HORSE WAR, anyone?

"One way he wowed the judges was with his platter of chicken, which was modeled on architect Frank..."

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:16:24 -0800

“One way he wowed the judges was with his platter of chicken, which was modeled on architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s house, Fallingwater.”

- House of Chicken: Chef Wins Competition With ‘Fallingwater’ Platter (via npr)

Hello, new nightmare!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:14:09 -0800

Hello, new nightmare!

Comment on "Do you unplug? Making the case for ‘No-Tech Sundays’"

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:08:45 -0800

Comment on "Do you unplug? Making the case for ‘No-Tech Sundays’":

“I wish I had spent less of my cognitive surplus on Farmville.”

felixsalmon (via npr): (via Language Log » Annals of...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:56:12 -0800

felixsalmon (via npr):

(via Language Log » Annals of airport Chinglish, part 3)

Someone, please, set up a simple website where Chinese companies can input whatever language they want, and then helpful English-speakers can provide a comprehensible translation, mechanical-Turk style but for free. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours for the translation to iterate with some clever wiki to something almost perfect, and in no case would you end up with something worse than this.

Point being, the people who made this sign put effort into creating the English translation. If there were a website which was easier to use than what they’re using right now, wouldn’t we all win?

There’s a restaurant near work that plays a bootleg of TOY STORY 3 with Chinese subtitles plus English subtitles that were TRANSLATED BACK FROM THE CHINESE. The results are awful, equally hilarious and tragic.

"Now and then we look into the work of our fellow cookbook authors and are usually surprised to..."

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:16:00 -0800

“Now and then we look into the work of our fellow cookbook authors and are usually surprised to discover how little attention they pay to liquor. In past editions we, too, have approached this subject rather apologetically—after all, there was a time when selling or serving alcoholic refreshment was considered disreputable in America. But here and now we drop all subterfuge, frankly concede that “something to drink” is becoming with us an almost invariable concomitant of at least the company dinner, and have boldly enlarged this section of the book. Always in the back of our minds, spurring us on, is the memory of a certain cartoon which depicted a group of guests sitting around a living room, strickenly regarding their cocktail glasses, while the hostess, one of those inimitable Hokinson types, all embonpoint, cheer, and fluttering organdy, announces, “A very dear friend gave me some wonderful old Scotch and I just happened to find a bottle of papaya juice in the refrigerator!””

- From the chapter “Drinks,” JOY OF COOKING (1964).

Go ahead—look up Hokinson and embonpoint if you need to, as I did. Also, cf. Doris Upson from AUNTIE MAME (1958).

31 Inspirational Tumblr Photos, Adjusted for Honesty (CRACKED)

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:14:00 -0800

31 Inspirational Tumblr Photos, Adjusted for Honesty (CRACKED)

"The federal government requires applicants for certain civil service jobs to take a written exam...."

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:12:31 -0800

“The federal government requires applicants for certain civil service jobs to take a written exam. The same holds true for the foreign service. And to become a U.S. citizen you have to pass a civics test. Why do we not require a similar exam for individuals who seek election to office?”

- Should Candidates Have to Pass a Civics Test?

That is a very good question, Room for Debate of the NYTimes.com. If the humblest immigrant can nail a test Newt Gingrich could never pass, should the latter even be allowed to run?

I say no.

— From SF.

(via whileyouweresleeping)

I’ve always thought this. I grew up watching my mom, my aunts, my cousin, my friends and even their parents study their asses off to pass that test. Their reward of course is to have their allegience questioned, their accents mocked and their culture ridiculed by fuck-tards running for or holding an elected office.

(via seoulbrother)