January 2010
65 posts
Calling for disfluency →
On cognitive fluency, a preference for the easy:
Cognitive fluency is simply a measure of how easy it is to think about something, and it turns out that people prefer things that are easy to think about to those that are hard.
“Every purchase you make, every interaction you have, every judgment you make can be put along a continuum from fluent to disfluent,” says Adam Alter, a psychologist at the...
Real work →
marco from Fraser Speirs:
For years we’ve all held to the belief that computing had to be made simpler for the ‘average person’. I find it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we have totally failed in this effort.
Then Fraser Speirs on future shock and the definition of “real work:”
The tech industry will be in paroxysms of future shock for some time to come. Many will...
True rate of hedonic experiences →
Two separate tests evaluate our perception about “time flies:”
The folk psychology belief “time flies when you’re having fun” is so powerful and ubiquitous, the researchers say, that whenever we feel an event has passed more quickly than we expected, we infer that we must have been enjoying ourselves, and vice versa for events that drag.
In one test:
The researchers...
What a 16-year-old notices →
On Catcher in the Rye as a guide to the city, or at least one that was:
I wouldn’t say it’s a cross section of New York, but it’s a cross section of what a kid like that who grew up in New York would be interested in doing,” said Peter G. Beidler, the author of “A Reader’s Companion to J. D. Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’” …. “A 40-year-old man walking around New York would see...
Mirror mirror →
When we meet people, whether we know them or not, their body language — implicit and explicit — can tell us more than we realize:
We mirror each other’s body language as a way of bonding, being accepted and creating rapport, but we are usually oblivious to the fact that we are doing it. In ancient times, mirroring was also a social device which helped our ancestors fit in successfully with...
Balloon mythology →
In the ’50s, the U.S. Military and CIA had a number of top-secret balloon projects they used to gather intelligence about the Soviet Union. The result: a mythology that’s outlasted the codewords. For one:
Flying Sandwich Bags – SKYHOOK: SKYHOOK balloons, funded by the Office of Naval Research, were designed to stay at a fixed altitude (~100,000 feet) and carry a payload of thousands of...
The radio brain →
On how the brain “tunes in” to one idea:
If you think of the example of the jammed radio, the way to hear what you want out of the messy signals would be to listen really hard for the latest news while trying to filter out the unwanted music. The hippocampus does this more efficiently. It simply tunes in to the right frequency to get the station it wants. As the cells tune into the...
Conditional constructs →
A 106-year-old’s secret to a long life:
In a word: optimism. I look at the good. When you are relaxed, your body is always relaxed. When you are pessimistic, your body behaves in an unnatural way. It is up to us whether we look at the good or the bad. When you are nice to others, they are nice to you. When you give, you receive.
I know a man. In a conversation one evening — the sort of...
More or less →
New research shows that more warnings cause greater harm when it comes to prescription labels:
Half of adults misunderstand common standard drug warnings on prescription labels, putting them at risk for using the medicine incorrectly or even having a life-threatening event. …. “The more warnings you put on a label, the more you distract [patients] from essential instructions and precautions...
Anyone everything →
Media projects, many of them visual experiments, from the magnificent Radio Lab. Just a selection:
Moments (“How would you define a moment?”)
Parabolas (“It all started with a pendulum.”)
Stoop Sitting (“I’m not busy, I’m just relaxing.”)
Strawberries (“He who is possessed by possessions is surely possessed.”)
Collective wisdom of...
Try to be anything else →
I keep thinking about Jessica’s one thing:
The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.
And this from Lorrie Moore on how to become a writer:
First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. President of the World. Fail miserably. It is best if you...
The center drugstore →
An analysis of a flip-flop purchase:
These are flip flops. I bought them at what is called, in Oakland, “Big Long’s.” It is a Long’s Drug store that is, for no clear reason, the size of a Wal-Mart. It is shocking and wonderful. It is the only Long’s in the nation that has a fabric department. You can purchase a bicycle there, a futon, a fishing pole, a raft. Such a variety is, I know,...
All of the above →
Stephen Worth, director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, on the importance of skill:
Ever since Andy Warhol made “ideas without skill” fashionable back in the 60s, it seems to me that popular culture has been playing a game of “skill limbo”. How low can we go? How badly drawn can a cartoon be and still be considered a cartoon? How many drum machines and sequencers...
The science of casual connections →
Our casual acquaintances might matter more than we think:
The people we take for granted like our car mechanic, the bakery clerk and the fellow dog-walkers at the park, are actually more important people in our lives than we may imagine. Their presence provides meaning, comfort and social connection and exposes us to new and interesting perspectives. When we get sick or lonely, they are likely to...
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Just hope
Having two z’s in one’s name is nothing like Scrabble where they bring high value. They limited my creativity in rhyming as a child for one, and Zil Ociznad, my attempted secret nickname, was all but foiled by the odd z-angles. (Say it out loud, you’ll see.) But letters and, at a larger scale, language give form. We use them to be explicit, and at the next turn, to soften...
The life-worn-off sense →
There’s been a terrific back and forth at Snarkmarket on doorknobs and their extension to an expertise in civil society. One contributor pointed to an interview at McSweeney’s with Bruce Gerrie, organizer of an exhibit of over 300 antique doorknobs:
I also like the idea of telling the history of a city through its doorknobs. And I like doorknobs. I had a standard, hexagonal glass...
Making a difference →
For those who have ever heard, “Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach:” Taylor Mali, on behalf of educators everywhere, on what teachers make:
I make kids work harder than I ever thought they could.
I make parents see kids for who they really are.
I make kids wonder.
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write...
Low-car cities →
A transit planner looks at the top 50 cities with the most zero-car households:
If I then look across the whole list and try to identify factors that seem to explain, in different mixtures, each city’s presence on the list, it seems there are three: age, poverty, and dominant universities.
But also:
It looks like the most common path to low car ownership is to be an old city. Many big...
On data dependency →
Seth Godin on data and faith:
In my experience, data crowds out faith. And without faith, it’s hard to believe in the data enough to make a leap. Big mergers, big VC investments, big political movements, large congregations… they don’t usually turn out for a spreadsheet. The problem is this: no spreadsheet, no bibliography and no list of resources is sufficient proof to someone...
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“A long complicated sentence should force itself upon you, make you know yourself...”
– Gertrude Stein excerpted from the 1935 “Poetry and Grammar.” Depending on your perspective, see also lexical ambiguities or the value of voids.
The art of resonance →
Byron Reeves on research showing the relationship between realism and influence in avatars:
Realism isn’t necessary to be influential. The more realistic an avatar looked (photorealistic versus cartoonlike), the less likely it was that people were willing to disclose personal information to that avatar when they first meet. If your job involves interviewing, there’s no need to impose...
The brick approach →
Unexpected wisdom from Will Smith talking with Charlie Rose on approaching tasks:
You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s every been built. You don’t start there. You say I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. …. You do that every single day, and soon you have...
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“The current belief that everyone must now be an inventor is too often...”
– Thomas Maitland (T.M.) Cleland, in February 1940, responding to the end of the so-called avant-garde era of experimentation, delivered at a meeting of The American Institute of Graphic Arts in New York City in an address entitled, “Harsh Words.”
Think different →
Four intuitive ways of thinking may actually lead humans into traps. Here, they’re outlined in a bit of a review of what’s wrong with the CIA:
The first and most important tendency is that our minds are prone to see patterns and meaning in our world quite quickly, and then tend to ignore information that might disprove them. Second, people pay more attention to visible information than...
Style and study →
Frank Chimero has been taking and responding to questions on his blog. Each one is pretty wonderful. On developing style:
Figure out what you want to SAY. That is what’s important. The lipstick doesn’t keep the pig alive. The guts do. Message dictates the proper aesthetic.
I was reminded of quotations from Matthew Arnold,“Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the...
What the future sounded like →
From the documentary, “What the Future Sounded Like,” a documentary about Electronic Music Studios (EMS), a radical group of avant-garde electronic musicians who composed music using technology and futuristic experimentation:
Comprising of pioneering electronic musicians Peter Zinovieff and Tristram Cary (famed for his work on the Dr Who [sic] series) and genius engineer David...
New York versus Silicon Valley, in tumblogging →
On Tumblr versus Posterous:
[They’re] the two most prominent “tumblogging” sites, i.e. sites that make blogging more straightforward by making it easier to post media. …. But now Tumblr has been an Alexa Top 100 site for a while and is still growing strong. Meanwhile Posterous has about 4 times less uniques. Yet Posterous has everything to win: it’s a Y Combinator company with top-tier...
Colbert and Emily Pilloton on humanitarian design →
Colbert asks, “What’s wrong with designing stuff?”
Emily Pilloton, founder and executive director of Project H Design:
We should be able to create things that we can measure not just in their form and function, but things that have a positive social impact where we can measure their impact within someone’s life, their community, even within an economy.
Watch the...
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“[I]f we’re going to talk about the value of the open Internet, we have to...”
– David Weinberger [via] See also: the opposite of noise, do not disturb, and some free associations.
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Confidence for good
I recently did this thing. I co-founded and am now chairing a graduate program. And I did it by taking a considerable leap from a career as a designer that I’d been growing for more than a decade. Sure, my first job out of college was an educator, and I’ve been an educator on the side ever since. But suddenly I’d made it the focus of my everyday.
I’d stepped away from something familiar...
For and by graphic designers →
A new collaboration between Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy:
Unit Editions is a new, progressive publishing venture producing high-quality, affordable books on graphic design and visual culture. We combine impeccable design and production standards with insightful texts and informative commentaries on a wide range of subjects.
I like this project — a peek into, then subsequent ROI,...
Squares for change →
Robert J. Lang talking about the origami documentary, Between The Folds:
I think at the heart one of the things that makes us human, that’s both our strength and our weakness, is a need to change things. It’s also the heart of the appeal of origami. Exploring the surprising magic of just how far you can change that square only by folding it.
What’s remarkable about these...
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“An idea is gold only if you name it.”
– Austin Kleon, cf. Brian Eno: “Giving something a name can be just the same as inventing it. By naming something you create a difference. You say that this is now real. Names are very important.” [via and]
Exploring alternate views of change →
From the first episode of the 1978 10-part series, Connections, “The Trigger Effect”:
Would you do me a favor? I’d like to stop talking for a minute. And when I do, take a look at the room you’re in. And above all, at the man-made objects in that room that surround you — the television set, the lights, the phone, and so on — and ask yourself what those objects do to...
Making models →
Zinsser on having models:
We all need models. Bach needed a model; Picasso needed a model. Make a point of reading writers who are doing the kind of writing you want to do. (Many of them write for The New Yorker.) Study their articles clinically. Try to figure out how they put their words and sentences together.
Study not just others’ writing, but their entire process. How do they write...
The “anonymous review” formula →
Editors at The Believer asked a recent book reviewer to take place in an experiment in criticism:
They were curious what would happen if we inverted the standard “anonymous review” formula — if instead of the reviewer having the cloak of anonymity, we were to keep the book under review anonymous from its critic, and thereby shield it from any and all prejudice — whether positive or negative,...
Schooling the word herders →
Grant McCracken on choosing and combining words:
Someone on Twitter recently defined himself as a “word herder.” ”Clever,” I thought, “but wrong.” Bloggers and twitterers are not herding words. We are choosing words and combining them. And in a more perfect world, we would take inspiration from those who are good at this very difficult task.
Yes, 10,000 times....
The border between public and private →
Karrie Jacobs on the Standard’s renown as the “Naked Hotel” as not only a function of the architecture, its floor-to-ceiling glass, but of “an unusual urban condition:”
The building’s inherent nakedness is its greatest virtue. Schliemann [the Standard’s architect] suggests that what the [New York] Post labels “exhibitionist-friendly” is part of a broad set of...
Mobile eating tools →
Pop Up Lunch is transformation after my own heart:
I am exploring how nontraditional public spaces — like sidewalks — might be easily transformed into lively places to lunch. This blog follows a series of Pop Up Lunches I have staged (some big, some small) and my development of mobile eating tools designed for the sidewalks of NYC. Ultimately, I hope that my efforts might inspire even a handful of...
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“When in doubt, ask writers about writing.”
– Bob Thompson on finding stories with, near, and about writers (I suspect this to be a snowclone-esque phrase for any discipline, “When in doubt, ask X about X-ing.”)
The workout to work →
Brief insight into how people organize their days. More than just a few incorporate(d) some kind of workout into their day:
Barack Obama: He starts his day with a workout at 6:45, reads several newspapers, has breakfast with his family, and then starts his work day just before 9:00 in the morning.
Haruki Murakami: This popular Japanese novelist sticks to a specific daily schedule that begins at...
It's not executional →
James Higgs on what frustrates him about the phrase “that’s executional:”
There are a number of trigger phrases that people use to try to prevent you focusing on the detail of a project and back to nice, sweeping, high-level thinking, and ‘that’s executional’ is one of them. I think it is supposed to mean that the particular detail you’re focusing on is not central to the service...
Soundtrack for daily activities →
Time Piece, a 1964 short, experimental film by Jim Henson:
Mundane daily activities are intercut with surreal fantasy and pop-culture references. The relentless passage of time is a recurring motif, both visually, through various clocks, and aurally, through a rhythmic percussion soundtrack which “ticks away” throughout.
Some may look familiar, as:
He personally animated scenes of...
Let's say you've gone back in time →
Your poster has this one covered.
[via]
Brooklyn, a geographical form of insanity →
Jonathan Lethem on his writing process:
Jonathan Lethem walks as he writes. I don’t mean that he takes a break from writing and goes for a stroll, or that he thinks about what he’ll write when he’s pounding the pavement — though I’m sure he does both of those things. I mean that he does them at the exact same time. He has installed a treadmill in his office, moved his...
Detail number 900 →
Dave Eggers on reading:
I used to get The Onion every week at 21st and Valencia, a couple blocks from our office, and when you stopped printing it for San Francisco, it was a very dark day for me, because I don’t enjoy reading online. I just feel like it’s two separate things. When I’m doing work online or on the computer, it’s one thing. When I want to read, I want to go elsewhere, and I want to...