Nour has a tumblog

Batman in the Real World or: Vigilantes, Superheroes, and the American Way of Justice

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:59:00 -0800

Batman in the Real World or: Vigilantes, Superheroes, and the American Way of Justice:

A fun essay on why Batman is a better embodiment of the “ideal American” hero than other superheroes. The gems from this are the traits that make up an American hero:

Trait #1: Americans Rebel Against Authority

Trait #2: Americans Have Our Own Way of Doing Things

Trait #3: The American Way of Doing Things Is Often Violent

Trait #4: Americans Believe in the Power of the Individual

Trait #5: Americans Believe We Are Always Right

The essay expands on these traits, and also relates them back to Batman and George W Bush. A good look into American culture.

social objects for beginners | gapingvoid

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:51:15 -0800

social objects for beginners | gapingvoid:

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that “node” in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

I guess most of us know what “social objects” are without knowing of the term “social object.” But:

The thing to remember is, Human beings do not socialize in a completely random way. There’s a tangible reason for us being together, that ties us together. Again, that reason is called the Social Object. Social Networks form around Social Objects, not the other way around.

Via @brynn

Los Angeles is built on a large oilfield. What’s...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:43:47 -0800

Los Angeles is built on a large oilfield. What’s fascinating is that these oilfields are still producing without anyone people noticing.

Secret Oil Wells of LA via Your Daily Thread

Olivier Gregoire: Music Sample: Interesting: how would you...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:36:25 -0800

Olivier Gregoire: Music Sample:

Interesting: how would you package one single mp3?

Olivier Gregoire: furniture

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:33:21 -0800

Olivier Gregoire: furniture

We Were Factory Workers: 11 Young Designers Reflect on their Experience in Guyana - Core77

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:19:54 -0800

We Were Factory Workers: 11 Young Designers Reflect on their Experience in Guyana - Core77:

We have set out to rework the formula of an industry whose main objective has been to find the fabricator that will produce the product at the least possible cost; we are now interested in a more sustainable working model. Just as high school math teachers demanded that we “show our work” or our answers wouldn’t count, we feel that the final product no longer counts unless we are able to take full responsibility for the path to production, in addition to the end result

Love the math analog.

OK GO - This Too Shall Pass RIDICULOUS Rube Goldberg...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:45:21 -0800

OK GO - This Too Shall Pass

RIDICULOUS Rube Goldberg machine.

(via)

"Promiscuity is the new reality, ubiquity is the new exclusivity."

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:20:00 -0800

“Promiscuity is the new reality, ubiquity is the new exclusivity.”

- Ariana Huffington on content sharing via @frogdesign

Filing this one away for future reference. The Expanded Beard...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:54:56 -0800

Filing this one away for future reference.

The Expanded Beard Type Chart | Jon Dyer’s Blog

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-2-28)

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:22:22 -0800

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-2-28):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

curvedwhite: Quentin Tarantino Tribute Posters by Ibraheem...

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:30:53 -0800

curvedwhite:

Quentin Tarantino Tribute Posters by Ibraheem Youssef

Brilliant.

Four Tet’s playing at the Echoplex

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:04:11 -0800

Four Tet’s playing at the Echoplex

So excited for another Unique Los Angeles event!

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:31:09 -0800

So excited for another Unique Los Angeles event!

Business Advice From Van Halen

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:37:09 -0800

Business Advice From Van Halen:

On detecting problems before they occur:

Google executives realized in November 2008 that flu outbreaks could be detected early by monitoring the number of times people searched for terms such as “flu” and “influenza.” Because the searches are logged instantly, epidemiologists can spot flu outbreaks a full one to two weeks faster than they could have before.

Leading to how Van Halen’s David Lee Roth would safeguard against technical errors:

Van Halen buried a special clause in the middle of the contract. It was called Article 126. It read, “There will be no brown M&Ms in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation.” So when Roth would arrive at a new venue, he’d walk backstage and glance at the M&M bowl. If he saw a brown M&M, he’d demand a line check of the entire production. “Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error,” he wrote. “They didn’t read the contract…. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show.”

Interesting.

Great set of notes from a conference that I couldn’t...

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:12:28 -0800

Great set of notes from a conference that I couldn’t afford this year. Fingers crossed for Interaction ’11 in Boulder.

Thoughts from the Interaction ‘10 IxDA Conference in Savannah on These Things Matter

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-2-21)

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:38:22 -0800

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-2-21):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

A Dinosaur Family Explains Information Architecture won the...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:58:28 -0800

A Dinosaur Family Explains Information Architecture won the Explain IA contest. Fun video.

How John Gruber makes money

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:32:36 -0800

How John Gruber makes money:

I love the comments thus far on the article:

Yeah, real level-headed. It’s pretty level headed to consistently rant and rave at everyone that disagrees with you and call people “jackasses.”

Yeah, a real paragon of level-headedness.

Jackass.

Seeing Swayspace in the process of making Feltron’s 2009...

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:14:21 -0800

Seeing Swayspace in the process of making Feltron’s 2009 Annual Report makes me even more excited excited to get my copy.

"The sketch is not the end goal. The end goal of the drawing process is what you learn while..."

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:31:23 -0800

“The sketch is not the end goal. The end goal of the drawing process is what you learn while sketching. So don’t worry if you can’t sketch. In fact, if you’re too good you might just fool yourself into thinking your sketch is a deliverable. It’s not. The real value of sketching is that it allows you to explore and refine ideas in a quick, iterative and visual manner with little overhead or learning curve.”

- Sketch, sketch, sketch - 52 Weeks of UX