Published by
Taylor on
April 7, 2008 in
Advertising, Business, Cooking, Design, Energy, Environment, Health, Monday Links, Philanthropy, Sociology and Sustainability.
Sorry for the delay in posting these links, folks. I’ve been traveling, and I’m just now getting back to bloggin’. Unlike some people, I’m determined to make it through the 826 unread items in my Google Reader. How about a few links?
Although common tracking systems, known as cookies, have counted a consumer’s visits to a network of sites, the new monitoring, known as “deep-packet inspection,” enables a far wider view — every Web page visited, every e-mail sent and every search entered. Every bit of data is divided into packets — like electronic envelopes — that the system can access and analyze for content
- This Nick Kristof column on racial and gender bias provides links to a number of interesting online psychological tests.
The initiative is modeled after the grand challenges formulated more than 100 years ago by mathematician David Hilbert. His list of important unsolved problems has encouraged innovation in mathematics research ever since. Similarly, the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative aims to engage creative minds from across scientific disciplines — including those who have not traditionally taken part in global health research — to work on 14 major challenges.
- Smitten Kitchen is my new favorite food/cooking blog. This lemon blueberry yogurt cake looks amazing (due in no small part to their expert photography…and baking).
- If you’re looking to spice up an office memo, or maybe a senior thesis, try the beard font.
That should be enough for now. Sorry to fill the links with so much random stuff, but expect more *ahem* serious blogging to follow this week.
I’ve had another red bundle of Netflix joy buried in my mail pile for well over a week. So last night as I did some ironing, I popped Helvetica into my MacBook and away I went into the world of typography; a world that I had previously never given two seconds of thought to, but now have come to appreciate as one of the great underrated artistic mediums.
I can’t remember exactly how I first learned about Helvetica. I remember reading brief reviews about the film right when it came out, but I guess I saw it mentioned recently on some blog… or maybe Netflix recommended it to me.
I have to admit that I did get a little bored at times, but that could just as well be due to me sometimes concentrating more on the wrinkles in my shirts than on the images and words in the movie. Even though I was giving it less than 100% of my attention, I can definitely say the film was particularly well made.
The history of Helvetica was fairly intriguing, as was the way in which the filmmakers transitioned from interview to interview with examples of the typeface in everyday life.
It really is amazing how ubiquitous this one font is. Seriously. It’s everywhere. Even our Tropophilia logo above is composed in a variation called “Helvetica Neue UltraLight.”
But what was even more fascinating to me was the way in which the various typographers described their personal attitudes both towards Helvetica and their chosen profession. Some were in love with the font. They praised its perfection, or its simplicity, or its boldness. Others associated it with globalization, with over-standardization, even with the Vietnam War. Others said it was overused and has become dull, while others say that it’s undergoing a revival. Some say it’s timeless, others say its time has come and gone. Who knew all this controversy existed over a font?
Continue reading ‘Movie Review: Helvetica’
Here we are again, another week and another link-thread to kick things off. Back on our regular schedule, so grab your coffee and let’s get started:
- Sometimes a simple trip down memory lane can remind us of the astounding pace of change online. This gallery, courtesy of Gizmodo, shows websites from corporate giants like Apple and Reebok back in the mid 1990s. My how web design has evolved.
- I’m always wary of any seemingly progressive sound bytes originating in Bentonville Arkansas, but Wal-Mart execs are saying all of the right things about sustainability and supply-chain management innovation leading to increased energy efficiency and (surprise!) larger profit margins. Certainly something to watch based purely on the power Wal-Mart wields across so many industries. EcoGeek blogger Hank Green puts it well: “I don’t think the Wal-Mart model is a good model. But I do believe that, since they’ve pretty much taken over the (retail) world, when they do good things, it has gigantic impacts.”
- Speaking of EcoGeek, here’s a really cool resource they featured last week: a mapping tool that assesses the feasibility of wind and solar power for any location in the U.S. Did I mention that it’s free? I love the Internet.
- Sometimes change arrives by freak accident. Mental Floss directs us to 10 Accidental Product Discoveries. Still no indication of why “Silly Putty” was a good idea.
- Good to see the GiveWell crowd back at work after their kerfluffle a few weeks back. Their two part discussion on evaluating charter school programs speaks eloquently to the difficulty of measuring impact in education programs.
Enjoy your week, and keep checking back for new material and the debut of Joel’s (super secret) Wednesday afternoon feature.
One last note: if you notice the stat counter on the bottom right corner of our sidebar over there (–>), we’re nearing 1,000 unique visitors since the site launched 3 weeks ago. Leave a comment if you’re lucky visitor #1,000 (or the first after 1,000 to comment) and maybe we’ll hook you up with something cool (Tropophilia t-shirts? no?)
What follows is not as off-topic as you might think. In preparation for Macworld Expo 2008, I have sought here to reconstruct the events that last year led me to “make the switch” from PC to Mac. I ended up not making a “switch,” in fact – I made a “leap.” I’m a shameless Apple fanboy now. This anecdote not only chronicles personal changes I’ve made, but also documents how a company like Apple can so inspire change that it creates a cult, a movement, even an identity. That’s some powerful stuff, and something worth bloggin’ about.
About a year ago, I was sitting in my house in Alabama, enjoying the last few days of what had been almost a month off from school for the Christmas / New Year / Martin Luther King holidays. Man, I wish I was back in school so I could have long breaks like that again. Anyway. It was 11:00 am in Alabama, which just so happened to be 9:00am in San Francisco. I was reading the “live blog” of Macworld Expo 2007, the annual convention where Apple and its developers show off new products. The highlight of the event, the Christmas Day of the Apple calendar, is what has become known as the Stevenote — the keynote presentation by Apple CEO Steve Jobs where, without fail, he unveils new products or features that change the playing field. I was in my pajamas, eating waffles and sipping coffee, with my Dell laptop in front of me. I was captivated, transfixed in a state of what Fake Steve Jobs correctly terms “childlike wonder”.
Continue reading ‘“There’s Something In The Air”: How Apple Brings You Into The Flock, And Keeps You There’
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