Drawing with the mouse is a lot like drawing with Prisma Design Markers, except you have somewhat less control.
General
13
Apr 05
Good topical blogs
- Marketing: All Marketers Are Liars
- Drawing / Illustration: Drawn!
- Defense / Military: DefenseTech, Global Guerrillas
- Tips: Tricks of the Trade
- Human Resources: HR For the Leader in You
- T-shirts: Preshrunk
07
Apr 05
Beautiful science
From a fascinating article, Life’s top 10 greatest inventions:
On the evolution of language:
In a sense, language is the last word in biological evolution. That’s because this particular evolutionary innovation allows those who possess it to move beyond the realms of the purely biological. With language, our ancestors were able to create their own environment – we now call it culture – and adapt to it without the need for genetic changes.
On parasitism:
From viruses to tapeworms, barnacles to birds, parasites are among the most successful organisms on the planet, taking merciless advantage of every known creature. Take the tapeworm. This streamlined parasite is little more than gonads and a head full of hooks, having dispensed with a gut in favour of bathing in the nutrient-rich depths of its host’s digestive system. In its average 18-year lifespan, a human tapeworm can generate 10 billion eggs.
01
Apr 05
New del.icio.us features
Some cool new things are happening to del.icio.us since Josh turned it into a full-time job. Del.icio.us is the most important thing that has happened to the web in the last year. It’s more important that Flickr or podcasting, for example. Flickr is awesome, but it is not revolutionary. Podcasting is just a fad whereas del.icio.us completely changes how you use the Web, especially when used in conjunction with del.icio.us Firefox extensions. Del.ici.ous allows you to personalize and classify the web. It streamlines how you find information that is relevant to you. It allows you to organize information very easily. Here are some of the new features:
28
Mar 05
Books for young people
I was talking with Jody about books we had read as kids, and I thought it might make a good post.
- The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This was a good series, which I remember little about, except for its good description of pioneer living, like living in a sod house, for example.
- The Great Brain series by John Fitzgerald. I read these in my fifth grade class. When you finished your work you could read from the bookshelf in the classroom. That’s where I discovered this series. The stories revolve around these brothers as they get into mischief and solve mysteries.
- Flinx Series by Alan Dean Foster. This is a good sci-fi series about an orphan, Pip, and his pet flying snake, Flynx.
- The Oz books by L. Frank Baum. These were essentially fantasy books, before fantasy was a genre. There’s a lot going on in the Oz books. Magic, witches, and other assorted craziness. I never really understood the whole Ozma / Pip situation.
24
Mar 05
On BoingBoing
Glassdog had a spot-on ribbing of Boing Boing this morning (via Waxy.org). It’s essentially a shot at BoingBoing’s relative shamelessness when it comes to their advertising / business strategy. I have written at length about this before on at least three occasions (“More on Wired / Gawker media: Wired Conflicts of Interest”, “What’s with BoingBoing?”, and “The trend toward commercial blogs”). In all honesty, I think BoingBoing’s biggest shortcoming is their eye-bleeding design. It is easier to overlook a lot of things when ads don’t hit you in the face.
23
Mar 05
Spring is finally here
When I pulled out of the driveway I spotted a pair of doves collecting twigs for their love nest. The bird song in the mornings has increased as well. I’m glad for it. It has been a long winter.
21
Mar 05
Trendy
If you’re attuned to what people wear and do you’ll notice fads. Why do people follow the lead of other people? What are you thinking when you wear certain clothes or buy certain products? How do you decide what has value? Here are a few things I’ve noticed:
18
Mar 05
“Please mess with Texas” t-shirt
Some of the out of state visitors for SXSW might appreciate this shirt. You can get your own here at protoculture for $20. If you’re down on 6th street at Aaron’s Rock N Roll you can buy the antidote to this shirt that says: “F*ck y’all, I’m from Texas.” I don’t imagine they sell a lot of these due to the fact that they would only be funny outside the state or the country.
