Tourist vs local photographs (via Good) around the world.
Well, I know a whole lot more since going to Interaction15 last week, but I’ll stick primarily to the articles I’ve read in the last month.
DESIGN
- Why Britain Has The Best Wall Sockets On Earth (via co.Design) . Design is more than the aesthetics, it’s how people interact with the world and my heart was warmed by the thoughtfulness of a simple wall socket.
- India Grows, Canada Disappears: Mapping Countries By Population (via NPR). A map showing the real relationships of populations. Super interesting!
- At 90, She’s Designing Tech For Aging Boomers (via NPR). 🙂 An older hired by design consultancy IDEO.
- Sticker Calendar. I almost died this is so beautiful and clever. The season changes as stickers are pulled off…
- Artist Glues Together Hundreds Of Colored Pencils To Create World’s Most Kid-Friendly Vases (via Co.Design). I didn’t know what they were before I read the title.
SOCIAL
- Tyranny of the chicken finger: How we created a generation of unsophisticated, picky eaters — and why the cycle must stop (via NationalPost). Katie shared this article with me and its worth the long read. Especially for anyone with children, but also and important discussion on diversifying your meals. Related Article: What the kids around the world eat for breakfast. I think this is better than just the photo ones because it includes a short paragraph about it.
- Tennessee Decided to Drug Test Its Welfare Recipients — Here Are the Shocking Results. This was an social interesting topic that I wasn’t familiar with. A couple of states now have enforced drug testing for welfare recipients under the assumption that the people collecting welfare are using it to buy drugs. Basically working off a stereotype that those seeking public assistant aren’t in need and are lazy or undesirable members of society. What Tennessee discovered was that out of the 16,017 applications tested, only .23% (37) were flagged for drug use. Less than one percent. Whoops.
- Coffee Doomsday? Why Critics Say K-Cups Are Bad News For The Planet (via NPR). Yes! I have always hated those stupid Keurig coffee cups since I saw them for the first time. I was flabbergasted. They create so much plastic waste for no good reason.
- The end of the line draws near for the Queen’s corgis. Important corgi-related news.
- Emma Holten: Someone stole naked pictures of me. This is what I did about it (via The Guardian). Sad that it happened, but I’m glad she stood up for herself.
- Police Department Using Photos of Black Men for Target Practice Insists It’s Not Racist (via Good). No words.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
- Waste Water from Oil Fracking Injected into Clean Aquifers. Awful. That’s all. Just awful. We need to find a better way. I read this story because I’ll be moving to the bay area soon.
- The Real Reason Your Food Sticks To The Pan (via Huffington Post). I thought this was neat, but I also tried it and yes, when I did put a sprinkle of water in the pan it magically floated around. But it also horribly burned an egg to my pan when I tried that part.
- To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This (NYTimes). The super popular NY Times article that’s been traveling around. It describes the author’s experience using research on falling in love personally—it’s a series of questions and then 4 minutes of staring. I didn’t read the questions so that I could have authentic answers if I’m ever put to the test ;).
MEDIA
- At ‘The Grand Budapest,’ A Banquet Of Beards And Melange Of Mustaches (via NPR). The Oscars are coming up…I thought this was a funny little article on the attention to detail designers on West Anderson films put even to the mustaches. I’m reflecting on it now and I think West Anderson really shows what attention to the detail and craft can do to an overall experience.
- The Funniest Woman In Hollywood Is In Search Of Her Next Big Role. From Buzzfeed, I know. But it’s a real article and not just a list. I thought it was a lovely side of Kaitlin Olson, Sweet Dee from Always Sunny.
- False Hustle: How Keeping Busy Is Making You Less Productive (co.Design). Guilty. In fact, I might be doing it right now in writing this blog post.
If you liked the Purple Martin video, you’ll probably like this one too: