Keepon Keepin’ On

Yeah!

Combatting Foggy Brain

Here’s an oldie but goodie from the Creating Passionate Users blog (one of my favorite, and sadly extinct blogs). I am resurrecting it because I believe it explains the case of ‘foggy brain’ I can’t seem to shake at my current gig (in a big, beige cube in a big, beige building at a big, beige bank):

“You always knew that dull, boring cubicles could suck the joy out of work, but now there’s evidence that they can change your brain. Not mentally or emotionally, no, we’re talking physical structural changes. You could almost say, “Dull, lifeless work environments cause brain damage…

Apparently all work and no play makes Jack not just dull, but dumber. So don’t forget to have fun…”

I am taking this to mean a trip to the new Whole Foods across the street is in immediate order - can’t argue with science! Unless of course, you’re the Bush Administration.

And yes, I think grocery shopping is fun - especially when the store has a wine tasting station and encourages you to drink while you shop - now that’s good user experience!

Full article: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/02/brain_death_by_.html

 

Four Cool Sites

Some great sites I’ve run across over the last couple of weeks.

1) Walkscore.com  - Find out how walkable different neighborhoods are - just type in an address, and it shows you bars/restaurants/stores/services/schools nearby.  It’s only as good as Google Maps, because that’s the data they use, but that’s pretty darn good. It seems as though it’s original purpose was to help folks scope out new neighborhoods for real estate purposes, but it’s great for finding local places where you already live (especially if you haven’t lived there for long), or for traveling (e.g. what’s near my hotel, or better yet, where should I stay?).

 2) Slidecast  - from Slideshare. As they say on the site: slideshare + podcast = slidecast. And it’s free.

 3) Songbird - desktop app that lets you play all your music and anything on the web. love the interface. love what it can do.

4) Hey - it’s that guy! I remember this site from a few years ago - it lists all those character actors you can’t quite remember (inspired by the late, great J.T. Walsh - aka Cigarette Man from the X-Files among other things).  After racking my brain yesterday to remember what it was called, I revisited it - there was a guy in front of us at the Steppenwolf the other day who we recognized from some TV show or other but couldn’t quite place. I never did find him on the site, because frustratingly it doesn’t have pictures, but I spent a couple of hours on it anyway -it’s just so darned entertaining.

Wow.

Hans Rosling’s Demo of Gapminder and Dollar Street at TED:

Watch. (28 minutes, but worth it to watch till the end.)

Experience: Trendalyzer and Dollar Street.

Man, I miss Sandra Day O’Connor

Anthony Kennedy = swing vote my ass.

Neat Bourdain Interview

Anthony Bourdain discusses his management style on Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge site. Man, I love that guy.

How far can we stretch this?

Personal [whatever] environments?

Broken Rule or Rule Meant to be Broken?

So, is horizontal scrolling on the Web an absolute no-no? Jakob Nielsen said so, but Apple’s not buying it - check out the discussion over at 37signals’ Signal vs. Noise blog about Cover Flow, Apple’s latest convention-challenging navigation scheme.

You have a perfectly good turn signal - now use it!

When we’re driving, I’m sure most of us share the same objective - to get from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible. So why oh why can’t you use your turn signals? Especially coming up to a busy intersection - You: in the left lane of a street with no specified left turn lane, planning to turn left. Me: Right behind you, now stuck until you are able to turn across multiple lanes of traffic, because you didn’t use your turn signal and it’s too late for me to go around you now.

Or how about when I’m riding my bike? Me: On my bike about to cross an intersection. You: Making a right turn in front of me without any warning. Arrgh!

Please be a good citizen and let me know if you’re going to turn. And here’s a bonus tip - it doesn’t help much if you signal at the EXACT moment you turn. The point of a turn signal is to let people know your intentions AHEAD OF TIME. I’m not a fast or impatient driver (or biker) - I just like to be able to predict where you’re headed so I can decide where I need to be.

Well done, Empehi.

A shout out to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and my alma mater, Morgan Park High School. Makes me even prouder to be a Mustang.

P.S. Empehi = M.P. High

P.P.S. We have a water polo team???