My collection of funny emails from my inbox. Subject: 5 MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE Lesson 1: A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel." After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. "Great!" Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure. Lesson 2: A priest offered a Nun a lift. The priest removed his hand. Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. Lesson 3: "Me first! "Me next! Lesson 4: Lesson 5: Lesson 6:
No television since 1988: what would you have missed? | On Tuesday a report appeared on a local news website in Kent about an electronics engineer from Southborough who hasn’t watched a TV programme since 1988. The man, 53-year-old Andrew Lohmann, ditched his television, the article states, when he realised he had developed a bad habit for watching the box. His reliance on TV, he said, had become detrimental to his social life and his interaction with the world around him, so he simply gave it up. The report goes on to document all the ways in which his life improved once he gave up staring at the set for hours on end. He found an outlet for his social conscience and began campaigning for nuclear disarmament with his local CND group. He devoted more of his time to his hobbies in computing and technology. In 24 years without a tube the man clearly hasn’t looked back. The case is clear then. I mean, come on. Let’s start with the remainder of the 80s. Maybe this century will provide richer pickings for us. But hang on. Then there’s drama.
100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design by Maria Popova From visual puns to the grid, or what Edward Tufte has to do with the invention of the fine print. Design history books abound, but they tend to be organized by chronology and focused on concrete -isms. From concepts like manifestos (#25), pictograms (#45), propaganda (#22), found typography (#38), and the Dieter-Rams-coined philosophy that “less is more” (#73) to favorite creators like Alex Steinweiss, Noma Bar, Saul Bass, Paula Scher, and Stefan Sagmeister, the sum of these carefully constructed parts amounts to an astute lens not only on what design is and does, but also on what it should be and do. Idea # 16: METAPHORIC LETTERING Trying to Look Good Limits My Life (2004), part of Stefan Sagmeister’s typographic project '20 Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far.' Idea # 83: PSYCHEDELIA Gebrauchsgraphik (1968). Idea # 31: RED WITH BLACK Heller and Vienne write in the introduction: Idea # 19: VISUAL PUNS Idea # 17: PASTICHE Idea # 80: TEEN MAGAZINES Idea # 25: MANIFESTOS
Don’t Scratch the Itch By Leo Babauta One thing I’ve learned from my weeklong bout with poison oak (read about it, including my update on a cure) … is a lot about itches. I’ve become somewhat of a minor expert on itches. I’ve learned to watch the itch and not scratch it. Now, why the hell is that useful or even noteworthy? Consider: procrastination is about scratching your itch to go do something other than hard work. Most of the bad things in your life, and your inability to change them, are about itches. So the question is, how do you avoid scratching an itch? First: You have to know the itch is there, and that you’ve been scratching it. So noticing the itch and that you’re scratching it is the first step, and it’s a doozy. Second: You have to realize the scratching is hurting you. Third: Make a commitment to not scratching. Fourth: Watch the itch but don’t scratch. This takes practice. That’s about it: notice the itch, recognize the harm, make a commitment, and watch but don’t act on the urge.
Water is dangerous This was found on the newsgroup: rec.humor.funny A student at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide." And for plenty of good reasons, since: it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting it is a major component in acid rain it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state accidental inhalation can kill you it contributes to erosion it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. He feels the conclusion is obvious.
Pixar’s Story Rules, Illustrated in Lego by ICanLegoThat Last year, Pixar story artist Emma Coats (@lawnrocket) tweeted 22 rules of storytelling like “give your characters opinions” and “no work is ever wasted.” Alex Eylar, aka ICanLegoThat, has illustrated twelve of those rules with Legos. He gave us the chance to premiere them at Slacktory. Four Famous New Year's Resolution Lists: Jonathan Swift, Susan Sontag, Marilyn Monroe, Woody Guthrie by Maria Popova “Stay glad. Keep hoping machine running. Love everybody. Make up your mind.” ‘Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions, but instead of regurgitating the most common ones — like changing habit loops, exercising more, and being more productive — here is a look at some of history’s more unusual resolution lists from the diaries, letters, and personal effects of cultural icons: Writing in A Tale of a Tub in 1699, at the age of 32, Jonathan Swift — best-known as the author of Gulliver’s Travels — compiled a list of 17 aspirations for his far future, titled “When I come to be old.” When I come to be old. 1699.Not to marry a young Woman. via Lists of Note In 1972, 39-year-old Susan Sontag noted in her diary: Susan Sontag by Peter Hujar, gelatin silver print, 1975 Kindness, kindness, kindness.I want to make a New Year’s prayer, not a resolution. Then, in early 1977, she resolved: Starting tomorrow — if not today: I will get up every morning no later than eight. Donating = Loving
A Year of Living Without Or, How I Made Room for Life By Leo Babauta For the next 12 months, I’ll be conducting a personal experiment that I’m calling A Year of Living Without. It’s my way of finding out what’s truly necessary, of simplifying my life, of making room for other things. I’m testing the boundaries of my needs. So what’s the Year of Living Without? Each month, I’ll go the whole month without one thing I do every day. I’ll give up something for a month, then evaluate whether it was something I enjoyed giving up, whether it’s worth leaving it out of my life, or if I want to put it back in after the month’s over. The 12 Things I’ll Live Without Each month, I’ll try a different experiment: July: Coffee. This list might change as the year progresses and I find other things I’d rather give up, but this is what I’m planning for now. At the end of each month, I’ll decide whether I want to keep doing without that month’s Living Without item. Some things I’ve already given up: Why Am I Doing This? Q: Coffee?
Cow's milk protects against HIV The HIV-inhibiting antibodies from the milk will be used to develop a microbicide (anti-HIV cream) that can be applied before sex to protect people from HIV. Image: ValentinVolkov/iStockphoto Melbourne researchers have developed cows’ milk that protects human cells from HIV. The next step will be to develop it into a cream which women can apply to protect themselves from contracting HIV from sexual partners. Melbourne University’s Dr Marit Kramski and colleagues found that using cows to produce HIV-inhibiting antibodies is cheaper than existing methods. They worked with Australian biotechnology company Immuron Ltd to develop the milk. The first milk, called the colostrum, is naturally packed with antibodies to protect the newborn calf from infections. “We were able to harvest antibodies specific to the HIV surface protein from the milk,” said Marit, who is presenting her research this week as one of the winners of Fresh Science — a national program for early-career scientists.
Pixar films don't get finished, they just get released Here is what I received from Pete Docter, one of the most influential and important people at Pixar, the best animation studio on the planet. Transcript follows. Many thanks to Adam for allowing us to feature his letter. Be sure to check out his blog, Disney, etc. Recommended Reading: The Art of Up. Transcript 10.17.08Hey Adam! New Year's Resolution Reading List: 9 Essential Books on Reading and Writing by Maria Popova Dancing with the absurdity of life, or what symbolism has to do with the osmosis of trash and treasure. Hardly anything does one’s mental, spiritual, and creative health more good than resolving to read more and write better. Today’s reading list addresses these parallel aspirations. And since the number of books written about reading and writing likely far exceeds the reading capacity of a single human lifetime, this omnibus couldn’t be — shouldn’t be — an exhaustive list. If anyone can make grammar fun, it’s Maira Kalman — The Elements of Style Illustrated marries Kalman’s signature whimsy with Strunk and White’s indispensable style guide to create an instant classic. The original Elements of Style was published in 1919 in-house at Cornell University for teaching use and reprinted in 1959 to become cultural canon, and Kalman’s inimitable version is one of our 10 favorite masterpieces of graphic nonfiction. On the itch of writing, Lamott banters: On why we read and write:
Procrastination is a Mindfulness Problem By Leo Babauta We all procrastinate, and by and large, we all know the solutions to our procrastination. I put off writing this article (ironically, I know, and yes I know you’ll put off reading this article) by doing a bunch of smaller tasks, for example. Honestly, I know the solutions: clarify what task is most important, clear away everything but this more important task, clarify my motivations for this task, break it down into something smaller and easier if I feel difficulty. These aren’t hard solutions. But they don’t work unless you’re aware of what you’re doing. You can’t step back to clarify what your Most Important Tasks are unless you realize you’re procrastinating in the first place. Awareness is everything with procrastination. Once we know what’s happening, the fixes are (fairly) easy. The problem isn’t just being aware of what’s going on — it’s remembering to be aware. So let’s talk about the awareness of what’s going on when we procrastinate, and then how to remember
What are Phytoplankton? : Feature Articles By Rebecca Lindsey and Michon Scott Design by Robert Simmon July 13, 2010 A previous version of this article was published in 1999. An archived version is available as a PDF file. Derived from the Greek words phyto (plant) and plankton (made to wander or drift), phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that live in watery environments, both salty and fresh. Some phytoplankton are bacteria, some are protists, and most are single-celled plants. Phytoplankton are extremely diverse, varying from photosynthesizing bacteria (cyanobacteria), to plant-like diatoms, to armor-plated coccolithophores (drawings not to scale). Like land plants, phytoplankton have chlorophyll to capture sunlight, and they use photosynthesis to turn it into chemical energy. Phytoplankton growth depends on the availability of carbon dioxide, sunlight, and nutrients. Phytoplankton can grow explosively over a few days or weeks.