Digital_Smorgasbord

It's been too long

2009-02-26T11:34:00.003-05:00

I started using Tumblr and it's pretty sweet because it meets the needs of my "blog" without all the work of posting and thinking of something clever to write. In other words, it's an easier platform for me to post goodies that I come across on the web. Given the ease of the Tumblr platform I'm going to be way more active with postings.

check it here
http://zach-ary.tumblr.com/

also on twitter:
http://twitter.com/Zach_ary

Dunny's Make Noise

2008-10-27T18:09:00.003-04:00

Neat Stuff care of Rob "Blobbos" Braun.

Someone has taken the Vinyl Toy trend and added speakers to it...smart. The site is called Headphonies.

DnB Meet Jesus - Jesus Meet DnB

2008-10-07T11:31:00.004-04:00

Amazing Set Of Videos by DJ Holy Ghost - Click HERE to be linked.

Pixadore

2008-10-02T18:33:00.002-04:00

Pretty intense stuff - Pixadore In Sao Paulo

Revolution http://joshspear.com/?tag=education

WiiSpray

2008-06-11T11:55:00.001-04:00

Sup Y'all - came across this on PSFK...their write up is below...the graf game will hate on this hard but it's a pretty cool invention - i guess one argument could be made that it could improve the state of graffiti by providing toys with the tools to work on their can control before hitting a public environment...

From PSFK

We’ve previously written about Daim’s 3-D graffiti, now a couple of Media Art and Design students are working on a Wii-Controller turned Spraycan. Wiispray is a prototype, currently under heavy development as part of a final-thesis design work by Martin Lihs at Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Germany.

Wiispray aims to give sprayers all the tools of a real-life spraycan with a digital extension. This neat gadget could open the concept of a digital spraycan to a wide audience. The virtual spraycan simulates real spraying characteristics and comes with a range of different caps and of course paints. Collaborative spraying on a virtual wall is planned as well.

Wiispray

Typo Graffiti

2008-05-28T11:33:00.002-04:00

Armed with Sharpies, erasers and righteous indignation, two apostles of the apostrophe make it their crusade to rid the world of bad signs.

Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson have not wasted their lives.

They fight a losing battle, an unyielding tide of misplaced apostrophes and poor spelling. But still, they fight. Why, you ask. Because, they say. Because, they must.

For the last three months, they have circled the nation in search of awkward grammar construction. They have ferreted out bad subject-verb agreements, and they have faced stone-faced opposition everywhere. They have shone a light on typos in public places, and they have traveled by a GPS-guided '97 Nissan Sentra, sleeping on the couches of college friends and sticking around just long enough to do right by the English language. Then it's on the road again, off to a new town with new typos.

Picture a pair of Kerouacs armed with Sharpies and erasers and righteous indignation—holding back a flood of mixed metaphors and spelling mistakes and extraneous punctuation so commonplace we rarely notice it anymore. But they are 28 and idealistic. Graduates of Dartmouth College, they are old friends with a schoolmarm's irritation at conspicuous errors, and despite their mild and somewhat nerdy exteriors, they have serious nerve. Deck lives outside Boston; Herson lives outside Washington. And together, they are TEAL—the Typo Eradication Advancement League—and they are between jobs.

o they approach a cafe, a shoe store, a visitors center.

They identify a typo on a sign, a label, a poster.

They point out the typo. They await the reaction.

This next part varies. They are greeted warmly (sometimes). They are told to go away (sometimes). They are gently blown off (usually). "We have not yet encountered fisticuffs," Herson said. But it's always a possibility. Often they make the needed alterations themselves, with compliance from a manager or supervisor. And when ignored, they have resorted to guerrilla tactics—slipping in a stray letter here, removing an errant comma there. They have found about 400 cringe-inducing examples of bad copy mistakes—on church signs and at Rockefeller Center, on sandwich boards and at the Grand Canyon.

That is, 400 examples they have brought to the attention of the powers that be. They have gone as far as correcting graffiti. Their tour ended this week.

Their route was circular. Deck began March 5 in Boston, drove to Virginia and picked up Herson; from there they worked their way clockwise around the country, from Atlanta to Texas to Seattle to Madison, with many stops in between. (Their blog is at jeffdeck.com/teal and will be updated regularly, typo trip or no typo trip.) They swung into Chicago in late April—the town that gave birth to their guiding light, "The Chicago Manual of Style." They headed straight for Wicker Park. They tend to hunt for typos in "high-density text locations," in spots with more independent businesses than chains—indies being generally less attentive to flagrant sins against grammar than corporate conglomerates.

Deck, who decided to launch the tour after spotting typos in his shower curtain (it was covered in math terms and equations), arrived wearing an Indiana Jones hat. He had a watchful manner and rarely seemed to blink. His foil, Herson, a kind of Ratzo Rizzo of proper usage, was jumpier, squirrelly, eager to push Deck whenever an encounter with a store employee got awkward (which was every time).

We started down Milwaukee Avenue.

Immediately, Herson spotted an offense—a second-floor awning outside a tarot shop that advertised "Energy Stone's." They climbed the stairs to the second floor and approached a middle-age woman with a quizzical expression. "We happened to notice the sign for energy stones," Deck said, "and there happens to be an extra apostrophe. 'Stone's' doesn't need the apostrophe."

"And?" she asked, her voice flat with annoyance.

"And we wanted to bring it to your attention," Deck said.

As they spoke, the woman's daughter stepped into the room and shouted: "Oh my God! I saw you guys on 'Good Morning America.' Tell me, tell me—what did we get wrong?" She sounded genuinely thrilled. (Actually, they were on "The Today Show.") Herson explained the typo on the awning. Deck said he understood that the mistake is out of the way and not easy to fix, but he asked them to promise that they would fix it—soon.

"Don't know if we can ..." the woman said.

Deck said they've heard that a lot.

Back on the street, Deck said poor use of the apostrophe was their most commonly encountered typo. "It's like a virus," he said. Herson agreed: "It really is contagious, I think. Especially the lack of them in possessives." (For instance, parking lot signs explaining that any unauthorized vehicles will be towed "at owners expense" have been particularly pervasive.)

They continued down Milwaukee.

A block later, they stopped. Outside a clothing store, Deck noticed the lack of an apostrophe in the window type—it read "Women's & Mens." They entered, and two clerks with white-blond hair perked up.

"Hi, we're driving around the country fixing typos," Deck explained, "and we noticed one side of your sign out front has an apostrophe and one doesn't for some reason. So we were wondering if you have a spare apostrophe we could stick in there. Or I could just do it."

"My, that's specific," the first clerk said.

"I'm not sure we keep spare apostrophes," the other said.

Very observant," the first clerk said.

"Amazing, actually," the other said.

Deck reached behind him for the clear plastic pencil case attached to his camera strap. He asked if he could add the apostrophe, and the clerks huddled, then shrugged. Inside his case were dry erasers for white boards and Sharpies and different colored markers and chalk and bottles of Wite-Out and a few pens and a handful of crayons, because you never know. Deck crouched down in the window and carefully painted a matching apostrophe on the glass with a Wite-Out brush; then he stepped back.

"Thank you for making our window a better place," one clerk said.

"Thank you for letting us."

They continued on.

Their mission, Deck said, is to raise typo awareness—after each stop Deck has blogged about the goofs found and the typos corrected. "I've always noticed typos," he said, "and one day I just decided to take action. I thought it would be great to go national and see if there were patterns." He said he detects a general erosion of good grammar, from coast to coast, region to region. "If we can inspire enough people to carry Sharpies and help out, then we will be satisfied and happy."

Until recently, Deck did administrative work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Herson worked at Borders. But they had saved a little money, and so they set out. Of course they want a book deal—they've had interest, they say. But they are also sincere in their goal. Maybe too sincere. There's an element of performance art here—an invisible line between genuine and absurd that they approach with each fresh encounter. They press their faces close to even the most innocuous handwritten neighborhood leaflet and scan carefully. They don't smirk. But you detect one anyway, studiously smothered.

They entered a men's clothing store near Ashland Avenue. The large faded metal sign out front read "Mens Clothing." They swung open the door. An older man was resting his elbows on a shirt rack. They approached. Deck spoke. "We noticed your sign."

The man said nothing. Deck explained it needed an apostrophe. The man is Robert Marks, the manager. He is 60 years old and said he had been coming to this store (founded in 1914) since he was a child. (He said the sign is at least as old as he is.) He listened to them explain why the grammar on the sign was wrong. And then he shrugged, never changing his expression.

Deck asked if he had a ladder, so he could climb up and ...

"Don't worry about it," Marks said.

"We could jus ... "

"Leave it alone."

Outside, back on Milwaukee, I asked Deck if there wasn't charm to certain mistakes—that didn't his drive to eradicate honest goofs from the awnings and sandwich boards of every neighborhood mom and pop remove a little charm from the landscape. Isn't he unintentionally helping to hide the human hand in cities that are quickly succumbing to a slick numbing sameness? Is all of this really worth it?

He stopped.

"Well," he said, considering the point. "We worry there are cases when someone is trying to say something and they won't be taken seriously because their sign is riddled with mistakes. We don't want to see more chains. But a grocery store that can't spell grocery [as he encountered in California] makes you question the food they sell. I think charm can manifest in different ways."

Chicago, Deck would say later, had been nice—as nice as New Orleans. But at the time of the hunt, they fretted that their percentage of typos corrected to typos spotted was being thrown. They had been at around 50 percent, but again and again they encountered clerks who said the boss was not around, so no changes could be made. Deck and Herson looked pained.

Then they looked stricken. There, high above Milwaukee Avenue, was a sign for Milwaukee Furniture. And Milwaukee was spelled "Milwuakee." "Wow," Deck said sarcastically. "Wow. I mean, Milwaukee is far away and everything. I mean, isn't this Milwaukee Avenue too? Oh, I think they need to be told about this." Herson checked the opposite side of the sign—misspelled there too. They entered a store full of furniture but devoid of customers. Behind a metal desk covered in stapled receipts sat a large guy in a black T-shirt. He squinted as they approached.

"We couldn't help notice your sign," Deck said. "The one that juts over the sidewalk?"

OK," the guy replied.

"The name of the store is misspelled."

"OK."

"It's correct on the awning, but the letters are inversed on the sign," Deck said.

"And?"

"And we were wondering if there was any way you could get it fixed," Deck replied.

"The manager is not here. Tomorrow."

"It's huge," Deck said. "Believe me, if we could fix that thing we would. If it were within our power."

"Could you let your boss know?" Herson asked.

The man smiled and looked toward the street. "I never noticed."

" 'Dining room' is spelled wrong too," Deck said. The store sign was a big enough goof that the mistakes he had spotted on the awning seemed small. But he couldn't help himself. "['Dining'] has too many letters," he told the man.

"I'll tell him."

"He'll change it?"

"I'll tell him."

"You guys should get a refund from your sign guys."

"I'll tell him."

They left. Herson started down the block—headed for a "matress" in need of a "t."

But Deck spun on his heels and turned back to the furniture shop and stared at the looming "Milwuakee." He'd learned a lot during this trip—walk away from a human powder keg, never bring up a typo on a menu until after you've finished eating your meal, our understanding of proper punctuation is shaky at best. And generally, people don't care.

He groaned and walked to the window. He pressed his forehead to the glass, then gently banged it against the pane. He stepped back and stared. "It's bigger than my head," he said, incredulous. "And you know it's not going to get fixed either."

Source - Chicago Tribune

Lego Version of MC Escher's Drawing

2008-05-21T14:39:00.003-04:00

wowsers

Source - Laughing Squid

Check Out

2008-05-21T14:05:00.001-04:00

http://www.zune-arts.com/

Build An X-Wing Out Of A Bus Ticket

2008-05-13T10:01:00.003-04:00

For all those origami enthusiasts out there - try your hand at building an X-Wing out of a bus ticket

Step by step instructions HERE.

For Trylon

2008-05-12T11:31:00.006-04:00

Would love to see this in Toronto or any other city for that matter...from Trendwatching....

There are several vertical farms proposed from major cities around the world. We’ve already told you about the one being built in Las Vegas, now here’s one that’s been proposed for Toronto.

SKYFarm, is being developed by architect Gordon Graff. It will be a 58 floor skyscraper that will blend into the theatre/entertainment district and will offer 8 million square feet of growing space which will be used to feed an estimated 35,000 people each year. Year round it will be protected from disease, run off and other pollution, particularly harsh smog in the summer, and will be shielded from the biting cold Ontario winters. In addition, it will eliminate the need for bringing in produce from other countries as each area will be able to replicate the conditions of different climates.

As cool as it sounds that we might one day get all our nutrition from meal pills, growing crops will be a necessity for a long time still, possibly forever. Another cold reality is that we’re running out of agricultural space, specifically in metropolitan areas.

The beauty of these vertical farms is that they can supply thousands, if not millions, of people with fresh crops vital to our bodies, regardless of time of year or weather conditions. Inside the giant skyscrapers, the climate is designed to offer ideal conditions to grow and harvest fruits and vegetables. There is no pollution, and no concern that weather, like hail or floods, could ruin a harvest.

Some places are already way ahead of the curve.
Pasona 02, an underground farm in Japan, has been around since 2005.

This is the future of farming.

I guess it should be adding stuff to this thing...

2008-04-22T17:26:00.003-04:00

Animal Farm Cover by Shepard Fairey

Relatively New Banksy Piece

Neato

Ipod Ghetto Blaster

2008-04-02T10:56:00.004-04:00

This is kinda cool despite being sold at Urban Outfitters. Whatever you do don't bring it to a beach in Nicaragua...you're guaranteed to get robbed. With a little luck you will be in the water so you won't lose your stuff by machete.

Colour Combos

2008-03-14T09:58:00.009-04:00

I've found that the hardest part about painting a place is figuring out which colours to use. Among a multitude of issues, you want to make sure that the colours work together. I'm currently in the midst of determining how I want to paint my new place and I found the following site very helpful. "Wear Palettes" is a sub section of the fashion blog "The Sartorialist". This section of the blog provides colour palettes based on fashion ensembles. This site can be a useful for any project involving colour - I've just got paint on the brain.

Fak Pt.2

2008-03-13T16:22:00.006-04:00

Frankly, I found this site awesome. Someone out there is making money off toy compatible weapons. I came across the page of Lego weapon accessories such as the M24 Stielhandgranate. The best part of this site is the number of pictures they had. Check it all out here.

Fak

2008-03-13T13:53:00.003-04:00

So I recently heard of this company in Israel that essentially acts a prayer messenger for those not able to make it to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. For $25, a prayer sent to the company's website is given to a rabbi who prays on your behalf at the Wailing Wall. Your prayer is also written on a note and left in the wall.

As it turns out, "prayer" isn't the only service this business model caters to. A company called "Send.a.message" will take your personal message and spray paint it on the wall that separate Israel and Palestine. For 30Euros they will tag the wall on your behalf and send you a picture. Check out their site here.

MediaStorm

2008-03-12T11:46:00.008-04:00

I came across this really interesting site of "photo-documentaries". Topics range from some pretty heavy stuff (Rape of a Nation) to some lighter material (Love In The First Person). I had the opportunity to watch "Marlboro Marines". The footage was beautiful and shocking. Click here to be routed to the site.

Fixies

2008-02-29T08:49:00.002-05:00

Let the spring in! Counting down the days until it gets warm...not to say there's a set date but sweet Jesus I'm looking forward to it. Over the winter months, I've been working on building a fixie with this old Canadian Tire SuperCycle that I found in a bike graveyard. It's been a lot of fun (and work) and I can now say I'm pretty much done painting it after lots of sanding and priming. I really can't wait to get out there and rip it through the city. Pics to follow in coming day. In the meantime I've been satiating my appetite via the internet. Here are two blogs I've
come across that are a pretty good look into this developing subculture.

Trackosaurus Rex - here

Skitch Clothing - here

Cognitive Mind Control

2008-02-26T18:06:00.004-05:00

Don't Flush Your Ad Down The Super Bowl
From: Advertising Age

If you're not Bud, don't bother.

It's so tempting: the biggest stage in the advertising world, a collection of all your biggest customers and their friends. Why not throw that $2.7 mil at it and watch the bottles fly off the shelves?

Well, because it probably won't work.

You might make a cool ad, a memorable ad, an ad beloved by all who behold it, but unless you've incorporated some very fundamental cognitive elements, your ad most likely will be attributed to Bud.

In a study released at this year's Cognitive Science Conference, that is exactly what researchers found. Ads with poor "cognitive scores" were misattributed by consumers, and beer ads were attributed to the huge Super Bowl presence that is Budweiser.

Beer wasn't the only category with problems. Many of the more popular ads suffered from the same breakdowns in cognitive principles. Remember those funny Ameriquest ads a couple of years ago-the turbulence on the plane, the crash paddles in the hospital? They made the Ad Meter top 10, but not a single person in the study could recall which brand they advertised.

It doesn't have to be that way. Understanding how people think, learn and remember-the basics of cognitive science-can produce reliable brand recall. The same study proved that researchers, using a model from cognitive science, could predict with stunning accuracy which ads would fare well and which would fall prey to misattribution. Those principles can just as easily be applied during development.

Take, for example, the concept of "working memory." Information has to go through working memory to get into long-term memory, where brand awareness and loyalty reside. One of the principles of cognitive science is that a person can hold and process only about seven items in working memory at any given moment. This actually varies from about five to nine in the general population. If your ad has so much information that it exceeds working-memory capacity, you'll lose control over what consumers are able to remember. Cog-sci lesson: Respect working memory.

At this point, some of you think I want to "kill the creative spark." You are mistaken. Science is here to augment good ideas, not replace them. Surely we can all agree that likability alone is not enough to make an ad effective. There is no ad sexy enough to overcome misattribution.

So here's another tip: There's a difference between a "punch-line" ad and a "piggyback" ad. Using a brand as the punch line to a story or joke is very effective. But a piggyback ad is entertaining for only 25 seconds and then has another five-second ad at the end. The hope is that the piggyback ad will enjoy some reflected glory from the ad it clutches on to, but that's not how the brain works.

Take the Nationwide commercial where Fabio rows a boat and then turns into a cryptkeeper, because "life comes at you fast." We already know Fabio, but now we're supposed to think "life comes at you fast" when we see him, and thus recall Nationwide. It's too much. Only about 4% of consumers remembered the brand.

It's not that a brand has to be mentioned early to be remembered. The FedEx caveman ad had a nice, funny story, and FedEx itself was the punch line. A year later, cavemen were synonymous with Geico, but 22% of consumers still named FedEx as the brand for this ad. Cog-sci lesson: Punch lines work; piggybacks don't.

Of course, an ad can make the "Cognitive Science Top 10" without any formal input from science. But the same could be said for making the Ad Meter top 10, and no one leaves that to chance. So you'd better hope you make both if you don't want to make another ad for Bud.

Lisa Haverty is a cognitive scientist at Brain on Brand, Brookline, Mass.

New Meaning To Watching 6

2008-02-21T15:30:00.006-05:00

Source: 12ozProphet

Sweet Camera

2008-02-21T10:03:00.005-05:00

"Sung Woo Park's Eazzzy digicam concept is simply a quick, convenient, and well, easy way to snap and download photos. The data transfer process is relieved of wires and multiple device connections and the viewfinder is in the eye of the beholder."

Sweet idea...probably take crappy pictures...BUT it come sooo many colours. DERP!

Source: Core77

Privacy Urinals

2008-02-20T16:59:00.003-05:00

I'll take these urinals over the divider wall any day...sourced from Boing Boing

From The New York Times

2008-02-20T15:38:00.003-05:00

DO you bite your nails? Have you pierced your tongue? Is your tote bag emblazoned with the words ''I'm not a plastic bag''?

People look and act the way they do for reasons too numerous to fit into any therapist's notebook. Yet we commonly shape our behavior or tweak our appearance in an attempt to control how others perceive us.

Some call it common sense. Social scientists call it ''impression management'' and attribute much of their understanding of the process to the sociologist Erving Goffman, who in a 1959 book, ''The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life,'' likened human interactions to a theatrical performance.

Now that first impressions are often made in cyberspace, not face-to-face, people are not only strategizing about how to virtually convey who they are, but also grappling with how to craft an e-version of themselves that appeals to multiple audiences -- co-workers, fraternity brothers, Mom and Dad.

''Which image do you present?'' asked Mark R. Leary, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke, who has been studying impression management in the real world for more than 20 years. Like other scholars, he is now examining the online world through the lens of impression management -- studies that sometimes put an academic gloss on insights that seem obvious, and at other times yield surprising results.

''We've been struck by the dilemma people are in,'' Mr. Leary said of a study he began last month about how people edit their online personas. ''Some people seem to pick an audience. Other people pick and choose the best parts of themselves. As a professor, my Facebook page is just watered down. I can't have pictures of me playing beer pong.''

People, of course, have been electronically styling themselves for as long as there has been a Web to surf. But scholars say the mainstreaming of massive social networking and dating sites -- which make it easy to publicly share one's likes, dislikes, dreams and losses in a modern mutation of the Proust Questionnaire -- is prompting more people to ''perform'' for one another in increasingly sophisticated ways.

Indeed, today's social networking and dating sites are ''like impression management on steroids'' said Joseph B. Walther, a professor of communication and telecommunication at Michigan State University. But because they are still new forms of communication, ''people don't have a very strong sense yet of what they're doing or what the best practices are,'' he said.

Among Mr. Walther's findings is that the attractiveness of the friends on your Facebook profile affects the way people perceive you. In a study to be published this year in Human Communication Research, a journal, Mr. Walther and colleagues found that Facebook users who had public postings on their wall (an online bulletin board) from attractive friends were considered to be significantly better looking than people who had postings from unattractive friends.

''We disproved the Paris Hilton hypothesis,'' said Mr. Walther, explaining that this traces to a quote attributed to Ms. Hilton: ''All you have to do in life is go out with your friends, party hard and look twice as good'' as the woman next to you.

''That's not true,'' Mr. Walther said.

Many of the self-presentation strategies observed by scholars will seem obvious to experienced Internet users: improving one's standing by linking to high status friends; using a screen name like ''Batman'' or ''007'' when in reality one is more like Austin Powers; referring to one's gleaming head as ''shaved'' not ''bald''; using cutesy emoticons to charm the demographic that forwards inspirational chain mail; demonstrating leadership by being the first to adopt and turn others onto the latest Facebook applications; listing one's almost-career as a D.J. or model rather than the one that pays the bills; making calculated decisions about what to list as interests or favorite books.

''If someone lists some obscure Romanian title, is that person really smart or are they pretentious?'' said Judith Donath, an associate professor of media arts and sciences at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who studies social aspects of computing.

In one study of online dating, professors at Rutgers, Georgetown and Michigan State found that in the absence of visual and oral cues, single people develop their own presentational tactics: monitoring the length of their e-mail messages (too wordy equals too desperate); limiting the times during which they send messages (a male subject learned that writing to women in the wee hours makes them uncomfortable); and noting the day they last logged on (users who visit the site too infrequently may be deemed unavailable or, worse, undesirable).

The scholars found it common for online daters to fudge their age or weight, or to post photographs that were five years old. Also, the world is round and the chemical symbol for water is H2O.

In general, scholars do not think of impression management as an intentionally deceptive or nefarious practice. It is more like social lubrication without a drink in your hand. Those studying it online have found that when people misrepresent themselves, it is often because they are attempting to express an idealized or future version of themselves -- someone who is thinner or has actually finished Dante's ''Inferno.''

''Everyone felt pretty strongly that they tried to be honest,'' said Jennifer Gibbs, one of the authors of the online dating study and an assistant professor of communication at Rutgers. (N.B.: Ms. Gibbs met her husband on Match.com.) ''They justified slight misrepresentations or distortions on trying to stand out,'' she said, adding that online and offline, people experience tension between telling the truth and showcasing themselves in the most flattering light.

Some misrepresentation stems from the actual structure of networking sites. For instance, people who decide to grow younger on dating Web sites often do so by a couple of years because they would otherwise be filtered out of search results that use age brackets. Ms. Gibbs said most people had ''no qualms'' about forgetting a few birthdays as long as they came clean upon meeting someone.

Coming clean about misrepresentations is less of an issue on social networking sites, where people are not as likely to deviate too far from the truth because their network of friends will simply call them on it. Scholars do suggest, though, that the photographs people post on the sites are about more than showing what individuals look like. Rather, members carefully choose photos to display aspects of their personalities.

Catherine Dwyer, a lecturer at Pace University who studies online behavior, said young men on MySpace commonly do this by posing with their cars.

''I use photos that describe me,'' said Leonard Alonge, 44, a chef and actor in Delray Beach, Fla., who is a member of Facebook. ''Photos of me in the kitchen, photos of me with friends. I use it to describe my personality: friendly, outgoing, nothing very explicit. I'm a pretty conservative person. I was raised in a Roman Catholic family.''

Clare Richardson, 17, of Los Angeles, is applying to colleges and is therefore mindful of what she posts on Facebook, but she knows teenagers who ''want to appear to be the partying type,'' she said. They post pictures that seem to prove it even if it is not true. ''It's clear they're trying to impress everyone out there,'' Ms. Richardson said.

Keith N. Hampton, an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, said the notion of impressing ''everyone out there'' is the fundamental problem of networking sites. They are designed so that millions see the same image of a member.

For online impression management to be effective, Mr. Hampton said, the sites should be redesigned to allow people to reveal different aspects of their identity to different users. You should be able to present one face to your boss, and another to your poker buddies. ''We have very real reasons for wanting to segment our social network,'' he said.

But what of that breed of users who, despite all the warnings, could care less who sees what? They continue to post salacious photographs of themselves. They reveal deeply personal information. They inspire parental tsk-ing. They open themselves up to identity theft, hurt feelings and job loss.

And that may be the point.

''Today, posting revealing or culpable material online arguably has become another forum for signaling imperviousness to danger and repercussions,'' Ms. Donath wrote in a paper published in October in The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. ''They may be indicating that their future is so secure that no social network site indiscretion would jeopardize it, or they may be showing their alienation from the sort of future where discretion is needed. For such users, the risk itself is the benefit.''

Mimoco

2008-02-15T12:06:00.008-05:00

Really cool USB drives for a reasonable price. Click here to check the site.

Improv Everywhere

2008-02-15T11:45:00.004-05:00

I've come across a few of these videos and they are pretty neat. An organization in NYC called Improv Everywhere put together these massive improv skits fooling and confusing anyone who comes across them. Click here for a link to their Freeze skit in NYC Grand Central Station. Many more videos on their site and Youtube.

My Next Trip

2008-02-14T16:36:00.002-05:00

Who knew there was an equivalent to the Olympics but for beards and moustaches? See you in Anchorage Alaska for the 2009 Beards and Moustache Championship. Click here for more.

Fake Moustache For Your Ipod

2008-02-13T12:57:00.003-05:00

I just discovered you can purchased them here.

Sourced from ffffound.com - more here.

Dios Mios - Fifa Street 3

2008-02-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

This is one way to get your viral video around - fill it with absolutely amazing footage. This video is for the release of Fifa Street 3 - a video game by EA. The music is sick too. Click here to see the spot.

How To Start A Fire

2008-02-12T14:53:00.001-05:00

This is pretty weird and my bet is that its a hoax but looks at the fire it's started. A woman has started a blog which counts down 90 days until she kills herself...she is currently on day 84

In her own words:

"I am going to kill myself in 90 days. What else should i say? This blog is not a cry for help or even to get attention. It's simply a public record of my last 90 days in existence. I'm not depressed and nothing extremely horrible has lead me to this decision. But, does it really have to? I mean, as an atheist I feel life has no greater purpose. My generation has had no great depression, no great war and our biggest obstacle is beating Halo 3. So, if I feel like saying "game over", why can't I? Anyway, I hope you enjoy my thoughts as the clock runs out. Also, if blogspot takes this down before i'm gone just go to www.90dayjane.com. Please don't attempt to "help" me. If you want to truly help, please send me ideas on how to do the deed. thx-Jane"

Her blog is here.

Hook Ups

2008-02-12T14:30:00.000-05:00

WOW! I used to have this poster next to my bed! Five bucks to the first person who tells me the skater who is getting kicked in the face in the shot. More on Hook Ups skateboards here.

Neat Shelf

2008-02-12T14:01:00.000-05:00

the photo says it all...

sourced from wrongdistance.com

Only A Matter Of Time

2008-02-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

I've finally got myself settled after coming back from out West. Never really seems like taking a vacation is a vacation when you consider the work you have to do before and after you take off. I'm sorry that the blog has taken the back seat for the last week.

Back to it - this little gizmo is pretty amazing and I'm not surprised to see it making it's way into our day to day gadgets. Won't it be cool to show friends and family videos/pictures etc. from a cell phone projection instead of crowding around a little screen. I can only begin to imagine the fun you could have with this. Check out this video if you've never heard of the Graffiti Research Lab.

More on the pocket sized projector here.

Baker Me Timbers

2008-02-08T09:07:00.000-05:00

Not much to say besides WOW. Baker is one hell of a mountain and it absolutely dumps there. This was the first mountain I've been to in a while where I was a little hesitant about blindly dropping in. You could be riding and all of a sudden the tree line will drop off on the horizon indicating a serious drop. That element of the unknown and the sense of nervousness you get when you are picking a line is what makes Baker worth the trek out West....not to mention over 3 feet of snow in four days. I'll be uploading more pics to FaceBook if you are interested.

Video Slime

2008-01-30T16:46:00.000-05:00

My friend Shael, an aspiring video game developer, has taken some older Slime pieces and embedded them into a video game based on the movie JUMPER. Pretty awesome (Slimeball being in the game - not the movie...hehe). Click here for a link to the video game trailer.

I'm heading out to Mount Baker in Washington state for a few days of shred. Back on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Funny Money

2008-01-28T22:53:00.000-05:00

Absolutely brilliant! I've seen origami rings made out of an American bill but nothing like this. Check out all of the rest of the work here.

Speaking of Talent

2008-01-28T22:40:00.000-05:00

This guy's work has been popping up on a number of blog and art related sites...it's so interesting I couldn't resist posting it. If you haven't noticed, the canvases are made entirely with packaging tape. More here.

Work By Wiles

2008-01-28T15:25:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine (Giles) sent me a work in progress shot of his snowboard. He's taken an old deck and given it a facelift - making it one of a kind. I'd love to see any work you've done. Please send any photos to zachklein.1@gmail.com

Obey Obama

2008-01-28T09:59:00.001-05:00

Sup ya'll - hope the weekend was good.

Came across this image - Shepard Fairey (the man behind the Obey Giant) has produced a print endorsing democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. I think this is the first OBEY print that doesn't have critical or negative overtones to the work. More about the print and Fairey's thoughts here.

If you are interested in Obey and Shepard Fairey here is a link to the PSFK conference he spoke at this past December. During the 45 minute video he spoke about how he takes his art and applies it commercially, exploring how he works with brands and agencies. There's some good discussion & links on the bottom of the page (with the video). Enjoy

Thinking Inside the Box

2008-01-25T15:00:00.001-05:00

A crazy new trend is emerging in South Korea where people are paying money to lie inside a casket which is later nailed shut for 15 minutes. The mock funeral is said to make participants reflect on their lives and think about their future. Talk about putting things in perspective! I can see how this would be psychologically and emotionally exhilarating - tapping into a part of your mind that we generally ignore. In Western culture, we have a funny way of simply ignoring the fact that at some point - we will die. I wonder if this would have a lasting effect on one's perspective of life and death. I've sourced the article from the Globe & Mail and placed it below.

CHUNGJU, SOUTH KOREA -- After solemnly reading their wills, seven perfectly healthy university students climb into caskets in a dimly lit hall.

Workers nail the coffins shut, then sprinkle dirt on top as the lights are switched off and a dirge is played. Muffled sobs can be heard from some of the coffins. About 15 minutes later, they are opened and the five men and two women are “reborn.”

The mock funeral, which aims to get participants to map out a better future by reflecting on their past, is part of a new trend in South Korea called “well-dying.” It's an extension of “well-being,” an English phrase adopted into Korean to describe a growing interest in healthier, happier lives.

Experts see the well-being and well-dying trend as a sign that South Koreans have grown affluent enough to be able to consider quality-of-life issues. Others dismiss the fake funerals simply as moneymaking ventures.

Korea Life Consulting, which staged the mock funeral for the students, charges up to $325 per customer.

“I felt really, really scared inside the coffin and also thought a lot about my mom,” said Lee Hye-jung, a 23-year-old woman studying engineering. “I'll live differently from now on so as not to have any regrets about my life.”

Ko Min-su, who heads Korea Life Consulting, said about 50,000 people have taken part in his fake funerals since they began in 2004. Most are in their 30s and 40s. His company has eight offices around the country.

Some leading firms see “well-dying” as a way of improving employees' job performance. In 2006, Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest firm, enrolled 900 workers from one of its factories. The experience makes workers more efficient, said Kim Hee-jin, a personnel manager at Samsung.

At the students' funeral at a mountain resort in Chungju, 150 kilometres south of Seoul, photos of celebrities who died prematurely, including Diana, Princess of Wales, and John F. Kennedy, were hung on the walls.

Participants take a class on the meaning of life, pose for portrait photos to be used at the service and write wills as if they have three days to live.

“Mom and Dad! Everything I have now is from you, your teaching and your love. I'm so sorry that I have to leave you behind,” said Hwang Yun-jin, a 29-year-old mechanical-engineering major, crying as she read her will aloud.

Korea Life Consulting's Mr. Ko, a 40-year-old former insurance agent, launched the business after realizing the fragility of life following the deaths of his two older brothers in plane and car accidents. “Everyone can die unexpectedly,” he said.

Bunnin' Up Dee Chalwa

2008-01-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

It's a safe....no...it's a vending machine....no it's both...the image below is a chalwa vending machine with the security system that could stump Tom Cruise. More about it here. Big up to Blobbo for this one.

Paint Jobs

2008-01-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

Pretty damn funny - someone has taken porn stills and painted over the images with the PC Paint Accessory. More images here. Somewhat of a viewer beware...

Fuck yo car!

2008-01-24T10:58:00.000-05:00

The world would be a much better place if everyone where on a bike instead of in a car- less pollution, fitter people and no traffic! This article from PSFK (amazing blog if you've never been there) claims that travel time in London is slower that they were 100 years ago! WTF?!? - it's time we the rethink the system we rely on for transportation.

The PSFK article mentioned above also had a link to a bicycle completely made of bamboo...how cool is that! The bike is made by Calfee Design.

Bass In Ya Face

2008-01-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

You like 2LiveCrew? Heard of Miami Bass? Here's how Wikipedia describes it:

Miami bass (also known as booty music, a term that may also include other genres, such as dirty rap, is a type of hip hop music that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. It is known for applying the Roland TR-808 sustained kick drum, slightly higher dance tempos, and occasionally sexually explicit lyrical content.

If you're interested you can download albums and sets from here.

Tasty & Fun

2008-01-24T09:33:00.001-05:00

The gaming world is clearly having an impact on pop culture these days. Take a look at these delicious looking consoles. Thanks Senor Blobbo for the link. Please feel free to sent me anything for posting! Have a great day!

Next Fall - The Medevil Torturer

2008-01-23T15:02:00.000-05:00

Another one from BoingBoing...what exactly is going on here is beyond me. You can read more here.

Sweeney Todd 2.0

2008-01-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

Ok...I'm just gonna try and post stuff up instead of putting everything together in one post.

Source: http://www.boingboing.net/

Cuddlingus - The act of cuddling, spooning or snuggling

2008-01-23T11:24:00.000-05:00

Aiiight...day 3 and I'm starting to get the hang of this. One thing that's certain is that the look of the blog needs to be more appealing and interactive. I feel like you are a constrained when it comes to the look of the blog when working off a provider. Nonetheless, I'm gonna work on a header over the weekend and see what that does. If you know of any providers that offer a wider degree of personalization, please feel free to let me know.

I'm going to go back to my previous post and attribute pictures with listed links. Please let me know if you feel that a picture per link is better or adds too much to the page. I'm hoping to keep the blog succinct so people can take a quick gander at the posting and choose what they'd like to check out.

So before we get started...I'd like to thank my good friend Rob for posting the first comment. After seeing the USB posting from yesterday - he sent me a link of a Humping USB Dog. Click here to be directed to the page.

Here we go...

I love where this piece of technology is heading - the pocket projector Earlier this year I thought that it would be super cool if phones had the ability to project images onto a near by wall. Instead of cramming around a phone, you could simply project photos of your friends etc on a wall. This pocket projector was shown to the public during the 2008 CES convention.

I spent my last two evenings as a guest speaker at an OCAD course on marketing. During my presentation on trends, I shared the idea that the P2P environment is one to watch out for in 2008 and onwards (thank you TrendWatching). One of my examples of the P2P environment was Etsy and I was very surprised that none of the students had heard of this site (being at OCAD?!). I realize that Etsy has been received a lot of coverage over the last few months but I figured I'd post it anyways. For those of you who don't know what Etsy is - it's an online market place for artists. People can either post your work and sell it through the site or look for gifts and other goodies. If you haven't check it out - I highly encourage you to do so. Below is a piece of work someone is selling through the site - pretty dope.

The last post I wanted to bring to light today comes from a blog run by this dood Matt Carr who is a serious creative mind working at Umbra. On his blog he posted work done by Ian Hundley who makes cityscape quilts. They are absolutely gorgeous and I like them so much I'm going to try my hand at quilting - which according to Instructables - doesn't seem too complicated.

Finally, I've just had a thought. With a picture and an explanation of the link - this posting has gotten quite long. Maybe it would be better to simply have one link per posting and have the blog resemble a Google Reader page. Maybe I'll try that so I can upload links on the fly and not have to think about combining anything in one little package. Hmmm...again...this project will be run by trial and error. Love to hear your opinion
Have a great day.

Links - Jan 22nd

2008-01-21T12:36:00.001-05:00

Tokyo Flash - Unique watches from Japan...I just picked up the JLR7 on Craigslist and it's great. Despite the fact it looks nothing like a "normal" watch - after a few days of practice...it's pretty easy to read.

Vandalism That Pays - Most people who wake up in the morning to find their property vandalized are rightfully pissed off. This wasn't the case for a London property owner who had his building pieced by Banksy - today's pop culture graffiti star. Lucky for the property owner, he knew the popularity and value of Banksy's work. Instead of buffing the piece, the property owner cut the wall off the building and sold it on ebay for an exorbitant amount of dough.

Unique USB Cards - People are doing some pretty fun things with USB cards. I came across this sitethrough the GeekAlert blog. I've also found some other cool USB cards on Etsy - an online market place for artists.

Flash Flood Kills 2 Writers - Two graffiti writers were killed in Australia when flash floods ripped through the drainage system they were painting in. One of the writers managed to slip through the bars at the end of the drainage system and barely escaped death. More here.

Designer AR-15 - You're about to leave your house but you know you are forgetting something. Hmmm...what could it be...oh yah...your hello kitty AR15...you bought it to match your handbag.

Sweet Links - Jan 21st

2008-01-21T10:22:00.000-05:00

Money Celebrities - haha..alternative fun with money. If you like that you might also dig LP Portraits. Send me any fun images you have using money, LP or anything else for that matter.

Designer Darth Vader Helmets - amusing photographs of different Darth Vader helmet designs.

Resist Today - Clothing, art, bags and more accessories - all pieces include an edge of anti-capitalism.

Sweet Tape Dispenser - no pun intended

If you are like me, you secretly want the world to be infected by the solanum virus so you can put your zombie survival skills to the test. My friend told me about a comic book series called The Walking Dead. I get the impression this series is already very popular...but nonetheless...it's gotta be new to someone - it was to me!

Gaming Terminology - Gaming is the fastest growing form of mass entertainment today. It's very interesting to see how the culture is developing its identity. Here is one example of this cultural phenomenon is coming into it's own.

The Decapitator - An artist in London is attacking out of home advertising with some clever "vandalism". With the rise of artists like Banksy - everyone is looking for the next underground celebrity.

This Is A Test

2008-01-21T09:25:00.000-05:00

It's Monday...again...I've decided to try something new this week...hence the blog...I'm hoping to eventually use this blog as a means of sharing information with my friends and family. Over the last few months my growing love for RSS and Alerts has resulted in me spending too much time sending information (links etc) to my friends. I'm hoping the blog will be able to act as a hub of an array of interesting links and thoughts (though mostly links). I'm not sure what the technicalities are with regards to sharing articles and links found on other blogs and site...this project will be run by trial & error.

I'd like to take this opportunity to try and share a link. I came across the following on Springwise. The site - LIFTOPIA offers skiers and shredders reduced lift tickets to select resorts. I took a quick gander at the site - it is good but limited in terms of how many resorts it represents. Nonetheless it's worth keeping in your back pocket - who know where you might find yourself looking for cheap lift tickets.

Finally, believe it or not, but it snowed like crazy at Mount Saint Louis Moonstone this weekend. We rolled up there expecting bulletproof hardpacked but we're blessed with two feet of fresh - completely unheard of in Onterrible. It was truly a gift - check out the MSLM site here