design

StumbleUpon Sunday (18)

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StumbleUpon is a great way to lose hours of your life.  Luckily, I braved the Internet vortex so you don’t have to.  This week I found these especially interesting websites:

  1. Fully-Customizable Tiny Homes Start at an Affordable $22,000
    Cut to:  Tricia, hyperventilating.  I WANT A TINY HOME SO BAD.  These are adorable.
  2. To the New Culture Cops, Everything is Appropriation
    As a tumblr user, I see the term “cultural appropriation” a lot.  I really liked this article’s balanced view of the subject.
    “At one time, such critiques were leveled against truly offensive art — work that trafficked in demeaning caricatures, such as blackface, 19th-century minstrel shows orethnological expositions, which literally put indigenous people on display, often in cages. But these accusations have become a common attack against any artist or artwork that incorporates ideas from another culture, no matter how thoughtfully or positively.”
  3. 14 Cool Psychology Tricks You Need to Try
    This is basically just manipulation tactics, but…..I still find them extremely interesting.  My favorite (that I hadn’t heard before) was the suggestion that you can end a repetitive mental song by intentionally remembering the end of the song, since closing the loop allows our brain to stop latching onto unfinished things.
  4. 14 Brilliant Re-Imagined Names For Everyday Objects We All Need
    Hahaha!  I like the “people shelf” and “t-rex deer.”
  5. 14 Stories that Prove Animals Have Souls
    I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying.
  6. You May Not Need These 19 Things, But You’ll Definitely Want Them Pretty Badly
    There has never been a more accurately named post.  Give me that divided frying pan immediately!!
  7. A Fast Food Purse
    Um, this is GENIUS.
  8. Here are 20 Animals That You RARELY Get to See as Babies
    The bison!  And reindeer!  And that little chameleon all curled up into itself!!
  9. Witnessing Beautiful Autumn’s Transformations
    Excellent documentation proving that autumn is the most beautiful season.
  10. 10 Fun Movie Facts
    “Because Bruce Lee was so fast, they actually had to run his films slower so you can see his moves.”

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

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I heard this was a good biography, and I like Apple products, so I gave it a chance.  Actually, I got it at the library with three other massive books (this one clocks in at 570 pages) and I chose to read it first because I assumed I wouldn’t get past the first page.  I WAS SO WRONG.  I loved Jobs’ biography, for two main reasons.

Steve Jobs was a fascinating man.  Isaacson makes sure to let the readers know Jobs’ passion often turned into screaming fights and insulting appraisals of people’s work.  And yet…despite his frequent moments as a jerk, I wound up loving the man.  He was intense, brilliant, and focused.  When he saw something inadequate, in himself or in others, he did everything in his power to improve it.  Although this cost him some relational intimacy, those exact same qualities led him to revolutionize technology, not once or twice, but in every major technological division: personal computers, music, tablets, storefronts, phones, entertainment.  He was hard to work for, but 90% of his employees were proud to be on his team because he brought out excellence they never knew they had.   Continue reading →

StumbleUpon Sunday (16)

TrishLeave a comment

StumbleUpon is a great way to lose hours of your life.  Luckily, I braved the Internet vortex so you don’t have to.  This week I found these especially interesting websites:

  1. Neonflames
    Swirl different colors around and make a galaxy!  This is completely mesmerizing.
    download
  2. 15 Multifunctional and Ingenius Furniture Designs Ever Made
    I want the couch/bed/desk and the desk bike!
  3. Out of the Ordinary Beauty Tips That Work
    Toothpaste on yellow nails, powdering greasy hair roots, brown sugar treats dandruff, and more weird (and cheap) solutions!
  4. On the Madness and Charm of Crushes
    This article is brilliant!  “The crush reveals how willing we are to allow details to suggest a whole.”  I readily admit that I take one gesture or sentence and automatically construct prince charming.
  5. TRENDS: 50 Fun Facts about Languages
    I especially liked the facts about endangered languages and the shout out to Tolkien’s 12 created languages.
  6. 30 Flat Design Color Palettes That Just Work 
    Very handy colors schemes for arts or crafts or home decorating!
  7. 10 Awesome Infographics for Graphic Designers
    Some of these are too specifically tailored for graphic designers, but the Psychology of Color (first one) is fascinating!
  8. Ink – Quotes about Writing by Writers
    “A writer lives, at least, in a state of astonishment. Beneath any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all. To transmit that feeling, he writes.” -William Sansom
  9. Most Beautiful Villages around the World
    This list wins points for largely ignoring picturesque European villages and instead finding beauty in poorer towns in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
  10. 22 Incredible Photos of Faraway Places
    India, Yemen, Cambodia, Afghanistan…these pictures are stunning.