Van drivers are like turtles. Driving around with convenient mobile homes. Parking in awesome places. Being photographed and collected in this gallery so that everybody can see just how cool the life of a turtle van driver is.
Author: Nathan Campbell
Nathan runs St Eutychus. He loves Jesus. His wife. His daughter. His son. His other daughter. His dog. Coffee. And the Internet. He is the pastor of City South Presbyterian Church, a church in Brisbane, a graduate of Queensland Theological College (M. Div) and the Queensland University of Technology (B. Journ). He spent a significant portion of his pre-ministry-as-a-full-time-job life working in Public Relations, and now loves promoting Jesus in Brisbane and online. He can't believe how great it is that people pay him to talk and think about Jesus. If you'd like to support his writing financially you can do that by giving to his church.
Van glorious gallery
Back to the blackboard
Blackboard was the best thing about Mr Squiggle. His “upside down” catchphrase was the backdrop to my childhood. At least once a week. And while I’m on the subject of Children’s television in my childhood – does anybody else remember that show called “Teabag” or something – the one where people were looking for spoons and pearls or something? Anyway. I’ll probably google it.
This photographer has put together a gallery of upside down portraits of people. I assume he hung them by their toes or something… whatever he did… it came out pretty awesome.
Font in pens
That title was meant to be a pun based on “fountain pens” it probably fails because I feel the need to introduce the rather amazing concept behind this post with a non-sequitur. I could try to redeem this lede with some sort of segue – but perhaps I should just get to the point (pun intended).
A couple of designers have conducted an elaborate plot to measure the ink use of popular fonts. They did it by writing the word “Sample” on a wall with ball point pens and then photographing the pens once it was done.
It turns out Garamond is the best – but I’m not sure they considered ecofont.
The Beatles hit the charts
The Beatles are no strangers to the charts – but they are perhaps unfamiliar with online fanboys turning their careers into infographics. Charting the Beatles is a cool, and slightly ambitious project that is producing charts like this one which is based on the fun fact that Beatles songs often contained references to other Beatles songs.
iWant
The geek brigade have pretty roundly condemned the iPad (that picture from here). I can’t help but think that they might be missing the point – like this guy suggests – the iPad isn’t an awesomely powerful tool for geekiness. It’s an e-reader with a built in media player.
Today a Kindle 2 is $289 on Amazon.com. A Kindle DX with a 9.7″ screen is $489. For $10 more for an iPad I get:
-8x the storage
-a color screen
-a touch screen
-a touch OS
-a better web browser
-a better media player (iTunes)
-works on my home/work/plane wifi network
-the ability to download apps that do other things like play Scrabble and do Crosswords
Sure, it could have been so much better. Apple could have packed in the features. But then the price just couldn’t have compared with that of the Kindle. Being a recent convert to the Apple Fanboy Club I am going to put my faith in Steve Jobs to deliver a workable product rather than all the Internet critics who apparently know (and expect) better…
Stuff that happens in one minute
Have you ever wandered away from roasting coffee for just a minute only to look back and see your kitchen filling with putrid smelling smoke that brings about mild symptoms of asthma? No. Well I have. Just now. A lot can happen in a minute (or 6 minutes which truth be told was how long I had left for).
Here are just some of the amazing things that happen in a minute.
The quick are the dead
Have you ever paid close attention to duels in Westerns? The guy who gets his gun out first always loses. A scientist decided to “mythbust” this phenomena.
It turns out you do actually move quicker if you’re reacting rather than acting.
Bohr was seemingly unhappy with the Tinseltown explanation that the good guy, who never shoots first, always wins. Legend has it that he procured two toy pistols and enlisted the aid of fellow physicist George Gamow. In a series of duels, Bohr never drew first but won every time. The physicist suggested that the brain responded to danger faster than it carried out a deliberate intention.
A UK scientist named Welchman put the theory to the test.
Welchman’s team organized simulated “gunfights” in the laboratory, with pairs of volunteers competing against each other to push three buttons on a computer console in a particular order. The researchers observed that the time interval between when players removed their hands from the first button and when they pressed the final button was on average 9% shorter for the players who reacted to an opponent moving first. However, those who reacted to a first move were more likely to make an error, presssing the buttons in the wrong order. Welchman speculates that this rapid, if somewhat inaccurate, response system may have evolved to help humans deal with danger, when immediate reaction is essential and the risk of an error worth taking.
Natural functions
Maths and nature go hand in hand. Pine Cone patterns occur in a Fibonacci sequence. And now it seems that plants grow according to mathematical functions. At least if you’re a mathematically inclined photographer who goes looking for such patterns.
More here.
Why printers are overrated
I’ve never had a good experience with printers. They never work. They are frustrating. And worst of all… they are expensive. The Oatmeal has an exploration of printer frustration – this is my favourite.
This graph – via Boing Boing Gadgets (and I think originally from Gizmodo) – compares ink prices to other liquids.
Ten Commandments of Social Networking
Learn these. Follow them. Do your friends a favour.
Here are the subheadings – presented in list form for your edification. Read the rationale for each point at Noupe. It’s a good list.
- Thou Shalt Not Be a Narcissist
- Thou Shalt Listen to What Others Are Saying
- Thou Shalt Not Spam
- Thou Shalt Say Something of Substance
- Thou Shalt Not Abuse Thy Neighbour
- Thou Shalt Give Credit Where Credit is Due
- Thou Shalt Learn How to Spell (or at least use a spell checker)
- Thou Shalt Use Real Words
- Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness
- Thou Shalt Not Be a Friend Whore
Shirt of the Day: Font irony
This one is guaranteed to confuse graphic designers. Like those posters that have the word “red” written in green writing. They don’t fool me. I’m colourblind.
But I’m not font blind.
Mmmvelop your mail
Does anyone remember those sticker books that you had to lick for the stickers to be sticky. They tasted nice. And were probably bad for you in large doses. There is no way any envelope in the history of the world has tasted as good as these. Bacon Flavoured Envelopes. Worth raiding the piggy bank for ahead of your next Christmas Card mailout.
Making a mark on Internet conversations
Sarcasm is universally difficult to express in the written word. This problem has seen many a flippant remark escalate into some sort of flame war.
So it is with great pleasure that I present a patented solution (not my own) to this problem.
Crabby Old Guy captures the problem with the youth of today
You know what you need to help you truly understand the motives of those youths lurking by the service station, or crowding around wearing hoodies at the shopping centre… Trading Cards. The Crabby Old Man has you covered.
How to be “awesomely” sneaky like the CIA
This is one of those “ah ha” moments. The CIA has released some operating secrets from the pre-technology era. Those guys were high tech. You can buy a book filled with awesome tips. Like these. Via the Boston Globe.
That’s not the best one.
And this, friends, is my excuse. It’s particularly prescient because a good friend told me (before I left Townsville) that he doesn’t think of me as a deep thinker.
