infobong.com the absurd courts the vulgar

• When Lego Goes to War
  A teacher discusses ways he feels Lego has gone astray. I agree, I wrote a column freshman year of college when gendered Legos were introduced, and I think the licensed tie-ins are appalling.
  (del.icio.us tags: Lego toys education)
• Monocle: Interview with Lego CEO
  In this video interview Lego CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp describes the challenges facing toy manufacturers today.
  (del.icio.us tags: Lego toys interview business video)

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• Comeeko – Creating comic strips from your photos
  This service allows users to create comic strips online.
  (del.icio.us tags: yasns Web2.0 comics)
• techPresident: Wikipedia’s Expansive Influence in Candidate Search Results
  Fred Stutzman queried Google for the names of presidential contenders and noted the result order (not PageRank) of their official sites and their Wikipedia entries. Wikipedia won in many cases.
  (del.icio.us tags: wikipedia politics google)
• What Japan Thinks: Japan’s top thirty emoticons
  Although the content is itself interesting, I’m mostly posting this because of the CSS trick it uses. I’ve never seen this before, and it’s nice to see an appropriate use of tables.
  (del.icio.us tags: CSS information_design list japan chat)
• GOOD Magazine: The 51 Best* Magazines Ever
  It’s nice to see Might, which made me the man I am today, crack the top twenty.
  (del.icio.us tags: magazine publishing linkbait list)

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• Citizendium: building a better Wikipedia
  Ars Technica explains the mode of production on Larry Sanger’s rival to Wikipedia.
  (del.icio.us tags: Web2.0 production wikipedia wiki)
• Open City: Tools for Public Action
  Eyebeam’s “glimpse into the current media and tactics of artists who take their practices into the street” looks awesome, although it seems like it could benefit from a grounding in historical street-level praxis.
  (del.icio.us tags: NYC streetart activism art)
• The Radical Apple: Opposition in New York City
  This cool CSS design shows historical sites in Manhattan related to radical social movements.
  (del.icio.us tags: labor NYC CSS anarchism activism map)
• Neal Pollack: The Brooks Run Dry
  Neal Pollack offers a pointed response to David Brook’s column on alterna-parents.
  (del.icio.us tags: economics indie)
• Friday Night Lights photoset on Flickr
  Fellow Sooner Omar Gallaga has posted images taken at a shoot for the best new show on TV.
  (del.icio.us tags: football Flickr sports TV austin image)

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• Eyeteeth: Campaign 2.0: Obama’s Social Network
  Interesting design critique of barackobama.com argues that the site is free of Web 2.0 design cliches. Are you kidding? His logo has multiple gradients and strays too close to goatse territory.
  (del.icio.us tags: design Web2.0 politics2.0)
• Four Eyed Monsters: “Humanity Lobotomy”
  You should watch this video that compiles clips to make a case for networkneutrality. The most interesting part is how the Final Cut file is available for download.
  (del.icio.us tags: media FCC video networkneutrality)
• A tour of Second Life’s big empty
  It doesn’t surprise me that high-profile projects in Second Life are largely abandoned, but this first-person account is still pretty interesting.
  (del.icio.us tags: humor politics SecondLife)
• The use of Wikipedia in higher education
  Jason Mittell proposes a guideline for using WIkipedia for class projects.
  (del.icio.us tags: media_studies education wikipedia)
• Alternet: Howard Dean 2.0: Obama Engages Youth on the Web
  I’m not sure I understand Obama’s youth following – if it’s for real.
  (del.icio.us tags: yasns youth politics2.0)
• The Morning News: Is Chris Dodd White Enough?
  This satire of Patricia Dickerson’s discussion of Obama’s racial identity is funny, but I’m not sure I entirely agree with the point it makes.
  (del.icio.us tags: satire race politics whiteness)
• Pitchfork: R.I.P. Arthur Magazine: 2002-2007
  It’s a pity this magazine is folding, but I always wondered how the big-budget free publication stayed afloat.
  (del.icio.us tags: indierock business magazine)

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I logged into WordPress today and noticed my last five posts have all been automated linkdumps. I’ve been so redonkulously busy that I didn’t even realize I hadn’t posted in that long. My new policy, I think, will be to post an old photo on Flickr to break up the link dumps.

I hope both of my readers are doing well.

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• Who Wants to be a Ph.D.?
  This article seems kind of silly if you’re in a Ph.D. program, but it’s good at explaining the economic and emotional costs of pursuing a life of learning.
  (del.icio.us tags: economics education)
• Paint Chip Card Holders
  This cool project reminds me I need to get some business cards made.
  (del.icio.us tags: neato craft design DIY howto)
• 500 Reasons I’m Glad I Don’t Work in Arizona
  Jason MIttell describes the implications of bill that would punish professors from expressing an opinion in the classroom.
  (del.icio.us tags: stupid politics power education)

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• Time: Getting Rich off Those Who Work for Free
  Justin Fox examines the relationship between peer producers and the sites that profit from them.
  (del.icio.us tags: labor production opensource Web2.0)

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• Wikipedia’s Wales: Damn the advertising, full speed ahead!
  Jason Calcanis is encouraging Wikipedia to add advertising to meet operational costs.
  (del.icio.us tags: Web2.0 advertising wikipedia)
• AlterNet: Obama’s Identity: Where Do We Start?
  Since Obama is not the descendant of slaves, his entry into the presidential race raises questions about what it means to be black.
  (del.icio.us tags: immigration politics race)
• NYTimes: 31 Days in Iraq
  I may have to show my students this cool visualization of January’s casualties in Iraq when we discuss information design.
  (del.icio.us tags: Iraq war information_design visualization)
• Overstated: The price of using social media for politics…
  Cameron Marlowe takes a screen shot of a Barack Obama promotional page that features an ad with some major cleavage.
  (del.icio.us tags: awesome gender advertising politics2.0)

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• The Museum of Lost Interaction… Exhibits
  This art project depicts fictitious obsolete technologies. It’s pretty slick, but I have to say that there are plenty of old forgotten technologies that are just as weird.
  (del.icio.us tags: art telecom media)
• Core77: Is design political?
  As a cultural studies person, the answer is obviously “yes,” but Jennie Winhall’s Foulcauldian essay might be good for introducing undergrads to the power issues embedded in the design of things.
  (del.icio.us tags: politics power design)
• Iconfactory: Twitterrific
  I’m not sure the world needs a standalone Twitter client, but here it is.
  (del.icio.us tags: chat OSX Web2.0)
• techPresident: John Edwards Unofficially Enters Second Life
  I’m impressed with Edwards’ technology experiments, if not the implementation.
  (del.icio.us tags: virtual_world SecondLife politics politics2.0)

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• Game | Life: “Jade Is Black?!”: Racial Ambiguity in Games
  Some users are balking at the idea that a dark-skinned game protagonist is black.
  (del.icio.us tags: race gaming)
• Lost Tapes, Found Sounds
  This post at We Make Money Not Art discusses an art exhibition of cassette tapes.
  (del.icio.us tags: art oldmedia)
• Valleywag: Yahoo Photos shutting down, Flickr triumphant?
  Flickr seemed to be endangered when Yahoo! announced it’s re-org, but now it looks like Yahoo! Photos will be consolidated into Flickr.
  (del.icio.us tags: Web2.0 business Flickr)

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