Clipmarks | Djiezes's clips

Ten tips to become an infographics artist

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:29:56 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: infographicsnews.blogspot.com

Ten tips to become an infographics artist

1. INFORMATION

Design in this discipline is a tool, not a goal.

2. ORGANIZING INFORMATION

3. COLOR

Clear tones for the less important, dark for those elements on which we want to focus teh attention.

4. CLEAN AND CLEAR

5. SHOW DON’T TELL

6. COMPARE AND MEASURE

Comparations, measurementa and actual scales make information easy to understand in many cases.

7. DON'T BREAK SCALES

If we have to do it, include a locator of the actual scale.

8. DOCUMENTATION

9. WRITERS ARE ALLIES

10. KEEP LEARNING

Tags: visualization, information, infographic, tips, list, howto

Free-won't or Free-will ?

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:29:46 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Unconscious brain activity shapes our decisions

Our brains are shaping our decisions long before we become consciously aware of them. That's the conclusion of a remarkable new study which shows that patterns of activity in certain parts of our brain can predict the outcome of a decision seconds before we're even aware that we're making one.

Studies like these have important philosophical implications. If our brains unconsciously make our decisions for us, is there any room for free will? Libet himself thinks so, but only in a restricted way. He asserts that for all the brain's unconscious preparation, people can still consciously decide to stop performing an action in the final milliseconds before thought becomes deed. In this view, it's more a case of "free won't" than free will.

Tags: science, neuroscience, philosophy, free will, determinism

Why You Should Talk to People

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:26:18 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Be nice to me or I might not talk to you. Or worse, maybe I will talk to you...

Recently published research shows that individual humans will be nicer (more altruistic) when there is the possibility that the recipient of an act can respond verbally. The paper, "Anticipated verbal feedback induces altruistic behavior" is published in Evolution and Human Behavior for March.

Apparently, there is a tendency under different conditions to give either nothing or half of the money.

In any event, the key finding here is that under conditions where feedback was going to happen, the "dictator" (divider of the money) more often gave away half of the cash.

Tags: science, altruism, morality, language, ethics, game theory, psychology

Why men think with their ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:21:49 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Evidence that Men Think With Their Junk

Us dudes are always accused of thinking with our dicks. Perhaps it's because the genes expressed in our brains are similar to those expressed in our 'nads:

Among the 17 tissues, the highest similarity in gene expression patterns was between human brain and testis, based on DDD and clustering analysis. Genes contributing to the similarity include ribosomal protein (RP) genes as well as genes involved in transcription, translation and cell division.

Tags: science, paper, brains, genes, evolution

Howto Respond to a Cease & Desist Letter (Monster vs Blue Jeans)

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:17:16 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.ohgizmo.com

Monster Cable Threatens Blue Jeans Cable, Gets Ass Handed Back

Most recently, Monster Cable has sent a cease and desist letter to Blue Jeans Cable, claiming patent infringement on its RCA connectors.

Happily, the president of Blue Jeans Cable, Kurt Denke, spent 20 years as a lawyer and knows how to respond to what are apparently frivolous threats:

if, like me, you enjoy watching smart people stand up to gigantic companies arrogantly trying to muscle their way around, you’ll get a kick out of the whole thing.

Tags: howto, legal, letter, blue jeans, monster, cable, network, funny, humor

Open source films attack Hollywood

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:04:14 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Check out:

http://www.ironsky.net/
http://www.starwreck.com/
&
http://www.wreckamovie.com/

Clip Source: www.news.com

Open-source films attack Hollywood

It's 2018 and the Nazis are about to return from space to an unsuspecting Earth.

Sound weird? It could happen. And it does in Iron Sky, a new movie whose preview will be available for download on the 5th of May.

The story is a follow-up from the guys who made the cult film Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. That $20,000 sci-fi parody of Star Trek has been downloaded 8 million times since it appeared on the Internet three years ago.

Board member and serial entrepreneur Peter Vesterbacka says the aim of the open-source project is "wrecking the Hollywood model."

"Hollywood only distributes 700 films a year, but there are 100,000 people in Hollywood with film ideas,"

With this Web-based platform, people interested in film can make high-quality productions at almost no cost. The content can be anything from short films to feature films and can be distributed on the Internet or mobile devices or in theaters.

Tags: open source, opensource, web, internet, media, film, movie scifi, free, hollywood

a few online data visualization talks

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:51:40 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: infosthetics.com

online data visualization talks

several data visualization talks have been put online recently. if you are interested in this subject, be sure to check out following online recordings:

. Fernanda Viegas & Martin Wattenberg (IBM) @ Parc Forum 2006 (not blogged before)
. Ben Fry @ See conference 2008.
. Frank van Ham (IBM) @ See conference 2008.
. Bernard Kerr (Yahoo! interaction designer) @ Innovationsforum Interaktionsdesign.
. Eric Rodenbeck (stamen.com) @ Nextcity.
. Jonathan Harris documentary.
. Hans Ronsling @ TED 2006.
. Jonathan Harris @ TED 2007.
. Marcos Weskamp @ See conference 2007.

. Sep Kamvar @ See conference 2007.

this should keep you busy for at least a couple of hours.

Tags: visualization, video, list, links, resource

Typeracer : a typing flash game

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:48:54 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.donationcoder.com

Typeracer: Flash Game of the Week

http://play.typeracer.com/

The concept is very simple, you and other people online type the same block of text to advance your cars along a line. The fastest typer wins. Very low tech visuals but it's a very clean interface and the multiplayer part just works well and helps motivate you.

Clip Source: play.typeracer.com

typeracer

BETA

Tags: game, flash, online, games, typing, type

The Economic Causes of Monogamy

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:45:59 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

The Economic Causes of Monogamy

In a paper in this month's AER, Eric Gould, Omer Moav and Avi Simhon undertake to address the mystery of why the developed world is so uniformly monogamous, when the developing world (and much of human history) is polygynous.

Throughout much of human history, this has been the case. George Murdock recorded in his ethnographic atlas that 850 of the 1,170 societies he provided data on practiced polygyny. It is therefore something of a puzzle why modern industrialized societies are so monogamous.

Tags: science, monogamy, polygamy, society, economy, evolution, industry, paper, psychology, economics

The Paranoid Style in American Science

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:37:47 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.slate.com

The Paranoid Style in American Science

This is the first installment of a three-part series on radical skepticism and the rise of conspiratorial thinking about science.

Science
entries

1 2 3

Like the recent crop of global-warming skeptics, AIDS denialists, and biotech activists, Berlinski uses doubt as a weapon against the academy—he's more concerned with what we don't know than what we do. He uses uncertainty to challenge the scientific consensus; he points to the evidence that isn't there and seeks out the things that can't be proved. In its extreme and ideological form, this contrarian approach to science can turn into a form of paranoia—a state of permanent suspicion and outrage.

Tags: science, denialism, us, usa, skepticism, uncertainty, ideology

American Views of Religious Groups and Atheists

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:30:31 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: I find it remarkable that atheists are viewed almost as badly upon as Scientologists.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

American Views of Religious Groups and Atheists

Gallup has released a survey measuring Americans views on various religious groups

Tags: religion, atheism, scientology, survey, gallup, us, usa, stats, society

Your Individual Development Plan

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:23:47 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.lifehack.org

Your Individual Development Plan

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

An IDP is a sort of agreement between an employee and their employer to work towards a set of goals together.

There’s no requirement that your develop an IDP in the context of a business, though. Anyone can put together an IDP that helps them work towards their personal goals.

Here’s what you need to do:

Take inventory:

focus on developing your strengths — not compensating for your weaknesses.

Write a mission statement (optional):

Do research:

identify the places

that offer what you need.

Develop two plans:

Figure out an assessment standard:

Reassess periodically:

Commit and take action:

commit to taking the first steps immediately.

consider how each of the following could fit:

Courses and workshops:

Reading:

Networking:

Mentoring:

Ride-alongs/shadowing:

Outreach:

Reassignment/move to a new job:

The main point is to figure out what actions you could be taking and would like to take but aren’t.

Tags: lifehack, productivity, gtd, plan, howto, psychology, development