Terrorism existed before 9/11, an interesting read from a pilot about the current state of security theatre at airports. Read the first few paragraphs and try to imagine that happening today and what the reaction would be.
In the 1980s we did not overreact. We did not stage ill-fated invasions of distant countries. People did not cease traveling and the airline industry did not fall into chaos. We were lazy in enacting better security, perhaps, but as a country our psychological reaction, much to our credit, was calm, measured and not yet self-defeating.
You might also consider the illustrious words of Philosoraptor regarding terrorism and security.
In the early twentieth century, there were medicines to cure everything that ailed you. Many of them contained lots of alcohol, or a variety of opioids and other random root extracts. Hard to know if the medicines were effective or if the users were just drugged out and couldn’t feel any pain. Regardless, they lived in a time of gorgeous typographically oriented packaging.
Laziness has changed, it doesn’t just reflect your physical tiredness.
But the new laziness has nothing to do with physical labor and everything to do with fear. If you’re not going to make those sales calls or invent that innovation or push that insight, you’re not avoiding it because you need physical rest. You’re hiding out because you’re afraid of expending emotional labor.
The Great Typekit Table helps you find a good Typekit font for long blocks of text. The table also lets you know if there are extra weights, opticals and how it renders in Windows.
Awesome Fontstacks helps create a bundle of matching, free web fonts with failsafe fallbacks, ready to drop into your CSS.
Continuing with the life imitating science fiction trend, hologram messaging is close to becoming reality. If you happen to have a Nature subscription, you can probably read more about it.
A University of Arizona team says it has devised a system that can make a holographic display appear in another place and update it in near real-time.
In other news, Princess Leia illustration used as infographic for serious article about scientific research.
Scientists at CERN have managed to produce and trap antimatter atoms.
Because matter and antimatter annihilate when they meet, the antihydrogen atoms have a very short life expectancy. This can be extended, however, by using strong and complex magnetic fields to trap them and thus prevent them from coming into contact with matter.
As life continues to emulate Star Trek, we are one step closer to solving all future problems by ejecting the warp core.
H-57 has a created a few Star Wars posters illustrated with typography. The poster also details the typeface that each glyph came from.
Update: Boba Fett in type via @marchodges.
The story of someone who makes his living writing papers for students. He has worked on everything from admissions essays and undergraduate assignments to large graduate theses. In his words, “I’m a hired gun, a doctor of everything, an academic mercenary.”
You would be amazed by the incompetence of your students’ writing. I have seen the word “desperate” misspelled every way you can imagine. And these students truly are desperate. They couldn’t write a convincing grocery list, yet they are in graduate school. They really need help. They need help learning and, separately, they need help passing their courses. But they aren’t getting it.
For those of you who have ever mentored a student through the writing of a dissertation, served on a thesis-review committee, or guided a graduate student through a formal research process, I have a question: Do you ever wonder how a student who struggles to formulate complete sentences in conversation manages to produce marginally competent research? How does that student get by you?
Can’t say that I’m surprised by the article, but it is disheartening — I don’t see how any self-respecting graduate student could have someone else write their papers. It’s frustrating when you know people that work their asses off to produce solid work, while some idiot that they’re up against just dips into the bank. That said, I have to admit being amused by the thought of people paying to have ethics papers written for them.
Caitlin Burke solved a puzzle on Wheel of Fortune with just one letter on the board. Pat Sajak and the contestant beside her seemed stunned, thinking it was a miracle, but it wasn’t — she used logic.
Part of the art of designing a game show is making the basic and routine seem chaotic and unpredictable. The trick is, most people watch a show like Wheel of Fortune, and their heads begin swimming with the nearly endless possibilities: twenty-six letters and those hundreds of thousands of words. Burke’s strategy, her puzzles-within-puzzles way of thinking, is designed to narrow the range. That’s why she started with the smallest words first.
Very impressive. There’s a clip of her solving the puzzle in the Esquire article.
It’s all about the fashion. Nerd Boyfriend examines old photographs and finds a close approximation of the clothing available at modern retailers. Just in case you ever felt like dressing up as Carl Sagan and lecturing people about The Cosmos.
