Earlier this month, McDonalds started hadning out Humvee toys in Happy Meals. Way to go Corporate Responsibility!
RonaldMcHummer has a petition option that will submit emails to McDonalds, telling them how retarded you think they are, and they also include a fancy script that lets you customize your very own McDonalds sign! Yay!
-T
Yesterday was the 15 year anniversary of the WWW (Not the internet you dolts!). The web is the most powerful medium of communication ever created, yet it hasn’t lived up to its (and perhaps my) expectations. Every day people sit and waste countless hours reading fake news, browsing for porn, finding amusing websites, and scanning aggregates of information we otherwise wouldn’t even think to ask had it not been shoved in our face.. One thing i’ve discusssed several times with friends and colleages is that the Internet hasn’t really made the world a better place, it’s simply accelerated the pace of change. That sort of acceleration can be echoed in almost all ‘big’ technologies starting at the beginning of the industrial revoluion. The products, or services rednered by new technology haven’t made people happier, or the World a better place, they’ve simply accelerated the pace of change itself. How can, and why hasn’t, a technology as pervasive as the Internet been able to change the World? The Toronto Star ran a great article about the Web, and where it’s taken us, or more specifically where it hasn’t, and they raise several interesting points. From the article:
“And, sadly, not one scientific breakthrough can be attributed to Web-accelerated exchanges of research data. Nor has peace and greater mutual understanding broken out in the Middle East, Darfur, or among the combatants in the fledging war between Ethiopian and Somalia. Bloggers, mostly one-person operations with no reporting staff, scalp much of their content from the mainstream publications and network broadcasts they mock for their slow-footedness. Bloggers have not set the agenda in politics, science or any other realm. “The blogosphere is not a hothouse where brilliant new ideas are generated by the self-described iconoclasts who populate it,” says Rick Salutin, media critic at The Globe and Mail. “The main qualification for blogging is that you failed to get a mainstream media job. Writers on the Web tend to be in touch only with other bloggers, not people in the street. It still takes a grassroots movement to force a fundamental change in social conditions.” (thestar.com – “the world wide whatever”)
Bloggers for the most part generate barely any new content, they simply add criticism or opinion to news that’s been reported by top-down news sources. And yes I realize I just did that. However there are interesting sites that foster and encourage original thought. Groups like Well offer a lot of interesting and original thought. The problem is it’s actually kind of HARD to find that content. Most people I talk to haven’t heard of these sites, despite the Well having existed since 1985.
An interesting observation concerning habits on the web, is that Popularity drives the current concensus among it’s users. Here’s what I mean. Site’s like Digg, Reddit, NewsVine, and Del.Icio.us are driven by user-generated content, and moderated by users themselves. While the idea of having user-generated content seems democratic by nature, what can’t be ignored, and more specifically what needs to be addressed is what ends up happening with that information. What benefits does having a stream of ‘interesting’ information have for a person sitting on the other end of the screen? The odd tutorial is mildly helpful, but I’ve never read digg or popurls and said “Wow! That’s EXACTLY what I needed! Amazing!” Instead, you simply are shown what most people are reading about, and damnit, you should too!
The problem I have with the Internet in its current form, is it’s not living up to it’s expecations in terms of increasing peoples quality of life by giving people more flexibility in their work day, or providing people with useful information they woudln’t otherwise know about. In fact, I belive that in its current form the ‘net is alienating poeple from their own ability and need to be social creatures (see 7 reasons the 21st Century is Making you Miserable)
Because of the constantly increasing complexity of technology, and the problems that we are currently facing as a society, there will be very little room for individuals to contribute independent solutions. As such, a hive-mind like thought process is required. I’m not talking about wet-ware like interfaces — people aren’t computers — simply the need to encourage discussion, education, and participation, rather than the current thoughtless information stimulation that seems to be taking place today.
As a technologist I sincerely do believe that it can help make our lives better. Medicine, while not without its flaws, has greatly inreased the length and quality of many peoples lives. Why can’t wireless communications, laptops and the web?
It’s too bad that here in North America, we dont readily have access to alternative news broadcasts. CNN Europe, the BBC and other channels portray a much different story of what is currently happening in the middle east, and while many people are very aware of the current situation, most lack the time, patience and ability to view stories from two different viewpoints. More presicely, the large majority (if not all) of North American Newscasters dont actually ask tough questions – they simply want sound bites and move on.
That all considered,this collection of news clips are refreshing. News stations asking tough questions, never backing down from statements that are false or make no sense.
I dont know if North American stations support Israel on purpose, for by in large their reporting sucks ass to begin with, but it would be nice if actual news was being reported, rather than the opinions of whoever is on television.
-T
Yesterday I registered a new domain name for my first actual project, and my first order of business was to create a banner that wasn’t a parked-page filled with advertisements. I dont make any money off of that so screw you Godaddy (Your DNS service sucks btw).
I quite enjoy graphics design. It probably has something to do with the instant gratification you get from doing a good job. I thought I’d post the iterations of my design here to show you what kind of process I went through.
Finally I added proper shadowing for the badge to give it that perfect 3d effect, et voila!
Overall I’m pretty happy with the final result. It looks clean, attractive, and fresh. If you could bite into a logo, man it would be tasty. ;)
-T