The Facebook toga party and other links…
Since I’m the guy who just wrote “Flippant Remarks about Matt in South Africa” and I’m the guy that just read “The Battle Was Decided A Very Long Time Ago,” of course I am pleased to see Valleywag making fun of a toga party—at least three times: here, here and here. My Obama-style hope is that one day pop culture will make fun of this fake ethnic shit on a larger more comprehensive scale. I wonder to Greeks—actually living in Greece right now—throw toga parties?
“Users never look at anything that looks like an advertisement”
web-kreation.com: “An eyetracking research from useit.com shows users rarely look at display advertisements on websites. The heatmaps below show the areas (in red) where users look the most… As you can see, banners are completely ignored by users.” Additionally, I am sure research will come out showing how much distrust is bred for designs that place incoherent advertising links too close to the words the viewer is actually reading. These incoherent links often ‘masquerade’ as relevant links directly connected to what the viewer is reading.
“Apple’s overtime dodge is common practice…”
Valleywag.com: “Engineer David Walsh has brought suit against his employer, Apple, alleging that the company misclassified him and others as exempt from overtime pay. The practice is endemic across California, especially at startups.” I can guarantee you that there is a correlation between the employee that does not give a f’ about A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present and the employee who is “surprised” about how common this shit is…
“Design student invents Hollow glass to prevent drink spiking”
Barb Dybwad: “After a friend was sexually assaulted when her drink was spiked in a bar, design student Tom Martin developed a device designed to put an end to that foul nightclub practice… We won’t even go into how insane it is that someone had to invent this device in the first place, and just congratulate Tom Martin on being proactive about it.” This edge case is a classic example of barbarian technology. This is why warlike/patriarchal cultures will never use technology to its fullest human potential. Barbarians are too preoccupied with savage, Imperial concepts of property, security and anything else related to battlefield dominance.
Wikipedia moment: The Sullivan Brothers
“The Sullivan brothers were five siblings who all died during the same incident in World War II, the sinking of the light cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52), the vessel on which they all served.”