onfocus

Some samples of single-pane comics by H.T. Webster. Sadly, his collections appear to be out of print and there aren't any at nearby libraries.

Scan of the 1955 book with wonderful caricatures by Ronald Searle. [via peacay]

"So, this is why I say white supremacy is the only functional form of racism; the only kind that actually works."

"...you’re just making a fool of yourself when you go around telling users of singular they that they’re wrong, because they’re not."

It's going to be that time of year again soon. These Thule chains look nice, but I'd rather see real people putting on chains in freezing weather in the demo, not spinning/floating CG.

Eight rules for writing a short story. [via merlin]

"The fundamental problems with the American health care system are all linked, directly or indirectly, to the fact that the vast majority of folks get insurance solely through their employers." Amen, and go Wyden! [via Kattullus]

"The problem is Twitter isn’t really open. For Twitter to be truly open, it would have to be possible to use “Twitter” without an any way involving Twitter the institution. Instead, all data goes through Twitter’s centralized service." I'm not a fan of people pushing content to Twitter like it's an RSS reader for social reasons as well, but that's probably just me.

ahh, dreams. [via joshua]

Privacy, Security, Lock-In, and Downtime. Gina runs down some problems with outsourcing your data management.

"The cloud, however, comes with real dangers...If you entrust your data to others, they can let you down or outright betray you." A good summary of some problems yet to be solved with cloud computing.

"Enclosure is a process whereby a resource held in common is taken into private control....The acts of enclosure of the information age are about social assets, they are subtle and invisible, and they are being implemented, to a large degree, by peer pressure." [via anil]

"...she decides that she will 'whisper in the ears' of Silicon Valley’s Who’s Who -- the entrepreneurs behind tech’s hottest start-ups, including Jay Adelson, the chief executive of Digg; Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter; and Jason Calacanis, the founder of Mahalo." The new world of social media PR.

"Reassuring people about privacy makes them more, not less, concerned. ...sites would much rather obfuscate the issue than compete on [privacy] as a feature."

"Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen. Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed."

MetaFilter is #1 on a list of companies that don't get Oregon cred. Not only is Matt Portland-ish, but I'm Corvallish, and Josh is smack-dab Portlandy.

"...increasingly, we're seeing people with similar levels of access engage in fundamentally different ways. And we're seeing a social media landscape where participation 'choice' leads to a digital reproduction of social divisions."

A disposable email service for single-use, throwaway accounts. [via nelson]

"Different things work for different people but I thought I'd share what worked for me in the hopes that maybe one or more of these tips will help your own weight loss as well." Good tips and motivation for healthy eating.

Modern take on classic propaganda posters: "Loose tweets sink fleets."

"This Friday, June 12, TV stations nationwide will cease broadcasting analog signals and switch to digital-only broadcasts...Starting Friday, I can no longer get TV on the radio." Didn't think of this, what a bummer. I've used this trick occasionally too, especially when the power goes out. [via MeFi]

"...new kinds of lock-in in the era of [cloud computing] will be owning a namespace." That's Chris Messina paraphrasing Tim O'Reilly on Web 2.0 in general, applied to Facebook's new vanity URL feature specifically.

"I tried to alternate the charming children's covers with the creepy modernist covers, but I soon lost the ability to tell one type from the other." Excellent collection of early 20th century graphic design in Japan. Be sure to check out the previous post with book covers too.

"I'd argue that attention is an important part of the status metric; but I don't think more attention always translates to more status..." Interesting thoughts about why people contribute on the Web. [via anil]

10 typefaces for programming. I'm trying out their top pick--Inconsolata--and I like it so far. [via protherj]

Bruce Sterling is taking over as editor of Cool Tools. Neat.

"Open, decentralized micropublishing." A distributed Twitter sounds fine, but don't we already have this in the form of "weblogs" and "newsreaders"--and without the 140 character restraint?!

Anil is promoting the idea of keeping and using the gadgets you have instead of upgrading. Great idea!

Interesting Twitter demographics. "...45-54 year olds are 36 percent more likely than average to visit Twitter, making them the highest indexing age group, followed by 25-34 year olds, who are 30 percent more likely."

How lulz were had with a Time poll. [via waxy]