paper & pencil

Everything's amazing, nobody's happy

Comedian Louis CK talks to Conan about what an amazing time we live in yet no one is happy. Hilarious and very true!

I Lego N.Y.

Christoph Niemann daydreams of NYC through legos.

What Font Are You?

PBS created a mini-site for Helvetica, which will air this week. On the site they have a font personality quiz and turns out I'm Times New Roman:

Some call you timeless - others call you a snob. Either way, you're a class act all around. Just don't take yourself too seriously.

So glad I'm no Comic Sans!

P&P is an INTJ

Enter your blog's URL into Typealyzer and find out it's personality type. Turns out my site is an INTJ. I've taken the Meyers-Briggs times a couple of times and I'm always an ENTJ. I'm definitely more introverted online than I am in person. Spot on Typealyzer!

INTJ is dubbed "The Scientists":

The long-range thinking and individualistic type. They are especially good at looking at almost anything and figuring out a way of improving it - often with a highly creative and imaginative touch. They are intellectually curious and daring, but might be pshysically hesitant to try new things.

The Scientists enjoy theoretical work that allows them to use their strong minds and bold creativity. Since they tend to be so abstract and theoretical in their communication they often have a problem communcating their visions to other people and need to learn patience and use conrete examples. Since they are extremly good at concentrating they often have no trouble working alone.

IDEO’s Global Chain Reaction Experience

Eight worldwide IDEO offices created a way cool Rube Goldeberg Machine for an event called the Global Chain Reaction. Definitely watch the entire video, it's worth it.

Elmo in Palo Alto sends a print to Shanghai

Swurl is way cool

In the last couple of years we've all become more active online and we have a presence in many areas. Swurl provides a neat way to see all of your activity, as well as other people, in a really cool timeline.

We Feel Fine

Wefeelfine.org is a set of very cool visualizations of real-time "feelings" snippets captured from blogs.  Really neat stuff!

Squidoo

Seth Godin's new company, Squidoo, allows you to create a "lens" on various topics and share them with the world. Or search through thousands of lenses created by others.

  Squidoo: SKWID-OO, n. v., adj., addiction. 1) thousands of people creating a handbuilt catalog of the best stuff online 2) a free and fun way to make your own page and get traffic 3) a place to find what you're looking for, fast.

Apple at 30

Apple will be 30 years old on April 1 and to celebrate Wired News is presenting a series of special features to celebrate.

Manifestos on Creativity and Growth

Hugh MacLeod lists a number of ideas on how to be creative, supplemented by very interesting cartoons sketched by the author. Some of my favorite tips include:

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

25. You have to find your own schtick.

30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.

In a similar vein, Bruce Mau listed out about 43 statements that form "An Incomplete Manifesto For Growth." Some favorites from this list...

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

16. Collaborate. The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

33. Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

43. Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.