Running Shoes

Has anybody seen or gone running with these funky shoes?

Cell Phones as the New Cigarette

BEFORE

When I was in college I recall students who smoked cigarettes were easily brought together; it was a quick and easy way to socialize with people you didn't know who had something in common with you. It gave you something to do when you had nothing better to do- I assume. By now we are all used to people moving through their daily lives with their cell phones glued to their face, but have you noticed that in those awkward social situations where people aren't talking to each other, they run to the comfort of their phones to text or browse the Internet? I'm guilty too. The other day I was waiting in line (for kogibbq tacos) and everybody who didn't have anybody to talk to just clicked away on the phones... I get it, you have so much to do, and so little time that it's efficient OR is it that you don't want to stare blankly into space? Then I was at a party and several guys were sitting around being anti-social doing the same. I wonder if anybody is pretend texting? I imagine in their minds they are saying "I may not have a lot of friends here, but I have a lot of friends in my phone and I'm going to prove it by texting them now". It has become the new safety net, and everybody can be part of it.

PS - This is not about smokers, this is about social awkwardness and how texting has helped save people in those moments. Yes, I understand that you real smokers out there smoke for "real" reasons that has nothing to do with giving yourself something to do.

AFTER

Information is Beautiful

I've been perusing around this website www.informationisbeautiful.net which is rather intriguing; it's a collection of visually appealing ways to display statistics which you could never imagine. It may give you a whole new perspective on the endless possibilities of sharing data beyond a line, bar or pie. The one I found cool was "The Billion Dollar Gram" which to me, dare I say it, is a neat pie chart. It displays the amount of dollars spent on different things in the media such as the war in Iraq, advertising, the illegal drug market and so forth - putting them all into perspective relative to one another. Here's a snippet of it...

This is the bio of David McCandless, the designer of this project.

"I’ve written for The Guardian, Wired and others. I’m into anything strange and interesting. These days I’m an independent visual & data journalist. My passion is for visualising information – facts, data, ideas, subjects, issues, statistics, questions – all with the minimum of words. I’m interested in how designed information can help us understand the world, cut through BS and reveal hidden connections, patterns and stories underneath. Or, failing that, it can just look cool!"