May 2011
40 posts
13 tags
May 31st
29 notes
6 tags
Jacob Zuma to meet Muammar Gaddafi in last-ditch... →
fyeahafrica: African Union leaders are due to arrive in Tripoli on Monday in a last-ditch attempt to broker a diplomatic end to the fighting in Libya in advance of a sharp escalation expected this week, when British and French attack helicopters join the fray. South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, will meet Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who has so far defied efforts to force him to yield to...
May 29th
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-5-22) →
Bloc Party (9) Mumford & Sons (8) Kele (7) The xx (7) Coldplay (7) Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
May 29th
11 tags
“There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be...”
– C.S. Lewis (via azspot)
May 28th
57 notes
8 tags
Get your app game on - Software - IOL News →
“In Africa, the potential for apps goes far beyond games, entertainment and publishing. With a total population of just over a billion, infrastructure is lacking throughout the continent, especially in the areas of health, agriculture, banking, education and more. Apps are being touted as one of the solutions. “The potential for apps to change the landscape of Africa is boundless. Increased...
May 28th
1 note
8 tags
May 28th
8 notes
6 tags
May 28th
6 tags
City of Sounds: Scale Model Plays Urban Soundtrack... →
When the drum is slowly turned by hand, the three-dimensional buildings depress keys on the piano. The resulting music is strange and not at all melodic, but it is weirdly appealing, particularly when paired with the visual of the artist painstakingly turning the drum. Every part of the city represents a different sound, adding a new layer of personality to the buildings and void spaces...
May 28th
1 note
6 tags
Hidden Creativity: QR Code Portrait Hides Double... →
Great art is not only beautiful, but deeply meaningful to both the artist and the viewer. Artist Scott Blake has made a name for himself creating art with bar codes: those simple black-and-white stripey codes you find on nearly everything you buy. Now he is experimenting with the bar code’s younger, hipper cousin, the QR code.
May 28th
2 notes
9 tags
Gaming Made Me: Sim City 2000 | Rock, Paper,... →
I still own the manual. About once a year, I leaf through it – not for nostalgia, but because it’s such a beautiful creation. It opens with a quote from the Danish urban planner, Steen Eiler Rasmussen: “To search for the ideal city today is useless. For all cities are different.”
May 28th
2 notes
5 tags
Innovation challenge aims to boost African... →
b-sama: The African Stock Investment Competition (ASIC) and the Global Innovation Game have teamed up to search for the best innovation for improving how African stock markets catalyse economic growth on the continent. ASIC has announced the launch of an innovation challenge to answer the question, “What stock market innovations can be developed to help build African economies?” To challenge...
May 28th
4 notes
3 tags
“This is Google as an anti-Babel, with the utopian goal of a future in which all...”
– DIGITAL AFRICA | More Intelligent Life (via brunabenvegnu)
May 28th
5 notes
7 tags
Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to...
When the government gathers or analyzes personal information, many people say they’re not worried. “I’ve got nothing to hide,” they declare. “Only if you’re doing something wrong should you worry, and then you don’t deserve to keep it private.” The nothing-to-hide argument pervades discussions about privacy. The data-security expert Bruce Schneier...
May 28th
8 notes
4 tags
“It is not true that individuals possess a prescriptive ‘natural liberty’ in...”
– John Maynard Keynes (via ilyagerner)
May 27th
37 notes
13 tags
"Somalia already has a perfectly viable government...
So, having just read through a bit of Hobbes, Locke, Mosca and Weber, I wanted to analyse the points made. I’ve tried to avoid ‘proving’ a specific point (“we should all be libertarians!” or “communism rules!” or anything), but rather argued that we should think more critically about how we analyse political situations - and be particularly aware of...
May 27th
13 notes
5 tags
May 26th
4 notes
2 tags
Political Language: Economics Applies to... →
ilyagerner: Slightly off topic, this reminds me that it would be fun to see some Public Choice-style analysis applied to economists themselves. In formal models, people act rationally in pursuit of maximizing their own utility. Economists are people too. The possibility of lucrative consulting contracts…
May 26th
30 notes
7 tags
The limerick formula
There once was an X from place B, Who satisfied predicate P, The X did thing A, In a specified way, Resulting in circumstance C. (via everydayramny)
May 26th
12 notes
6 tags
May 26th
72 notes
3 tags
Shortcut of the Day (via Lifehacker) →
Search the Web with Your Voice by Long-Pressing Android’s Search Button
May 26th
5 tags
WebP: 39.8% faster than JPEG | Think Vitamin →
Google has used their insanely smart engineers to create an image compression algorithm that’s just as good as JPEG but 39.8% smaller. It’s called WebP and it’s pronounced “weppy”. … If you can’t see the image above, then your browser doesn’t support WebP. Come on and help us get this adopted by all browsers! (via 2105)
May 26th
11 notes
6 tags
“Wikipedia trivia: if you take any article, click on the first link in the...”
– XKCD
May 26th
1 note
3 tags
May 20th
27 notes
6 tags
May 19th
8 notes
8 tags
Brazil wants IMF chief from emerging nation... →
Brazil believes the next head of the IMF should come from a large emerging market country, but does not plan to pressure actively on the issue because Europe is likely to keep its “stranglehold” on the job, a senior government official told Reuters on Tuesday. A lot can be said about the “developed” world’s dominance in international institutions that perpetuates...
May 18th
3 notes
8 tags
Vote in the South African 2011 Municipal...
kiteza: Are you South African? Vote in the municipal elections! Follow these simple steps to make sure you can make an informed choice on Election Day: — Check to see if you’re registered to vote by one of the following methods: ·SMS your ID Number to 32810 (R1.00 per SMS sent or received) ·Call the IEC toll-free (from a landline) on 0800 11 8000 ·Check online If you are registered,...
May 17th
9 notes
5 tags
woetothedownpressors asked: Thank you for that bit of information, concerning the Photoshoped meme. I had heart palpitations there when I saw that photo. Comforting to know that there are no parents as reckless.
May 11th
3 tags
May 10th
4 notes
2 tags
The Non-Simple Economics of the Minimum Wage →
So, contrary to Economics 101, there’s not really an independent demand curve for labour. And the supply for labour cannot be depicted simplistically, either. In fact, labour supply often declines as wages increase (since workers can then afford more leisure time). The two lines don’t reliably and stably cross. In fact, it’s not clear they cross at all: even where wages are unregulated,...
May 10th
27 notes
3 tags
May 8th
201 notes
13 tags
May 7th
38 notes
6 tags
“If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for...”
– Karl Marx, age 17. From ‘A Young Man’s Reflections on the Choice of a Career.’ (via mission-to-mars)
May 6th
19 notes
8 tags
May 6th
5 tags
Mohandas Gandhi: On the apparently unpopular views... →
mohandasgandhi: …I think the most important lesson [Gandhi] taught was quite simply this: love always conquers hate - always.  Utilizing hatred to fight hate itself can never bring about love, which, of the two, is the only thing worth desiring.  If we want to live in a world without hatred, it’s time we stopped participating in it…
May 2nd
210 notes
5 tags
“‎Do not rejoice at the death of the man. Rejoice because he will not cause death...”
– Sarah Brandon (via savvylikeyeahhh) I can agree with this.
May 2nd
481 notes
9 tags
Osama Bin Laden - Hide and seek champion 2001-2011
Humour is a valuable tool for humans to use in understanding and engaging with the world around them. Notes from around the interwebs: He had his details on the PSN. The jokes from tonight were Abbottabad as they get. Man moves to Abbottabad for ‘peace and quiet’ and unwittingly live tweets bin Laden raid -http://bit.ly/jXG1Xb They should have captured Bin Laden alive and made him...
May 2nd
3 notes
4 tags
May 1st
6 tags
Clean Up Your Mess →
“I open my eyes and I see paradise.” A Guide to Visual Design for Everybody 5 quick and easy tips for better design.
May 1st
7 notes
7 tags
May 1st
4 notes
April 2011
28 posts
8 tags
Doublethink Logo Design Comp →
COMPETITION! Create your own Doublethink Design logo! You can draw, paint, collage, use typography, whatever you want. … Feel free to reblog and spread the word! :) Not sure at what point this became a good idea, but 4-5am design work is always fun. Hence, my minimal contribution: (click through for 500x500. 3D glasses sold separately.) EDIT: Oops, I think I was meant to post...
Apr 30th
125 notes
7 tags
Apr 30th
5 notes