This is me after loosely sewing 40 battery-powered LED lights to the inner lining edge of my suit jacket for the work XMas dinner party. A couple of years ago I grabbed some 2AA-powered LED lights from IKEA (they don’t seem to sell them anymore though) and loosely strung them over my shirt and under…
Author: Jim
Bret Victor – Inventing on Principle
Bio: Bret Victor invents tools that enable people to understand and create. He has designed experimental UI concepts at Apple, interactive data graphics for Al Gore, and musical instruments at Alesis. For more on Bret, see http://worrydream.com. This talk was given at CUSEC 2012 (http://2012.cusec.net). I agree so much with the thoughts in this talk,…
Inspiring Creative Writing at the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Store
In Hoxton, there’s a shop. No big deal you might think. But this is a shop that caters for the everyday needs of monsters, and monsters can be pretty demanding. You might know other shops, but not one like this: a place where monsters can find the most mundane of their needs. Tinned Fear if…
George Carlin on Cynicism
“…I understand the word ‘cynic’ has more than one meaning, and I see how I could be seen as cynical. ‘George, you’re cynical.’ Well, you know, they say if you scratch a cynic you find a disappointed idealist. And perhaps the flame still flickers a little, you know?” I always liked George Carlin, and although…
On “Internet Risks”: PBS Frontline, NY Times and Gawker
More ephemera was published to the blogosphere two days ago that sidles up quite nicely along my last posting on “Parents Don’t Understand Internet Risks”. Stay with me now, ’cause it gets a little bit meta. Above is the trailer for “Growing Up Online”, a PBS Frontline documentary that aired on Tuesday. The documentary is…
J.J. Abrams’ Mystery Box
I find this TED video of J.J Abrams from 2007 is inspiring. I completely subscribe to the concept: that what you don’t see is just as important (if not more, in some cases) as the things that you do. Abrams shows a touching example in a scene from ‘Jaws‘ (it’s one you probably won’t remember, but…