It's been a busy week in the links world for me. Lots of great reading out there that I've finally had time to get to. Before I send you to the far reaches of the internet, though, let me give you a quick roundup of what's going on around here.
- I redesigned the site. If you are an RSS reader, click over and take a look.
- I'm headed to DC this weekend. I won't have much time, but if you're around, drop me a line and maybe we can meet up.
- I'm headed to San Fran next week. Looking forward to trying to catching up with a few people. If you're around, please let me know.
- While I'm at it, if you're ever around New York, please let me know.
Alright, now onto what you all came here for: 10x link love.
- Aaron Swartz on what it means to be an intellectual. Aaron puts it well: "I enjoy deep discussions of punctuation and other trivialities. I could try to justify this taste -- some argument that we should think about everything we do so that we don't do everything we think about -- but why bother? Do I have to justify enjoying certain television shows as well? At some point, isn't pure enjoyment just enough? After all, time isn't fungible." Tell me about it, I don't know what I'd do without serious conversations about seemingly trivial matters.
- Over at the AIGA Design Forum Steven Heller discusses the co-option of the term 'intelligent design'.
- It seems like every time George Siemens posts something, I like to it. This time he writes about learning in an unstructured way. "I wonder if we couldn't extend that value of learning slightly if we didn't equate it so strongly with structure. I think we can achieve intended outcomes, even if the learning isn't structured or sequenced in a particular manner," writes Siemens. The perfect example of this is kids learning to play video games. They don't read instruction manuals, they just start punching buttons until they figure out what to do. The manual is a reference if needed, but certainly not required reading.
- Scott Berkun lists the ten things VPs never say, with gems like: "It's my fault" and "If we ship on time, we’ll party at my house."
- Seed Magazine has a great collection of infographics on the state of the planet.
- A few weeks ago Design Observer pointed to a 1995 story about a flaw in the engineering of the Citicorp building and how it was dealt with. It's an amazing read.
- Speaking of Design Observer, they have a great interview with the symbol for man that adorns restroom signs across the country.
- According to Influx Insights, the new trend in design is character.
- Finally, Douglas Rushkoff has a great piece titled TV After Advertising (and Advertising After TV) that explores, amongst other things, the ultimate issue that advertising is often trying to cover up: shitty products.
Alright, so I only got to nine. Sue me.