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SOPA: Before Solving a Problem, Make Sure You’ve Got the Right Problem
Tim O’Reilly on SOPA: “In the entire discussion, I’ve seen no discussion of credible evidence of this economic harm. There’s no question in my mind that piracy exists, that people around the world are enjoying creative content without paying for it, and even that some criminals are profiting by redistributing it. But is there actual economic harm?” Exactly. Piracy is real, but the economic impact of it is up for serious debate.
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NYTimes: Represent
Cool new app from The New York Times that lets New Yorkers keep tabs on what their elected officials are doing. It’s built on GeoDjango. Nice to see Django continue its massive penetration into the news and journalism worlds.
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POWER TO THE POSTER
User-submitted poster project which asks, “As a global citizen, what moves you?” There’s some great work in here, and it’s all downloadable and printable. Great for bare walls.
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NYTimes: This Math Whiz Called It for Obama Months Ago
The New York Times profiles Nate Silver, the man who totally rocked my world all election season long at fivethirtyeight.com.
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November 4th, 2008
I love this illustration by Patrick Moberg.
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It’s been a long time comin’…
I’ll keep this short. Maybe.
I think it’s important, as Obama himself said, to remember that this man getting elected doesn’t change anything in terms of our economy, the war, terrorism, and other major issues that confront our country. I firmly believe Obama will be a harbinger of change for those matters, but it’s going to take a lot of work from everyone to get it done.
But on the matter of the color of Obama’s skin: change has been delivered.
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Prop 8 appears to have been passed
It looks like voters in California have passed Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage. This is very sad — and very surprising — to me. I know I have a lot of friends who are disappointed by this news, and I feel for them. Stay strong, guys — your day will definitely come.
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30 Reasons
For each of the 30 days leading up to the election, graphic designers present a poster in support of Obama. Lots of good ones in here, but the first one is still my favorite.
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Bush’s Constitution-Lite Zone
Two thirds of the US population lives within 100 miles of the country’s border, which currently means the Fourth Amendment of the constitution, which bars random and arbitrary stops and searches, does not apply to them. This seems like a problem.
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Map of Newspaper Endorsements for 2008 US Election
Really beautiful data viz map, here.
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McCain and Obama’s answers to the top 14 science questions facing America
Good stuff here, if you’re like me and care about science, genetics energy, global warming, and innovation a lot more than baby killing and gay people.
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2008 Political Conventions: Words They Used
Nice word frequency graphic from The New York Times.
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CNN: Obama clinches nomination
> Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president, according to CNN estimates, making him the first African-American in U.S. history to lead a major-party ticket.
With apologies to Sam Cooke: It’s been a long time running, but I know a change is gonna come. Yes, yes it will.
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Where they stand: Obama, McCain on the issues
A simple but effective rundown of each presumptive nominee’s position on various social, economic, and military issues.
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Barack Obama: Finding common bonds in different worlds
A long, but well-written profile of Mr. Obama.
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TIME: The Five Mistakes Clinton Made
“Hillary Clinton began the race with all sorts of advantages, but she and her advisers never grasped how much had changed.” A nice summary of the reasons why Obama was able to overtake Hillary, despite her being the obvious choice.
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Video: How Hillary Can Still Win
How Hillary Clinton can still defeat Barack Obama and win the Democratic Nomination. Via B-Tizzle’s Bullshit.
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Obama Would Consider Gore for Major Post
As if I wasn’t already sold on Obama, now he’s committing to having Al Gore “at the table” when it comes to the problem of climate change. Can Hillary just quit already?
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Clinton on hope.
> You’d better vote for the person that wants you to think and hope.
Bill Clinton, 2004
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Obama: I’m the one to beat McCain - CNN.com
> Despite the heated back-and-forth over the last few months, Clinton Wednesday hinted that she would be open to a Clinton-Obama ticket in the fall. “Well, that may, you know, be where this is headed,” Clinton told CBS Wednesday. “But, of course, we have to decide who’s on top of the ticket…”
Glad to hear it. I’d hate to see the two beat each other up so much over the course of the primaries that they can’t work together in the end. I’d definitely vote for a Clinton/Obama ticket (though I’d be much happier voting for an Obama/Clinton one).
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Marc Andreessen: An hour and a half with Barack Obama
In early 2007, Marc Andreessen spent an hour and a half talking with Barack Obama. This is what he learned about the man who, it seems, everyone under the age of 50 wants to see as our next president.
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Seattleites: Hillary at Pier 30 tonight, Obama at Key Arena tomorrow.
I’ve got a client meeting at 1:30 tomorrow, but I might try to swing by the Obama event before I head into the office, as it’s two blocks from my house. Native Washingtonians seem excited that our primaries and caucuses actually matter this year, as usually a front-runner is already in place by this time. For me, I’m interested in getting involved for the first time ever, for three reasons:
- There is actually a candidate (Obama) I feel I can really support (and another, in Hillary, that I like fairly well, also). This hasn’t happened since Ross Perot in ‘92, which was the last time I really got involved in an election (albeit a mock election at my high school) — and that was a wasted vote, anyway.
- This year, I’d be voting in a state where a democratic votes actually matters. Kansas has historically been such a red state that it’s never seemed worth the effort (although there’s some evidence of a leftward shift starting to happen in Kansas).
- I’m just finally fed up enough with the current administration to care.
So, if I have the time, you might see me at KeyArena tomorrow, and if I’m eligible to caucus on Saturday despite not being registered or having a valid ID in Washington, you might find me there, as well.
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Seattle may get more SLUTs
The city is looking into the feasibility of more streetcars, along the lines of the now-infamous South Lake Union Trolley — err, Streetcar. From the looks of the maps, this would be killer for Michelle and I. Our apartment is a block from a stop on the proposed red (Seattle Center/Queen Anne/Mercer/Capitol Hill) line and just a couple blocks from two different stops on the proposed green (Ballard/Interbay/Waterfront/Belltown/Pioneer Square/SoDo/West Seattle) line — and the system goes up to Fremont, where I work, and South Lake Union, where Michelle works.
SLUTs aren’t honest-to-goodness rapid transit, but they’re better than busses, and if SLUTs will go as far as this says they will, you can bet I’ll ride them.
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Evolution Not ‘Just a Theory’, and Yes, Huckabee It Does Matter | Wired Science from Wired.com
Huckabee says it “doesn’t matter” whether he believes in evolution or not, with regard to his presidential candidacy. But he’s missing the point: a president will be signing science research budgets into law and getting advice from scientists on topics like terrorism, the environment, and medicine. If he is willing to ignore data that has been proven via science (like the fact that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, not 6,000), will he also ignore other research and advice from top scientists? It does matter. We need to know if Huckabee believes in the scientific process, because how he does major parts of his job will depend on the answer.
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The Star Spangled Banner
Now that’s fun. Via Greg.
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TIME: The Last Temptation of Al Gore
TIME says: “Al Gore has fallen out of love with politics. But friends, moneymen and an army of green activists are begging him to run.” A really compelling piece on the former Vice President who both won and lost the election in 2000. Good stuff.
By the way, TIME is one of the few news websites whose design makes me really enjoy reading it. Clean, crisp, bright, simple, elegant. I like it. Of course, I would like to get in and put “Helvetica Neue” before Arial in their stylesheets… :)
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Kansas Sen. Brownback disses Favre in Wisconsin
Brownback (who I’m no fan of, despite him being from my home state), asserts that Peyton Manning is possibly the greatest NFL quarterback ever — in Wisconsin, home of Bart Starr and Brett Farve. Whoops.
Hilarious.
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Barack Obama site redesign
The official site of Barack’s 2008 presidential campaign has sexy new redesign that definitely blows away that of all the other candidates. It feels sort of Ryan Sims-ish, to me. I wonder who actually designed it?
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Media: point the finger at yourself
Wil Wheaton speaks my mind in his post about the Moonites in Boston. It’s freaking absurd that media are still trying to call this event a “terrorist hoax” or a “bomb threat,” when it’s been proven that is was neither. The media and city officials that totally overreacted here just need to own up to the fact that they overreacted and move the hell on.
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Times: The State of the Union in Words
Damn cool. I so get off on this kind of data visualization in journalism. Love it, love it, love it.
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Richard Dawkins: Executing Saddam Hussein was an Act of Vandalism
Dawkins believes that to kill Saddam was to destroy a vital resource for scientists, psychologists, and the like. He makes some really good points.
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Faces of the Dead in Iraq - New York Times
One has to give credit where credit is due — The Post did this many, many months ago. Still, the Times’ take on the idea is nice — I especially love the UI and information display in the “Analysis” section.
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Top Ten (Best and Worst) Communicators of 2006
Nice lists. I’m a bit surprised to see Steve Jobs miss the Top Ten Best, but the people that are on the list deserve to be, as well. So, all’s fair, I suppose.
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jacobian.org : How the news breaks
Ever wonder how the election data gets from the Secretary of State to the crawl at the bottom of your TV screen. Well, at least if you’re in Lawrence, the process may not be as elegant as you’d imagine. Jacob outlines last night’s digital baling twine and duct tape. Kind of gross and kind of novel at the same time. Definitely funny, either way.
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37s SvN: Election night graphics
SvN looks at various graphics for election night.
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Subtraction: Election Night
Khoi overviews the NY Times election night coverage, which is freaking excellent. Well done, Khoi and team.
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LJWorld.com | Election Results
I challenge any local news outfit to a friendly game of “Our Election Coverage Is Better Than Yours.” Flash hotness by Nathan and data massaging by Matt Croydon. Powered by Jolt Cola — oh, and Django.
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You have no obligation to vote today.
All my life I’ve been told I should vote. I’ve been told it’s my duty and obligation to vote. I’ve been told to rock the vote. Voting is the right thing to do. I’m not buying it. Voting is just like everything else: if you don’t know what you’re talking about, you just probably either learn or shut the hell up.
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washingtonpost.com: Midterm Madness
Awesome Flash-driven political game for election time. Wonderfully designed, and Django-powered, like most (all?) Washington Post interactive specials.
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It's sad that this is so exciting.
Jeff Croft
I’m a digital product designer and developer in Seattle, WA. I currently work with nGen Works, and recently co-founded Lendle, a Kindle book sharing service.
Some of my clients include Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Copious, The New York Review of Books, The Lawrence Journal-World, and the University of Washington.
I’ve authored two books on web and interactive design and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world.
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