Biweekly links for 12/26/2008

Looks like a very nice magazine. […]

Terrific intro to design on the web. Here are a few tidbits, although there's much more here: either use effects just enough to be visible, or use them very boldly, creating vivid contrasts; keep an archive of interesting designs (among other things, it'll make you look more closely at every webpage you see); make the call to action very visible on […]

Rob Carlson points out that lawyers for Myriad Genetics have argued that they should be able to patent substances like lithium and, one presumes, the rest of the periodic table. […]

"EIGHT years ago I was sentenced to death for the murders of my wife and three children. I am guilty. I once thought that I could fool others into believing this was not true. Failing that, I tried to convince myself that it didn’t matter. But gradually, the enormity of what I did seeped in; that was followed by remorse and then a wish to make amends. […]

Interesting throughout. I especially enjoyed: "If we ever meet intelligent life forms from another part of the universe, they'll likely know, understand and recognize the same basic data structures we have in our computer science books." and "We optimize for joy." […]

Remarkable survey of the cutting edge of surfing. We see the origins of tow-rope surfing (where surfers are pulled by jet skis into waves that are too big to paddle out to), the use of hydrofoil designs that put the board a foot or two _above_ the wave, and even the use of weather stations to monitor conditions out in mid-ocean, looking for giant waves. […]

The story of the 2002 mayoral election in Newark, New Jersey.  Scrappy idealist underdog Cory Booker attempts to unseat long-time mayor Sharpe James. Striking in part because it shows just how James built an image and a feel around his administration, quite disconnected from facts. […]

James Cameron's documentary about the real Titanic. Interesting both for the historical angle, to get a sense of what Titanic was like (much like his film, it seems), and also for the technology used to explore the ship. […]

An experiment in democracy, as we see the election for class monitor in a grade 3 Chinese classroom. We see extraordinarily raw self interest expressed in very different ways by all three candidate. How different are adults? Unpleasant, but memorable. […]