Global Spinneret

"The choice between respectability and personability is a false dichotomy. Deadly serious and aloof,..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:39:24 -0700

“The choice between respectability and personability is a false dichotomy. Deadly serious and aloof, or wild and slapstick – you don’t have to choose either extreme! Indeed, we believe strongly that the best institutional communications are wholly human, which means staying true to the institution’s values of academic excellence while allowing yourself to be a a little playful.”

- Emmanuel Quartey, in an interview about how Yale is really good at Tumblr

I can’t applaud this loudly enough. The whole benefit of social media – or social anything, really – is interacting with humans. Real people are more satisfying to talk to than fake people, and organizations that let their people sound like humans are doing it right.

"Interestingly, the Measured Voice website describes the solution as providing a “distraction-free..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:41:31 -0700

“Interestingly, the Measured Voice website describes the solution as providing a “distraction-free environment.” Despite working in Measured Voice for months, that aspect never occurred to me. And now I realize it’s a great benefit. It eliminates the “shiny object” aspect of the Twitter stream.”

- Kelley Kassa, in Measured Voice: A New Tool for your Social Media Activities

Yessss. I choose to accept this as high praise: the app was so simple and straightforward that the person using it only noticed it in retrospect.

That’s what I aspire to: people who say my software “just works.”

Merida’s new look. This is what the Disney product...

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:07:00 -0700

Merida’s new look.

This is what the Disney product designers (or whoever was responsible for the “makeover”) really missed. It isn’t just that feminists hate the new Merida; Merida herself would too.

(via the always-awesome muskrat-john)

jedsundwall: Hyperbole and a Half is back (from the void).

Fri, 10 May 2013 03:50:14 -0700

jedsundwall:

Hyperbole and a Half is back (from the void).

equestriarags: My friend Chris commissioned a pony for the OC...

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:48:58 -0700

equestriarags:

My friend Chris commissioned a pony for the OC his son designed; I love how she turned out!

I’m the Chris, and the geeklet did in fact design this pony himself. (Her name is Sci-Fly.)

This is my first look at her, and I’m absolutely floored. I knew that Joi makes some absolutely adorable ragdoll ponies for other people, but I assumed it would require a lot of design work to come up with a something custom.

Nope! Turns out there’s an app for that: Pony Creator. The geeklet already had a really strong sense of Sci-Fly’s look and backstory, so he was able to design a 2D version of her in less than an hour. The helmet was even more custom, but all Joi needed was a crayon-quality sketch.

This was the result! He’s going to flip when he sees her…

"Participants rated their sexual orientation on a 10-point scale, ranging from gay to straight. Then..."

Wed, 01 May 2013 23:01:49 -0700

“

Participants rated their sexual orientation on a 10-point scale, ranging from gay to straight. Then they took a computer-administered test designed to measure their implicit sexual orientation. In the test, the participants were shown images and words indicative of hetero- and homosexuality (pictures of same-sex and straight couples, words like “homosexual” and “gay”) and were asked to sort them into the appropriate category, gay or straight, as quickly as possible. The computer measured their reaction times.

The twist was that before each word and image appeared, the word “me” or “other” was flashed on the screen for 35 milliseconds — long enough for participants to subliminally process the word but short enough that they could not consciously see it. The theory here, known as semantic association, is that when “me” precedes words or images that reflect your sexual orientation (for example, heterosexual images for a straight person), you will sort these images into the correct category faster than when “me” precedes words or images that are incongruent with your sexual orientation (for example, homosexual images for a straight person). This technique, adapted from similar tests used to assess attitudes like subconscious racial bias, reliably distinguishes between self-identified straight individuals and those who self-identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

Using this methodology we identified a subgroup of participants who, despite self-identifying as highly straight, indicated some level of same-sex attraction (that is, they associated “me” with gay-related words and pictures faster than they associated “me” with straight-related words and pictures). Over 20 percent of self-described highly straight individuals showed this discrepancy.

Notably, these “discrepant” individuals were also significantly more likely than other participants to favor anti-gay policies; to be willing to assign significantly harsher punishments to perpetrators of petty crimes if they were presumed to be homosexual; and to express greater implicit hostility toward gay subjects (also measured with the help of subliminal priming). Thus our research suggests that some who oppose homosexuality do tacitly harbor same-sex attraction.

”

- from jtotheizzoe:

New study indicates homophobia is often a result of repressed homosexual feelings, validating what Freud posited in his concept of “reaction formation,” in which we lash out against others’ expressions of what we loathe in ourselves.

The above is via explore-blog, and it’s a long and fancy way of saying that (at least according to this study) homophobia is often associated with repressed homosexual feelings. This work will be appearing in the next issue of Journal of Stuff Everyone Knows But Couldn’t Quite Prove Until Now.

Fascinating. And yes, exactly what I suspected on two counts: more people are gay than self-identify as such, and our prevailing social homophobia attempts to perpetuate itself.

…and because it’s something I’ve long suspected, I require more proof before I’ll base any decisions on it. Let’s see where this research goes over the next decade or two.

mattkirkland: Citizen Science! You can volunteer to transcribe...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:50:20 -0700

mattkirkland:

Citizen Science! You can volunteer to transcribe labels in a natural history museum, all from the comfort of your own chair. There’s a great set of insects, as well as birds and pressed plant specimens.

Of course I’m disproportionately fond of coleoptera, but I think this is worth spending free time on just to see the photos of the beetle specimens.

Hat tip to @chris_radcliff for the link.

effyeahnerdfighters: Flags and Helpers In which John talks...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:48:02 -0700

effyeahnerdfighters:

Flags and Helpers

In which John talks about the bombing at the Boston Marathon while he drives to the dentist.

from Ben Hatke’s Robot Comic #27: Hey, Little Robot...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:05:00 -0700

from Ben Hatke’s Robot Comic #27:

Hey, Little Robot found his transformation! Don’t grow up too fast Little Robot!

I just discovered Ben Hatke’s excellent Zita the Spacegirl books, and then found this. My heart! It’s all melted!

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look..."

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:37:00 -0700

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world.”

- Fred Rogers

From the PBS page “Helping Children With Scary News”.

“Wool Mattresses Are the Best!” (also from Deb....

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:57:08 -0700

“Wool Mattresses Are the Best!”

(also from Deb. I’m glad she’s seeing the good side of sheep. :)

It’s lamb season! (from Deb, a farmer in Napa, who...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:17:16 -0700

It’s lamb season! (from Deb, a farmer in Napa, who can’t help but get tired of delivering and hand-feeding all these little guys)

mattkirkland: This is what happens when a counterfeit jean...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:35:16 -0700

mattkirkland:

This is what happens when a counterfeit jean factory has a bug in their label software.

Is it bad that I kinda want these?

Photo

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:39:38 -0700

"Stop using skills and experience-based job descriptions that list so-called measurable criteria..."

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:42:51 -0700

“Stop using skills and experience-based job descriptions that list so-called measurable criteria likes years of experience and some arbitrary list of skills and competencies. Instead require the hiring manager to define the job in terms of 6-8 measurable performance objectives. For example, rather than “Must have 5-7 years of international accounting experience, a CPA, and an MBA,” say “Implement the SAP international consolidations module in six months.””

- Advice from Lou Adler, from Bill Gates and is HR/Recruiting Stuck in a Time Warp? (via Brad)

This is an intriguing idea; rather than guessing at the experiences an applicant would need to do the job, you list the functional goals of the job itself. Each goal can be turned into a question (“Would you be able to do this part of the job in the time required?”), and the answer to that question is what you evaluate when hiring.

This actually sounds like evaluating a contractor. Experience and skills come up, of course, but not as a list of buzzwords and numbers to match. They’re the answer to the question, “Can you do this thing we need?”

A potential side effect – beneficial, in my opinion – is that a performance review can take the same form as the interview, with the same list of questions. “Did you do this thing we needed?”

"Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back - government has no place in the middle."

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:54:41 -0700

“Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back - government has no place in the middle.”

- Senator Mark Kirk, as reported by BBC News

Beautifully put.

measuredvoice: Amtrak made a bold move today when it tried to...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:17:10 -0700

measuredvoice:

Amtrak made a bold move today when it tried to cheer up a disgruntled passenger with some jokes on Twitter.

It’s great to see Amtrak make this kind of effort. Humor is hard to pull off, and it can backfire. What’s more, many major services like Amtrak may steer clear of social media precisely because of complaints like Raelynn’s. Countless factors beyond Amtrak’s control can cause train delays, so why open yourself up to complaints that you can’t respond to?

Amtrak’s jokes provide the answer. Customers are going to complain on Twitter if you’re there or not. An official presence on Twitter gives you a chance to let customers know that they’re heard and that you care about them, even if you can’t solve their problem. If a customer is having a bad experience, you have a chance to make it a little better by reaching out to them.

Now, your mileage may vary. Like I said, humor is hard to pull off. It’d be weird if Amtrak tried to tell train jokes to everyone who complains about them, but this was a good showing.

I’d add: Be a person. Not “be yourself” or “be like everyone on Twitter”, but write like your account is a human being, because that’s how other people see it.

What kind of person would @Amtrak be? I picture somebody’s dad, middle aged and middle class, kindly and patient, fine with wearing a silly hat because he loves trains.

When Raelynn got frustrated, how would that kindly person respond? Silence? No, he cares too much. Helpful advice? Normally yes, but he knows there’s no way to solve the problem right now. A joke to make her smile? Yes. A corny joke about trains? Absolutely.

To be clear: the actual person writing for @Amtrak could be an 18-year-old disaffected hipster or an 80-year-old foul-mouthed firebrand, but the voice of that imagined @Amtrak is what came through. That corny, friendly voice.

jtotheizzoe: Watch the slow creep of spring as it pushes the...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:38:39 -0700

jtotheizzoe:

Watch the slow creep of spring as it pushes the cold hand of winter back to the frigid north … only to succumb again next year, of course.

NASA’s MODIS imager senses Earth’s reflection of both visible and longer wavelength near-infrared light. Plants, full of chlorophyll, absorb most visible light (except for green, of course) and reflect near-infrared. By combining this with the reflection of snow, NASA can watch the yearly cycle of vegetation springing back and falling away.

I made a higher-res GIF here, and you can watch the full three-year animation here.

Kim Jong Un takes vacation planning seriously. (via North Korea...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:20:11 -0700

Kim Jong Un takes vacation planning seriously.

(via North Korea Releases ‘Strike Plan’ Photos - Business Insider)

Really, though, why would anyone pick San Diego, Austin, Honolulu, and DC as their “strike” choices? A tourist jaunt seems much more likely to me.

I don’t know what “magnetic paste” is, but...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:39:48 -0700

I don’t know what “magnetic paste” is, but this GIF makes it seem terrifying.

From @ProteinWrangler on Twitter.