The Dirtydiaper

Penguins Fly Free

Martin — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:08:38 +0000

For some context, these penguins are members of the Sea World family and were being transported from San Francisco to San Diego.

Via – ViralViralVideos

The Oscars! …whatever

Brian — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:00:33 +0000

Did the Oscars sneak up on you this year? The majority of Americans didn’t have $13 to spend on every “3-D Adventure” that came down the Hollywood poop-shoot. According to the-numbers.com, annual ticket sales have dropped nationwide, but their revenue is on the rise. With only so much disposable income for movie tickets, most of us are building our Netflix waiting list. But if you took a date to every film nominated for a major award, congrats! You spent over $350… The rest of us will just use the Academy Awards as an excuse to drink on a Sunday.

Hit the jump for: 5 Oscar Trivia Questions You Haven’t Heard.

1. [True or False] The statue is solid gold.

FALSE – it’s made from an alloy called Britannia: 93% tin, 5% antimony, and 2% copper… Then plated with gold.

2. How much is the statue worth?

One dollar ($1.00), but you wont see it on eBay. Every winner has to sign an agreement not to sell the award without first offering to sell it back to the Academy for $1. If you don’t sign, they take it away when you walk off stage.

3. How many people have turned down the award?

3 – Most notably Marlon Brando, who won Best Actor for his role in The Godfather. Instead, he sent an American Indian Rights activist in full Apache dress to reject the award and protest Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans.

4. Who has won the greatest total number of Oscar Awards?

Walt Disney. He received 22 awards and was nominated 59 times.

5. In 1974, what award did Robert Opel receive?

A night in jail. Opel hid backstage posing as a journalist and ran down the middle of the stage completely naked flashing a peace sign.

[Wiki]

Social Gravity

Martin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:02:04 +0000

Facebook and it’s other related social media web apps have their following and I have no problem with their existence or even their success. My problem is with their clout as a cultural influences. Let me explain. These social media sites have become so big they seemingly have their own gravitationally pull. If you’ve signed up, good luck getting away from their death grip on your profile. All that aside, I think this comic sums up my feelings on the situation.

Source: Sherman’s Lagoon Comic Strip

National Broadband Map

Brian — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:20:49 +0000

The Commerce Department’s National Broadband Map went live this week, and the results are very interesting. If you live in the north-east you’ll be shocked to see how much of the country lacks high speed internet… wait a minute, whats that big empty spot? Way to reinforce stereo-types West Virginia! I was wondering how AOL was still making money.

Great Scott! Was Doc Wrong?

Brian — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 02:07:18 +0000

It’s well known that when you get a DeLorean up to 88mph there better be a road built on the other side, or you’ll end up in that farmer’s barn… right? WRONG! The Earth is spinning at 1,000mph. Even if you went back in time for one hour you might end up in the ocean. Not to mention that the Earth spins around the sun, which spins around the Milky Way, which flies away from the big bang, which (according to Men In Black) sits at the bottom of some alien’s marble bag! …I hope Marty packed a spacesuit with that hover-board.

Death of the Music Industry

Martin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:50:02 +0000

I think this graph perfectly represents how the music industry has been handling the changing music business climate. I think, poorly, sums it up nicely. Im not sure if the years of suing their customers for “file sharing” or the general lack of quality control in the music they release has had an impact on their sales, but clearly their current methods for retaining or generating sales is not working.

Via Business Insider - Chart of the Day: Death of the Music Industry

Ski-cycle

Martin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:30:48 +0000

Granted, I don’t own a bike, but if I did and we were fortunate enough to get snow, I would without hesitation install this on my bike.

Via Inhabitat – Transform Your Bike into a Snowmobile with the Ktrak Kit

Dead Island Trailer

Martin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:10:03 +0000

New game from Techland. Hopefully the game is as good as the trailer. Watch the original cut first then the recut(forward).

Dead Island: Official Announcement Trailer

Recut video after the break.

Dead Island: Official Announcement Trailer Recut (Forward)

Via: IGN

Infographic: Movie Timeline

Martin — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:15:10 +0000

Clever infographic that depicts movie sales (2010) over time. I really appreciate the interactiveness of the graph.

2010 US Movie Box Office

Graffiti Trolling

Martin — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 06:04:45 +0000

Really great trolling in a public setting.

The Game of Graffiti Goes Grey

Via Kronikle

C’mon Man!

Martin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:42:27 +0000

One of the few segments I enjoy during ESPN’s coverage of Monday night football is “C’mon Man”. Each panelist or ‘noted football expert’ selects a moment in the past week’s games where a player seemingly didnt show up to play or had a complete lapse in judgement. The panelist shows the clip and then state “Cmon Man!”. I think this video represents the “C’mon Man” sentiment very well. Where were the Saints and specifically what was defensive back Tracy Porter doing? He’s number 22, you’ll see him being thrown to the ground midway through the run

MindRelic NYC Timelapse

Martin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:25:45 +0000

Outstanding timelapse video of New Work City. I especially like the shots of Times Square. The video is just over three minutes long.

NYC – Mindrelic Timelapse from Mindrelic on Vimeo.

Washington’s Other Subway

Martin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:20:27 +0000

I’ve never had a chance to ride this. It’s also not surprising how well the system looks, considering it’s for the Feds. In comparison, the DC Metro was completed in the mid 1970′s and is in need of many repairs and general maintenance. Where as, the Capitol Subway was built in the early 1900′s and looks relatively clean and maintained.

Another image after the jump

Via - BeyondDC

Modern Communication

Martin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 03:47:18 +0000

Seems accurate to me.

Via – Urban Sketchers – We Keep in Touch

Narrow Buildings

Martin — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 02:46:36 +0000

Interesting selection of really narrow buildings in Japan. In particular, the building in Nagasaki (below), which apparently holds a restaurant, doesn’t even look wide enough for a human. How does it even work? See the link for more images of narrow buildings.

Via WebUrbanist – Narrower Towers: 20 Of Japan’s Thinnest Buildings

Airport Development in Japan

Martin — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 02:08:25 +0000

An airport in Japan, Narita International Airport, recently completed the second runway expansion necessary to handle the regions growth and increased air traffic. This is however no ordinary expansion. The engineers had to build around an existing farm. The owner of the farm apparently refused to move and take any form of compensation for his land. So the airport built around him. I’m not sure of the person’s logic but I certainly would not want to live next to an airport regardless of my connection to the land. I wonder if he is now pleased with his decision to to stay now that an enormous airport surrounds his property.

Via deconcrete – interrupted dreams

Weather Forecast Alternative

Martin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 16:04:03 +0000

Great little alternative to the standard Weather.com and Accuweather. If you use a browser that has location awareness it will ask you to allow it access.

http://wthr.in/

Infographic: Baseball Game Attendance

Martin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:55:20 +0000

I’m a huge baseball fan and more so an Astros fan. Living in the DC area makes it difficult to make it to their games. So when the Expos were sold to Washington and changed to the Nationals I was thrilled. We were getting a local National League team and with that the Astros would now have an annual three or four games series near my home. Ive gone to at least one Astros game here in Washington since the Expos moved. I would go regardless of their performance and I think many Astros fan’s would do the same regardless of the economies condition. The infographic below illustrates how fans in different markets change their support for a team with the changing economy. I think it really illustrates how some teams are really under appreciated, almost to the point of being insulting that a city would even have a team. See Atlanta and Tampa Bay.

View full size image

Via http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/images/projects/Die-Hard-Index_big.png

Comical Comic Sans

Martin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:07:05 +0000

The design world is often very hostile towards the font, Comic Sans MS, originally created for Microsoft to use in their office applications. Generally the thinking is that fonts have very specific purposes and carry different meanings. Comic Sans could be described as round, having soft-edges, child-like and generally happy looking. The hostility towards this font arises when it is used in the professional and corporate world, where a more serious font would be appropriate. Obviously, a lot of this is subjective.

Generally, I agree that Comic Sans has no place in the professional design world. There are hundreds of fonts that are more appealing and effective. Despite the disdain for this font it is still often used in many inappropriate places. See Ban Comic Sans. In response to this, a small and passionate group of people have begun a sort of campaign to ends it’s use. While perusing my papers on the internet I came across this comical site, Criminal Comic Sans. The site is well designed and very informative in regards to the use of Comic Sans.

CriminalComicSans

New World Trade Center Animation

Martin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:23:46 +0000

Came across this really high quality animation of what the reconstructed World Trade Center will look like when finished.

37Signals Redesign Process

Martin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:53:34 +0000

Is it to soon to assume posting your redesign process is a trend in the web design/development community? Well 37signals has posted an overview, Behind the scenes: 37signals.com Redesign, of their redesign process. They cover the different design iterations they went through, as well as the reasons they committed certain aspects to the final design or removed them as they moved along in their process. For their final design, they selected a single page layout that is, of course, very effective and visually appealing I really like the mouse hover effect for their four products at the top of the page.

37signals.com

Porcelain Potamus

Martin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:14:03 +0000

I really have overlooked Frank Kozik’s work, specifically his Potamus. These new porcelain Potamus have a great look to them. Kozik teamed up with K. Olin Tribu to create this limited run of 250. I think the piece works so well because of the idea of something to fragile as porcelain being merged with something so powerful and large as a hippo. I would love to feel the weight of this piece and how the porcelain adds to the mass of this classic Kozik work. See more views of this piece after the jump.

Read the full detail and see more pics on Kronikle

Updates and Changes

Martin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:25:14 +0000

I’ve been working on some changes to the Blogum theme I use for this site. If you notice any oddities while browsing, it is probably me updating a file or two. I have also added a complete archives section that lists all the previous posts. It can be accessed in the right hand sidebar on any page.

Design Process

Martin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:56:59 +0000

Jon Hick’s recently posted his design process for creating the new WordPress theme, ShelfTheme. I don’t care much for the actual theme but he provides really great explanations for why he made certain decisions and how he dealt with the various problems that came up in the process. I also really like the font that was selected for the new theme.

The Story of Shelf

Minimal Muppets

Martin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:42:34 +0000

Some designs really speak to me. This is one of those. Hopefully this design gets printed. I think the argument could be made that each design could be made into an individual card or print. I really like the Gonzo the Great design.

Minimalist Muppets