Creativity is usually thought of as internally motivated — a response to a deeply felt personal urge to challenge convention, push boundaries and explore. But newly published research suggests that, at least in the business world, the link between inspiration and ingenuity is strengthened by focusing on the needs of others. From Empathy Conducive to [...] [Posted: 18 Feb 2010]
And so it is with luck – unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. … Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. From Be lucky – it’s an easy skill to learn from [...] [Posted: 16 Feb 2010]
That is the question Jakob Nielsen sparked with last summer’s column: Stop Password Masking. In this week’s A List Apart, Lyle Mullican discusses The Problem with Passwords, and writes: However, making such a sweeping change to a fundamental user interaction could present serious problems. Consider some contexts in which a password might need to be [...] [Posted: 9 Feb 2010]
Still, participants didn’t merely exhibit a preference for thin figures and indifference to obese ones — they showed active dislike toward these theoretically obese. That finding, while regrettable, is enlightening. From A Fatter Phobia at Miller-McCune. It’s not clear from the Miller-McCune piece whether or how this varies by race and gender. For example, previous [...] [Posted: 9 Feb 2010]
Lyrics are in English and Arabic. His English verse is kind of wack, but interesting for its look at contemporary Saudi culture and economy. I can’t judge his Arabic verse, because I’m monolingual like that. But that beat? Lovin’ it. Learn more about Qusai on his MySpace page. [Via Saudi Jeans.] [Posted: 4 Feb 2010]
From Saudi women revel in online lives on GlobalPost: In a country where about one-third of the population regularly goes online, the internet gives women “a place to vent out our frustrations and our dreams,“ said Reem Asaad, 37, a professor of banking and finance in the Saudi port city of Jeddah who blogs at [...] [Posted: 4 Feb 2010]
So Apple announced the iPad, and it won’t support Flash. That shouldn’t be a surprise. Neither the iPhone nor iPod Touch support Flash. Indeed most mobile platforms don’t (yet) support Flash. Even the smartest of smart phones have limited processing power and storage space compared to laptops and desktops. According to Steve Jobs, Apple doesn’t [...] [Posted: 4 Feb 2010]
But recently New Orleanians have metaphorically turned the tables on this rhetorical trend. Consider, for example, the poignantly enigmatic slogan, “Be a New Orleanian Wherever You Are.” How interesting: here we are ascribing certain positive characteristics to the people and culture of this place, and advocating that they be recognized, appreciated, and adopted in other [...] [Posted: 2 Feb 2010]
[T]hose with guns and the force of law behind them, are too often more concerned for property than human life. In an emergency, people can, and do, die from those priorities. … Two things go on in disasters. The great majority of what happens you could call emergency requisitioning. Someone who could be you, someone [...] [Posted: 1 Feb 2010]
One common bond linking McCarthy, Jackson, and Stein — three women featured in Elaine Showalter’s history of American women writers, A Jury of Her Peers — is that their spouses allowed them the time and solitude required to imagine, write, and produce. Even if their spouses’ approaches were controlling or their motivations questionable, the writing [...] [Posted: 1 Feb 2010]