Matt Butterworth

I Hate This Graphic and All Its Incarnations So the amendment...

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:42:00 -0400

I Hate This Graphic and All Its Incarnations

So the amendment was passed. It’s lame. Everyone on facebook in North Carolina in my age range thinks that it’s lame. We need to really the troops. Okay, whatever, I get that. Here’s this thing and it’s fun. It’s fun to post that graphic that correlates University presence to voting trends on Amendment One in North Carolina. It’s also way too easy and a little worrying. If I learned one thing in college statistics, it’s that correlation does not equal causation.

What I see is a map indicative of a divide between two very different cultures. In this case, they are differentiated by their homes (cities + suburbs vs rural areas).

Don’t get me wrong: supporting Amendment One, in my opinion, is discriminatory. I don’t subscribe to that moral agenda. I also don’t want to act like I’m better than those opposition because I went to college and also happen to believe what I believe.

This graphic and subsequent sharing and the “we get it and they don’t” attitude smacks of haughtiness, because we were lucky enough (please don’t forget we were lucky) to receive a post-secondary education and now make “better” decisions regarding politics. Even if that’s not the intention, that’s how it comes off and that’s what it seems to imply.

theatlantic: The Soft Bigotry of ‘Kony 2012’ The...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:07:37 -0500

theatlantic:

The Soft Bigotry of ‘Kony 2012’

The much-circulated campaign subtly reinforces an idea that has been one of Africa’s biggest disasters: that well-meaning Westerners need to come in and fix it. Africans, in this telling, are helpless victims, and Westerners are the heroes. It’s part of a long tradition of Western advocacy that has, for centuries, adopted some form of white man’s burden, treating African people as cared for only to the extent that Westerners care, their problems solvable only to the extent that Westerners solve them, and surely damned unless we can save them. First it was with missionaries, then “civilizing” missions, and finally the ultimate end of white paternalism, which was placing Africans under the direct Western control of imperialism. And while imperialism may have collapsed 50 years ago, that mentality persists, because it is rewarding and ennobling to feel needed and to believe you are doing something good.

“African solutions for African problems” isn’t just a State Department slogan, and it isn’t about promoting African leadership, although that’s certainly important. Africans are already leaders. There are many reasons for Africa’s amazing rise over the last ten years, but one of the biggest has been African leadership. It’s not a coincidence that the 200 years of Western leadership in Africa were some of the continent’s worst. Africans have proven time and again that they’re better at fixing African problems. While helping is always good, and it’s great that people care, what Kony 2012 ignores is that Africans are not “invisible” and the last thing they need is for a bunch of Westerners to parachute in and take over (again). We sometimes mistake our position at the top of the global food chain as evidence that we’re more capable, that our power will extend into complicated and far-away societies, that we’ll be better at fixing their problems than they are. This assumption, both well-meaning and self-glorifying, has led us into disaster after disaster after disaster.

Read more. [Image: Invisible Children]

Design nerd friends should like this. zachklein: Scorekeeper’s...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:34:57 -0500

Design nerd friends should like this.

zachklein:

Scorekeeper’s interaction design is air tight.

parislemon: This is actually the craziest chart about Apple...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:34:30 -0500

parislemon:

This is actually the craziest chart about Apple following their insane earnings today.

There is exactly one company on that entire list that is not an oil and gas company. And they’re not that far from the top.

Photo

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:36:03 -0500

thedailywhat: Celebrity Sighting of the Day: Daniel Day-Lewis...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:50:59 -0500

thedailywhat:

Celebrity Sighting of the Day: Daniel Day-Lewis was spotted today in Richmond, Virginia’s Arcadia restaurant in character as Abraham Lincoln.

Day-Lewis is set to play the Great Emancipator in a 2012 biopic being directed by Steven Spielberg.

According to one snoop, Day-Lewis has apparently been in character since March, and is so committed to the role that “[h]is real name doesn’t even appear on the call sheet.”

[@uvamichael / richmond.]

teendrama :: hello my name is dennis.: Dear people who whine about interface changes on Facebook:

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:27:47 -0400

teendrama :: hello my name is dennis.: Dear people who whine about interface changes on Facebook::

dpstyles:

From Kent Brewster:

Unless you are paying money to advertise on Facebook, you are not a Facebook customer. As far as Facebook is concerned, you’re not even a human being. You are one of an infinite herd of cows. Facebook (and its faithful ranch-hand Zynga) spreads a thick layer of content…

fred-wilson: (via http://yfrog.com/kgmcxnj)

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:13:09 -0400

fred-wilson:

(via http://yfrog.com/kgmcxnj)

Video

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:40:51 -0400

dalasverdugo: itmakesnosense: If you cant make it out, it...

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:09:00 -0400

dalasverdugo:

itmakesnosense:

If you cant make it out, it reads, “Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.”

(via:TIAA)

hoo boy

As others are trying to point out: You get Type II diabetes from drinking too much Pepsi, not Type I (or “Juvenile”). Juvenile Diabetes is an auto-immune disorder which has nothing to do with lifestyle. The JDRF raises money for research on Type I. Joke’s (kinda) on you Internet.

I actually reblogged this because I wish that the JDRF would take some time to make the public more aware of the difference. While we’re at it, why doesn’t the ADA take the time to do this, too? They’re supposed to be researching and helping with both types, right? I hear there’s a move afoot to change the name of Type I entirely.

Regardless of nomenclature, Type I, Type II, and people without diabetes should all avoid the Mega Jug. Pretty funny.

joemartinez: Memorial Day weekend at the lake ©Joe Martinez...

Tue, 31 May 2011 16:51:50 -0400

joemartinez:

Memorial Day weekend at the lake

©Joe Martinez Photography

Sinuous Sinuous is a fun game made with the HTML5 canvas...

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:26:00 -0400

Sinuous

Sinuous is a fun game made with the HTML5 canvas element. The creator, Hakim El Hattab, has also made a game using WebGL called Coil.

His personal website is Hakim.se.

billybrown: Pixelated New Orleans Homes -...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:40:50 -0400

billybrown:

Pixelated New Orleans Homes - b.illbrown.com/iwannalivehere

(Taken with picplz at Black Hand Coffee Company in Richmond,...

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:06:55 -0400

(Taken with picplz at Black Hand Coffee Company in Richmond, VA.)

Sketch for infograph concept or just a doodle? (Taken with...

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:52:22 -0400

Sketch for infograph concept or just a doodle? (Taken with picplz in Richmond, VA.)

Photo

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:54:16 -0500

thedailywhat: Trick Shots of the Day: “UNC Asheville Junior...

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:04:54 -0500

thedailywhat:

Trick Shots of the Day: “UNC Asheville Junior Goalkeeper Lassi Hurskainen doing tricks on campus.”

Johnny McEntee who?

[unis.]

I WON!

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:06:57 -0400

joemartinez:

Thanks to LaurenLemon & the fine folks over at Photojojo for selecting me as today’s Pic Pick winner for Environmental Portraits. Ha, it’s what I do :)

Wednesday is off to a good start. Greetings to all of the new followers!

How did you get so rad, Joe?

Oh my.

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:36:54 -0400

Oh my.

Canine Eye Chart

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:56:07 -0400

Canine Eye Chart