“One of my favorite Woody Allen quips from his tragically short period as a stand-up comic is the punch line to his hyperbolic story about taking a speed-reading course and then digesting all of War and Peace in twenty minutes. The audience begins to giggle at the silliness of reading Tolstoy’s massive tome in a brief sitting. Allen then kills them with his summary of the book: ‘It’s about Russia.’ The joke came to mind recently as I read the self-congratulatory blog post by IBM’s Many Eyes visualization project, applauding their first month on the web. (And I’m feeling a little embarrassed by my post on the one-year anniversary of this blog.) The Many Eyes researchers point to successes such as this groundbreaking visualization of the New Testament… when I see visualizations like this one, the lesson is clear: Make sure your visualizations expose something new, hidden, non-obvious.” (Thanks db79!)

“In the thirteen years I’ve been on the web, twelve of which I’ve spent doing professional web site design, and the last two of which have sent me to hundreds of artists’ web sites, I’ve come to the inevitable conclusion that the thing artists want most when placing their art on the web is for it not to be seen.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

“As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, the initial direct contact with clients during the discovery meeting is likely the most important moment in the life of a project. While most of my previous reference in this regard has been toward the establishment of designer competence and development of fellowship with the client, there is another vital aspect to this initial meeting: the specific questions asked.”

“One of the products you offer on your website is a ‘TV-B-Gone’ television zapper which is basically a glorified portable universal remote that can be used to turn off television sets in public places. This product epitomizes the hypocrisy that your organization preaches by allowing one single critic of television to determine what the population at large may choose to watch. It is this very concept that you attack within the television industry; Marketing executives make the same decisions everyday for large groups of people.” (Thanks Torrez!)

“The current vogue for less-is-more minimalism, for ample white space, is traceable in part to Tufte, especially when it comes to a certain maker of MP3 players. In fact, when I ask him whom he’s never worked for but would like to, he leans in and says, “A-P-P-L-E! [But] they don’t need any help.”

The lovefest appears to be requited. In press photos of the iPhone, the device displays a New York Times Web front page on its screen. And that page contains a tiny ad for Beautiful Evidence, one that ran on the Times site for exactly one Sunday. Tufte thinks the cameo was a lucky break. I have no doubt that it’s an anonymous Apple designer’s thank-you note.”

“Answer: Treat research as a lifestyle not an assignment… Whether you are conducting research along scientific, literary, or historical principles, these steps, known as the Invisible College, will help develop passions and interests.” (Thanks Rebecca’s Pocket!)

A funny page that shows you the world’s largest lake, largest island, and the largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island — and everything in between.

“Never again will mankind have to look for RSS info in more than one place…ok, we’re kidding, but we’ve aimed to create a near comprehensive list of all the RSS readers, tools, browser plugins, tips, hacks and directories available on the web. We hope you find it useful (we built it because we needed it), and feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.

For those just starting out in the big wide world of RSS, note that we’re talking about Really Simple Syndication, a way to publish and subscribe to frequently updated content like blog entries and news items.”

The Bookslut review: “Norman Rockwell’s best painting may very well be Blood Brothers, a grim depiction of two dead soldiers, one white and one black, laid out beside each other with their blood intermixing on a Vietnamese battlefield. The white soldier’s eyes are closed, but the black one’s are wide open in a perpetual expression of shock. Unfortunately, it was killed by Look magazine in 1968.”

Check out this visual over at XPLANE founder Dave Gray’s blog: “Language is more than just communication, it is the primary method by which we do things together. Language is the accumulation of shared meaning — on common ground.”

“Chinese archaeologists studying ancient rock carvings say they have evidence that modern Chinese script is thousands of years older than previously thought. State media say researchers identified more than 2,000 pictorial symbols dating back 8,000 years, on cliff faces in the north-west of the country. They say many of these symbols bear a strong resemblance to later forms of ancient Chinese characters. Scholars had thought Chinese symbols came into use about 4,500 years ago.”

“All these years of internet use later, HTML mail still sucks. You may think I mean ‘HTML mail doesn’t work properly in some e-mail clients.’ And that statement is certainly true. Companies spend hours crafting layouts that may not work in Eudora or Gmail, or may no longer work in Outlook.

Even in programs that support the crap code used to create these layouts, all that hard visual work will go unseen if the user has unchecked ‘View HTML Mail’ in their preferences.

As for CSS, it is partially supported in some e-mail applications and in web apps like Gmail, but only if you author in nonsemantic table layouts and bandwidth-wasting inline CSS. Which is like using a broken refrigerator to store food at room temperature.”

“Hosted by the guys over at Out of Focus Studio, Take Zer0 is a weekly videocast on the subject of filmmaking that gives you everything you need to know before take one.”

“Question for everyone: How extensive/thought filled are your critiques that are conducted in class? Two parts to this question: …The reason why i ask this: In my classes, i’ve heard a lot of students unable to speak their mind. I hear a lot of ‘cool’ ‘i like it’ ‘i don’t like it’ all mixed in with the word ‘like’ about 20 times in a sentence. The critiques are often lacking substance, and teh students don’t back up their opinion.”

XPLANE alumnus Dan Zettwoch has a show up at the Art Annex Gallery of St. Louis Community College: “The show is called ‘Ruined Pants’ and is chock full of my homemade screenprints, everything from birth announcements to holiday cards to comic book covers to punk rock flyers I’ve made over the past few years.”

If you’re in St. Louis, Missouri, stop by Friday, June 8, between 6 and 8 p.m. for the opening reception and some excellent art.