putthison:

Bow Tie Thursday

Josh writes:

I wore a bowtie for the first time in December. Learning to tie it made me feel a lot more refined, and I thought it was a dapper selection to go with a sweater. I have since purchased a few more bowties, and got some guff at work at first. The guff slowly morphed into admiration (which was likely there the whole time, only clouded
by the fake guff), so much that now my cohorts have joined me in the bowtie fraternity. I taught them all to tie one, and now we are in the grand tradition of bowtie Thursday. We go out for lunch together, it’s a fun time.

I recommend bowtie Thursday to all as a return to gentlemen acting as gentlemen. The only important thing is to make sure that the bowtie is not treated as a funny selection.

Well done, Josh! 

It’s important to enjoy the clothes you wear.  Many men are self-conscious about doing anything that might suggest they care about their appearance.  Let go of that hangup!  Have fun looking good.  If you enjoy it without pretense, others will come along for the ride.

(PS: I love the expressiveness of this bow, but if it were me, I might shorten it just a bit so the tie ends up a bit smaller.)

Bowtie Thursdays seem like a great idea! Who’s with me? I can totally teach you how to tie one.

Apple announced its new “casual computing” device yesterday — the iPad. Of course I think it’s cool, and if I had the spending money, of course I would get one. But you know what? I have a laptop, and I have an iPhone. There is a gap for something in between, but it isn’t that large. There are a few things noticeably missing from this device:

• A camera — nothing pointing out or in. This leaves no room for videoconferencing
• Multitasking — What if I wanted to watch Hulu while working on an iWork document?
• Telephony capabilities — Some of them access the AT&T 3G network — can we make calls with it?

Hopefully, we’ll see these in future generations, and hopefully by then I will be independently wealthy and can buy one. Or three.

Jon Armstrong, a tech blogger (and husband of Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com) wrote a great article about why the iPad is important on his blog, Blurbomat.

It’s nutty to think about “casual” and “computing” in the same sentence, but gamers said the same thing about Nintendo’s Wii. Pros looking for a new form factor portable tool are likely not the target. Nerds are not the target. People who read or want a less formal computing experience are totally the target. [Link]

Well said, Jon. I can totally this being used while sitting on the couch and catching up with my Google Reader feeds. I imagine I could use this to update my Tumblr without firing up the ol’ laptop. But when it comes to heavy typing, graphic designing, or even gaming (which I don’t do a whole lot of), that’s where my computer will come in.

I look forward to seeing how this changes and adapts to the needs of its customer base, and how our language and worldviews change and adapt to it.

Sophie Madeleine, an awesome uke player featured often on BoingBoing. She’s awesome. I can name my own price for her album at BandCamp, but even the $5 minimum is a little too ‘spensive for me right now. It’s on my wish list, though.

What you see depends on where you are in the world.

What is above the woman’s head? When scientists showed a similar sketch to people from East Africa, nearly all the participants in the experiment said she was balancing a box or metal can on her head.

In a culture containing few angular visual cues, the family is seen sitting under a tree. Westerners, on the other hand, are accustomed to the corners and boxlike shapes of architecture. They are more likely to place the family indoors and to interpret the rectangle above the woman’s head as a window through which shrubbery can be seen.

—Via SlashNinja