The Filter (week of April 21) 37signals 21 Apr 2006

8 comments Latest by Rugby Fan Steve

Some interesting comments posted this week at Signal vs. Noise:

� On Screens Around Town

Dean 17 Apr 06
the new NYTimes design is not cutting it for me…I recommend the “Today’s Paper” page on the new design to get quick access to the top stories in each section with less fluff on the page (you can jump to sections too): http://www.nytimes.com/pages/todayspaper/index.html

� On Kottke joins The Deck

Adam 18 Apr 06
The moment you slap an ad on your site it changes what that site is. It changes the terms of the dialogue. It just does. Doesn’t matter how small the ad is, or how putatively useful: it indicates to me that, rather than being a respected peer with whom you are interested in having a conversation, you now understand me as an eyeball to be monetized. How can that not skew things? It does. Something’s getting lost, and I held that “something” in great esteem. I’m sad to see it go.

D 18 Apr 06
I’d rather there be no ads on my favourite sites, but if a small ad - especially if it makes a rational appeal for a product I might actually be interested in - can help one of my favourite authors support themselves doing what they love and therefore write more, well that’s a good thing innit?

Coudal 18 Apr 06
I’ve been running ads on coudal.com for a while and I’ve bought thousands of dollars of Goog and display ads on other sites. From those two perspectives we’ve struck a pretty good balance with The Deck and a big majority of the response from readers has been positive too. So far so good. Plus, the ‘punch-the-monkey’ ad scheduled for May is really hilarious. You’ll love it.

� On Sunspots: The full moon in the Trades edition

SI 20 Apr 06
From: http://www.etre.com/blog/2006/04/f_me/ …”…Suggesting that F-shaped scanning is [an] innate [human behaviour] seems to push a very specific agenda - an agenda that sees users’ behaviour (and ultimately usability gurus like Nielsen) driving design. Yet it seems to me that, in this particular instance, it is design that is driving users’ behaviour.”

� On Illusion of agreement

Sam 19 Apr 06
to clarify to qwerty: this is a blog, not your employee handbook. the authors say what they like. don’t act shocked when “less documentation” doesn’t work in your nuclear missle silo.

Don Wilson 18 Apr 06
Tim, after numerous dead ends, here’s where I think the cartoon originated. http://www.scaryideas.com/Cartoons/ITProjects/

� On Rubber ball lessons

Ward Andrews 19 Apr 06
Writing, storytelling, marketing, creating a product…it’s all design.

� On Less financial options in your pocket

Danno 20 Apr 06
I don’t like the idea of a wallet telling me how many paper bills I can have on me…I refuse to be arsed to figure out the change I’m going to get back from my purchases during the day just to appease my wallet.

� On Fighting the top reply

Tom 19 Apr 06
90% of the email I get - via work or at home is top-posted. The only people who don’t top post are uber geeks.

Dan 19 Apr 06
I always put a “See my comments below” at the top when I inject my comments in the sender’s message. I make it a different color too. That helps…I find that sometimes replying at the top is nice, and sometimes replying in-line is. It depends somewhat on the length of their questions/comments that need responded to.

� On Skirts/Flowers

Daniel 20 Apr 06
Flowers, or eyes… http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/jgd1000/iriscollage.jpg …Stumbled over those photos a year ago. So beautiful, and a little scary, I think. Taken by John Daugman in his work on iris recognition.

Kathleen Fasanella 21 Apr 06
Another chica here, comfortable in geekdom, only dated geeks, married one etc. However, I do feel out of place here because I work in “fashion” and everybody has the idea that people in the fashion industry are prima-donna artist types. Sorry, no. Fashion = manufacturing = engineering. To whit, (the fellas should like this), I posted an article entitled “anatomy of a camel toe pt.1” which explains how inappropriately used technology has created the popular/reviled fitting defect known as “camel toe”. It’s not due to fat chicks wearing too-tight pants; camel toe is an engineering defect from the sewing factory floor.

[Ed note: I never expected to see a (thoughtful) comment about camel toes!]

� On Fly on the Wall: “I’m running into a problem with HumanTime”

brad 21 Apr 06
Donald Rumsfeld works standing up for 8-12 hours a day, which is why he doesn’t think keeping Iraqi prisoners standing for hours at a time should qualify as “torture.”

� On Simplicity is profitable

Bob Aman 21 Apr 06
The steward seriously missed his calling. The man was a stand-up comedian, and a dang fine one at that. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages. That whole safety thing you have to suffer through every time? He turned it into a comedy routine: “Please pretend to pay attention while we explain the safety features of this Boeing 737. I know, I can’t believe it either, but there’s a safety card in the seat pocket in front of you. No one ever reads it, so I’m not going to even bother asking you to. At this time, you should have your seatbelts on, your tray tables up, and your seats in their upright and most uncomfortable position. This is a no complaining, no whining, no smoking flight. If you absolutely must smoke, I suggest you avail yourself of our smoking area out on the wing…that is, if you can manage to get it lit. While you’re out there, feel free to enjoy our inflight movie, Gone With The Wind. We don’t expect a loss of cabin pressure today. If we did, the three of us would have called in sick. But if we do lose pressure, masks will automatically fall from the ceiling. After you’re done screaming, simply put the mask on and breath normally, like this: [Darth Vader Imitation]. Please put your own mask on before helping your children…or those who are acting like children, such as your husband. Now, since we’ve been cleared for take-off, I’d like to ask you to lean over and please press your face against the window so that all those other bankrupt airlines can see that we have a full flight. Neener, neener! And thank you for flying Southwest today. Remember, no one loves you, or your money more than Southwest!”

8 comments so far (Jump to latest)

Rimantas 21 Apr 06

Bob’s story is great.
By the way, I think Southwest is using Boeing 737 for a reason.
You start in the middle of “737” (epicentre based design), and then you may go to the left, or you may go to the right - it just doesn’t matter, cause you will end up with “37”.
Getting real wherever you go ;)

nic 21 Apr 06

I was on a SW flight a few times and my favorite line was: “Please sit back, relax, and read the lame magazines while we make sure your shoes match your outfit…” (meaning your seat belt ;-) Later in the flight, one of the people I was flying with convinced the steward (without much effort) to let her sing “RESPECT” over the intercom — it was awesome AWESOME!!

Olav 22 Apr 06

That “Today’s paper” feature is great. Something all other online newspapers should consider.

Jeremy P 27 Apr 06

My favorite Southwest moment was when we had a bumpy landing. The flight attendant said, “Sorry about that. It wasn’t the pilots fault. It wasn’t the planes fault. It was the asphalt.”