Crush Point
Crowds are a condition of urban life. On subways and sidewalks, in elevators and stores, we pass in and out of them in the course of a day, without pausing to consider by what mechanisms our brains guide us through so easily, rarely touching so much as a stranger’s shoulder. Crowds are often viewed as a necessary inconvenience of city living, but there are occasions when we gladly join them, pressing together at raves and rock concerts, at sporting events, victory parades, and big sales. Elias Canetti, in his 1960 book “Crowds and Power,” sees these times of physical communion with strangers as essential to transcending the fear of being touched. “The more fiercely people press together,” he writes, “the more certain they feel that they do not fear each other.” In fact, a crowd is most dangerous when density is greatest. The transition from fraternal smooshing to suffocating pressure—a “crowd crush”—often occurs almost imperceptibly; one doesn’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late to escape. Something interrupts the flow of pedestrians—a blocked exit, say, while an escalator continues to feed people into a closed-off space. Or a storm that causes everyone to start running for shelter at the same time. (In Belarus, in 1999, fifty-two people died when a crowd tried to enter an underground railway station to keep dry.) At a certain point, you feel pressure on all sides of your body, and realize that you can’t raise your arms. You are pulled off your feet, and welded into a block of people. The crowd force squeezes the air out of your lungs, and you struggle to take another breath.
“…we are at our most primitive in crowds.”
A very interesting read if you’ve ever been anxious in a crowd.
(via the-feature)
Source: newyorker.com
Overall, I think it’s a good time to have a girl in the 21st century because things are changing, with more opportunities for women. But girls are still the underdog, which means they’ll work harder, and everybody loves an underdog. The next Steve Jobs will totally be a chick, because girls are No. 2—and No. 2 always wins in America. Apple was a No. 2 company for years, and Apple embodies a lot of what have been defined as feminine traits: an emphasis on intuitive design, intellect, a strong sense of creativity, and that striving to always make the greatest version of something. Traditionally, men are more like Microsoft, where they’ll just make a fake version of what that chick made, then beat the shit out of her and try to intimidate everybody into using their product.
“The next Steve Jobs will totally be a chick”. That would be awesome.
(via david)
Source: Fast Company
SIR – Thanks for the story nine years ago on the benefits of office clutter (“In praise of clutter”, December 21st 2002). I located the article this week in a pile of important material set aside for review. The system has worked perfectly, as you said it would.
Source: theeconomist
Pushing The Envelope, Not The Share Button
Step 1: Facebook does something.
Step 2: Everybody freaks the fuck out.
It’s been just over 5 years since Facebook first unveiled the News Feed. The song remains the same.
This weekend’s Bitchmeme centered around Facebook’s new automatic or “frictionless” sharing. It already works with services like Spotify and Rdio and publications like The Washington Post and The Guardian. And it’s about to come to a lot more places.
Depending which article you read, this is either: a) the end of sharing b) the end of Facebook c) the future. As always, most critics are leaning towards the former, more cynical options.
Everyone should quit Facebook.
LOL.
The reality is what it has always been. Facebook is pushing the envelope. Companies that push the envelope take a lot of shit. That doesn’t mean they’re always right — often times, they’re not. But it does show that they’re unafraid, unlike most companies out there.
Step 2 annoys the hell out of me. It does help me purge my friends though, so if your ‘OMG how could Facebook do this???’ status or ‘Click here to revert your profile to the OLD Facebook!!!’ link pops up in my News Feed, chances are you’re a goner. If you don’t have the ability to think about something like this logically and realise that there is purpose and ambition behind such a change, I probably don’t care about anything you say.
I will admit that the most recent major change to the News Feed disrupted my feeds quite a bit. I was getting a lot more posts show up that I didn’t care about (particularly from pages that I Like), but again, it just encouraged some grooming and now I have a feed that I’m happy with.
I’m not on board with the new automatic sharing yet - I turned it off on Spotify for example - because I find that it results in a convoluted Profile and News Feed. My friends already know what music I listen to and if they are feeling particularly stalker-like they can look at my Last.fm profile. If I want to share a specific song or album, for now, I prefer to do it of my volition.
I really do like the way Facebook ‘pushes the envelope’ though. When an upcoming feature is announced, I always sign up to be an early adopter (not that it has ever counted for the record). I like exploring and tinkering with the new features and trying to understand why they made certain features the way they are - because I know they were made that way for a reason. Think of the testing, the data analysis and the usability studies that go into these changes - I find it fascinating. Many people though would obviously just rather complain, and get dragged, kicking and screaming into the future.
Source: parislemon
