I’ve known about Alexa for a while but all of a sudden I see news of it popping up everywhere. It’s an unbelievable little search tool that won’t surpass Google but may be, in the long run, a far more intelligent engine:
MANOVERBOARD search

More Blogs I like (lowercase “l”)
G-d bless the writers of the online world, keeping the Web full of fresh content, ensuring that our minds are full of diverse text-based narratives, determined to let us know what they think. Without further ado, this writer has some recommendations that he likes a lot. Note that he is primarily drawn to how the damn thing looks, not reads. Thanks to Diarist.
journal of a writing man
Aspirations to Sweetness
exitwound
whole Lot of nothing (boy, I like his site).

In my little world, Macromedia’s launch of a studio application in which all of its Web development software is tied together is a big thing. This means, in other words, that Dreamweaver, Flash, et. al., are gonna have one big party in my computer sometime soon.
Here’s my post to Metafilter about it today. Congrats to Macromedia for finally tying in PHP. I think. This is as big as Adobe allowing native Photoshop and Illustrator files to be imported into InDesign 2.0.

The Bachelor Boy
Yes, I was once a bachelor. But I never had the chance to waste the lives of 24 women (sorry, I mean 24 million women) to find the bride.
Semiotically, I think I figured out why the show is so fascinating (to me). The Bachelor is not really about a harem of women prostituting themselves to a man on camera. Rather, it’s about a group of individual, attractive young ladies (who, like Monica, et. al.) seek Hollywood fame and fortune. This is their quickest path to cinematic success — easier than a soap opera and moving to L.A. Therefore, the bachelor in this case is Hollywood Himself, the god of filmic betrayal, seeking new, sweet flesh for his lair.
Alex is simply a cipher for Hollywood’s mean, titillating, and pretty fascinating (overall) machine. Oooh, I hate Alex.

Misc. Thoughts
As you know, when you spend a lot of time alone, your mind is likely to make unfortunate and sometimes very wonderful connections. So here are three random thought patterns that I found quite exhilirating thinking. Hope you might as well.
New York License Plates
Many cars, trucks, signs, and logos have the WTC implanted in their logos or other identities. For some reason or other, the Great State of New York, in its infinite wisdom, decided, when it redid its license plates a few years ago, to use the Empire State building to represent the city. The “country” is represtented by big mountains, probably a cartoon of an Adirondack mtn. Could you imagine what would happen if every license plate had to be “recalled” in order for a designer to come up with a new theme or image?
The Value of Trees
Why are some neighborhoods “worth” more than others? Why does a building down the street from me go for $700,000 (asking but not getting) when other buildings not far away (oh, two miles or so) go for 1/2? I think it’s trees. There are a million and one reasons why people prefer locations to other locations, esp. in NYC. But here’s what trees do:
-Provide shade and color and coolness in summer and spring
-Protect pedestrians from cars and people who drive cars
-Direct the eye upward toward powerful skyful things
-Ensure a rooted feeling in the neighborhood (pun intended, yes)
So, the question is, why are there so few trees in the city, comparatively? What would it cost to put 10,000 or 200,000 trees all over NYC streets?
Basement Coolness
More a way of thinking than a question. I lived in two basement apartments in my life and recently visited a friend living in one now. I wonder, to what extent is the coolness felt in the basement of a city apartment, attributable to the fact that cool air sinks and stays at the ground and to what extent is it because the basement is close to the earth, which is coolish? My guess:
80/20. Thoughts? Email me?

M.E.
My heart is torn asunder by events in the Middle East. In fact, it’s the only thing, besides my clients and my family, that I’m focused upon right now. A number of commentators have made very powerful arguments for the existence of Israel of late. It amazes me that these arguments do need to be made, but this is perhaps my own naivite more than anything else.
Regardless, here are few very salient, cogently argued links I’ve collected that argue for the Palestinian cause, which I believe in very strongly, but also for Israel’s continued right to exist peacefully amongst its trying neighbors. Thanks to pal Max for his help.
London Times
Gallup poll on Israel

Okay, everybody seems to know this already, but it’s a beautiful re-launch of an important design site:
K10K
Take a look at what designers are saying on Metafilter right now.

Brainteaser that actually teases
Seriously, I usually hate these things. Try it:

TRY THIS!

Quick Eye Exam; this will blow your mind

Just do it – don’t cheat

Try this, it’s actually quite good.

Now fast, count the number of F’s in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE
RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

Managed it ?

Scroll down only after you have counted them !

OK ?

How many ?

Three ?

Wrong, there are six.

Read again !

FINISHED FILES ARE THE
RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

The reasoning is further down . . .

The brain cannot process the word “OF”.

Great review of an artist, Arthur Szyk, that I should have known about but did not. His work is being exhibited at the National Holocaust Museum and it apparently has been causing much consternation.
Szyk was a political artist, in a way that Ben Shahn, another Jewish political artist was not. While the former encountered tremendous European anti-Semitism, the latter improvised on drawing from a more purely fictive “imagination” rather than a political one. I have to know find out more — thanks to Victor Sparrow.

ArtPlush
My favorite art site, besides MANOVERBOARD of course, is ArtKrush. Take a look at it now, all gussied up and fancy and beautiful and smart and lovely. It’s worth visit, and Chris and Mark have done an incredible amount of work magically reworking this site to be both good-looking and useful/informative. Unlike many other art sites, which I may mention someday here, AK is actually designed for and by artists, which I believe was the original tagline. Very sweet.
I was there at the beginning and I’m glad I was.