Some Current Favorites

the United against minorities States of America

Just thinking out loud: From the beginning of the United States of America, there has always been some type of bigotry upon which the majority use to proclaim their beliefs. Will this ever end? Who's next?

OWL: Hitachino Nest Beer

Booka Shade @ Beta

Booka Shade @ Beta
Originally uploaded by praank

Ms. Nina Flowers

Ms. Nina Flowers
Originally uploaded by praank

OWL: Twitter's Suspended Page

I stumbled across a cute little owl today over on Twitter's Suspended Account Page.

Procreation vs. Abomination

As I was reading this article (and it's derailed discussion on procreation vs. 'abomination') I got to thinking: If those crazy gung-ho religious types are only having sex to procreate, then that might explain the root of some of their nastiness. The rest of us are 'doing it' for other reasons (fun, pleasure, a deeper connection, whatever) seem to be able to have a debate without getting overly emotional, or worked up. The crazy gay-hating evangelicals just need to get laid.*

Another argument brought up in the comments was about procreation and marriage. A lot of the religious types making a case that a family consists of a man, a woman, and their kids. So by their logic, marriage can only be between a man and a woman for the sole purpose of having kids. But what happens if a couple gets married and is unable to have kids due to, say, infertility? Will their marriage be revoked?

I guess I just don't see any merit in the procreation argument. In an already over populated world, struggling to support all of the people we've already got, how necessary is procreation? To religion, it is very necessary. Any organization's number one goal is to continue on-- to survive. The act of being born in, and raised under a religion (brainwashing, in my opinion) is a very effective way of keeping their beliefs alive, for some people will never know anything different. After thousands and thousands of years of these "my beliefs are better than yours" rationales are distilled down further and further, conflicts like gay marriage (among other things) seem almost inevitable.

It really amuses/disturbs me that the article was merely about a proposed bill giving the same-sex partners of state employees health benefits, and the discussion boils down to (as it inevitably does) God's so-called opinion on the gays. It seems people in organized religion** have a knack for pushing their beliefs on others. In a country where church and state should be separate, I'm having troubles understanding how they always end up in the same sentence.

*OK, I know this argument is ridiculous and impossible, because we all know that even bible-thumpers have sex more than to procreate, but I feel that this fact alone refutes the whole procreation argument altogether.

**Organized Religion is a whole separate post, for another day.

Stylizing Government

If you are following Obama, and his Economic Stimulus Package, then you might have noticed a new emblem on Recovery.gov. I am really loving how he is incorporating technology and design into our government, and I hope that after his term, some of these innovations stick.

If you know me, you know that I am a huge design buff, and also quite the nerd, too (although I prefer the term Stealth Geek, but that is another story), because I feel like both technology and design will change the world. So now you know how excited I am to see these tools used together in a context to, well, change the way we view government.

If you haven't already checked out Recovery.gov, do it now. This is our government's attempt to be honest, and a way for us to hold our leaders accountable. Compare this to the (lack of) information we received from the Bush administration over the last eight years, and you will see the incredible differences. And what better way to make this information available than through the internet? Unfiltered by the media, straight from the source.

Technology makes this information accessible, but design makes all of this information, which would otherwise be dry and boring, inviting and easier to interpret. I especially like the nice infographics on Recovery.gov that do a great job at illustrating these gigantic numbers and amounts of money that, to me, are very difficult to comprehend.

I am loving the design of this new emblem representing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which will ultimately help people identify the projects where billions and billions of our tax dollars are being spent. Of course it includes the symbolic colors red, white, and blue. But the emblem also includes another important color to the agenda: green, addressing the administration's commitment to the environment. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but I like how the blue field unites the bottom two quadrants together as a type of umbrella, which to me, means we're all going to have to work together to fix this problem. I also just love the simplicity of the cross symbol, which is universally known for first aid.

I also just wanted to quickly mention the other logo that was announced today, TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery), not just because it's a cute acronym, but it's an even cuter logo. It manages to remind me of a tiger, as well as a construction zone sign. Nice. (I tried looking for a better version of this logo, and just couldn't find one, sorry!)

And just as a side note, just imagine how scary/fun it would be to design something so historic, symbolic, and in the public eye!