[The most interesting man in the world](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVwG1t-NVAA), and [the most typical](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B2xOvKFFz4&feature=player_embedded).
Though I actually find the typical man much more interesting.
Some good tips on how to be respectful when you come from a dominant culture: Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change. Good ideas for everyone, really.
And here’s a set of good reminders about [what racial and cultural privilege looks like](http://www.rantcollective.net/article.php?id=74).
If you liked [the article](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=4020) about the Google Trader launch in Ghana last week, you’ll love the movie.
This was really cool to be part of: AfricaNews – Google Trader launch stuns Accra. Congrats to the team!
Some fantastic [images of a future London where climate change has wreaked havoc](http://www.london-futures.com/category/images/).
Really compelling design work.
> One hundred twenty-five astronaut autobiographies, interviews, and oral histories were content analyzed and scored for references to values (Schwartz, 1992). The current study extended methods tested in 2 pilot studies of space veterans from many nations, of both sexes, and with different experiences within the history of human spaceflight. Value references reflected a high degree of concern with individualism, with Achievement, Enjoyment, and Self-direction ranked highest. There were relatively few value differences across demographic categories, demonstrating the impact of the spaceflight experience. After returning, the astronauts showed increased concern with Universalism, Spirituality, and Power (social recognition), a broadened set of references to values oriented toward the collective good.
There’s something really magical about this; jump to a random eye-level view of almost any street in the world: Globe Genie – Joe McMichael.
Fascinating article in the NY Times that explores how language shapes the way we think about the world. Different languages, different ways of experiencing it.
> When your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information, it forces you to be attentive to certain details in the world and to certain aspects of experience that speakers of other languages may not be required to think about all the time. And since such habits of speech are cultivated from the earliest age, it is only natural that they can settle into habits of mind that go beyond language itself, affecting your experiences, perceptions, associations, feelings, memories and orientation in the world.
Similar to my observations about [how language affects meaning](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=68) from years ago.
[The Global Lives project](http://globallives.org/) is an effort “to collaboratively build a video library of human life experience that reshapes how we as both producers and viewers conceive of cultures, nations and people outside of our own communities.”
They started with an exhibit of 10 people at the Yerba Buena Center. I missed that unfortunately but they’ve [put some of the video online](http://globallives.org/videos/). You can even view the raw 24 hours of footage for each person, linked at the bottom.
It’s interesting to think about this as a resource for virtual ethnography–just dial up 24 hours in the life of someone in your target market and observe them on demand…
Love padlocks are attached to fences or other public fixtures as a symbol of permanent love. Popular mostly in Russia/Ukraine and Asia.
[This series of photos](http://www.buhaykorea.com/2009/04/10/n-seoul-towers-locks-of-love/) shows the progression of N Seoul Tower’s lock collection over the past 2 years.