Chez Moncef

new-aesthetic: “An ode to the journey of ó on a shipping label”...

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:13:01 -0400

new-aesthetic:

“An ode to the journey of ó on a shipping label” found at http://i.imgur.com/4J7Il0m.jpg, via @shyhoof.

staff: Share posts you love straight from your Dashboard! Just...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:01:18 -0400

staff:

Share posts you love straight from your Dashboard!

Just enter your friend’s email address and you’re good to go.

It’s about time! I’ve always found it frustrating that you could never get to the permalink from the dashboard.

I just discovered Reggie Watts’ comedic side. This video...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:11:01 -0400

I just discovered Reggie Watts’ comedic side. This video is an excerpt from his hilarious performance at PopTech in October 2010.

Part 2 is my favorite, but I also thoroughly enjoyed Parts 1 and 3.

Any other videos I should watch?

(HT Shawn Feeney)

Stunning unintentional capture of a meteor burning across the...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:49:00 -0400

Stunning unintentional capture of a meteor burning across the night sky in this time-lapse video by Colin Legg originally set up to track Asteroid 2012 DA 14 flying by Earth.

(via It’s Okay To Be Smart)

Why developers should start choosing conscience over profit

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:12:00 -0500

Why developers should start choosing conscience over profit:

The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks.

Fluent 2012: Nicole Sullivan, “Don’t Feed The...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:31:36 -0500

Fluent 2012: Nicole Sullivan, “Don’t Feed The Trolls” (by OreillyMedia)

DJ Spooky + Joshua Roman » Radiohead “Everything in...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:02:47 -0500

DJ Spooky + Joshua Roman » Radiohead “Everything in Its Right Place” (by The Voice Project)

This is a year old, but it’s new to me.

Great video about another thing we take for granted in our...

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 01:53:31 -0500

Great video about another thing we take for granted in our cities.

Behind the Signs: A Look at the DOT Sign Shop (by nycdot)

thedailypothole: Thank you, Tumblr Storyboard, for spending the...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 02:14:26 -0500

thedailypothole:

Thank you, Tumblr Storyboard, for spending the day with us!

storyboard:

A Day with New York City’s Pothole Repair Crew

Each morning, at a small depot tucked away under the Williamsburg Bridge, the New York City workers who call themselves the “pothole gang” pore over a giant spreadsheet known as “The Daily Pothole.” On it are thousands of potholes all over the city: giant gorges caused by rain and sleet, small interconnected divots that can flatten tires, and pretty much every other roadway wound you can imagine. The sun is barely up, and yet for these men — members of a street maintenance team tasked by the Department of Transportation with roadway repair — the race has already begun.

Over the next eight hours, they will hit the streets, filling giant yellow trucks with smoldering hot asphalt, navigating endless traffic, and smoothing as many potholes as they can before the sun goes down (only to do it all again the next day). Does it get tiring? Sure. But in a city that’s always moving, roadway repair is crucial. On a good day, the team might fill 4,000 potholes. In an average week, they could resurface 100,000 square yards of road. After Hurricane Sandy, their crews removed 2,500 tons of debris. And every day, on a Tumblr called The Daily Pothole — named after that early morning spreadsheet — New Yorkers can take a peek inside the workings of a city system few have likely thought about. We spent a day with six men who help make up New York City’s pothole repair team.

—Jessica Bennett & Jon Groat

springwise: In Boston, a food truck-inspired roaming City Hall...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:36:58 -0500

springwise:

In Boston, a food truck-inspired roaming City Hall van

Government authorities have already experimented with new ways to connect to constituents, such as collecting civic complaints via a smartphone app in Rio de Janeiro. Now the City of Boston has launched its City Hall To Go scheme, which is bringing civic services to residents in their neighbourhoods. READ MORE…

Sandy Storyline

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:32:55 -0500

Sandy Storyline:

This is a great website documenting events around Hurricane Sandy, and the recovery efforts. Ariel Kennan, one of my teammates in the Code for America Fellowship program, was greatly involved in the recovery efforts and in creating this documentary website.

Every Halloween, Shawn Feeney carves into a pumpkin the likeness...

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:19:00 -0500

Every Halloween, Shawn Feeney carves into a pumpkin the likeness of a musician who died since the previous Halloween. This year, he chose Adam “MCA” Yauch.

Check out the complete series, including time-lapse videos of all the carvings on Shawn’s Memorial Jack-o-lanterns page.

The Secret Life of Midi

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:08:17 -0500

The Secret Life of Midi:

I’m very proud of my youngest brother, Amino, for being featured in The New Yorker. If you’re in New York, you should go listen to his trio Dawn of Midi, who will be performing their latest album (due out in 2013) live at Joe’s Pub on November 24.

How a dream team of engineers from Facebook, Twitter, and Google built the software that drove Barack Obama's reelection

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 22:20:54 -0500

How a dream team of engineers from Facebook, Twitter, and Google built the software that drove Barack Obama's reelection:

They created the most sophisticated email fundraising program ever. The digital team, under Rospars leadership, took their data-driven strategy to a new level. Any time you received an email from the Obama campaign, it had been tested on 18 smaller groups and the response rates had been gauged. The campaign thought all the letters had a good chance of succeeding, but the worst-performing letters did only 15 to 20 percent of what the best-performing emails could deliver. So, if a good performer could do $2.5 million, a poor performer might only net $500,000. The genius of the campaign was that it learned to stop sending poor performers.

Obama became the first presidential candidate to appear on Reddit, the massive popular social networking site. And yes, he really did type in his own answers with Goff at his side. One fascinating outcome of the AMA is that 30,000 Redditors registered to vote after President dropped in a link to the Obama voter registration page. Oh, and the campaign also officially has the most tweeted tweet and the most popular Facebook post. Not bad. I would also note that Laura Olin, a former strategist at Blue State Digital who moved to the Obama campaign, ran the best campaign Tumblr the world will probably ever see.

Fascinating article!

springwise: Throwable mic to liven up event...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 22:15:55 -0500

springwise:

Throwable mic to liven up event participation

Lectures and talks are traditionally one-sided affairs but can become monotonous for audiences if they are not able to voice their own opinion. We’ve already seen Screen.io provide extra content and a channel for feedback through unique event URLs, but the Catchbox is a wireless throwable microphone that aims to liven up seminars by easily enabling audience participation. READ MORE…

Great idea!

thekidshouldseethis: “Wow the moon looks huge tonight!” We’ve...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:57:33 -0500

thekidshouldseethis:

“Wow the moon looks huge tonight!” We’ve all said it, but is the moon ever larger or closer at the horizon? (No, it’s not.) Is it some visual magnification by the atmosphere? (Nope, evidently that’s not why either.)

The answer: evidently our brains are playing tricks on us when we see a huge moon. The perception of the moon’s size is influenced by what’s surrounding it.

Created by Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown, this ASAP Science video, The Moon Illusion explains why the moon looks larger near the horizon. There’s also more information here and here.

via Geekosystem.

election: TUMBLE THE VOTE! Tomorrow is The Big Day - and while...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:50:37 -0500

election:

TUMBLE THE VOTE!

Tomorrow is The Big Day - and while all our blogging and live GIFing has undoubtedly prepared you to exercise your civic duty with glee, here are a few more Tumblrs we recommend consulting in these last remaining hours to equip, inform, entertain and inspire you:

Our Time - Pledge to vote today & prep for tomorrow by looking up your polling place. Watch their newest video from Errol Morris to find out how to respond to your friends who say they’re not voting.

TheBallot.org - It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there’s a lot more at stake in this election than who fills the office of the President. Hit up TheBallot to familiarize yourself with your local ticket, customize your ballot, and share with friends to help inform their vote.

#GOVOTE - Over 100 artists have contributed new, original designs to the movement to Get Out The Vote on Nov 6. Collect them all!

CNN’s Change the List - Can this new experimental project from CNN succeed in moving Hawaii up the ranks from the lowest voter turnout in America? Stay tuned…

Current TV- Welcome Current to Tumblr this election season by following their election day live-tumbling tomorrow.

Dispatch - A new app from Columbia, Stanford, and Tumblr will be beta-tested on Election Day in NYC - sign up to be part of the testing team, or just tune in tomorrow for live photographic coverage of New Yorkers’ post-Sandy experience at the polls.

We’re excited to have our final, all-star team of guest editors Ari Melber & ShortFormBlog continuing their work right here through Election Day (or until we have a President-elect, whichever comes first). And you can always track the Election 2012 tag for much more election-related content from across the Tumblrverse.

Finally, to celebrate Election Day on Tumblr we’re mashing up GPOY with GOTV and asking you to post photos of yourself voting/at your polling place/with your ballot ready to mail in/wearing your “I Voted” sticker and tag it #GPOTV. If you’ve already voted early, start posting now!

Recovers.org - prepare your community before a disaster hits

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:32:47 -0500

Recovers.org - prepare your community before a disaster hits:

If you’re in Red Hook, Astoria, the Lower East Side, or Staten Island, and need help, or if you’re anywhere in NYC and want to help, recovers.org has an up-to-date list of locations that need assistance, and what they need.

theeconomist: Our American endorsement: America could do better...

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:38:26 -0400

theeconomist:

Our American endorsement: America could do better than Barack Obama; sadly, Mitt Romney does not fit the bill.

imperfectwriting: I went to the mall, and a little girl called...

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 02:01:59 -0400

imperfectwriting:

I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.

My name is Ela. I am seventeen years old. I am not Muslim, but my friend told me about her friend being discriminated against for wearing a hijab. So I decided to see the discrimination firsthand to get a better understanding of what Muslim women go through.

My friend and I pinned scarves around our heads, and then we went to the mall. Normally, vendors try to get us to buy things and ask us to sample a snack. Clerks usually ask us if we need help, tell us about sales, and smile at us. Not today. People, including vendors, clerks, and other shoppers, wouldn’t look at us. They didn’t talk to us. They acted like we didn’t exist. They didn’t want to be caught staring at us, so they didn’t look at all.

And then, in one store, a girl (who looked about four years old) asked her mom if my friend and I were terrorists. She wasn’t trying to be mean or anything. I don’t even think she could have grasped the idea of prejudice. However, her mother’s response is one I can never forgive or forget. The mother hushed her child, glared at me, and then took her daughter by the hand and led her out of the store.

All that because I put a scarf on my head. Just like that, a mother taught her little girl that being Muslim was evil. It didn’t matter that I was a nice person. All that mattered was that I looked different. That little girl may grow up and teach her children the same thing.

This experiment gave me a huge wakeup call. It lasted for only a few hours, so I can’t even begin to imagine how much prejudice Muslim girls go through every day. It reminded me of something that many people know but rarely remember: the women in hijabs are people, just like all those women out there who aren’t Muslim.

People of Tumblr, please help me spread this message. Treat Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Taoists, etc., exactly the way you want to be treated, regardless of what they’re wearing or not wearing, no exceptions. Reblog this. Tell your friends. I don’t know that the world will ever totally wipe out prejudice, but we can try, one blog at a time.