I can't vouch for clinical accuracy, but here is a long list of phobias. Perhaps Kierkegaard had tremophobia?

Learn how to detect lies. Or, if you must, use the tips to train yourself to finesse the truth with less stress and less evidence.

Sometimes I wonder "What did the Irish 1-pound note look like in 1937?" Oh, well the Geographical Directory of World Paper Money gives me an answer for that.

So the sun rose this morning... and Google launched another beta... but Google Docs and Spreadsheets has to be one of the worst product names I've ever heard. It's a good service, so why such a lame title?

On beautiful days like we had today, you might want to take a minute or two to appreciate our friend, the Sun. Save your eyesight, and get live images of the Sun from the Solar and Heliosheric Observatory.

The Los Angeles Times is sending its investigators out to investigate itself. In wake of job-cutting orders from its parent company, the new project is to research and figure out how to re-connect with readers in paper and on the web. I like this: "We shouldn't be waiting for corporate headquarters or a think tank or a consultant to come up with ideas to secure our future."

NYT on the business of fashion: "At the end of the day, would I wear Balenciaga? Probably not. But you have to make a choice between whether you only show pretty dresses that women will want to wear or whether you show work by a designer who can change the way people see."

By the way, I completely forgot to mention Banned Books Week, which happened last month when I was in hyper-focused GRE-prep mode. I invite you to celebrate intolerance by reading something other people don't want you to. I chose Lysistrata, and it's hilarious.

A worldwide collection of book covers for Philip K Dick's novels.

We all know hypertext, but hypervideo, hopefully, is not too far away. [via jb]

Steven Johnson writes about pop culture and the Long Zoom, a way of seeing and understanding over immense ranges. "It is, by any measure, a difficult way of thinking, in part because our brains did not evolve tools to perceive or intuitively understand the scales of microbes or galaxies... But a decade or two from now, when we look back at this period, it is more likely that the work that will fix the long zoom in the popular imagination will be neither a movie nor a book nor anything associated with the cultural products that dominated the 20th century. It will be a computer game."

Uninnovate links to a 60-second video that gives the layman's low-down on why DRM is a bad, bad thing.

Yeah, that Beautiful Evidence was something. Here's some related material for you: -I also liked Derek Miller's review of BE -The kind folks at 37 Signals report on a Tufte seminar they attended -Here's an interview with Tufte on NPR [via kottke] -Tufte's infamous essay, PowerPoint is Evil -And Scott Rosenburg's profile of Tufte over at Salon

This is such an excellent book. Just a couple days after finishing Beautiful Evidence, I decided to invoke my alumni privileges at Emory's Woodruff Library so I could get my hands on his earlier books. I'm in the midst of Envisioning Information right now, and it's looking to be just as good. Edward Tufte has crafted a reputation as something of a guru of analytic design and information display. His latest work, Beautiful Evidence is about the act of visual communication in all its forms--using image, word, number, line, or otherwise. He's talking about the transformation of observation to presentation, "how seeing turns into showing". This comes out in chapters dedicated to mapped images; links, arrows & causation; corrupted evidence; and more, all calling on case studies from modern science back to ye olden days.

The book itself sets a good model for what it discusses, as a beautifully printed book with thoughtful, purposeful design. Add in some lovely colors and inks on some really nice paper. I liked seeing the "footnotes" placed in the left and right margins vertically parallel with the corresponding phrase, so the commentary is but a glance away. And for the most part, each page represents a full argument. While it can make for some slightly terse writing, I have to admire the editorial restraint to not let the ideas run all over the pages.

I give petty demerits for a little bit of loose organization. The individual chapters and pages are really tight. On the other hand, at the macro-level the book is a wee jumbled. He expands on some incredibly cool ideas on sparklines; but then there's also a reprint of an old pamphlet on PowerPoint; and then there's also an odd dwarf chapter on sculpture. Hmm.

Later, Tufte offers a bit pseudo-inspirational advice on information design: "What would Richard Feynman think?" Well, gosh, Ed. I really don't have a clue. How about a little help? I'm reading your book so you can tell me. Don't make me think! Er...

But really, it's easy to criticise because it's kind of hard to choose which excellent parts to highlight. There's a lot to learn here.

Maybe you've seen a few of the huge photos pasted on buildings throughout Atlanta as part of a project for Atlanta Celebrates Photography. See the handy treasure map and collect all 14. [via wdik]

Did you know... The New York Times Book Review has a weekly podcast. As if I needed more good books to read and think about.

Salman Rushdie will join Emory University as Distinguished Writer in Residence, as well as hand over his archive, which is really cool. I'm interested to see the ripple effect from this in public events over the next couple years. Might be some good stuff if he's hanging out in Atlanta more. Hopefully he'll stir up some trouble. [thanks Rebekah]

Play a bunch of NES games online. No need to download emulators and ROMs, keeps your hard drive evidence-free. Sweet. [via lh]

Ditto this: "Feel free to use real paragraphs and explain stuff. I have time." I absolutely agree that the listing thing is getting a little old.

A new Madonna music video (people still make these?) featuring some Parkour-style urban freerunning in Tokyo. [via coudal]