A truck carrying 8,000 gallons of printer ink flipped over on an interstate in Peabody, Massachusetts this morning, resulting in what must be the most colorful car crash in history. No one was injured, so feel free to enjoy the aftermath with child-like glee.
via The Most Beautiful Truck Crash Ever | TPM Idea Lab.
There are not thought to be any environmental effects to this crash either, though it does raise a lot of questions…
The Guardian has launched its Open Platform which allows developers and others to write applications that use its content.
Part of the platform is the Data Store, a comprehensive library of data compiled by the paper from various sources and free for others to use in their research or visualisations: “visualise and mash them together. Then, let us know what you’ve done. Email us at datastore@guardian.co.uk”
So if you want to know the smoking figures for every country, international suicide rates, or the number of plastic bags imported and exported worldwide, pop over there. And if you do use the data in research, design or illustration, let the Guardian know…
The Studio Unbound: Social Networking and Design Education from Jonathan Baldwin on Vimeo.
Dundee Master of Design student Lauren Currie hosts a discussion on social networking for design students, along with design writer Lauren Currie.
I watched this series (or bits of it) as a kid. Some of the things it talked about fascinated me and, looking at it now, it’s clear it had quite an effect on me…
It looks a little dated now but the central ideas are still valid today, and it’s probably the best programme on design the BBC have ever done – although I’m not sure if the word ‘design’ ever really featured.
Someone has uploaded the series to YouTube in 10-minute chunks. Take a look:
(As a side note, it’s sobering to think that in the 1970s and 80s families would settle down to watch things like this in primetime. I distinctly remember having conversations about this the next day in primary school.
Today “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” is about as deep as it gets.
I’ve had to have a few things translated in my time as a graphic designer and, despite the temptation to “do it yourself” (made even easier these days by internet-based automatic translation) you should never give in: always get an expert to do it and hang the expense.
This road sign went up recently in Wales:
The Welsh part reads: “I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated”
You can probably work out from that what happened… If not, read the BBC News story for illumination.
The Creative Reading Book Group will be having its first meeting of the new academic year on 22 October, in the MDes studio at 4pm!
I’m giving a talk at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle on 29th October.
Bricked Mac – Time-Lapse from RP Cuenco on Vimeo.
Students from San Francisco Art Institute created this Mac Pro from Lego. More details here.
This clearly isn’t me in the video, but I feel the guy’s pain. I recently had to open a piece of electrical gadgetry for an Amazon review and nearly sliced my fingers off in the process. It’s those stupid plastic containers – great for shop displays but impossible to get in to without creating razor-sharp pieces.
Let’s bring paper back, shall we? At least you can recycle it…
Apple Unboxing Gone Terribly Wrong from UnBoxedLunch on Vimeo.
Do you have a story to tell? Are you at home in front of, or behind, the cameras? Are you a whizz on software? Do you have an eye on the future, a desire to see things better done and an idea about how to get things done? The Interactive Media Design Labs at Dundee University are looking for fresh young talent capable of being the Interactive Media Designers of the future.
Make a three-minute movie using ‘Artificially Intelligent’ as your theme. The video can be as serious or as silly as you like. The bonus is that you can win £500 for your submission.
The five most popular videos for each category (15-17 and 18-21 years) on 
will automatically be added to the shortlist and five for each category will be shortlisted by our esteemed judges. So get your entry up quickly and don’t forget to send your friends a link.
Full details on how to enter the competition, and the all important rules, from the IMD web site
