Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Avoid Conflicts by Understanding Your Peers

11:00PM Lifehacker US Edition | Blogger Scott H. Young knows that it’s difficult to understand and predict human behavior, but he also knows that by avoiding a few common mistakes, we can improve our own relationships. Young postulates that we’re inherently self-absorbed, so when people may offend or embarrass us, they’re typically not doing so intentionally. He adds that the meaning behind our actions is not immediately known to others and suggests that we take an emphatic approach towards our peers, especially because humans by nature are emotional beings. His advice is to give everyone we encounter the benefit of the doubt so that we can improve our relationships with any person we meet. To me, his article paints a clear picture of human emotions and instincts. Psychology buffs, what’s your take? The Critical 7 Rules to Understand People [Scott H. Young] More »

Get involved with GetUp’s Federal Election campaign

1:20PM Sarah Stokely | If you’re of the political persuasion, you’ve probably already come across GetUp, the online-based grassroots activist group that’s put on some pretty high profile campaigns around specific issues like the David Hicks detention, as well as larger issues like climate change, and the federal government’s plans for Iraq. With a federal election looming, GetUp is taking the campaign offline and into local communities through GetTogethers. If GetUp’s grassroots, leftleaning politics speak to you and you’ve been wondering how you might get involved in changing the outcome of the next Federal Election, why not check out one of their election planning meetings which are happening around the country. Details are here – Melbourne’s GetTogether is happening tonight. A disclaimer, if one is needed: Yes, I’m a GetUp volunteer. :) More »

Browse and buy art online

12:57PM Sarah Stokely | Kevin Kelly has written up a post about buying artwork online at the Cool Tools blog. His post about Tiny Showcase reminded me that we’ve got a really nice Australian-based art site, RedBubble. I’ll give a detailed roundup of Red Bubble, but first here’s what Kevin had to say about Tiny Showcase: “Keeping tabs on the art world is tough and time-consuming. Being a collector is tougher — and downright expensive. This site does all the work for you and allows you to amass your own hip, limited edition prints for cheap.” Once a week, Tiny Showcase emails out a newsletter alerting subscribers about the artist they’ll be featuring that week – a limited number of prints are sold for $US20 each. A proportion of the proceeds go to a charity chosen by the artist. Tiny Showcase [Cool Tools] Cool idea, but let’s look at something a little closer to home – Red Bubble. Red Bubble describes itself as an online art gallery and creative community. You can browse via tags (eg cats), or by artist name. You can create a watchlist for the artists you like, and there’s a ‘favourites’ tag so you can find out what other artists and users of the site recommend. Some artists, like Melbourne based Vicki, just use the site to share their artwork: Sydney-based stealthflower uses the site to sell her photography: Others use it to sell wall art, greeting cards and tshirts. My favourite tshirt was by ScottA: So do you buy artwork online, or would you rather go the oldfashioned route and go to galleries to check out the artwork ‘in the flesh’? If you can recommend any online art galleries, please post in comments! More »