funwithstuff

Time to laugh at the stupid person saying stupid things that make no sense.

Another. This ad starts with "everybody knows that..." suggesting that this is important knowledge that you need. This is the evolution of advertising, I hope it takes Australia some time to arrive. Nice motion graphics, though. More of that.

More on cultural differences. Watch this ad (all of these are from shiny.tv) and pay close attention to the crayons. At no point does she say that the brand of crayons promoted is actually better. They're just not "any old crayons"; it's all by implication. Branding has huge power in the US; I don't know if this would work here.

Ah, cultural difference. In the US, we saw a restaurant called "Chuck-a-rama". Now, I find that "For fast service, 24 hours a day" I should be called Mr Rooter, The Plumber You Deserve.

For any non-Australians reading, we interpret "root" as "have sex with". He's a plumber-gigolo.

This is how you represent information.

When Dick Cheney was right about something.

Motionographer. Love it.

Just saw Stranger Than Fiction on DVD. Like a Charlie Kaufman film but less busy; still enjoyably clever and totally recommended. Don't follow the link (to the trailer) unless you want some of the bigger secrets revealed. Some fantastic motion graphics work from MK12, too.

Enliven your day! First, download (right-click+save or just option-click on Mac) the delightful song Where Do Ice Cream Trucks Go in the Winter?. Second, read more about Songs for Ice Cream Trucks.

Some observations on recent attempts to present information with pixels instead of pie charts.

Good advice for designers.

Recently having been drawn into the world of breastfeeding, as an observer and assistant, it's striking how different the dream is to the reality. Let's be clear: despite being the best thing for your baby (as written on the side of formula) it's not automatically a happy experience for mother and child. Attachment, the way in which the baby latches onto the nipple, seems to be the major problem point.

It's not that there's a lack of information about breastfeeding out there, it's just different people will express slightly different parts of the same generic advice. Trying to find out if using a bottle with expressed milk is a bad idea? Written advice varies: never before 2 weeks, between 2-4 weeks, not before 6 weeks, not after 6 weeks (as it won't take). Speaking to actual people is contradictory. Their advice is that if you need to rest your breasts, a feed of expressed breast milk here and there won't hurt a baby with a strong suck.

And colic? Hazel's just a week old, but some proportion (20-25%) of babies will apparently scream for hours every day for no reason. A quick Google will reveal that it's probably diet-related, and to remove milk from your diet. Maybe wheat, corn, soy and green vegetables too.

What I find to be largely missing from the literature is actual scientific studies. This study says that colic is not related to whether a baby is breastfed or bottle fed, which could indicate that the diet of a breastfeeding mother is potentially a minor contributor. Stress and irregular work patterns are flagged, though.

It's a minefield, so read, read, read, and then assess what's actually worthwhile. Advice changes over time (the Australian Breastfeeding Association says that sterilisation of sole-use breast pumps is unnecessary) so bear that in mind too. And enjoy the ride if you can; it's definitely worthwhile.