Slouching towards Bethlehem is a photo essay by Martin Miller on The Manhattan Project — J. Robert Oppenheimer’s program to develop the first nuclear weapon. (via David Kaneda)
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
— From Richard Nixon’s undelivered speech (by his then speechwriter, William Safire) to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon. (via Kris Lane)
In many ways, Vimeo’s ethical hipster editorial philosophy makes it a more natural fit than YouTube for a buttoned-up government website looking to offer video to the masses while minimizing risks that consumers will be referred to offensive material developed by other users of a video sharing service.
— The Washington Post’s Garance Franke-Ruta covers the White House’s quiet switch to Vimeo for broadcasting its video content. (via Vimeo Buzz)
I’ve been on the campaign for twenty something months, so I would see the artwork, I would photograph it, and think ‘what is with this image’? But it didn’t snap. It never occurred to me it was my picture.
— Photographer Mannie Garcia’s reaction upon learning that a photo of his from 2006 was used as the basis for Shepard Fairey’s iconic “Hope” poster, depicting Barack Obama in illustrated form. Philadelphia Inquirer photographer Tom Gralish has pursued the original source photo, first thought to have been an image by Reuters photographer Jim Young.
Is this actually his Mac for reals? Because the only thing better than the President using a Mac is the President having a motherfucking Pac-Man sticker on his Mac.
One significant addition to Whitehouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.
— Macon Phillips, director of new media for the White House, talking about the comprehensive new site’s focus on user participation. (via Greg Storey)
“The strongest logos tell simple stories.” Sol Sender, who led the design team responsible for Obama’s presidential campaign logo, reveals some of the options which weren’t chosen, and (above) an early version of the final logo. I prefer this to the final mark, it is less dynamic, but to me it’s more balanced and works better aesthetically. Interesting to note the speech bubbles (which I’d have picked second, given their great car and bus applications) were considered too “out there” for a political campaign. Video interview in two parts.
The National Identity Register will retain 49 pieces of information about every individual in the UK, all to be kept on one large central database and tied with a national ID card scheme to be rolled out in 2009.
— Tom Chapman is justifiably uneasy about the UK’s continued erosion of civil liberties. The irony of not even having kept track of how many CCTV cameras have been installed is hilarious.
The “O” in Obama
Steven Heller interviews Sol Sender, designer of the Obama ’08 campaign logo. (via Matt McInerney)
