Brinco (“jump” in Spanish) is a uniquely designed sneaker, inspired by information and materials that are relevant to, and could provide assistance to, those illegally crossing the border. Artist/designer Judi Werthein has made 1,000 pairs in China, for $17 each, and has been giving them away at migrant shelters and more. The shoes were introduced in August at inSite. Werthein spent two years doing design research, interviewing shoe designers, migrants, aid workers, even an immigrant smuggler. AP story about the project here.

Got a sp&m email today that was simply this picture. Whoah.

This post is Not Safe For Work (or children). Please move on!

Just the other day we went for a walk with the dog in the flower fields near our house. I was fairly startled to see bits and pieces of an adult mag (i.e., nudie) strewn semi-artistically through the area.

Click on any of the pics to see ’em larger in flickr – you can even select All Sizes in flickr to see the picture in somewhat more full resolution. See these images on flickr here.

This had a Blair Witch aspect to it. A sculpture-like thing.

Close-up view of the pr0n-eating tree

Topless in the grass.

Punctures in this page suggest that it at one time had resided in some branches, but now lay sadly inverted in the leaves.

Budweiser? Perhaps this is a clue!

Impaled…on a branch.

It’s nature’s way.

In an article in the SF Chronicle, describing how Indian call-center workers suffer abuse, comes mention of

a new sitcom called ‘The Call Center,’ scheduled to air this winter on the leading channel NDTV, depict Westerners as arrogant, immoral and comically rude.

The show’s villain, the Indian manager of a call center, is an India-bashing blowhard, a disposition he picked up at an Ivy League business school in the United States.

I was picking a book to take with me on my trip this evening; but I had a strange feeling of deja vu. Had I read this before? No, in fact, the book I read before was this one:

You can’t blame me for being confused, though!

The super-premium taste of a Cinnabon cinnamon roll blended into a coffee latte.

Also, Liquid Cereal

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Peter F. Drucker Dies

Peter F. Drucker, the political economist and author, whose view that big business and nonprofit enterprises were the defining innovation of the 20th century led him to pioneering social and management theories, died yesterday at his home in Claremont, Calif. He was 95.

Mr. Drucker thought of himself, first and foremost, as a writer and teacher, though he eventually settled on the term ‘social ecologist.’ He became internationally renowned for urging corporate leaders to agree with subordinates on objectives and goals and then get out of the way of decisions about how to achieve them.

He challenged both business and labor leaders to search for ways to give workers more control over their work environment. He also argued that governments should turn many functions over to private enterprise and urged organizing in teams to exploit the rise of a technology-astute class of ‘knowledge workers.’

Mr. Drucker staunchly defended the need for businesses to be profitable but he preached that employees were a resource, not a cost. His constant focus on the human impact of management decisions did not always appeal to executives, but they could not help noticing how it helped him foresee many major trends in business and politics.

Amazing how productive and influential he remained for so very long. I know only a little about him, but have been struck by what I have read or read about.

Easy6: India’s conference on software usability
INDIA’S SIXTH USABILITY CONFERENCE

To be held on January 23, 2006 at The Taj Residency, in Bangalore, India.

I took a bunch of photos of the posters at DUX and put ’em on flickr. Flickr is acting up right now and doesn’t seem to find all the photos with the “poster” or “postersession” tags. Very strange. I’ll blog this anyway, assuming that it’ll get sorted out.

Signs o’ the times at last weekend’s Conference on Designing for User eXperience (DUX)