humor

Final Paper Writers Block? Read These

Some Friday afternoon journal-publishing humor: The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis has published two research studies, about 30 years apart, on writer’s block. ⇒ From 1974, D. Upper, “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block’ “ (PDF) ⇒ From 2007, R. Didden et al., “A Multisite Cross-Cultural Replication of Upper’s (1974) Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of Writer’s Block” (PDF) You have to see these to believe them, but they were honest-to-goodness published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Those wacky psychologists…

Vintage Ads

I’ve been reading more about the history of graphic design lately. During the first part of the 20th century, the large portion of the client-base for graphic designers were cigarette companies. Looking back at ads from the 30s, 40s and 50s, I can appreciate the craft (they’re all illustrated by hand), but it raises a lot of questions in my mind about ethics in a profession like graphic design. Like most, these designers did not know just how bad cigarettes were when these advertisements were composed. And this makes me wonder how many of the ads we see now will prove to be as ironic as these do now:
  • And read the reasons why you should change to Philip Morris. They’re recommended by nose and throat specialists!
  • Nevermind what they recommend. What do doctors smoke?
  • This isn’t intended to be marketed towards children. I know many adults who still play with their paper dolls.
  • This is just terrible.

A Day in the Life of a Reference Librarian

AL Focus, the media arm of American Libraries magazine, has produced a series of funny videos for National Library Week. This one, featuring what it’s like to work at the reference desk, is genius: Hope you chuckle as much as I did!