In praise of public service graffiti

Not all graffiti is bad. Some of it does a public service, such as correcting bad grammar, making an important social statement or even helping traffic flow.
What follows are some examples of public service graffiti.

The Great Typo Hunt

Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, described as editors with no off-switch, formed the Typo Eradication Advancement League to correct misspellings and poor grammar on signs across the U.S. They chronicled their adventures in a book, “The Great Typo Hunt” (2010).
“Armed with markers, chalk, and correction fluid, they circumnavigated America, righting the glaring errors displayed in grocery stores, museums, malls, restaurants, mini-golf courses, beaches, and even a national park,” the book’s description says.

The Tutor Crowd

U.K.-based online tutoring service The Tutor Crowd created a Tumblr blog of its viral marketing campaign to bring English language education to the streets. It corrected poor spelling and grammar on graffiti around London and added a sticker for its service as a signature.

Guerrilla Public Service

In 2001, artist Richard Ankrom surreptitiously installed a new traffic sign over the 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles. Frustrated by the lack of signage to point drivers to the I-5 North exit, Ankrom took matters into his own hands and crafted a replica directional sign and installed it. He called it “Guerilla Public Service” and hoped it would ease traffic congestion and perhaps save lives.
The sign was so authentic that Caltrans officials let it remain for more than eight years, even after it was revealed shortly after its installation to be an art project. It was replaced as part of a signage upgrade initiative in 2009.
See articles by LA Weekly and Good.

Stenciled Compass Project

In 2010, an unknown street artist began stenciling directional compasses on the sidewalks outside subway stops in Manhattan. The compasses likely proved helpful to many disoriented tourists and other New York City visitors.
See article by NYC The Blog.

Adbusting 

An unknown street artist in Hamburg made a statement about an H&M ad campaign that featured photos of a model heavily altered with photo-editing tools. The artist affixed a Photoshop toolbar to billboards with the ad campaign.
See article by Brandflakes for Breakfast.

Week in review: Debuts of Microsoft’s Xbox One, Apple’s iOS 7, iRobot’s Ava 500

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Microsoft’s Xbox One could lead to next privacy invasion. (June 14, 2013)

MakerBot late to Amazon, which is run by MakerBot investor Jeff Bezos. (June 14, 2013)

Best Buy stores are becoming like flea markets. (June 13, 2013)

Video game industry shows misogynistic streak at E3 conference. (June 13, 2013)

Amazon joins 3D printing craze, opens online store for printers and supplies. (June 13, 2013)

Disney unit ESPN deals crushing blow to nascent 3D TV market. (June 12, 2013)

Bad news for Apple: The iOS 7 backlash has begun. (June 12, 2013)

Apple investors unswayed by new product announcements. (June 11, 2013)

Apple CEO Tim Cook should keep his yap shut.
Because when Cook speaks publicly, Apple’s stock falls. (June 11, 2013)

Sony schools Microsoft on video game console pricing and policies. (June 11, 2013)

Apple dings Samsung, Microsoft and Google Android at WWDC keynote. (June 11, 2013)

Apple debuts iOS 7, iTunes Radio, cylinder PC, and Mac OS X Mavericks. (June 10, 2013)

Cisco Systems and iRobot team up to make a robot that will let executives roam offices remotely. (June 10, 2013)

Photos: Gamers try out Microsoft’s Xbox One console at the company’s E3 2013 media event (Microsoft photo); and the Ava 500 robot from Cisco Systems and iRobot in use (iRobot photo). 

Apple changes Mac OS names from cats to California locations

It was a sad day for cat lovers on Monday. No, Grumpy Cat and Princess Monster Truck are safe and sound.
I’m referring to Apple’s decision to stop naming its Mac OS X releases after big cats.
Starting with the next release, the computer software updates will be named after locations in California.
“Our latest release, Mountain Lion, is the ninth of our big cat-named releases in just over a decade,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said Monday at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. “As we turn our attention now toward the 10th, we’ve hit a real issue. We do not want to be the first software in history to be delayed due to a dwindling supply of cats.”
Before announcing the new naming convention for Mac OS releases, he joked that the next release would be “Mac OS X Sea Lion.”

Apple chose California locations to honor its home state and to provide a source of inspirational names for at least the next decade, Federighi said. Apple’s next release will be called “Mavericks” after the dangerous surfing spot in Northern California.
Slate joked that future releases could be named after other perilous Golden State spots like “La Brea” and “Alcatraz.” I’d suggest “South Central” and “Emerald Triangle.”
I disagree with the thinking that there are no more cat names. Sure, wild cats are few and far between, but Apple never used “Mac OS X Ocelot.”

Also, as I’ve written about before, there’s a vast supply of cat names from popular culture.
What follows are several that creative folks on the Internet have come up with.

Maru, the Internet’s favorite box-loving feline.

Japanese icon Hello Kitty.

The aforementioned Grumpy Cat.

Nyan Cat, the Internet meme featuring a flying cat with the body of a toaster pastry that streams rainbows.

Meowingtons, a cat companion to progressive-house music producer and performer Deadmau5.

Rapper Snoop Lion.

Celebrity cougar Courteney Cox.

Celebrity cougar Demi Moore.

Related articles:

Top 10 cat names Apple hasn’t used yet for its Mac software (Aug. 26, 2009)

More suggested Mac OS X names for Apple (Aug. 28, 2009)

Top 10 Mac OS X names Apple hasn’t used yet (Oct. 20, 2010)

More cat names for Apple to consider for the next Mac OS X release (July 21, 2011)

The 2013 fall TV season: initial impressions

After reading up on the fall 2013 TV season and checking out many of the trailers, here are some of my impressions:

• ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” looks like a surefire hit. A spin-off of the hit superhero movie “The Avengers,” the show was developed by Joss Whedon of “Firefly” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame. 
• There are going to be way too many vampire shows on TV this fall. We already have “The Vampire Diaries,” “True Blood” and “Being Human.” This fall, we’ll also get “The Originals,” a spin-off of “The Vampire Diaries”; and “Dracula” from the producers of “Downton Abbey.” 
• The Robin Williams sitcom, “The Crazy Ones,” on CBS looks wretched. So it’ll probably be a big hit. 
• We’ll see no shortage of shows that would work better as feature films. These include CBS political conspiracy drama “Hostages,” NBC’s action thriller “The Blacklist,” and ABC’s racy girl comedy “Super Fun Night.” 
• Literature in the public domain is the source of many shows this fall. New shows based on off-copyright works include “Sleepy Hollow,” a modern-day retelling of the 1820 short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving; “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,” based on the 1865 novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll; and “Dracula,” based on the 1897 Gothic horror novel by Bram Stoker. They will join returning shows “Beauty and the Beast,” based on the traditional fairy tale first published in 1740; “Grimm,” inspired by “Grimms’ Fairy Tales”; “Once Upon a Time,” based on assorted fairy tale characters; and “Elementary,” based on the Sherlock Holmes detective stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 
• The new fall shows I’m most interested in watching are “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “The Tomorrow People,” which looks like “The X-Men” mixed with “Heroes” and cast with CW pretty people. 
• A few midseason replacement series look intriguing as well. They are Fox’s “Almost Human,” the CW’s “The 100,” NBC’s “Crossbones” and “Believe.”

Photo: Promotional art for ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (top) and Fox’s “Almost Human.”

Week in review: Google lovefest “The Internship” opens

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

If you Google reviews of “The Internship,” you’ll see that critics didn’t like it. (June 7, 2013)

Break up Microsoft to unlock value and spur innovation. (June 7, 2013)

Apple wants your old iPhone for trade-in value. (June 6, 2013)

Apple iPhone sales in China falling faster than expected. (June 6, 2013)

Amazon.com prepping to take on Netflix full bore. (June 5, 2013)

Samsung tops Apple, takes U.S. smartphone lead with Galaxy S4. (June 5, 2013)

U.S. millennials think like socialists on economic issues. You can thank our left-leaning education system for that. But they love technology products, the fruits of a capitalistic society, according to a new survey. (June 4, 2013)

Apple iPhone business undervalued, Android impact overstated. (June 4, 2013)

Microsoft’s Windows 7 gains market share as successor struggles. (June 3, 2013)

Intel investors boost stock on mobile win and analyst upgrade. (June 3, 2013)

Intel stock breaks out on Samsung tablet win and analyst upgrade. (June 3, 2013)

Photo: Actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in a scene from “The Internship.” 

U.S. maps showing movie and TV show locations

As a pop culture fan, I got a kick out of these three U.S. maps showing the settings of movies and TV shows.
The most comprehensive is “America: the home of television” by graphic artist James Chapman.
The map includes “Friends,” “Frasier,” “The O.C.,” “The Wire,” “Community,” “ER,” “The Office,” “Breaking Bad,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Portlandia,” “Dexter,” “Homeland,” “Glee,” “Parks & Recreation” and many more. (See articles by Laughing Squid and the Huffington Post, as well as Chapman’s Tumblr blog.) It’s for sale as a poster on his Etsy shop.
Reddit user Subtonix made a map of what movies best represent each state. EW had some bones to pick with it, but I think it’s pretty good.
Andrew Shears, assistant professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley in Menasha, Wis., responded with a map showing what TV shows best represent each state.
Shears followed up that map with a second map that used input from others. (See article by the Huffington Post.)

Maps from top down (click images to enlarge): “America: the home of television” by James Chapman; U.S. movie map by Subtonix; “50 States, 50 TV Series” Remixed: Popular Feedback Edition by Andrew Shears.

America continues to punish sexy women

Many Americans have hang-ups about sex. They’d much rather their children be exposed to violent imagery than sexuality. They shun women who have worked as sexy models or porn performers and treat them like lepers.
In January, I documented a host of cases where women lost their jobs for having worked as strippers, nude models, lingerie models or porn performers, even years earlier. (See “Public treats porn performers, nude models like criminals.” I covered the same topic in April 2011 for the article “Being a porn actress isn’t a crime, so women shouldn’t be harassed because of it.”)
The harsh treatment continues.
In May, an English teacher at Martin County High School in Stuart, Fla., lost her job after one of her racy modeling photos came to the attention of the school’s principal. Olivia Sprauer, 26, who models under the name Victoria James, was forced to resign.
Thankfully, Sprauer is taking it all in stride and enjoying the publicity, according to the Huffington Post. You can check out her photos at Model Mayhem and her Facebook page.
Also last month, porn actress Chanel Preston had her bank account shut down because the bank didn’t like her line of work. Others in the porn industry have been denied loans on moral grounds, according to CNBC and AVN.
In December, the Daily Beast published a first-person account of a former Craigslist call girl, Melissa Petro. Petro, who left sex work in 2007 to become a public school teacher in New York City, made headlines in 2011 when she lost the teaching job after blogging about her past sex work on the Huffington Post. (See coverage of her firing by the Village Voice, the New York Times and Jezebel.)
Petro defended women who choose sex work and urged compassion for those in that line of work.
It’s time for Americans to live and let live and not be so judgmental of others and their lifestyles.

Photos: Victoria James (top) and Chanel Preston.