• Tracking the evolution of the Windows through its icons. Makes me a touch nostalgic actually.
• This extensive ‘oral history’ of Galaxie 500 on Pitchfork recounts the band’s history in their own words.
• John Pozadzides, CEO of Woopra, analyzes where most of the referral links on the web come from (and where marketers ought to spend their time).
• Design homages: If Saul Bass had continued doing movie posters, and a motorcycle that looks like something out of the Rocketeer.

• GQ gets an interview out of Bill Murray. They talk Los Angeles, directing, television, Garfield and Ghostbusters.
• The Book Cover Archive is what it says on the tin.
• Study this selection of old Pabst beer advertisements while holding a cigarette to prepare for the new season of Mad Men.

• LBJ orders some pants: since nearly everything a president does is recorded, we have this gem from President Johnson’s archive. He calls Mr. Haggar for some slacks, and he knows exactly what he wants.
• Hoefler and Frere-Jones’ (designers of Gotham and other typefaces) thoughts on combining fonts can be boiled down to “keep one thing consistent, and let one thing vary.”
• More information than you could ever want about why calculators and telephones have their numbers arranged differently.

Looking through some recent music, I noticed a number of similarities in album covers. There seems to be a trend towards pastoral and sea scenes, emphasizing the vast spaces of the natural world. In addition, most of the covers below are photographs, many with an unnatural tint of yellow or magenta. The effect creates a vintage, but timeless-seeming image.

It’s fun to consider these albums together because it creates a sort of playlist. What are the albums striving for, and what similarities do they have? How does the cover art relate to what I’m hearing?

Anyway, check out the list below (and click to enlarge it). I think the modern precursor for this kind of album art is The Fruit that Ate Itself by Modest Mouse. Can you think of any other releases that fit with the group?

• Collecting some of the best typefaces released in 2009, Print Magazine awards its Oscars of Type. Mr. Eaves looks great and League Gothic (from the always-free League of Movable Type) is an admirable re-creation of Alternate Gothic.
• Science! Straight from the hypertext-age of the internet, this Physics FAQ is fascinating even if it isn’t pretty.
• A gallery of century-old mugshots shows working-class Britons arrested for public intoxication. Some are fascinating, some are funny, some are sad.

Harrison Krix makes props out of wood, pvc, and foam. Really nice props. Taking commissions, he’s made a Hylian shield, a portal gun, and a full Bioshock suit, but my favorite is undoubtedly his Daft Punk helmet (part 2).

The detailed step-by-step photos in the blog make it a fascinating read; that, and the fact that he’s always experimenting with new materials and improving his processes.

• In 1953, Harry Truman and his wife took a cross-country road trip. It could have only happened then. The highways were brand new, and the ex-president had no security concerns and no obligations.
• Want to browse an awesome collection of images from out-of-print books? I do! It’s the flickr account for the equally-cool blog BibliOdyssey.
• For fun, designer Tyler Thompson attempts to redesign the airline boarding pass.

The Eiffel Tower, as taken from the top by flickr user dave_murray. Click through to check out the tiny, tiny people on the ground and on the first-level platform.

Google is beginning to release more information about it’s long-planned dive into the world of the operating system. The video above offers some hints at its user interface. As expected, everything will be done through the browser.

A nice graphic by Craig Robinson of Flip Flop Fly Ball. Check it out full-sized and with short explanations. I’d love to see it expanded into all professional sports.

The site has a full series of these infographics, visualizing the shape of balls and ballparks, the records of World Series winning teams, the direction of home plates, and more.