January 2009
48 posts
1 tag
In the last couple of weeks, I...
It’s been a while since one of these posts, but I’ve been busy. VERY busy.
Moved house. Woo! Gorgeous loft apartment in an old school just north of Victoria Park.
Picked up the bargain of the century: Two Pinch stools by naughtone for £290 (instead of £800). I still can’t believe it.
Bought a mixed case from the great fellows at Brew Dog.
Embarked on a dangerously excitable...
“If you want to know why the rest of the world is scared of Americans, consider...”
– The Beast 50 Most Loathsome People In America, 2008 - Number 1: Sarah Palin.
“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play, it is bound up with hatred,...”
– George Orwell (via Steven Wells: Competitiveness another victim of America’s PC brigade)
Attenborough reveals creationist hate mail for not... →
Dom Ruinart 1996 Champagne →
Far from the Wurst
I recently subscribed to the e-mail newsletter for The Wurst Gallery, and like all good mailing list software, it required me to confirm my interest via a link sent to me by e-mail. The confirmation page (found after clicking on said link) made me smile, and reminded me that good design is about copy as much as visuals:
“the wurst news is on it’s way. be prepared, it could strike at...
“If riches cannot eliminate need but on the contrary create new demands, what...”
– Boethius
“Cook has pulled off the staggering feat of being made to look morally bankrupt...”
– Barry Glendenning on Man City’s Gary Cook and his comments on AC Milan, from the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast.
The Mysterious Cough, Caught on Film →
At Pennsylvania State University, a professor of engineering has captured a cough on film using ‘Schlieren’ photography, a method for photographing disturbances in air temperature and pressure. Some amazing stuff in the slide show too.
“A believer is a bird in a cage, a Freethinker is an eagle parting the clouds...”
– Robert Green Ingersoll - “Individuality” (1873) (via Cynical-C Blog)
Brilliant interview with Roberto Saviano →
Fascinating Culture Show interview with Roberto Saviano, writer of Gomorra. Brutally honest about the sacrifices he’s made to tell the story of the Neapolitan Mafia.
WatchScott McCloud’s wonderful presentation from TED in 2005. Mesmerising, brilliantly delivered, and a model for anyone trying to engage, charm and delight an audience.
“Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a...”
– Jeremy Bentham (related: MPs to be exempt from publishing expenses)
Return on Time Invested … A ROTI for your meetings... →
The five finger rating technique as applied to rate the usefulness of meetings. No need to explain what a single finger means.
1 tag
This weekend, I...
Tried (and failed) to have ‘just one’ after work on Friday at the new (ish) Dragon Bar on Shoreditch high street.
Got up early (ish) to begin, in earnest, cooing over things I want to buy for the new flat, and foolishly wandered into Liberty to stroke naughtone’s Pinch Stool. I want one. No, I want two.
Got back from town in time to see Arsenal beat Hull, enjoying a couple of...
The curious case of Masal Bugduv →
A reputable newspaper (The Times) stitched up by a spurious rumour of an unknown Moldovan wonderkid so much that it included him in it’s list of 50 players to watch in 2009? Say it isn’t so!
Ten Things That Need to be Redesigned
→
Jessica Helfand discusses Lottery Tickets, the Hearse, Monopoly Money, TV Remote Controls, The State of New Jersey, Political Lawn Signs, Childrens’ Ski Jackets, Kennedy Airport, Blister Packaging and IRS Forms.
Reivers
English and Scottish bandits, raiders and scavengers who patrolled the lawless border of England and Scotland mercilessly in the 16th century.
“Reive” is an early English word for “to rob”, from the Scots Inglis verb reifen from the Old English rēafian, and thus related to the archaic Standard English verb reave (“to plunder”, “to rob”)
Fans of...
“Language is the universal whore that I must make into a virgin.”
– Karl Kraus (via Stephen Fry)
Mozart and the Irishman
I have to confess that I had no idea that a close friend of Mozart’s was a Dubliner by the name of Michael Kelly. An actor, tenor, composer and manager - Kelly forged a significant career for himself as a singer and became popular in both Italy and Austria. As far as I can tell, he created not one, but two roles for himself in Mozart’s Le nozze de Figaro, which he performed in...
“If the next edition of the Lisbon Treaty has guarantees of weather that...”
– Arseblog
“You may have noticed something interesting: all of these tips for what to do in...”
– Design Observer - Designing Through the Recession
New year resolutions 2009
I will start swimming regularly again. Maybe. (I’ve been making this resolution for three years.)
I will try and stop eating/drinking out so much.
Within six weeks, I will have a bound proof of my grandfather’s book ready for inspection, and by April it will be available for sale.
I will frame all of my art/prints. Such a waste to keep such lovely things in picture tubes.
I will...
“The first time you do something, it’s science, the second time, it’s...”
– Clifford Stoll
WatchSteven Pinker discusses The Blank Slate concept of the human mind, and how parenting has almost no effect on how children grow up. Fascinating stuff.