Don’t Blame It On Rio
The 2016 Summer Olympics are now history. And despite the Russian doping scandal, the problems with the water in the pools (and in the bay), and the threat of Zika among other things, for the most part, Rio (like every Olympics) will be remembered for its high points and, hopefully, not for the low ones. […]
The Great Bathroom Wars
As a nation, we are in the middle of a contentious election year with many important issues being debated (or Tweeted about). What to do about immigration. Where do we as a country stand on abortion rights. The future of accessible healthcare. The need to protect ourselves from radicals bent on doing us harm (both […]
The Not Quite Obsolete Floppy Disk
I had a computer with SCSI for a long time after SCSI was standard computer issue. I had a much loved (and, at the time, very expensive) scanner that connected to my computer using SCSI. And a lot of my old backups were on Zip disks that I could only access using my SCSI Zip […]
The No-Door, No-Office Policy
When I first started working, one of my goals was to have an office with a door and, if I was really fortunate, a window. But, what I really wanted was a door. A door of my very own. It was a goal that I never managed to achieve while working full time, partially because […]
Fiddling with Reality
Retouching photography isn’t something that Photoshop invented. Turns out that photographs have been retouched for about as long as there have been photographs. Retouching used to be a hard-earned (and learned) skill and a true art form. (There is no undo button when you are working on a one-of-a-kind negative or airbrushing on a print.) […]
Saving Lives One Fish at a Time
Sometimes low-tech design is the best. And easy, elegant solutions are the ones that work. (Because complicated is a lot easier to mess up than simple.) This is the story of a fish. A lucky fish. A lucky, iron fish that is helping improve and even save lives in Cambodia, one cooking pot at a […]
The Urge to Doodle
I doodle. You probably doodle. I think pretty much everyone doodles (at least everyone did before websites like Facebook and Instagram became a much more efficient way of wasting time.) As this article that I saw recently on CNN.com reports even medieval monks doodled. Who knew?
How to Sell a War
One hundred years ago, Europe was at war. The United States was not. The First World War (or, as it was know at the time, the only World War) started in July of 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. It did not take long for most of the rest of Europe to take sides. […]
Does This Writing Make Me Look Stupid
More and more, I am writing (or editing) as I am designing. Seems that hiring a writer for small design projects is a luxury that clients just don’t want to bother with or pay for. Because I have spent my career around really talented writers and editors, I have limited patience with sloppy writing (especially […]
Appearing Smarter in Meetings
So you have decided that you really should attend that meeting. Darn. Now what? Thanks again to Huffington Post (my favorite source for all sort of news—serious and not, entertainment, gossip, and cat videos) for 10 Tricks to Appear Smarter in Meetings. I assume the article is meant to be taken tongue-in-cheek, but, really, who […]