I already wrote about cars as appliances or objects, but I found this earlier germ of the idea in my drafts: There’s an in-betweenish bracket where prestige, social signaling, or bells and whistles count a bit more. The Prius and Tesla are social signals. Some folks get a Lexus, Acura, Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, etc. for … Continue reading Fascinating mechanical stories →

Right after we finish ridding the world of "floppy-disk-to-save" icons, I propose we remove this bit of obtuse skeumorphism from the default view in word processors like Google Docs: I vaguely remember using one of these to adjust margins and such on a real typewriter once. Its possible I used one to eek out an extra … Continue reading Word processors, still imitating typewriters →

On screening Aliens for a slumber party of 11 year old boys: "I like the way this looks," one said. "It's futuristic but it's old school. It's almost steampunk." "This is like Team Fortress 2," another remarked. "Dude, shut up, this was made like 20 years before Team Fortress 2," said the kid next to … Continue reading Aliens through the eyes of boys →

Wherein the data contradicts the lamentation

If you're working from the Jean-Luc Picard book of management, a nice little Twitter account of Picard-esque tips on business and life, we can be friends. Consider: Picard management tip: Be willing to reevaluate your own behavior. And: Picard diplomacy tip: Fighting about economic systems is just as nonsensical as fighting about religions. But I'm … Continue reading Senior VP Jean-Luc Picard, of the USS Enterprise (Alpha Quadrant division) →

Richard Feynman, in the process of explaining rubber bands: The world is a dynamic mess of jiggling things, if you look at it right! This simplification delights and amuses me. The great thing is its fractal truth: you can observe our lives at many levels and conclude that they are dynamic jiggling messes.