Friday, September 29, 2006
dannyboy 4:59 PM
As if flying wasn't retarded enough already. If that happened to me I would've demanded the captain turn the plane around, just to see him explain why he wasted everyone's time and the airline's money. And instead of apologizing, they issue that "our rules apply equally to everyone" bullshit. Insane.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
dannyboy 10:58 AM
Balem: i had a dream last night that i was at some party with this tall, handsome guy
Balem: he was pretty good looking
me: HA
Balem: and we were dancing
Balem: and everybody was jealous
Balem: :)
Balem: it was a nice dream
me: we always dream about what we don't have
me: last night I dreamed my plant was all green and healthy
Balem: HAHAHAH
Monday, September 25, 2006
dannyboy 9:40 AM
When I was in school I jokingly lamented the inability of designers to be crooked, the way engineers, architects and a lot of other professions can. I was willing to sell out my ethics for a payoff! But a poorly designed train schedule isn't going to hurt anyone, so no one is willing to pay for it. Well, you know what I'm saying.
Then today on my way to work I thought about the people who designed the bus shelters in San Francisco—they have flippy seats (like in stadiums, except they're just a very narrow, flat slab) to prevent homeless people from sleeping on them. Yes, perhaps there are other considerations, but American society is one in which designers actually are paid to be unethical. Like the famous IDEO shopping cart design that makes it useless for homeless people to steal, and the subsequently produced, much less elegant version we actually see in supermarkets today. I understand that shopping carts are expensive, ludicrously so, but Americans live in a place that has outlawed destitution, and is actively designing away (trying to, anyway) the existence of undesirables. Contrast this with the Cafe Gulliver project (terrible English translation here) in which a group of students from the Köln International School of Design set out to redesign a train station bathroom. Their research led them to conclude that the main users of the incredibly disgusting facility were tourists and the homeless; their response was to create Cafe Gulliver, where it offers the homeless low-cost food, showers, washing machines, internet access and a mailing address. Oh right, and dignity. They also, are trying to design away homelessness. I think their approach will work better in the long run.
Dostoevsky said that the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons; I seem to remember something Jesus said about being judged by how we treat the least among us. Can you imagine anything like that happening in a NYC subway station? I think designers are often the only ethical voice in the business process, and we actually do have the obligation not to be crooked, just as engineers have the obligation to build bridges that don't collapse and kill people. So again I lament being a pixel pusher, but now for the opposite reason—it's not easy to change the world with visual design.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
dannyboy 10:54 PM
I like to mispronounce things.
Friday, September 22, 2006
dannyboy 12:22 PM
Dear Jackass. You're wearing too much cologne. Yes YOU. Ok, show of hands: boys in the audience, how many of you wear cologne? Right, everyone with their hands raised right now, YOU are wearing too much.
If I can smell you, and I'm not within 2cm of you, you are wearing too much. YOU STINK. QUIT IT.
Girls, for some reason, usually understand that scent is a very intimate thing, and that you shouldn't be able to smell each other unless you're about to snog. If you grew up without sisters to tell you that you stink, and show you how to properly put that stuff on, your license to apply smells to yourself is hereby revoked. UGH.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
dannyboy 2:49 PM
I just wanted to report back on this post regarding bacon-fat mayonnaise (or more accurately, bacon aioli). My god. I burned the bacon, and accidentally spilled too much sherry vinegar into the mayo, but despite my ham handedness in the kitchen, it was the BEST BLT I'VE EVER HAD. Admittedly, this was as much to do with the heirloom tomatoes I used as it was the mayo, but golly. Next time, I'm reducing the vinegar portion & upping the bacon fat to olive oil ratio, and lo, there will be great rejoicing.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
dannyboy 4:09 PM
Obama '08 Please please please please please please
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
dannyboy 11:43 AM
Moderate Drinkers End Up Better Thinkers And the best part is they define "moderate" as 14-28 drinks per week! YES!!
*Disclaimer: the study was done at an Australian university, so...
Monday, September 11, 2006
dannyboy 2:44 PM
You all need to go out and get this straight away. Everything about it is brilliant, from the internet-enabled name (circa 1999), to the tassles on the hips of the cowgirl exercise outfits.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
dannyboy 11:08 PM
Joanne said that she tried to read my website some time ago but only understood half of the posts. I went from being very open 5 and a half years ago (yes I've been writing that long, and yes, I was totally there before it was cool and all you jerks jumped on the bandwagon) to being mostly detached these days.
I just flew back from Pittsburgh, and I stopped by the campus while I was there. Earlier today I was standing in the room where I decided it would be a good idea to buy "fuzzysquid.com". A lot has changed there, but even more hasn't. It will have been almost 10 years since I first stepped foot in that place, and this has been weighing heavily on my mind the last few weeks. I felt a lot of melancholy, being back. Which is why I made the visit brief. I drove by my old apartment, which has since burned down, but I didn't stop and get out.
The corner store where I used to buy cigarettes and condoms is now a Saab dealership.
I drove by all these apartment buildings and thought about all the people I knew who lived in them. ("Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.") I thought things like: I should have gone over there to use her record player like she said I could.