by David | Mar 13, 2014 | design
Somehow I missed this one when the news broke. IKEA decided to make some changes to the iconic, omnipresent (and often immovable) Expedit line of shelving. Specifically, they narrowed the outer walls (perhaps to save wood), softened the corners a bit, and renamed the...
by David | Mar 4, 2014 | design, science!
There is no shortage of cat toys that are in questionable taste, but the one I was looking for – a soft, catnip-filled replica of the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis – was nowhere to be found. If you haven’t heard, this parasite, toxoplasma...
by David | Mar 3, 2014 | science!, travel
I thought I knew a thing or two about peanut butter, but today I learned two new things: Peanut Butter in a jar is a liquid Peanut Butter sandwiched between crackers is not a liquid How can this be, you ask? Three letters: TSA, that’s how. On the tragicomic...
by David | Feb 26, 2014 | culture, reading & writing
Via a random illustrated meme, I became aware of the term librocubicularist, meaning somebody who reads in bed. And I love the -ist ending that implies that reading in bed is not just something you do from time to time but something that you do regularly and with...
by David | Feb 26, 2014 | technology
And not just the red ones, either. With all this always on equipment around the house, I don’t need night lights anymore, I can find my way around by the light of various LEDs, even ones on “standby” or allegedly switched off appliances. On the other...
by David | Feb 24, 2014 | culture, design, media, reading & writing
Finger firmly fixed on the pulse of SciFi fandom, io9 asks, “Are bookshelves becoming obsolete?” Seems to me the question is more, “are paper books on their way out?” and I can dispense with that questions quickly with a simple,...
by David | Feb 20, 2014 | culture, design, media
I saw a lot of art on a recent trip to New York, but I think the works that made the biggest impression on me (not literally, thank goodness) were four steel slabs by Richard Serra, two at MoMA made in 1974-75 and two at Gagosian from 2013. Inside Out (2013) at...
by David | Feb 20, 2014 | transportation, urbanism
If you don’t stand back We can’t get out of the train And you won’t get on
by David | Feb 18, 2014 | economics, urbanism
Listening to the radio and drifting in and out of sleep this morning, I thought I heard somebody say that “destroying stockpiles of ivory will dampen demand” for it. Eh?Apparently, Hong Kong is planning to destroy 28 tons of elephant ivory that it has...
by David | Feb 12, 2014 | eating
Forecast snow flurries Won’t get me down, I’ve got some Israeli halva
by David | Jan 23, 2014 | culture
Have you ever waited for-effing-ever for some inconsiderate nerd to stop communing with the art and step away from right in front of a painting in a museum so you could get a clear photo of it? Well, at least in some cases, I am that nerd, and you should spend more...
