by David | Aug 13, 2014 | photo, science!
This weekend the moon was full and in perigee and therefore appeared bigger and brighter than usual, a so-called supermoon. Perigee is the point at which the earth is closest to some object that orbits it in an elliptical path. Apogee is the point of greatest distance...
by David | Aug 12, 2014 | design, economics
They say that it’s hard for a company to shrink to greatness, but I do think that it’s possible to simplify to greatness. There’s been some moves in the e-reader world lately that raise the question, shrink or simplify. Sony, the first mover in the...
by David | Aug 11, 2014 | culture, media, reading & writing
Think of it as the book singularity. Casting off their physical shells, books are achieving a sort of immortality by becoming ebooks. Well, they’re not necessarily freer or even longer lasting, I guess, but they sure are easier to move from place to place. Linda...
by David | Aug 7, 2014 | reading & writing
Do you know what my favorite word is? No? That’s right! Huge amounts of time, money, and emotional energy are wasted because some people can’t or won’t just say NO when they really should. NO is critical to good time management and avoiding spending...
by David | Aug 6, 2014 | design
Got old pants? Who doesn’t? Why not turn them into cat pants? Black and white cats agree, you can’t beat organic catnip-filled genuine upcycled denim cat pants. For lounging or mauling, they’re just what the cat daddy ordered. Take any old...
by David | Aug 5, 2014 | transportation, urbanism
It’s hard to impose order on systems that grow organically, like world-class cities. It’s also hard to create a coherent public transit system in an imperfect society. That said, there are three seemingly small gaps in the Boston public transit system that...
by David | Aug 4, 2014 | design, urbanism
Today I noticed two more casualties along the mid-Cambridge furniture district, the stretch of Mass Ave between Central and Harvard formerly known as the Futon District. One was no surprise, but the other was, at least to me, shocking and even a little sad. First up,...
by David | Aug 2, 2014 | photo, urbanism
Edward Hopper’s favorite bakery: They don’t make ’em like they used to.
by David | Aug 1, 2014 | design
I’ve noticed a troubling design trend of late. In a distressing and it seems growing number of bathrooms, there are mirrors on the wall or door directly opposite the toilet. I get it, bathrooms are small, mirrors make small spaces look and feel larger, but who...
by David | Jul 31, 2014 | Uncategorized
It’s become fashionable in the last few years to focus on User Experience, trendily abbreviated UX, and a considerable upgrade in status from UI (User Interface) Design from which it descends. I hope nobody thinks that’s actually new, but if it takes a...
by David | Jul 30, 2014 | reading & writing
I was minding my own business, trying to sleep during a presentation at a marketing conference, and was abruptly awakened when the presenter said something like, “to prevent those people from receiving this email, you would disclude them on this...
by David | Jul 29, 2014 | design, urbanism
How long does it take to go from one of Boston’s newest hip neighborhoods, the Innovation District, to one of Somerville’s even newer, actually not quite finished, ones, Assembly Row by public transit? During evening rush hour on a weekday, this trip of...
