16.8 Multi-Ply Dining Table
i love this table. the only way it could be improved is to take a page from ron arad's book and make it possible to collapse the table down to the smallest width possible. if i can find a place to cut some plywood i'll try to make one of these, hopefully with the sliding mechanism. any ideas?
(Friday, May 31, 2002)

bill simmons' spelling bee diary (espn)
It was so awesome that ESPN, of all possible networks, televised the Spelling Bee finals. And the winner was in a skit on SportsCenter, too. Maybe that will make spelling cool.

Bill Simmons' diary is way too funny: "By the way, I think I've watched too much playoff basketball over the past few weeks -- I keep waiting for one of these kids to spell a word correctly, then pound on his or her chest and point defiantly to the crowd. Way too much Kenyon Martin in my life lately... Couldn't Fred Williard serve as a co-host one year, just so he could pull his 'Best In Show' routine?"
(Friday, May 31, 2002)

the osbournes coming back for more (nyt)
apparently, the negotiations for a second season were just as strange as one might expect.
(Thursday, May 30, 2002)

housing prices still rising in silicon valley (nyt)
"The median home price in the Bay Area, composed of nine counties including and surrounding San Francisco, rose to a record $402,000 in April, according to figures released this month by DataQuick Information Systems. That is up from $378,000 a year ago."
(Wednesday, May 29, 2002)

soccer's role in politics (nyt)
"The Nazis never managed to use the game to their advantage, remaining forever flummoxed by soccer's unpredictability. After Germany lost 2-1 to Switzerland on Hitler's birthday in 1941, Goebbels ordered 'that above all no sporting exchanges be made when the outcome is at all in doubt.' When Germany then lost at home to Sweden in 1942, he reportedly commented: 'One hundred thousand have left the stadium depressed; and as a victory in this football match is closer to these people's hearts than the conquest of some city in the East, such events should be prohibited in the interest of the internal mood.' Two months later Nazi Germany ceased playing internationals."
(Tuesday, May 28, 2002)

the isaac mizrahi show
This is pretty fabulous, too. It's sort of like "Unzipped" (which amazingly has been on HBO recently, but isn't out on DVD yet) taken to the next level. The best part is that Mizrahi is a total queen, all the time.
(Tuesday, May 28, 2002)

trading spaces
I have gotten hooked on this show. It's entertaining and inspiring, but it doesn't show the important part: the designer's process of designing something that will meet the client's needs that (a)stays under budget, and (b)can be built in two days.

The Look for Less on Style is almost all process: designer picks a look, designer goes shopping, designer puts it all together on the model.

(I prefer Trading Spaces.)
(Tuesday, May 28, 2002)

how glaciers move (nyt)
"Like a vast snail, a glacier rides on a slurry of sediment and water, and Dr. Iverson's team is studying why it can race past at 150 feet a day or slow down to nearly zero. One preliminary discovery the team made this year is that the friction between the sediment and the rock face is more than 20 times as great as mathematical models had predicted."
(Tuesday, May 28, 2002)

supporting multiple-location users (jakob)
A lot of this is well thought-out, but, as usual, Jakob gets off-topic in an unintentionally amusing way ("We must move to a security model in which all information is encrypted at all times, except when displayed on the monitor and viewed by an authorized user (possibly authenticated through eye-scanning).") That said, a lot of his points about accessing the Internet from multiple points are right on the mark.
(Tuesday, May 28, 2002)

marc jacobs (nyt)
"Marc Jacobs is the first to admit that the credit, in many ways, doesn't really belong to him at all. 'You would have to be out of your mind to think that I do all this alone,' Mr. Jacobs said in Paris last week."

He designs amazing clothes and bags, and he has such a great personal style, too. He's, like, my fashion idol. Seriously.
(Tuesday, May 28, 2002)

the world trade center's last minutes (nyt)
there are still no words.
(Sunday, May 26, 2002)

the blue flash
I saw this on CNN this afternoon, and it is the coolest thing I have ever seen.
(Friday, May 24, 2002)

eric neel on kidd's free throw kisses and those ibm hoops spots (espn)
"Watch the way Jason Kidd blows a kiss toward the basket before every free throw. It's great on at least two levels: In the first place, it's a delicate, charming gesture that reminds you how much kid there must be in Kidd, and it's the perfect complement to the tough-guy bandage over his eye. Second, it tells you all you need to know about free throws, which is that they're rituals and that, the 15,000 fans staring down from the stands notwithstanding, they're conducted in private."

I was thinking something similar to this watching the Nets-Celtics game the other day. Kidd's blown kisses are the nicest ritual I've ever seen in sports.

Neel also points out the retired NBA stars who are in those weird IBM commercials with the basketball team, with analysis, even. Cool.
(Friday, May 24, 2002)

old tibor interview (tony)
TONY: Are there things you used to do that you'd consider frivolous now?

TK: Making money was the biggest waste of time. If, like me, you're a fiscally conservative person, and you don't get any pleasure back from the money you make, then it's a waste of time. These days, I try to do good-quality work for good-quality clients—the kind of work that you would do for free.

TONY: What would you tell weary New Yorkers who can't seem to quit working for the man?

TK: I would ask them where they want to be in five or ten years. Do they want to die with the most toys, or do they want to die with the best life and experiences? You can buy lots of stuff, but the more you buy, the less useful it is.
(Friday, May 24, 2002)

rick poynor on cheese monkeys (eye)
a good review of chip kidd's first novel. (amazon has it on remainder for $5 right now, so go and get it!)
(Friday, May 24, 2002)

long commutes (nyt)
"Mr. Downs advises automobile commuters elsewhere to equip their cars with air-conditioning, a stereo radio, a telephone, a CD player, a microwave oven and an attractive traveling companion and then to 'treat being stuck in traffic as part of their leisure time.'

"And New Yorkers?

"'My basic advice would be move somewhere else,' he said."
(Friday, May 24, 2002)

dumb things to bet on (espn)
"I mean, imagine the excitement during 'The Bachelor' if you randomly ended up with Trista in the pool, then you found out she was a Miami Heat dancer in the first episode (you're locked in) ... then you worried that she doesn't like Alex the Ambiguously Gay Bachelor (you're locked out) ... then he goes out of his way to win her over (you're locked back in) ... then she confesses to him that she can't have orgasms during intercourse (uh-oh, baggage alert! you're locked out again) ... then it's down to the Final Two between Trista and The Chick With Big Boobs Who Was A Little Too Easy (you're locked back in). What a roller-coaster ride! And you won some money to boot."
(Thursday, May 23, 2002)

email (good experience)
solid report on email, even though i'm a big fan of filing email away for future reference.
(Thursday, May 23, 2002)

round the world on oneworld
pretty cool. this would be a nice way to spend a sabbatical.
(Wednesday, May 22, 2002)

2x4
orange! (and an inefficiently coded homepage, but who's counting?)
(Wednesday, May 22, 2002)

tyler (not crème) brûlé quits wallpaper* (guardian)
apparently wallpaper* is now without both its founding editor and its creative director. one expects the magazine's operating expenses to be reined in, and the culture to be overrun with the corporate parent's. i wonder if they'll keep publishing spruce*, the best part of which is the pattern inserts at the back.
(Wednesday, May 22, 2002)

tara reid not allowed to have politcal awareness (onion)
oh. my. god. this is funny.
(Wednesday, May 22, 2002)

frank rich on the anchors (nyt magazine)
An in-depth look at the present state of the evening news and its anchors.

My favorite news show on television was ABC's World News Now, which I watched while I was unemployed after college. Two hours of deeper looks at big stories, along with some fluff pieces. And Thalia Assuras, who isn't nearly as interesting now that CBS has taken off her glasses and highlighted her hair, transforming her into another Ashleigh Banfield. Anyway, I'm sure WNN is still on, but I'm not awake at 3am very much anymore.
(Monday, May 20, 2002)

make your own destination guide
British Airways offers up customizable destination guides for 99 cities. This is a fine example of value-added ancillary services. (I've been doing this for too long: I just wrote that with a straight face.)
(Monday, May 20, 2002)

marc jacobs 60% off at bluefly
I think I got the last pair of these, which makes me even happier. These are the most comfortable pants around, and they make me feel like a million bucks. For just $70! Amazing!

They have Tugboat's favorite womenswear designer, too.
(Saturday, May 18, 2002)

wedding porn (salon)
"In the language of wedding porn, there's an unspoken expectation that a man will squeeze comfortably into a preset role: handsome, sweet, neutered wage earner. He works hard so you don't have to."
(Friday, May 17, 2002)

good epresso in nyc? (nyt)
a long, detailed article about the finer points of espresso making.
(Friday, May 17, 2002)

13,000 credit reports stolen (nyt)
"The company said in a letter to the victims that computer intruders used an authorization code from Ford Credit to get the credit reports from Experian, one of three major reporting agencies.
...
"Mr. Girard, the Experian spokesman, said the company would work with the F.B.I. to catch and prosecute the intruders. 'It just shows that today, even big companies can be victimized,' he said. 'it's a never-ending struggle against the bad guys.'"

No, it's a never-ending struggle for good security practices. The hackers stole a code from Ford Credit. Either they worked there, or an employee was careless with their password, or something along those lines. The credit agencies can have the best security in the world, but our privacy is only as safe as the weakest link in the access chain.
(Friday, May 17, 2002)

what's better?
toronto or the new texas a&m logo?
(Thursday, May 16, 2002)

nyc glossary (morning news)
"Velcrophilia (noun): A condition you can claim if you spent all your money on dot-com clothes in '98 and now can’t afford a new pair of jeans."

Yep, that pretty much applies. Though I bought most of my dotcom clothes in 2000.
(Wednesday, May 15, 2002)

mexi-canadian overpass (onion)
at last, guadalupe is linked to winnipeg.
(Wednesday, May 15, 2002)

sky-high rents... in kabul? (nyt)
Even in boomtown San Francisco dumps didn't rent for the kind of money they're asking for in Kabul. Or maybe they did; I didn't move between 1996 and 2001.

The ending of this article is pretty hilarious.
(Tuesday, May 14, 2002)

barkley redux (espn)
"Barkley and I are discussing the events of last night, how fans kept coming up to him at the martini bar and he never seemed to mind. He seems unfazed by the whole thing.

"'Goes with the job,' he says, adding how it bothers him that more athletes don't feel that way. 'Dealing with fans is part of life when you're a famous person, and that's it. Nothin' you can do about it. So you might as well enjoy it.'"
(Tuesday, May 14, 2002)

old, third world filler
very funny. i think this is close to one of brian eno's unthinkable futures.
(Tuesday, May 14, 2002)

eple
this a fantastic track. groovy!
(Monday, May 13, 2002)

sir charles, part one (espn)
I'm really happy that Charles Barkley is on TNT. He had the best Nike commercials back in the day, short snippets of what would have been the best talk show on television. The best one showed Sir Charles at a desk, in a pool, talking shit about Penny Hardaway (I think).

(Someone else who should have their own show: Kristin Hersh.)
(Monday, May 13, 2002)

sweet release
as mike said, "oh.my.god." i'm not sure why these only come in one flavor each (so to speak).
(Friday, May 10, 2002)

maira kalman's how to conquer stupidity (new yorker)
it's a slide show lecture she gave, in web form. nice!
(Thursday, May 9, 2002)

artist improves highway sign (la times)
this is exactly the sort of thing that artists (and other concerned citizens) should do more often. three cheers for mister ankrom!
(Thursday, May 9, 2002)

delta's good, too
Even though it doesn't run on dynamo. Heh.

I think the design is solid, and their check-in kiosks are very well done. Easy to use and powerful: swipe a card and pick your seat or change your flight if you aren't checking luggage. You can even put yourself on the standby list for an earlier flight!
(Tuesday, May 7, 2002)

new aa.com
This (re)launched a couple weeks ago, now running on ATG Dynamo. There are some formatting and design quirks, but the experience is far better and more powerful than the previous (I think BV) incarnation. Yay ATG!
(Tuesday, May 7, 2002)

slap shot vs. real minor league hockey (espn)
this is great; a detailed look at how much slap shot resembled reality. it's amazing that the hanson brothers in the movie are played by the brothers that inspired the characters.
(Thursday, May 2, 2002)

Rx for hockey hits (espn)
"Anyone else find irony in the complaints of Islanders captain Michael Peca on the hit by Darcy Tucker that left Peca with an injured knee that could keep him out until November?

"'He'd been saying to me on numerous occasions that he was going to try and injure me,' Peca said. 'It's hard to believe he didn't mean it.'"
(Wednesday, May 1, 2002)