Life
Blog posts about life, art, and everything.
Signs of future past
September 20, 2011 | BlogA sign in Kingston General Hospital reads “Future Appointment Scheduling”. I’m not going to schedule an appointment in the past, and given the context the only thing I would schedule there is an appointment. So the entire sign could have been simplified to just Scheduling, and it would have saved all of you having to […]
George Bernard Shaw on progress
September 9, 2011 | BlogReasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people. George Bernard Shaw
Memo from management
May 22, 2011 | BlogFirst off, a big round of applause for a really top shelf apocalypse! Best turnout since ’75! Secondly, there was a slight hiccup with the backup of this Universe so we had to restore to 6pm from a neighbouring Universe instead. You might notice a few small differences, like green foliage, and a more reasonable […]
I think we understand each other
March 7, 2011 | BlogI tried explaining to my 19 month old daughter that she can’t have a stomach bug weekdays between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm, because the electricity required to continuously run the washer and dryer during mid and peak hours is cost prohibitive. She nodded. Then threw up on my sweater.
Holding Santa accountable
December 23, 2010 | BlogSo we’re down to the wire, and Santa has yet to be vocal on the good vs bad judgement process, his security, collection and storage policies regarding this data, and our legal recourse on disagreement with his judgement. The days of opaque leadership are over, Mr. Santa. WE WANT TRANSPARENCY.
Thomas Nast and the origins of Santa
December 15, 2010 | BlogIn 1862, caricaturist Thomas Nast was hired to create the cover of Harper’s Weekly. For the first time in illustrated history, Christmas was depicted as a jolly plump bearded fellow, with clay pipe and a sack overflowing with toys. Nearly 70 years would pass before illustrator Haddon Sundblom started work on the iconic Coca Cola […]
John Singer Sargent motivates
December 1, 2010 | BlogAlong with whistling, cursing and growling, John Singer Sargent would talk to himself while painting. “This is impossible. You can’t do it. Why do you try these things? You know it’s hopeless. It can’t be done.” Followed by “Yes, it can, yes, it can, it can be done – my God, I’ve done it.”
To whom it may concern
November 29, 2010 | BlogYou know, the email replies I write in my head are so much more satisfying then the ones I eventually send. Tact, it seems, is what keeps us all on topic.
Sesame Street and parenting
October 29, 2010 | BlogMy take away from the use of guest stars on Sesame Street is that (like the guest stars) parents can be as morally elastic as we like when the kids aren’t watching, so long as we speak in gentle tones and put on pants when they are around.
The cookroom is on fire
October 19, 2010 | BlogForthwith the “kitchen” will no longer be referred to as such, but instead as the “cookroom”, which is more consistent with the nomenclature of the other rooms of the house, such as “bathroom”, “bedroom”, and “living room”. You’re welcome.