[design] Quark: State of the XPress, Spring 2006

In our playing with QuarkXPress's 7 public beta, we've had an eye on marketing moves.

Even the lowliest consumer senses that about half (sometimes more) of what any big company does is marketing and managing perceptions. Quark, Inc. is no exception.

Quark is coming up with some good deals to get the punters to upgrade to QuarkXPress 6.5, though, with the end goal to setting up thier user base to move up to QuarkXPress 7 when the time comes.

One of the great open secrets in the digital design tools world is that, surprisingly to the tyro, InDesign isn't Quark's biggest competitor; QuarkXPress Version 4 is. That may sound strange until one remembers that when QuarkXPress 4 was the current release, it also was the king of the electronic layout (we don't like the term DTP) hill. The only real competition was the quondam king, PageMaker, late then of Aldus Corporation but then Adobe's foothold in the electronic layout world, and PM was at its creaky end. Though the first Adobe InDesign was nigh, it would turn out to be a wan debut compared to the current glory that is the current CS2. As far as Quark was concerned, it p0wned the market with no challenge in sight.

Then, of course, was the rise of InDesign and the plateauing of Quark. But, as they say, you can't argue with an installed user base, and this was true for QuarkXPress 4. Workflows industry-wide were based on this. A great majority of Quark's enterprise users are rumored to still run workflows based on 4.11.

Intervening versions gave Quarkers no reason to move up from software that was working for them. Version 5 missed the boat on Mac OS X compatiblility, which gave Quark a huge black eye, and has a reputation as having more bugs than a bait store; Version 6 was Mac OS X native, but that was pretty much all it brought to the table, while at the time InDesign sales were soaring based on features that XPress didn't–and apparently couldn't–provide; integration with Photoshop and Illustrator, transparency, and even finer typography.

QuarkXPress 7 is going to be a necessary update. In our opinion, the update will not blunt the Adobe assault on Quark's market share; it may slow it a bit, but it will be level pegging with InDesign CS2 at best, not leapfrogging. And this with the release of CS3 less than eighteen months out.

Quark's imperative at this point is to seem to convince QuarkXPress 4 users that there has been no better time to get ready to go to 7. They certainly have a nice upgrade offer up; according to this page, for those who already own an earlier version of XPress, a $199 upgrade is available which the promise of a $79 upgrade to QXP7, which is bargain basement pricing for Quark (it will be recalled that before the current marketing war, a seat of QXP regular ran about $1,000, with a seat of QXP Passport clocking in at about $1500). Don't have XPress at all? You can still get advantageous pricing of a new copy of XPress for $749 (currently it's retailing about $699) with the same $79 upgrade path to 7.

This should go a long way toward eliminating QuarkXPress 6/7's major competitor-Version 4.

Not just this, but if you take this deal, you get the highly popular ShadowCaster XT (transparence plus a whole lot of neat effects) XTension, a former ALAP product, for nothing.

Which, as it would seem, would be the same deal that current 6.5 owners (of which I am one) is getting. Nothing, that is; there is not a word on what people who stood with Quark and upgraded to 6.5 all this time are getting. At this point, we all get to sit on our hands.

Guess the QuarkXPress marketing attack still needs a bit of fine tuning.

Maybe Quark shouldn't give away the store to 6.5 users, but I think we deserve some respect for keeping the app on our hard drives all this time in current form.

[art and artists] Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light, Acting Out

I've admired Thomas Kinkade from afar. As an artist, he's much much more able than I could ever be; as a producer of modern kitsch, he has no equal.

He's also incredibly wealthy (am I a little envious? Perhaps. Sure, I'll cop to that; but in my defense it would be nice to be able to pay the bills without having to budget to the penny. But I digress).

In another example of how The Rich And Excentric Are Different From You And Me, this story at the Los Angeles Times (I think you need to register to read it) shows (I guess) the result of all that pressure on a person. It's tough to be a Painter of Light, and I guess all that pressure will get to you after a while.

[sundial_life] I Am Two-Tired

I have a bike.

I love bicycling. It's a sort of freedom and, so far, the only effective tool I've ever known to keep my weight down.

Some time ago, before the moving and the grooving to the site of the present Station, I purchased a used bike from a cow-orker. A mid-90's (I'm guessing) Schwinn World Sport, 10-speed, 27" wheels, middling-to-tall frame, drop handlebars (the way God meant a 10-speed to be, in other words), and in my dross-filled life, even though it was such a find, I parked it and never got round to fixing up the tires and cleaning the gears.

Lately, I've been chiselling bits out of our chaotic garage, bit by bit, and dug it out. Needed to air up the tires...should have been no big deal. But I couldn't find any of our bike pumps, not a one.

Get a new one, sure. Only...when I was more active, a bike pump was a long thing, like a short cane, with a hose that screwed into one end and an end which screwed onto the stem. The current ones clamp on to the valve stem (of which I've learned there are two types: the good old-fashioned (Schraeder) and the overbred (Presta) and look like they've been designed at DARPA.

I mean, what the hell? When did things get so difficult?

Wish I had Lance Armstrong here. We'd share a beer or two, I'd help him get over Cheryl, and he could explain all that to me. You know, liveSTRONG and all that. Anyhow.

At first I tried a Bell pump. The design of this left a hell of a lot to be desired. Returned it to Freddy's and got something from Target that had the Schwinn logo on it, that's supposed to mount on my frame...somehow. That's not exactly clear just now. Moreover, the storage hasn't been kind to the front tube, and no matter what I did, the front wheel wouldn't inflate. Of course, I might have been misusing the SuPeR-ScIeNcE bike pump (developed, you will recall, at some secret government lab).

One thing I did come away with were two 27" tubes that were self-healing, coated within with a substance imagintively named "Slime". This, I am certain, is an experiment in dealing with disposing of some toxic byproduct of something, but if it keeps me from having to change my tubes often, the tumors and the birth defects will have been worth it.

Actually, things looked up once I installed the new tube in the front wheel and aired it up (finally-the infuriation I felt at the futility of the old tube might have ruined lesser marriages, and that's all I have to say about that) and wheeled her out on the street in front of the house...

And then, the sturm und drang was all worth it. There is nothing, nothing at all in the world, like riding a bike. Nothing.

Now, here's the plan: from my advantageous positioning in Baja Gresham I am a shout away from the Gateway Transit Center. Reviewing transit fares reminded me why this area was originally outré: it's in TriMet Zone 3, meaning the cost of a monthly pass that will get me where I need to go is actually more than filling the Beetle (whose mileage looked great in '72, but now, not so much) for the same commuting each day. However, I can now ride the Schwinn to the GTC, MAX to downtown (2 zones, not three) and then leg it the rest of the way to the Salt Mine.

Which is a cool idea. Because you have absolutely no idea how much I need physical activity.

[42] Tagline of The Month

Whenever I hear the word spiritual, I reach for my revolver.

This tagline on the back of a book was enough to get me to buy it.

That book is ruining it for everybody, by Jim Knipfel, who, by the first few sentences in the introduction, seems about as on good of terms with the universe as I am. Since this chronicle may be read by children, if only accidentally, I'll not use them here.

[media] KWVT, Televison for Salem, Redux

It's been a looooong time since Salem's had a station that it can call its own. I'm old enough to remember KVDO-Channel 3, back in the '70's, and its studio at 3000 Portland Rd NE (the building still stands, I think; its on the east side of Portland Road, I believe the cross-street is Beach Ave NE), and I remember when it was moved to Bend after Oregon Public Broadcasting acquired it (and the damage caused when and upset view went out to the tower site and cut the thing down!). I also remember KECH-22 (called by me and my amigos "Retch-22") which was at first an outlet for a broadcast version of cable-style programming called "ON-TV" and which morphed into KWVT-Channel 22, which had actual local Salem news for a while before folding and becoming the local Home Shopping Channel outlet.

What television there was in Salem introduced me to that quirky televangelist, Dr Gene Scott.

Good times.

Now Tim King has decided to step into the Salem TV gap and create KWVT TV anew. Now, though, it's a low-power UHF at Channel 52, which is brand new for Salem. It's got a scrappy attitude and a "Salem for locals" approach which this jaded TV kid finds quite refreshing.

Tim King was late of KATU. As he says on KWVT's companion website, Salem-News.com:

After working for KATU for over three years, Tim recently separated from the station when the station’s new management decided to substantially reduce their coverage of the Salem area. Cutting ties with the Portland TV station now allows Tim to pursue the full development of Salem-News.com with his wife and business partner, Bonnie King, and several other team members.

Thier program schedule is available on thier website as a PDF: it contains small-market sports programming, old movies, minor-league professional wrestling (sound kind of exciting, actually!), a flock of half-hour shows, and an armful of what looks to be delighful old movies.

While Salem may seem bucolic (even I will cop to sometimes calling it "Snailem", but, I was a teenager there; it's affectionate, believe me) I agree it's been given short-shrift by current electronic media who see no profit in covering Salem. I applaud Tim King's effort; I hope he makes it, and I hope the Capitol City gets behind this one.

Variety is good. Local for locals is better.

[meme] O RLY? YA RLY!

I've been infected by one. According to this article on Wikipedia, O RLY got started over on a site called 4chan, an enourmous image playsite. The text-messagy tetragrammaton is apparently intended as a reference or perhaps a mockery of AOL speak or text contraction, and actually means "Oh, really".

It typically appears as an "image macro", that is, text merged with a picture, typically Photoshop. During O RLY's stay on 4chan, some wag wordfiltered "repost" to the word "owl", and a beautiful and very silly thing was born: the O RLY owl, the iconic example of which you will find illustrating this post.

That dam' snowy owl is so danged silly and cute I couldn't get it out of my head...

O RLY, it is said, is best served sarcastically or mockingly, as in a response to a dead stupid question (yes, there are such things): "Fire is hot!" "O RLY?" Typical response is "YA RLY!", which a likely reply is "NO WAI!", for which a further response would be "WAI!". The iconic responder seems to be a seriously-visaged horned owl. For those of you who know what a YTMND is, I would classify this as a relative.

Though someone posted the cover of the critique The O'Really Factor as an O RLY, it doesn't really qualify to me; it's just a posting of the cover with nothing added or played with. I thought that this serious subject deserved more of a disciplined approach, so, that being said, here's a screenshot of a concept I like to call The O RLY Factor:

Yes, I am almost a Photoshop godlette.

Update: fixed the spelling in the title-tag. How embarassng! Now to re-ping...

[inspiration] The Quiet Earth

I'm a big fan of what they call 'cozy catastrophes'. While I'm a little shaky on the literally definition, the feeling I get is one of tales of immense calamity but not so complete that they destroy everyone and everything except a handful of fortunate unfortunates (or unfortunate fortunates) who either muddle through as best as they can, or else start anew.

I recently, finally got the chance to see a movie that I've been wanting to see ever since it was released–in 1985. That movie, The Quiet Earth, is quite a story. It seems to fit as a cozy catastrophe, although it has the hint of an end-of-the-world story as well. I was captivated by the poster art (excerpted here), but never got the chance to see it when it was new, and what few times over the intervening 21 years I did have the chance to view, it tended to be pre-empted.

What I did know about it was this: A scientist wakes up one June morning to find that everyone about has simply vanished. The world has been left as though everyone vaporized in an instant. The scientist deals with his loneliness and then tries to find out what happened, and if it will happen again.

Well, it is as interesting as that. But now I know it all. Spoilers follow.

On a fine June morning, Zac Hobson, who it develops is a scientist, wakes up to find that he seems to be the only man left alive. As indicated, all humanity (and most animal life) seems to have disintigrated, more or less simultaenously, leaving whatever they were doing in motion; an electric kettle at a gas station is boiling over, automobiles are left stranded in the middle of the road or run off the road, abandoned.

This does not reveal itself immediately; Hobson gets dressed to go to work. Finding nobody anywhere, he eventually arrives at the research station, which seems to be largely concerned with communication (it is dominated by a single huge satellite dish). Entering the station he tries in vain to find any other personnel who will answer, then descends to the actual lab which is underground. He does find one other person, a colleague, slumped over a rather futuristically-styled control panel. When Hobson sits the man up, he finds him horribly disfigured, as though he has been subjected to a lethal dose of energy.

A message on a video screen, cryptic to the viewer but all-informative to Hobson, declares Operation Flashlight Complete. After muttering a curse toward the dead colleague about the project, he allows the body to slump back down on the panel, which sets off alarms; some system is going live, and the lab is about to be flooded with ionizing radiation. The lift closes and locks. Hobson sets off a bomb to make himself a quick escape.

It soon becomes extremely apparent that Hobson seems to be in a world alone, and sets about at first enjoying his freedom and then suffering from his isolation. As he hits rock bottom, he attires himself in a ladies' slip, dresses himself up in a toga, sets up a number of celebrity cardboard cutouts and, in a triumphant speech to them supported by a battery of tape players broadcasting crowd sounds, Hobson proclaims himself President of Earth (as he remarked just shortly before to the Adolf Hitler cutout, "You've had your turn"). As the power grid, which had been going along for more than two weeks by this point finally packs up, the viewer realizes that Hobson isn't being megalomaniacal so much as he's punishing himself; he feels he's had something key to do with what has happened, and is being suitably condemned for his actions.

It's not until he stumbles, dazed from his isolation, into a church–holding a gun up to a crucified Christ, calling God to come out "or the kid gets it", and then blowing the figure to simthereens when God doesn't show–that he begins to recover. It is as though his madness has blown itself out.

Gathering supplies (including a generator), he moves into a sumptuous modern house overlooking the sea. In getting his bearings he begins to analyze the world about him, seeing what in the space-time fabric has shifted (if anything), he begins to rediscover his sanity.

Then Joanne, a cute redhead appears. End Part One, cue Part Two.

In Part Two, Zac and Joanne do a sort of awkward dance on the way to physical consummation (they, after all, are the last woman/man on Earth). Enroute they do more exploring, trying to find anyone else who may have survived, and Hobson does more research.

We learn how Hobson factors into what he figures happened. We learn that Operation Flashlight was an international energy project that was meant to establish an energy grid surrounding the whole planet, that airplanes could tap into and never need fuel. Hobson guesses that data and information they were getting from the Americans were incomplete, perhaps due to secrecy concerns, and that those gaps produced the effect that had caused everyone to vanish and may now be responsible for pulsating in the Sun. His earlier attempts at self-destruction relate to his sense of guilt for not speaking up and for complicity in being involved in the project.

We also learn that, according to Hobson's calculations, instead of electrons having only one constant charge, they have two and oscillate between them. The fabric of the Universe may not have merely been changed, it may have been made fragile.

Then, just as Zac and Joanne have become more or less comfortable together, strife arrives in the form of a very macho Maori: Api. At first suspicious, he holds Zac at gunpoint until he can meet him and Joanne together–a suspicion that melts as soon as Api realizes there's no threat.

But Api seems to have a cloud about him, and we soon find out why; in our first clue as to what happened when the Flashlight effect occurred, Api relates that, at what apparently was the moment of the event, a friend was trying very hard to kill him, and was just about to succeed. On the cusp of death, traveling down that tunnel toward the light, he returns to his corpus, his freind vanished into thin air.

Api eventually admits that his friend was trying to kill him because Api had, as he said, killed his wife, but doesn't explain the cirumstance. This doesn't go down well with Joanne, until it is explained that Api's friends wife had come on to him, and he had rejected her, apparently precipitating her suicide, which Api (and apparently his friend) found himself responsible for. We subsequently find that, at the moment of the event, Joanne was being electrocuted by a short in her hair dryer, and we find for the first time that Zac was attempting suicide over his conflicted feelings about Operation Flashlight.

At the same time that Zac is finding out that another full event is approaching, tensions between The Last Woman and The Two Last Men On Earth reach a head, and Zac, galvanized into action by what he has found, leaves the two in a frustrated rage when Api will not listen to him. Api, thinking it's a rage over his relationship with Joanne, gives chase with the aim of settling it once and for all. Joanne, furious with both of them, chases them down.

After tempers have cooled, the problem of the immenent repeat of the event is explained to all and Zac proposes a solution; destruction of his lab, which is a support point for the worldwide energy grid. While it's not clear if that will terminate the Flashlight effect there seems little else to try. Gathering two truckloads of gelignite high explosive, the three set off for the lab.

As they near the lab, Joanne transfers to Api's truck after he uses it to clear a particularly dangerous obstacle. Within about a mile of the lab a sensor Zac carries begins to go off; the lab is still being drenched in ionizing radiation: "it's like you'd be walking into a microwave oven". However, Api has turned off the 2-way; he and Joanne are busy getting into each other. After another harrowing vehicle interplay he does stop them and explains the problem.

Stopping at a guard station overlooking the lab, Hobson explains that he will go back to the city and get a robot that can pilot the truck in. Once gone, Api and Joanne waste no time in getting generous helpings of each other, but Api's actions don't seem so much in spite of Zac as they are in anticipation of his own end; he sees himself as driving the truck into the station. Joanne is inscrutable at this point...is she indulging herself or figuring out how to play post-apocalyptic head games with these two men.

Zac trumps them both. Suddenly, the truck is heard heading for the lab; they realize at once that Zac couldn't have returned that quickly. They watch as he drives the truck alongside the labe building. The ground under the truck, which is the ceiling to the underground lab, gives way, presumably weakened by the damage Zac had to do earlier to escape. The gelignite goes up, destroying the station. We see a tunnel...

And Zac Hobson wakes up on a beach. Is it on Earth? Is it even in this Universe, this reality? The end of the movie will leave one questioning where the characters have been all the time: was the world after the Effect the world that we live in, or were Zac, Api, and Joanne the ones to remove to a different Universe?

I like movies that don't resolve all the loose ends, that leave parts open to cogitate upon. Of course, that just doesn't mean any incomplete story is a good thing; theres a way to go about it. The Quiet Earth does it just the right way, by giving my mind grist for expansion, the way a Zen koan causes one to try to leap beyond logic into purposeful illogic.

And the end will gently blow you away.

[design] Klein's Three Basic Laws

These are personal, as are the names. The reader may borrow them if they wish.

Cutsforth's Axiom

• "Never let the computer design for you"-Cecelia Cutsforth, Graphic Design dept chair, Portland Community College.

This was maybe said in so many words maybe a handful of times but was repreated in countless ways throughout her instruction. The point is, with digital design tools the sine qua non of graphic design today, a sort of laziness can set in. With a few keystrokes and a mouse-click or two a Photoshop user can deliver special effects not even dreamt of ten years ago. But these tools are complex and have seemingly innumerable adjustments. Sometimes it's easier just to issue the command and move on.

In doing this, you've let the computer, via defaults, make decisions you, the designer, should perhaps have made. In a small way, you've reliquished the right to call yourself a creative, which is also part of the point.

Tools will make your job easier and quick, but it's you who must use the tools. My own corollary to this would be that if you do settle for defaults, do it with knowing. Understand you've made the choice to go with the default and work with that choice. And, if the defaults don't work for you, create new ones.

Remember, double-spaces between paragraphs are fine for Word users, but you, designer-person? Space before and Space after. And style sheets!

Gruber's Rule

• "A designed thing should look designed"-inspired by Linnea Gruber, Graphic Design instructor, Portland Community College.

This was a theme I took away from Linnea's instructional style, and driven home by a few personal moments of discovery. Naturally, the non-designer can't necessarily pick up the cues that the designer knows to look for (alignment, hierarchy, color, etc) that the designer will probably see but the designed piece will feel more finished, more complete than the one whose design amounts to something thrown up against the wall to see if it sticks.

On the other hand, once again, design is a thing of intention too: if the feeling is one of randomness and chaos, then that can show. But, strangely, that too can be designed. Is communication going on? Then design has happened.


Goudy's Proposition

• "Anyone who would letterspace lower case would steal sheep"-attributed to Frederic Goudy, Type God.

This statement isn't particularly secret or will benefit from my commentary, indeed, it inspired the title of a book on designing with type. Actually, as the Creativepro.com website review of the book Stop Stealing Sheep notes, the actual quote had to do with letterspacing blackletter. Being a Modern sort, I'll be blunt and say the reference to stealing sheep is a bit over my head but I think I get it; Goudy abhorred letterspaceing blackletter and minuscules and figured anyone who would spend their time doing that might also spend time in other disreputable pursuits. Dancing comes to mind.

This statement, to me, addresses appropriatness of design again. Most fonts, movable type as well as digital, are designed not only with respect to thier own forms but also to the space they have between them. Typefounders have already done the grunt work of letterspacing for us. Certainly attention must be paid to overall kerning and tracking, but letter-to-letter, the basic stuff is already there.

Note this seems to conflict with Cutsforth's Axiom but doesn't really; font metrics are designed by other designers. You aren't letting arbitrary computer defaults do your work for you, but the insight of whatever designer created the font and its metrics.

If, on the other hand, the font one's working with is a badly created font, then that's another issue. And, as far as stealing sheep, I'd just as soon walk up to one and go "kitty!".

[design] 99 Free Valentine Fonts, From Designorati

Once again, Designorati™ delivers you the goods: 99 free TrueType fonts, perfectly positioned for pitching perfect woo to your personal paragon of pulchritude.

Not necessarily for professional print usage–more for coming up with your last-minute desktop Valentine card making and having general fun.

Go here for them and for usage information.

[42] Working, working, working...

Personal obstacles are finally starting to clear a bit:

• Connectivity problems way down
• Stan is supplying some illos, for which mad props.
  
• Will be redesigning my webpresence and portfolio soon
• Will actually start drawing again (ye Gods, has it been that tough?)

More as news develops

[tech] X-Treem Computing

There is still life on Planet SunDial; we all sometimes have our issues to contend with. Jan-Feb 06 seems to be Issue Season around here.

To liven up this intermission (and to preserve what meagre presence I have in search engines and stat-counters worldwide) I share with my tens of readers something I Google™ up and load whenever I need a laugh (and there's been several of those times lately) something some Brit maniacs making up the Temple ov thee Lemur (warning: not necessarily work or kid-safe) did a while back.

The object is to take a vintage mobo driven by an Intel i486 SX 25 (you read that right) and make it explore regions it was never meant to explore.

You will laugh, you will cry, you will believe that this antique can be overclocked more than nine hundred percent...but I get ahead of myself.

Folks, I give you The Extreme Use Of Nearly Universal Cooling Hardware – though you can call it Project E.U.N.U.C.H.

Stand back.

[42] Those Were All Personal Days

While this humble chronicle isn't even near the most read blog locally, there are a few stalwarts who check this place on a regular basis. You will have noticed that my participation and presence have dropped rather remarkably.

I may not be the most popular kid on the block (and certainly not amongst the cool) but I have valued my consistency.

The unexpected hiatus began with my catching What Was Going Around™ back during January, Week 2. This developed into a cough that was pretty much a twenty four seven thing, with concomitant effects to my sleep. Things just kinda went downhill from there as my health, then my sanity hit something of a rough patch.

Midway through that illness, a hoped-for opportunity not only didn't pan out, but didn't pan out in the most despicable way. I'll not write on that just this moment; it is a sort of post that every aspiring designer passes, though, and as such is germane to the writing that I do do, so I'm developing something out of it.

Life, lemons, lemonade, that sort of thing.

I have suffered the disappointment of still not being paid to design more than six months since leaving school with a diploma. That certainly contributed to it.

But, mind, I'm not going for sympathy. Perhaps I'm just thinking this one out loud. If, in life, one must taste failure so as not to take victory for granted, that must go double or more for design, where the right combination of happenings can combine, so far as I've seen, to one very sweet success indeed.

Sure, I love design. That's a given. I also am uppity enough to think that I deserve to make a living at it.

So, I'm getting back to arranging a few things I'm working on as continuing projects:

• First, I so very much enjoyed that bit on Burnside Street I did a few entries back, I'm very much leaning toward making a series out of it. It's hard right now, for me, a night worker in a season with short days, to get the pictures I want of the street signs. So that one will start out slowly.
• Second, I'm going to continue finding local logos I like and pontificating. A love of logos is one reason I decided to become a designer to begin with (amongst other factors).
• Third, I have a goal of landing a regular design paycheck by the end of 2006. This has exactly one moving part right now: 1. Get a design job. It's a little weak, but I've learnt the value of starting small. I'll work it out.
• Fourth, me. That should go without saying.

Okay, enough self-obsession. The next entry down here will not be for a few days; I have a few article deadlines to meet, and I am way behind in planning.

Tomorrow is a work day. Writing, writing, writing. Tuesday we visit The Squirt™, who stays with The Mom™ and The Dad™ down in my old home country, about an hour away.

[sundial_life] Synchronicity

Like many, I saw the news about a fire in a south Salem duplex that tragically claimed the lives of two very sweet children.

Understand that I wish to make no light of this situation, but I was bugged by how familiar that duplex looked. After dialing up the Statesman Journal's coverage of it, my suspicion was confirmed; I lived in that very complex when I was in high school.

If my suppositions about which individual unit is correct, I likely lived in the other side of the very duplex which burnt.

Update, 24 Jan 06 at 0713: I have just heard on the radio that the cousin of the two victims, who was at Doernbecher being treated, has passed. Truly one of the most tragic of tragedies is the loss of a child. Think of the Arendt family in whatever prayers as you may.

[design] Hangin' With QuarkXPress 7

Thanks to the indispensable Pariah S. Burke, I have the QuarkXPress 7 public beta.

It's bigger than 100MB, and here am I still on dialup; if I were left to my own devices I'd be downloading it for the next two weeks. Once again, I owe him one.

Experiences so far are positive; I won't go into too much detail because I need something to write about for either QuarkVsInDesign.com or Designorati.com (or maybe both). But I will offer a few quick takes on what I've seen so far:

• The program runs pretty smoothly. I, however, am not the most demanding QuarkXPress user. Short shameful confession; I have actually never used QXP in a professional mien. The only layout app I've used in a professional role is Adobe InDesign; 2.0, CS, CS2. If anyone has a freelance opportunity that requires QXP, feel free to contact me. I'd like to use it as such.
• The program version (as illustrated) is QXP Passport. Passport is the version of QXP enabled for international publishing, meaning it includes multi-language dictionaries, hyphenation rules, et cetera. If you use one of your own old *.qxd files to test drive it, you will probably want to Save As a QXP7 version; if you save this file back out, you might not be able to open it again if your regular version of XPress isn't Passport. Another question asked by Quarksters and InDesignistas alike is if XPress now groks OpenType and Unicode, why does Quark have a Passport version (usually much more expensive) at all, when Adobe InDesign has always offered alternative language support for no extra price? That would appear to be a question for the ages. Nobody knows or understands, and Quark certainly isn't sayin'.
  
• New program icon (see illo). It's pretty cool. I'll miss the water lily, however...I thought it had style. Am I the only one who thinks that that thing filling the counter of the shiny, chrome Q is a yellow traffic light? Yellow traffic signals mean caution, donnay?
• Program interface – big thing for me, for reasons I won't go into here – has been polished up a bit. But it still looks like XPress 4. But they are needed improvments. Big improvements to the floating palettes; they can be grouped and palette arrangements can be saved. Palette menus that remind one of Adobe's 'flyout menus'.
• Big question: QuarkXPress 7 better than InDesign CS2? Gut reaction right now: no. Weak showing when Quark needs to come on with a bang. Feature parity? Maybe. Won't get ex-Quarkers back from the clutches of Adobe, may or may not prevent Quark from losing more customers who are on the bubble. But for those who like this sort of thing, this should be just the sort of thing they'd like.

[42+1] Klein Bottle – No Relation

How would you like to have your very own 3D immersion of a 2D non-orientable manifold that can only truly be represented in 4 Dimensions?

What I speak of, of course, is the Klein Bottle. I have an affinity for all things Klein, and the Klein Bottle is amongst the coolest things I've found.

Now, all that high-talk in the first paragraph was just a way of saying a bottle with one side (take a good look at the accompanying picture, and let your eye travel about on it). In the same way that a Möbius strip is is a one-sided surface, a Klein bottle is a one-sided volume. It has only one side; or, looked at another way, its outside contains its inside. This, by the way, is what they mean by "non-orientable", which is another way of saying you can't say whether you're inside it or outside it.

The difference between 3D and 4D space is, of course, that in 3D space there is a hole in the side where the spot can come through and then be mated to the base. In 4D space the bottle's side is pierced by the spout but is still intact.

It's topology, so that's about the limit of my understanding too.

But the reason I told you all that is to tell you this: there's actually a company, Acme Klein Bottles, that makes and sells them. You can find 'em all there; classic Kleins, Erlenmeyer Kleins, even Klein Steins (which you may or may not be able to drink from). Prices range from $30 (for the small classics) to $12,000 (for huge Kleins for people with much more money than sanity.

Visit them...you must! It's a hoot!

(Illustration is copyright Acme Klein Bottles)

[design] Direct Link To QuarkXPress 7 Public Beta Program

In case you can't get through to Designorati.com to get to Quark.com to sign up for the free Public Beta download program, here's a link directly to Quark's Quark 7 page:

http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/seven/

Originally it was so overwhelmed by requests that it was returning confusing error-on-load message. That situation should have cleared up by now.

Here's the drill:

• Go to the QuarkXPress 7 page. Click on the Public Beta link.
• Submit the information.
• Quark fires you back an email with directions for downloading and a password.
• Follow the instructions in the email.
• The Wintel version is 111MB, the Mac version 147MB.
• Run it, play with it, but remember – it's beta. And it expires on 30 March 2006. That means some features won't work, the program may or may not crash, and there is no tech support available – but there is a forum available for discussion.

The buzz I've been hearing lately has been somwhere between positive and pleased.

[design, tech] Designorati, MWSF 06, and Quark 7

Well, I pick a hell of a time to take a couple of sick days, don't I?

This means that I wasn't able to take part in covering the breaking news with the rest of Team:Designorati, but no matter. They've done a hell of a job, which you should read.

In particular:

• Elisabetta Bruno on QuarkXPress 7 here.
• Jeremy Schultz on Adobe Photoshop Peformance on Macintel here.
• Vadim Litvak, Designorati's on-the-scene Macworld correspondent on what he saw there; here, here, and here.
• Beth Dean's cogent analysis can be found here.

And as someone who enjoys layout design just about more than anything else, it's notable indeed that the public is getting its first look at QuarkXPress 7.0. After the release date set at the tantalizing "Real Soon Now" for as long as anyone cares to remember, Quark Inc. has finally put up a public beta available for download (it's about 147MB, so you dialup customers, either find a broadband spout or prepare for a wait).

Pariah Burke mentions it here, at QuarkVSInDesign.com, including a link to Quark's Public Beta registration site. The Public Beta is automatically set to expire after 31 March 2006, so you still have to pay for an upgrade, but at least you'll get to see, at long last, what QuarkXPress 7 is supposed to look like, and after all this waiting, that's something to say.

[sundial_life] Little Triumphs

While the dream of networking The Wife™'s Win98 machine to my PowerMac G4 remains elusive, some improvments can be made.

Now, at least, the Olde Beeste has appropriate drivers, so we can hot-swap the Memorex 1GB Travel Drive or the Zip250 if we so choose. SneakerNet it is, then, and better than the typical Wintel 1.44 MB floppy, and less wasteful than endlessly burning CD-Rs.

The sound of a Zip250 spinning up whilst attached to a 1997-9 vintage Dell is something odd, let me tell you.

[pdx_life] Zim's Ball: Gone But Not Forgotten

From The Oregonian we find some good-ish news.

Over the last year The O has been running an ongoing series (in the East Metro pullout) about Gresham's first 100 years (it's Gresham's official centennial year). Now, I rib Gresham a lot but the series has been very interesting with many good pictures and stories. This last week was no exception.

The last page of it was a collection of quotes taken over the year. One was a loving rememberance of Zim's Shopping Center (223rd and SE Stark) by Jan Weston of Weston Pontiac, the firm that acquired the land and subsequently cleared off the old Zim's building, including the landmark ball-shaped sign (which I eulogized earlier).

The O quoted Jan as saying that the ball been carted away to storage. It didn't say what they planned on doing with it, but I certainly hope we can see it put up again some day.

Good on you, Weston-the building was dilapidated, but the sign was unique. I'm hoping you honor it's uniqueness.

[design] Designer World Domination Continues

A comment in this post on this chronicle by Cat Morley (thanks, and I'm honored!) of Designers Who Blog alerted me to another kudo: the site IF (http://if.psfk.com) has featured not only DWB but Chris Gee's excellent site The Prepared Mind it it's list of Top Ten Design Websites of 2005.

My goal is to get up there for 2006. Gotta get started...

In the meantime, congratulations to online designers who show the way and, seriously, inspire me daily.

[42] Thanksgiving in December

Most people think thanks 'round the end of November, but for me it's the New Years that causes me to put on my Janus face.

In the work I've got to do to keep us in house and The Wife™ supplied with diabetes meds, I tend to work holidays. Holidays, as I like to say, are for other people; when most of you who deign read my small ramblings are looking forward to a party of time off, I have get read to go off to do the drudge.

In a way, this is liberating. We celebrate our holidays our way. We had our home Christmas two days after most of the rest of you, and I use New Years not to make resolutions but to look back on the year before and think thanks and kindness about those who've helped smooth my way and those who have done what they could to remove obstacles thoughtlessly thrown in my way by others.

Thanks, then, to the following:

Pariah S. Burke. I've written about him before. He has the site I Am Pariah, where you can see his work; he's had nearly 20 years experience as a creative and has done many of the things I wish I could do. He has been my accidental mentor, and I am in his debt to be able to say that. He's given me the chance to write professionally through QuarkVsInDesign and Designorati. Indeed, if it weren't for him, there would be no such sites and at this point, it's enough to say that I've helped. Thanks to Pariah, I've done actual editing work on an actual book, and my name's in the credits. That alone is more than I've ever done before and it was a hell of a lot of fun.

We are now building Designorati (and I'm thankful for the Team there; you all know who you are) and are steadily gaining altitude. I got in on the beginning and am using it to push my own envelope.

I am doing about as well as I can as a designer without actually having a steady design job (got some irons in the fire though) and that keeps my hopes up and keeps me honing my own craft. And Pariah isn't the only one who's helped, but if it weren't for him, I would be a lot more desparate and discouraged. As it is, I stay hungry. And it's thanks to this unique individual. Thanks, Pariah.

The Wife™ We have about the number of bickerings you'd expect out of marrieds but we get along famously and no matter how we feel about each other we can't imagine life without the other. You can't have the good without the bad, but when you have the bad you always remember that after working through the bad the good's coming.

She's looking for work so I can spend more time looking for design employ. Send her good wishes, will you?

My other friends There are a few friends, especially from my SCA days, that I don't mention enough. Latterly there are two, Leslie and Friday, who have shot me emails and I have yet to answer them (If you're reading this, guys, I know I owe you email replies). Particulary Friday, who I appreciate not nearly enough, keeps an eye out for job openings (thanks for the ref to Columbia Sportwear, Friday!).

Team:Designorati Go to this link, will you, and look at who I get to hobnob with. This is why I'm luckier than most of you.

People who have linked to me Is it a popularity test? Maybe. If so, I'm not playing it well, but I have some pretty special people linking to me, including a couple of heroes. Stan springs to mind because he always is very nice to me and sometimes includes me in some neat things, like Zrharc!. Jeff Fisher is also another person I'd like to grow up to be. He was one of my inspirations to go into design and now that I'm here, he linked to me (defn:nifty). Homopoliticogeek was the first person to link to me, and he comes and goes, but I'll always be grateful for that link because he just did it, didn't tell me or beg for reciprocation, and that's flattering. Stumptown Confidential, pril, Mover Mike have always been extraspecialnice to me and I appreciate that. It makes me feel like I'm liked around here.

There are many others who've pulled for me in their own special ways. If I forget to mention you, it's 'cos it's late in my day, and I'm a bit cotton-brained.

Gerry Rafferty, in the dedication to his landmark album City to City (you know, it's the one with "Baker Street" on it), remarked thanks to all those who helped, and curses to those who hindered.

I'd like to echo that. I'll try to remember everyone I can, as I make my way forward.

[logo_design] Intel, Leaping Ahead

So, it's the ashcan of history for the familiar old "dropped-e" Intel logo and the tagline "Intel inside". Now it's a new minuscule look with a jaunty oval swipe and the tagline "Leap Ahead".

You all are going to have to update your Intel-based jokes.

The new logo does preserve a link to the past with the traditional Intel blue, and the minuscules hark back to the old logo as well. The oval swash alighns with the baseline of the word "intel", completing the curve made at the lower left hand corner of the "l", and sweeps around back of the logo then comes back up front to connect with the new tag line.

While reviews of the new logo design have yet to trickle in, I had an interesting reaction to it; I was originally unconvinced that Intel needed a logo-level revision program, but now that I've seen the new logo, the old familiar workhorse seems dated. Perhaps it was high time for Intel to freshen up its look.

It's all part of a new branding overhaul that will eventually see the Pentium's retirement in favor of Intel's newer designs. I'm not that much of a tech watcher, so I'll link to a much better coverage of the shift by The Washington Post here.

[design] Win A Copy Of Illustrator CS2 @ Work

Pariah S. Burke's, Illustrator CS2 @ Work is a brilliant bit of how-to, and I'm not saying this just because I tech-edited the book. Which I did.

Pariah is a local designer who needs no help from me, of course, but since I did tech-edit the book I got to road test the projects. They taught me some new things that I use when I use Adobe Illustrator today.

Well, if anyone's interested, CreativePro.com's weekly giveaway this week is a signed copy of Illustrator CS2 @ Work. Go here to enter to win one of five copies they're giving out (you have to register on CreativePro.com to enter, but that's free, and CP is a very useful site to know).

And, while you're at it, visit Designorati.com and see what we all have been up to. We do and do and do for you people, you know.

[logo_design] Glacier Northwest

First, for a casual comment: I completely dig the Glacier Northwest logo.

Second, while you read the following comment, think on the logo itself. If you've never heard of Glacier Northwest, what industry do you think it's in? What product or products do you suppose it produces?

Now, the commentary.

The Glacier Northwest logo is a clever interplay of abstract form, letterform, and shape play. The star is an obvious motif here (not to mention something with a strong human resonance), but, if I can don my Captain Obvious cloak here, it goes so much farther.

The breaking up into individual shapes allows a great deal of play. The ends of the angles are drawn into the center, forming the distinct impression of a majuscule G (thus, of course, the initial of the company's name) in clever ways without actually forming the letterform itself. The opposite ends of the angles overlap the next angle, expanding (again, without actually constructing) the letterform's presence within the design and melding the two aspects (the star and the G) into one very remarkably good looking graphic concept. The extensions to the angles also give a dynamic tension in the design that suggests, to me, clockwise rotation or perhaps a spiral, which is amongst the most attention-arresting graphic symbols I know.

The name of the company is drawn into the logo by deconstructing the lower left hand starbuck (that's what the point on a star is, in case you didn't know) and extending it to become a stem stroke in the A in the word "GLACIER". The word itself is a simple, utilitarian, modern sans-serif, direct in communication, resistant to dating. The blue-green color evokes the color of glacial ice.

This is a captivating logo.

Okay, now I promised early on to tell you, if you didn't know what industry this company was in, to say so, but only after the logo was considered.

Would you be surprised if you were told that Glacier Northwest is amongst the largest, if not the largest, aggregate, cement, and allied building material concern in the northwestern United States and western Canada? Based in Seattle and with facilities across four US states and two Canadian provinces, it sells cement, concrete, and aggregate materials and building systems. There are a handful of Glacier Northwest sites in the Portland area as well as a major cement plant on the Willamette in Portland near Swan Island, easily identifiable by the dome-shaped building with the G-Star logo on all sides.

What's most notable in this light about Glacier Northwest is that its logo exhibits no obvious connection to cement, concret, or building materials whatsoever, and this is also a concept of logo design. Logos can make some direct or obvious connection to the industry or business the logoed company engages in, but there's no law that says they have to. It is an appropriate avenue, but not the only one.

What companies what Glacier Northwest seem to strive to do is to highlight, oftimes indirectly, some quality or impression they want to express about the company – some character attribute that is a decided positive. The star logo may be expressive of the self-view of a company that dominates in its industry: an industry leader, well-acknowledged in quality and market coverage. A star indicates primacy on a map; the five-pointed star, in particular, is the traditional denoter of a capital city.

On the other hand, someone in the company might have thought that having a star-shaped logo is just a darned good idea. Which, in my opinion, in this case, it is.

[42] Many Happy Returns of the Season

There's too much arguing lately over how everyone's going to tolerate how other people refer to and respect this holiday season.

As a matter of fact, there's every reason to remember that not only did the Christians decide to celebrate the birth of Jesus during the modern month of December, but also many cultures and creeds in many countries the world over have, through history, jubilantly raised a candle to the dark in the depths of the short days and cold nights of wintertime.

So, even though I identify myself as a Christian (to be exact, a "lapsed" adherent to a creed who has a very scary looking man resembling Kris Palpatine as a temporal leader), I have no problem with the word "Holidays" (which evolved from the word "holy days" – will you people please crack a book?), Christmas, Kwaznaa, or whatever you want to do. Nobody's storming my house to tear down my Christmas tree and, if I so chose, I could go to any Christian church in America to worship if I wanted and I don't have to worry about someone persecuting me for it.

Trust me, Christians in America don't know from persectution. but I'm starting to digress.

So, everyone, in your own personal way, raise a candle to the darkness, live in the moment in your own way, and look forward for the spring, for that is what humans on this planet have always done.

Build community. Respect your neighbor.

And remember, an approximate axial tilt of 23.5 degrees is the reason for the season.

Have a happy 2006.

[net_life, xmas] Alek Komarnitsky Does It Again, This Time for Charity

Updated 2005-12-19 21:37 PST

Last year, Coloradan Alek Komarnitsky posted a link to a page that allowed people from all over the world to come and play with his Christmas light set. Page controls allowed people (or so it was claimed) to switch on and off different zones of his display and play with the yard decorations.

It turned out to be a hoax, with a lot of press getting inexplicably mad at him. It seemed to go over well with the general public, though, who thought it was a good and funny 'gotcha'. I thought it was quite the splendid goof.

This year the King of Lights let me know he's back with a display that he says is quite real, no hoax, and you can play with it too. Four zones of lights and inflatable yard decos of Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, and The Incredible Hulk (don't make him mad!) that you can play with and frolic at your leisure (though I must echo his request to please don't make the neighbors mad).

An additional bonus this year is that Alek is using his display as a gateway to give people a chance to do a good deed. Celiac disease – gluten intolerance – has recently made the news. Far from being a 'rare' or 'formerly just European' (as I read somewhere) disease, it is only now coming to prominence. It is an autoimmune disorder with currently no cure. Alek's FAQ on the disease provides food for thought.

Go here to see Alek's current display and have much fun with his power bill (until 22:00 MST (GMT -7), anyway) And then, if you're so inclined, click on the green donate button to help Alek raise money for Celiac research, which is, as of this writing, up to $3,160.

Light on, Alek.

Update: After telling Alek about my posting, he emailed me back. The link to the hoax reaction has been redirected to his defnintive page about the hoax phenom, and I've replaced the earlier pic with a new one from his archive, which has an "on/off" switch on the roof, which I think is a hoot.

His neighbors are actually quite supportive of his antics. As he said to me in email:

My neighbors are actually very supportive and have been great.
I would not be able to let the lights actually blink (in real life)
if this was not the case.

What a cool group of neighbors, neh?

More "power" to you, sir.

[pdx_life] How I Hate It When They're Right

It's said that weather here in South Cascadia is, despite all the modern prognostication tools that exist, notoriously unpredictable.

I don't know if that's just reputation, subjective truth, or actual truth. I do know, as a native-born Oregonian, that once you think you know what's coming down the pike, there is a large chance that you are going to be hoisted up on one very large pétard.

The wind, we find, has introduced us to the wonderful world of minor home repairs – the wind took the metal cap off the chiminey. Now, we have to go up on the roof and look into things. Also, the commute into work tonight is going to be a stone cold pain in the exhaust.

Work itself is going to be an exquisite agony. I wish I could go on about it, but at this time, I have a strict embargo on news from the barely-bill-payer. Have notice that opining about that on the 'blogside gets you into trouble these days.

At least I have the next three days off.

[Address_Nerd] Portland Signs: Burnside Street

From the so-far notional Field Guide to Portland Streets, I give you one of the essential structures in Portland's street Geography.

Burnside Street is, in its way, a street that runs through every Portlander, if only to give us our sens of place in the city – I daily run into no shortage of people who, when asked about where they live in town, without drawing a second breath, cite thier compass quadrant (NE, SE, SW, NW, N) before they say anything else – even those of us who call Baja Gresham home. In a strange way, it matters. Subjectively speaking, NE carries the upper-middle class connotation, SE is blue-collar working-class, NW is trendy apartment dwellers, SW is relative sumptuous hillside dwellers and uptown sorts, and N seems to be everyones poor relation. Your mileage will essentially very on this; the preceding are stereotypes necessarily, for reasons right and wrong. But it's all based on this street.

The reason for that is that Burnside Street, is one of the two essential spines (the other being the Willamette River) from which the address system of the vast majority of the three-counties of the Oregon side of the Portland SMSA depend. We humans order our world based on major points. This is one of them.

The namesake of Burnside Street was a early Portlander named David W. Burnside (d. 1887), a rather successful pioneer businessman and merchant. According to Snyder, He was a Vermont import, arriving in Portland in about 1852, and was the husband of one Jane Davis (daugher of the man Davis Street was named for). Amongst his other notable achievments is serving on the Portland City Council and serving as a volunteer fireman. He worked with Savier & Co, flour merchants, eventually partnering with Thomas Savier and eventually starting his own concern, Imperial Flouring Mills.

The precursor to Burnside Street was "B" Street in the original west side street plan, in what we call today the NW "Alphabet District", and was named for Burnside in the Great Renaming of 1891. Historically, today's downtown West Burnside was the rough end of town, known as Portland's "Bowery" when this was a much smaller town; as history came forward the areas of Burnside in the city's core became a place where homeless and jobless men and women "on the skids" lived, leading to a further uncomplimentary name: "Skid Row".

But Burnside, in its over 10 miles of length within Portland, wears many faces. The farthest west end – known also as West Burnside Road – travels up the gullies and across the top of the Tualatin Mountains, Portland's West Hills, near some of the most notable city addresses, not the least the great Pittock Mansion. East of the city core Burnside travels through a small commercial strip before disappearing into the undulating patter of Laurelhurst by the time one reaches E 39th Avenue, the upper middle class districts of the east 50s, 60s, and 70s, ascending one shoulder of Mount Tabor before reaching 82nd Avenue, then crossing I-205 into the modest homes, apartments and incomes of Baja Gresham, where it becomes the location of the Red Line (the oldest branch of the MAX system) until 197th at a place called by the Oregon Electric RR Ruby Junction.

East of 181st Burnside bends south, becoming successively SE Burnside Rd, and NW, NE, and SE Burnside Rd in the Gresham address system before ending at the Highway 26 junction on Gresham's east side. The address base carries on as a notional line straight eastward from there.

[logo_design, pdx_history] Now, That's Tom Peterson's!

Does the word "Xonix" mean anything to you? Does the thought of a cheeful fellow with a laser-precise crewcut knocking on the inside of your TV screen exhorting you to "Wake up! Wake up" at oh-dark-thirty on KPTV tug at the heart strings of nostalgia for you? Ever get a free crewcut at 82nd and SE Foster on a Saturday?

Then you know of the Portland legend that is Tom Peterson. Yes, yes, I know it's "and Gloria's too!". That is true now. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. First, the logo talk.

The Tom Peterson's logo is singularly distinct and recognizable (see illustrative photo above right, click on it to enlarge). It's Tom. Smiling at you with his signature smile, the happy-to-see-you look that was his trademark, his face had become so familiar to Portland area daytime and late-late-show (and, yes, Portland Wrestling) viewers that he was the company. You didn't go to Tom Peterson's store . . . you went to Tom Peterson's. He could often be found there, especially during his weekend sales that turned the corner of SE 82nd and Foster Road into a happy circus of furniture, applicance, and Xonix television sales.

The treatment is what is called high contrast. Take any photo and winnow it down to the lightest light highlights and darkest dark shadows, discarding all other shades of gray. Tom's face rendering for his company's identity is a good enough example of high-contrast that it could serve in a textbook. The benefit of high-contrast treatment is that it enables the logo designer to render a very complicated symbol or design, such a human face, into a simple yet recognizable format that expands to Biblical proportions (again, see illo above) and can yet be reduced down to below postage-stamp dimensions (your business card, for example) and retain its recognizable features. It travels well (even to graffiti stencils and the pages of the comic Boris the Bear) and becomes an icon.

The distinctive type treatment, featured on the building and in ads, is also a graphic mainstay of the company's image, just as instantly recognizable as Tom's face.

Just like the fellow whom it depicts, the Tom Peterson logo is a winner.

For the Love of Tom and Gloria

And now, a bit of history.

Every major market in the country has their local advert heroes/cult figures. I recall there was this chubby guy in SoCal who sold cars, would breathlessly rush through his adverts, ending with "Se habla Español!" and "Bye Kids!", and there was Crazy Eddie on the east coast.

Tom Peterson was ours. From the mid-Willamette Valley northward, there wasn't anybody who didn't own a TV who didn't know his name, he was that ubiquitious. And, over the years, by doing what he loved – selling TVs, appliances, and home furnishings – with his trademark look, enthusiasm, and passion, he became a Portland mainstay.

By the time the early 1990's rolled around, he was king of SE 82nd and Foster, with the store on the corner (the current building), the big store on the north side of SE Insley St just east of 82nd (it's an Oriental market now) and a store about a block and a half west of 82nd on the south side of Foster (it was a United Furniture Warehouse until that chain folded, and now stands empty). For his weekend events he gave out free chips, hot dogs and sodas, free crewcuts, and had a trolley bus running between the three buildings so you didn't have to cross the busy intersections (that much hasn't changed).

Just as famous as his wares were the souvenirs. For a long time you could get a wristwatch with Tom's face on it and an alarm clock, shaped like a little TV set, with Tom's logo on the face. There are probably people still around Portland who have Tom's voice in the AM exhorting them to "Wake up! Wake up and have a happy day!" Yes, they really did have Tom's voice saying that.

Logo designers, take further note: you never know where your design may end up. Design accordingly. Anyway.

Coming into the 199o's, Tom was going well, with $30 million in yearly sales. If you date back to that time you may also recall another name "Stereo Super Stores". It was another local retailer, a chain of stores which competed with Tom in the TV and electronics biz. It wasn't doing so well, and the owners wanted to sell. Tom was doing well – why not sell to Tom? Tom wanted to expand, and the SSS owners wanted out of the business. Win-win-win.

Only, Gloria, Tom's wife, who had done the books for Tom for a very long time, had a bad feeling about it. Everything looked good, but something was amiss. She couldn't put her finger on it. She thought taking over the SSS was a bad idea. Tom, confident that this would be a good deal, went ahead and took the plunge.

The company pretty much went down with him. Within 18 months after buying Stereo Super Stores, Tom Peterson's was on the ropes, declaring bankruptcy. And, for a while, the only appliance store owner who'd ever been in a Gus Van Sant film sank from the Portland commercial landscape.

They say, in an old saw, you can't keep a good man down. And Tom is a good man. Tom regrouped. Family saw him through, and he set up once again, under the name Tom Peterson's and Gloria's Too!, giving due to the woman he ought to have listened to all along (though her face doesn't grace the building, nor her name, her visage has joined Tom's in the company logo and she appears in the store's commercials). The company is now organized under his daughter and son-in-law, but Tom, now in his 70s, still runs the show.

The store is kind of a shadow of its former self, but if you stand outside you can kind of hear echoes of the way it used to be. And, for the time being, the King of 82nd and Foster still holds court there. No 24-hour "Wake Up!" sales anymore, but the smiling visage of Tom Peterson still gazes benevolently over one of the busiest interesections in Portland, Oregon.

[metro_transit] TriMet Goes Biodiesel – But Just A Little

TriMet is going with the biodiesel. There was much rejoicing.

Well, I was thrilled. When I got into the guts of the press release, though, the achievement didn't seem so major.

Starting this month, TriMet is going to start using a biodiesel fuel called "B5". B5 has come down in price so that it's now economical to use. They're piloting it in 75 buses before using it in the whole fleet – of LIFT buses.

TriMet LIFT is the paratransit program, of course. If it works out in the 75 buses then they'll expand B5 use to the entire fleet – of LIFT buses. There are 210 of those. The press release makes no mention of when (or even if) B5 is to be used in the entire fleet, which would seem to me to make more of a difference.

B5 is rendered from used commercial cooking oils, and is a mixture of petroleum fuel and biodiesel fuel. 95% petroleum to . . . 5% bio.

So, TriMet is using biodiesel . . . plus! The biodiesel is being rendered from local producers (such as Kettle Foods) . . . plus! In a minority fraction of the fleet . . . minus. And only 5% of the fuel is actually biodiesel . . . minus. The release goes on to say that if the biodiesel LIFT bus test is successful they'd evaluate using it in the 611-unit main fleet.

I'd like to see them using more biodiesel and ramping it up a little bit faster. One of our economical problems is dependence on foreign petroleum, and this all seems a bit . . . casual. Maybe I just don't get it. I want to be impressed by this but somehow I just don't feel all that impressed by it.

[42+1] Robert Sheckley, 1928-2005

It has been reported that Robert Sheckley, acknowledged master of and one of the deep thinkers of science fiction, has passed away at a hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY, at the age of 77.

A longtime resident of Portland, many know of him through the 1992 movie Freejack, which was a loose adaptation of perhaps his most famous novel, Immortality, Inc (1959). Though it was given a hard time by the critics it was a fun movie, viewable and re-viewable. Long admired by fans, he was also highly regarded by his peers; Brian W. Aldiss said of his writing that , at his best, Sheckley was "Voltaire-and-Soda", and Harlan Ellison opined that "If the Marx Brothers had been literary reather than thespian fantasists, they would have been Robert Sheckley."

In Science Fiction, Sheckley's name was great, and he was a gem stashed away here in Portland.

Find out more about the life and works of Robert Sheckley here (his official site).

[net_life, pdx_geography] Google Hearts TriMet

There's this thing that's all the rage lately, with all the net-based map services opening their APIs to the public, and that's called the "mashup": take their API, your needs and data, and mash 'em all up together.

TriMet's getting in on the act.

Google Maps (if buzz is any indication, by far the most popular API so far) has inagurated a new wing of the Great Google House 'o' Maps, Google Transit (http://www.google.com/transit). It is a beta test version, but the system that Google Transit is beta testing out, is our very own TriMet.

This is a TriMet PR coup and they know it; the requisite press releases have been sprayed hither and yon (I got one – anybody can, just go to the TriMet website and subscribe). Since it's beta test, TriMet asks that for serious transit planning to please keep using the o-fish-o TriMet Transit Planner for now.

It's worth a look though.

[pdx_design] Portland Designers r0x0r!

Jeff Fisher, man in motion at bLog-oMotives, has publicized a worthy fact: The ominbus Designers Who Blog, maintained by Cat Morely of katz-i design, (who is, as is other designers such as Jeff and Pariah, much mo'smarter people than I) has been rated one of the top ten websites fo the month by HOW Magazine, an important design journal.

Why this is important for the local designosphere is that several of us local Portland-area designers are linked to from that 'blog. Amongst them, Jeff, Pariah, and Your Humble Servant.

There are others of note that you should also note. Read Jeff's post to find out which.

[logo_design, pdx_history] Well, We Won't Have Thomason To Kick Around Anymore

Gaze lovingly upon the logo, Portlanders. If what the Oregonian says is correct, we may be seeing the last of a long standing Portland commercial name: Thomason Autogroup.

Thomason has a storied history. Everyone who's watched a television in the Portland market in the last 10 years has seen one of the goofy ads (usually starring Scott Thomason himself), and the former logo, Thomason-head (cousin to Tom Peterson's head) that was ubiquitous anywhere within 20 miles of a Thomason dealership. The run of ads reached its zenith in the year-long "Greatest Car Commercial In The World" campaign, featuring Scott as the longsuffering dealer and Kid-in-the-Hall Kevin McDonald as a remarkably flamboyant video producer hired to helm the project.

Perhaps wanting to climb out of the pool on a (relatively) high note, he sold his stake to New York's Asbury Automotive Group in 1998. Scott's head left the logo as well. The replacement, while not having the obvious character of Scott's head, was effective in its way. Contained within the still-fashionable oval (which seemed to take the auto-logo world by storm when Inifinti debuted and still seems to rule) is, what appears to be, a road intersection at a hilltop. The green seems to then suggest countryside, the yellow, city. The intersection is, of course, a "T" intersection. The Thomason name is emphasized in the type with a mixed-case approach providing subtle artistry.

Though it lacked personality (as did the entire Thomason public face did after the Asbury aquisition) the logo itself is quite effective and I rate it as rather well-done. It's just – well, how can you ever follow Scott's act?

Since Asbury's entry, Thomason's stores have been – well, not so good. As this story (which you'll have to pay to read after fourteen days hence) from the Sunday Oregonian holds, Asbury has been quietly selling off the Thomason dealerships and should have them all unloaded by the end of the month. None have changed public names yet, though business names have been changing.

It is entirely possible, if not probable, that by the time 2006 is but a few months old there will be no more Thomason anywhere. The empire started by Scott when he acquired his dad Dee's dealership (Dee Thomason Ford, I think it was) will have ceased to be, gone not with a bang, but a decided whimper.

Goodbye, Scott. We scarcely knew ye – wait, I tell a lie; maybe we knew you too well.

(NB: anyone loading the autogroup's home page Thomason.com will note a nod to Dad in the page title: Deefault Thomason Autogroup Portland. I approve of the inside joke)

[blog_life] The BlogPatrol Report

In which I highlight BP search terms that just make ya go...hmm.

Well, that's what we're assuming:

"wayne faligowski, born"

My suggestion: purchase QuarkXPress:

"how to bypass adobe CS2 serial number"

Uh, what was the question?

"does an increase in unemployment cause you to go inside the PCC curve"

Inasmuch as he's still unemployed, I'm thinking "no":

"victor boc flow of money is it any good"

Well, when I menched it, I meant "mentioned":

"what does menched mean?"

Where you are when you're not at the end of the world, but you can see it from there:

"Idaho Falls"

Slim pickin's this time around, I'm afraid.