If PacMan Were On Twitter

2100.Further documenting my suddent Twitter fling:

(Credit: TheNextWeb)

Technorati Tags: Twitter, PacMan, Retro Games, Mashups

Chrome Might Be Pretty, But It Always Costs You Extra

2099.Google Chrome, the newest kid on the block, has impressed many (except those of us who use Macs) but the Chrome comes at an extra cost: It finds your memory most tasty.

Check out the figures in this benchmark test at dotnetperls.com.

Technorati Tags: Google Chrome, Browsers

Want To Be A Gmail Ninja?

2098.It's probably a hell of a lot easier than being an actual ninja, and since we're all using Gmail anyway (remember when you had to wangle an invitation? Sigh … good times, good times), some of these tips will be useful if you address Gmail in a browser window.

Find out by going to the Gmail blog.

Technorati Tags: Gmail, Gmail Tips

That Paul Simon Song About Kodachrome Isn't Going To Make Sense Anymore

2097.Because, after 74 years, Kodak is going to retire Kodachrome film:

Hellyar estimates the retail supply of Kodachrome will run out in autumn, though it could be sooner if devotees stockpile. In the U.S., Kodachrome film is available only through photo specialty dealers. In Europe, some retailers, including the Boots chain, carry it.

Photojournalist Steve McCurry's widely recognized portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, shot on Kodachrome, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak's request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, which honors the company's founder, in Rochester.

Selling less than one percent of Kodak's film stock – and esesentially supplanted by digital technology – only one lab still processes Kodachrome, and that's Dwayne's Photo, in Parsons, KS. In case you were curious.

Technorati Tags: Kodak, Kodachrome, Obsolescent Tech, Photography

This Is A Great, Sexy, Inspiring Cartoon Character

2096.Makes me want to open my sketchbook right now:

Here is her and 99 others (which run the gamut from abstract to cute to edgy) at designblurb.

Found via Design Float.

Technorati Tags: graphic design, cartooning, art

Looking For A Quick DIY HTML Resume?

2095.(also via Calvin at Mayhem Studios) Sometimes you just want to get your information up and out there. As someone who's trained in design I have certain disdain for the default, but even I know that there are some times when using a packaged solution is called for (lack of time, lack of funds, the desire to get-of-the-ground-and-get going).

So, for that eventuality, the Things That Are Brown design agency gives, free for the download, the SRT–The Sample Resume Template. The package is simplicity itself. One quick download will give you an HTML template file complete with and external CSS file. If you just replace the facts, you come up with a quick, tastefully-done, hit-the-high-points top-down resumé that can be uploaded to any host you can upload to.

Of course, being HTML means that you don't have to leave it that way. Its relatively basic HTML and CSS are, naturally, hackable, so if you enjoy the idea of this you can go back and edit it in a hot minute. Being basic HTML you can edit it with Dreamweaver … or with NotePad, TextEdit, TextWrangler, whatever.

So, hey, we can call this nifty. Did I mention it's free? Good on Things That Are Brown!

Technorati Tags: design, DIY Resources, DIY Promotion, self-promotion, graphic design, resumes

Hot and Now: Layers Magazine Back Page Design Contest

2094.(via Calvin at Mayhem Studios) Layers Magazine, the how-to magazine, has  a contest going to design a sports-event-style ad for the ultimate showdown between the Desktop and the Mobile Intarweb Devices, which may or may not be on SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!.

Prize is a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet and a copy of Corel Painter 11, so hell yah, this will be worth my time.

I knew I'd enter as soon as I realized I took one glance at the rules and started to come up with ideas.

This IS a Rebuilding Year.

Here are the details for the curious.

Technorati Tags: Layers Magazine, Honest Design Contest

I Know How This Feels

2093.Via @rodhillweather on Twitter: Rod Hill didn't get the KGW position.

But Rod has high praise for the man who turned him down. We always said Rod was a class act himself.

I'm sure he'll find another broadcast position very soon. He's just too good.

Technorati Tags: KATU, KGW, Rod Hill, Portland Media

Taster's Choice: Love That Aroma, And Those Image Use Rights

2092.Remember a while back, when the guy who did the "Yahoo-ooo!" for the Yahoo! internet portal TV jinglette sued Yahoo! because while he consented to allow Yahoo! to use it, he didn't consent for them to use it that widely or something like that?

IP has been something of a kicking ball ever since it's become so damned easy to find, link, and repurpose content. Bloggers and the wired class can suddenly find themselves on the wrong end of a DMCA takedown notice (this has even happened to me, as meagre a blogger as I am).

Today I stumbled on an example that comes right out of the textbook and serves to prove that it doesn't matter how big or small you are, even the big boys can be less than careful. Everyone who's been anywhere near a jar of instant coffee (yes, even here in Portland we have some) has seen Nestlé's legedary Taster's Choice brand of freeze-dried instant. For a long time, a part of the brand look and feel has been the look of a beatifically-satisfied coffee-drinker's face basking in the steamy aroma of a well-made cup of coffee.

Regardless of what one thinks about instant coffee (I'm from Portland – you can guess) the emotional chains the look is pulling are unmistakable to anyone steeped in the idea of brand-fu. The palette of rich warm colors connotes comfort and the whole approach connotes style and luxury (once again, with instant coffee, your mileage will vary). The satisfied look of the coffee drinker only serves to seal the satisfaction deal. The popularity of Nescafé and Tasters Choice only serve to prove the point.

But, as pointed out by Sarah Gilbert here, Nestlé's marketing team hit a bit of a snag:

Russell Christoff has the strong features and gorgeous dark eyebrows of a model. His hair is grey now, but he's still just as handsome as he was when his hair was still dark brown, back in 1986 and living in Canada, when he posed looking lovingly into a cup of Taster's Choice coffee "as if he enjoyed the aroma."

But, after the photo shoot, he heard nothing more from Nestle. He gave the company permission to use the photo in Canada, but not elsewhere. The photo was stuffed into the archives. Until 1998, when a Nestle employee was searching the archives for just the right "Taster" to portray the brand and chose Christoff's almost romantic photo. It's too bad Christoff doesn't actually enjoy the aroma of Taster's Choice, at least not enough to drink the stuff, because it wasn't until 2002 that he saw his own, younger face staring back at him from the shelves of instant coffee crystals -- in California, where he was working as a teacher.

Mr Christoff did the American thing. He sued.

It's been working through the courts for a while now; originally the courts awarded Mr. Christoff over USD$15 Million, but that got overturned, and now it's on appeal. The image was used from 1998-2003. Mr Christoff could die a rather wealthy (and apparently still good-looking) old man (what a catch he'd be for the MOTAS, yes? Alas, we have no word on his marital status). The Tasters Choice brand itself has moved on as well, sporting a new, more sophisticated look that depends on a human face not at all.

It just goes to show you, though, and illustrates the point, that no matter how big you are, you can still get into copyright trouble over images. It's so easy to do these days.

Technorati Tags: Nestle, Nescafe, Tasters Choice, branding, IP rights

Kudos: LostOregon In The Oregonian Today!

2091.LostOregon has long been a favorite of mine: John Chilson pursues Oregon history of the 20th Century via old ads, postcards, and other ephemera with a single-minded passion that puts even this Oregon native to shame.

We should all care more about our shared histories and the memories that make modern Oregon, Oregon.

Well, today, one of my favorite Oregonian writers (Peter Ames Carlin, whose command of the english language has made me smile in admiration more than once), takes on the proprietor of LostO and shows us what makes him tick.

Proper payoff for someone who obviously cares about where we all have been, and does it in such an entertaining way.

Time wasted at LostO is actually time well spent, and I recommend it highly, and not just because I was one of the first people he linked to when he set it up, way back when as Stumptown Confidential. Good times.

Congratulations, John!

Technorati Tags: Portland, Oregon, Oregon History, Portland History, LostOregon, Stumptown Confidential, John Chilson

Rod HIll: You Can't Keep A Good Weatherman Down

2090.Because I love media and follow both pretenders to the niche Oregon Media Insiders used to occupy (for the record those are Oregon Media Central and Oregon Media Insiders 2.0 (which is what I call it because it's not the offical successor to OMI) I feel obliged to report that Rod Hill, recently shown the door at The Deuce, has come back with a Twitter accound (@rodhillweather) and it's buzzed that he's coming back soon on another tellyvision station – but since this blog's mission is not necessarily to chronicle the Portland market, I'm content to let that one develop in its time.

I do find it cosmically amusing in an otherwise-ineffable way … Rod Hill's first follower? @KATUSteve, a/k/a Steve Dunn.

Technorati Tags: Portland Media, Portland TV, Rod HIll, Steve Dunn, KATU

A New Magazine For Oregon: 1859:Oregon's Magazine

2089.Because I love print and I love Oregon I note that there's a new magazine coming up very soon (if it hasn't already), produced by Deschutes Media, called 1859: Oregon's Magazine.

It promises a quarterly look at the real Oregon. If the Flash intro to the magazine's website is any indication, the photography is going to be nifty.

Kevin Max of Deschutes Media says this about it:

I describe 1859 as a National Geographic merged with a Condé Nast Traveler, but all done for our own Oregon

Sounds like it's going to be pretty charming.

Go here: 1859: Oregon's Magazine home page

And read a press release about it here.

Technorati Tags: Oregon, Oregoniana, 1859: Oregon's Magazine, Print design, Oregon media

This Cabbie's Tip Is Your Impromptu Artwork

2088.The function of a cabbie in culture is kind of a stereotype; he'll listen to your problems, keep your secrets, and get you from point A to B boldly, if the tip is right.

According to the New York Post, however, New York cabbie Fabio Peralta may happily accept your tip, but wants something else from you – a bit of your art:

Fabio Peralta has turned the back seat of his yellow cab into an art studio for his passengers, and has commissioned thousands of works.

As soon as a passenger hops into his Crown Vic, Peralta, a 40- year veteran hack, hands the rider a pen and a stack of computer paper.

“I tell them to create art, any kind of art,” he said.

He then collects the artwork, binds them into little glossy books, and gives them away for free to any rider who lets him vid them for 30 seconds doing whatever. Peralta's cab is just like a little Factory on wheels, it seems.

I've had many dealings with cab drivers, and found the reality to be significantly less romantic than you'd think. But the cabbie with creativity can use his (or her) flying perch to create unique works, almost as though they filter society and let us all look at in through the lens of someone who meets thousands of people a year but might not ever get to know them.

Thinking outside the box is a overused cliche. Some people can do it just right, still, however.

Technorati Tags: art, cab driving, cabbies, NYC cabs

More Ways To Connect Than You Can Shake A Bit At

2087.So, after catching the Twitter virus, I got in a couple of more socials, and was stunned suddenly by the number of connections I had.

So, in an effort to corral the beast, I went looking for all my important connections, and I've listed my social network access points at the top of the sidebar over there. I have found, amazingly, that I'm connected to no less than six points of access to the noosphere that I consider of some importance. Here they are:

1. Twitter: I tweet as SJKPDX. My Twitter URL is http://www.twitter.com/SJKPDX.
2. Blellow: Blellow is like an evolved Twitter for creatives. http://www.bellow.com/zehnkatzen
3. LinkedIn: Needs no introduction. http://www.linkedin.com/in/zehnkatzen
4. Facebook: After getting my own fashionable Facebook username, I'm http://www.facebook.com/samueljohnklein
5. Ning: I maintain a presence there after a bout of NaBloPoMo: http://www.ning.com/samueljohnklein
6. Plaxo: Almost forgot this one! http://zehnkatzen.myplaxo.com/
   
7. And my preferred email address, which seems more charming by the day.

So there they all are.

Technorati Tags: liff, net liff, networking, Samuel John Klein, ZehnKatzen

Doin' It Out In Public, Where Everyone Can See. Now, With Armbands

2086.I'm talking, of course, of World Wide Knit In Public Day, where the world becomes your auntie's craft room for the afternoon, and you just get to like it, mister.

A notable member of the PDX "Knitterati", Melissa Barton, has very charming pictures of the Pioneer Square insurgency. She even made armbands for 'em.

I have no interest in knitting, (my creative urge does not run to the fibre arts) but I enjoy what knitters do and the passion they bring. Past interactions with knitters have been fun and inspiring. But if these people ever get nuclear weapons … well, just watch out, I'm just sayin'.

Technorati Tags: WWKIP Day, Knitting, PDX Knitterati, Melissa Barton, Portland Knitters, Keeping Portland Weird, Keeping Portland Knitting

(Photo by Melissa Barton; hotlinked from her blog Days of Tea and Knitting)

Portland: You Can Ride Your Unicycle Here

2084.NB: Nifty thanks to Sarah Mirk of The Merc for teh linkage! Nifty!

Just one more reason Portland is 100% full of win: the unicycle lane:

According to this flickr user here, it's on NW Cornell Road, outbound, in the inner NW Portland nabe. Photo is by Shannon Henry and is Creative Commons Attrib/NC/Share-Alike 2.0 licensed. Good on Shannon.

All we need FTW? Unicorn lanes.

Technorati Tags: Portland, Unicycles, Unicorns, NW Cornell Rd, Portland Photos

Excellent Vintage Rotating Sign Still Spins at 42nd And Harrison In Milwaukie

2083.Down in Milwaukie for an errand today, the ridgetop area about SE 42nd Avenue/SE Harrison Street/SE King Road, by the gorgeous new Safeway store there, and at the gas pump, I found myself looking at a vintage bit of corner sign design.

The building on the SE corner of SE 42nd and Harrison has a Papa Murphy's Pizza store and Nisbett's Jeweler's. The main display area is what the call a "trilon" these days (portmanteau of "triangle" and "pylon", of which Papa Murphy's has two of the three sides and the jewelery shop, the third. Get a look at this little vintage specimen:

The thing has little lights all over it: all round the disc that is impaled upon the spike at the top, and three big ones at each corner of the advertising trilon, giving the whole thing this 60s/pop-sci-fi/UFO/Jetson's feel. It could use a coat of paint on the spike, but it's in otherwise good repair and is twirling away (unlike many which, through neglect or necessity, are left to swivel in the breeze as the electricity becomes too expensive or the drive breaks down and is left unrepaired).

Just this sweet little thing.

As I was recording this, an employee of the Papa Murphy's came out and asked me what's up, and I told her why I was pointing the camera. She smiled at that, and explained how the manager apparently saw to it that the sign was kept in repair.

So, hey, manager of Papa Murphy's at 42nd and Harrison in Milwaukie Oregon; good on you. You made me smile today.

Vintage Signs, Commercial Signs, Revolving Signs, Retro Sign design, Portland, Milwaukie, Oregon

And Meanwhile, In Japan … Samurai Armor Underwear.

2082.Yes, seriously.

Samurai armor underwear.

With special guests, the History Girls:

In these troubled times of economic stagnation, both men and women are looking back to the Warring Era, a time when blood ran hot and men were men. It may be a backlash the current trend of so-called "herbivore men", those who are mild in manner and focus more on friendship and fashion than sex and money-making. In fact, a new trend known as Reki-jo, or "History Girls" is bringing a flood of young women to historical bookstores and tourist attractions dedicated to those manly figures from the Sengoku Period.

I'm feeling more manly already.

(via numerous tips)

Technorati Tags: apparel design, world design, fashion, fad, Japan, Samurai Cool

Two Free Fonts: Days And Pico (The One Twitter Uses In Its Logotype)

2081.Twitter is really paying off in terms of win. Found two new highly fun fonts, one of which answered a question that I didn't know I had.

First is the font called "Days". It's a nifty design that rather reminds me of what a production designer doing one of those bubble-gummy dystopian flicks back in the 80s might have a Cyrillic font ca. 2007 might have looked like. Here's the specimen card from Behance:

I haven't read the license yet but, as you can see in the graphic above, it's billed as "free for use". Richard Darell, who Tweets as user "Minervity", linked to it, reviewing it thus:

Days is another neat and free typeface, again found on Behance, a real treasure trove of delights. This is so clean, modern and stylish. Love the curves, the rounded edges, the compact ’squared’ feel. I can see this being perfect for certain styles of logo designs.

Minervity's post about it is here at I'mJustCreative; Download it from Behance here.

The other one answers the question "was the Twitter logotype (the distinctive style of the letters you usually see the word "Twitter" in at the top of the page) designed or fonted?" Turns out it was fonted, and that font is called "Pico", a design that calls to mind Japanese child's cartoons and a Nintendo-ized Mario world:

Those responible for the design are the charmingly-named foundry Maniackers Design (a name which sounds like it leapt from the pages of Shonen Jump), and can be downloaded here. Minervity also broke this one, and espouses upon it here.

Two gifts for y'alls! Don't let me hear you say I never got you nuthin!

Technorati Tags: type design, free fonts, typography, minervity, Richard Darell, Behance, twitter

I'm Fashionable On Facebook

2080.I haz naow one of the new Facebook vanity username URLs that are all the rage. Mine is:

http://www.facebook.com/samueljohnklein

Please make a note of it!

Technorati Tags: Facebook, vanity URLs, net liff, Facebook User Names

Fairley's Pharmacy: Classic Drugstore Style, Classic Typography

2079.After the events of the last posting I continued westward down Sandy Boulevard ... because Sandy's awesome, yo.

Just west of 74th and Sandy is the center of the Roseway District ... a big sprawling thing were NE Sandy Blvd, NE 72nd Avenue, and NE Fremont Street come together. As locals know, the diagonal travel of NE Sandy Blvd makes for some cooler-than-cool block shapes which give us little wedges and flatiron-shaped buildings (note: you can view the photos bigly by going to my Posterous account and clicking on the pixs!).

NE 72nd/Fremont/Sandy, Looking East. Downtown
Roseway District. Fairley's Rx on the point.

That little two-story flatiron in the center of the pic is Fairley's Pharmacy. It's a little classic, it's been around Portland for decades, and still has a soda fountain and prescription deliveries (as well as espresso and a place to hang out and read books ... and Free WiFi. Because this is PDX, yo).

The place caught my eye because they are working overtime to keep the old-fashioned feel, and what really caught my eye was the apparently-recently-refurbished building signage, which has the classic look and feel.

The signage wraps round the building to the Fremont Street side (on the right of the above picture) which makes you think of the 1940s when buildings on corners all seemed to do that.

And there's Coca-Cola style FTW! Classic street typography, well-executed, not too much or too little, there's a real eye to the totality of art here. It looks classic – not dated.

It's not hard to find. NE 72nd and Sandy at Fremont. Stop in sometime. They got good sodas.

Technorati Tags: Portland, Portland Street Scenes, Roseway District, Fairley's Pharmacy, Classic Typography, Classic Signage, Coca-Cola Style, Display Typography

New Street Blades at SE 37th & Stark, New Font, Not Just Capitals!

2078.To a font geek, this find is quite exciting. And if you use signs at all, you need to keep an eye out, Tex, because what you're about to see is the future of highway sign fonts.

About a week ago we flashed past SE 37th Avenue and Stark Street in the middle of the night, and I caught it out the corner of my eye. It didn't register at first ... but were the letter forms on that sign actually in mixed case, rather than all uppers?

I didn't believe my memory at first, but I couldn't get that out of my mind. And then we went by the assembly again, and sure enough, it was. But it looked more designed than the typical, evenly-stroked, mechanical fonts that usually get used.

Here, see what I mean:

Let's get a closer look at the Stark Street blade:

Do you see what I mean here? The letters have some art to them. The stroke has thick-and-thin. It doesn't look like any sign font you've seen before.

Here's the 37th Avenue blade:

Notice the variation on the curves on the 3, the sweep of the downstroke of the 7 (and the mixed case of the ordinal superscript (Th)), which seems kind of awkward). This is not your father's sign font.

What it is a new font called Clearview. Here's the pith of what Wikipedia has to say about it (follow the link to see an illustration of it):

Clearview is the name of a humanist sans-serif typeface family for guide signs on roads in the United States. It was developed by independent researchers with the help of the Texas Transportation Institute and the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, under the supervision of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

The standard FHWA typefaces, developed in the 1940s, were designed to work with a system of highway signs in which almost all words are capitalized. The designers of Clearview sought to create a typeface adapted for mixed-case signage, initially expecting it would be based on an existing European sans serif typeface.[1] Instead, using a similar weight to the FHWA fonts, a new font was created from scratch. Two key differences are much larger counter spaces, the enclosed spaces in letters like the lower case "e" or "a," and a higher x-height, the relative height of the lower case "x" to the upper case "X." Smaller counter spaces in the FHWA fonts reduced legibility, particularly when the letters glowed from headlight illumination at night.

So, that's the story there. Clearview is going to be seen more and more along America's highways as the 'aughties close and the teens begin, and I believe I may have turned up the first example of its use in Portland.

SCORE! 10 of 10!

Technorati Tags: Street Blade Gallery, Portland Street Blades, SE Stark Street, Laurelhurst Park, Oregon, Portland Street Scenes

Street Blade Safari: New Design Up at 74th And NE Sandy Blvd

2077.For many reasons, I haven't been on streetblade safari for a while. Did it this morning on a whim. Found two great new ones, and because they have different thrusts, we'll do them one at a time.

First, I stumbled on the new design at NE 74th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard, north side of the street, in the Rose City neighborhood (isn't it a peach we have a Rose City neighborhood in the Rose City? Anyway!).

Here's the NE 74th Avenue blade:

And here's an full-on view of the Sandy Blvd blade:

Remember now, the block index is the block that the crossing street cuts the avenue at. In this case, it's not the 3600 block of Sandy Blvd, but the 3600 block of NE 74th Avenue that Sandy cuts into it at.

This corner is notable for two interesting bits of roadside architecture. One is on the north side of Sandy, on the triangular block defined by NE Sandy Blvd, 74th Avenue, and Beech Street. Taking up most of the block is a telling bit of tavern construction that goes back rather a long time, has gone under many names – latterly known as "The Pirate's Cove". Most of the east end of the building is shaped like a giant jug:

The other one is considerably newer, on the opposite (SW) corner of the intersection. It's a office and retail strip that has the most interesting roof ornament on the turretlike corner, and sits atop it like a cocked cap:

It's a funny thing. In the good way.

Technorati Tags: Street Blade Gallery, Portland Street Blades, NE Sandy Blvd, Rose City Neighborhood, Rose City Park, Oregon, Portland Street Scenes

Give Me Back The Images I Stole From You, Or I'll Sue

2076.Net.Clown, defined: Someone who hotlinks images without asking ... then demands you put them back when you move them without telling him, or ... he'll take you to court:

What a guy. Honesty means a different thing today than it did when I was a kid. In British English, I think they call this guy a tosser. Or maybe a wanker.

(Image screenclipped from the origingal blog posting. Visit the link above to view the whole train wreck)

Technorati Tags: modren times, wankers, asshats, people unclear on the subject

More Capitolism: The US Capitols Photo Map, Take 2

2075.Got out the Cap Map and bashed it out a bit. As said before, I broke out the small states in the northeast so you can see the pictures a bit better, and added a list of states and capital cities:

Click to embiggen. I'm hosting this one on my Posterous account; Posterous is a nifty zero-config blog host, about which more later.

The shapes of some of the states weren't standing out so well against the light blue background, so I darkened that up. I rather enjoy the effect, myself.

Technorati Tags: state capitols, state capitol map, ZehnKatzen, Samuel John Klein, maps, Adobe Illustrator

Kid Sex Change! Inappropriate Stick Figures! Naughty Logos!

2074.Found via Twitter, here's a collection of awkardly designed logos which will make you think whatever the 7734 were these people thinking? Such as this one:

... which of course, is supposed to be KIDS EXCHANGE, but that doesn't quite scan either, because I don't know about you all, but where I come from, you're supposed to keep your kids – not exchange them for something else.

Though some new parents might think that a MacBook Air (for instance) would be a pretty good trade. Depending on the context and the kid, of course.

Read the article and be warned: some of the logos come up with images that border on the NSFW.

Technorati Tags: bad logos, design accidents, awkward design, inappropriate design, graphic design, logo design

It Was All For Nought, Apparently

2073.Looks like I joined Twitter just in time to see it collapse like a house make of Scottissue in an Oregon rainstorm.

The upcoming ginunnga-gap is known as the Twitpocalypse (which, sadly, has nothing whatsoever with actual human twits meeting deserved doom) and is apparently going to happen because the number of Tweets (that is to say, unique Tweet identifiers) is zooming headlong toward the number 2,147,483,647, the limit of unsigned integers supported by computers. After this, they go negative and the center does not hold, things fall apart, the Beast slouches toward Jerusalem, your neighbor becomes an Amway distributor, the dog gets rabies, Victoria Taft gets a clue, all sorts of madness. Oh, and any application that depends on Twitter might digitally pancake, unless it doesn't, but who can tell?

Y2K? Whynot2K? I donno.

The time is estimatied sometime on the morning of the 13th, and we are closing in on that on an estimated rate of 170 tweets/second.

Actually it's kind of a bogglement that so many people are using Twitter so much, so fast.

The site to keep track of is: http://www.twitpocalypse.com/

Check in later, when we find out whether or not to care about it.


Technorati Tags: Twitter, Twitpocalypse, net_liff

What Microsoft's New "Bing" SHOULD Have Looked Like

2072.If you're going to call something "Bing", I think there should be some "Bing" in there, I think:



What I say is, you need to either go "Bing" or go home.

The image is PD, gotten from here. Ribbing MSFT is, of course, a cultural imperative.

Technorati Tags: Bing, Microsoft, Microsoft Bing, Bing Crosby, Visual Puns, Teh Funnay, Photoshoppery

Oregon Lottery Keno Screen Grammar FAIL

2071.This is either the result of outsourcing something or the shabby state of education here in Oregon, I'm not sure which:

It says Remember to have won more than your ticket to ensure you can claim any prize you may win!. Oh, at first you think you understand what it's saying, but then you realize that this deliciously awkward grammar is at cross-purposes with itself. However can you win less than your ticket? What does that even mean ... you don't win a ticket, you win a prize, and how can you qualify to win a prize that's worth less than the prize you've won ... aaargh!

And why do I have to remember it? Isn't that the Lottery's job to remember how much my Keno ticket has won? This is kind of like all those pharma ads that tell me to ask my doctor. My doctor should be asking me! And to have remember what was won kind of intimates that I could have won it anywhere. And I have to win more than I've won to win what I've won ...

Circular reasoning (n.): See reasoning, circular.

Can you actually win a prize that's more than the prize you plumped for?

I'm all at sixes and sevens here.

Sadly, I only have fours and fives, which means I can't claim my sixes and sevens, provided I remember how I got them at all. Or where. Or what.

Where's the help desk gone to?

Technorati Tags: Oregon Lottery, FAIL, grammar fail

What Would Wikipedia Look Like If You Printed It Out?

2070.Like this:

Yes, it really apparently exists. See Rob Matthews' blog for the other picture, which will give you a better idea of scale.

(H/T This Twitterer)

Technorati Tags: Wikipedia, weird stuff

ZehnKatzen Gmail Email FAIL ...

2069.A public service message for anyone who tried to reach me during the last few weeks using the email address zehnkatzen(at)gmail.com; somehow, that link broke the hell down, and I got nothing over the last ... oh, about six ... weeks.

My apologies for the interruption in service. I have cleared the blockage from that intartube and it is working again. But I'm beginning to see that maybe having multiple email accounts isn't the best thing, yes it is, no it isnt!

Technorati Tags: zehnkatzen, gmail.com, intartubes, communications breakdown, FAIL

Oregon Media Forum: A Logo With Wit

2068.The recently-opened Oregon Media Forum, in its current form a message forum devoted to those of us who really are having a hard time living without the abruptly-retired and rather-beloved Oregon Media Insiders, has it going on in the logo department.

LynnS's logo for that monumental work was nice, playful, and I enjoyed it much:

Radio, TV, Print. Great retro images (though in my opinion, the pencil is a timeless thing – I love drawing in pencil. Infinitely forgiving).

The pseudonymous founder of the Oregon Media Forum, "oregonmedia", brought the cleverness with a similarly-collage-like logo which takes the idea to the level of straight-faced satire:

The newspaper logo (s)he's riffing on is obvious, the two TV station logos, maybe not so much (though I parsed it straight away).

The phrase "straight-faced satire" might come off a bit awkward but it's actually meant as a compliment. An independent message board that welcomes anonymous comments branding itself using the visual grammar of prominent members of the community it critiques is actually quite visually fun if it comes off well, as it has here. And now that I'm taking a good deep look at it I like the subtle supporting touches: the gradients, the drop shadows, are all done just right. The beveling on the top of the F is a little stroke (so to speak) of genius, seriously.

If I was the type who had enough pull to give out Portland Logo of the Year awards, this would be up on that list. It's nifty!

Technorati Tags: Portland, Portland Media, Portland Media Design, broadcast graphic design, logo design, Oregon Media Insiders, Oregon Media Forum

OMI Going? This Is SO Not A Good Prize!

2067.Lynn Siprelle is retiring a public service:

I lost a friend today over this site--a good friend, one of my best friends. Losing friends was always a risk of doing this site, and in a way I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. I don't think I can get this friend back; I've been told not to respond to the email, though I'm going to try anyway.

I've never liked running uncivil websites, ever. In fact, I've never run one, other than OMI. I've never had a website quite like it. The problem with OMI has always been that the more I censored, the more open to lawsuits I was. And I have no legal defense team, no corporate owner with big pockets to rescue me. There's only me. I know this is a concept that's really weird-sounding to some of you, but I'm telling you, that's the way the legal precedents stand now.

Moving to accounts-only posting has helped a great deal with the nasty drive-by posting. But I can't do this any more. A broken heart can do what a purple-faced news director or corporate lawyer cannot.

So I have to stop doing this. End of day tomorrow (when the current ads expire) I'm taking the site offline. I would like very much for someone to take over OMI. I think it's important that a site like this continue, but I don't have it in me any more.

We're just about to lose a very valuable resource to you, me and everyone. Is there anywhere else you can find such information?

Well, nowhere.

This sucks.

Technorati Tags: PDX, Portland Media, Portland blogs, Portland bloggers

Getting Over Ourselves, and Our Bodies

2066.We're just about to life quarantine here at the Sonnenhurhaus. It has not been a pretty week for us.

Aside from the usual nastiness-of-life (we are always trying to overcome something), a cold of some sort has swept everyone under our roof. It was a nasty head cold-then chest cold-then-head cold-now nagging cough for me, but if you want to pity anyone, pity The Wife™.

She grew up with a Momma who smoked heavily, and strenuously denied that her chain smoking ever had any possible connection to the yearly bronchitis that her daughter suffered from. These days, she still doesn't stop at a mild cough ... any cough that gets her takes her to the wall. The last several days have been suffering for her, and two days after a doctor's visit that featured a chest x-ray to rule out a feared possibility of pneumonia (fortunately it was not) and racking coughing fits that you just wouldn't believe, we both got our first real sleep in several days today.

The house needs some stocking up. Spirits are up, if still flagging. The front lawn got mowed for the first time in a long time today. It needed it ... bad.

Even though I'm feeling better I feel like I still have some healing to do. This has not only sapped my strength but also my spirit, but giving up is not an option.

Fortunately, I've discovered Twitter (as hinted at). For a long time I've scoffed at Twitter, but I'm ready to eat crow here – not only is it fun, it finally provides a link to other people that is hard to beat. I don't know what most people use it for, but I'm networking like a madman.

It's nice to feel connected again. And I've found some great links to resources and cool designerly things, which I plan on commenting on here.

Wish us health. I've got to get back on my two wheels again.

Technorati Tags: Samuel John Klein, Sonnenhrhaus, liff

The Sick House Checks In, Just For The Mama Otter LOLZ

2065.Twitter has already paid of in a graphic for me to LOLize:

Via a pointer from twitterer The Square @ 7 (Viva la Ocho), graphic from neatorama here.

Technorati Tags: LOLspeak, LOLotter, LOLanything, twitter, The Square Live @ 7, KGW, teh funnay