Nov 26, 2010

rapid prototyping: ipad stand

49 minutes + razor + gallon jug = flatpack ipad stand. clearly, i'm not the first person to think of this, nor even the 8th person to think of something similar.

Nov 25, 2010

social loafing

Nov 22, 2010

11/29, 8pm: fun with joints

jeremy's second speaker bailed on him, but he knows i'm always good for a disquisition on joints. so join us next monday at middlesex on mass ave in cambridge for nerdnite's november edition. come for david craft's talk about urban foraging, stay for my talk about joinery.

david craft: “city hauls: foraging for wild plants and other foodstuffs within the city limits” 
me: “fun with joints: what you probably want to know about how wood gets connected to more wood and other things”

monday 11/29, 8pm
middlesex (map), in central square
315 massachusetts ave
cambridge, MA
$5

all the details at nerdnite.

Nov 21, 2010

clover

Nov 17, 2010

the bespoke option

on this recently concluded visit to dc, it was my good fortune to meet and then have some tremendous drinks with jake parrott, the tongue responsible for much of the selection available at ledroit (thx lex). jake makes stock in 50-gallon batches, which often indicates seriousness of intent.

  • at the passenger, the bespoke option threw up a cynar sour fizz (dry, floral, bitter, perfect but grey and ugly in the glass).
  • at proof, the jabberwock, a savoy classic. the original formulation includes caperitif, a south african aromatized white wine which is no longer available. adam bernbach modified the drink by replacing the caperitif with cocchi americano and it is mighty tasty. (manzanilla, tanqueray 10, regan's orange bitters, cocchi americano, orange twist.) 
but the gibson introduced me to a stirred classic which may be the best drink i've had this year.
  • the bamboo. an old school classic, now almost never ordered. manzanilla, dry vermouth, orange and angostura bitters, orange twist. dry as a bone, floral, aromatic, citric, with a salt breeze in the back. this is a brilliant drink.
when the bartender can see into the depths of my soul and understand what i really mean when i say "something dry, herbal, floral, aromatic; bitter and citrus are both acceptable," i get to discover the bamboo and the champs elysees. chief among the many pleasures of the bespoke option is the revelation of previously unknown deliciousness.

Nov 15, 2010

nov 17, 6.30pm: design for community and interaction

this week, i'll be doing a short talk followed by a discussion with a small group of people involved in dfe:x.

the topic is design for community and interaction, and the session will be a brief discussion of 1) design as a process rather than an outcome and 2) the importance of problem-finding and value-identification in good design process. in the context of community and interaction design, i'll also throw in some thoughts about 3) why it is important to approach the design of complex social systems with design processes that are oriented toward probabilistic (rather than deterministic) outcomes.

kawan says it is open to all, so come if you'd like. the details:

dfe:x, design for community and interaction
wed, nov 17
6:30-7:30pm
MIT Building 4, Room 146 (map)

Nov 13, 2010

minibar

Nov 12, 2010

chinatown coffee co.



single macchiato, novo anyetsu from nekempte, ethiopia. roses and raspberries everywhere.

penn quarter, 68F

Nov 11, 2010

the depths

Nov 10, 2010

Nov 9, 2010

the horror

Nov 4, 2010

popcorn at 6200fps

natural

that happy grace which is the last thing the skilled actor shall capture—the natural grace which goes with perfect unconsciousness of observation.
kenneth grahame, the wind in the willows.