I just added another retro tech shirt on Cotton Bureau: 1.2 MB: The 5.25 in floppy disk.
Inherent. Indestructible. Permanent.
Almost 100 years ago, in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, typographer Eric Gill 1 wrote “An Essay on Typography” and addressed the tension between art and industrialization: “But tho’ industrialism has now won an almost complete victory, the handicrafts are not killed, & they cannot be quite killed because they meet an inherent, indestructible, permanent need in human nature.” I’ve been thinking about this as the internet fills with AI-generated garbage and popular social media sites are monetized by hate.
I’m not sure how I feel about the Canva acquiring Affinity. They were both battling Adobe, but their products are very different.
Was changing the battery in my wife’s Buick Envision and couldn’t figure out how to release a box on top of the battery. Finally watched a YouTube video and figured out where the hidden latch was. Another win for YouTube how-to. Battery replaced.
The Dunkin’ Donuts near our house is closed for remodeling. While it does look a little dated, the real reason for the remodel is trying to accommodate the massive volume of DoorDash and other delivery services that flood the location with orders. The physical space needs to be renovated to accommodate a cultural shift toward delivery services.
Spending my evening sitting on the back deck with a glass of bourbon, grilling hamburgers and writing. It’s a little bit cool, but I can’t complain. 🥃🍔💻
Our local minor league team, the Columbia Fireflies announced an alternate identity… the Carolina Grits. This is in addition to their La Copa de la Diversión look, the Chicharrones de Columbia. One alternate is fun… two might be overkill. Minor league teams will do anything to sell merch, though.
After all the upsets yesterday, I was surprised to see my ESPN bracket is in good shape. My entire Elite 8 is intact, I’m at 96.1% among the ESPN brackets and first in my office pool. Not too bad for someone that didn’t watch a lot of men’s basketball this season. 🏀
Liz and I walked a couple miles in the park behind our house. Everything is starting to turn green. The birds are out in force. And the pollen. Springtime in South Carolina.
I’ve gotten back into designing shirts and I’m sharing them on Cotton Bureau. Today’s shirt is a salute to the 3.5 inch floppy disk. As a student, I swear I could fit an entire semester worth of work on one of these.
As a creative person, your job should not be your sole creative outlet. Even if you work at the coolest design firm in the world, you still have clients and deadlines. Maintaining personal creative outlets is a key to remaining creatively fulfilled.
More car manufacturers are showing interest in developing less expensive electric vehicles. This report from Ford caught my eye. I saw an old Ford Ranger on the road the other day and commented that they don’t make small trucks like that any more. A small EV pickup would be a great option to have.
Green beer for St. Pats at Craft and Draft in Irmo, SC. 🍀
The Jobification of Volunteer Work
Almost 20 years ago, I was in San Francisco for my first AIGA Leadership Retreat. AIGA is a national organization for design1 and I was a first-time president for the South Carolina chapter. I’d just finished attending a session on leadership and one of my new friends who’d been a president before pulled me aside and gave me some advice: “This is supposed to be fun. If it stops being fun, ask for help.
A new BBQ restaurant opened nearby and I was excited to try it. My wife and I ate lunch there today and it was terrible. Really terrible. I’m so disappointed.
Started writing a blog post about how local call-in radio shows are just like modern social media. And then, I remembered that I already wrote a post about this over a year ago.
On April 8, a solar eclipse will occur over the middle of the United States. If you are going to be near it this time and want to celebrate the occasion, I updated my shirt from the 2017 eclipse and you can buy it on Cotton Bureau. But order soon to make sure it gets to you before the big day.
Watching an old episode of MacGyver where he’s trying to find a crashed experimental aircraft, the GX-1. The GX-1 is an F-14 and the aerial combat footage was lifted straight from Top Gun. Also, the Russians have a psychic.
I put Jump Around on my grad school study playlist. Good choice, although it’s impossible not to dance when it comes on.
The South Carolina women had a buzzer beater yesterday. I was waiting for a take out order at a Chinese restaurant and following along in Apple Sports on iOS. The time went to 0:00 and assumed they’d lost. Then, a second later, the score changed. When I saw the replay, I realized the shot was taken right before the clock hit zero, and went in the basket after time expired. So Apple Sports was showing it as it happened. Pretty impressive.