::friday, march 23::

Complete coverage of Mir's Fiery Finale, ending a 15-year life in space as the space station is deorbited by the Russians.

"It was pretty stunning. There was something very peaceful about it. It is an emotional process. Very graceful."

Alex Bowles was standing on a beach in Fiji as the Mir Space Station streaked to its final resting place in the South Pacific.

::tuesday, march 20::

Watch Mir Plunge

Scientists predict that on March 22 at around 1:30 a.m. EST, the 140-ton space station will plunge through the Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris across a largely empty swath of the South Pacific. Although about 80 tons of material will burn up on reentry, scientists say the remaining chunks will completely light up the night sky as they fall through the atmosphere and hit the water at roughly 600 miles per hour. To capture this spectacle, the Mir Reentry Observation Expedition will send up three planes to fly about 200 miles from the projected splashdown area and record the event for broadcast on the group's Website, MirReentry.com.

::monday, march 19::

Good-bye to Argus

A bunch of IA's shared their reactions to the winding-down of Argus Associates. I haven't read them all yet, probably won't, but I'm posting this partly because I'm feeling a little conflicted. I'm not really sure how I feel about the news. I guess a little dismayed, because Argus seemed so successful and essential, and was such a strong flagship for the discipline. I suppose it's kind of a blow to the sense of confidence I've had in the idea over the last year. Of course this minor ennuimay simply be a reaction to all of my allergy medication. Damn, I thought April was "the cruellest month" . . .

PalmInfocenter: It's Official: m500 and m505 Released

Palm's new slim color widget is unveiled.

What some people have been waiting for since Palm's CEO hinted about it last fall is finally here. The Palm m500 and m505 are all over Palm's website.

::friday, march 16::

etherbrian

Seriously strange genius at work. He has a few new icon sets up. Probably my favorite online graphic designer (outside of my righteous homies at symland).

::thursday, march 15::

JOHO - February 26, 2001

"The conformity of professionalism is a consequence not of anything important or good about professionalism but of the desire of professionals to appear part of a privileged class. Professionalism can also be an excuse for narrow thinking that makes success more achievable by dumbing down the requirements."

KurzweilAI.net

I read about Kurzweil's site in this month's Wired. Had to check it out. Lots here to dig. Start out with this link to his 3d-info-flythrough-thesaurus, topic of architecture preselected for your convenience.

::wednesday, march 7::

Zero Wing Story @ Toaplan.com (c) Dead Serious.

"All your base are belong to us." -- the phrase has caught on so readily, even USA Today had a story about it (didn't look online, saw it at the most-excellent Juice Shop while getting my breakfast smoothie). Just in case anybody who cares also happens to come by my page, here's a link to something like an explanation.

News Story @ Murmurs.com

R.E.M. has finally come to a decision on the 12 tracks that will make up its 12th full-length studio album, Reveal, due May 15.

::sunday, march 4::

C O N T E N T ?

Radiohead updated their website. Their new album coming out in summer (?) will be called "Insomniac."

Oblique Strategies

"The Oblique Strategies are a creativity tool designed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Originally published as a deck of cards, they are intended to provide an extra creative push when working on artistic pursuits under a tight deadline. When experiencing artist's block, simply draw a card and apply its instructions to the work in progress."

CONTEXT: Curtis White

"Hornby gives more content to what it is we expect in return for that which we've given from our paycheck. Hornby argues that Radiohead's previous album, OK Computer, had "some extraordinarily lovely tracks," and in Kid A's best moments "something gorgeous floats past." So, in the World of Art according to Nick Hornby, the first and highest principle is that it should be a fair exchange, you should "get your money's worth" (as his mother probably told him), and aesthetic tenet #2 is that the art should be "gorgeous" and also maybe a little bit "lovely." Now, beyond the obvious fact that this is an old romantic tautology and Hornby has no idea what he's talking about, it does reveal that the fundamental premise of Hornby's aesthetic insistence is pleasure. My money is well spent if I "enjoy" the album/movie/sitcom/football game."

I haven't read this whole article, but my guess is that it says a lot of what I wish I'd written in a letter to the dear old New Yorker the moment I'd read Hornby's crotchety little burp of a review.

::thursday, march 1::

AIGA : Gain

Terrific case studies, nifty design. Information Architecture in a package Visual Designers can get excited about.