No Spurring the Duck!!

Breakfast of the Gods

2009-08-17T16:05:00.002-05:00

Check it out here!!!
Brenden Douglas Jones has created this awesome 3 issue series that pit the Cereal Mascots we all know and love in a battle of good over evil. Characters like Capatain Crunch, and Tony the Tiger to name a few fight valiantly against evil doers like count chocula and Frankenberry.

Check out this story- you will not be disappointed!

Time Magazine and Podcasting

2009-02-01T12:14:00.005-06:00

This TIME magazine interview with
• JC Hutchins (7th Son),
• Scott Sigler ( Contagious)
• and Mur Lafferty (Playing for Keeps) was posted yesterday about the future of Pocasting.

Go and check it out, it's a good read- no podiocast for it though....

Here's my two cents.
"Playing for Keeps" by Mur Lafferty was the first podiobook that I had ever listened to.

Novels like "7th Son" by JC Hutchins, "Infected" by Scott Sigler, and "Brave Men Run" by Matthew Wayne Selznick, have allowed me to enjoy new authors that I would have probably not come across in my own library.

To these authors, I am grateful. They help my work day pass by and continue to follow them and their projects.

I constantly recommend these stories to people that I know will enjoy them.

"It seems a ripe time for novel podcasting to grow. Traditional book publishers are struggling. Book sales are down; ... has laid off employees,... has suspended the purchase of most new manuscripts."

Like a lot of industries - they are also feeling the crunch.

The downside for us readers is that we can only have "new" Stephen King, John Grisham, and Neil Gaiman novels coming out ( don't get me wrong, I love their work too, I've probably read every single book they've written so far).

I look forward to reading different styles and content from all over.

I love chocolate ice cream - but sometimes I like to have "Tiger" ice cream too.

Howard Hendrix also said, "In the long run, what you may end up with is a vast digital slush pile" and "a mass of novels written by 15-year-olds.")

If a 15 year old can write- let the people decide. If it's good - it will gain popularity.

I often wonder how many great stories remain unpublished due to the whim of an Publisher deciding on how many copies it would sell, rather than the story it self.

The Race for Perfect - Miniblogexpo review #2

2008-12-29T20:36:00.002-06:00

Before the next laptop is produced...items such as weight, feel and sexiness must be first considered....

The "Race for Perfect" shows the design process that goes into the your next laptop.

I recommend this to lovers of design, computers and general geekdom. Steve Hamm takes us through the 40 years of development of the portable computers,

From the early "Luggables" ( Computers that came in their own suitcase, with an attachable monitor, you set up when you arrived) to the Apple Air™, and even the BlackBerry™.

The book covers the development of the ThinkPad X300, the newest greatest laptop out . In The Race for Perfect" we get to see the early idea and developments going into creating the laptop we know.

LCD screens and solid state drives are now the standards.

The considerations of the user:
• mouse (going from trackball, to tracking stick, to the touchpad.)
• keyboard (style, shape feel)
• screens
• weight (what to keep in to make work but not too heavy.
***3 stars***
This book is published by McGraw Hill

Maymoktard©

2008-11-30T21:55:00.003-06:00

One of the ideas i wanted to share was giving you my take on a twitter posting that I came across.

Here's the gist "...wondering why mayo, mustard and ketchup haven't joined forces yet in one bottle... "

My response is of course "Maymoktard"

Following along in the brave foot steps orignally taken by sauces such as:
tartar sauce ( relish and mayo)
cocktail sauce (ketchup and horse radish)
and of course the pink stiff that comes with your Big mac.

But is this just a combining together of condiments?

or is it a efficiency to common man that ranks with the likes of Smuckers™ Goober
( Peanut butter and strawberry jam or grape jelly in alternating stripes)

As pretty as it looks originally, after using the product for a while - it turns into a confused mess (like the one I used to get in trouble for when I was younger.

What's the solution?
I envision a beautifully designed applicator that would have the condiments separated twisting and spiraling bringing them all together at the nozzle at once. This will not only save you time, but could also allow you to swap out different condiments (say djion mustard, instead of yellow, purple ketchup, or hot and spicy for our regular.

After writing this I am now hungry and going to make myself a sandwich , the old fashion way unfortunately:(

A life's Design - Mini Book expo review # 1

2008-11-29T16:37:00.000-06:00

Here is my first review:

A life's design - The life and work of industrial designer Charles Harrison.

As some one who has an interest in usability and design, I was impressed with how many of Charles Harrison's designs affected my life.

I grew up in a small town where the Sears catalog was a staple, and as I read through this book i was surprised at how many of his designs I had used growing up. The plastic garbage cans, the sewing machines, the radios, television sets and even my Viewmaster™ all had his touch out upon them.

This is a small sampling of the several thousand products he had designed in his time.

The book itself shows us some of the many products he has created over the years, the pictures are large , rich and printed on glossy stock so that you can see the details put into the put into all of his designs.

Not only were the designs esthetically pleasing - but the thought of features ( like hand holds, self sealing lids and durability on his garbage cans) lets you know that he was taking the use of the product in consideration as well.

Charles Harrison was one of the first black designers in corporate America. And his contributions to industrial design in the past and towards the future have been substantial.

Books website:http://www.alifesdesign.com/
Published by :http://highspotinc.com/

What it's all about....

2008-11-29T16:33:00.000-06:00

No Spurring the Duck is my third blog.

The other two are fairly focused.

On here I'll be talking about whatever random stuff, catches my fancy or crosses my plate.

The updates will be fairly brief ( unless i am truly inspired) So please check out the random ramblings.