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Twofers Are More as Less

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I enjoyed the floor numbering signage at the new Boston ICA. Note that Braille lettering is integrated into the actual numeral displayed. It reminded me of a bar of soap I wrote about a while back. Such combinations of possibilities strike me as odd because they are two-in-ones and are essentially more but they feel like less. I guess it’s about how they are organize-ed.

The Round Table
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Last nite I attended a private function that included a tour led by Supreme Court Justice Breyer of the beautiful Boston Courthouse . In this photo you can see Justice Breyer explaining the way an appeals court works. I found it interesting how he was envious of the Supreme Court of Canada because they manage their private deliberations around a round table — which is apparently known to produce better decisions and consensus — versus the rectangular table he said is used by the Supreme Court in the States. A furniture designer friend once told me a similar thing, but when considering the extreme nature of discussions in a Supreme Court it would seem that the subtle differences between a rectangle and a circle could lead to implications more meaningful than imaginable.

As I sat and snapped this photo of Justice Breyer, I also reflected on the odd happenstance of sitting in the courtroom next to a living, breathing master of Modernism, Ellsworth Kelly. He of course had no notion or gumption (or need) to know who I was. It sort of reminded me of the time I was at a small dinner with Rihanna and Usher and the likes. Like then, again I felt completely out of place. But glad, and honored, to learn new things.

The Purpose of Human Life

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I received this Japanese clear file as a gift from a friend. The inscription is quite inspiring.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. Life is an exciting business and most exciting when it is lived for others. You cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its depth and width.

According to a Japanese blogger it is an amalgam of multiple quotes by Albert Einstein, Charles Baudelaire, Albert Schweitzer, Eric Hoffer, Helen Keller, and Evan Esar. I wonder now if you can easily chain any set of inspiring quotes together to make a nice piece like this …

MilliLetter

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This week in Korea I shopped at a millimeter/milligram store. I was in milli-Heaven with this tiny pill-themed stationery set a la reduce. You can find the appropriately little shop at Ssamzie in the Insadong area of downtown Seoul.

iPod, therefore I am

I wrote an article for BusinessWeek on the new Apple iPods posted here.