Divided attention

Colm O’Regan examines the constant stream of things that demand our attention. I’m not sure if he made up divided attention disorder, but I was amused by the analogy to tabbed browsing.

It’s the equivalent of sitting on the floor of a library desperately trying to remember what I was looking for with 20 books open around me, unable to concentrate because people keep giving me a thumbs up to tell me they “Like This”.

Update: It appears that Esquire had an article about DAD in a recent issue, but the full-text isn’t online.



A better Big Lebowski kit

Two Lebowski Kits fight it out

I recently saw a link to The Big Lebowski Kit somewhere, clicked through and was expecting something entirely different. I was thinking it would be The Dude’s kit; everything that one needed to get their dude on. Nope, it’s just a bunch of useless crap… “Ooooh, a mousepad, a fake toe and a coffee cup!” We can do a little better than that.

The Dude’s Survival Kit

Here’s what I think should be in The Dude’s survival kit.

  • bottle of Smirnoff vodka
  • bottle of Kahlua
  • carton of cream
  • Old Fashioned glass
  • ice cubes
  • roach clip
  • rolling papers

We could probably include some sort of bowling paraphernalia: a ball, a shirt, something bowlingish. And we would need something to hold it all, possibly a battered suitcase or a bowling bag.


Original Marble and Granite Co.

OMG Van

The Original Marble & Granite Co. Ltd. is based out of Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. They don’t have a website and are probably not aware of the sheer internet greatness of their name.

The photo was taken with my crappy phone camera on the way home for work the other day.

Update: Actually, I think this might be their website.



From the Archive: Drudge Report Parody

In a recent post at Signal vs Noise, Jason Fried argued that the Drudge Report is on of the best designed sites on the internet. I’m inclined to agree, not because it’s an amazing layout or well-coded, but because it’s iconic. His post made me a remember a parody of the site that I worked on around the time of the 2004 presidential election.

For those that don’t know, I used to work for a humour newspaper in university, called Golden Words (whose website appears to be non-functional). The newspaper is widely read, with a circulation of about 9000 copies every Wednesday morning, and could be roughly equated to The Onion or the Harvard Lampoon.

After a turn at the helm as editor in my final year, I returned periodically to make sure things were sailing along smoothly. Around the time of the US elections in 2004, I stopped by to see if the new crew could use some help. I was tasked with creating something for the back page, which was typically full colour and devoted to some sort of graphical mayhem or illustrated comic.

The Drudge Report’s iconic layout, and room for small photos and one-liners provided the framework for a quick and dirty send-up of the site. If I remember correctly, Alanah and I spent about two or three hours producing this parody of the Drudge Report for the 2004 Presedential election. It appeared on the back page of the paper around Hallowe’en, hence the zombie references. The line about Bush supporting fiscal responsibility is oddly prescient.