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Quote
of the Week:
Vacation is Almost Here
August, as almost all of the Northeastern Hemisphere recognizes, is the Month that People Take Off and Stay Away from Work. And so the Notchcode offices will be closed for a week in August, from the 10th to the 17th. Ok, so that's not a whole month, like those lucky Europeans or Hampton-dwellers back east, but at least it's something.
In preparation for our time off, I've been reading the latest transmissions from BoingBoing, which is a great place to get the crap scared out of you if you plan on traveling by plane. Not because they talk about all of the imminent threats by terrorists, but because of the behavior of the TSA as folks try to get on their planes and get to where they are going.
SO all of this got me thinking about the good old Fourth Amendment to the Constitution...you know, the one that guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure. Well, as you can imagine, there is a lot of case law surrounding it, and as a non-lawyer, I am sure (well, I am hoping, at least) that there is some sort of valid reason why we all have to take off our shoes and let people paw through our underwear and make us dump our big gulps in the trash can before we get to the security checkpoint. Right? Right, lawyers? Please tell me there's a reason.
Oh well. Here's a quote from Supreme Court Judge Jackson in 1949, dissenting in Brinegar vs. U.S.:[emphasis mine]"The Fourth Amendment states: 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.'
"These, I protest, are not mere second-class rights but belong in the catalog of indispensable freedoms. Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart. Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government. And one need only briefly to have dwelt and worked among a people possessed of many admirable qualities but deprived of these rights to know that the human personality deteriorates and dignity and self-reliance disappear where homes, persons and possessions are subject at any hour to unheralded search and seizure by the police. But the right to be secure against searches and seizures is one of the most difficult to protect. Since the officers are themselves the chief invaders, there is no enforcement outside of court."
So, how does this jibe with searching something like half a billion travelers in the U.S. alone each year, no exceptions? Sounds like presumption of guilt just because you are getting on a plane. And let me know if you've seen some hidden cadre of judges issuing search warrants behind the ticket counters...maybe it's somewhere in the small print in the boarding pass?
But then, I'm just a designer. What do I know?
And to make this post slightly design-related, here are two great t-shirts to wear as you get patted down next to the metal detector. The first one is based on a WW2-era poster from the Brits, and is awesome. I want one for Christmas, ok? The second one is much more snarky, and I would bet a TSA screener having an off day might pull you out of line for wearing it:Labels: air travel, freedom, tsa, vacation
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7.20.2007
It's almost shipping, I swear!
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Laying concrete for a new press
Wandel Press is getting a new, er, press. A Komori six-unit, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong, Dave). Here some of the boys place the wall forms for the pit that will sit underneath the press so maintenance can be done on it without taking it apart.
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Musician of the day: Zack Kim
I am not much of a YouTube junkie, but I found this courtesy of BoingBoing, who does my surfing so I don't have to. Zack Kim plays two guitars at once, by tapping on the frets, rather than holding down the string on the fret with one hand and then strumming with the other. This is not a new technique, as any Tuck and Patti or Eddie Van Halen fan can tell you. But Kim gives some classical, movie and videogame soundtracks the tapping treatment. And while his Super Mario Brothers performance isn't as awesome as threefiftyduo's is, his Bach's Prelude #3 in C minor is quite amazing.Labels: classical guitar, music
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Obscure but useful tech info about Appleworks
Apparently AppleWorks doesn't play nice with the U.S. Extended Keyboard setting. For the three of us who use AppleWorks instead of Word, it's worth knowing. When you attempt to edit any AppleWorks document with the Extended Keyboard setting enabled, AppleWorks crashes.
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7.18.2007
free hot spot of the day: Joanie's Bakery and Deli in Woodland Park, Colorado
Tasty Turkey Melts (with roasted red pepper and avocados) and free wifi so I can get some estimates and files out to clients on my way back from a photo shoot in Cripple Creek. Check them out for food the next time you come through Woodland Park.
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7.17.2007
Music of the Day: Talking Heads Live
I've been a fan of the Talking Heads ever since my grandmother (!) took me to see "Stop Making Sense" at the Ogden back in the mid-'80s (I returned the favor by introducing her to The Police and Tears for Fears...hey, I was 14, what else can I say?). And even though I was about five years too young to really get on the Heads bandwagon, I've got most of their albums, as well as a lot of David Byrne to boot (and his blog is one of the best cultural observatories out there). A few years ago I picked up a 2-CD set of the Talking Heads' performances; one disc had performances from 1977-79, and the other--containing many of the same songs-- from 1980-81. It is great to listen to them back to back, and catch how some songs got better, and how some--in my opinion--were played with the ennui felt by a group that had played them a few too many times, and were experimenting a little, but not really as into the raw energy of the piece as they were the first time around.
In any case, it's a great compilation, and many of the performances are better than the studio versions. And my daughter, Sophie, can't get enough of "Who is it?". And she (and her sister) are, after all, the ultimate arbiters of popular music in our house, at the moment.Labels: music, talking heads
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7.16.2007
Speedmaster
I was over at Sprint Press/Denver last week to press check a lovely little booklet for the Classical Public Radio Network, and on my last check of the day I saw the night shift pressman's ride in the lot. The label modification comes straight off of a Heidelberg, and is the best "in" joke I've seen out in public in a long time.Labels: cars, press check, printing, speedmaster
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7.03.2007
Happy Fourth
Happy Fourth of July, from the wonderful graphic designers of the Works Progress Administration:
Found on Shorpy, the lazy man's way to see the past.Labels: design, holiday, illustration, wpa
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