tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-215097332011-07-14T17:45:26.704-07:00Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-9674422124231994992007-09-20T10:37:00.000-07:002007-09-20T10:38:20.225-07:00

Here are two messages I see on equipment I use regularly, and if this doesn't define MLS, I don't know what does.Warming up from preheat modePreparing to standbyGeoff Pullum of Language Log had an experience like this and wrote about it in his inimicable style. (He's my favourite Language Logger.) Whose side are you on, indeed?

Jesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07791784794525818007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1150996669105403772006-06-22T10:15:00.000-07:002006-06-22T10:17:49.116-07:00

Read this, then listen to this.I had one of these experiences in the early 90s, trying to cancel my AOL account when there wasn't even much of an alternative. I was on hold for 35 minutes, being picked up and dropped off and batted around like a ping pong ball. In the end my conversation was remarkably similar to the one suffered by Mr. Ferrari, but I didn't have to get quite so irate.

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1139952359609961672006-02-20T11:49:00.000-08:002006-02-20T09:48:14.253-08:00

Joel Spolsky has worked on UI problems for a long time, and he is better at stating the normal problems than I am. The thing I like about it is, he takes things we see in everyday life and looks at them through their interface (traffic lights, an assembly line, etc.), then he relates them back to the Windows and Mac UIs.I love his main point: to design a good UI, you have to have respect for the

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1140213128344340632006-02-17T09:11:00.000-08:002006-02-17T16:47:41.276-08:00

I recently read an excellent book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time about a teenage boy with autism. This isn't a book review, but I thought that the novel highlighted things about Modern Living Syndrome that most people might not see without stepping outside their own worldview for a moment.One thing that distinguishes autistic people from neurotypical folks is that

Jesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07791784794525818007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1140186022577912112006-02-17T06:19:00.000-08:002006-02-17T06:20:22.600-08:00

LOSE THE CAR ANALOGY!!! MM

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1139608080811215202006-02-10T12:30:00.000-08:002006-02-10T13:48:45.276-08:00

This might go better in a comment about web redesign in general, but I don't want to get into that just yet. I have a special mass of vitriol to give to that particular discussion.I just had a flareup of Modern Living Syndrome:Go hereOn the very very top of the frame, click on the "Instant X" link (as I write this, it's "Instant Conversion: Miles in a 10k?"It will bring up a search for "10 km to

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1139318276197645702006-02-07T04:41:00.000-08:002006-02-07T05:22:31.483-08:00

You bastards.My Whirlpool oven has a locking feature. All self-cleaning ovens I've ever had have had a lock - you swivel the handle over, lock the door, and it turns on the kiln. It's great. Why is there a lock? Well, yes, probably because people are stupid. But more accurately, it's for children. Children can usually reach the locking handle, but the locking handle is itself locked until you

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1139166867474753842006-02-05T11:10:00.000-08:002006-02-06T06:18:50.926-08:00

I just noticed that when you go to Slate, you get popup ads.Microsoft Makes Internet ExplorerMicrosoft owns SlateSlate has popup adsInternet Explorer blocks popup adsergo: Microsoft is blocking its own popup adsIf it were me, having a primary source of revenue blocked by my own boss, I think I'd write some sort of pithy, satirical essay about it. If only there were a venue, say, on the web, say,

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1139154274361846332006-02-05T07:28:00.000-08:002006-02-05T11:09:47.416-08:00

I saw a commercial the other day. A man is standing at a counter, shouting into the void: "Why can't I get a phone that does more than just make phone calls?!"I've done a little searching. Not much, because I'm too busy trying to format number fields in Excel. But I've been trying to find this mythical phone that just makes phone calls. I have the opposite problem this jackass is complaining

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1138643956955234202006-01-30T09:25:00.000-08:002006-01-30T09:59:16.963-08:00

That is to say, it's pro-good design. I love my iPod. I love the Ambient Orb device. I love the little forms in TurboTax that automatically fill in the slashes when I type in a date. I especially love that, if I type a slash in those fields, it just takes it and lets me continue - no error messages, just anticipation and understanding of "what I meant, not what I said".So, the point is, if

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1138290881057869422006-01-26T07:52:00.000-08:002006-02-06T12:57:32.703-08:00

It's a short, but there's a good article about the kinds of things we all put up with every day. More than anything it goes along with the whole premise of MLS: that the problems I hate most in this modern world are not the fault of technology, but the fault of lazy and misguided design.Here it isMM

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21509733.post-1138224166070060262006-01-25T12:51:00.000-08:002006-01-25T13:23:03.416-08:00

No, it's not the MLS you use to proofread your research papers. It's the thing that affects us from the moment our Blackberries wake us up in the morning until we set our RSS-enabled alarm clock to wake us when the Morning Zoo podcast has finished downloading. Within every interaction we have with the digital world around us, we have to put up with a lot of crap. An awful lot of crap.People used

Marcushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01397338818317756532noreply@blogger.com3