1. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat).
2. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
3. Always avoid annoying alliteration.
4. Don’t use no double negatives.
5. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
6. One should never generalize.
7. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
8. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
9. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
10. Understatement is probably not the best way to propose earth shattering ideas.
11. Who needs rhetorical questions?
12. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
13. Contractions aren’t helpful and shouldn’t be used.
14. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
15. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
16. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
17. Exaggeration is a million times worse than understatement.
18. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
19. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
20. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
21. Be more or less specific.
22. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
23. Also, too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
24. No sentence fragments. No comma splices, run-ons are bad too.
25. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
26. The passive voice is to be ignored.
27. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
28. Kill all exclamation points!!!!
29. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
30. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
31. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
32. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
33. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
34. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Thanks to gqcaarlo for posting this

Corporate Hierarchy. How it looks depends on where you are. The bird on top seems to be extremely happy with the view!

Hi Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0 .

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and TV 4.1 .

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2. 6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Response:

Dear Madam,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1 .
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0 .

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.

Good Luck Madam!

An action packed chase sequence through various program windows. Reminds me of the clever animations in Flash that involved stick figures and total destruction of the UI. This is, of course, much more polished and sophisticated. But then, that was 1999 and definitely not Intel i5 powered!

Found this quote at the Global Coalition of Peace website

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.  This world in arms is not spending money alone, It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children… Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (April 16, 1953)

Reminded me of the documentary Why We Fight.

I got to watch L’illusionniste (The Illusionist) again. Ever since I saw the Les triplettes de Belleville (The Triplets of Belleville).I have been thrilled by Sylvain Chomet’s movies. This is the kind of animation movie which reveals new things to wonder about every time I watch it.

The amazing movements of the central character throughout the movie was the main source of enchantment the first time. The story, characters, lighting and the masterly use of 3D and 2D to create a unique hand drawn weathered, warm feel is fantastic. The style is absolutely unique. While there are many animation movies today which share the same look (for e.g. Pixar and Dreamworks Superhero movies Megamind and The Incredibles) Sylvain Chomet’s work is simply outstanding.

In this viewing, I was amazed at the smooth transitions that happen from day to night and night to day. The scene of the Illusionist traveling to Scotland, the one where he is trying to service a car and falls asleep in it and the epic camera fly by of a small town at night time just took my breath away again.

Some screencaps.

Wikimapia, Google Maps, Google Earth, Nat Geo’s Map Machine, OpenStreet Maps are some of my favourite applications to explore the world. Mashups using these technologies and the purposes they serve have been a constant source of interest. Recently, while designing some envelopes, I wanted to incorporate some map shots.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Map Envelope by Beste Miray Doğan and Teevio . Useful and efficient. On further searching, I found the Google Maps Envelope concept project by designers Rahul Mahtani & Yofred Moik.

Their concept is to include both the “From” and “To” addresses in the map on the envelope and incorporate it right into the Gmail interface.

Much overdue. Some simple pleasurable things get buried under a pile of stuff to do and don’t get done even when there is nothing to do! This happens to be my favourite song to reboot, to go in there and pickup the lost thread.

“I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life…”

Thanks to Yaci100