In ancient Roman architecture, a corridor or passageway under the stands that leads gladiators into the combat arena is a vomitorium. A popular myth (arguably more folk etymology) is that a vomit...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2024/06/01/the-vomitorium/
For a variety of reasons, I go to see movies in the theater only a handful of times any given year. The reasons are unimportant (and obvious) and I recognize that, by eschewing the theater, I’m...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/assault-by-amc-dolby-cinema/
The name of the blog, Creative Destruction, is correct, but only partially. The definition offered at Wikipedia, drawn from Austrian economics, is a “process of industrial mutation that incessa...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/creative-destruction/
Originally posted on The Spiral Staircase : Everyone knows how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, which typically comes up as a quick means of settling some minor negotiation with the caveat that th...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/rock-paper-scissors/
Originally posted on The Spiral Staircase : When any given technology reaches maturity, one might think that it’s time perhaps to stop innovating. A familiar, reliable example is the codex, al...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/mature-technology/
One the blogs I read and contribute to recently blew up over the subject of conspiracy theories. Among the arguments was the following video: Skeptic.com purports to promote rational and scientif...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/conspiracy-with-a-dose-of-sarcasm/
Saw a curious YouTube video, courtesy of Slipped Disc, Norman Lebrecht’s blog at Arts Journal: I puzzled for a short while about how independent mechanical devices could sync up. The first comm...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/entrainment-in-physics/
I see from having searched for this ad that LG has a history of pranking people with the realistic quality of its HDTVs, at least when not paying close attention: I’m unsure whether such shena...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/apocalyptic-prank/
Long time no blog posts. I’ve been fairly active at The Spiral Staircase but not at all here. However, I got hipped to an animator, Steve Cutts, whose style and content fits my thinking. Gotta...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/the-nature-of-man-or-mankind/
This video was just recently sent to me, but it appears to be at least four years old: Pretty amazing to watch how drivers cooperate in the absence of traffic controls. The speed of the video has...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/incredible-traffic/
This image has been making the rounds: I admit to being initially taken in by the apparent discrepancy in counting methodologies, but as with so many things, I lack the expertise to fully evaluat...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/mayan-calendar-miscount/
This latest just makes me laugh: a company called Burnt Impressions Inc. in Danville, Vermont, is selling a line of toasters that burn images of one’s choosing into toast. It’s usually a T-sh...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/burnt-impressions/
From msnbc in Europe: An Italian parliamentary commission has approved a draft law banning women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public. The draft passed by the constitutional affair...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/studies-in-irony/
Been absent for a while. Nothing short and sweet to blog about until now, which is a 26-ft. sculpture of Marilyn Monroe’s famous pose from The Seven Year Itch. I used to work in that building a...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/upskirt-marilyn/
Something simple and fun, no explanation necessary:
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/bach-on-wood/
This is pretty funny: an article on “How to Be a Better Listener” in the Chicago Tribune. In next week’s column, learn how to walk on two legs! But in the meantime, listen up! Here’s the ...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/listening/
I gave a speech a bit over one year ago that cited Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (physiological, security, social, esteem, and self-actualization), though I modified it slightly to conform to nee...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/esteem-needs/
From the not-really-news department comes a report of things due to be dropped from use, never to become part of the memories of people just now being born: videotape travel agents separation of ...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/things-retired-not-remembered/
Like many American cities, Chicago has a “thing” about its parking. It’s very difficult or impossible in some neighborhoods to find an available space, and the Loop is pretty much a no-go z...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/musical-chairs/
Not sure what possessed me, but I had a look at the General Motors website, which has a curious intro movie that says, in effect, “well, back to the drawing board.” I’m unsure whether GM’...
https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/back-to-the-drawing-board/