Mess is law
The phrase ‘less is more’ was adopted by the minimalist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
This principle was not applied to his name, however.
His point, I think, was that you could create an impression of simplicity, mostly by combining elements of design to serve more than one purpose or function.
I like this for two reasons (which I suppose I could combine into one, in the spirit of things). The first being that he realised you can only ever create the impression of simplicity – things are by their very nature complicated. The second being that, when taken to its natural conclusion, a frying pan radio isn’t such a bad idea.
Presently, you’d be hard pressed to find a device that performs a single function. Most things come with a clock… I can count eight in my room. No one needs eight clocks… that is not less, not simplicity.
So, we can go two ways with this – what is the most inappropriate pairing of devices you have encountered, and which devices should be joined?
I realize I am in the minority here but I despise the iPod/iPhone products because I find them needlessly fussy- multitasking abilities without any of the benefits of streamlining. I received an iPod as a gift from my father but was partially relieved when it broke because I preferred my cheap little MP3 player that only played music and showed the currently playing songs on a very small screen.
My cell phone is also bottom of the line, capable only of phone calls and texting. I don’t need it to be able to take pictures or videos or recognize music.
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There is a certain amount of respect that I give to people I see speaking on ancient mobile phones… by far the best retro accessory to have.
Anyone sporting an 80s brick-like cell is automatically accredited as very cool.
As an aside, has anyone ever tried one of those ‘recognise this song’ feature on anything… does it work?
Not sure if this is what you meant:
http://www.bored.com/songtapper/s/tappingmain.bin?dotap=1
Pretty accurate, surprisingly…
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That site is awesome. Equally impressive as its ability to pick up on the song is the list of other songs that have a similar beat to them.
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Good call…
I was thinking of something like that, but one that doesn’t really work so well.
I get what you mean. People laugh at my tiny little phone, that barely perfoms the nessacary functions let alone any others, but hey, it’s got a colour screen and can fit in a pocket of any size known to man….why would it need to do a zillion other things?!
I like my iPod. It is simple, plays only songs (i cut out the movies menu, the pictures menu, the iPod fanboys hotline for dirty iPod chat menu) and will survive most welding accidents, car accidents, explosions and me.
My mobile I like to be simple, but I would like a better dictionary on it.
Bens last post..In the path of progress
Ah, Ben, you have just reminded me of the horrors of predictive text on phones. I hate it so much >.< Why, why does my phone want to talk for me when I’ve barely started saying anything? Grr!
So you can’t cook with it? Lame.
Well you *could* cook with it… not sure what the melting plastic would do to your eggs though.
That DOES seem a bit incongruous, doesn’t it? If it’s a radio, you can no longer cook an egg in it; if it’s still a frypan, why do you need a radio in it? Is it going to broadcast when the egg is done? Because people care?
(So out of fashion, now. We KNOW people care when our breakfast is done cooking. That’s why we blog.)
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*Twitters about toast*
*twitters about toast combined with an LED clock and a power socket connector*
The existence of cars with televisions in them and the George Foreman Grill with MP3 capability in the real world (or at least I think it was real) have broken my mind completely, but I would say one of those Life Alert “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” buttons on a personal massager. On the “should exist” side, many people slip in the tub. On the other hand, many people in a scenario where such a thing would be used would probably rather just die.
*ahem*
It’s late where I am.
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I think I see where you’re…. …. … coming from.
Eheheheheh.
Yeah, you hit that panic alarm you’re going to end up panicking.
haven’t heard the term ‘personal massager’ used for a while… that too is rather retro.
I’m trapped in a sort of vortex.
I haven’t seen any odd twinnings, really. But t’be honest, and I think we’re all secretly thinking this (it’s a subconscious thing, you’ll get what I mean when you start having the nightmares), I think the best pairing in the world would be between either a zombie and a dinosuar – (undead T-rex with added elbows!) or between slippers and cars, so you can zoom zoom up the stairs without lifting a finger (or foot).
Oddly enough, I had no idea what I was going to suggest when I started that sentence, but by the end, I had even convinced myself that Brain-Rex would be a good idea. Tee hee. Brain-Rex.
last night i had a dream with a slow-motion helicopter water gun battle and a couple of musketeers fighting eachother with katanas nearby on a lawn.
zombie dinosaurs? that’s a no-brainer.
Oh. Well. I think the Brain-Rex, in his every hungry quest for edible thinking spludge, would dissapprove of this no-brainery.
8 clocks, yes! 9 clocks! 10 clocks!
i NEED clocks. i cannot be in a room with no clocks for too long.
can never have too many clocks.
i have missed the point?
I don’t like analogue clocks. Even the ticking of my watch is annoying.
Digital clocks are too bright.
Wow, I am so pommie tonight.
Bens last post..In the path of progress
I think casts with built in anti-itch functions would be nifty. And casts that didn’t remove my opposable ability from my opposable thumb would be fucking awesome. I miss my thumb.
Things that I don’t understand being combined are:
-lights on my hammer drill. If I hold and operate it in a safe manner, then the light only lights up my hands, effectively making them so much brighter then what they are casting a shadow that I can’t see what I am drilling. Well done Makita.
-Warning labels on coffee cups. It’d wanna be hot, that is why I bought it from there and not home.
-Battery low warning sounds/vibrations/lights on my mobile. Yes, I can tell it is flat, it has a little itty bitty battery readout that gives realtime battery charge level readings. Buzzing and flashing whilst making siren noises is probably using more battery power then not buzzing and flashing whilst making siren noises.
Regarding the Frypan/radio. It is an ornemental frypan. Meant only to be noisy and annoying, not bad tasting as well. that is left to the el-cheapo nonstick frypans available in Coles.
Bens last post..In the path of progress
Way to break a bone! Casts are horrible though, the anti-itch function would be rather welcome.
Warning labels on coffee cups – So true, if you are stupid enough to think you’ll be served cold coffee you need to be ‘corrected’.
Think of such correction as Classical Conditioning.
Hey, my comment never went through the other day! Booooo! Must be the silly internet we’ve been having lately. Datastorms and such.
I wanted to talk about the microwave over / TV combo. Have you seen these?
http://www.gizmag.com/go/7947/
Totally useless, as far as I can tell. But hilarious, and very “the future” as envisioned in the 1960s. Soon there will be TV screens in everything. Because it’s cool.
something that really made me really angry was my english teacher’s insistence that science and math were the antithesis of all art and beauty. i had a stomachache for about an hour afterwards.
so let’s have some more beautiful, artistic science.
Hellz yeah!
Happy Birthday Roo!
I’ll have a pint or 4 at the pub in your honour
Bens last post..FESA
Thanks Ben! I wish there was some way I could send you a pint or two of this home-brew that I served at the party on Saturday — I’d sort of thought it was just me that thought it was great, because I made it. But it was a hit! Everyone (even the beer snobs) loved it! Drink up, you know I am.
Digital cameras have far too many functions on them. It seems you can’t get a still camera unless you want crappy video functions on it too and you can’t get a video camera unless you want crappy still capturing too.
If I buy a camera I want it to take photos and that’s all. I don’t want to shoot low quality video on it. I don’t want crappy artistic filters. I don’t want to use it as a dictaphone and for that matter why does it even have the ability to do sound? People spend decades developing quieter and quieter shutters and then decide that digital cameras aren’t noisy enough, so they get fake shutter sounds and beeps.
I really don’t like the idea that when I buy a digital camera I’m paying for all this little bits and bobs that I don’t need; a speaker, a microphone, something to do sound processing, a little bit of extra power to make those crappy home movies and all the little plastic buttons and dials to make them work. I’ll happily pay more for better colour accuracy or better auto exposure but not all the silly novelties that go into them.
You and me both.
I don’t think I have seriously used any of the auto features on my D40x, other then autofocus and shutter/aaperture priority.
A lack of features and sensor size will likely determine my next purchase.
Bens last post..FESA
I was reminded by this post of a rather enticingly funny website from long ago, indeed spanning verily to the dawn of the inter-tubulons. Friends, I present:
the half-bakery!
http://www.halfbakery.com/
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