Friday, April 26, 2013

Friday morning breakfast


Welcome to Basket Ingredients.  Contents of basket are 3 eggs, left over stuffed mushroom mix( sweet Italian sausage and cream cheese), bread,butter.
You have 20 minutes to prepare a breakfast dish.

Twenty minutes later after having started the first load of laundry....

HOST: So what we have here?

CONTESTANT: This is a three egg um, inside out omelet with sweet Italian sausage, green onions, cream cheese and chopped celery.  Enjoy!

JUDGES:  Nice flavor,however because you obviously did not use a Teflon pan the omelet broke. For this reason we have to throw you out of the basket.

Thank you judges.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Industrial design


This is your common ordinary plastic water bottle.
Um, that bottle deposit can be redeemed in Oregon for a very respectable nickel.  I am tempted to hand a bag full of them every time some one comes to the door wanting me to donate or sponsor them for some charitable event. 

My main complaint about this ubiquitous item is it's design. Somewhere along the line the bottle design has morphed from a thicker, fairly noncompressible bottle with a fully threaded cap into a very thin walled, easily collapsible bottle with a cap that might possess 2 1/2 threaded turns before the cap is sealed.

Under the current design:

1.  You must use both hands, to CAREFULLY unscrew the cap, if you squeeze just a little too hard you have a water spout going right up your nose, best open it over the sink.

2. You MUST seat said cap VERY carefully to seal it correctly otherwise if you snug the bottle cozily into a nearby pillow for the night,you will wake up to a soggy bed.  Argh!!!

3.   All bright eyed industrial designers should be compelled to test their own products, in their own beds.  Yeah.  I think the cost savings of creating a such a poor water bottle outranks the convenience of not being dripped on because you crack open the seal too enthusiastically.  It ain't champagne for cryin' in a bucket!

Does anyone remember when it took a well built guy with nifty forearms to casually crush a beer can?  Pitiful, might as well come in a plastic bag.