Cumberland Clark—the “Bard of Bournemouth”—was, according to Anthony Daniels, the second-worst poet in the English language.* How bad was he? “Wonderfully, gloriously, hilariously awful.”

As evidence, Daniels points us to the beginning of Clark’s “The West Overcliff Drive”:

Do you know the West Overcliff Drive?
If you don’t, there’s no doubt that you ought to.
With interest always alive,
It’s a place everyone should be brought to.

Now, I’ve written some pretty bad poetry (who hasn’t, really?) but I don’t think it’s quite the steaming pile that that is. So let me help you get the terrible taste out of your mouth with a little something from Langston Hughes:

Advice

Folks, I’m telling you,
birthing is hard
and dying is mean—
so get yourself
a little loving
in between.

*The worst? William McGonagall, obviously.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

So there’s this thing called the Dunning-Kruger effect, which describes how people who don’t know much about a given topic are the ones most confident that they do. (Yeah, most of us figured this out on our own back in middle school, but whatever. Social psychologists gotta eat too, you know.)

Where it really gets interesting, though, is in the realm of politics. Here’s Ian Anson, assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County:

Many Americans appear to be extremely overconfident in their political knowledgeability, because they have no way of knowing how little they actually know about the world of politics (this is the so-called “double bind of incompetence”). But there’s a catch: when Republicans and Democrats engage in partisan thought processes, this effect becomes even stronger than before.

“I think,” continues Anson, in what ought to be in the running for understatement of the decade, “this has major implications for the breakdowns in political discourse we often observe in contemporary American democracy.”

So, basically, each side thinks the other side is stupid. Sounds about right.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  comments(2)

The great Andrew Ferguson on today’s “futile and stupid gesture from Starbucks.”

These days, efficiency is king. So what’s with all the pointless jobs? It’s political, argues David Graeber. “A population kept busy with make-work is less likely to revolt.”

Pythagoras—you know, that guy who came up with that theorem—had a cult. And they all thought fava beans contained the souls of the dead.

There’s one word you never want to say to a narcissist. You can probably guess what it is.

For philosophers, the subject of morality can be a bit of a sticky wicket: “Where’s the consistency? Where’s the theoretical framework? Where’s the argument?”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Check this out: Richard Wagner and Arthur Conan Doyle share a birthday today, which, coincidentally, is the same day Sun Ra arrived on Earth from Saturn.

Oh—for you millennials who might be reading this, I should probably explain that Wagner is responsible for the single greatest work of art ever created, while Doyle is the reason Benedict Cumberbatch is a household name. And Sun Ra is, well…Sun Ra.

Happy birthday, gentlemen. The world would be a lot less interesting without you.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Did you catch Tim Cook’s commencement speech at Duke? No? Sounds like you didn’t miss much.

Poet Voice: “scourge of the open mic and the Pulitzer podium alike.”

Yes! Classical music has finally been weaponized.

“[O]ccasionally at night, when the full moon is bright, I do what in the physics community is the intellectual equivalent of turning into a werewolf: I question whether quantum mechanics is the complete and ultimate truth about the physical universe.”

On a bicycle trip on Corsica as a young man, J. Robert Oppenheimer read Proust by flashlight.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Hey, get a load of this, from our friends over at the Washington State Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation:

Spokane’s Mid-century Modern Survey, Social Media and Website project is the winner of the 2018 award for Outstanding Achievement in portraying historic preservation work in the Media. The Spokane Historic Preservation Office at the direction of the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission received a grant in 2015 to complete a comprehensive survey of mid- 20th Century modern architecture in Spokane. The resulting information became accessible and appealing through the creation of a website and Facebook pages. To attract users, there was a new mid-century modern architecture ‘find’ added to the Facebook page each week. The social media campaign was successful and reached over 250,000 people. The Spokane Mid-Century website is informative, visually fresh, beautifully illustrated, and easy to use. 

That’s us! I mean…we had a part in all that. We wrote a news release and everything. Right now, as I post this, they’re handing out the award in Olympia, and Megan Duvall will (hopefully) be wrapping up her acceptance speech. Congratulations to Megan and her team!

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: architecture the design life  |  comments(2)

From yesterday’s New York Times:

Robert N. Hall’s legacy can be found at almost every checkout counter—that little red blinking laser scanner that reads bar codes on milk cartons, boxes of light bulbs, price tags dangling from a new jacket and just about everything else that can be bought in a store.

A product of his inventive labor can also be found in most kitchens nowadays: the microwave oven.

Yet for all the widespread familiarity of what Dr. Hall wrought as a remarkably ingenious physicist, his death, at 96, on Nov. 7, 2016, gained little notice.

Read the rest.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

One of Spokane’s finest architects recently retired, closing his office and walking away from a 42-year career. Quietly. Unnoticed. And without fanfare.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Steve Clark for more than twenty years. We first met in 1996 when my wife Linda and I interviewed several local architects to design our new home. Steve was an easy choice, having designed some of the most beautiful homes in the region. He not only held to design principals that we shared, but also embraced our modest budget.

We spent several months working closely with Steve on our project. He listened. He challenged us. It was a great collaboration, and we’ve remained friends ever since. I don’t often use lofty accolades, as I fully understand the weight of them. But in all of my years working in this business, I’ve never met a finer designer. Ever. 

Watching Steve pack up his things as he emptied his office (of course he never threw anything away) is a reminder of how fleeting our careers are. And how important it is to stick to your principles—every single day—so that, when the time comes, you can step away with your professional integrity still intact. Steve did just that. His life’s work and career achievements are both notable and far too many to list here. Thankfully, Linda and I are reminded of his talents every time we pull into our driveway.

posted by: CK Anderson  |  category: the design life  |  make a comment