LILEKS.COM

This photograph is one of a delightful collection of 1930's kitchens on display at Lileks.com.

Unsolicited Advice #19: Tasteful hospitality

It is always and forever tasteful to offer refreshments to guests upon arrival. Whether you are hosting in your cubicle, your dorm room, or somewhere where you control the kitchen, make sure your guests feel welcome by offering them a little something. Tiny cookies and tea are not your only options. Chips and beer may be more welcome. I know a flawlessly elegant 91 year old woman who informs her guests of the state of her marijuana stash immediately upon their arrival at her palatial 1950's ranch house. Try to tailor your friends to your cupboards or your offerings to your friends. Either way works.

Sven Markelius

Sven Markelius (1889-1972) was one of the most important modernist Swedish architects and a major forerunner of Swedish functionalism.  He played an important role in the urban planning of post-war Stockholm.  Inspired by Le Corbusier and Bauhaus, the Swedish functionalists presented variations on French styles of functional furniture at the radical Stockholm Exhibition of 1930.

Character Assassination #2: Real! Live! Tastelessness!

"The ontological structure of our emotional lives is totally Buddhist inspired."

Unsolicited Advice #17: Instant Message Etiquette

Nobody likes feeling snubbed.  But with the casualness of the instant messaging medium sometimes one gets involved in a conversation at an inopportune or inconvenient time.  This is particularly true because a conversation can be started by one party without the other party's consent.  The protracted process of polite conversational extrication can in those instances be too much.

We give you permission to sign off abruptly with no real excuse.  

Just be sure to include a salutation and to sign your communication with your initial or name.

Announcement #3: "Earth Day" and Dentistry Edition

You and I (and everyone except for Astronauts and astral-projection experts) live on Earth every ever-loving day.  We are dependent on Earth's habitability every ever-loving day.

The Earth is like your teeth.  You need them and use them every day.  So you brush them every day.  If you only brushed your teeth once a year your teeth would fall out.

The Earth is not your teeth.  It's not going to fall out or rot.  Instead it's going to reject us like a healthy immune system rejects a nasty virus.  Or reject us like a reasonable woman rejects a subpar man.  Basically, like the dentally short-sighted child, we're setting ourselves up for failure.

"Earth Day" is not "everyday" when riding your bike is incentivized once a year.  And while I'm on the subject, what's up with giving out non-vegan cookies and free coffee to folks who say they didn't drive?  How does that convince folks to stop living lives dependent on the depletion of the systems that keep our planet habitable?

It doesn't.

"Earth Day" is clearly not "everyday."  "Earth Day" is just plain never.

Invite to Opine #3: facebook

This blog's editorial staff is married on facebook.  We find that our faux-union is a pleasing simulacrum of our real-life long term, committed best friendship.  But we also know that marriage is a real state for some folks and that our misapplication of the "relationship type" function on that website is perhaps dishonest.  

What are the taste issues involved in misrepresentation on social networking sites?