David lafontaine's
Sips from the firehose
A site that attempts to render the internet down into one easy-to consume mental beverage.
Quick Hit: Alt-text Unintended Consequences & Image-generating AI
If there were ever an example of why AI needs humans in the loop, well, actually … this isn’t the most compelling. But it’s informative. (H/t Washington Post’s most recent excellent scrollytelling example -...
Heather Armstrong, aka “Dooce” Was So Very Many Things
Dooce Was Brave. Funny. Self-lacerating. Self-aware. Bubbly. Withdrawn. An early pioneer of the "MommyBlogger" phenomenon. And now: dead. Far too soon. Many years ago, before the rise of "micro-blogging" platforms basically sucked all the oxygen out of the room and...
Creativity During the Pandemic: Pumpkin-Carving Beyond Jack O’Lanterns
Carving Using Clay-Sculpture Tools To Produce Organic ArtThe "Night of 1,000 Jack-o-Lanterns" exhibit at the Chicago Botanical Gardens was a breath of fresh - albeit pumpkin-spice-scented - air. After months of feeling trapped, increasingly bored with the...
Designing for VR Environments: Technicolor Labs Interviews Ed Moore & Me
What are the design rules in an environment where literally anything is possible? More than a year ago, Technicolor Labs, a super-cool space located in the Blackwelder Arts district of Culver City, invited the ever-insightful game designer Ed Moore and myself to come...
So I’ve Moved to Chicago…
Yes, I know. What was I thinking? After three decades on the "Left Coast," I've headed back to my midwestern roots. In 1989, I moved to California from Venezuela, with only two suitcases and $600 to my name. I had worked as a managing editor for the (now-defunct)...
Please Excuse My Appearance. And the Orca.
Yes, the amusing little JavaScript sequence that shows me getting squirted in the face by a firehose and then winking is gone. Some recent update to WordPress ganked it, and to be honest, I don't have the time right now to chase down the setting to fix it. Nor do I...