Enter the sandman

He came, he saw, he left me sawing wood: Good news in the form of a few hours' kip last night. Of course I was awoken several times by the kidiots -- especially the shrill pig-squealer two doors down who feels that every last thing she has to say is of dire consequence to everyone in the western hemisphere (doubly so after 2:00 AM), and therefore broadcasts her every thought to the world. Nonetheless I eventually passed out from sheer exhaustion. Either that or they finally shut the fuck up.

Here's hoping this is the beginning of a long trend.

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Random thought: In my vision of a perfect hell, designers -- web designers and industrial designers alike -- will be forced to actually use their own products for eternity. I can't think of a better revenge than to have the pencil-necked geeks who come up with some of these completely useless, non-intuitive/counter-productive products and user interfaces have to experience the utter Sisyphean frustration that we, their hapless victims, feel. (I would have said "users" but that implies a measure of utility.)

You know the ones I'm talking about: the kind that offer you only a binary A or B choice, when your situation is always an unwritten third or fourth or fifteenth option down the line. Or the device that perpetually shuts off at the most inopportune moment because some bright spark decided to locate the disproportionately large 'soft-touch' power button right next to the most-used (and naturally subminiature) send/talk/save/help (etc.) button.

In fact, let's start a Design Hall of Shame right now. Nominate your worst design experiences under Comments, and be sure to name the guilty parties. (Or, send me a link to whomever has already beaten me to it.) If not, let's start with all circle-jerking Detroit automakers who, some 30 years behind all other sentient life forms, have finally started to think that it might make sense to build smaller vehicles that use less gas.