The TIGER KING Phenomenon

Joe Exotic and Tiger friend

     It seems that during every crisis there is something that catches our attention as a distraction from the thing we are really facing. 9/11, earthquakes here in California - we had one near Palm Springs last night, runs on the stock market, riots and wars somewhere in the world focus our attention on something grim. We often need a distraction to look away if only for a brief time. Days after 9/11 and the unrelenting covering of that tragedy, I remember we went to see the movie RAT RACE. Silly yes, but I got two hours away from reality and some good belly laughs to boot. This worldwide Pandemic is no exception. While I can't speak of what people in China or Italy, France or Spain are watching, reading or doing in their time of "shelter-in-place," I do know what America is watching. 

Viewing Netflix documentary JOE EXOTIC: Murder, Mayhem
& Madness

     People in the United States and even maybe around the Netflix world are watching TIGER KING: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. This seven part, mini-series, a form of docudrama made for Netflix is so wild and well, crazy, that no fiction writer could make this stuff up! 

     It relates the tale of Joe Exotic, a Gay renegade combination of Oklahoma cowboy, Gay queen, animal lover and snake oil salesman who created a larger than life persona. Truly, there has never been someone quite like this. 

     Born Joseph Schreibvogel (A German name that translates to "writing bird") Joe Exotic among other names, legally took the names of his last two husbands so legally he was Joe Maldonado-Passage.

     This docudrama chronicles his beyond reality lifestyle, one so bizarre that as detestable as he and many of his competitors are, you just can't turn away. Why? Because you simply can't believe what you are seeing not only just from him but from some of his competitors and the fact that there are more exotic tigers living in the United States than in the wild. Unacceptable!

Carole Baskin, Joe's nemesis of
BIG CAT RESCUE in Florida

     Joe manages to gather them in Wynnewood, OK, a bleak place in the middle of Oklahoma that apparently gave no oversight to his G.W. Zoo. Joe's nemesis is Carole Baskin, who runs BIG CAT RESCUE in Florida who in her own right is a suspicious and shady character. She tries to shut Joe down thinking he is profiting from the breeding and selling of his 200 Tigers, lions, cheetahs and a whole bunch of other wild creatures.

    Baskin is no saint. Her millionaire husband disappears after their marriage and she suddenly has a fortune to continue their rescue of big cats. The husband is never found (Joe speculates that the body was fed to the big cats in Baskin's care) and we learn that she makes a healthy profit pleading for volunteers to help run her own zoo (that are not paid) acting like a 60's flowerchild. She and Joe have a web presence and they capitalize on it. The images of her with a wreath of flowers in her hair, flowing blouses, with animal prints everywhere - house, clothes, vehicles, she tries to create an image of a loving, caring woman. She is not.

Joe with two of his five husbands

      Joe is no stranger to the matrimonial aisle. He meets his first husband in the 1980's, a bouncer at a Gay bar who dies in 2001 from HIV complications. In 2003 he meets another 19 year-old, John Findlay. Joe, Findlay and Travis Maldonado marry in 2014 (you see the wedding tape). Travis may be straight but is enticed to stay for pot and toys. He accidentally shots himself in the G.W. Zoo gift shop while talking with Joe's campaign manager. Finally Dillion is found on Grindr and in 2017 they marry. Gives new meaning to ménage a très, no? Some say Travis and Dillion were straight.

Joe ran for President and when that failed
for the governor of Oklahoma. He got 19% of the vote!

     The animosity builds and Joe gets distracted. He runs for President then Oklahoma governor getting 19% of the vote in a campaign you might only see in an X-rated movie house. He blatantly copies Big Cat Rescue's logo, makes threats online about killing Baskin. The final straw and the one that got him in jail was his attempt to have Baskin murdered. He gave $3,000 to one of his employees to make the hit, but the employee, no stranger to the legal system and prison, takes the money and had a good time before returning. Nevertheless Joe was tried, found guilty for that and Federal Game law violations and is currently serving 22 years.

    How much money can there be in holding big cats? I saw an article today that estimates that Joe, today, is still worth $10 million. That's a lot of cats!

     The draw though is that, well, it's utterly disgusting and mesmerizing. I have long been a non-fiction fan because you just can't make this stuff up! It seems that people and events stagger the mind that until they happen, make us unable to consider, even think about. It's a train wreck from beginning to end and, like a crash on the freeway, we just can't look away. I would even question that you could "design" this, but as you watch you clearly see it was. Every step was choreographed with, however, not a clear ending in sight.

   Except for the murder-for-hire attempt, is Exotic any different from Buffalo Bill Cody? Or the Ringling Brothers? They had wild beasts they exploited making money off the public paying terrible wages as they tintilated the public while fattening their wallets. While Joe may have paid his employees less than minimum wage he did give people, many felons, a second chance. Baskin, wealthy in her own right, uses "volunteers" for free and lived a pretty good lifestyle, wealthy herself. So who was living off the fatted hog?

Maybe he should have called himself Joe Cody
or Joe Ringling. Truthfully is / was there
any difference?

   We have a month more, at least here in California, to "shelter-in-place." Look at the murder and mayhem and take your mind off CORVID-19!!! It couldn't be a better distraction for a truly American story, maybe even the story of the American dream.

  This documentary also highlights the perils and danger of these "private" zoos, shelters ... whatever you want to call them. We need to remember that wild animals are, well, wild! One of the cats nearly bites off the arm off one of his employees, others are scratched and mauled. He was lucky. Here in California a "pet" wild chimp literally bit the face off its friend and handler. It had been there for years when suddenly ..... More than we should, we read about or see and hear stories of patrons getting killed or maimed in private zoos, far more often than an official zoo. As I said, these are WILD animals and you can never let your guard down. Why do we go? The thrill, the danger? Clearly the folks visiting any "shelter" or private zoo could be putting their own lives in danger. However, if someone puts on a show, there will be an audience. Making a buck is the American way.

The "Donald" as Joe. Rumors on Facebook said junior
compared himself to Joe. Someone took him up
on a potential look alike. But, it's all fake news, right?
Remember his ancestors were German and his
mother was Scottish and his wives Slvenian.

    Remember, a good many American heroes of the past on closer inspection today could be considered murderers, cheats, land grabbers, crooks, sexual predators. This modern era looks at things very differently TODAY as they did back THEN. It's only now that we are re-writing what is and is NOT acceptable. Consider ... Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the glass ceiling, the good old boy network, equality for African Americans, women, the LGBTQ community, the faces of immigration, even religion! 

     As much as many in this country would love to believe this is a "white" country the reality was we never were. There were already people here, we forcibly brought people from Africa, and not a few either. Immigrants came from England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany at first then the flood came from everywhere. Each wave was never welcomed. The Chinese were brought to build our railroads and forced to return to China. Mexicans were good enough to pick our crops but not to live here, at least not permanently. It's happened to them all. We didn't want Catholic Irish or Italians, Jews were marginalized, Nordic folks were only good for the lumber industry. The list goes on and on.

     Here in California we are to shelter-in-place until the end of April after already doing it for two weeks. So I say, why not? It's better than the show in D.C.

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

To Keurig Or NOT To Keurig, That IS The Question!

How we start our day!

     I have been a coffee drinker most of my life. I guess you could say I started in college because of the all nighters I would pull for my various Journalism classes and a memorable Philosophy 101 class where the dean finding out there were so many graduating seniors made us work like we were getting our masters! At least I didn't learn to smoke. I can remember editors at the student newspaper with a cigarette in their mouths and another in the nearby ashtray.

     And, at the good old age of 74 I watched the rise of Starbucks, Peet's and who knows who else. I never liked Starbucks, the regular coffee was too bitter, the lines went on forever and the cost was high and kept on increasing. I would marvel the few times I would go, usually at an airport, and be flabbergasted at the orders of the loyal patrons. I would ask myself, "How did they learn to order all that stuff? And all in one cup? Five bucks? Really?" Usually I would hunt down the McDonald's that actually had pretty good coffee that was faster to get and far cheaper. I don't want to buy the store!!!

I tried it again. It takes forever on an electric stove.

     Coffee though does evoke many emotions. People I've known over the years have all kinds of rituals in the storage and preparation of coffee. I can remember my grandmother always had a pot on the stove, drank it black and there was always pieces of eggshell in the grounds. Why? Who knows. That's the way they did it in South Dakota.

   For many years we had a Faberware percolator that could make 12 cups. It actually make good coffee, nothing fancy but strong enough to make you realize you were drinking a good, smooth, strong cup of coffee. I guess in around the 80's we got our first drip coffee maker. It was a bit faster and the coffee was ok. When I had my own business and often worked at home, I could easily drink half a pot and maybe more. It kept me going between taking the kids to school, calling on accounts, working on graphic design projects, picking up the kids and finally around 8 each night, running out of steam

Good old Mr. Coffee. You could even set it
to have the coffee ready when you woke up!

     I never needed an alarm. I just woke up at 4:00 am, made coffee, worked a bit, walked the dog, then got ready for the day. A cup would follow me in the truck as I took the kids to school and the ritual started all over again.

      I first became aware of the Keurig device from friends. It was a quantum design change in coffee delivery. There is always a childless couple in everyone's life and they were the first to have one. It was simple ... make sure there was water in the reservoir, put in one of the little white cups, select an ounce size for your cup and wait. It isn't fast. In fact I could make a 12 cup pot in about the same time this thing makes one cup.

     It sounds like a great deal until you look at the prices. They begin to approach Starbuck prices! I compared prices for Folgers that at a cost of (hopefully) $9.99 at Costco gives you about 260 cups of coffee per the pod price at the same store. Folgers runs you about 4¢ a cup depending on the current cost of coffee beans and can be more for fancier coffees including Starbucks in either ground or unground bags. The cheapest K-cup I have seen was 31¢ a cup with prices climbing to $1.61 each! If you don't believe me, go look at Costco. They have thoughtfully done the price comparisons for you.

Keurig B-2000

     Then there's the cost of the Keurig. It was originally developed for offices as a replacement for the dreaded pot of coffee that lingered all day on some burner that by 3:00 pm was strong enough to grow hair on the bald. However, it's one advantage, a good fresh cup of coffee also had a disadvantage, it took several minutes to brew a cup.

Early home use Keurig.
K-cups were part of the system.

       At some point people that used them at work began to agitate for coffeemakers they could use at home. The company was started in 1990 by Peter Dragone and John Sylvan. At one point they were a division of the Green Mountain Coffee bean company. It took until 2004 to create a machine that would be used at home. However, the K-cup was developed for offices in 1998 but became an integral part of the Keurig coffee system everywhere it was used.

     The patent for the K-cup expired in 2012 and the stampede was on. Unable to make the fat profits of before Green Mountain sold the company to an investor group that then sold it to Dr. Pepper for $18.7 billion. Keurig is such an important part of this company they changed the same to Keurig Dr.Pepper. In fact it was so lucrative Keurig tried in 2015 to introduce Keurig 2.0 that could only use licensed K-cups shutting out anyone that wouldn't pay royalties. There were so many complaints and threatened boycotts that it was soon withdrawn.

Take your choice. Everybody is making K-cups in every price range.

     But, I digress. I have used the Keurig at friends but being a coffeeholic I didn't want one. If I drank say 5 cups a day, my old totals, it would cost me $2.50 a day, each and every day, something I wasn't able to afford when I first moved to Palm Springs. However, after the move I realized that I was only drinking one or two cups a day, usually my first cup talking to a friend overseas. The need for and even the desire for more coffee seemed to have dissipated. I found that I was leaving more than half of the pot left each day. I would heat some up the next day in the microwave but as we all know it was well past it's prime.

     The other hindrance was the cost of the Keurig. Even the cheapest model with basically nothing to do but make one cup of coffee cost $100. You could buy a fancy Mr. Coffee for half and on Black Friday Sales a quarter of that. It was a little messier, yes, you had to dump the grounds each day but the cost was much, MUCH cheaper. And the grounds could be composted.

The Ambiano system:
K-cup holder, coffee filter

There is a lot of
coffee splatter 

     About a month ago, Aldi, the German grocery chain that has taken America by storm had a sale on a Keurig knockoff. For $30 you got the maker, the ability to use your own coffee or use a K-pod and a reservoir to hold enough water for several cups of coffee. You could chose 8 oz. and 16 oz. cup sizes. I bought one.

     It has actually been a fun adventure. You can get K-cups for every imaginable coffee, tea and even hot chocolate. But I also have noticed that it is a bit messy. As the water drips into the cup it splashes both in the cup and around the machine onto the counter. The cheapest K-cups I found after comparing prices at Costco, Aldi, Walmart and Amazon is about 20¢ a cup. And that coffee would be considered marginal by dedicated coffee drinkers. Each cup takes about 2 minutes set at 16 oz. and fills my cups at least to the brim. It's good I guess and other than wiping the counter each time, is simple.

9 billion a year end up in the dump.

     The downside to the K-cup however, is that it is estimated over 9 billion cups are sold each year. They consist of a plastic tub, coffee and a foil top that is punctured to release the coffee. It goes into the trash, then the landfill where it will live forever ... well, not maybe forever but for a long long time. It is so far not environmentally friendly by any stretch of the imagination. Sylvan, the inventor was quoted as saying that he wished now he had never invented the cup because it was terrible on the environment.

     So ... right now I have several drip coffee machines, an on the stove percolator that easily takes f  o  r  e  v  e  r, a French press in two sizes, an electric kettle for instant coffee and the Ambiaco K-cup coffee maker. I have only been using the Ambiaco for a few weeks now ... actually since the shelter in place order from the California governor. That though is another story! There really is no winner and I use one of these when the mood strikes me. Instant coffee is quite good these days (some) and the K-cup is a simple alternative as well. I do like that I can use any coffee I buy at a substantially cheaper cost though I admit it's not as simple as popping a cup in the holder, selecting the cup size and letting it rip ... actually drip.

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

   

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...."

 

   The opening words of THE TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens have ricocheted through my thoughts since about the beginning of the the COVID-19 crisis.

French Revolution

     Describing "the terror" of the French Revolution in 1789, a sad and far more violent revolution than the American version that spawned, it nevertheless offers words to address our current 21st Century.

     The 21st Century has not been kind to humankind. Starting with the great computer blackout in 2000 because no one thought to consider a new century of date counting with millions of Microsoft Window Computers, the soon to follow Internet crash of 2001-2002, a kind of new age Ponzi scheme, to the effects of 9/11 that changed the way we viewed travel and ourselves forever. The iPhone in 2007, a device David Pogue said would change everything and we, at Macworld in January of 2007 thought Steve Jobs and crew had smoked too much something in Silicon Valley. (Pogue was right, the iPhone and Android DID change everything in ways we still don't understand now). From China we had SARS, and MERS and H1N1, and now of course, COVID-19. Global warming became a reality from the scientists abstract as vast changes in weather and climate stalked the earth. Huge swathes of industry quit camp at home and went to China and other places in search of cheaper labor and more profits. Because of the ensuing pandemic world trade is coming to a standstill. Stock market exchanges around the world have crashed and so far 1/3 of all wealth has vanished overnight.

Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans under water

     We had terrible hurricanes and blizzards, historic floods, the population of the world seemed to be on the move, never-ending wars, democratic governments increasingly seem to fall before strongmen, some letting go and others holding on at a terrible human price, one economic rupture that nearly brought the world down in 2008-2009 and is now being brought down again by a pandemic. And to think, all this in only 20 years.

     Christians will find many words in their Bible about change. And let there be NO doubt, we are witnessing one of the biggest changes in humankind's history. One portion of the Bible that comes to mind to me is Ecclestiastes 3:1-8: For everything there is a season, and a time for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. (NIV).

See No Evil!

     Wise words but hardly comforting. Of soberer thought are Lincoln's words during the Civil War: "Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good."

 Many wise men and women have predicted these times. Eric Toffler predicted in the 1990's that the 21st Century would have the biggest migration of people than ever before in the history of the world. The great philosopher Santana wisely said, "Those who forget history are condemned to relive it. Even Gladstone in 1795 said, "The only thing necessary for evil to persist is for good men to do nothing."

Border issues are far greater than the US and Mexico.
Here immigrants try to get into Hungary!

     As I sit writing, sheltered in place, it is hard to accept the changes that are daily changing my life. Blame and counter blame is thrown around the world. Can we call it a Chinese pandemic? Is that racist? A Chinese friend, no less, noted when this started by asking, "why do all these terrible illnesses come from China and not, well, India?" Why? In this century four have erupted there and started to spread. This recent outbreak has been fast and devastating.

 XI: Pooh Bear No More

Even if the Chinese government doesn't accept blame for poor sanitary conditions is its many outdoor markets, I find it interesting that today, finally, the government gave a formal apology to both the family and co-workers of Dr. Li, the young eye doctor who blew the whistle about a new virus and paid for it with his life. Police who were involved in the attempted coverup are being punished but as the saying goes, too little too late! When I asked another Chinese friend about how this can happen he noted that there are many laws, even more than here but rather then enforcing them it's more of a Mafia style shakedown.

Is this our future of staying in place?
Wuhan interchange in a city of 11 million.

     WIRED magazine had a fascinating article years ago telling how a pandemic would spread. They said it would reach the entire world in 48 hours because, well, too many people travel around the world at any one time. While not exactly following the predicted path it has reached the entire world. And in places where it shouldn't.

China is already bailing out banks

     The blame, if there is really any to be had, is that we have all become interdependent, just as the breakdown in supply chains has clearly shown. While the west has cheerfully moved all it's production to China to let them deal with the smog and political fallout there, they have given up the right to call the shots in search of the cheapest price. Only it's not so cheap anymore if you can't get it. 
    The rise of far more aggressive governments, the rising cost of labor and transportation already had some looking for a new nest to roost in, places like Viet Nam, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, even countries in the Middle East. After this, it will most likely go from a trickle to a stampede. Companies simply cannot let themselves be caught again without an alternative source.

     And it isn't only the United States that has been living beyond it's means. China has a banking and real estate problem so deep that should it fail, as it clearly could in this crisis, Wall Street will have seen nothing yet. We might be glad of "only" losing a third of our wealth. Consider this, it took the stock of General Motors (GM) until 1953 to regain the value it had when Wall Street crashed in 1929. That's right, 24 years. 

Christmas? No, hoarding.

   What is even more inexcusable is the hoarding of important things the very doctors and medical people need are being hoarded just like the toilet paper we clearly do not need. Despite assurances that there is food, more than ample supplies, try to find milk, eggs, flour, spaghetti, and many canned goods. I went to four stores to get eggs, milk and flour. I got eggs in one, milk in another and never found flour of any normal kind.

     We are scared and we have a right to be. However, we also need to keep level heads and follow the guidelines given to us by the CDC. Sadly our present administration, like the Chinese decided to ignore it, then say it was a hoax perpetrated by the Democrats before the numbers of infected and death tolls started to rise and could not be ignored any longer.

     Could it have been avoided? Many health officials say yes. China should have jumped on it at the first reports. President Xi it turns out knew about it two weeks before publicly acknowledging it. As America watched passengers get picked off one by one in the marooned cruise ship in Japan, with many Americans aboard, where one case ballooned to over 700, our government also did nothing. A friend in the shipping business said get them off! Ships have some of the worst filtration systems in the world. If one passenger had it, their virus got sucked into the ducts and was redistributed through the entire ship. It was, in effect a petri dish for the virus. As I write this cruise ships all over the world are being denied docks, even if there are no cases onboard for fear of it coming there.

San Francisco with all sheltering in place

       I do know one thing though, the blame game is not going to heal the sick or create a vaccine or treatments to save either the dying or prevent us from getting it. However this turns out, with the entire world working for this one virus it may open the pathway to cure all viruses in ways individually we have been unable to do in the past. United we stand, divided we fall.

     And yes,  we have "designed" the dilemma that we are in today. Supply chains, shipping, trade and manufacturing are all manmade events. They have thoughtfully been designed for the greatest profit. However, events have shown that not all contingencies have been thought out. I suspect that this will change. One thing is for sure though, the world will never be the same again.

     Shelter in place and wash those hands. We must all do what we can to stop a pandemic that cares not for race, or religion, sexual orientation, rich or poor. It is an equal opportunity killer at worst and has the potential to stop the world.

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

While BIG Box Stores Suffer, Catalogs Sure Haven't

     

     Mail order catalogs seem to have been an American invention. The first general mail catalog is the Montgomery Ward catalog that was produced on August 18, 1872. And while many businesses were already publishing mail order catalogs, it was Aaron Montgomery Ward that is credited for producing the first mail order catalog meant for the national general public. It wasn't long though before Sears & Roebuck produced their own, a venerable institution until it's demise.

     Sears & Roebuck originally started in 1886 as a watch mail order company in 1886. Their first mail catalog was in 1888, a good 12 years after Wards. However, when rural delivery became free in 1896, Sears, Wards and other vendor's catalog mailing exploded. I can remember as a kid in the 1950's waiting for the Sears Christmas catalog. If you're a Boomer or earlier you know exactly what I mean. Kids today really do miss out.

     As a marketing and advertising major in Journalism School our director said that the only books we needed were ... the Bible, The Works of Shakespeare AND the Sears catalog. All three, he said, told complete stories in as few words as necessary. If you ever read a Sears catalog, despite 1,000's of items, after looking at the photo and reading the description you had NO doubt what the item was, how it looked and what it could do usually in 100 words or less. I can think of many web sites that could learn or lesson or two from this! While the Sears catalog ceased publication in 1993 (you can just about see the beginning of it's demise about that time. The biggest retailer started to fail as Walmart became the biggest retailer), its lessons seem to have been remembered. 

Christmas catalogs received

in ONE week last November!

     While big box stores, Kmart, Sear, Macy's, Penney's, Forever 21 and many more are closing stores or declaring bankruptcies, never to be seen again, if anything, I am getting more catalogs than ever before. Internet sales may be booming, but so are catalogs! What's even more interesting is that while you often see things you would never find in a store, often they are also available at such sites as Amazon who sells that item cheaper and if a Prime member, with free shipping! Yet, they keep coming!!!

     You have to wonder, what and why? If you were to design a "comfort" food or item, nothing beats a casual stroll through pages ... printed or digital, in the comfort of your home. You also find things that while available online, you might never have been aware of until you saw it in a catalog. It can be trying to find things on Amazon. Here in your lap is the thing you were looking for, looking back at you on the printed page!

Catalogs received this week!

  Shopping today is such a miserable hassle. Depending on where you live, if you are single, married or married with children you have to get everyone dressed in something, then go to the car, load everyone in after making sure all windows, doors, lights and appliances are turned off, doors locked, then driving to the mall which once took 10 minutes but today can be an hours long trip. You arrive mad at the stupid drivers, the kids bickering in the back seat, a disagreement with the spouse of where you will go once there ... the "purpose" of the trip, then finding a place to park and depending on the weather slogging to the entrance. As if to add insult to injury, you also take a quick glance around to see where to hide if some crazed gunman wants to add a sense of adventure to your shopping chores.  And worse, if you live in California you have to bring your own bag or be charged for everyone you get from the seller. So the back of my SUV has a bundle of bags that I somehow manage to forget every time I go to the store or mall! Need a bag?

     WHY do that? Stay home, leaf through your catalogs, fill out the order form, put a stamp on it, put it in the mailbox and take a nap.

     Rather than adding stress to our lives, we can relax and depending, wait to receive our package. I am sure that's why such sites as Wayfair, Overstocck.com and just about every catalog out there also send you emails to order online. They are covering their bases and audience. At 74 I find that I like holding the catalog and reading the pages rather than looking at a screen that makes it difficult to flip back and forth between items. I have yet to find any digital store's pages that equals the same experience as a printed catalog. Maybe digital takes a certain age to use. Yet, those catalogs keep coming so someone, somewhere is still ordering from them!

    

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

     

BIG BROTHER Is Here and We Barely Notice It!

Growing up in the 50's there were all kinds of threats and fears about the Commies. There was a show I watched as a kid where the "good" guys caught a "Commie" each and every week. No kid could escape the fear of a Soviet atomic bomb with the regular drills to drop and cover under our desks during an atomic bomb attack. Yeah, we would have all fried in place under our desks. Even at 9 and 10 I could understand the fear of Eugene McCarty's list of Communists in government and the blacklisting of many in the movie industry.

   As a late bloomer in reading I soon caught up and was reading any book I wanted after my mother sent a note to the local librarian with that very message the 7th grade. I remember seeing the movie first and then reading George Orwell's chilling 1984. Shot in grainy black and white, it depicted a society (what we thought it was like living in the Soviet Union) where every citizen was watched and for any deviation of correct thinking was removed for "education" much like several societies I can think of today. It was, for a young, red-blooded American an almost unbelievable concept. We lived in a free society and could do and say just about anything we wanted. Or so we thought.

     Over the years much as been made of the idea of "1984's Big Brother" both coming toward and after. The 1984 Super Bowl ad of Apple introducing the Apple Macintosh is one of the more memorable concepts. Yet while the Mac definitely revolutionised computing becoming the first salvo into the technological world we live in today, it was not quite what Orwell had in mind. OR, was it?

     I just finished Christopher Wylie's book MINDF*CK and if he gives us any warning it is that not only is Big Brother here, so is big sister, Uncle Sam, just about every government, politician and every advertiser in the world. We are definitely not alone.

Christopher Wylie

     So we have a 30 year old telling how from about the age of 16 he became a kind of technological wiz in understanding and harvesting "big data." For those of you that don't know, big data is all the information various agencies have on file about us, about you! Whether we have a card for credits at the grocery store, our census records, doctor records, credit cards and payment histories, what we do online through Facebook, YouTube, SnapChat, WhatsApp, Twitter and a whole bunch more of online looking and shopping; data is collected about you.

     From a rather small beginning in the UK, the firm SCL whose purpose was to collect not only data but big data that could be used to influence people. Money came from the British government, our DARPA, the Russians and was used to test the idea they could sway people to do things. They used this data in Caribbean islands and African elections. But they needed more money and far more data. So Wylie helped in the creation of a company called Cambridge Analytica (CA) that managed to get data that FACEBOOK was collecting on it's social network to drum up more advertising. Yes, every click, and share and photo post gives them more and more information about you.

   About this time, around 2014-2015 Steve Bannon, a close friend of Donald Trump and owner of the very rightwing BREITBART was brought in to see and hopefully invest in this big data. Bannon instantly understood what could be achieved and the rest is history. However, not only did the Trump Campaign understand this but so did the Russians. With a population of less than half of the United States and far fewer resources and under heavy sanctions they figured out that the best way to demoralize America was to turn it against itself via propaganda.

    There was an immensely popular movie in the early 60's called THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, starring Frank Sinatra I might add, that tells the story of Korean prisoners of war that were brainwashed during captivity and at a certain signal would complete the program they were hypnotized to finish, in this case, an assassination. The original was a nail biter and for many, it was something that couldn't be done though some thought it could. However, CA proved that using your data it could be done based on your likes and dislikes. They discovered that what people said and what they privately thought were often different. This could be and many fear it has been exploited.

     Soon after Facebook was forced to allow users to download and print out the data they had on them, a reporter on ABC was stunned to find there was over 1,000 pages on her and finally she stopped the printer. There, on her desk, were hundreds of sheets of paper all detailing the data Facebook had on her.

     What Wylie is saying that in that 85 million user breach on Facebook that CA harvested, the actual number was far greater. Every person who was a friend, friends of friends and so on were included. Not millions but hundreds of millions of profiles and data on each and every one was harvested. 

     While he left before the politicians were using it in the United States he could see the results from Canada and felt that he had no choice but to blow the whistle on the monster that he had created.

     Design, design, design. You may be sick of my mantra but everything we do is designed for us or against us ... we even do the same thing to ourselves and others. You cannot hide your head in the sand anymore. It may be too late and now, at the age of 74 I could see why Issac Asimov created a world in his FOUNDATION TRILOGY that outlawed robots. However, they did use psycho-history to predict future events, quite similar to predicting a world not unlike ours today. Will we allow it to be true or, finally, put the brakes on what we share, finally learning what privacy really means? I urge you to read this book. If you are reading this blog you are on the Internet and they are watching.

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

The Failures of Design

     As I fight my "robot" vacuum, which is by the way is my fourth, three have been sent back, it brings to mind how often design has failed in our lives.

     I want you to think of an item you have, anything, such as a car, a phone, a cooking appliance, anything that you just love using. If its that good that means the designer designed an item that you want to use over and over again. It gives one a nice, warm, comfy feeling. You are never frustrated using it.

     Now think of an item you absolutely hate to use but in the course of your life must. It too could be a car, an iron, even the way a door opens. I have plenty of those in my life and I bet you do too. Some you could fix but never get around to it and some, like doors hung the wrong way, often can't be. However, when you use them you give them a silent curse.

Do you feel the robots are ganging up on you?

     Back to the robot vacuum, an Aiper I might add. Today it vacuumed a bit and when I didn't hear it hump anything went to look for it and there it was, docked. The floors still had tufts of dog hair everywhere. The point was to, well, to vacuum it. Dragging out the plug-in vacuum I had the whole place vacuumed in about 15 minutes. The robot can take up to hours if it vacuumed at all! Ironically the only robot that does a fairly decent job is my $25.00 O'Cedar with a simple replaceable mat that does a credible job of collecting dog hair especially under the bed and under the couches - better than I can reach or the robot can find. Though it too has a problem with humping my pedestal barstools and a swivel recliner.

Xerox Copier Model A

     Technology is both a blessing and a curse. One of the best stories I ever heard about our technology revolution was about the very first Xerox copier. Evidently when it hit the market the first model was a flop. No one, other than the engineers, of course, could use it. Finally, taking a lesson from Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, Xerox brought in people off the street to watch how they used it, filming their actions. It soon became apparent that no one understood what the buttons were for, how to lay the item to be scanned and just about everything else. Engineers often don't think the same way as you and me. After many trials and changes, they tried it again and they started a revolution of an item we can't live without today. However, like many things, even all copiers are not the same.

     While just about every company knows about Apple

and its creations, the Apple Computer, the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone and now the Watch and stunning new iPod Pro's, rivals haven't seemed to learn the lesson or if they copy haven't learned it completely. While I sometimes have issues and not every product is perfect (think of iOS 8 and now the buggy iOS 13) their products on the main are very user friendly.

     When the iPad first came out a popular YouTube video was of a 2 year-old who was given a new iPad to use and within minutes turned it on and was using the games put on there for her. It was said that in test runs of this same iPad, seniors were given it to test their reactions and many refused to give them up. A finger was much easier to use than a mouse. What's even more, it's much easier to lug around than a laptop and each iteration becomes more and more powerful. 

737 Max - an example of how design can go so wrong

      There are spectacular examples however of great companies creating bad, even deadly products that again were designed by people. Taking shortcuts has not helped Boeing's bottom line and as the 737 Max fiasco continues, planes they make are coming under increased scrutiny. The new 777-X is under attack in the European Union and the Canadians are demanding that the infamous MCAS software be removed from the 737 Max entirely. The big question now is, would you fly on one?

Pontiac Aztec. Would you buy it?

     There are many examples of how design can go so wrong. Remember the Pontiac Aztec? It was GM's foray into the world of small SUV's. It was so ugly that it was considered by many to be one of the ugliest cars ever designed. Even today you have to wonder what the designers were smoking to create a car with so many different designs that appeared to be combined into one car.

Guess they couldn't find the toilet paper
and smeared it on the walls.

              However, it was the beginning of a whole series of cars that mostly came from Japan, but America was not far behind, in the discovery if you add a fold or a crease here, five or even ten creases had to be better. Look at just about any car today and you will see what I mean. 2019 Chevy pickups are selling slower because it's, well, ugly. Most companies have still not learned Coco Chanel's dictum, "Less is more."

     The list goes on and on. Anyone that has driven the LA freeways knows exactly what bad design is. There is no North, South, East or West it says Ventura, or San Diego, maybe Riverside or if in the heart of the city, Santa Monica. Do you know what direction that is? One wag wrote that "LA signs merely tell those who know where they are going that they are almost there." If you were at City Hall, Ventura is north, San Diego is south, Riverside is east and Santa Monica is west.

Two for one?

     Lets look at indoor design. Here's some interesting wallpaper. It kinda makes you think well, hum, they ran out of toilet paper? I certainly would not be sharing these urinals.    What is it about bathroom design that common sense is replaced by, oh I don't know, idiocy? It would seem that one of our most important functions takes a back seat to common sense. I am sure that everyone reading this has had this stall experience. It brings to mind a crazy radio show in Los Angeles where the morning hosts, Kevin and Bean sat in stalls and talked to the people that went into the stall next to them. I'll say one thing, they didn't linger!

Really? Snaps!

     Another area where design plays a crucial roll is baby clothes. Ever tried to put these on a crying angry baby? Those snaps are like creatures from hell as you wrestle with kicking legs and screaming baby. What are designers thinking of? In the 21st Century you have a choice of either zippers or velcro to use. The same could be said of men's buttons, women's hooks on jewelry or clothing (think of that dress it took two to put on).

Bidet anyone?

      We are surrounded by poor design and it can only be the choice of words and their placement for after all, a sign or poster "was" designed by someone too! I don't think the "take action" poster above intended you to quit school. Even though the message urges you to quit smoking what showed was another message altogether. It's everywhere and rather than becoming better now we have the Internet to consider as streams of poorly designed ads, hucksters and who knows what else seems to be coming out of every place we inhabit.

     Bad design has a dark side too. As more and more trash covers the globe we seem to think no one will notice how things are packaged. I am sure you have purchased something like these toys only to find there is more than twice the packaging debris than there was toy. And it's just not toys either. Once you start to consider and look at the things around you, you too will notice the often disconnect in this world.

     As I noted earlier ethnography is derived from the studies of anthropology studying how societies lived. It was a small step to document how people reacted, especially like Xerox, who had a product that no one was able to use. 

     Our lives today are filled with poor design ... computer operating systems that say "start" when you want to stop, toilet paper rolls too big for the holder, software that is difficult to use, phones that only a 13 year old could use, medicine bottles a senior can't open but their 3 year grandchild can, election ballot wording that gets you to vote yes when you really want to vote no, holding on the phone because "you are so important to us" and are forced to wait forever. The list goes on and on. And YES, sadly these things ARE designed to operate this way.

     Design is probably the chief element in our lives ... from the government be it federal, state, county, city. Our work days are ruled by the hours of our work be it running a home, school or a job. All of these factors literally rule our day, our lives. When designs are effective things run smoothly but when they don't, as they so often do, lives can be miserable and in some cases lost. 

     The surest way to get things changed of course is to not buy it, subscribe to it and the ultimate, disobey it. Reward those that produce not only good enough products but those that offer exceptional products, a true value for their money. These might be fighting words but to maintain some kind of control over our lives we need to follow it rather than letting others control us.

Here in a nutshell is a description of the study of humans:

eth·nog·ra·phy

/eTHˈnäɡrəfē/

Learn to pronounce

noun

the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.

The word derives from the Greek ethnos (folk, people, nation) and grapho (I write). Commonly, then, ethnography is a written account of cultural life, but one can also present ethnography in other media (e.g. an ethnographic film). Anthropologists commonly distinguish between two different kinds of meanings of the word: 1) an ethnographic account (text, film, sound), and 2) an ethnographic approach (a method that aims at documenting lived life).

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!