Apparently the DDOS attack this time was particularly vicious, so it felt good, when I opened up LJ just now, to have my favourite blog back! LJ people, thanks for the work you’ve put in to stave off the attack.

Good design is needed everywhere, not just in consumer products and clothes. In the early hours of the morning, after about 22 hours in the aircraft or at the gates of various airports, we had to jockey around, to join the various queues in front of the Immigration counters, trying to speculate which line would mean the least waiting time. Surely, a common queue, with the passenger at the head of the line going to the next available counter, would have been far more efficient (and, therefore,a better design) than these separate queues, especially when officials ask people to move from one line to another, which results in further chaos. Good design is people-friendly…but it always needs some imagination.

When watching the House Sparrow, Common Grackles, and Northern Cardinals at the bird feeder on my cousin’s deck, I suddenly found a

I was very impressed with the elegance of the design of this watch: