“Geeks are a very large and influential market. As one big example, if not for geeks, Firefox would never have started to catch on in 2004 and broken Internet Explorer’s reign. We installed Firefox on every non-geek’s computer we could … Keep reading
Category Archives: Quotes
Will the Real Captain Marvel Please Stand Up?
“The character was originally created in 1940 for the long-defunct publisher Fawcett Comics, who ceased publication of their Captain Marvel in the early 50s under legal pressure from DC Comics, who claimed the character infringed on Superman. In 1967, while … Keep reading
How to Get Better
“I’ve said it time and time again. You can’t get worse at something you do every day.” – Brad Guigar
Jim loved your card so much he ate it
“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card … Keep reading
Asimov on Anti-Intellectualism
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” – Isaac Asimov
Surrounded by Assholes
“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.” – Steven Winterburn (frequently misattributed to William Gibson)
Wally Wood’s Design Motto
“Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up.” – Wally Wood, Editor, Marvel Comics
Neil Gaiman Tells You All You Need To Know About Doctor Who
“No, look, there’s a blue box. It’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It can go anywhere in time and space and sometimes even where it’s meant to go. And when it turns up, there’s a … Keep reading
On Code Maintenance
“Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” – Brad Bowman
Roger Black’s Advice for Young Designers
“On the skillset side, what you’ve got to do as a young person entering the field, is really equip yourself with some basic development skills. You have to be able to understand HTML and CSS. You have to know what … Keep reading
Creative People Romanticize Mistakes
“Creative people romanticize mistakes and process. But there is no process if you don’t start. No one crumples a blank sheet of paper.” – Frank Chimero, How to Have an Idea
A Practical Observation on the Risks of Stupidity
“I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can … Keep reading
Pot-Lock Robot
“Her name is Pot-Lock Robot. She’s an acro-bat. She’s only four months old! You see her? She’s being so crazy! She’s got an owie.” – Zoe, telling me about her baby doll
Mommy, Stop Talking
Annie: Okay, I’m going to count to five, and then we’re going to be all done with this. Zoe: Mommy, stop talking! I’m going to count to six. Annie: And then we’ll be done? Zoe: No, I’m just counting to … Keep reading
Think With Question Marks
“It doesn’t matter whether you are liberal or conservative, but it’s dangerous to always think with exclamation points instead of question marks.” – Marty Beckerman, Hi, I’m Marty, and I’m a recovering Republican
Heather Champ’s Rules for the Internet
Never send email in anger. Never let anyone take a photo of you naked. Only friend people who are truly friends. – Heather Champ’s Rules for the Internet
How About We Pay You?
“We have a saying at Blizzard when something looks like too much work. How about we pay you? You can work on it, and every two weeks we’ll cut you a check.” – Jay Wilson, Diablo III Lead Designer
Striking Fear into the Hearts of Programmers
“In every project there is always one file that strikes fear into the hearts of all programmers everywhere. These files are usually full of code that could render a battle-hardy coder to complete gibbering tears within seconds and that is … Keep reading
Duplicate Work is a Bug
“You’ll sometimes hear people joke that good programmers are ‘lazy’, and what this means is simply that good programmers tend to see duplicated work as a bug, and try to fix it.” – James Bennett, discussing CSS frameworks
Good Web Designers are like Good Newspaper Designers
“The experienced web designer, like the talented newspaper art director, accepts that many projects she works on will have headers and columns and footers. Her job is not to whine about emerging commonalities but to use them to create pages … Keep reading
Bill’s Superman Speech from Kill Bill
As you know, I’m quite keen on comic books. Especially the ones about superheroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating. Take my favorite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book. Not particularly well-drawn. But the mythology… The mythology … Keep reading
A Hundred Ways to Solve a Problem
“There’s a hundred ways to solve a problem… and I don’t know any of them.” – David Letterman
Everything is Epic
“In the absence of sobriety, everything is epic!” – Miles