Hello from Portland, Oregon! I’m on the West Coast for the next week or so for work… it’s going to be busy the next few days, but before I rush off to my assignment for the evening here are four links that I’ve picked for you this week.

• Living a paperless existence
  The New York Times discusses how one can live largely without using paper at all and even includes a handy diagram of a hypothetical home showing the technology that replaces your recipe books, CDs and albums and more. I can only manage to reduce some of my consumption of paper–I scan and then shred all of my bills and statements and such, but I’ve switched back to a paper calendar and can’t seem to control my urges to buy pens. It’s important to remember, too, that electronics can fail, but a piece of paper can’t.³³
• Black-out message tape
  Here’s a product that I really want though I’m not exactly sure why… it’s “message tape” printed in the patterns of LED displays. You use a black marker to black out the “LEDs” or “segments” that you don’t need, and voilà, there’s your message! I like this item mainly because it is an example of truly good design–it fits a variety of applications and yet it’s simple enough that anyone can use it.
• Nudity and advertising
  AdRants recently posted a scan of a Mexican advertisement for Mia Lingerie that was… well, fairly shocking–it was basically the top half of a naked woman whose nipples had been Photoshopped out. It’s certainly an eye-grabbing advertisement (no puns, please!), and the message comes through loud and clear, but you’d never see such an ad in the USA in light of the relatively prudish and Puritanical rules that govern “indecency” in the media in this country. (I imagine that a photo of a nude mannequin would probably fly, though.) My question–is it a good thing that media indecency, even in such a mild form as this, is so tightly regulated here? Or is there a certain point at which it just becomes oppressive and ridiculous?
• Dogs = Big ratings!
  FishbowlNY notes that puppies (e.g., the “Puppy Bowl”) and dogs (e.g., the Westminster Dog Show) equal big ratings.  Seems like eyeballs gravitate to man’s best friend even on a screen.

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1. Let’s not get technical here–yes, I realize a piece of paper can be misplaced (so can a phone or a PDA) or damaged (so can a laptop). You know what I mean.333

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