“No matter how you turn them, no matter how they roll tumble, the overall height is always constant. You can rest a book on top and spin it perfectly like a Lazy Susan. What’s the point? There is none. It’s just a neat little curiosity.”
“My uncle worked in the World Trade Center, maintaining the antennae on top of the building. Early in September of 2001 when he was leaving his work, he took a cutting of this plant from the lobby which had fallen to the floor. He wrapped it in a damp cloth, brought it home in his toolbox, and grew a new plant from it. After the tragedy, he had a plant that he took new cuttings from an gave to family members. We now give cuttings from this plant to our friends and family members, to survivors we meet and to anyone affected by the tragedy. There are cuttings of this plant growing all over the world.”
“In August of 1970, Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman had this measuring device manufactured to test the architectural purity of all arches in the capital city of Muscat. This is replica I bought in the airport.”
“I had a dream that I was being sucked into a singularity. Everything that I am, was, and ever will or could be was collapsed into a space the size of quark and turned completely inside out. It wasn’t actually that scary. The next day was my first at IDEO and this was sitting on my desk.”
“My great uncle’s Planimeter was passed down to me a few years ago. It can be used to find the area of an arbitrary polygon by tracing its exterior. I don’t really care about computing the area of things but I like tracing shapes. I find it meditative. The number I get at the end it just some kind of weird payoff.”
“They tell me this if from some kind of internet meme. I haven’t had the internet at my home for a few years now. I make websites for a living, you know? It’s like they say about drug dealers. You shouldn’t get high on your own supply. No more internet at home.”
“A stranger placed a hex on this baby, transforming it into a tiny porcelain statue.”
“You have to buy them in bulk but they are extremely useful during baseball season. Especially when you have a husband who is obsessed with baseball.”
“I’m not even going to tell you what this is. Only that it’s a mistake. But it is a beautiful mistake”
“There was some kickback from the table saw. This piece of wood hit me clean in the face. It left a scar.”
“Purchased at a highway rest stop, some time after passing through Kaycee, Wyoming.”
“My friend made me this when I quit smoking. Putting “shame sticks” on an empty box of cigarettes was a funny intervention to make me feel bad every time I felt like smoking. I keep it with my liquor because I feel most tempted to smoke again when I’m drinking.”
“In China, there’s a tradition where you find two walnuts that look alike and keep them. You’re supposed to meditate by carefully observing the similarities and differences between the walnuts.”
“The second time I got kicked out of a Chuck-E-Cheese, I stole a few balls from the ball pit on my way out. Why does it matter that I didn’t come with a kid?. Ball pits are still fun for adults. It’s not fair.”
“Most people write their name on their lunches. I do this.”
“We all left work one day and each of us had a collage tucked in our windshield. Nobody know who left them there but I assumed it was a art project. Maybe some BU or MassArt student did it. Are they making fun of us?”
“It was the 3D file that came in the example tutorial for our new printer. I got about 50 screwed up ones first. This one represents the exact point in the work day when I got to finally go home and have dinner.”
“When my intern presented this, I asked him whether or not he’d tried any other variations. He hadn’t.”
“24 volt gearhead. 1000:1 reduction. Capable of 4500 gram-centimeters of torque. Pretty serious turning power for a little DC… A little on the slow side, but necessary to my project. A few will carry the weight of a pretty large dog.”
“It holds my markers. I’m not very creative.”
“My sister and I used to play chess on our summer vacation. We got so good at it we tried making the game harder by mixing up different pieces. It’s harder to see the board state when the pieces don’t look traditional.”
“I don’t want to be in Florida. I don’t want to be with this person. I hate musicals. I want to go home. I want to go home.”
