Yesterday I incurred a standard gym injury. While replacing a barbell on the J-hooks of the rack, I managed to catch the tissues of my hand between the hook and the barbell, basically tearing and gouging out a small V of flesh.

Which meant that after cleaning out the wounds and so forth, I had to deal with Band-aids.

I don't remember the name of the guy who invented them, but I do remember the important gist of the story, he did it because his wife was a complete klutz. Before Band-Aids, what you'd do is cut a small piece of gauze and then tape it in place with medical tape. His wife was so frequently hurting herself that to be sarcastic he pre-made a bunch of these, taped them to wax paper, and told her just to help herself when needed. It was an insanely useful idea, and the product was a hit.

Note the use of the past tense. "Was". 

It's all part of the corporate world to take a product that works, and nerf it somehow. In the pursuit of profit, the Band Aid people…

A formula constructed to make exciting stories, created by Lester Dent, he of Doc Savage fame. This formula was also touted by Michael Moorcock for new writers looking to get into the short story markets in the 1970's. Lester was able to write whole novels in a single week, and Michael Moorcock wrote one in a single weekend. This methodology can be expanded to any length and to any genre.

The formula was originally used by Lester to build 6,000 word stories, of which he wrote…

The "Normcore Manifesto" is the name given to a study or forecast released by New York City marketing group "K-Hole" in 2014. The short version of "Normcore" was that after 20 years of indie and alternative fashions being used to express individuality, the possibilities of deviance were exhausted, and the only recourse was to dress in dockers and polo shirts. The actual message a little bit more complicated than that, but it seemed to be a fitting message for the time.…