Notification Saturation
Notifications are important. Without such alerts, we wouldn’t know when one of our friends or family members tries to contact us. We would miss out on important information. But in this age of information,...
Steve Lovelace Blog
Defunct Designs: The Amoco Logo
The Amoco logo always brings back waves of nostalgia. As a kid in St. Louis (and later Lansing, Michigan), Amocos were far and away the most common gas stations you saw. Though half the...
The ABCs of Spelling Bees
I’ve always been good at spelling. I usually got all A’s in elementary school. But my orthographic skills never really translated over to spelling bees. Despite my nerdiness, I never really excelled at these...
Finding Meaning in a Secular World
Is it possible to find meaning in life when you don’t believe in God? Many people believe they were put on this earth for a purpose, whether that’s being a parent, worker, athlete, artist,...
The Slow Death of Sears and Kmart
Businesses come and go like anything else. Like living things, they adapt or die. I wrote about this a couple of years ago when I wondered why Sears wasn’t more like Amazon. Starting in...
The Tyranny of the Should
I started seeing a therapist for depression recently. (I’m loath to admit such a thing publicly, but I think it’s important that we tackle the stigma against mental illness.) Last week, I mentioned that...
Defunct Designs: The Bell System Logo
There are many great logos that, for some reason or another, are no longer in use. One of my favorite defunct designs is the logo for the Bell System. “Ma Bell”, as it was...
Big Sports and the Cable TV Bubble
In economics, a “bubble” occurs when when something gets wildly overvalued. Its value increases to ridiculous amounts, until people realize what’s going on. Then the bubble bursts. This has happened many times throughout history,...
The Odd History of the JB Bridge
Every month or two, I have a dream about the JB Bridge. I’m not sure what it is about this bridge that’s stuck with me over the years. In many ways, the Jefferson Barracks...
Diet Soda and Artificial Sweeteners
Confession time: as a little kid (maybe six or seven), I would steal packets of Equal from the kitchen and eat the aspartame inside. My mom would find the remains under the couch cushions....
The People’s Almanac and Book of Lists
I’ve always been a big fan of trivia and random facts, as the eclectic nature of this blog will attest. Nowadays I get most of my random trivia from the Internet, sites like Cracked...
