1. corporation develops software idea and releases it (think Facebook)
2. whether it’s “freeware”, subscription-based, or a one-time paid software, the user pays in one form or another (think Facebook selling user data to marketers, Basecamp, or Microsoft Office)
3. Hardcore users (opensource & general programming community) democratize the software, releasing under creative commons, GPL, or other licenses – free for public use (think Diaspora, Gimp, Open Office)
4. Initial program takes a slight usage hit but usually somewhat inconsequential (Firefox, Chrome)
5. The next big software idea rolls out, making older platforms obsolete

Since the whole Web 2.0 craze in the early 2000s, have been profiting from user data. Free services require registration so that the data can be sold to advertisers and other corporations that use it for whatever they are allowed by law (and sometimes, not allowed).

Users tend to be oblivious or apathetic to concerns of privacy, security, identity, and general exploitation thereof: This has to stop.

While I think business is good (and necessary), I think big business often neglects to see the whole picture and the detailed picture simultaneously. It neglects to respect users, or even identify them as people. Rather, it treats them as sources of income and statistical data – not expendable – afterall, they fuel the software – but not really human either.

How do we stop this?

We take over the last step. We replace the new software with already democratized software, written by the people, for the people. We don’t mine data or harvest identities. We build communities where creativity and capability are values learned early in childhood. And we stand up and fight for eachother; against greed, corruption, exploitation, malice, and all those things that split us apart.

Idealistic? Yes. Possible? Yes. Likely? We’ll see…

Mostly, it’s because I have learned, experienced, and accomplished more things recently than during any other time since childhood. In fact, it often reminds me of that period of my life: constant discovery, invention, failure, and recovery. Never, though, has my learning been in such a different area of knowledge: mostly farm related. I have also learned a lot more about food, programming, and design (three things I love, but already knew a lot about).

To give you a taste of my current life, here’s what I did over the past 2 days:

1. Tweaked the Barn Dance poster
2. Cooked a big pot of really delicious soup
3. Weeded a 300-foot bed of carrots, three rows deep
4. Integrated a client website with several social media plugins, including a language switching feature (between English and Arabic)
5. Read a book, the subject of which I am not allowed to disclose
6. Helped dig a 11′x12′ hole for the foundation of a wood-fired brick oven that we’re building over the next several weeks, pictures to come (the plans for which I modified to make a 3′x4′ cooking area)
7. Wrote an article for the farm newsletter, entitled “Who’s the Sauce?” (hint: not Tony Danza)
8. Learned a new song on guitar (Home, by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes)

Since moving here, I’ve also:

1. Driven a tractor
2. Produced maple syrup, from tapping trees to cooking down
3. Learned to drive stick shift
4. Built websites for several clients, with more lining up
5. Learned Drupal enough to build high-end, custom website templates and integrate modules
6. Become proficient with jQuery
7. Cooked for 50 people (with a little help from my friends)
8. Learned an incredible amount about organic and sustainable farming
9. Learned to run quickly through the woods
10. perfected my bread recipe
11. handled bees
12. pulled ticks off a dog
13. chased pigs and cows back to their pastures
14. picked raspberries
15. cooked meals with freshly picked produce
16. learned to become part of someone else’s family
17. helped with wine-making
18. harvested wild ramps from the woods
19. loaded hay into the barn
20. learned how to fingerpick on guitar
21. made nearly 2 gallons of raspberry jam
22. greatly improved my ping pong and pool skills
23. learned more about state and local politics than I ever expected to
24. hung out with a toddler, witnessed him seamlessly attach an initial fricative to the rest of a word which he previously pronounced in a toddler-variety of English.
25. butchered chickens

I’m sure there’s more that I’ve forgotten, and even more to come.

Well, it’s about Tyme.

As I write this, I’m laying in bed with my girlfriend. Naturally, I am building a database and naturally and she is watching Private Practice. It’s her guilty pleasure – a stress relieving wind-down before bed. All of the sudden I hear a familiar voice – the voice of Mark Sloan. Yes, Mark Sloan of Grey’s Anatomy fame. Now, I know what you must be thinking. You recognize his voice? What a doofus.

But, yes. Yes I do recognize his voice. You know why? Because. Because there have been many nights that while I was working, she was watching Grey’s anatomy – enough so that I’ve loosely become familiar with the shows.

So fuck me in the ear: what the fuck is Sloan (McSteamy that is, not his daughter – whose first name is Sloan but last name is Riley) doing on Private Practice? I shit a brick. A huge brick. I turn and ask, “Why is McSteamy on Private Practice? That is his nickname, right? And the other one is McDreamy?” She tells me I’m right, after which I pull open the elastic of the oversized women’s basketball sweatpants I’m wearing and vomit into my underwear.

Fake doctor shows have cross-over episodes. Holy fuck. What is the world coming to? I’d rather vomit on my balls than deal with this nightmare.

So, I write this, and relocate to the dining room table.

Such typography, one comes quickly to realize, doesn’t suit all applications. In fact, it doesn’t suit most applications. The majority of typesetting isn’t done to draw attention to the text, but rather to make its characters melt their meaning with as little distraction as possible. It pays to know this—especially when that pay is coming from a client expecting your understanding of conventional typography to benefit her business.

That stated, listed below are the typefaces I most commonly employ. I use them for their stylistic range, completeness of character set, and most importantly, as a framework from which I can branch out and build more creativity—perhaps by employing or creating an entirely new typeface. No more delays. Here they are:

• ITC Garamond Std
• ITC New Baskerville Std
• Mrs. Eaves
• Futura Std
• Trade Gothic LT Std
• Helvetica Neue LT Std

I’d say I use these for 80% of the work I do. Other typefaces I might consider are listed below. Some are either related or variations of the faces above. Others are slowly building up to workhorse status, or are used in extremely specific instances.

• Adobe Garamond Pro
• Adobe Jenson Pro
• Avenir LT Std
• Univers LT Std
• Bodoni STD
• Frutiger
• Gill Sans
• Helvetica LT Std
• ITC Franklin Gothic Std
• Poetica
• Gotham HTF

What are your typographic workhorses?