simple, not simpler

Taped to my boss's door is an old snippet of paper with a quotation from Albert E.:

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
He may have actually said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler," or "Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler," or something else, or more than one variation, or none of them at all. The comment is considered part of the continuum of debate on, or the refining of, Occam's razor and such thinking. Me, today, I'm mostly wondering whether I ever noticed that bit of paper before, and if not, how not.

In the context of her office door, it feels almost parental, with a touch of the desire to calm, perhaps, along with possibly a little "Now, children...." And of course it could be seen as a reminder for herself, as she goes in each day.

Plus it's nicely put. A nugget. Chew-on-able.

simple, not simpler

Taped to my boss's door is an old snippet of paper with a quotation from Albert E.:

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
He may have actually said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler," or "Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler," or something else, or more than one variation, or none of them at all. The comment is considered part of the continuum of debate on, or the refining of, Occam's razor and such thinking. Me, today, I'm mostly wondering whether I ever noticed that bit of paper before, and if not, how not.

In the context of her office door, it feels almost parental, with a touch of the desire to calm, perhaps, along with possibly a little "Now, children...." And of course it could be seen as a reminder for herself, as she goes in each day.

Plus it's nicely put. A nugget. Chew-on-able.

If you also couldn't make the book tour

Alison B's got a video of her Essential Dykes To Watch Out For tour talk & slide show online here.

She says: "I've had a hard time getting it up for this book tour ... because, in addition to doing this work for 25 years, I've been talking about it for 25 years, and I'm so tired of hearing myself talk about this work---you know, assimilation, and internalized homophobia, and lesbian invisibility, and identity--- I just--- I can't bear it. So I asked myself, 'What could I get it up for? What would interest me to talk about on this book tour?' and I decided it would be sex.

"So I'm going to leave out all the politics and the cultural analysis, and I'm just gonna talk about Dykes to Watch Out For through the lens of the characters' sex lives. Okay? So, we can turn the lights out now."

Commence slide show retrospective & talk.

P.S. "So... to be intimate or not to be? That's always been Ginger's question, and I think the central question of the comic strip, and certainly of my life, but Ginger, I think, by the end of the book, is ---she seems to be going for it."

If you also couldn't make the book tour

Alison B's got a video of her Essential Dykes To Watch Out For tour talk & slide show online here.

She says: "I've had a hard time getting it up for this book tour ... because, in addition to doing this work for 25 years, I've been talking about it for 25 years, and I'm so tired of hearing myself talk about this work---you know, assimilation, and internalized homophobia, and lesbian invisibility, and identity--- I just--- I can't bear it. So I asked myself, 'What could I get it up for? What would interest me to talk about on this book tour?' and I decided it would be sex.

"So I'm going to leave out all the politics and the cultural analysis, and I'm just gonna talk about Dykes to Watch Out For through the lens of the characters' sex lives. Okay? So, we can turn the lights out now."

Commence slide show retrospective & talk.

P.S. "So... to be intimate or not to be? That's always been Ginger's question, and I think the central question of the comic strip, and certainly of my life, but Ginger, I think, by the end of the book, is ---she seems to be going for it."