Yes, the site is very well designed, but mostly I just like this because I'm such a sucker for any article, photo essay, blog post, or tv episode about getting rid of stuff.
"...humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what's around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts. A cluttered room is literally exhausting."
I've by no means reached the state of minimalism I aspire to, but sites like this keep me motivated.
[2001] John Freyer catalogued and sold nearly everything that he owned, from his kitchen cutlery to his personal hygiene products, his Star Wars sheets and finally even the domain name Allmylifeforsale.com itself.
I didn't realize he sold the site, too; now that's surjective.
Garage sale is still a more efficient use of time for the truly small stuff. Craigslist and Ebay for the higher dollar items. Goodwill\freecycle for the hopeless. Trash for the even hopelessier.
But she is a Designer/Writer, surely - being a hacker - you understand the need to turn trivial, already-solved tasks into Projects. More efficient, maybe. Fun? Nope!
I tried to avoid owning things for a while. I saw no benefit, because having "stuff" makes life easier than not having it. The key is to keep everything organized. That way you won't get stressed out by the clutter, you will be relaxed by the fact that you have a ton of useful tools, and you know where they all are.
That site (pielab.org), and Project M seem really cool, but I must admit I don't think I totally understand what they're about. (I'm used to art and design co-ops/firms using slightly vague language so as to not shut any doors, but sometimes it's hard to understand their past work.)
Would love to hear any examples or stories about them you can share.
It's all kind of vague to me as well, but from what I understand a few months ago a group of designers met for a 2 week brainstorm session on something to in the community in Alabama. They came up with PieLab, and within those 2 weeks found a storefront, etc. Now they're selling pie in Alabama and integrating into the rural community. I'll see if I can round up any more definitive answers for you.
Did she? Here at work it's wider than my 1024 x 768 screen. The screen is suck, I admit, but this particular 'puter is mostly used for administration. And reading HN, of course.
