The shaving pictogram dude

For years, probably decades, I’ve wondered about the story behind this, to me, iconic pictogram.

Why? Because it is everywhere. I’ve never seen another pictogram representing what this represents; an electric shaver socket. It’s so ubiquitous that it must demonstrate some kind of perfection in pictogram design. Why change it?

Anyway, having wondered about it for years, a few days ago I finally decided to ask reddit. Sometimes a very silly thing to do, but sometimes, like this time, you get actual answers.

Turns out the man behind it is Werner Sramek, “Werner Sramek was a painter and graphic designer of global renown. During his international career, he received countless honours and awards. His artistic focus was on font, colour, and pictogram design, textile painting, and, in later years, free-style painting. His most famous graphic work is the direction system in the Vienna underground and the signature colours for lines U1 (red) and U4 (green). Sramek also created the graphic concept of the Naturhistorisches Museum and the colour system at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion.”

Apparently, this pictogram has only been in use since 2002, which confuses me, but then again I still think 10 years ago is 1990.

So there you go. My curiosity is sated, and you’ve learned something you didn’t think you would learn.

Invent your own life's meaning

An important quote from Bill Watterson, author of the magical Calvin and Hobbes.

From Zen Pencils.

Internet. Numero 9

Happy new year! It always comes around so quickly. I can't believe it's January again, but there it is. This is the first year in a while that we haven't gone somewhere hot for this miserable month, so I'm interested to see how I cope with sleepless nights combined with what can be overwhelming Scandinavian bleakness. I'm sure all will be well, however. There's plenty to do, plenty to watch, and plenty to see. There's also plenty of baby poo to clean up. OK, enough random mutterings. 

If you, like me, like the idea of smoking a cigar but have no idea what to do with one, then this is for you. 

If you've not see the deep, dark fears comics yet, you should click here. 

These are apparently the best face swaps of 2014. I'd agree. Bond/M is still my favourite. 

Take a note from Carl Sagan 

Or from this...

My dad says I always post about space, so this, dad, is just for you.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Selects the eight books every intelligent person on the planet should read. I'll be the first to admit I've read exactly none of them.

If you're a Chrome user, check out The Next Web's 10 useful extensions for 2015. They've very good, both in a useful way and a not so useful way, like this web history analyser. I'm not going to tell you which website I've spent the most time on today, this week, this month or ever.

OK, that's it. It's the weekend and I have brunch plans!