Rationale

"Indeed, the moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or an amusing craftsman, an honest or dishonest tradesman."
- Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism", 1891.

Who knew The Medical Device R&D Handbook would be so rife with interesting quotes and philosophical musings? When I first read this quote, it reminded me of my blog. The only thing I'm "supplying" by writing this is my own "demand" to empty my head of a little bit of the nonsense rattling around up there. If I were selling out to the man, as Oscar warns against, you'd see things like ads, frequent updates, and interesting/meaningful topics.

But I quickly wondered if I was just rationalizing. Do I really consider myself an "artist", ignoring the wants of whatever audience I might garner? Or did I just latch onto a quote that I liked because it might feed my own sense of self-importance if I said I believed in it?

Rationalization is something that I'm very good at. For example, I can turn superficiality into concerned parenting in no time. First, imagine you have a school-aged child. You wouldn't make (or allow) your kid go to school every day wearing a mullet wig and footy pajamas, would you? The answer is no. So tell me, what kind of parent would I be if I made my kid go to school ugly for the rest of his/her life? That's why the girls I go for tend to be of the smokin' hot variety. I just want to give my children the best possible opportunities in life. It's not easy work, but it's the cross I'll bear for the sake of all my future progeny.

It gets worse before it gets better: thoughts on fire "safety"

So, my new apartment has a fire extinguisher in a cabinet just outside my door. The face of the cabinet reads, as you've surely seen before, "In case of fire, break glass."

Is this really the best idea we've come up with? There's already a fire—who came up with the great idea of adding shards of glass to the equation?

Maybe fire extinguishers should be housed in cages of fierce animals that would guard against their improper use. You would have to let the animals out before you could gain access. You know, something like "In case of fire, release tigers."

But slightly more seriously, the whole broken glass situation should be eliminated. Firefighters should only have to worry about one danger, and should be able to focus all of their energy on it. For your consideration, I submit my own fire extinguisher cabinet design involving a sealed box of wood, a bottle of lighter fluid, and matches. The way to get to the fire extinguisher should be self-evident, but there will be a label on there just in case.