Ben Heine: web communications and digital operations in Birmingham, AL
In 2011 I was on the team at CVS that kept adding things to the checkout receipt. How that most likely happened, what thousands of kitchen order tickets taught me, and why a strip of thermal paper on the fridge beats a screen.
A made-up word from a made-up founder, and the 1884 citation that gave it a past. What “embiggen” says about how words, and their origin stories, get made.
To tump is to tip something over. Where the word comes from, why nobody is sure, and a few more Southern words with better paper trails.
Every morning a strip of thermal paper prints the day's calendar, weather and to-do list. How a one-machine script became a tool, and the ways a receipt printer can fail without telling anyone.
This is the biggest project I've taken on: a full gut renovation of our kitchen, including custom wood countertops I built myself.
In the summer of 2020 I built a multi-level stone paver patio from scratch. No contractor, no kit: some research, a rented plate compactor, and a lot of weekends.