For Chloe Weil

Chloe Weil

Before the start of the CSS Summit, Environments for Humans took a moment to make a special announcement regarding Chloe Weil.


We are missing someone special this CSS Summit.

Ari and I first met Chloe when we first did the CSS Summit from ISITE Design’s old office in Portland, OR.

We knew right away she was funny and smart–two qualities we love to see in people.

Every year we would look forward to seeing her and Petra to catch up, like any other people who work on the web. Virtual friends meeting up and picking up the conversation as if no time had passed.

It was through her blog, though, that we realized how talented she was. Whether she was writing a blog post or announcing a project–her writing was thorough, thoughtful, entertaining, and done faithfully to her own voice. 

While we love the medium we work in–it’s unique power to communicate vast distances fails mightily to that of a simple, directed kindness. 

Take time out of your daily routine to reach out to friends and family–unexpectedly give them a kind word. Thank them by letting them know their hard work, their opinions, their humor, their approach to life is amazing. 

Most of us are not sure what to say to a friend who is going through depression. It’s a good idea to consider what you might say if someone you care about asks you for help.

And if you are feeling overwhelmed or hopeless, please talk to someone about it.

If you don’t feel like talking to a friend or loved one, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1–800-SUICIDE.

We asked our attendees from around the world for similar services. Here’s a listing of the few we were able to capture:

If you have more resources, please post them in the comments.

The Problem with Binge Watching

One does not simple watch one episode of a series. You binge watch them all.

I love being able to watch television shows in long stretches of time.

It’s great for people’s ADD.

It’s great for studios to get additional revenue.

It’s great for the environment as it keeps old shows from being printed on DVDs stored in the budget barrels of Wal-Marts across the nation.

The absolute worst thing, though, about is watching a show and meeting the actors right afterwards.

Before the Star Trek movie reboot, I binged watched the old Star Trek series, Enterprise.

Previously, I had watched it when it came on broadcast television, but life came up at me and, really, it wasn’t that entertaining as a weekly serial.

But for a Star Trek fan wanting to be a completist, it makes for great binge watching.

Which is what I did.

No sooner had I completed the series, with it fresh in my mind, that I happened upon a quick conversation with Scott Bakula outside of Comic Con one year.

I immediately asked him if an Enterprise movie would be in the works.

He graciously laughed it off with a good natured quip, but I was left puzzled.

Until I did the math.

The television show had been off the air for at least five-to-six years already.

By the time I had seen him from Enterprise to then see him in-person was a few days to me, but in reality, a quick IMDB search showed that Bakula had been on several other television and Broadway shows since that show.

Television binging gives one a loose grip on reality that gets more pronounced if you run into the actors immediately after viewing.

I fear the more this happens we might cause a time continuum crisis.