I mentioned in the last post that while I gave in and bought a phone with a slider design, I still don’t get the thing with flip-phones (or clamshells or whatever you want to call the design). They aren’t that much smaller – a bit, sure, but that’s usually offset by thickness that increases the bulge in your pocket. And you need to open the phone before being able to do just about anything. With a regular candybar design all that is needed is a quick keystroke to unlock the keys. Even with the slider compromise, I only need to open the phone when texting or otherwise entering information into it. In my opinion, that small saving in size comes at a cost in usability.
As I see it, the only benefit is dramatic effect. The opening (or closing) makes a statement that you are about to make a call, or just have finished one. Maybe that’s a good function if you’re a soap opera character who needs to emphasize your anger about having found out about your husband’s mistress by snapping the phone shut, and if you’re a Jack Bauer-type agent you might want to be able to flip open your phone and spend a moment in thoughtful hesitation before making that call that will save the West Coast, the president and your family at the cost of an evil terrorist getting free…
But for anyone else? I can’t really see the point. But there seems to be something, since there’s a lot of such phones on the market. Feel free to enlighten me.
I also mentioned that when the iPhone type all-touchscreen design becomes available in all price ranges, the need should clear for foldable and otherwise compactable designs… but who knows?
Unless the Swedish potato chip commercial above was shot back in the day, on the actual Western frontier, which I doubt, there must be some stock of Longhorse left in the world. Maybe there is an obscure fellowship of breeders that have kept these noble beasts alive, awaiting a time when they can serve us again – and now, at the eve of the petroleum age, have decided that their long, powerful are needed to carry us away from our dependence on SUVs and other gas guzzlers.
(Don’t ask me about the short horse, though. Maybe something for urban traffic.)
I really needed that one. (Nothing seriously wrong – just sitting here with the clock going towards 2am, with a bit of the weird kind of backlash blues you sometimes get hit by as you realize that things aren’t too bad)
It’s finally spring up here. I like that, in general. And I don’t mind birds either – true, I’m barely able to distinguish a sparrow from an emu, but I think they are fascinating and adorable critters. But… I’m something of an insomniac and when you’re up north and dawn comes around just after three in the morning ,and you try to go to sleep with the persistent tada-tweet-tada-tweet-tada-tweet of some horny*, matutinal assemblage of feathers trying to pick up someone to father his chicks echoing between the buildings…
Well, I’m thinking sinister thoughts about assault weapons, and maybe this one (as demonstrated by the Mythbusters) would be something that could bring the problem down:
At least it would bring some satisfaction. And maybe missing the bird would mean the removal of the tree from where it delivers its performance.
(I’m actually not a weapons nut, I happily continue zapping if there’s “Top Ten Super Mega Giant Assault Weapons” on Discovery, and I think world conflicts would better be solved with tea parties (or at least decent political mediation), but there’s something about the cold, meticulously timed perfection with which a modern gatling gun is able to wreak more or less unstoppable mayhem – call it some bizarre awe at the aesthetical clash of mechanical perfection and total destruction, maybe)
*I believe the main purpose if the barrage of tweeting has to do with mating, but who am I to say it’s not a part of the conspiracy to finally push me over the brink of insanity?
I’m wondering if there’s a formula for how to decide if you can manage to buy an exotic car – or any status item – without looking looking like some obnoxious, attention seeking dork who just made a cut. I think a good start is not only to ask yourself if you can afford a Ferrari, but how many Ferraris you could buy – and then not get one unless the answer is about ten or more, in cash. If you have to spend most of your liquid assets, or even increase your debt, you will most likely fail miserably because you’ll want everyone to look at the big, shiny thing that just majorly hit your economy.
The key is to be casual about it, and not like the fiftyish guy whose performance I saw outside the supermarket the other day, and inspired these thoughts. He pulled up in a Ferrari 360 Modena (as I think I learned after searching for a suitable image), slowly crossed the parking lot then sat idling it halfway into the parking space for while before going the last, waited a moment after opening the door and then went through some kind of Italian 45 second door-locking process (you’d think a car like that would more efficient electronic locks…). He also sported an expensive-but-casual jacket (a bit too small) and a decent haircut (due for a touch up a month ago), and I’m guessing he was recently divorced and sold his half of the house to get that car in a desperate attempt to get attractive. Not a good impression to make. Pretty much the opposite, I’d say. I guess he manages to get some sort of attention, but I’m not sure the kind of attention that gets bored people to blog out of annoyance is the good kind. And I’m usually quite good at not being bothered by things. Even when I’m bored.
Oh, and if you have to get something to show off your wealth, why not skip the Ferraris, Rolls Royces, Armanis, Rolexes and the other very obvious choices, and get something equally expensive but more original? A combination of exclusivity, style and originality might take you a few steps towards making an impression on other than the most clueless as well.
It’s true. I saw something that must have been flakes of the cement that keeps it up fall outside my window. It’s mid-april, and it shouldn’t snow now, so in my opinion it must be proof that the whole firmament will come tumbling down within 24 hours. I’ve already checked out this building’s air raid shelter, and as soon stores open I will go stockpile canned food. Now, quickly, post on your blogs, journals and the forums you frequent – everyone must know! Hey, start a petition as well, we have to make sure to reach the people who can do something about it.
And people do take action from things they read online. Througout the day, I’ve seen several heated calls to action based on an article on Animation World Network, in which the author discusses a propes bill that would force everyone to register copyright for all their works to avoid that they become orphaned works – which supposedly would allow companies to reap everything including flickr, your blog and your family album for unregistered works and put them to commercial use.
Of course, that prospect worries me as an artist. Regestering works would be an added cost, and one that would feel hard to justify for works that won’t immediatly yield any profits – like those all creatives have littering their studios, desk and harddrives. And it would probable affect me here in Europe as well a few years down, since our governments often follow suit.
But I can’t say I felt an urge to to join any discussions before I had a bit more facts – something which I found lacking after a glance on Simon’s article. And a while later, Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing (my must regular source on such matters, btw) pointed out this article, whose author has done a bit more research and found that no such bill as the one mentioned on AWN is in progress of being legislated – only mention of one from a couple of years ago that didn’t become anything. She also provides a lot of useful information regarding the subject of copyright and orphaned works as it is today.
So, my strategy of finding (or waiting to be provided with) a bit more facts seems to have saved me some trouble again. Not only the work of arguing against something that doesn’t matter, but also saving me from looking stupid after passing on what just seems to be a blimp’s worth of hot air.
Now, get going on the sky thing. You read it on the internet – so it must be true…
It’s not really a bug, but it’s bugging me. A bit. Not a large matter, but still annoying. The common order of the arithmetic operations, that is. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They are probably ordered by how often you need to perform them, but my annoyance is that that particular order isn’t the same when you need electronic assistance for your calculations. At least not for me, since I’m able to to most everyday addition and subtraction in my head. What I may need help with is things like how many Kronor the amount of €237 equals at an exchange rate of 9.389. It’s not a big problem when using a real calculator, but the device I most often use when I’m not at a computer is my phone. In its calculator function, the * is used for choosing the operator, and it means I have to press at least two times to get to the functions I need. A total waste of time. I’ve must have lost precious minutes of my life doing that. Someone shoult fix it.
And I guess the issue of wasted time applies to this post as well. I think I’m writing mostly to occupy myself with something. I’ve got a bit of insomnia, and a case of butterflies in my stomach. The art school thing begins tomorrow, so I guess I’m allowed a bit of nervousness. And it’s the good kind, since I’m certain it’s going to be great.
So, there’s another terror craze, and with that another wave of security shenanigans. And it all fits so well together, even if we play with the thought that there was no actual risk of an attack. Just think of the whole deal with disallowing fluids and electronics in carry-on luggage…
Let’s say you’re the kind of person who finds it practical to buy a couple bottles of water at the convenience store before going to the airport… well, maybe you should make your flight an opportunity to get wasted. With all the competition from those nasty carried-on beverages gone, all terminal and in-flight drink outlets can jack up the prices of water and soft drinks to a level just under that of liquor. Maybe even higher, if it is found that the urge to just slake the thirst actually is more common than that of getting hammered.
Next, you have to hand over your precious gadgets to be exposed to whatever goes on between the check-in and the conveyor belt at your destination. It’s not all bad, though, just consider how much more efficiently the insides of your new MacBook Pro can be searched if you’re not around to interrupt with things like “there’s a quick-release to open that…”
So, what to do without the tech you’re so dependent on? Well, if you need to make a phone call, just ride the moving walkway of nostalgia to the pay phones. But just so you don’t have to go all the way back to the time when contacts were stored in books of forest-unfriendly paper (which you couldn’t bring anyway – never know what kind of dangerous chemicals can be mixed into ink), just use the new AirSync account. This service allows you to enter your phone book into an online account, and your contacts will be only a credit card swipe away from the phone.
And if you want to get some work done on that trans-continental flight there’s the AirSync Business plan, which gives you the use of a secure laptop to access your pre-uploaded documents – after they have been screened to make sure all text runs from left to right and don’t contain any blueprints of Boeing 777s, of course. And since each airline will have it’s own service, it might be as good for customer loyalty as frequent flier points.
Rely on your iPod to avoid being exposed to the bland, suitable-for-the-majority in-flight entertainment? I’m sure that some airline can convince Apple of the mutual rewards of allowing users to access their iTunes from the plane. Just pay ten dollars and enter your iTunes-info when you book, and then there’s nothing more than the cost of a pair of detonator-free headphones keeping you from your music. Just make sure you’re not wearing them when the flight attendant announces that the refueling is done but there still will be a slight delay for file transfers.
Doesn’t it all fit so well together? The price of jet-fuel is rising, and cut-throat competition keeps the seat prices down – and then suddenly there is this new, ingenious terror-threat that opens so many nooks and crannies to stuff full of hidden costs.
Or maybe there’s still some fun left in the good old conspiracy-theory game…
For a slightly more serious end-note I guess I have to mention that I’m far from a frequent flier, but if I were I’m pretty sure I would take a gamble with the risk of being blown out of the sky once, rather than have to contend with all the new security measures they keep coming up with each and every time.
This is probably not worth blogging about, but since it’s four in the morning and I don’t have anything better to do I’m going to do just that anyway. First – lacking good, noise free close-ups of it – here’s a blurred and generally weird image of my Chief Wiggum-like nose:
The image is partially to illustrate the affected area, but mostly a filler. Anyway, the whole thing has to do with shaving. I think a good shave often can be one of those good little things, it’s very refreshing, but there is one thing that can make it damned annoying: getting shaving cream up my nose!
I don’t know if my application process is particularly sloppy, but it seems to happen to me about every three or four times I shave. And, to me, having that dab of foamy stuff there is the tactile equivalent of a high frequency ambient noise or that sticky sweet taste in your mouth that sometimes comes after eating ice cream. Not to mention that feeling of a sneeze that never comes.
I could wipe it off, but usually I don’t notice it until I have rinsed my hands and am about to go on with the actual shaving, and poking around there could end up with me having to reapply shaving cream… so I just let it be and stress through the rest of the shave, sometimes managing the feat of cutting myself on a Mach 3 blade – so I can finally get rid of the blob that by then seems to be swelling to horror-film proportions in my nose.
Uhm, to make some sort of point to this… if there’s any representatives of the Gillette brand reading this I’m willing to discuss the sale of my idea for nose-plugs. Otherwise, stay tuned for more drivel. :)
I was channel surfing and a boxing match on Eurosport caught my eye. Not the fight itself, never been into boxing, but rather the fighters’ apparel. Fringes. Like those lining the edges of the kind of lampshades grandmothers prefer. Loads of them. One of the fighters had one fringe around the waist of his trunks, and another two forming an inverted “U” over his butt and down the thighs. Like a circus costume designer’s idea of “Native American”. And he was the one who had chosen the moderate approach! The other pugilist must have had three rows around the waist, and the sides of his trunks were totally covered with the stuff. Like 20 centimeter wide patches cut out of a cheap Yeti costume.
A robot may not seek to be promoted above a human being who has been at the company longer, because the human being may have a wife and kids to look after whereas the robot just goes home and tries to have relations with a bucket. -Isaac Asimov's 30 Laws of Robotics
I've mentioned that I decided it's about time I set up an artist's site, and I'll try to do better than most artists, who in my opinion very often don't take that very seriously. But I doubt it will end up as ambitious as Wim Delvoye's site, with a whole little pixel town to explore. At least not until I have studio emplyees to delegate that to. And a studio to keep them in....
Firefox 3 (you have gotten it already, haven't you?) comes with support for color profiles. Even though it's disabled by default for various reasons, I think it's good news since it means that when everything gets ironed out more images will get to be seen as they were intended to. More info from DRIA.
...haven't I read Ken MacLeod before? Why, why, why? I picked up The Star Fraction yesterday, and I'm probably going to finish it tonight. It's so damned brilliant I'm almost considering sunglasses to be a good precaution when going near it. Got to make a note to get the rest of the Fall Revolution series asap!
I think this needs some sort of change in direction, as far as there ever was one. Both closing the site down or just letting it sit here being updated every other month seem a bit like the wrong options.
...William Gibson's Spook Country, and I just "accidentally" added the Deluxe Collector's Edition of Chan-wook Park's "Vengeance trilogy". Probably the most extravagant film item I've ever bought. More to follow on that, and that much anticipated book, when they arrive.
So, the multiplying posts are gone. Seems it was an older version of this otherwise very nice Sideblog plugin not playing nice with a newer version of Wordpress.
Weird Al is back, kicking off his upcoming album with "Don't Download this Song", a Band Aid-style anthem about not downloading songs. "Don't take away money from artists like me, how else could I afford another solid gold Humvee".
