Herman Miller/Lifework.
When I see folks brag of contemporary sterile studio spaces, I continue to wonder “Where’s all the paper?” and “What about Post-its?” And … “Crumbs?” They don’t even show a wastebasket.
Sure, I could clean my office to this state of vacuum. But I’d never get anything done.
BlessThisStuff: 2014 Triumph Tiger Explorer XC.
Nice. When I learned to ride, I loved the Honda TransAlp … one of those odd-but-legendary bikes. This looks like a sort of update to that genre.
The reason I didn’t buy one? I couldn’t straddle the bike at stoplights without standing on my tip-toes. Short inseam, long body. I felt it was a little too dangerous, given my beginner-mind. I bought the Nighthawk, where I could plop both soles flat on the ground. Wish I’d bought the TransAlp, in retrospect. Nighthawk’s got all the caché of a sewing machine. And it can’t even competently handle a logging road.
Lychee.
Nice. Perhaps it is finally time to walk away from Flickr. I’ll have to look more closely when I have a moment.
Gizmodo: Get SwiftKey, Our Favorite Android Keyboard, On Sale for 50% Off.
When I upgraded my HTC Sensation 3G, I lost Swype, and was completely dissatisfied with the standard ICS keyboard. SwiftKey introduced their “Flow” gesture beta, and I immediately downloaded it and was even happier than with Swype. The gesture feature is now rolled into the main SwiftKey app. It allows me to swipe and type on a small screen with big fingers pretty fast. I have no commercial connection here, just my recommend based on use.
The only problem? I keep swiping on my iOS devices, and getting frustrated. Apple? You really need to get something like this working on your products.
Christopher Stott.
Standout oil paintings of vintage objects. We had a fan like that when I was a kid. I was under the strictest of orders - “You do NOT PUT YOUR FINGERS NEAR THIS FAN.”
CNN: Time travel—Can it really be done?
I feel like I’m doing it every night, on my evening phone call to Tokyo. It’s tomorrow there. I’m a creature of simple pleasures, I get such a kick out of that.
NY Times: Daft Punk Gets Human With a New Album.
It is so retro. I’ve listened through once, had flashbacks of Jackson/Flashdance/Chic all the way through. I’ll have to give it a go with headphones at some point. I didn’t hear anything remarkable on the first go-round — but then I’ve been programming in Expression Engine, setting up some logical constructs, so my attention is decidedly not on the music’s nuances.
Oh … and under the weather.
Spring cold knocked me off my feet Friday night. Recovering now. Hopefully.
Valet.: The Cowboy Shirt.
No, not with jeans. Whipcord trousers. If you want to be all ‘western’.
Sorry for the slowdown.
Ridiculously busy these days, but having fun doing it. Links as I can.
Virga sunset.
Ran out in my socks again. Gotta stop doing that. At a certain point, you just can’t get the cactus spines out of socks … and have to toss ‘em.
Valet.: Quality Tonic Water.
Oh yes. Now I’m ready for the heat-switch on June 1.
Obviously, a busy morning.
Links eventually.
Noticed: I had some dreams, they were drones in my coffee ...
Any R/C flying contraption that carries a camera is now … ahem … inheriting the designation of ‘domestic drone’ or simply ‘drone’. We need a new taxonomy of R/C devices, clearly.
NewStatesman: “Instagram act” under fire for treatment of copyrighted works.
If I were in Britain, I’d consider taking all my works off the ‘net. Or egregiously watermark them.
Seen on the way home from a business meeting.
Middle of the street, a rattlesnake. Pissed off, scared out of its wits. A *spring* rattlesnake … as in early-season-lots-o-venom. Dude in a pickup truck pulls a U-turn, parks on the side, and grabs his windshield scraper (about six inches long) and starts to run across the road to do … exactly what, I don’t know. I slow down, roll down my window and yell “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” I get the finger. Thanks, buddy. Senior in car behind me proceeds to try to ‘dodge’ the snake, and flattens it. End of story.
‘Tis getting to be warmer and sunnier.
My attention to this blog will begin to wane on weekends. Just a warning - don’t want my readers to waste a click unnecessarily. Those who access by RSS don’t need to concern themselves.
SciAm: Why Sleep Deprivation Eases Depression.
“Sleep deprivation is a quick and efficient way to treat depression. It works 60 to 70 percent of the time—far better than existing drugs—but the mood boost usually lasts only until the patient falls asleep.” Interesting. When I’m in the depths of winter SAD (Vitamin D! LIGHT! Give me light …), I notice I’m perkier on days with less sleep.
Big data on DM.
Just happened to notice, I’m approaching 20 million pages served in my EE install since the middle of 2007. I probably double that if I include my older HTML/PHP archives. It’s beyond my comprehension. Others get more attention faster, but … this is my stuff. The reason I went with Expression Engine over MT and WP was because Moveable Type was unstable with 15,000 posts, and WP was too unreliable (at the time) and I feared losing my archives to a database or security issue. EE’s handling more than 36,000 posts and nearly 14,000 comments as of tonight, without a glitch (other than an occasional corrupted DB table, easily fixed).
Harvard Business Review: What Happens When You Really Disconnect.
Never miss an opportunity to unplug. Clears the mental cruft. Problem is, when I’m plugged in, I want to stay plugged in. When I’m unplugged, there’s no way in hell I want to touch a piece of tech. The switch from one state to the other is the ‘pain’. Searching for that ‘happy medium’, the Aristotelian ‘moderation.’
Invited to post in Medium.
Finally. Anyone else get an invite?
Guardian.UK: Reddit’s Boston marathon speculation shows the limits of crowdsourcing.
As I got to the end of the article, I thought what a shame it was that this even has to be said. Perhaps it’s all the cop and CSI type shows we watch. Criminal investigation is easy because the bad guys are always instantly recognizable and fall into archetypal behavior. (Not.)
I hereby rescind my previous post theorizing about crowdsourcing analysis. I was too naive. Crowdsourced analysis could never exist in an objective vacuum.
Guardian.UK: London Marathon security stepped up after Boston attacks.
My sister will be running.
Guardian.UK: Rolf Dobelli’s ideas about not needing news are dangerous.
“While we may become expert at skimming and multitasking, we risk retaining less and less.” Interesting theory.
After years of multitasking and skimming, I find I retain readily-available detailed information on certain ‘crux’ subjects … bugbears? hobgoblins? … information that either bolsters or slays long-held beliefs. The bolstering information gets prioritized by recency, the slaying information gets shoved into a different mental drawer for casual research. What about the mundane, or simply interesting trivia? My mind retains a pattern, perhaps an image, or a particular era, or a hint of a word … enough to make a Google search quick and easy. So I’d say my brain’s adjusted to (expects to have) access to Google.
Come to think of it, it’s the same modus operandi I use with my personal library at home. I have certain favorite books, always at my fingertips … but the others … I retain enough to be able to find and reference them when needed. [Example: “I remember a quote questioning whether a democratic society can revert to dictatorship or monarchism within a single generation. White book, small bookcase is the last place I saw it. Ah yes. There it is. De Tocqueville! That’s right.” Of course I folded the corner of the page, too.] The problem with my physical library is … many of the books I’d like to reference are in boxes in the garage, without organization. Google has no such limitations. When I get on a tear, you’ll see me repeatedly skimming my shelves for a remembered book, to no avail, with a tragic look upon my countenance.
For more challenging, off-the-cuff information, I rely on the method of loci. I’ve successfully remembered some incredibly arcane and precise information for over a decade using this technique. Takes a bit of practice at the start, but ultimately pays off. I find it’s best to use buildings I used to know, not current buildings of my experience. New changes interrupt (because they’re novel, perhaps removing a reference point) and can overwrite stored memories.
Eddie Bauer: 50th Anniversary of Everest.
Nice little feature. Jim Whittaker went on to run REI, didn’t he? Unsoeld and Hornbein were real gutsy dudes. One of the many climbing histories that got me to strap into Raichles and Sacs Millet in the 70’s.
