I just visited some young people in their twenties, and their home was extremely messy.
I have to admit that myself, I surely had a much less orderly home when I was at that age, twenty years ago.
Is it a youth thing? Do people only start to desire order at a mature age? And why do they start desiring it? What changed?
Update, related: when did "thinking about what to do with your life" become something you start doing when you turn thirty?
Update: Aniko wrote:
Don't worry: it is not age! It is subculture. Really.
And the intellectual / working class distinction does not apply here. Anyway, I think it doesn't exist any more either. There are innumerable subcultures out there... :-) There was even a very nice tv series about english "tribes".
Well, if you don't often meet young women in their twenties, you may generalize this experience... Please don't. :-) [note: good warning, because funny enough the last set of young women I knew were living in the same apartment, and they were also spectacularly messy.]
I am sure I would have felt an alien, and my 22 years old sister and my 9 years old brother would have felt alien too... :-)
It is possible that there is a specific english subculture. I don't know. But it is certainly not about people being of a certain age...
Or... well, I guess the people who need to have a drastically messy period in their life will have it in their early twenties. But the people who don't need it won't have it.
Anyway... It must have been a funny experience. People usually think they have to go very far to meet a totally different culture. Though, quite often, you just need to cross your doorstep... :-)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The White House Spray
The White House Spray, video/article. A 30-second photo opportunity? Has the world become that hectic? Come on, gimme a break.
Olympus review
When I was a teenager obsessed with photography, I'd have sacrificed both my grandmas to get a camera like this, and thrown in both my grandpas to get it at such a price!
Ann Summers
More proof that ads are not what they used to be.
(Even my town in Northern England has an Ann Summers, with dildos and porn in the back.)
(Even my town in Northern England has an Ann Summers, with dildos and porn in the back.)
Stimulus
I don't know who wrote this (cursive, below), but it reflects an earlier post.
Carl Barks wrote a classic Uncle Scrooge story, where a tornado took all of Scrooge's money and distributed them all over the land. So everybody was now "rich" and stopped working. Scrooge was unperturbed about the loss, he and his family just kept working. Because nobody else were producing, they could soon sell farm products at super-inflated prices. And soon after that, he was once again the richest man in the world.
Not so dumb, Carl Barks.
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This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a
very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.
Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV
set, thus stimulating the economy.
Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China?
A. Shut up.
Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending
your stimulus check wisely:
If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.
If you spend it on gasoline, it will go to the Arabs.
If you purchase a computer, it will go to India.
If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and
Guatemala (unless you buy organic).
If you buy a car, it will go to Japan.
If you purchase useless crap, it will go to Taiwan.
If you pay your credit cards off, it will go to bank management bonuses, and they will hide it offshore.
Same with stock investment.
Instead, you can keep the money in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spending it on prostitutes,
beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only American businesses still operating in the US.
Carl Barks wrote a classic Uncle Scrooge story, where a tornado took all of Scrooge's money and distributed them all over the land. So everybody was now "rich" and stopped working. Scrooge was unperturbed about the loss, he and his family just kept working. Because nobody else were producing, they could soon sell farm products at super-inflated prices. And soon after that, he was once again the richest man in the world.
Not so dumb, Carl Barks.
---
This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a
very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.
Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV
set, thus stimulating the economy.
Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China?
A. Shut up.
Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending
your stimulus check wisely:
If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.
If you spend it on gasoline, it will go to the Arabs.
If you purchase a computer, it will go to India.
If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and
Guatemala (unless you buy organic).
If you buy a car, it will go to Japan.
If you purchase useless crap, it will go to Taiwan.
If you pay your credit cards off, it will go to bank management bonuses, and they will hide it offshore.
Same with stock investment.
Instead, you can keep the money in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spending it on prostitutes,
beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only American businesses still operating in the US.
Streaming Netflix
David Pogue on Netflix' streaming service. In short, if you have a Netflix (mail DVD rental) service, you can stream thousands of movies over the Internet, in HD, for free. (Apart from the DVD subscription fee.)
Isn't pricing a bizarre thing? Some online movie services charge like five dollars per movie to rent for 24 hours. And some give you thousands essentially for free.
I have a feeling though, that this kind of service is not just around the corner here in Eu and UK. We are always robbed a lot more on this continent.
Isn't pricing a bizarre thing? Some online movie services charge like five dollars per movie to rent for 24 hours. And some give you thousands essentially for free.
I have a feeling though, that this kind of service is not just around the corner here in Eu and UK. We are always robbed a lot more on this continent.
Friday, January 30, 2009
EARTH: The Pale Blue Dot
[Thanks to Bert] EARTH: The Pale Blue Dot. Video about the sky, space, and the future. Very pretty and cool.
Like I said before, I'm a bit sad that there are so few space-opera SF books these days. And I think one of the coolest things in life would be to get to see alien civilizations.
Bert said...
I did send you some stuff lately, but not this one, I'm afraid... ;-)
Nice link anyway!
OK, it seems this was one of the times where I built up so many browser windows I hadn't looked at yet that I lost track of who had recommended what, and what I found myself. Ah well, there's a couple recently I didn't credit you for, Bertie.
Like I said before, I'm a bit sad that there are so few space-opera SF books these days. And I think one of the coolest things in life would be to get to see alien civilizations.
Bert said...
I did send you some stuff lately, but not this one, I'm afraid... ;-)
Nice link anyway!
OK, it seems this was one of the times where I built up so many browser windows I hadn't looked at yet that I lost track of who had recommended what, and what I found myself. Ah well, there's a couple recently I didn't credit you for, Bertie.
Article: Abolish Teenage Sexual Abstinence
[Thanks to Carter] "Abolish Teenage Sexual Abstinence", article.
"Many people insist that we should only have sex within a marital relationship. They make no allowance for the fact that young people must learn how to have a relationship. They do not teach people the social skills that are necessary within a sexual relationship. It takes practice. Advice and training would certainly be helpful."
Jed McKenna said that sanity is a numbers game, if enough people do or say something, it is no longer insane. So if a huge minority (or worse, a majority) of a country's population insists that young people suppress their biological imperative for years, that's seen as a normal opinion, not a dysfunctional one.
"Many people insist that we should only have sex within a marital relationship. They make no allowance for the fact that young people must learn how to have a relationship. They do not teach people the social skills that are necessary within a sexual relationship. It takes practice. Advice and training would certainly be helpful."
Jed McKenna said that sanity is a numbers game, if enough people do or say something, it is no longer insane. So if a huge minority (or worse, a majority) of a country's population insists that young people suppress their biological imperative for years, that's seen as a normal opinion, not a dysfunctional one.
Storm-P maskine
Talk about having too much time on your hands.
(I've blogged earlier both about the famous Ford-commercial which probably inspired this, and the German art video which inspired that one.)
(I've blogged earlier both about the famous Ford-commercial which probably inspired this, and the German art video which inspired that one.)
BumpTop desktop is a beautiful mess
"BumpTop desktop is a beautiful mess" Video.
To be frank, apart from the clock-dial pop-up menus, which I'd love to have, I don't like it much. I don't see any value in mess. My desktop, the virtual one, 90% of the time does not have a single icon on it.
(My "real" one has the Mac, speakers, a Buddha, a mic, a pen mug, and a couple of cameras for decoration.)
This is how my desktop looks right now (my own photo):
To be frank, apart from the clock-dial pop-up menus, which I'd love to have, I don't like it much. I don't see any value in mess. My desktop, the virtual one, 90% of the time does not have a single icon on it.
(My "real" one has the Mac, speakers, a Buddha, a mic, a pen mug, and a couple of cameras for decoration.)
This is how my desktop looks right now (my own photo):
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Just Like U Said It Would B ~ Sinead O'Connor
One of my old favorites. One of those I listened to on my walkman, walking around Copenhagen at four in the morning in the late eighties, my mind scraping the ceiling of the universe.
The version I like the most is the album version:
I will walk in the garden
And feel religion within
I will learn how to run
with the big boys
I will learn how to sink and to swim
And there's talk in the houses
And people dancing in rings
Ah, when you close my eyes, babe?
I can see most everything
I can see most everything
It's just like u said it would be
I can see too many mouths open
Too many eyes closed, ears closed
Not enough minds open
Too many legs open
Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, do
Why isn’t it why why
I don't see why I listen, why, why
When I've walked in the garden
When I'm walking off stage
When everything's quiet
Will you stay?
Will you be my lover?
Will you be my mama?
I said will you be my lover?
I said will you be my babe?
When I lay down my head
At the end of my day
Nothing would
Nothing would please me better
Than I find that you're there
When I lay down my head
At the end of my day
Nothing would
Nothing would please me better
Than I find that you're
there when I wake
Just like u said it would be
Will you be my lover?
Will you be my mama?
Just like u said it would be
-
The version I like the most is the album version:
I will walk in the garden
And feel religion within
I will learn how to run
with the big boys
I will learn how to sink and to swim
And there's talk in the houses
And people dancing in rings
Ah, when you close my eyes, babe?
I can see most everything
I can see most everything
It's just like u said it would be
I can see too many mouths open
Too many eyes closed, ears closed
Not enough minds open
Too many legs open
Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, do
Why isn’t it why why
I don't see why I listen, why, why
When I've walked in the garden
When I'm walking off stage
When everything's quiet
Will you stay?
Will you be my lover?
Will you be my mama?
I said will you be my lover?
I said will you be my babe?
When I lay down my head
At the end of my day
Nothing would
Nothing would please me better
Than I find that you're there
When I lay down my head
At the end of my day
Nothing would
Nothing would please me better
Than I find that you're
there when I wake
Just like u said it would be
Will you be my lover?
Will you be my mama?
Just like u said it would be
-
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Doug Engelbart: The Demo
Doug Engelbart: The Demo. 1968. Must be the most forward-looking computer demo ever. Wiki sez: "The demo featured the first computer mouse the public had ever seen, as well as introducing interactive text, video conferencing, teleconferencing, email and hypertext."
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I am sailing...
[Thanks to Tom B.] Boston Globe online is one of the web sites bucking the tradition of too-small pictures on the web, well done. This photo essay is outstanding.
David Icke revisited
It seems Britain is reconsidering David Icke. I didn't see that coming. (No, he is not dead, despite the clumsy use of the past tense in the title.)
He's a character. Like Stuart Wilde and surely many other visionaries, he is mixing truths with the most outrageous visions and beliefs.
A few years ago when I was into conspiracies, I read a couple of his books. He said that being intensely, overwhelmingly ridiculed in Britain back after being on the Terry Wogan show in 1991 had freed him mentally. But seeing him watch the show now makes it clear that he is still angry about it, so he's not all enlightened.
From his wiki article:
In an interview on the Terry Wogan show that year, he announced that he was "the son of God,"[13] and that Britain would be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. His statements were met with laughter and ridicule from the studio audience, derision in the press, and suggestions that he was mentally ill. Icke later said that he had been misinterpreted by the media. According to Icke, he used the term "the son of God" "… in the sense of being an aspect, as I understood it at the time, of the Infinite consciousness that is everything. As I have written before, we are like droplets of water in an ocean of infinite consciousness."
I don't blame him for being, er, eccentric. I had powerful "unity experiences" myself in the eighties, and it unbalanced me, I had the weirdest beliefs for many years, although I at least had the sense not to go on TV with them.
And funny enough just today I've gotten consolidated how a contact with the infinite is indeed often devastating to the ego, to the self. Stark anxieties or depressions are not uncommon.
He's a character. Like Stuart Wilde and surely many other visionaries, he is mixing truths with the most outrageous visions and beliefs.
A few years ago when I was into conspiracies, I read a couple of his books. He said that being intensely, overwhelmingly ridiculed in Britain back after being on the Terry Wogan show in 1991 had freed him mentally. But seeing him watch the show now makes it clear that he is still angry about it, so he's not all enlightened.
From his wiki article:
In an interview on the Terry Wogan show that year, he announced that he was "the son of God,"[13] and that Britain would be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. His statements were met with laughter and ridicule from the studio audience, derision in the press, and suggestions that he was mentally ill. Icke later said that he had been misinterpreted by the media. According to Icke, he used the term "the son of God" "… in the sense of being an aspect, as I understood it at the time, of the Infinite consciousness that is everything. As I have written before, we are like droplets of water in an ocean of infinite consciousness."
I don't blame him for being, er, eccentric. I had powerful "unity experiences" myself in the eighties, and it unbalanced me, I had the weirdest beliefs for many years, although I at least had the sense not to go on TV with them.
And funny enough just today I've gotten consolidated how a contact with the infinite is indeed often devastating to the ego, to the self. Stark anxieties or depressions are not uncommon.
Music video
You can make a good music video by using a few million dollars on it, or you can use a camera and a good idea.
More turtles
Old parable: a student comes to his teacher and asks what does the world sit on. The teacher says, it sits on a big turtle. The student asks, what does the turtle sit on? The teacher says another turtle. The student asks, what does that turtle sit on? The teacher says one more turtle. The student asks what does that turtle sit on then? The teacher yells, it's turtles all the way down!
I think this speaks for most religion and most science. You won't find the true nature of the universe by analysing the universe, all you will find are more turtles.
I think this speaks for most religion and most science. You won't find the true nature of the universe by analysing the universe, all you will find are more turtles.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Mac is 25
Old Apple promo film from 25 years ago.
I find it interesting that it presumes that the viewer knows what a "Lisa" is. Perhaps the Lisa was more famous in 1984 than today? (Lisa was the first commercial computer with windows and mouse*, but too expensive at $10,000, and failed. The Mac was almost an underground movement within Apple, designed to kill the Lisa, and Steve Jobs hijacked the project after he got kicked to the sideline by the CEO.)
Coincidentally I just today got the new documentary Welcome to Macintosh. It's good.
*TTL corrects me: Xerox came first.
Hangar points to the Mother of all Demos. (I love the book Insanely Great.) There's even a video.
I find it interesting that it presumes that the viewer knows what a "Lisa" is. Perhaps the Lisa was more famous in 1984 than today? (Lisa was the first commercial computer with windows and mouse*, but too expensive at $10,000, and failed. The Mac was almost an underground movement within Apple, designed to kill the Lisa, and Steve Jobs hijacked the project after he got kicked to the sideline by the CEO.)
Coincidentally I just today got the new documentary Welcome to Macintosh. It's good.
*TTL corrects me: Xerox came first.
Hangar points to the Mother of all Demos. (I love the book Insanely Great.) There's even a video.
Intellectuals
Is an intellectual always intelligent?
Is an intelligent person necessarily an intellectual?
Anyway, many years ago I had a job in a sandblasting company, and I was very good at it. It was a small company, and the staff and leaders were a cool and eclectic mix. Later I got a job at another company, which had a different kind of staff: these were working class not only in name, but also in mind. And there I had a hard time getting along with the others, and I didn't know why.
Fortunately it was explained to me by one of the guys who was aggressively working class in mind, but much more well-read than is typical for workers. He explained to me that the airs I had that I was good was not Okay in a place like that, because it's "like kicking a man when he's down" (somehow that made sense at the time).
He also told me that when I once had called him an intellectual, that was a big insult to him, because his knowledge belonged to everybody, and to him, an intellectual was a self-appointed superior asshole who thought he was better than others, or words to that effect.
Update: it seems I have to spell this out, which surprises me... I don't agree with that definition of "intellectual". To me, an intellectual is simply a person who likes to read and likes to think. And this means by definition anybody who follows this blog, for instance, is an intellectual.
It also means that anybody in history who made an invention or had a thought which advanced technology and thus civilization, is an intellectual. Without intellectuals, we would still be in the middle ages. Or rather, the stone age. Or maybe that's even overdoing it, since even the invention of stone tools would have taken an intellectual for the time.
Is an intelligent person necessarily an intellectual?
Anyway, many years ago I had a job in a sandblasting company, and I was very good at it. It was a small company, and the staff and leaders were a cool and eclectic mix. Later I got a job at another company, which had a different kind of staff: these were working class not only in name, but also in mind. And there I had a hard time getting along with the others, and I didn't know why.
Fortunately it was explained to me by one of the guys who was aggressively working class in mind, but much more well-read than is typical for workers. He explained to me that the airs I had that I was good was not Okay in a place like that, because it's "like kicking a man when he's down" (somehow that made sense at the time).
He also told me that when I once had called him an intellectual, that was a big insult to him, because his knowledge belonged to everybody, and to him, an intellectual was a self-appointed superior asshole who thought he was better than others, or words to that effect.
Update: it seems I have to spell this out, which surprises me... I don't agree with that definition of "intellectual". To me, an intellectual is simply a person who likes to read and likes to think. And this means by definition anybody who follows this blog, for instance, is an intellectual.
It also means that anybody in history who made an invention or had a thought which advanced technology and thus civilization, is an intellectual. Without intellectuals, we would still be in the middle ages. Or rather, the stone age. Or maybe that's even overdoing it, since even the invention of stone tools would have taken an intellectual for the time.
85mm F:1.2
I looked up this lens, and I thought it was $1600, and I thought, dang, that's pretty expensive.
... And then I realized I was at Amazon UK, and it's 1600 Pounds Sterling!! Mother of god, that's an expensive lens.
... But of course, I save four pounds by shopping at Amazon...
... Holy fork, that's a big lens...
(image from KR's review.)
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... And then I realized I was at Amazon UK, and it's 1600 Pounds Sterling!! Mother of god, that's an expensive lens.
... But of course, I save four pounds by shopping at Amazon...
... Holy fork, that's a big lens...
(image from KR's review.)
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Monday, January 26, 2009
What kids wish for
What kids wish for. Cool.
Examples:
Disposable Girlfriend
Egor Gortilin, 5 year old
I want a girl who would be like a Father Frost' daughter - if I get tired of her, I'll make her drink some hot tea, and she will melt away into nothing.
A gun that kills bad thoughts
Artem Bulavin, 9, Yulia Romanova, 6
It would be a laser weapon that would kill all bad thoughts, intentions and all bad ideas.
Examples:
Disposable Girlfriend
Egor Gortilin, 5 year old
I want a girl who would be like a Father Frost' daughter - if I get tired of her, I'll make her drink some hot tea, and she will melt away into nothing.
A gun that kills bad thoughts
Artem Bulavin, 9, Yulia Romanova, 6
It would be a laser weapon that would kill all bad thoughts, intentions and all bad ideas.
The pot wars
The pot wars, video. Twenty million users in the US. And illegal. It's fucking weird.
I've never tried it. I thought I might, but I'm told it often precipitates paranoia, and that's one thing I don't need.
I've never tried it. I thought I might, but I'm told it often precipitates paranoia, and that's one thing I don't need.
All Day
All Day Remix by Ministry. An old, big favorite.
I tried to post it on utoob, but they now have "content match" which instantly identifies certain copyrighted works the minute they are uploaded, even without keyword matches or anything! Holy frig.
I tried to post it on utoob, but they now have "content match" which instantly identifies certain copyrighted works the minute they are uploaded, even without keyword matches or anything! Holy frig.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
More on Hamlet, monkeys, and typewriters
One of my early posts on this blog has now been validated by smarter brains. Basically, the Hamlet/monkey theorem is untrue for any finite number, and meaningless for infinity.
Melissa smile
Future Domai model (within two weeks). I post it here (slightly cropped since this is a SFW site) because I'm just head over heals with that smile.
(Funny koinkidink: as I started to do this, Lily Allen's "Smile" started playing in my iTunes app.)
(Funny koinkidink: as I started to do this, Lily Allen's "Smile" started playing in my iTunes app.)
The Spy Who Frigged Me
I was never all that impressed by Bond movies. I remember twenny years ago I was watching Octopussy on video. Most on it I watched on fast-forward, and I didn't miss a thing.
I can't recall why, but it seems something had compelled me to put The Spy Who Loved me on my online rental list, and it arrived this week. I could only stand to watch less than ten minutes of it. My gawd, what an abysmally, toe-curlingly, heart-stoppingly bad movie. Even for light summer entertainment. It felt like being hungry, being out of food, and trying to eat an empty cereal box. Yuck.
I can't recall why, but it seems something had compelled me to put The Spy Who Loved me on my online rental list, and it arrived this week. I could only stand to watch less than ten minutes of it. My gawd, what an abysmally, toe-curlingly, heart-stoppingly bad movie. Even for light summer entertainment. It felt like being hungry, being out of food, and trying to eat an empty cereal box. Yuck.