Saturday, July 07, 2007
Cheap software?
I see that I can apparently buy software at a fraction of the normal cost. I wonder if this is fully legal, and if it is risky, in the sense that the shop is likely to be an outfit which might do unethical things with my credit card information or such?
Image Tricks
Looking for a way of making tiled patterns in Mac OS X, my friend Ian pointed me to Image Tricks. It is a front end for the powerful imaging engine built into Mac OS X 10.4, and the number of things you can do with it is just amazing. Much fun. And free!
And it actually has not only "crazy tricks", but also the bulk of the normal image adjustments for which I normally fire up Photoshop, like sharpness, cropping, contrast, etc.
The Devil Wears Prada
So I've just watched The Devil Wears Prada. It's a fun movie, and well done. Perhaps it is not a deep story, but an important message anyway, about sticking to your principles and being yourself. And it is often funny, and brilliantly acted by (of course) Merryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, and Anne Hathaway (who just yesterday was a teen star in The Princess Diaries).
Anne Hathaway is just gorgeous, eyes the size of Humvees and a smile which can't be human. It is pretty funny how in the beginning everybody at the fashion magazine treat her as an ugly duckling when she is clearly the prettiest woman in the building. Typical film "trick": she puts on a boring skirt and suddenly she is "ugly"? :)
A detail I like is how her character holds no grievances. Even after having left her job after a year of constant shit from her boss, when she sees her accidentally on the street, she smiles and waves at her, and genuinely so. She's just a generally loving person.
I have a bit more respect for the fashion world than I used to. For instance I have to admit that this movie show some very beautiful clothes, bags, and jewelry*. Gorgeous stuff. And perhaps it is just in human nature that you can't have this undeniable aesthetic without also getting the destructive ego and competition which comes with anything important on this planet, so people will pay $30,000 for a hand bag, and will judge each other harshly for wearing something which was fashionable six months ago, but now is the poorest taste.
Ooh, ooh: great example; the Birkin Bag, one of the most expensive and prestigious hand bags in the world, is becoming less prestigious, because the nouveau riche "footballers' wives" all have them now. Is that funny or what?
My biggest problem with fashion is the "sheep factor" in how otherwise intelligent people will let their clothing choices be dictated to them willy-nilly from designers and magazines, instead of using their own taste and judgement. But again I have to admit that this is surely just human nature, rather than a characteristic of the fashion industry itself. I mean, if I was a big designer "name", I really don't think I would have the bollix to say No to lots of people who were willing and eager to pay insanely inflated prices for anything I came up with.
* I don't get the fetish for shoes though. Women's shoes are ugly, and couldn't be less comfortable if they had spikes on the inside. (No, I haven't tried them, I don't think they make them in my size, but it's pretty clear from what women sound like when they take them off.)
Nicknames
In Denmark a name is a name, and that's what you're called. So it's very confusing to me how some peoples, particularly the Russians and the Americans, use at least one or two nicknames for every name. I just found out that in the US, "Annie" can substitute for "Anne". In Denmark those are two different names.
"Alfred" is "Al". Okay.
"Margaret" is "Peggy"... huh?
"John" is "Jack"? Whu?
Of Course "Michael" is "Mike", that one is obvious.
But how did "Robert" become "Bob"?
And how did "Richard" become "Dick"?
And "William", "Bill"?
And some seem to be official. Was Bill Clinton ever called "William"? (I looked it up, yes he was.)
Everybody seems to call Robert de Niro "Bob", but when I once did it to a different Robert, he hinted that this was taking a liberty.
All in all, very confusing.
"Alfred" is "Al". Okay.
"Margaret" is "Peggy"... huh?
"John" is "Jack"? Whu?
Of Course "Michael" is "Mike", that one is obvious.
But how did "Robert" become "Bob"?
And how did "Richard" become "Dick"?
And "William", "Bill"?
And some seem to be official. Was Bill Clinton ever called "William"? (I looked it up, yes he was.)
Everybody seems to call Robert de Niro "Bob", but when I once did it to a different Robert, he hinted that this was taking a liberty.
All in all, very confusing.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Subnotebook
Once again I sigh: Apple invented the subnotebook, so why are they currently so behind in that area? Notebooks are their best selling Macs.
I want a Toshiba R500. If only it did not run, ugh, Windoze. But really, an 800 gram notebook? Kewl.
OK, here's a funny quote:
"As thin as 0.77”6, the Portégé® R500 notebook PC is the same height as a stack of dimes."
Geez, "...the same height as a stack of dimes"... ! Hell, so am I. A 6 foot 4 inches stack of dimes!
I want a Toshiba R500. If only it did not run, ugh, Windoze. But really, an 800 gram notebook? Kewl.
OK, here's a funny quote:
"As thin as 0.77”6, the Portégé® R500 notebook PC is the same height as a stack of dimes."
Geez, "...the same height as a stack of dimes"... ! Hell, so am I. A 6 foot 4 inches stack of dimes!
Enlightenment Cards
These are the "Enlightenment Cards", with quotes from Gary Renard's book The Disappearance Of The Universe. I think Hayhouse and the graphic artist have done a wonderful job with them visually.
New browser window tip
To open a link in a new browser window on a Windows computer, try shift-clicking.
On a Mac, simply command-click to open in a new window.
If you have tabs enabled, it will be a new tab, unless you use option-command.
On a Mac, simply command-click to open in a new window.
If you have tabs enabled, it will be a new tab, unless you use option-command.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Independence
Somehow I missed Independence Day.
But that's part of my personal independence: the freedom to miss public events which are important to many people, but not to me. (OK, admittedly not being American or in the US is part of why I don't even have to hear about it. But not following the news is another.)
A friend commented recently on how independence is important to me. And I admitted so. But it's funny: it is so important to me that I have rarely even thought about it. It's like water to a fish, in other words.
It's so important to me that I would not give up a tiny fraction of it for all the wealth or all the love in the world.
I honestly don't know to what degree this is bad or good, it's just how I am.
But that's part of my personal independence: the freedom to miss public events which are important to many people, but not to me. (OK, admittedly not being American or in the US is part of why I don't even have to hear about it. But not following the news is another.)
A friend commented recently on how independence is important to me. And I admitted so. But it's funny: it is so important to me that I have rarely even thought about it. It's like water to a fish, in other words.
It's so important to me that I would not give up a tiny fraction of it for all the wealth or all the love in the world.
I honestly don't know to what degree this is bad or good, it's just how I am.
Two men
When I'm in town with a male friend, some people assume we're gay.
I would think it weird, except for one observation: once I saw two men walking together in the road side, and I thought: "how extraordinary."
That's what's weird. Why don't you see two men together? You see families out shopping, and you see groups out drinking, that's about it. Are we to conclude that people don't have anything to talk about? That they only reasons to be together with others are sex (family) and alcohol?
I would think it weird, except for one observation: once I saw two men walking together in the road side, and I thought: "how extraordinary."
That's what's weird. Why don't you see two men together? You see families out shopping, and you see groups out drinking, that's about it. Are we to conclude that people don't have anything to talk about? That they only reasons to be together with others are sex (family) and alcohol?
VOIP
Telecompanies are scared of VOIP (internet telephony)...
If you ask me, they should have been scared of VOIP ten years ago. I know that I saw it coming.
It's like being tied to the railroad tracks, seeing the train coming and thinking: "well, not to worry, it's far away still. It's only the last meter which hurts after all."
(The article also has interesting facts about tech developments in Europe.)
"You know how young people are spending $10 billion a year on ringtones, just because it lets them express themselves?"
No, I did not know. Ten billion? Are these people insane? I don't get young people. And I say that without nostalgia, because even when I was one myself, nominally, I did not get them. I always got on better with adults. Adults had minds.
Another quote:
"(P.S. … As longtime Pogue’s Posts readers know, my biggest cellular pet peeve is the endless recording you hear when you reach someone’s voicemail: “To page this person, press 2 now. You may leave a message at the tone. When you finish recording, you may hang up. Or press 5 for more options”—and so on.
At the conference, I asked one cellular executive if that message is deliberately recorded slowly and with as many words as possible, to eat up your airtime and make more ARPU for the cell carrier. I was half kidding—but he wasn’t fooling around in his reply: “Yes.”
The secret’s out.)"
If you ask me, they should have been scared of VOIP ten years ago. I know that I saw it coming.
It's like being tied to the railroad tracks, seeing the train coming and thinking: "well, not to worry, it's far away still. It's only the last meter which hurts after all."
(The article also has interesting facts about tech developments in Europe.)
"You know how young people are spending $10 billion a year on ringtones, just because it lets them express themselves?"
No, I did not know. Ten billion? Are these people insane? I don't get young people. And I say that without nostalgia, because even when I was one myself, nominally, I did not get them. I always got on better with adults. Adults had minds.
Another quote:
"(P.S. … As longtime Pogue’s Posts readers know, my biggest cellular pet peeve is the endless recording you hear when you reach someone’s voicemail: “To page this person, press 2 now. You may leave a message at the tone. When you finish recording, you may hang up. Or press 5 for more options”—and so on.
At the conference, I asked one cellular executive if that message is deliberately recorded slowly and with as many words as possible, to eat up your airtime and make more ARPU for the cell carrier. I was half kidding—but he wasn’t fooling around in his reply: “Yes.”
The secret’s out.)"
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