Saturday, September 17, 2005

"Content"

Have you ever considered the oddity of the term "content" for web sites?
It is like a publisher planning a book, making the covers and the pages, planning the ad campaign, and then at the last moment saying: "oh yes, and we also need some content for the thing, better canvas some writers."
Thoughts and creations have become afterthoughts to networks and media. How "Microsoft" can you get?

The state

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." -- Voltaire

... It does not make sense to me that the state is allowed to do things that individuals may not. The state is just the collective will of the people. But apparently this collective will, having the ultimate power, decides that it is above the usual rules guiding men. It can imprison men and call it "justice". It can steal and call it "taxes". It can murder and call it "war".

People say that people who take the law in their own hands are vigilantes and criminals. Only the state may handle justice. But there is nothing holy about the state, it is just a large group mind. It is just a five hundred million pound gorilla. ("Where does a five hundred pound gorilla sit in a bus? - Wherever it wants.")

Brotherly advice

The best -- and the only -- life advice ever given to me by my older brother, who died when I was fifteen, was "take good care of your teeth, kiddo," offered as a sincere advice about the one thing you must be sure to do in this life, in his view.
It is perhaps not profound, but on the other hand it is a lot better and more constructive than a lot of the bullshit you may hear from some people. Like "live fast, die young." Or "you can't trust anybody but yourself." Or "don't stick your head above the crowd." Or any of the endless anti-life equations that the older generations will use to try and keep the younger ones from overtaking them, or whatever their subconscious rational may be.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Smells like Victory

I have this odd feeling.
Like a big warm wind of victory.
Like the Universe in general, and humanity specifically, has all led up to this point in Time and Space.
Like this is it. And we have really won. We just don't know it yet.

iPod Nano and David Pogue

If you have not seen David Pogue's videos on technology for NYT, do so now. Please. [You need to register, but it is worth it.] David, who also writes columns and books about technology and music, is one of the funniest and most informative writers in the world. I would say he is in a league of his own, but maybe there is some guy sitting in Bombay and doing it as well, what do I know?

I just got my own iPod Nano today. Apple is also in a league of their own. I would not have imagined they could top the iPod, but they did. In David's words: Rock on, dude.

Gibson on drugs

All any drug amounts to is tweaking the incoming data. And you have to be really self-centered or pathetic to be satisfied with simply tweaking the incoming data.
-- William Gibson

Recreational drugs are essentially a wank, and a wank is okay, but you really should know that it's just a wank.
-- William Gibson

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Boredom

I suspect our biggest enemy is boredom. Not in itself, but because it will cause you to pull in problems. We sometimes wish we did not have those problems, but by golly, they are better than being bored!
In my view the wiser course of action is to recognize this before it happens, and then stave off the boredom not with problems, but with greater challenges. Or perhaps just look at all the great things in your life with a fresh eye.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Speakers and Bradshaw Bear






So, I got the speakers for my new high fidelity setup. All is being played from the Mac, in near-CD quality (I can't hear the difference anyway). And due to iTunes, I can shuffle and arrange several thousand songs any way I want to, instead of messing around with CDs.
The speakers are from DesignE.co.uk, and I am one of the first people in the world to get a set (the sixteenth buyer according to a highly placed source in the company), they are brand spanking new. These guys break new ground in speaker designs. Real solid wood for one thing, for another the spherical design which helps both sound and looks, and I think they were the first to use that.
Click on the images for larger versions.
The bear in the picture I have had and loved for a decade. He was recently named Bradshaw Bear by my friend Jade, pictured here.