Tuesday, August 05, 2014

"The Body is Not An Apology"

The Body is Not An Apology, Indiegogo campaign for self-love. (Not particularly the physical kind.)


How to protect cloth?

3M ScotchGard has
been recommended
I just got this very handsome iPad cover.
A downside is that such a cloth cover is sensitive to spill, dirt, dust... and the lining is leather, so I don't think I can put it in the washing machine!

Does anybody have experience with a spray or something which will protect cloth against dirt and spills, without changing how it looks? 


====
I have to say, this is probably the most understatedly beautiful tablet case I have ever seen. The PU leather work inside with card and paper pockets lift it further. For an executive environment or just if simple elegance is for you, I'd vote for this one. (And like many cases now, it's obscenely cheap. Less than 1/4 of what I'd pay for such a thing a couple of years ago.)

It is only 240 grams (8.4oz), so it is light compared to other handsome cases, which are usually about 350 grams. The only downside I see technically is that it does not put the iPad to sleep when you close it. Oh, another small one: it tends to slide if you put it too far forward in movie stand mode. I fixed it by two thin strips of rubber.
It comes in these variants:


(It was hidden behind those... colourful ones, so I was lucky to find it.

Apparently it is of the brand Yasonic. But I would not put too much into that, my recent research has told me that brands and looks and quality and prices today are mixed up in one big confusing storm that you have to navigate on your own. You just can't assume that just because a thing has this or that price or brand, that it is any indication as to quality or not. For example, the PU leather work inside this case is excellent... in a case costing $14 with free shipping!

... And further: Yasonic also makes ...stuff like this iPhone cover! :


Sweet pet mix

Friday, August 01, 2014

"Onto My Love Rocket Climb"

[Thanks to Signalroom7]

Zlad: "Elektronik Supersonik"

"I is more stronger than Dearth Vapor!"



"Only that can stop us is flat tyre."

"I trust you have enjoyed this flight as much as you have enjoyed this accent."

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

If Cinderella Castle were real, how big would it be?

I've found a billion articles mentioning that the Cinderella Castle in Disney World is about 185 feet (60 meters) tall, and built with forced perspective so it looks bigger. But I simply couldn't find any answers, or even any questions or speculation about: if the castle was real, if humans had to live and work in it, how big would it have to be?
In other words, to what scale is it built? (On average, I guess, given the forced perspective.)
(I'm surprised so few people apparently think about that, it's one of the first things which springs to my mind.)


Monday, July 28, 2014

Rhema Marvanna sings Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (updated)

[Thanks to Signalroom7]

That song must be one of the most covered ever, by now. But it rarely gets as good as this.
I hope Rhema Marvanna does not get broken by the world (Amy Winehouse and all those). But some big measure of control in her voice and even face tells me, probably not. (Here she is live.)
Update: Rhema apparently stopped within a year or two after this, I don’t know why.)




Here is a very different version, but damn, is it good.
It must take a lot of discipline to play such an intense, slow song with such speed and energy and yet precision. I did not know SafetySuit, but I'll look closer.




DeltaCubed is right, we can't overlook KD Lang's version.




Apparently nobody but Leonard...



By the way, it's clearly a spiritual song, but it seems to me it's a love song. About broken love. Lo the lyrics.

I once posted another nice version (and an interesting comment.)
[Update: a good version from a young woman in a special situation.]

Friday, July 25, 2014

Nokia Lumia 1520 sample photos

Nokia Lumia 1520's phone-camera, man, that is one friggin' good camera. With this, image-quality-wise, there is practically NO compromise from a good compact camera to this one. Good colors, good contrast range, decent low-light performance, and a very sharp lens indeed.
(Of course there are other compromises, but not much. It has no zoom, and the autofocus is not as fast as the best compact cameras. And a big-sensor compact like Sony RX100 will do better in very low light.)





Note, I still use my iPhone 5S as my phone and main mini-tablet. It's only the screen size and the camera of the Lumia 1520 which beats the iPhone, the user experience is otherwise markedly inferior, in my opinion. (And the camera in the iPhone is probably next-best.)

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Writing is telepathy

"All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing is the purest distillation. An important element of writing is transference. Your job isn't to write words on the page, but rather to transfer the ideas inside your head into the heads of your readers."
Stephen King


article

Eolake, in green or black?

I made the name Eolake up as my nom de plume in 1988, and I've been half-dreading others using it since. Nothing has come off it though until now, 2014, when I find out there's a nice Italian boot called Eolake and a "nefarious" vampire called Eolake! in a new book called Pale Moonlight. I think the boot is nicer.     :-)


Internet info for the people, from the nineties