Paper news March 23, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Books, Current-affairs, Observation.add a comment
I bought a Guardian newspaper today, just on a whim, no pre-meditation, it just happened to be there, the right time, the right place. But despite my love-affair with the written word, I don’t buy newspapers often. Admittedly they sit well in the hand, but more often than not remain unfinished, fodder more for the recycle bin than my intellect.
The problem is not actually any one big thing, but a whole bunch of little things which, in the case of the Guardian, simply become too much to bear. And it really isn’t rocket science; as the reader makes his way from the front page, the number of pictures drops, the amount of white eye-sparing space becomes scarce, and the text justification turns simple articles into intimidating walls of Times New Roman. I really do enjoy reading, and no way should it ever become a chore like this.
The biggest shame, particularly for the papers who could all do with some love right now, is that on comparing some of the worst offending articles with their Guardian website equivalents, things could not be more different. Their content was identical, but whereas the newspaper required copious amounts of coffee and eyeball-assault-course training to surmount, the online version handed out free cucumber slices and a nice lie down. The entire experience just felt so different, and oh the white space! Glorious white space to sit, to rest a while and ponder meaning and context. The font had gone from stuffy Times New Roman to an easy on the eye Arial, the left justification keeping things light and airy, the surroundings were like a palace shrubbery, colourful, interesting, and leading you away to places where you couldn’t help but want to go.
Reading had gone from a chore, to a delight, and more interestingly from one of information imparting to one of personal learning. The article had actually stopped being a single closed-off entity, and had instead become a shop-front, a window into another world, of overlaps, adjuncts, unknown places filled with deeper, more varied information in formats that papers can only dream of. So I read the entire article online, and I clicked on some more links to other articles, and on my travels learnt about history, politics and media coverage, two, three, four sides to the original view, about celebrity endorsements and why everything I’d read to that point was in fact all ridiculous nonsense. It was a full-on learning extravaganza, something born not from simply reading but from personal exploration, from asking questions that no-one had asked and heading down paths full of answers. A journey started by the original author but rapidly taken out of his hands and completed on my own, at my own pace in my own direction.
So my guess is, although the papers and magazines may be struggling right now, and on this experience perhaps justifiably so, I’m happy in the knowledge that the written word is perfectly safe. It may be the case that the traditional cast-in-stone article is disappearing, along with its fixed breadth and equally fixed time-slot, but I simply don’t think that it’s a problem. As time moves on, all articles will need to do is to inform just enough, and be sure to give a copious bundles of jump-off points to spread awareness and places to look to find out more. The written word, certainly in the news-sense, will become a shop-front, an advert for world events, updated in real-time, flashed in people’s eyes to garner attention and encourage discoveries beyond the immediacy of the breaking headlines.
I shall reminisce with my grandkids about the passing of physical media, the feeling in the hands, the smell of the pages, but we’re getting something infinitely richer, more connected, more engaging and informative than we could ever have hoped for. And we’re getting it with the start of the e-book revolution, we’ll get it with flexible digital papers that’ll roll up, show moving pictures, download news in realtime and almost certainly allow searching and digging for more of what we like, all whilst making a video call with our friends and controlling the lighting. And being informed, entertained and connected is really what all this is about. Do you get those from holding a book? From carrying the paper home? No, you get it from the words, from the content, the passion and insights of the author, only online it’s all connected to everyone else’s content and passion and insights. It is information connectivity at its richest and that is what news should always be about.
A memory of open roads March 17, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Observation.1 comment so far
When was the last time you just went for a drive?
I remember mine clearly; it was a beautiful summers day, I had the top down, a breeze blowing through my hair. The whole road lay in front of me and the day was my own. No distractions. Just me, my wheels, and freedom.
With no destination in mind and nowhere to be, I remember gripping the steering wheel readying myself for the journey, wanting to absorb every essence of liberty, of independence, of the spirit of simply being in the moment. The power of control over my own destiny, the connection of man and machine, skin to leather, readying for the moment of takeoff, eyes fixed firmly forward, never ever looking back. The start of a one-way journey wherever fate guided me.
And it was time. Readying for the moment of release, the moment of deliverance, moments that had never before witnessed such perfection, and never would again. I was ready.
With one final, deep breath, and a silent prayer to the gods of speed, I eased the handbrake off, squeezed the plastic squeaker, and with one final thrust of plimsole on tarmac pushed off down the hill to meet my fate on the open road.
Saving the world March 13, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Observation.add a comment
30 percent of the Earth’s surface is made up of land, the rest is water. One half of the human population lives on less than 10 percent of the Earth’s land, and three quarters on only 20 percent. All told, the vast majority of the human population lives on roughly 6 percent of the earth’s surface.
Now take a look at the picture to the right. It shows all the layers of our planet; phenomenally hot, constantly active, the earth is a complicated, uncompromising inferno. Look closely at the thin brown layer on the surface; that is the stuff we spend the blink of an eye surfing on.
If we head straight down, by the time we’ve reached the 40km mark we’ve hit a rather balmy 870 degrees celsius. Another 3000km ups it to an almost caribbean 3,700 degrees celsius. If we keep going, we’ll hit the inner core somewhere around 6,000km and have to unbutton our top collar at the slightly-less-than-comfortable 7,200 degrees celsius. And lets not forget, the core is constantly rotating, constantly churning the liquid around it, generating not only enormous amounts of heat and turbulence, responsible for our earthquakes and eruptions, but also magnetic fields that do a great job of protecting us from the sun.
Heading upwards, the vast majority of us live within 200m of sea level. Tibetans, probably the hardiest bunch, max out at roughly 4000 metres, which is about the highest we can go and it still be moderately comfortable. A line called the “Death Zone” sits at 7900 metres, above which we can exist only for very short periods of time, so if you reach the top of Mount Everest at 9000m, it’s probably best not to hang around celebrating for too long.
So if area-wise we live on 6 percent of the land, and height-wise we can just about eek out a living in the bottom 2 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere, our physical presence here could be considered to be really quite small indeed.
Now the sun, give or take a megawatt, manages to squirt out the same amount of energy every second as 2.5 × 10^9 of our largest power plants put out every year. A chunk of this hits the Earth in the form of radiation. The sun also exerts a gravitational pull on the planet, keeping us in constant orbit whilst we rocket through space at 67,000 miles per hour. And of course whilst we’re talking about gravity, let’s not forget the moon’s influence here, certainly enough to throw our tides around and annoy the shipping fraternity whilst we spin at a dizzying 1000 miles per hour.
All told, it would be fair to say that the forces our surroundings are subject to are simply staggering in their immensity and complexity. It could also be fair to say that considering the amount of space we as humans take up, the long-term impact we’re ever likely to have on our surroundings will only ever be negligible at most.
So colour me somewhat skeptical when anyone turns round and states that we only have “100 months to save the world“.
Microsoft are certainly no Apple March 10, 2009
Posted by Snoopy in Current-affairs, Observation, Technology.1 comment so far
I love that scene in Friends when Monica asks Rachael to move out; there’s tears, a big geeky argument, something about their operating system preferences, with Monica mocking Rachael “I hate Microsoft! I loooove Microsoft! I hate Microsoft! I looooooove Microsoft!” A great scene, I remember it fondly.
Of course Rachael is right to be flipping to and fro; one minute ya can be fooled into thinking they’re getting on top of things, and the next someone opens their mouth. That gets swiftly followed by a knee to the nethers with Vista, and now we see not only particularly good vibes coming from early users of Windows 7, but they throw a video in our direction making us feel guilty for ever having doubted them and can we have their children please?
But it couldn’t last. The marriage was a lovely affair, champagne baths, flower fountains, bringing tears to the eyes of the entire puppy cascade. Beautiful. But I suppose reality had to present the bill sometime. All may not be lost, but the tears have dried up, and the drink and puppies have been wheeled away for brighter days.
Whatever you think about Apple, fan or no, they do a great job of keeping things simple. Not quite that simple, but just the right amount of simple. Enough to get you where you’re going without having to ask your 5-year old for help. And that’s good. It means we can pick stuff up, use it, put it down again move onto something else without giving things another thought. Music? Sorted. Quick phone call? Marvellous. Surf the net? Write an email? Play Warcraft? Yes, yes, and don’t talk to me about it.
So why does Microsoft, with it’s billions of IQ points and immaculately polished brows, feel they need to bring back the bad old days? Why when everyone is decrying the wonder that is Windows 7 with its simple form and function directly out of Apple’s playbook, do they slap everyone with a very un-Apple six versions to supposedly “choose” from? Okay, so we can maybe give them two versions, after all, businesses may have needs that home users don’t (tenuous), and home users may not want to have complicated features that they’ll never (theoretically) want to touch. But that’s two versions, not six, and still one too many in Apple’s book. And now, just to up the fun factor, the horizon looks set to shower us with several more versions.
I think a lot of people were hoping that Windows 7 was going to be it; Microsoft’s turning point, from buffoonery to smart-street, with smarter decisions and a smarter future, one of open ears and graceful humility. But I doubt there’s many who will think ten versions of Windows is smart, or market-driven, or humble. I think it’s the same as it ever was. Rather than listening, they talk. Rather than acting, they react. It would seem that the disappointments are set to continue. But then, I guess we can’t all be Apple.
