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Klosterman Hypotheticals

Posted January 27, 2009 in Review, Thoughts

klostermanI don’t read as often as I should. When I do get around to reading, I rather enjoy it. I have such a pile-up list of books I “need” to read, according to everybody. A couple of the last few I’ve read were from Chuck Klosterman, a column editorial writer that has worked for Spin, Esquire, The NY Times, and more. He mostly writes about Music, Culture/Life, and Basketball. (My favorite things!) I read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoapuffs last winter, and most recently I read his latest work IV, whose title is a throwback to the Zeppelin album (both books I read on planes…seems to be only time I read. I should travel more.) He may use the words retrospectively and in and of itself a little too often, but that doesn’t take away from the clever (and witty) commentary he provides on modern culture and rock music. What I like about his insights, though, are the way they borderline on philosophical and political arguments about the state of modern life today (in and of itself).

His new work IV is merely a collection of many of his columns and interviews throughout his career, so he divides the book between things that are true (fact), things that might be true (speculation), and something that isn’t true (which feels more like speculation to me). The most intriguing section to me was things that might be true…this is where his real insight is realized, in his speculation. However, unique to this book are small hypothetical questions he adds before each Chapter. They aren’t really commentaries on culture or music, but they provide some interesting questions to ponder. Some of these hypotheticals are extremely well-posed, and I’d like to share a few of them with you, hopefully without getting in trouble for posting them. Read them all after the break…

Continue Reading…

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Canon G10 vs Canon EOS XS??

Posted December 12, 2008 in Thoughts

I am going to get more into photography and I’m getting a good beginner camera for Christmas, but… I’m not sure which one to get!! I’ve check a million sites and reviews. It’s come down to Portability vs Functionality. The Canon G10 I would be able to take with me everywhere in a coat/sweatshirt pocket, for when I head into the city with friends or go to parties, and attempt to take quality photography rather than the usual people-hanging-out photos. It’s one of the best cameras just underneath DSLR quality. I would use it probably 5x more than the EOS because of this, what I would call, feature - size. 14mp on a great sensor that isn’t quite DSLR once again, but from the reviews I hear it takes real quality photos in bright light. It is quite grainy at low-ISOs and not the best for low-light however. Also the depth-of-field in point-n-shoot cameras is too large for a nice bokeh effect, and I’m a fan of portrait photography.

Now the Canon EOS XT(i) Digital Rebel will give me much more functionality, being an entry level DSLR and having an actual lens. The quality of the photos will be better and I’d be able to use it in low-light and high ISOs, and have a nice bokeh effect if thats what I want. However, like all DSLRs, it’s not even jacket-pocketable, so taking it with me is a bigger hassle. I can’t just have it when going to hang with friends in the city, or bring it to a concert where I’m in the crowd. It would mainly be used when I took the time of day to go out and shoot, or bring it with me to hang with friends and try not to annoy them as I take pictures all night long. However the quality would most likely be far superior to that of the G10.

So…is the amount I would use the G10 out-weigh the quality of the EOS XT? I’m not sure, and I need to figure it out by Saturday! (camera sales end)

Update: So I decided to go with the DSLR. If I really want to get into photography I should get a decent beginners camera that can only make me better and allow me to upgrade. Store deal also got me an extra telephoto lens! Unfortunately I must wait till Christmas day to have it, but expect a new Flickr to emerge when I do have it. Also a photo section on my site here.

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I would buy a Zune if…

Posted November 3, 2008 in Thoughts

Lately I’ve been getting annoyed at my iPod and I thought I’d look into the Zune…but in my research I found that it’s seriously lacking some effort. It has a lot of pluses that I won’t get into, but here’s a list of what it needs if it were to seriously take me away from the iPod:

  • Mac OSX functionality…c’mon Microsoft
  • Harddrive functionality sans hack
  • Smart playlists & editing playlists on the fly
  • Custom EQ & Better ratings system per track
  • Alarm clock & Countdown timer
  • More codec support (.aiff & .wav especially)
  • The price needs to be lower than the ipod if it ever wants to compete
  • Also somebody suggested that it have a simple RSS-reader. That would be amazing.

If these came true I might actually get one…but as it is already the same price as an iPod with half the functionality, it will never take a bigger piece of that pmp marketshare.

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I need a FFFFOUND! invitation.

Posted October 20, 2008 in Thoughts, Web

FFFFOUND! is a site for bookmarking images you find on the web. Images you like, find interesting, inspire you, cool photographs, whatever it may be. Now, what makes it different? It’s streamlined. There’s nothing else the site does…it shows you the image and links back to where you ‘found’ it (always handy to give props to the original), and also shows you similar images you might like to look at. You can literally spend hours just clicking images, then clicking a similar, then a similar, then a similar… It’s invitation-based, signups have been halted a long time ago. I have scoured the web and come up with nothing. I would very much like an invitation please.

On another note, here is another tee that I really like. I must be on a typography kick, although I’ve always been a huge fan. Also, I am enjoying this photography of wrinkled t-shirts (see previous post). It makes for better selling than previous t-shirt stores where you see somebody wearing the tee, or it’s a vector image of a shirt with the graphic slapped on.

Edit: Sorry folks, I never got that FFFFOUND invitation, so stop inquiring! There are a bunch of other clone sites up that do the same thing. My favorite is Dropular.net, although I believe these type of sites have lost their hype.

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This pisses me off…

Posted October 14, 2008 in Thoughts

GreenPeace is a global campaigning organization that exists to “change attitudes and behavior, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.” Respectable. One of the things they do is rate Electronics companies on their green-ness with the materials they use to build their electronics. They’ve recently come out with their latest version for September 2008.

Here’s how the companies stack up:


The article I original read on this topic was focused on Apple not being as green as they market themselves to be. Out of 10, they come in at 4. In fact, the only company over 6 is Nokia! Apple is being (only slightly beat) by other leading computer manufacturers such as Dell & HP.

However, what really strikes me are the bottom two: Microsoft and Nintendo. Now, I’m an Apple guy, but I’m not an Apple fanboy…I think Windows is great for certain things (such as Web Development)…but I think they’ve been in the spotlight for a much longer time than Apple. And it’s easy to see how such a big company could lose sight of “going green,” but how come I rarely hear anybody ragging on Microsoft about it? Apple gets a ton of crap all the time. And Nintendo?! I had no idea. I am a huge fan - own a Wii and Super Nintendo is greatest system of all time - and I never saw any articles on how horrendous their ‘green’ policy is.

I’m not entirely sure how the ranking system works, but GreenPeace is large enough to be a trust-worthy site. I like that this Flash module lets you see older Versions. Go to Version 6, which I find is the most interesting. It’s the first time Nintendo is featured. It’s almost a year ago, Dec 2007, and we have 10 companies in the 7 area, and Nintendo doesn’t even get a 1. Apple was even at 6 at the time. How did it get so bad in a year?

Some action needs to be taken, or regulation put on this. As pointed out by GreenPeace:

The rate at which these mountains of obsolete electronic products are growing will reach crisis proportions unless electronics corporations that profit from making and selling these devices face up to their responsibilities.

It’s reminding me of all those videos found last week where major financial advisors warned of the Stock Armageddon a year ago or whatever, and no one paid attention until now. I know my house is full of old cell phone in drawers and cords to nowhere. It is completely feasible to make durable, clean, and recyclable products. I expect more from companies like Apple, and especially Nintendo.

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The FitBit

Posted September 12, 2008 in Design, Thoughts

I’m a sucker for new technologies, and The Fitbit looks like a new favorite toy. It’s similar to the Nike+Ipod in that it tracks how far you go, how many calories you burn, etc…except this goes further and tracks it ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. You just keep it on you, and when you get near your computer it wirelessly transmits all the data it has collected since the last wireless transmit. This data is then uploaded to your Fitbit website, where you can track everything. So it will tell you that you lost 0 calories sitting in your cubicle at work, but don’t feel bad because you lost a few when you walked to your car!

But seriously, this thing might actually be the motivation some of us have been wanting for awhile. It seems unobtrusive to me to throw in your pocket or clip it to yourself all day long. Then while your tracking yourself, you’ll start to realize the exercise your missing out on and hopefully that will motivate you. Oh, and it also tracks how long you sleep and your sleep movements/patterns. Pretty neat.

Website says these should be available by the end of the year…hopefully they will roll out before the holidays so I can ask for it as a present.