iDallas!A Wired article provides some info about a company called Blast Theory that has come out of the underground rave scene in the UK to produce games that simultaneously involve people running around real cities and people running around virtual cities on their computers. It’s hard to imagine what’s it’s like, but it’s definitely intriguing.
A thought-provoking conversation this weekend put my mind into overdrive. There was a time when my mind was probably almost continually in overdrive, but now I’ve either learned how to relax or I’ve gotten lazy, or both. Anyway, the current thoughtline is of the classic ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What impact do I want to have on this world?’ sort. Back in college, those questions were mostly theoretical as at that point I really had very little control over much of anything. Now, I have some daily decisions that can impact other people in a fairly significant way.
I’m the kind of person that has trouble processing negative energy, especially directed towards me personally. I’ve developed some defense mechanisms that help me shut down and reject the bad vibes before they get too deeply into my psyche. To do that, I sometimes have to make tough judgement calls about a person, group or situation. If, for instance, I decide somebody is full of crap I can then basically ignore what they say. I try to pay attention to what’s going on around me, but I’m only one person and I don’t have time to treat every new bit of information equally… I have to make some high-level processing decisions to keep the overall workload manageable. In less geeky terms, I only pay attention to what’s important to me. That means my information is inherently biased, but that’s ok by me. I like to hear a relatively balanced telling of a story but I don’t mind putting some trust into certain information souces.
So this process of information management means that I may not always treat everyone I encounter with the same level of respect and that means I occasionally wind up being labeled as a jerk or a meanie or something. It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened before. Regardless of respect, I still typically treat people the way I want to be treated. I guess maybe I err on the ‘honest’ side. I feel like it’s hard to hear certain things, but I still want to hear them if someone feels the need to say them. That’s what strong relationships are for, right?
A New York Times article reports that the widespread use of PowerPoint is making us dumber than we already are. I knew there was something I didn’t like about PowerPoint…
The Register is reporting that PortalPlayer, the company behind most of the iPod’s technology, has come up with a new version of their chipset that includes photo and video capabilities in addition to playing music. Unless Apple has something exciting to announce in January at Macworld SF, this could spell problems for the iPod’s dominance. I bet Apple’s on top of it, though.
I saw this weblog mentioned on another weblog I check out from time to time (strangely, he finds some interesting stuff sometimes). Anyway, the Belle de Jour weblog claims to be the personal journal of a London call girl. She’s of the more high-end appointment only type rather than the more stereotypical street walker type. The writing is quite good and the subject matter is unique and thought-provoking, not to mention sexy. It doesn’t really matter if you believe it to be true, but I think it has me fooled at the moment.
The holiday season is in full swing yet again and it’s passing along quicker than ever. I think it’s during the last few holidays that I’ve started to really notice the effects of aging and turning into a full-fledged adult. I’ve been legally an adult for quite awhile now, but you really are still a child in many ways until you hit your late 20’s (and I’m sure some would say late 30’s or late 40’s) … and that’s not at all a bad thing. I like being an adult or whatever, but I also miss being a kid. Life was so full of possibilities then… and life is so full of complications now. Or so it seems. Life is probably actually full of more possibilities now than it was 7 years ago, but I guess it’s full of lots of obligations and hesitations now as well.
Anyway, during the holiday season is when you are required to consider what kinds of things you might appreciate receiving as gifts. It’s also when you are required to hang out with family members, adults and children alike, and make chit chat. During family chit chat moments, the differences between the children and the adults is clearer than at any other time. Other differences are clearer as well, but that’s the one that’s come to mind just now. The adults mostly talk about serious, boring stuff. Stuff that used to seem so serious and boring is now oddly interesting, yet still not as interesting as the things I thought about it when I was a child.
Well, anyway. Ramble away.
JenniCam, the webcam site of a girl named Jenni that has inexplicably been an Internet phenomenon for 7 or so years is closing down at the end of the month, according to this notice. I have never been a regular ‘viewer’ of the site, but I checked in on it from time to time whenver it crossed my mind. I don’t know if Jenni has plans for another kind of web project or if it has just become time to move on. Either way, good luck Jenni!
A New York Times editorial entitled Hack the Vote reveals more information about Diebold, a company that makes electronic voting machines. They were in the news recently when their software was discovered on an insecure ftp site, free for all to download. From the sound of it, things are even worse than they seemed.
According to this Pitchfork article, the highly influential Warp Records will be releasing their entire catalog of releases in high-quality mp3 format via their Bleep.com website. All tracks will be available for $0.99 each. Maybe some big labels will follow suit, but I doubt it.
The House of Representatives has passed a bill that will make it illegal to do many of the things common to spamming. It also legalizes some spam email, which will no doubt make geeks everywhere froth at the mouth. Overall, the description in the article seems pretty reasonable to me. The most important part in my mind is making it illegal to send spam with a misleading subject or falsified headers. That always seemed like it should be illegal to me.