Spring into birdsong - why we do not twitter · Sunday April 19, 2009 by colin newell
I embrace technology. Heck, I have been doing this for too many years. When I first started monkeying around on the internet, there were no web servers. They were called gopher servers – and they served up text.
My first attempts at webbing were launched from a Windows 3.11 for Work groups box (an IBM PC) around 1995 or so. That was a century ago in internet time.
So now we have streaming audio and video and dynamic web pages that change with every glance. I am good with that, dog. Really I am.
I believe that I owe it to my dedicated reader that I keep it fresh and real.
I do not believe, however, that there are more than a very small handful of people out there that would hang onto every word – if I offered truly up to date snippets of my every thought.
Twitter.
I do not do it. I will not do it.
No one needs to know what I am thinking when I am standing on the corner of 1st and Main Street. No one needs to know when I am sipping on a truly great coffee in a remarkable setting. I can tell them later.
Twitter is an alarming indication that we are getting a tad too self indulgent.
I went through the eighties – I was in my 20’s. And let me tell you folks… the only difference between then and now (for me) was more hair and more hair gel… and a lot more self indulgent behavior from just about everyone around me.
I have a theory. We never actually left the eighties. The mentality is still very much alive in all of us. There are many of us that actually feel that there is an audience for our every utterance, our every stomach gurgle, our every thought – however useless and every trivial thought that jumps from our synapses.
Enough already. How about some quiet.
Take some… on me.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and long time user of the World Wide Web. His handiwork has graced the cyber-World for going on 2 decades… if anyone is counting that is.
Comment [3]
Technology madness in the modern World #1 · Monday May 12, 2008 by colin newell
If I had an extra 5 or 6 hours a day… to think… and perchance to write, I would have more strange stuff to feed you…
Perhaps more than you would like.
I mean, everything here is written and read (by you) voluntarily.
You can shut if off whenever you want. And never come back.
Which is kind of counter intuitive compared to what we have to deal with in the modern World. Having stuff pushed on us that is. Constantly.
(And)When I talk and write about cafe culture, I often remind my audience that coffee is the number two most traded commodity on the Planet… Oil being first.
But is this supposition entirely true? Are humans not the number one commodity on the Planet? Our minds are bought, sold, pitched to, filled and subjected to rendition on an almost continuous basis. And so much so that we are rarely aware that we are being manipulated?
Some examples: Facebook. Facebook is a data mine for marketers. Explain that to the average user of Facebook and you will get that classic, Dog cocking its head as its master makes a funny noise look.
Television. Everyone knows that 50% of the crap on TV is designed to sell you something, to sanitize something, to perfume something, to put you in a car and get you away from over sanitized and funky smelling stuff.
And if you are Rami Tambello of illegalsigns.ca (the Toronto area rogue spear fighting a winning battle against big visual ad agencies like Pattison Outdoor – who bend the rules for fun and profit…) you know the distance large corporations will go to get their message shoved down your visual cortex…
In Rami’s own words: “Ad agents lie for a living… trying to convince you that a pair of blue jeans will make you sexy… a fragrance will make you desirable…”
So. For liars, breaking the law on a daily basis comes naturally.
And you can almost avoid the visual assault – if you are legally blind that is.
So what’s next you ask? Apparently a technology called Hypersonic Sound (developed by the U.S. Military no less) can actually beam messages directly into your head — and there is no tin-foil hat made that will protect you.
H.S. technology uses ultrasonic beams of narrowly focused acoustic energy that can quite literally be concentrated into an area the size of a bread-box… or a nut house – which is where you will think you are when you experience it.
Which begs the question: What private space is left for we humans? Our brains were once considered the ultimate private sanctuary, a zone where other people can’t intrude without our knowledge or permission – This barrier has been eroded it seems.
Rami Tambello concludes, “There is no distance that advertisers will not go to… to deliver their message or product. There is so much money… profit at stake…breaking the laws of the community, pushing all the boundaries of what is communally acceptable – well, it is part of doing business… all in a days work.”
Yay. Thanks Rami.
In this continuing series on invasive technology in the 21st century, the CoffeeCrew blog will focus on the folly of modern technical wares and how they are not improving our lives.
Simple rules to drinking coffee... · Wednesday November 29, 2006 by colin newell
So. I am taking enthusiastic sips of my coffee today…
And…
Let’s back up shall we.
This brew was a blend of Cafe Misto (Hines Coffee) Decaf (Sumatra I think) and Level Ground Trading Organic Bolivian; full bodied, sweet and chewy enough to enjoy with one of my home made pumpkin spice muffins.
The Level Ground Coffee (a wonderful local roaster who only does Organic Co-op grown beans purchased direct from the farm and from the farmers. No middle people.) is a regular pick for me when I am between shipments of sample beans.
I sample coffee from everywhere. And profile it. If it’s good, I will plug it. If it’s bad, mum’s the word!
Fast forward.
Here is a good rule for coffee drinkers: If you are doing something at your desk (surfing net, sending e-mail…), make sure you leave a few CPU Cycles for actually watching what you are really doing in the real world.
I didn’t for a second.
I placed my almost full coffee mug down on top of an object on my desk. And then I let go of the coffee cup. Which, by the law of probability, fell in my direction instead of the other direction (more towards the computer and keyboard). Good thing I guess.
It’s easier to launder me (or my clothes) than it is to remove coffee from a keyboard and flat-screen monitor.
So. Coffee on my sweater (one of my favorites)
Coffee on my pants (my beige jeans). Coffee on my ergo-seat.
Coffee on the floor.
Next time, I’ll try and keep the coffee in the cup… or between the cup and my face.
Tamping and Distribution · Thursday November 24, 2005 by glenn
Which is more important ? The man or the machine?
Something re-mastered from the 1980’s – Simon Byrne (Wrote songs for the Monkeys…
1-Track-Crazy-1985-CR02.mp3